Reflections On Lekvattnet

I first discovered my cousins in Minnesota. Until that time, I hadn't known they existed. Some of them were still living on the original farm of my great great grandfather, who had immigrated to America from Sweden in 1868, when he was 14 years old. Soon after, I visited them and obtained many family records, all of which said they came from Värmland, Sweden. But where in Värmland? I was told that the family had changed their name to Lysen when they came to America, to remind them of the lake they lived by and loved in Sweden. I just knew I had to find this lake I was named after. I looked at countless web sites about Värmland, trying to get a feel for the land my ancestors came from.

In the summer of 2005, I took what family records I had and travelled to the Mormon Family History Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, where they have church records from all over the world.

With help from the experts in the Scandinavian department, at the end of a 12 hour day, I had found my ancestors listed in the Lekvattnet church records.

Over the next six months, I looked for web sites about Lekvattnet. I had no luck. Somehow I had not yet found Lekvattnet's web page. On December 30, 2005, I sent an email to an all Swedish sites that had a question link. Little did I know, it was a Värmland genealogy site. An hour later, a man named Lars Gunnar Sander put me in contact with Irmgard Henriksson, who was the local area genealogist. She told me that she knew of my ancestors and would help me. This was when I discovered that my ancestors were Forest Finns. The next day, I received an email from Irmgard, telling me to check out the village web site, www.Lekvattnet.nu . When I clicked on the web site, there was the most beautiful music playing and snowflakes falling on the page. There were all these Happy New Year messages in Swedish. The only message in English on the page read, "I want to wish a Happy New Year to John Lysen in Alaska, who has roots in Lekvattnet- from Irmgard Henriksson". After some research, Irmgard discovered that we were seventh cousins. I just knew I had to go to Lekvattnet.

I wished the Lekvattnet web site was in English, so I contacted the Webmaster, Benny Ljus, who, as it turns out, is also a seventh cousin. Working together we were able to translate some of the web site into English. I am hoping this will make it easier for others searching for their roots like me to find this special place.

From the moment I arrived to the moment I left, I had such a good time, thanks to all my cousins and all the wonderful people of Lekvattnet. I have so much to say about my visit and so many pictures to share with you, I will be contributing more to the web site, so look for future postings.

As I stood behind the church, mesmerized by the reflection of the forest on the playful water of Lekvattnet, 
I felt like I had come home.

John Lysen, August 2006