Unsung Heroes (2nd Edition): Learning from Those Who Led the Way - Annmae Johnson, Paperback

• Release Date   11/10/2013
• ISBN-13   9781478701699 | 978-1-4787-0169-9
• ISBN   1478701692 | 1-4787-0169-2
• Format   Paperback
• Author(s)   Annmae Johnson
• This is a true story that everyone should read! It describes different kinds of changes that have taken place over the past 150 years. We learn that with all of our improvements today, we still need the values my immigrant relatives and community lived by, if our world is going to be a more peaceful and rewarding place for everyone. I begin by telling about my grandparents, Geerd and Franka. They decided in 1864 to immigrate from Germany to the American prairies to provide a better way of life for their family. They were living in a tiny room in Geerd's parents' house, with his parents and brothers and sisters. Even with hard work, they became poorer and had little prospects for advancement. By scraping together enough money they were barely able get steerage tickets on a sailing ship. Then on the long voyage their ship met many vicious storms. During one of these Franka, who was pregnant, became very sick. My Grandma Lena, the youngest of nine children, came from Sweden in 1898. Her homesick brother in Nebraska had sent money for someone from the family to come over. Lena was the only one willing to go. She decided to just pay him a short visit. She crossed in steerage also, but on a steamship that made the crossing in a week. As a single woman she was advised by immigration officers to return to Sweden. Lena, like Geerd and Franka, always planned to return to her family, but she met and married Hassel and they began their family. Then he became sick. One day Bert, the youngest of Geerd's nine children, met Agnes, Lena's oldest child. Bert was 46 and Agnes 30 when they married and began a family of their own. I was the third of their seven children. As a family of nine we were frugal and had to work together for long hard hours to keep the family farm going and provide enough food and clothing for everyone. Looking back, I have so many happy memories of growing up on the farm with parents who truly loved each other till their dying day, and deeply loved each of us