Latvia

Hi everyone

Fairly sure that anyone who is reading my blog would already know about By Elizabeth Cat's Blog.  The blog may be new, but Elizabeth has a HUGE following on Flickr as well.

Now yesterday morning I was thoroughly enjoying Elizabeth's photos - the colours, the craft, oh my!!!!  I so wanted to touch and feel a lot of the items, noticed immediately a few things that would have come straight home with me.

But something kept niggling in my brain and I just could not work out what it was.  So I got on with the rest of my daily chores - blog reading, email reading, ravelry, flickr etc  :-).  But the niggling stayed right there at the back of my mind.

Well I settled down to my D1's blanket last night with hook in hand and while working away the light came on ......

The niggling was not because of the beautiful colours I had seen on Elizabeth's blog.

It was not the beautiful crafts I had seen there either.  It was ..........

LATVIA

Ok by now you probably think I have totally lost it.......

Too much hooking time, not enough brain time.....

But no there is a reason for this madness ........

A family madness actually .........

My great-great-great-grandfather (and his parents) were from LATVIA!!!!!!!!!!!

Town - Meta???, Mitau????

Now I will tell you a little story about them ......

Julius VICTORSEN and his wife Rosetta (nee KAUFMANN of German origin) escaped from their home on board the ship "Ocean".  The 'Ocean' was aka 'Wolga'  and left from Hamburg in 1849. The ship evaded the Danish blockade of the Elbe by assuming a Russian name (Wolga) and flying Russian colours.

Both Julius and Rosetta died on the same day 25 January.  Julius in 1875 and Rosetta in 1891.

They settled in Clare, South Australia, which is near the well known wine district of The Barossa Valley.  They did not have a vineyard, but were shop-keepers who did very well in the area, owing several different shops and businesses during their lifetime.  They were also the first Jews to settle in the region.

Here is a very bad photocopy of a photo of Rosetta

Now I have an extra reason to read Elizabeth's blog, just to see what the country is like where my ancestors came from.

Also a little secret  ssshhhh.......

While I love reading the blogs of so many wonderful crafty and amazing people, if they happen to live in areas where my ancestors originated, well then I have the bonus of looking at the area of their origin.

Now off to find some Irish Crochet Bloggers   ☺