The other Jansons

In 1883, there were two Janson families who came to Buckman, Morrison county, Minnesota to settle--one was   Josef and Franziska (my great grandparents) and the other was his cousin Johannes and wife Maria Anna.  Each couple had five children and both wives were pregnant.
They'd purchased a farm west of Buckman where there was a log cabin in a small clearing.  Imagine 4 adults, nine boys under 12 and a seven year old girl...all stuffed into a tiny one room cabin with a loft reached by a ladder outside.  Then, within a month, add two new babies.
Whew.  No wonder Johannes and Maria Anna moved away; somebody had to!
Tragically, that November, three of their children died--the new baby Franziska on the 5th, Johann August on the 18th and Lorenz on the 23rd.  They were 5, 2 and 6 months old.

NOTE #1:   When we first began looking for Janson info online, I found a site called "All my relations..." by Carrie Stave.  She has since taken it down, but I emailed her and asked to use some of the wonderful photos she had there.  She gave me her blessings because, like here on Janson, the photos aren't "mine"--they belong to the family.

NOTE #2:  Going back to various genealogy message boards, its funny to read how we all had enthusiasm and incorrect "facts" in equal measure...names, villages and years all slightly off plumb.  We wrote what we believed was right at the time, and as much as I'd like to apologize or change it, hell, others can have the fun of figuring it all out too!

Still, John and Mary had 11 other children who grew up and grew old.  Most had families of their own and one became a Benedictine nun, Sr Mumertha.

The above photo would have been 1915 or so.

Below are the 11 kids in 1956, on Mike's 50th wedding anniversary 

(he's sitting second from right, I think).

.

I'll post more pics as I make the proper connections, ok?

Many thanks to Carrie for these photos!