If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 420

Map of Tacoma, Washington, 1893

Today’s postcard has a vintage an aerial panoramic map of the city of Tacoma from 1893.  The card was distributed by Lantern Press of Seattle and has the image number 4394.  I found this card in a museum gift shop.  In addition to the street layout the border around the map shows buildings that existed in the city in 1893.

Tacoma is a port city on Puget Sound and is the second largest city in the area.  Its name comes from Mt. Takhoma or Tahoma now known as Mt. Rainier.  While Seattle is called The Emerald City, Tacoma is called The City of Destiny because it was chosen to be the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad in the late 1800s.  It is located 32 miles southwest of Seattle and 31 miles northeast the state capitol, Olympia. 

When I was little the saw mills and paper pulp mills in Tacoma exuded such a strong smell that combined with the smell of the muddy industrial tide flats earned the unfortunate “Tacoma Aroma” moniker.  It was not an altogether pleasant smell.  During the 1990s companies reduced the sulfur emissions by about 90% and that has mostly eliminated the ever-present odor.   In addition to the lumber products, such as pulpwood and linerboard, Tacoma also continues to operate an U.S. Oil refinery on the tide flats that produces 39,000 barrels of petroleum per day.  Tacoma is home to food and candy companies like Brown & Haley, Roman Meal, Mars. 

There are several parks in Tacoma including Point Defiance Park that has a Zoo and Aquarium.  Multi-use trails for biking and walking connect several public parks.  There are museums and historical sites within the city that are worth visiting such as the Museum of Glass where demonstrations of glass blowing are held and handmade glass items can be purchased. 

The bridge connecting the Washington State Museum of History and the Museum of Glass with the two glass pillars.  The museum is housed in what was the Union Station built in 1910 and an enduring emblem of the city of Tacoma.  The central copper covered dome is 90 feet high.  In the 1990s this building was used as a federal court house.  It was put on the register of National Historic Places in 1974.

One of several ceiling panels filled with blown glass

Glass blowing demonstrations are held several times a day

 A window display of hand blown glass ball ornaments

An outdoor pool with a clear glass exhibit

The Washington State Museum of History has a permanent model train display among other historical displays and items.   

 Model trains

Looking down on a life-sized display depiction of what Union Station looked like when it was in operation

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Washington
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Station_(Tacoma,_Washington)

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 413

Haida Village, Haida Gwaii, Alaska, 1890

Today’s featured postcard is another one I found in a shop in Ketchikan.  Richard Maynard is identified as the photographer on the card dated 1890*.  The picture shows a Haida Village, Haida Gwaii also called Queen Charlotte Islands, off the northern Pacific Coast of Canada.  The blurb on the reverse states:  “Each house in this village was identified with crests which were displayed on mortuary poles and house front.”  The card was printed in Canada and is a Native Elements product, NativeNorthwest.com, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

There are between 40 and 60 islands in the archipelago that includes the two main islands, Graham Island (Kiis Gwaay) on the north and Moresby Island (Taawxii Xaaydaga Gwaay.yaay linagwaay**—south people island or Gwaay Haanas—islands of Beauty). There are also approximately 150 smaller islands. 

Archaeologists have established that the Haida people have lived on the islands for 13,000 years.  Today form about half of the population.  They have their own acting government called the Council of the Haida Nation.  The islands were formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands or “the Charlottes.”  In 2010 the Haida Gwaii Reconciliation Act, in an agreement between British Columbia and the Haida people, renamed them.

The Haida population was around 30,000 inhabitants until the Europeans arrived bringing with them diseases such as smallpox, measles, typhoid, and syphilis.  About 90% of the people died from these illnesses during the 1800s.  By 1900 there were only 350 people remaining and many of the towns and villages had been abandoned.  Today the population living on the islands is about 4,500.  Many of the native peoples moved to cannery towns on the mainland or to Vancouver Island.  The two remaining active island communities are Skidgate, shown on the postcard, and Old Massett, each having a population of about 700 individuals. 

It is not known for certain how the original Haida people came to settle the islands but anthropologists have found striking parallels between the inhabitants of the Kamchatka Peninsula and those of the native peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. 

The photographer, Richard Maynard (1832-1907) was Canadian and known mainly for his pictures featuring landscape views of British Columbia, coastal Alaska, and the Pribiloff Islands of the Bering Sea.  Maynard’s wife, Hannah, was also a photographer.  Many of his prints and personal papers were collected by Charles Newcombe.  The negatives of pictures taken by both Maynard and his wife were donated to sold by the son, Albert, to the British Columbia Archives.

For additional information about Haida Gwaii and other examples of Maynard’s photography, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haida_Gwaii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Maynard_(photographer)


———————————————————————————————

*  There is another similar photograph on Wikipedia that is labeled “Houses and totem poles, Skidegate, 26 July 1878 (George Mercer Dawson, Geological Survey of Canada, NAC-PA-37756).”   I’m not sure if both are the same photograph or two different pictures of the same village taken at different times.

**The native names use diacritical marks and letters that I do not have on my computer so these may not be spelled exactly as they should be.

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 317

Mount Rushmore, 1937

Although there was a postcard Thursday about Mount Rushmore on 21 August 2014, I am putting up another one now because every so often I am lucky enough to find a series of postcards with old pictures that tell a story.  This week four cards shared are from Mount Rushmore, South Dakota.  All four cards were found at the Mount Rushmore gift shop.  All have black and white photographs from the Denver Public Library Western History Collection and are Impact, Designed and Distributed in the U.S.A., printed in Korea publications.  The card above has the identifier #26383 at the upper left on the reverse.  Not all the heads had been completed when this picture was taken in September 1937 for the unveiling of the Lincoln face.  The cards show the progress of the monument from the bare mountain face to the completed project and include some of the workers as well.  The fifth card is a modern photograph of a worker cleaning the surface of one of the heads.

Mount Rushmore, ca 1923

This second card shows Mount Rushmore before work on the sculpture was started by Sculptor Gutzon Borglum.  The photograph dates to about 1923.   On the reverse, upper left, is #26384.

The Lakota Souix called the mountain, “The Six Grandfathers.”  Among American settlers it was known variously as Cougar Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, Slaughterhouse Rock and Keystone Cliffs.  There are at least two stories about how the mountain got its current name of Mount Rushmore.  Charles E. Rushmore (1857-1931) was a New York businessman and attorney who visited the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1885 to check titles and properties of an eastern mining company owned by James Wilson concerning the Etta tin mine.  

In one story he is said to have made friends with the miners and prospectors.  When he asked what the name of the great granite peak was he was told it did not have a name but it would be called Rushmore from then on.  The other story related by rancher, Jerry Urbanek, is that Rushmore went to the Black Hills each year to hunt big game.  One day he asked the name of the mountain and was told it was called Slaughterhouse Rock.  Rushmore joked that his frequent trips gave him the right to have the mountain named after himself.   More or less as a joke the locals started called it Mount Rushmore.  Forty years later in 1925, Rushmore made the largest single contribution of funds, $5,000, towards Borglum’s sculpture on the mountain.  The United States Board of Geographic Names officially recognized the name Mount Rushmore in 1930. 

Mount Rushmore, in process, ca 1934

This third card with a photograph from the early 1930s shows the beginnings of the project.  It has #26380 on the reverse.

Originally Borglum planned to put Jefferson to the left of Washington but the lack of carvable stone and the poor quality of the rock led to the removal of the partially completed head in 1934.  The white section on the stone next to Washington shows where the uncompleted Jefferson head was removed.  Construction on the monument began in 1927 with the faces completed between 1934 and 1939.   Borglum had planned to depict the figures from head to waist.  After he died in March 1941 his son, Lincoln Borglum took over as leader of the construction but due to lack of funding the project was forced to end in October 1941. 

Mount Rushmore with some of the almost 400 workers, ca 1941

The fourth card from about 1941 has the number #26381 and shows some of the almost 400 workers who spent 14 years creating Borglum’s sculpture known as the “Shrine of Democracy.”  Gutzon Borglum’s son, Lincoln, is shown at the far right of the second row.

The mammoth size of these heads, 60 feet or 18 meters, is shown on this fifth card with a modern photograph showing a worker plugging natural fissures in the rock face.  New improved sealant has also replaced material used by Borglum in the 1930s.  This postcard has RP427 on the reverse and is from the South Dakota Department of Tourism, 2015.

This summer Bob and I decided to drive across the country to Marietta, Ohio, where my son and his family live, instead of flying.  We planned to visit parks and monuments as part of the trip and also stop in Salt Lake City, Utah to visit with Bob's son and his family.  It had been 17 years since I last visited Mount Rushmore.  We didn’t see any mountain goats near the monument this time but despite the extremely hot weather we did walk part way around and took several pictures from different angles.  The visitor center area includes Borglum’s workshop with models of the sculptures.

Mount Rushmore, 2017

There is a half-mile loop trail and boardwalk in the front of the mountain that we walked.  Behind the heads is a chamber with a vault holding 16 porcelain enamel panels with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, biographies of the four presidents and Borglum and the history of the U.S.  The chamber and vault were installed in 1998 as part of a planned “Hall of Records.”  There is a trail up around the back to where the chamber is located, but it was too hot to try that hike the day we were there.  The Hall of Records has not been completed as yet. 

 Somewhat by accident we spotted this marker along the loop trail.

Inside Gutzon Borglum's workroom with models of the presidents

Inside the workshop there are models of what the sculptures were to look like.  Due to lack of funding, only the heads were ever completed on the mountain.

Gutzon Borglum by Lincoln Borglum

For additional information and pictures, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rushmore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutzon_Borglum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_E._Rushmore

21 August 2014, Beware of the Rug, Thursday postcard -- Search:  Mount Rushmore

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 244

Maypole dance, San Juan Island, Washington, 1910

This is one of the postcards we found last fall when we took a trip to the San Juan Islands.  There are several cards in this series reproduced from old pictures in the collection titled Images of America:  San Juan Island, from the San Juan Historical Society and published by Arcadia Publishing Company.

When I showed this card to Bob, he reminded me that as grade school children we both participated in Maypole dances here in Seattle in our respective elementary schools where the streamers were made of colored crepe-paper.  The photo on this postcard is dated 1910 and shows a group of young girls in white dresses dancing around a maypole at Roche Harbor, San Juan Island, Washington.  Each girl holds a different colored ribbon that is attached to the top of the pole and as they go around the pole the ribbons decorate it in spring colors.  At the right side in the background is the Hotel de Haro with spectators sitting in front of it.  The hotel was decorated with ivy vines draped across for the event.  The fenced in area in the center back of the picture encloses an outdoor dining area.

 Hotel de Haro as it looks, 2015

Hotel de Haro is located in the town of Roche Harbor on San Juan Island, has a beautiful garden and is right on the waterfront.  The marina was filled with pleasure boats during our visit.  This resort area was once a company town that produced lime.  The remains of old kilns can be found in the town center.

Old lime kiln 

Roche Harbor marina

The origins of the maypole and its dance are unknown but maypole dances date from before Christian times and are more common in European countries primarily in Germany and Austria although they are also held in Scandinavia, the United Kingdom and several other countries.  Today it is still observed in parts of Europe and also some communities in North America where immigrants settled and brought the tradition with them.  A tall wooden pole is erected and decorated with ribbons and flowers, children and adults are invited to dance around often winding ribbons about the pole as is shown on the card above.  A few communities leave the pole up as a permanent fixture in other areas the pole is taken down after the event.  Usually held on May 1st or Pentecost (Whitsun) it can instead be part of a festival held at Midsummer.  The Maypole Dance in the United States most closely resembles those held in the United Kingdom.

I thought it would be fun to share the card this week since the first day of May is Sunday.  Another tradition not depicted on the card is the making of small paper flower baskets at school that were filled with spring blossoms (paper or real, probably some dandelions included) that were often delivered by children to friends on 1 May with a note proclaiming--Happy May Day! 



For more information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maypole
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roch_Harbor_Washington

Herbert Solwold

Herbert Solwold, 1987

On 17 July 1987 I had the great good fortune to meet with Agnes Allpress* at her home in Silverdale, Washington. Agnes had as her special guest, Herbert Solwold who had just celebrated his 95th birthday.  He certainly did not look his age when I saw him.   This photo was was taken earlier that year at his home in Swisshome, Oregon.  He was a perfect delight to visit.  At that time he lived with his stepson and step-daughter-in-law and had driven up to Washington to meet with a group of family members.  Sixty-five people gathered at a reunion in his honor, some coming from as far away as Illinois.

Jorgen (George) Ostinius Olsen Solwold, ca 1870

[www.Ancestry.com]

Uncle Herbert's father was Jorgen Ostinius Olsen Solwold who was born 30 October 1851 on the Kragføt farm in Ulefoss, Holla, Telemark, Norway.  George as he was called in the United States worked as a ship painter in Bergen, emigrating at age 18 or 19 from that city.  Herbert said that his father suffered from lead poisoning as a result of his ship painting.  He also recalled that when his father first came to Hood's Canal Captain Hood's head was on a post at Hood's Point--Captain Hood having angered the Indians had "made his last point."

George married Mary (her maiden name appears in places as either Thornsen or Sorensen), who was born in Norway 8 May 1860 and came to the United States at age 3.  Her family originally settled in Minnesota.  George and Mary were married 23 December 1879 in Winona County, Minnesota and left there traveling across the country to become homesteaders at Duckabush located on Hood's Canal in Jefferson County, Washington.  They settled there around 1884 to 1886 which was before Washington territory became a state (November 11, 1889).  George had two brothers, Gunnar and Olaf Solwold who may have also lived in the area.  

George and Mary lived in a log cabin which they built from timber on their land.  Their land was on the south of the mouth of the Duckabush River along the beach.  They were hardworking pioneers who loved the land on which they lived.  They had two sons, Herbert and Walter.  Walter passed away in 1969.  George was appointed Duckabush Postmaster in 1891. They would row seven miles to Seabeck for mail and supplies.  The post office at Duckabush was discontinued in 1926.  They also had a small general store for many years.  George died 5 May 1931, and Mary passed away 14 October 1953.  

While Herbert was growing up at Duckabush Sadie Stean was doing the same in Norway.  Sadie's story has already been told in the blog.  She was the granddaughter of Mikal Alfsen Roland Hornnes and Anna Gundersdatter.  Her mother was Raghnild Mikalsdatter and her father was Ola Johnson Stean.  Sadie was another of Lil Anna's nieces and cousin of Gunnie Swanson.  After Sadie came to the United States and moved to Seattle around 1909, she made friends with Ester and Line.  Ester married Jack Jarness, Line married Carl Carlson.  These three girls went camping on the land owned by Herbert's parents at Duckabush.  It was during one of the camping trips that Herbert and Sadie met and began to see each other.  They dated for a couple of years before World War I called Herbert to France.  They wrote during the war and when he returned home they were married at Gunnie (Gunie) and L.R. Swanson's home in Silverdale, Washington on 8 October 1919.  

Ester, Sadie, and Line on a camping trip, ca 1914

Herbert Solwold in his World War I uniform, taken in France 1917

The photo above of Herbert in his uniform was sent as a postcard to Axel and (Lil) Anna Hornnes Schroder as a Christmas greeting in 1917.  Herbert had stayed with them in 1916 before going into the army.   Altogether he was in the service for 17 months, going first to Camp Lewis, then Georgia, then to Camp New Jersey before being sent overseas.

When he returned Herbert worked for a time (1919/1920) at the fish hatchery in Brinnon, Washington near Duckabush.  He was called back to work as manager in 1921/22.  In 1922 he built a log house in Brinnon which he and Sadie kept until about 1933 when it was sold for $3,000.  The picture below is of Richard Solwold, the only son of Herbert and Sadie.  It was taken in the snowy woods on the north side of the Solwold house.

Richard Solwold

Herbert was married three times.  After Sadie passed away in 1941 he married Marian Taylor also called "Georgie" in 1943.  Georgie died in 1972 and that same year Herbert married Connie Danielson.   Connie lived until 1983.  Herb said that he had no plans to remarry again and was quite happy to live with Connie's son, Floyd, and wife, Helen Danielson, in Swisshome, Oregon.  "They are taking good care of me," he said when I talked with him in 1987. 

Herb passed away on 9 December 1989.  In a short history of his life written by Mrs. Bailey of Dosewallips, Washington he was described as the oldest living native son of the Brinnon area, Jefferson County, Washington.  Herb was still surf fishing in the Pacific Ocean in his 97th year but he got a blood clot in his leg and was hospitalized for a short time before he died.  When he was 95 he walked all around the Brinnon area telling stories of his parents pioneering days and "walked the legs off" people half his age.  He had 6 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.  When I visited with him he did indeed fit the description "sharp as a tack" and full of fun.  I feel very privileged to have met and visited with him.

....................................................................................................................................
Notes:

To help family members place the individuals I will try and connect them beginning with
* Agnes Allpress was the daughter of Gunnie Osmun Swanson and granddaughter of Osmund Baardsen Gåseflå who was the husband of (Store) Anna Mikalsdatter Hornnes.  Because she was so tiny when she was born Gunnie was nicknamed "Bitta" by her siblings. 

What happened to Ingeborg, Update

Graslia, Vest Agder, Norway

This photo of the cover of the 2012 Vennesla Historielag appeared in the blog on 27 January 2013.  After the post went out Rune Jensen sent me another email explaining that this image is of Graslia and shows the house he grew up in.  His parents still live there.  It is the third house from the right in the row by the large barracks across the river. 

Olaug & Mikal

He was also able to provide the identities of these two people in the snow trench as his grandparents Olaug and Mikal not Ingeborg and Olav as I had thought they might be.

Thank you so much, Rune, for sending the additional information.  I am always very pleased to put more of the pieces together and get the names and places figured out correctly.

All the photos are from the Vennesla Historielag.

What happened to Ingeborg?

Ingeborg & Torkjel Hornnes, ca 1907
[photo:  courtesy of Alf Georg Kjetså]

The wedding photograph above was taken in 1907 when Torkjel Mikalsen Hornnes wed Ingeborg Gundersdatter Tveit.  This was his second marriage and her first.  They had six children but the first child died so she had five children at home when Torkjel passed away.  I wondered what happened to Ingeborg after Torkjel Mikalsen Hornnes died in 1924.  The family had been living in Rødbyen, the company housing for the aluminum factory, Vigeland Brug.  Rune Jensen had sent pictures and told me about a family reunion that was held.  The story of what happened to Ingeborg as told by Lillemor’s daughter, Evelyn, was published in the Vennesla Historielag 2012.  

Graslia

[photo: Vennesla Historielag cover, 2012]

Rune was kind enough to send me a copy and also translate the article.  I am posting it here mostly for the extended family members who migrated to America and elsewhere and would have no reasonable way to read it in English unless I did so.  Here follows the rest of the story . . .

In order for Ingeborg to remain in her home in Rødbyen after Torkjel died it was necessary for her to go to work for the company.  The job she found was sewing burlap sacks.  The two youngest children would have to be alone while the older ones were in school and Ingeborg would hurry home at lunchtime to tend the fire and make sure the children were fine.  The youngest child was only 2 or 3 years old at that time.  I have read of other accounts where a mother had to leave small children like this home alone when husbands were dead or not at home and she had to go to work so this situation must have happened every once and awhile.  Even though the work place was nearby it must have been a rather dreadful thing for a mother to have to do.

Meanwhile, there were two brothers, Olav and Knut Dalen, who jointly took ownership of their father’s (Jens Hansen Dalen) farm Dallen after he died in 1910.  They both also worked at the aluminum factory.   Olav was aware of the widow Ingeborg and her five children whose ages ranged from 3 to 13 years. 

It does not sound like a particularly romantic proposal but according to the story one day Olav said:  “You cannot sit here and sew, marry me and move up to Dallen.”

 [photo source:  Vennesla Historielag, 2012]

Ingeborg accepted the offer.  Knut and Olav set about to build a new house in Dallen.  In 1927 the house was finished, Olav and Ingeborg married and Ingeborg moved up with all her children.  In addition to her own five children she also had four step-daughters that were children of Torkjel and his first wife, Gunhild Olsdatter Engestøl.  

The children of Ingeborg and Torkjel:

1.    Mikal, born 25 May 1911 married to Olaug Johnsen from Drammen
2.    Gunnar, born 3 October 1913 married to Borghild Pettersen from Klepp
3.    Olga, born 18 June 1916 married to Thorvald Aabel from Vennesla
4.    Anna (Lillemor), born 19 March 1919 married to Knute Molde from Oslo
5.    Alf, born 4 October 1921 married to Sylvia Grundekjøn from Kristiansand

The step-daughters:

1.  Anna, emigrated to America
2.   Ellen married Høydal from Vennesla
1.    Mally, married Høydal in Vennsela
2.    Karen, married Løland from Birkeland

The step-daughters often came to visit Dallen.  Ingeborg and the children did well in Dallen.  Olav was a kind stepfather who was called “far” (grandfather) by everyone.  Knut was a good uncle.  They were patient and the children thrived.

In the winter Olav shoveled the way down to the village before he was to be at work at 6 am.  There was a narrow path, one shovel width, where the edges could reach one and two meter’s high.  The faces are not clear enough but since the photo was included in the story I think the people must be Ingeborg and Olav standing there in the trench.  Thinking about this makes me realize that Olav had to get up probably around 4 am in order to dig his way out and be to work on time. 

[photo source:  Vennesla Historielag, 2012]

Olav was said to have been a very strong man.  One incident involved an iron beam that needed to be moved.  The beam was so heavy that someone went to get help but by the time he came back the beam had been moved.  The weight was estimated to 300 to 400 kilos or about 700 lbs.  There were no horses at Dallen so Olav carried most everything on his back.  It was said that he carried a bale weighing 104 kilos or about 220 lbs from the Vikeland train station up to Dallen just by holding a wire. 

Evelyn provided some descriptive comments about Dallen also.  There was a long shed approximately where two small buildings stand today.  There was a toilet with two large and one small hole.  There was an attic, two stalls, barn and woodshed.  There was only room for one cow and one calf.  In addition they had chickens and cats.  There was a lot of fruit and berries in Dallen.  The garden and the soil were tended well.  There were many different varieties of apples, “warrior” plums and a variety of cherry trees.  In the cherry season there were many who went to Dallen to eat and pick.

As the children grew up and were married the grandchildren came visiting Dallen.  There were 16 grandchildren and they were always welcome.   Often they stayed overnight and Olav was “far (father or grandfather) in Dallen” for everyone.  On Christmas Eve the entire family gathered.  The best parlor was opened and gifts were under the sofa.  Santa Claus (or Julenisse) came and read out who was to get which gift and the gifts were sent down the long table to the recipients.  The Christmas tree had candles, cakes and candy in the baskets.  There was quite a lot of trouble with the candles when the family walked or danced around the tree singing.

World War II broke out in Norway on 9 April 1940.  Ingeborg and Lillemor were washing clothes by the washing pot just below the stairs.  They heard the planes as they went over and suddenly they saw a long track of people down the road.  There were families from the barracks in Vikeland who escaped and would seek shelter in Dallen.  They told of the war that had broken out.  There were also people from Kristiansand who were on the rise.   Later that day Thorvald Aabel came with a truck and drove his wife, children, mother-in-law and several others of the family up to Tveit in Vegusdal to Ingeborg’s childhood home.  There were about 30 people gathered.  They were there for two weeks then went home again in Trygve’s cab.  Knut and Olav were just at home and several families were to be in Dallen for a while.  Mrs. Vatne prepared food for everyone.

Knut Dalen died in 1950.  The following summer Alf and Sylvia got married.  Now that the attic was free the newly married couple moved in.  They lived there for a year.  Next came the family Skeggestad from Evje and they stayed there for two or three years.  They were very helpful to Ingeborg who had become sickly.

Olav was very fond of animals.  When he dug in the ground and saw an earthworm he lifted it carefully away.  One time a cow got a potato caught in the trachea.  A veterinarian was called but he did not know what to do so they massaged the cow until the potatoes came up.  It was horrible for Olav to do this and unfortunately the cow had to be put down anyway.

Alf got a great St. Bernhard’s dog while living at Dallen.   Olav was so fond of the dog that it remained in Dallen when Alf moved.  It was not a few meter’s of sausage that he bought from the butcher Fredriksen for the dog.  Olav was good at singing.  He had a deep voice.  He sang old songs, mostly folk songs and hymns.  He could recall many verses by heart.  He was also fond of reading.  When he was young he wanted to study medicine but he had no means to do so.  He bought some books and equipment and tried to study on his own.  Later he funded education for the son of an acquaintance who wanted to be a doctor.  It gave him a certain satisfaction. 

[photo source:  Vennesla Historielag, 2012]

Ingeborg got lung cancer in 1955 and became so ill that she needed extra care.  She then moved down to Lillemor and Knut Molde in Dalevein (the road up to Dallen).  Olav would not move from Dallen, but it was not long before he came down too.  He lived in Dalevein until his death in 1963.  He was 83 years old.

After Olav moved, Dallen was rented out to various families for several years.  Later around 1980 the daughter, Ellen Britt and Tor Husebø,  of Lillemor bought the property to make it into a resort.   Ellen Britt and Tor lived in Stavanger.  Today their son Roar and his wife Tao own the place.  Ellen Britt and Tor invited the family to Dallen several times for a reunion.  The current owner Roar and his sister Bente continue the tradition.  At these big family gatherings the main attraction is the baking in the big oven.  If all the descendants of Ingeborg in Dallen come to a reunion in 2013 there will be approximately 210 people.  


The photos and full story in Norwegian can be found in the Vennesla Historielag, 2012.  Thanks to Rune for sharing the article and the photos.

Sigrid Johanne Landaas

Sigrid Landaas and Harry Oliver,  1908

Sigrid Johanne Landaas was born 11 January 1886 in Bergen, Norway.  She is the youngest daughter in the family and the next to the youngest child of those born to Peder Johan Mikkelsen Landaas and Karen Olsdatter Kalvetræ.  With the infant mortality rate hovering around 50% it is amazing that only two of Karen’s eleven children died as babies and nine survived to adulthood.  Sigrid was sixteen the year she moved from Norway to begin a new life in Seattle.  She traveled with her mother, older sisters Klara and Nora and her youngest brother, Trygve arriving in Seattle 1902. 

Sigrid with her mother shortly before they left Norway

The Landaas family, as has been mentioned before, was not only large in numbers but a very close family.  They often had parties, picnics and holidays together.  They also were fond of nicknames with Mikkeline as Maggie, Petra often as Pete, and Sigrid as Taxi.  Sigrid got her nickname because she enjoyed riding in taxis from a very early age.  After she met Harry Oliver he started calling her “Tax” and that stuck with all the family eventually calling her Tax.  For the boys, Trygve was shortened to Tryg, Cornelius became Neil and Karen was called Mother by her children and Bestemor by some of the grandchildren but she remained properly Mrs. Landaas to almost everyone else outside the family. 

The five Landaas sisters arranged by height—Petra, Klara, Maggie, Sigrid, and Nora

Harry Oliver was born July 1888 in Rich Hill, Bates County, Missouri the second of five sons born to Napoleon B. and Nellie Oliver.  He was always called Harry but his first name was really Willis.  His formal name is sometimes written as Willis Harry, W. Harry, or Harry Willis, Harry W. Oliver.  Oral history stories claim that Nellie was one half or at least part American Indian possibly Cherokee and the 1900 United States Federal Census does show her listed as Indian.  Napoleon’s occupation on that census record is given as wood chopper. 

The five Oliver sons—Leonard born 1896; James born 1892; John born 1885; Walker born 1894; and Harry born 1888

All the brothers were handsome men.  These fellows loved a good time.  They were physical and athletic, often boisterous.  One story about them happened at a show in downtown Seattle.  Something struck one as funny and he started to laugh.  Soon the others joined in, and could not stop no matter how hard they tried.  They tried to muffle the sounds, but to no avail after awhile the theater manager had to throw them out for disrupting the show.  They sat down on the curb and still laughed.  By that time no one could remember what was so funny!

After I.C. Lee died in 1930 my mother stayed for a short period of time with Uncle Neil and his family and then later moved around between the other aunts and uncles but she spent the most  time living with Sigrid and Harry.  They were almost a second set of parents for her. 

Sigrid, ca 1907

The story of how Uncle Harry met Aunt Sigrid has it that Harry saw Sigrid walking down the street and he decided he had to find out who she was.  He did, they met, fell in love and were married on 12 December 1908.  I think Sigrid’s wedding gown shown at the top is so lovely and very typical of the style for this time period.  On 21 September 1909 they had a baby girl who was born and died the same day, unnamed.  They did not have any other children.  They owned a very successful dry cleaning business called Belmont Dye Works that was located in the Vance Building in downtown Seattle.  Harry had at least two delivery trucks.  This photo of him with one of his trucks was made into a postcard.

Harry Oliver with one of his delivery trucks, ca 1915

After they sold the Dye Works they bought a Tavern; they also owned a apartment bungalow court on Eastlake Avenue near Lake Union in Seattle.  Those apartments are still there today. 

Harry loved to play baseball.  He and his brothers had their own team sponsored by the Belmont Dye Works.  They played towns like Black Diamond and others in the area.  Sigrid kept the score on a big board where all could see it.  She would have to climb up and change the numbers (not unlike Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune!).  Later in his life Harry played golf and was at one time president of the Kenmore Golf Club.  Harry and Sigrid lived in a little house near Northgate when I was a girl.  I can remember visitng them and loving to have Uncle Harry tell stories about bears in the woods.  He was great storyteller.  He played Santa Claus for the whole Landaas family and only lost his anonymity because one of the grandchildren recognized his shoes.

Although they did not have any other children after the daughter who died, they did care for a boy named Tommy Boswell for several years.  Tommy’s parents were customers at the Dye Works.  His father was a rug buyer for a store and his mother was a gypsy.  Tommy was one of several children in the family; two were dancers of some note.  Apparently Tommy was a very cute little boy and the Olivers admired him.  One day Tommy and his mother came into the Dye Works and his mother asked Sigrid and Harry if they would mind watching Tommy for a while.  They agreed but his mother didn’t come back.  In fact, she didn’t come back for several years!  Tommy became an unofficial foster child.   Tommy often heard Sigrid call Harry “Sweet Daddy” or “Big Daddy” and Harry call Sigrid “Tax.”  He kept in touch with the Olivers after he moved back with his own family and in later years gave them a gift of monogrammed towels.  One said “Big Daddy” and the other “Nails.”  Tommy had thought the Tax for Taxi was Tacks for Nails.  They had a big laugh about of it and kept the towels for a very long time. 

The Olivers were good hearted people, always doing things for others.  My mother said she never heard Harry say a cross word.

Harry passed away 29 December 1952.  Sigrid on 24 November 1962.  They are both buried in the Pacific Lutheran section of Evergreen-Washelli Cemetery here in Seattle.

The maternal ancestors of Didrik Andreas Thomsen, part 2

 

Photo:  Didrik Andreas Thomsen as a young man

 
Please see the 24 July 2012 post for part 1 listing the maternal ancestors of Didrik Andreas Thomsen. 

Didrik’s mother was (I) Anne Didriksdatter the daughter of (II) Didrik Ånensen Dybvig (also spelled Djupvik) and (II) Gjertrud Marie Nilsdatter.  The previous post ended with Gjertrud’s parents, (III) Nils Tobias Pedersen Austad (born 1745) and (III) Anne Malene Jacobsdatter Nuland (born 1742 died 1782).  Today’s post begins with the parents of Nils Tobias Pedersen Austad. 

 [photo source:  Bygdebok for Nes Herred by Kaare S. Berg, p 119]

 

[photo source:  Bygdebok for Nes Herred by Kaare S. Berg, p. 20]

(IV) Peder Larsson Austad, born 1723 at Nes, Flekkefjord, Vest Agder, Norway the son of (V) Lars Pederson and Guri Jakobsdatter Osen.  Peder was married twice, first to Torborg Rasmusdatter Sunde who was the widow of Nils Ellingson Drangeid.  Torborg was born in 1712 the daughter of Rasmus Larsson Sunde and Todne Kristensdatter.  Peder and Torborg were married in 1744 at Nes.  Their children:

1.    * (III) Nils Tobias Pedersen, born 1745, inheritor of the farm
2.    Torborg, born 1748, died as a young child
3.    Lars, bron 1750, died as a young child
4.    Rasmus, born 1754, went to Holland in 1774, died unmarried, 1777
5.    Peder, born 1757, was living in Holland in 1777

Torborg Rasmusdatter Sunde died before 1765. 

Peder married second to Inger Hansdatter Lilledrange, born 1726, the daughter of Hans Tønneson Lilledrange and Anna Nilsdatter.  Inger Hansdatter was the widow of Tønnes Tjøstulfson lille Løyning a subdivision of Austad.  Their children:

1.    Tønnes, born 1765, died 1831
2.    Hans, born about 1768, inheritor
3.    Torborg, born about 1769, married Kornelius Korsmisson Netland

Inger died in 1775.   Peder was listed as lensmann or administrative official in 1770, he died in 1773.

(V) Lars Pederson, born about 1700 and died 1765, the son of (VI) Peder Larsson Gursli and Ingrid Pedersdatter.  Lars Pederson married first to Torborg Ånunsdatter Djupvik.  Torborg died 1737.  Their children:

1.    Marthe, born 1720, married Ole Ståleson Åsen
2.    * (IV) Peder born 1723, inheritor
3.    Helga, born 1729, married in 1755 to Sakarias Nilsson Ståby
4.    Anna, born 1733
5.    Birgitte, born 1737

Lars married second Siri Andersdatter from øvre Stølen in Herad, born 1685, died in 1755 at 70 years of age.  They did not have any children.

Lars married third to Guri Jakobsdatter Osen.  Their children:

1.    Jakob, born 1757, married Gjertrud Reidarsdatter Flikka
2.    Anne Berthe, born 1760, married 1787 Hans Hansson jr. Andabeløy
3.    Lars, born 1763

(VI) Peder Larsson Gursli, born 1670 and died 1728, the son of  (VII) Lauritz or Lars Jensson Hellesmark, Lund, and Ingrid Pedersdatter Gursli (no birth years given) who was the daughter of Peder Torgeirson Gursli, born 1622.   Peder married Helga Atlaksdatter Hove of Lund.  Peder is mentioned in Lund Bugdebok by Mehus; Kvinesdal Bydgdebok volume 1 by Årli, and Bygdebok for Nes Herred by Berg.  Peder and Helga had these children:

1.    * (V) Lars Pederson, born about 1700, inheritor
2.    Ingeborg, Pedersdatter,
3.    Ingrid
4.    Gjertrud, born 1709, married Oluf Osmundson Djubvik
5.    Birgitte

(VII)  Lauritz or Lars Jensson Hellesmark, born 1649, died 1728, married Ingrid Pedersdatter Gursli

(VIII)  Jens Lauritzon Hellesmark born 1616 died after 1700 married Bodil Lauritzdatter Bjerkreim the daughter of Lauritz Lauritzson Bjerkreim sokneprest in Lund, died 1640.

(IX)  Lauritz Knutson Øverland of Lund  (named 1635-45) married (given name not known) Jensdatter

(X) Jens Nilsson Hellesmark, (named in 1591)

(XI) Nils Hansson sokneprest in Lund, named in 1563, married Maren Jensdatter Hellesmark, named 1566-1590.

It is possible to also trace the extended additional female lines using Bygdebok for Nes Herred volumes 1-3 but I have only followed one direct line stemming from Didrik Andreas Thomsen’s mother’s mother, (II) Gjertrud Marie Nilsdatter.  Please see pp 120-127 of the aforementioned book series, volume 3.  At one time these farms were huge but over the years they were divided and re-divided until there were hundreds of small farms instead of the one large farm.  Austad had 116 divisions, Sunde had 360, Djupvik had 37, Nuland had 34.  I wasn’t able to tell if these divisions were larger than some of the others or if Djupvik and Nuland were just smaller areas in the first place.

Below are two maps.  The first one is a outline of the county or Fylke of Vest Agder, Norway and the second is a more detailed view of Nes Herred.  On the county map it is possible to see just how close this Thompson branch of the family was to the Hornnes branch.  It seems amazingly strange and wonderful that the descendants of these two families connected in America and probably never knew each other in Norway yet lived in fairly close proximity to each other.

                                                      

Map of Vest Agder 
[source:  Genealogical Maps and Guide to Norwegian Parish Registers by Finn A. Thomsen]

  

More detailed map of Nes Herred, Flekkefjord, Vest Agder, Norway
   [source:  Bygdebok for Nes Herred, volume 1, by Kaare S. Berg]