Hello! I’m Betsy Hedberg, and I’m building this family-history site bit by bit…here’s the story:
On my 2023 Christmas visit with my mom, we spent hours and days reading, sorting, and scanning photos, letters, diaries, notes, deeds, birth certificates, naturalization papers, and much more — all related to either my mom’s (Gratiot) or my dad’s (Hedberg) family history. My mom, brother, and I have decided to share this information with you, whether you’re a member of our extended family or are just interested in American life back in the olden days.
Although I know I’m not the center of everything, this is all presented from my perspective. For example, “Gratiot history” for me means the family history related to my Gratiot grandparents, John and Ruth. This includes Ruth’s side of the family — people who actually have nothing to do with the Gratiots, with names like Bates and Williamson. Depending on where you sit on the family tree (if at all), “Gratiot history” may mean something quite different to you, and you may not care much about my grandmother’s family. But there’s a lot there (her ancestors were prolific letter writers), and you might find it interesting anyway.
I’ll also add my own commentary to many of the pages. My idea is to make this complex site as user-friendly as I can, so I’ll add summaries and other comments when I think they’re helpful.
My mother, Junia, has spent countless hours typing up many of the handwritten letters and diaries you’ll find here — thanks Mom!
I hope you enjoy this wealth of material — we are very lucky to have it!
How to navigate the site: Please use the menu bar at the top of each page to link to the pages for each part of the family.
Links on the site: I have made all links to outside websites (like Find a Grave and Wikipedia) open in a new tab. I’ll assume you know basic internet browsing techniques to deal with this!
Photo galleries: Many pages have photo galleries that show 10 photos per page. You can navigate to the next page of photos (if necessary) using the arrows below those 10 photos.