Paying back history by Dean Hovey

Today, September 22, Anne Flagge (co-author of Whistling Librarian) and I will be signing books at "Twice Told Tales" from 10:00-1:00. The bookstore is celebrating it's 20th anniversary and a part of their celebration, Anne and I will be local celebrities signing books. The bookstore is in the tiny Northen Minnesota town of Mahtowa, with a downtown that consists of TJ's General store, a bar, Twice Told Tales, and two churches.The last time I was there, Myra the Manager handed me a family tree and explained how Anne and I are her cousins. My mother was from Mahtowa, and over the course of that day half of the people who introduced themselves, showed me where they were on that family tree. Considering the town was founded by four brothers and their married sister, it's not too surprising there are a lot of people who share branches of that tree. Mom married my father and moved away 80 years ago, but I still know where the family homestead is (about 1/2 mile from downtown), I know the Lutheran Church where they were married, and I know the local golfcourse is built on Uncle Dellie and Aunt Esther's farm. I also know that there's a piece of me there. Signing books there is an honor, not an obligation. If my presence will bring a few more people to town for the anniversary event, I am pleased to spend three hours there. I owe it to Mom, my grandparents and great grandparents, and all of the Peterson, Johnson, Carlson, Swanson, Woletlo, and Aho cousins who live there or populate the local cemetery. They are my Swedish/Danish/Finnish Family, the ones who hacked homesteads out of the pine forest, built log cabins, froze those bone-chilling -30 winters, and tried to eke a living out of the rocky and swampy soil. Yes, I owe them a few hours of my time. Come to Mahtowa today if you get the chance. If not today, stop at the bookstore some other time and say hello to Cousin Myra. Tell her I sent you.