Funding for encoding this finding aid was
provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the
Humanities.
Biographical Note
Lydia Christenson was born on February 12,
1891 in Laukaa, Finland to Otto Savolainen and Hilma Kerurolaine. Her father
was a businessman, and there were four other children in the family. Lydia
attended school for four or five years, but attendance was not mandatory, and
the children were taught how to read and write at home also. Lydia immigrated
to the United States when she was eighteen years old. She came with a group of
teenagers from her neighborhood and planned on returning to Finland. Upon her
arrival, Lydia began working at a laundry in Connecticut and then became a
housekeeper in Worcester, Massachusetts. In Worchester, Lydia met her husband,
Amund Christenson, at the Assembly of God church. Amund was originally from
Norway and became a preacher. They had five children together: Arthur, Ray,
Arnold, Enoch, and Elaine. Through the years, the family lived in various towns
throughout the Midwest, and Amund could be compared to a travelling evangelist.
Amund passed away while they were living in Missoula, Montana, and Lydia then
moved to Seattle, where Arthur and Ray lived. She bought a small house and got
a cooking job at Fredrick and Nelsons, retiring at age sixty-five. Lydia has
not been active in any Finnish organizations, but has made two trips back to
Finland and cooked some traditional Finnish foods for her family throughout the
years.
Lineage
Full Name: Hilma Lydia
Christenson. Maiden Name: Hilma Lydia Savolainen. Father: Otto Savolainen.
Mother: Hilma Kerurolaine. Brothers and Sisters: Otto Savolainen, Lauri
Savolainen, Elli Savolainen, Liisa Savolainen. Spouse: Amund Christenson.
Children: Arthur Paul Christenson, Raymond Christenson, Arnold Christenson,
Enoch Rudolph Christenson, Elaine Mariam Christenson.
Content Description
This interview was conducted with Lydia Christenson on May 17, 1982 in
Seattle, Washington. It contains information on family background, emigration,
marriage and family, and Finnish heritage. Lydia's oldest son wife speaks on
the tape also. The information was conducted in English.
Use of the Collection
Restrictions on Access :
The oral history collection
is open to all users.
Restrictions on Use :
There are no
restrictions on use.
Administrative Information
Custodial History :
The Oral History collection
project was started during an experimental course on Scandinavian Women in the
Pacific Northwest. Students in the course were encouraged to interview women
and learn about their experiences as immigrants to the United States. The
project was continued and expanded with support from the president's office and
by grants from the L.J. Skaggs and Mary C. Skaggs Foundation, from the Joel E.
Ferris Foundation and the Norwegian Emigration Fund of the Royal Norwegian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project was directed by Dr. Janet E.
Rasmussen. The collection was transferred to the Archives and Special
Collections Department.
Acquisition Information :
Related Materials :
To search and view Pacific
Lutheran University's digitized images, visit our
Digital Assets
Website
Processing Note :
The interview was conducted by
Inger Nygaard Carr using a cassette recorder. A research copy was also prepared
from the original. To further preserve the content of the interview, it is now
being transferred to compact disc. We deliberately did not transcribe the
entire interview because we want the researchers to listen to the interviewee's
own voice. The transcription index highlights important aspects of the
interview and the tape counter numbers noted on the Partial Interview
Transcription are meant as approximate finding guides and refer to the location
of a subject on the cassette/CD. The recording quality is good
The
collection was transcribed by Mary Sue Gee, Julie Peterson and Becky Husby.
Bibliography :
Rasmussen, Janet Elaine. New Land
New Lives: Scandinavian Immigrants to the Pacific NorthwestTacoma, WashingtonUniversity of Washington
Press1993
Additional Reference Guides :
Detailed Description of the Collection
The partial interview transcription
highlights important aspects of the interview. Numbers may be used as guides to
important subjects. Two numbers separated by a slash indicate that the first
number is for cassette and the second for CD.
Cassette
177, side 1
027/010:
Hilma Lydia Savolainen Christenson. Born in Laukaa, Finland,
a community in central Finland, on February 12, 1891.
177, side 1
089/062: PARENTS
Hilma Kerurolaine and Otto Savolainen. Father was a
businessman. He had a country store and a farm with cows and horses. They sold
cream.
177, side 1
153/102: BROTHERS AND
SISTERS
Two older brothers - Otto and
Lauri. One older sister - Elli and another sister Liisa. One brother eventually
took over the store which was by the lake. A boat would bring things for the
store.
177, side 1
197: GRANDPARENTS
She doesn't remember them.
177, side 1
223: CHILDHOOD
She worked in the store when she was old enough. She
remembers selling bundles of tobacco that smelled terrible.
177, side 1
253: SCHOOL
Went to school for 4 or 5 years. Attending school wasn't
mandatory. She learned to read and write at home too. School wasn't very close
to home. Lydia says it was fun to ski to school in the winter.
177, side 1
287: CHURCH
Wasn't close to home. Preacher went to each home once a
year.
177, side 1
305: CHRISTMAS
Similar to Christmas here - presents. She remembers
one Christmas when she first tasted wine. Did lots of baking weeks before. They
had rice mush, cooked in milk, with sugar on it on Christmas Eve. They went to
church early Christmas morning. You could hear horse bells all over. They had
lots to eat at Christmas - meat, butter, everything. They had a Christmas
tree.
177, side 1
377: CONFIRMATION
Confirmed in the Lutheran church, the state church in
Finland.
177, side 1
386: REASONS FOR COMING TO
AMERICA
Came when about 18 years old.
Came for the fun of it with a bunch of boys and girls from her neighborhood in
1913. "We didn't get ready for the trip, we just went." Sailed from Hanko
(Hangoe) to England. Took another boat from England to New York. Came to New
York during the summer. Got sick on the boat. Parents didn't want her to go.
Lydia didn't worry. She thought she'd return to Finland.
177, side 1
465: NEW YORK
Thought it was a big city. No problems coming through
Ellis Island.
177, side 1
477:
Stayed on East Coast. Worked at a laundry in Connecticut.
She was with a friend, who also worked at the laundries.
177, side 1
488: LANGUAGE
DIFFICULTIES
"We had lots of laughs
because we didn't know what they said." Learned the language from hearing it
all the time.
177, side 1
510: MEETING SPOUSE
She lived with a cousin in Worcester, Mass. And
worked. Met husband at a prayer meeting at the Assembly of God. Her husband was
Norwegian. He became a preacher.
177, side 1
575: WORK
When Lydia met her husband, she worked as a housekeeper. She
earned $4 a week. She liked housekeeping better than the laundry work. Learned
different kinds of cooking. Went to evening school to learn English. As a maid,
she had to wear a black dress. American cooking not difficult. Tells about
first time she made doughnuts.
177, side 1
697: CHILDREN
Five - Arthur, the eldest is a retired carpenter. He
has 4 girls, who are married. Ray, the second son, is a retired salesman.
Arnold, the third son, is a manufacturer's representative. Enoch, the fourth
son, lives in California and is an executive for the ARCO company. The fifth
child is Elaine. She is married and lives near Reno, Nevada.
177, side 1
770: MOVING WEST
They moved to Minnesota after first three boys were
born. Her husband, Amund, was preaching in small towns. They rented a house
near Duluth, Minnesota. He died 43 years ago. They moved to North Dakota and
then to South Dakota. They moved to Providence, Rhode Island then back to North
Dakota, and then to Montana where Amund died. He was sort of a travelling
evangelist but he did have some churches (Assembly of God). He died from a
blood clot after an operation.
177, side 1
843:
After husband's death, Lydia rented out rooms in Missoula,
Montana.
177, side 1
853: SEATTLE
Moved to Seattle because Arthur and Ray were here. They were
both married. They moved when WWII started. Lots of work in Seattle, not much
in Montana. Lydia bought a small house in Seattle. She cooked at Fredrick &
Nelsons; retired when 65. After a couple of years of retirement, she sold her
house and rented an apartment.
177, side 1
908: FINNISH
ORGANIZATIONS
Not active in any
organizations.
177, side 1
915: TRIPS BACK TO
FINLAND
Two trips. Many changes.
Childhood home gone. First trip back, mother, brothers and sisters still
living. Mother lived at brother's home. She lived to be 80 years old. Second
trip, only her brothers' wives were living. Many improvements in Finland.
177, side 1
986:
She speaks some Finnish. She talks about changes in Finland
being similar to changes in America.
177, side 1
1006: FINNISH
FOODS
Cooked some Finnish food for her
family: some Norwegian also. She made a special kind of brown bread. She'd take
a fork and poke holes in the bread (while it was baking) until it was soggy. It
was really chewy. Lydia's children still bake this bread.
177, side 1
1039:
Finnish and Norwegian languages in the home. The eldest son,
Arthur can understand some Norwegian and Swedish but doesn't speak much. They
lived in a Finnish community in Massachusetts when he was a youngster so he
spoke Finnish. He hasn't really kept it up.
177, side 1
1064:
During Christmas they had lefse and krumkake (probably
because their father was Norwegian). Sometimes they had skorpor, a type of
bread similar to rye bread. It's kind of like toast. She also made an oven
pancake with lots of eggs and milk. They called it rapsua(?). You pour the
batter in round flat pans and bake it fast.
Subjects
This collection is indexed under
the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials
about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these
headings.
