I wonder what he would have thought of "The Bum Bum Song"

A couple of months ago my sister sent me a link via GChat, as she often does during the middle of the work day (don't pretend that you don't do it too).

It was to the Google Books page for a book. Namely, A History of the Swedish-Americans of Minnesota, a multi-volumed writing rather ostentatiously subtitled "A Concise Record of the Struggles and Achievements of the Early Settlers, together with a narrative of what is now being done by Swedish-Americans of Minnesota in the development of their Adopted Country."

Snoozefest. BUT!

Check this guy out:


He's my great grandfather, Dr. Ernest G. Sterner, born Ernst Gustav Magnusson in Småland, Sweden in 1882. His parents, John and Johanna Magnusson, changed the family's names when they emigrated to the United States in 1891.

Here's what the book had to say about him:


The book was printed in 1910, before Ernest married my great-grandmother Elise and had children (including my grandmother, Carol).

Later on in the book, Ernest's older brother Otto gets the spotlight, but no picture. Otto was a pretty big deal. Not only was he a doctor, he was also the county coroner and the mayor of Cambridge, Minnesota:


Here's a picture of Ernest, Otto, and some buddies that my cousin dug out of the family archives. Otto is on the far right and Ernest is next to him:


So now you can see where I got my Swedish good looks--from my dashing Grandpa Ernest.

Elin Nordegren, eat your heart out.

P.S. Not the loon, I want to hear the cannon!