About Esther's Book

Written by a remarkable woman, Esther Olson Brissenden, in the twilight of her life, this book tells the fascinating story of Blixt and Kristina Olson and their seven children, the forebearers of our generation.

It begins on the steps of a church in Stockholm, where Blixt and Kristina met, traces their journey to America and Ironwood, where they first settled, and then to Malo, Washington, where they built a life on a homestead hewed out of the frontier and raised their children within a framework of old world values.

Esther's Book is about roots -- the roots of their seven children, Charlie, Ernest, Anna, Esther, David, Samuel, and Christine -- and about the roots of their offspring who, as of this publication, are in their sixth generation in America. In every branch, they have gone on to inspiring careers and accomplishments that have at their inner being the strength and values imparted by these early immagrants which their descendants handed down through each generation.

And even more remarkable, this book is a great read, written by a born writer and reporter with a memory for detail and an ability to spin a story that keeps you engrossed for nearly 300 pages.

But this book doesn't end with Esther's story. In addition, it includes original letters that Blixt wrote his nephew in Sweden during his later years in America. And to continue the saga, stories of each of the seven children have been written by their offspring and included in this edition of the book.

Once you begin, you will have a difficult time putting down Esther's Book: The Story of a Family.

About the Author

Esther Olson Brissenden was born in Ironwood, Michigan, the third of 10 children of Blixt and Kristina Olson, seven of whom survived.

When Esther was five, her mother and the children followed her father to Malo, Washington, where he had carved a homestead out of the wilds of the Northwest. Esther grew up in this frontier environment, eventually met and married Bill Brissenden while she was working in Canada, and raised nine children with her husband in Ontario, Canada, where he was stationed as an officer of the Royal Canadian Navy.

In her sunset years, Esther visited her niece, Miriam Olson Lee, on Camano Island in Washington State and showed her the manuscript of a book that she had begun writing from memory about the Olson family. It was so engrossing that Miriam recognized the value of the manuscript for current and future Olson generations and offered to type the document and, if Esther would keep writing, find a way to distribute it to the Olson descendants.

With the help of her brother, S. Dean Olson, the book was first published in primitive form in 1975. For the occasion of the fifth Olson Family Reunion in Port Ludlow, Washington, in 1997, the book was republished professionally by Dean with many new photographs and additional stories of seven children of Blixt and Kristina to bring the saga up to date.