Pearl Harbor Day
1. Banner 1, 2 hangs to this day inside Grund Church, MB, Canada listing our family and relatives who served. Photo by Hank. Roy was called by uncle Hank in S.S.F., he has a cough, yet doing well.
2. Dad's WWII Page, Ted Christopherson, based out of Bergstrom in TX, AUS, lastly Luzon.
3. Lorne & Sig Christopherson WWII Photos. Lorne was 1st in Berkeley to enlist. Sig, European Theater of Operations The 100th conducted campaigns in the Vosges Mountains, the Ardennes, Alsace-Lorraine, and the Rhineland. First to land in North Africa in 1942 with their assault on Morocco. This was the beginning of a series of victories during WWII that added ten more battle streamers to their colors. The 7th Infantry pushed onward from North Africa through Italy and France to Germany, where the Cottonbalers capped their efforts by capturing Berchtesgaden, Adolph Hitler’s mountain fortress.
4. Married into Einarson branch, Uncle Hank Enns in London Ontario, Canada who married Emily Einarson Enns Photo 1, 2, 3. Em was a nurse.
5. Andy Oddstad, related through Gudrun nee Stoneson, who was one of the first Frogmen.
6. Posted Aug 1st, SlideShow dedicated to our Family and Friends in the Armed Forces, includes uncle Henry Einarson in Holland.
7. Nesse Hicks, married to Remedios family (Roy's Brother's wifes family), who flew The Hump, and told Roy many a story Photo 1, 2.
8. New! The Unknown Soldier page. Possibly just friends of the family or unknown relatives.
9. William James Christopherson, Photo 1. Bill was the only child of Halldor Briem Christopherson and Ranka [Ragheidur Sigmundsdottir] Johnson. Leslie Cole was his step mother.

1. Updated Ron Christopherson's Photo page with a 1st row of new baby pictures found in unprinted negatives.
2. Added tree and map to Russian Rurik RnD page here.
3. Still have hundreds of photosgraphs, albeit, mostly 1930's to now in boxes awaiting scanning. Those will be a long on-going project after upload of what is already here.

1. Updated Image of the Month...9 days late.
2. Added three reports under Stonesons for Sue, under the Reports page.

1. Updated the Stoneson Clan page (1st three rows) thanks to Sue Graham along with some minor editing.
Joe Stoneson's son, Douglas was kind enough to identify all in the 3rd row. Thanks!
Corrected Leanna's Lineage (row 2) on same page..
2. GGGF Richard Taylor was from Bristol. Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north. Roy's sympathies go out to those in the M5 accident. Also lost was a gentleman involved with 1066 The Movie still in production.

1. Asked Sue (Stonesons-See 8/27) questions on Joe Stoneson. Sue sent many photos Roy is in the process of placing online.
2. Created a webpage for Joe Stoneson here. New Photos of Joe and family. A Must see!
3. Posted a short, very short story titled Saga of THYRA. As the webmaster, Roy could not even find it to show his sister leaving the hospital tomorrow. Rated PG. Roy's friend, Karen of 30 years, reminded him of a book he did at 22. Actually a very small school project.
4. Miriam Westereng has been graciously sending quite a few photos of John Christopherson's family. Will be creating a 2nd Collection and post online.
5. Roy created a book cover for his cousin, Bruce Costello.
6. Uploaded identified photo of Kay and Gudrun's Anniversary here. Annotated by Sue Graham.

1. Added a 2nd page for John Taylor, William's brother here. Map of Barbados.
2. Been working on a book cover for cousin Bruce Costello. More when possible.
3. Still off the Genealogy unless Roy gets some info from family. Roy's Art Portfolio being worked on.

1. Found 100 B&W negatives from the 50's. The 2nd negative is in my opinion...phenominal! John Christopherson, his wife, Laura, who I hear was a great person, and their son, Bob are standing in front of Grund. View the image here. There is so much info in this negative, compressed it is still about 150k in size.
2. Life & Times of William Stuart Taylor now online here.
3. Researching again Ted Christopherson's service from JAN 1942 to the Pacific and ending DEC 7 1945.

1. Roy had spent some time with Hank Christopherson and just getting back to the computer.
Loaded a new slideshow. Hank had never seen this web site! Showed few pages on TV via smartphone.
Roys Trip to BC and Family Photos which includes the C.B.M. Collection.
Apologies to cousin Bruce Costello and Bill that lived in BC for leaving them out of the slideshow posted on Aug 1st. Their photos were "out of sight, out of mind". Will be posting updated slide show, as Hank lent Roy his whole Unit's group shot to scan, while he was stationed at Fort Monmouth, possibly in the 15th Signal Training Regimen. These are older pages of more photos of Ted, Sig and Lorne.
2. Roy received a nice letter from Beverly Bolick in WA, along with her family tree. She is the daughter of Haldor Christopherson, not to be confused with Sigurdur's son, Haldor. Bev's father Haldor, also known as Dorie, married Edna Lake. Hundreds of their photos (CBM Collection) will soon be added here.
3. Roy has been unable to connect with Deanna Powell, perhaps her email changed. She graciously re-typed up the Stoneson Report.

Tracing the Dale family. This is Hank's wife, Thelma nee Dale Christopherson and their son, my cousin, Gary. I am now at 1808 in Switzerland. Will probably just do a page. I now, get back to previous work!
Marie Solitelle Cuevas, Birth 20 Feb 1808 in Deer Island, Harrison, Mississippi, United States Death 18 July 1861 in Biloxi, Harrison, Mississippi, United States .
The branch is still going back and splitting off, like to Thelma Christopherson, Hank's wife, Thelma's 3th Great Grandmother was Marie Helene Ladner, born 11 Nov 1767 at Cat Island, Harrison, Mississippi, USA. Died 10 Oct 1853. She married Juan Jose de Cuevas, born 16 Mar 1762 in Algamite, Seville District, Andalusia, Spain. Died 24 Sep 1849 in Cat Island, Mississippi, United States.
Starting an RnD page on Juan de Cuevas, since there is far too much and goes beyond just names.

1. Received Newsletter from Pauli DeHaan covering the life of Runa and Ben Thordarson from PT. Roberts. Possible some photos in the Sig & Hank Christopherson Collection were photographed by herself. She bought a bellows camera.
2. Gas Leak in backyard delayed all testing today. Luckily no smokers here.
3. Roy has identified another photo of possibly the King Edward VII tuberculosis Sanatorium Employees,
Image 2215. E-Mailed the Kamloops Family History Society.

1. Roy believes he has located an Icelandic photographer, Arnor Egilsson, who took a couple pictures cousin Lilja Kernested supplied quite awhile ago (original book source and author; by Inga Lara Baldvinsdóttur).Still researching best solution to place the 2,000 old photos online by family. Arnor's genealogical info here. Cousin Lilja Kernested's photo Front, Back.
Roy wants to congratulate the National Museum of Iceland for having images available online (Their Search Engine).
2. Roy is testing Picasa 3.8 to upload the Collections of photos to christopherson.net.
3. Reviewing the Battle Abbey Roll and The Herald and Genealogist for Duke of Norfolk leads.
4. Completed scanning photos Mike Christopherson lent to Roy regarding his trip to Iceland. Mike visited Sigurdur's old farmland at Myvatn, Iceland. Mike showed Roy where Ytri Neslond is located. Farm.

1. Blue Tuesday Band played Sunday July 10th at 1 to 3 in Washington Park, Burlingame, Calif.. They were on the patio next to the recreation center. Burlingame Chamber will be selling Burgers, Hotdogs and drinks. Cousins Sheryl Thirlwall and Kerry Keller-Carranza band .
Blue Tuesday plays Sat Sep 17, 9:00 pm – 12:00 am, Back at the Iron Gate, Belmont, Calif., (Map)
2. Placed the older News (this page) into Archives by year.
3. Updated Einar Einarson page.
4. Updated Ellis Stoneson page
5. Verified Postcard Image 2388 which is of the Capital of Minnesota, from the Sig & Hank Christopherson Collection. After 1906 and the third Capital built in ST. Paul, MN.

1. Gudrun Stoneson Christopherson was a Piano Teacher and also taught Eileen Keller, her daughter. Gudrun quit teaching her and wjanted her to take further training. Eileen's stage name was 'Eileen Christy'. Quoted from an article done on Eileen.
2. Processing 478 photos taken during my visit with the Northern cousins. That does not even include sightseeing photos or my crazy attempts to take ones of the landscapes, like MT. Shasta, while driving.
3. Had a great time meeting our cousin, Mike Christopherson, son of Al Christopherson and Edith Ireland.
4. Added a Site Map page with quick links to every nook of this website.
5. Added Quick Links to top of Great Ancestors page after meeting with Mike.

1. Happy Fouth of July Cousins!
2. Sue Detweiler contacted me last month. She is married to Bruce who is the grandson of Ellis Stoneson.
It is great to meet more relatives and welcome all to contact Roy.
3. Adding Life & Times of William Stuart Taylor...pending. Miriam is sharing this intriquing little Black Book written about William.
4. Adding to Report page done by Sig Christopherson about the family & William. Document 0083
5. Created a new section called Research RnD. Only one page outlining realtime research on the Taylor family. Wish I could hop over to the Arundel Castle Museum, however, not gonna happen.

In photo 3256, there is a woman holding a broom. I believe that to be Susie Christopherson, daughter of Sigurdur, who married Ingi Gunnar Sveinsson Brynjólfsson. If this is true, then Ranka Johnson had a ton of photos of her children, specifically Inga born 1907, Caroline, born 1909 and Wilfred born 1912. That photo may have been taken about 1915 in the ST. James Parish, Manitoba, Canada. This is Caroline Taylor Christopherson's grand daughters, probably Inga and Caroline.

I believe this is actually Ytranes under construction. Note the ladder to roof and no shingles. Maybe just a new roof. Note the left building. Looks like it existed and Sigurdur connected the two. The right was the hay barn.

Roy has caught up on his sleep after driving couple thousand miles last week. Our cousins Beverly Bolick, Carol Jarvie, and Miriam Westereng, showed me all the areas travelled by the Christophersons back in the early 1900's, in the Surrey area. We visited the Surrey Archives and met Ryan. Fiona had pulled many items out for us to look at and Roy left a photo DVD with them [Updated 6/26]

We walked along the beach and they showed me Haldor Christopherson's house which had changed little from their days visiting there. Halldor Christopherson was William James Christopherson's father, Kjartan's brother and Sigurdur's son.

Took a great photo of us all under the Christopherson sign, which by the way, there is the original yellow street sign I am now searching for to hold for a museum. Beverly, Miriam and Carol drove me a ways to this spot at Crescent Beach. One goal of theirs is to place a bench at the top of the trail to the beach in rememberance of Sigurdur. That would cost about 60K...pending funds. Roy walked down the wooden staircase that is over the original foot path leading across the train tracks on the beach to the bay. Somehow a beach rock and shell got in the pocket. They showed me the path that lead from Christopherson Rd. to Sigurdur's house where it resided before it was torn down. It is now gated off.

They drove through the neighborhood that was mostly Christopherson land at one time down to 2215 Christopherson Road which requires going around some streets. All the streets in Surrey were re-numbered and our road was not because it was on an angle. Caroline Taylor Christopherson wanted it named Argyle. At one time the road stretched north along all of Sigurdur's childrens properties that were sold off.
It was very difficult for them to take me there. In 2006 Sigurdurs house was demolished with only some of it's contents kept. Carrie had altered the house to the extent it could not be made a Historical Site. All of the property from the beach to road was sold for development into 4 lots. While a goal was to stand on the very porch my great grandparents stood at Ytranes (it-tre-ness, not Ya-tranes), the cousins helped me stand near the entrance gate of Ytranes and the beach where all the Chritophersons walked. I could not ask for more! They were great hostesses.

Unfortunately the entire acerage was sold and gated off. Only a view of a single iconic tree at the bluff over the beach was visible, which show up in all the photos of Sigurdur & Caroline's house, passed on to Veiga Dawe, Carrie Christopherson Humber, then transfered to Carver.

While visiting, took snapshots of 200 old photos of the Christopherson family. Mostly later than 1900 ones. Even of the Mayda Pie Shop and a postcard from John Taylor to William, his brother, who helped the New Iceland pioneers. Proof that in 1875, William Stuart Taylor was involved with the Icelanders, not just John and Caroline got John involved to begin with. "this changes history". Carol's daughter Karen typed up about 100 personal letters between the family and they have a letter with Kjartan and Johns Vancouver Real Estate office and Susie's husband in Illinois.

We had lunch at Moby Dick restaurant with a distant view of the infamous 'White Rock'.
Again my thanks to our cousins for bringing so much of the family of their parents generation into my life!

They even had old vinyl records of the various family members singing. No player though. And a VHS tape of Sig's birthday in 1992 (Hank & Ted's brother), which I quasi-recorded using my smartphone.

Next years goal is to visit 3rd house Sigurdur built in Grund, Manitoba. Sigurdur lived at Ytri-Neslöndum í Mývatnssveit, Iceland 1848-1873, Sigurdur and Caroline Christopherson, married 1877 built cabin at Huskavic, Ytranes í Víðinesbyggð known as New Iceland which is just south of Gimli, after landing at Willow Point, then built Grund (Grassy Plains), Argyle District, Manitoba, Canada, then moved to Crescent Beach, B.C. for health reasons. Then visit my Eastern cousins and track down the Taylor family.
Revised 06/25/11.

Whoo Hoo! Back online.
Our three cousins, Carol, Miriam, and Beverly showed me a great time around Surrey, B.C.!
I had the best time and took copies of many family photos with my phone. More later.

1. Found a lead which may identify a mystery photo (relative?); The Canadian Cluster collar badge on IMG_SCAN_3448 of a WWI Canadian Soldier, who was possibly from Winnipeg and possibly Crossed to France in August 1916 under the 4th Canadian Division, In the Sub-division; 44th Battalion (Manitoba), Mobilized at Moose Jaw, SK [south-central Saskatchewan]. 44th BAT. was redesignated "44th (New Brunswick) Battalion", August 1918.

2. Realized this website has Unlimited Bandwidth and 10GB of storage, which I am only using 2.25%.
Despite my stupidity, will now place the oldest photos online (abt. 2,000). Will be creating Photo CDs for family and back up onto a Hard drive if anyone wants copy of the high resolution ones during my trip North.

1. Caroline Cartwright's son, Robert was interested in the family genealogy and I thought that was great. So he does not spend time on research rather than homework, decided to give him some intel to work on.
This revealing look at the Cartwright to the Dorris branch is now here. Enjoy. Robert Cartwright was my uncle who married my aunt, the lovely Dorothy Christopherson. Now back to my artwork and vacation planning.

2. Dedicated a page to the allusive Stoneson Brothers awhile ago; Henry & Ellis, Roy's Grand Uncles. Almost nothing on the internet about them. Hopefully some will come fwd with stories and more photos.
3. Added photos of my dear brother, Ron Christopherson. It has been awhile since his passing and felt it time. I probably have 200 on the media hub (still down). I review the 5,000 family photos...almost daily and always tough seeing his.

4. Added the Bruce & Lorie Costello Collection just for the Northern cousins to get to know their southern cousins.

5. Had dinner with Uncle Hank, who identified the Oddstad/Stoneson Picnic photo, about 10 names.
View the photo here by going to 7th photo down, now numbered.

Found Anna's family. She was the daughter of William Stuart Taylor.
Anna TAYLOR Ballard/Anna Ballard, married George Ballard (children: Oscar, Jacob Ballard and Emma). Their last census was taken at Troy, Walworth, Wisconsin in 1905. Annie might have died 05 Sep 1905.

1. Nelson Gerrard is working on a book and has requested family data of Kjartan Christopherson's descendants. He specializes in New Iceland. Have incomplete info from 2009 and would like to submit a final draft March 1st. He has the older generations, it would be nice to get the children listed. No Promises! May or may not be in the book at some point.

2. Copied out 1930 United States Federal Census Record for Bertha Stoneson 1930, which lists Henry and Ellis Stoneson's info. What did surprise me is they list their parents as born in ENGLAND. Obviously a mistake. Will need to follow up on this.

3. Going up from Stone Stoneson, Henry's father, Stone's wife Ingibjörg Einarsdóttir, her mother's father (GGF), Níels Jónsson Níelsen was born 14 APR 1795 in Norway. He would be our GGGGF. The branch had stopped. Found exact match to his three part name and dates at Ancestry. This name, birth and death date exactly match an entry Halfdan Helgason has, yet he does not go beyond his parents.
JONESYofUC list Henríetta Lovísa Níelsdóttir, it would appear Niels and Gudrun's other daughter is Leopoldína Níelsdóttir, b. 28 Nov 1822, d. 21 Jul 1894. m. Einar Skeggjason
Their daughter was Ingibjörg Einarsdóttir, Her daughter was Gudrun Runa Thorsteinsson Christopherson, my GM. Gudrun's brothers built Stonestown.

4. Hazel Chrisson Stoneson's father, Harry Chrisson was born in Norway, according to a 1910 US Census.
She had 6 siblings. They were born in Wisconsin and Washington.

5. Back to Jon Thorvardsson, Birth 1090 AD in of, Modruvellir, Eyjafjardar, Iceland, Death 1150, who is Great Grandparent of Gudrun Aradottir (Sigvaldson branch). It goes to Norway, then back to Iceland.

In the process of correcting Poppa, wife of Hrolf aka Rollo. Poppa was NOT the daughter of Berengar II of Neustria, she was daughter of Gui, Count of Senlis.

EINARSSON: Katelin Parsons from Manitoba just sent a page out of a manuscript written by Einar Einarson. View the page here and a close up. Awesome, in his own hand.

Verified NO relationship to Gretta Garbo.
Found Daniel Rantzau's Castle. Still researching.

Continuing with the Rantzau family from JAN 13, still verifying. The branch leads further back from the Sigvaldsons to the 1200's, thanks to info from cousin Kristjan and Kormakur Hognason, who led me to Daniel Rantzau, now Heinrich Von Ahlefeldt. View Relational Chart here. Some from Denmark, some from Germany. Goes back to 1090 to Werner von Ahlefeldt. View the possible family crest here. Pending research.

Following up on the claim we are related to Gretta Garbo. I re-read what I typed and it made no sense. Revisiting that claim Ancestry.com makes using "find famous people".

MOTHER: Elizabeth Mehetabel Jones
b. abt 1794 at Shropshire, England
Residence 1861 West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England, age 67
no parents listed
Source: 1861 England Census about Richard Taylor in Sarah Eadie Tree.

2nd Great Grandmother Isabella Slimmons, wife of William, died in 1865 by TB, according to Vern Austman (Oddstads). Her last name may be incorrect. Her father was John. She may have come out of Ireland during the Famine.

Einarsons and Stonesons have same Great Grandfather
Their father was Gísli Hákonarson, b. 1480 - 1560, was a Lögréttumaður (A man entitled to sit in "Lögrétta" at Alping/Parliment) og bóndi (Farmer) á Hafgrímsstöðum í Tungusveit (Iceland).
Árni Gíslason, b. Abt. 1520 (11th GGF) is related to Gudbrandur Einarson, b. 1890 (Roy's GF). There are three marriages here.
Björn Gíslason, b. 1521 (10th GGF) is related to Ingibjörg Einarsdóttir (Roy's GGM). There is one marriage in there.

Added New Branch to the Einarsons ending with Eiríkur Sumarliðason, b. 1370 in Iceland in database.

Egill Skallagrímsson is no longer an Uncle, but a Great Grandfather. Following another branch wound up with him as Sigurdur Christopherson's 23 GGF and my 26th GGF through Helga Þorsteinsdóttir, b. Abt. 975 AD. See PDF report here. Here is an old report as an Uncle.

Now using Ancestry.com for one month, followed up the Sigvadason to Rantzau family (see past entry) which leads to Esbern Assersen Snarre, b. 30 Oct 1128 in Fjenneslev, Denmark. Before him it was going back and forth between Denmark and Sweden for birthplaces. So just like Rantzau, Esbern is well known, see here. I still need to verify the lineage is accurate.