So, I wrote this press release. (Yes, I do occasionally work for money)

Seattle, W--June 10, 2009--Emily Wilson of the United States is coming to a family reunion in Uddevalla. But this isn't your typical reunion. When the ten family members traveling from the U.S. meet their Swedish cousins, it will be the family's first get together since the 1890's.

In 1859 Fred Wilson, their common ancestor, left Sweden’s economic troubles and a difficult step-father to adventure and sail around the world. Although the family had been rooted in the Bohuslän region since the 1500s, Fred Wilson only came back once. The family might have been lost to each other, but the Uddevalla cousins sent a letter to Aberdeen, Washington USA.

That's where Emily Wilson, the great great granddaughter of a Swedish immigrant, took over. She became so inspired and fascinated by this family history that she wrote a 464 page book, From Boats to Board Feet: The Wilson Family of the Pacific Coast, tracing their story back to the 1400's. The book, found in libraries and historical societies across the U.S. and Sweden including the Bohusläns Museum in Uddevalla, is built from a large collection of original family and business documents, letters, news articles, and photographs (more than 1,000) and is told within a rich historical context. Wilson finds not just church records but who had a beautiful singing voice and who left his inheritance fairly among the children of his three wives. She brings the history to life.

Now, Wilson is bringing the family back together. In addition to meeting their third cousins, the Wilsons will visit the Bohusläns Museum, old family farms, the monastery where one relative was a bell ringer, and many of the final resting places.


And it got picked up and translated into Swedish here:

http://bohuslaningen.se/nyheter/uddevalla/1.500640

Helen Larsson från Bokenäs berättar att det är första gången sedan 1890-talet som hela släkten träffas. Den som tagit initiativet till släktträffen är amerikanska Emily Wilson från Seattle som skrivit en tjock bok om släktens historia.

Efter firandet i museiparken, och en guidad tur inne på muséet, fortsatte träffen i Bokenäs med mat och lekar, för att ge amerikanerna smak av det klassiska svenska midsommarfirandet.

– De blir nog lite chockade, gissar Helen Larsson.

Then a friend of Emily's translated it back, so we could all read it here. And, um, it changed.

Helen Larsson from the book says that it is the first time since the 1890s that the whole family together. The one who initiated the family reunion is American Emily Wilson from Seattle who has written a thick book on the family history.

After the celebration in museum park out front of museum, there will be a guided tour inside the museum, continued the hit in the book with food and games, to give Americans a taste of the classic Swedish midsummer celebrations.

- They're a little shocked, this is all new to them,guess Helen Larsson.