Funding for encoding this finding aid was
provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the
Humanities.
Biographical Note
Hjarne Foss was born on August 29, 1897 in
Copenhagen, Denmark. His parents were Carl Peter Foss and Berthe Johanna
Christensen, and Hjarne had five siblings: Carl Arnold, Oda, Rigmor, Svend, and
Edle. All of the children were baptized and confirmed, but the family did not
attend church often. After Hjarne's confirmation in 1911, he got an
apprenticeship at an electrical contracting firm, where he learned the trade
for five years and then joined the union and stayed at the same company for
another five years. By that time, work was slowing down, and Hjarne decided to
immigrate to the United States. He stayed with an uncle in Chicago for one
month and then moved to Wisconsin, where he obtained factory jobs. In 1923,
Hjarne went to Seattle, WA, where his brother worked. In Seattle, Hjarne became
employed at the Modern Appliance Co. and worked with Frigidaire refrigerators
when they first came onto the market. Hjarne met his first wife, Theresa Pohls,
at a Danish church and was married in 1926. Theresa was born in Iowa and raised
in St. Andrews, Washington. On January 5, 1928, they had their only child,
Helen. The following year, they moved to Solvang, California, where Theresa's
father lived, and Hjarne began working in a lumberyard. From there, they moved
back to Denmark for a year and a half, and Hjarne worked for the Frigidaire
Company in Copenhagen. Upon their return to America, Hjarne worked as an
electrical contractor and had his own shop, H.P. Foss Electric Shop. Theresa
passed away in late 1960, and five years later, Hjarne took a trip to Denmark
with Laura Christiansen, whose husband, Harald, had died in 1962. Hjarne had
been friends with both Laura and Harold, having met them around the same time
he met Theresa. Hjarne and Laura were married in 1967 and have since returned
to Denmark several more times.
Lineage
Full
Name: Hjarne Bernhard Foss. Father: Carl Peter Foss. Mother: Birthe
Christensen. Paternal Grandfather: Peter Foss. Brothers and Sisters: Carl
Arnold Foss, Oda Foss, Rigmor Foss, Svend Foss, Edle Foss. Spouse: Theresa
Pohls, Laura Christiansen. Children: Helen Foss.
Content Description
This interview was conducted with Hjarne Foss on October 20, 1982 in
Seattle, Washington. It contains information on family background, employment,
emigration, marriage and family, and return trips to Denmark. The interview
also includes photographs of the Foss family in 1902, Hjarne in 1911, the Foss
family in 1912, Hjarne with his sisters in 1918 or 1919, a business card from
H.B. Foss Electric Shop in Solvang, California, and Hjarne at the time of the
interview. Also see Laura Foss.
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
194, side 1
021: PERSONAL
BACKGROUND
Name - Hjarne Bernhard Foss.
Born August 29, 1897 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
194, side 1
035: PARENTS
Father - Carl Peter Foss. Mother - Berthe Johanna
Christensen. His mother was from Copenhagen and his father was from an Island
nearby, from a village called Dragoer.
194, side 1
075:
Paternal grandparents: Paternal grandmother came from
Bornholm Island. Paternal grandfather - Peter Foss. He had been a sailor in his
younger days. He was also a painter and painted things that dealt with Danish
history. Most of them were from the sea. They talk about one particular picture
that Hjarne has that is of the sea battle between Denmark and Sweden.
194, side 1
243: FATHER
He was a furniture maker and later became a building
carpenter. His mother stayed at home.
194, side 1
260: HOME
It was on the outskirts of Copenhagen with a nice garden.
Went to school and kept busy. Before 1910, they had lived in an apartment.
194, side 1
300: BROTHERS AND
SISTERS
Carl Arnold came to the US in
1912. Oda, Rigmor, Edle, and Svend stayed in Denmark. Edle was a machinist.
194, side 1
328: VISITS FROM
RELATIVES
His sister was just here on a
visit about a month.
194, side 1
337:
Arnold lived in Edmonds, WA and was a building carpenter. He
started out as a furniture maker.
194, side 1
367: CHURCH
They were baptized and confirmed, but they didn't go to
church much. They are more active here. At first they belonged to the Danish
church here which was changed to St. John's. Hjarne believes that his father's
family was over religious and it worked against him.
194, side 1
425: CHRISTMAS
They had a tree with lights. They walked around the
tree and sang. They also celebrated the first and second day after Christmas.
They wold often eat goose and red cabbage. They gave presents.
194, side 1
480: WORK
After confirmation in 1911 he worked with a salesman. Then
he decided he should learn a trade. He went to an electrical contracting firm
and they arranged for him to learn the trade and get paid a little. This was in
1912 and electricity was fairly new and was a growing industry with a future.
They got lots of work all over the city. In 1917, he finished his
apprenticeship, joined the union and stayed working with the same company. It
was Bernhard Hansen Electrical Company, which was originally Britch (?)
Petersen and Co.
194, side 1
625: ELECTRICAL
JOBS
Worked for five years until he came
to the US. He talks about a castle that he wired on the island of Fyn. This was
in 1919 and in 1947 he went back and visited there.
194, side 1
708: REASONS FOR COMING TO
AMERICA
In 1921 work was getting slow.
His sister and her husband were in Berlin, Germany and Hjarne went down to
visit to see if he could get work, but there wasn't any so he returned. He
decided to visit his brother in the US. He also had an uncle Christian
Christiansen in Chicago.
194, side 1
784: TRIP TO U.S.
He sailed on a Danish liner directly from Copenhagen
to New York. He traveled 3rd class. He went through Ellis Island. This was in
June 1922. He couldn't speak English but he could speak German. Language was no
problem. He went right to Chicago.
194, side 1
812: CHICAGO
Stayed with is uncle and his two children for about one
month. Through a friend of his uncle he went to Beloit, Wisconsin.
194, side 1
830: WISCONSIN
Got a job in a big factory. He stayed there until the
spring of 1923. In Beloit, he stayed in a boarding house and in Milwaukee he
stayed with a private family. He would take the streetcar to work.
194, side 1
866: WEST COAST
He came by train in March of 1923. By now he had
picked up the language. He had taken a few evening classes. He stayed with his
brother who worked in Seattle and came home only on weekends. He worked for
Seattle transit in the streetcar shop. They stayed at Georgetown, which was a
rooming house. Hjarne couldn't find work. He took a few odd jobs.
194, side 1
930: DANISH CHURCH
Met some young people who went to this church. Soon
the minister was also looking for a job for Hjarne. He got him a temporary job
as an office janitor for the Modern Appliance Company, which distributed Delco
Light, which made generators.
194, side 1
1023: WORK
Hjarne got acquainted with the serviceman there. Hjarne told
him that he was also an electrician. This man told the boss. At this time,
Frigidaire came out and changed the whole company. McBride, the serviceman,
learned about Frigidaire and took over. Hjarne worked with him. The business
expanded very quickly
194, side 1
1095: MEETING
SPOUSE
Young people would meet at the
church. This is where he met his first wife Theresa Pohls. He also knew Laura
(his present wife) and Harald her husband. Theresa was born in Iowa and raised
in eastern Washington at St. Andrews, Washington. Her dad was a farmer there
who later moved to Seattle. Theresa did housework.
194, side 1
1135: WEDDING
1926 in Enumclaw, Washington.
194, side 2
013: WEDDING
They were married in the Danish Church in Enumclaw by Pastor
Neilsen.
194, side 2
026: SISTER ODA
She came to the US for a few years. She attended the
wedding. She worked in Seattle for a while and returned to Denmark in 1927. She
died right after childbirth when she was 34.
194, side 2
062: HONEYMOON
There was no money for things like that. It came in
1930 when they took a trip to Denmark. They had a daughter Helen then.
194, side 2
080:
After they were married they lived in Seattle in a rented
place. In 1927 he was transferred to Tacoma, Washington to take care of the
service department there. They were busy and there was about fifteen people
working there. They did a lot of apartment work.
194, side 2
140: OLD
REFRIGERATORS
In the apartments they
would have a motor in the basement which ran the refrigerators in all the
rooms.
194, side 2
162: SEATTLE
In 1928 they were transferred back to Seattle. In the
meantime their daughter had been born in Tacoma. By then there were seventy men
working in the service department in Seattle. In 1929, they started
distributing to dealers who took care of their own service needs. Hjarne was
out of work so they decided to go to Denmark, but stopped first to visit his
wife's father in Solvang, California.
194, side 2
242: SOLVANG
It started as a Danish community in 1911. His wife's
father moved there in 1927. They left Seattle in November in 1929 and stayed
down there for the winter. Hjarne got a job in the lumberyard.
194, side 2
268: VISIT TO
DENMARK
Left in March of 1930. They went
by train from California to New York and by ship to Copenhagen. They traveled
2nd class.Citizenship: Got it in 1929. Had to study for it. It was no
problem.
194, side 2
283:
He went to school for it at the older Parkway (?) High
School.
194, side
2
307: DENMARK
His mother was very
sick and died that summer. While he was there he got a job with the Frigidaire
Company in Copenhagen. They stayed there for about 1.5 years. You could only
keep your citizenship for two years if you were out of the country.
194, side 2
350: DEPRESSION
When he came back the depression was bad (1931). They
returned to California and then went to Seattle to see how things were.
Everyone was out of work so they went back to California. That had a little
money left so they started building a house. He still couldn't find a steady
job. Eventually he started as an electrical contractor and had his own shop. He
called it H.P. Foss Electrical Shop. They had a store too and carried the Hot
Point Line. His work was mostly for new homes. There was a lot of trust and
honesty in those days. He also tells of other contracting work he did in
California.
194, side 2
502: STORE
In 1951, he sold out and worked just with the electrical
work.
194, side 2
519: ORGANIZATIONS
Belonged to the Danish Brotherhood in Solvang, CA. He
also belongs in Seattle and has been a member for fifty-seven years. They also
belonged to the church in Solvang, California.
194, side 2
548: SOLVANG,
CALIFORNIA
They talk about the changes
there. It has become too commercial and there are too many tourists. There are
hundreds of real estate people.
194, side 2
610: DAUGHTER
She took a trip to Denmark in 1951 with a group of
young people. They toured England and Paris by bicycle and then she went to
Copenhagen, Denmark to visit. She returned to Los Angeles via the Panama Canal
by ship. She met a Danish boy on the ship and they were married. His name was
Preben Staar (?). They went to Denmark to live. His family was in the glass
business.
194, side 2
670: VISITS TO
DENMARK
In 1953, his daughter had a son
and they went over for his baptism. They went by ship from Los Angeles, through
the Panama Canal to Denmark. They stayed for the summer. In 1955, his wife went
over and visited. In 1956, his daughter divorced and she and her son returned
to the US.
194, side 2
725: LANGUAGE
Everyone in their family speaks Danish but they didn't
speak much Danish in the home.
194, side 2
750: FIRST WIFE
Late 1960 she passed away. He was alone for seven
years. He took a couple of trips to Denmark. He retired in 1962 at 65.
194, side 2
770: TRIPS TO
DENMARK
Went in 1962 and in 1965.
194, side 2
775: SECOND WIFE
Laura. They went to Denmark together in 1965. Her
husband had died in 1962. They were married in Seattle and he gave his home in
Solvang to his daughter. This was in 1967.
194, side 2
838: TRIPS TO
DENMARK
They returned in 1965 and 1969. In
169, they sailed on a Swedish freighter from Seattle to Copenhagen. There were
only eight passengers on the way over. He has been on Danish freighters. Now
they don't take passengers anymore. They sailed along the coast and made stops
all along the coast. In Panama and in several points in Europe where they were
doing business. On their return they got on in Sweden after a visit with their
niece in Gøteborg. He flew over in 1965, but he didn't like it that well and
went back by ship. It was about $1500 round trip on the freighter. In 1972,
they flew to Denmark.
194, side 2
957: OTHER TRIPS
In 1973, they took a trip by ship from Tacoma down
through the Panama Canal, down along the coast of South America and back up the
other side and back to Tacoma. It took about two months.
194, side 2
985:
Talks some about the climate in Denmark. It is a little bit
colder than here.
194, side 2
1020: SPOKEN DANISH
He says a few words.
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.
Personal Names :
Christensen, Birthe
Christiansen, Laura
Foss, Carl Peter
Foss, Helen
Foss,
Hjarne--Interviews
(
creator)
Pohls, Theresa
Family Names :
Christensen family
Foss
family
Pohls
family
Corporate Names :
Danish Brotherhood (Solvang, Calif.)
Danish Club (Enumclaw, Wash.)
Ellis Island (N.J.
and N.Y.)
Geographical Names :
Beloit
(Wis.)
Chicago
(Ill.)
Copenhagen (Denmark)
Enumclaw (Wash.)
Seattle (Wash.)
Solvang
(Calif.)
Subject Terms :
Christmas
Denmark -- Social condtions --
1945-
Depressions --
1929
Emigration and
immigration
Marriage
service
Scandinavian-Americans--Interviews
Scandinavian-Americans--Northwest,Pacific--Social life and
customs
