Steve, you're an Orc? Well, okay. Maybe we're related.

My great-grandfather, Robert Firth came from the Orkney Islands. In the early 1850s he hire on with the Hudson's Bay Company (as did many Orkneymen) and sailed around the Horn to the Pacific Northwest. He moved to San Juan Island and took over the HBC's Bellevue Farm in 1862 when Charles Griffin, its first manager, left. He was there during the Infamous Pig War, which mobilized many troops on both the British and American sides and lasted for about twelve years, but the only actual casualty was the pig (to which, as far as I know, I am not related). If one wishes to have a war, that's probably a pretty good way to do it. Once the San Juan Islands were declared U. S. territory (Kaiser Wilhelm I brokered the treaty), Robert Firth decided to stay, took out American citizenship, raised eight children with his wife, Jessie Grant, who also came from Orkney. By now, I have cousins all over the San Juans.

My grandparents on my mother's side, emigrated from Sweden and moved to Norway. Norway, Kansas, that is (five miles south of Scandia, Kansas), where my mother was born—the youngest of ten children. Later, they moved to Payette, Idaho, and then to Kirkland, Washington. I've got cousins all over Kansas, Idaho, and Washington. My sister is trying to trace my mother's family and I'm trying to trace my father's family. Problem I've encountered so far is, apparently half the population of Orkney seems to be named "Firth" and since it's a place name, they're not necessarily related. My sister's problem is that my mother's maiden name is "Peterson." How many Petersons do you figure there might be in Sweden?

Between my mother's ancestry and the various peoples who dominated Orkney throughout its history, I'm probably more Norse than anything. For some strange reason, I was born in Los Angeles. I've lived in Seattle most of my life, but actually, I lay claim to being an Earthman.

Don Firth