About Me — Joel R. Dennstedt

World Traveler — Writer — Poet

Joel R. Dennstedt
About Me Stories
Published in
3 min readOct 12, 2022

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Joel R. Dennstedt

Ancient History

The first German Dennstedts came to Canada in 1845. Johann Ernst (20) and his cousin Johann Gerhardt (27) built their own sailboat to make the ocean passage. Made it to New York City, crossed overland to the Niagara peninsula, picked up the Huron Trail into SW Ontario, entered Ellice Township, and five miles into the swamp, staked out their lot.

One hundred years later, I was born.

Johann Ernst Dennstedt & Wife

Personal History

At 8 years old I began to write. I wrote about an Alphie bug who had the head of Alfred Hitchcock, about a war between the Decromats and the Conumists, and about a bear stranded on the Moon.

Maybe I was ahead of my time.

I lived 15 years in Alaska. I hiked the Chugach mountains. One day, a big old grizzly charged me. It was the best day of my life. I lived.

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