Monday, September 29, 2014

A Wedding and a 100 years old anniversary Maple Tree

Anton and Alena Palmquist's marriage license
Anton and Alena Palmquist on their wedding day in September of 1913
Around 1914, Anton and Alena Palmquist, Jim Palmquist's grandparents, decided to celebrate their first wedding anniversary by planting a tree in the front yard of the Farmhouse. In those days, buying a tree was done through mail order. So they looked through a catalog, picked out a tree, sent their money, and the tree was shipped to them a few weeks later. The tree they decided to get was a southern maple.

Since the tree was planted, it has been a big part of the family. Anna Gustafson’s funeral was held under the tree as well as many other anniversaries, reunions, and picnics.
Anton and Alena Palmquist (far left) celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in September 1963 beneath the maple tree. The tree is visible near the center of the background. Also in the picture are Alena’s sister and many other friends and family. 
The tree has split many times throughout its life, and we’ve had to do a lot of pruning on it to keep it healthy, but it's worth it because the tree is a significant part of our family's history.

This past weekend, we held a birthday party under the tree to observe it's 100th birthday. Present were Helen and Jim Palmquist (back center) and their daughter, Anna and her husband Adam, plus Otis the farm dog.

 Come be part of the history!

posted by Palmquist Farm at 3:46 PM2 comments