Funding for encoding this finding aid was
provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the
Humanities.
Biographical Note
Hildur Anna Maria Johansson was born in
Edsdalen, Sweden on February 12, 1896. Hildur was one of five children born to
her parents, Johan August Magnusson and Matilda Bryntesdotter. Hildur's father
was a farmer, and her mother stayed home and wove. Hildur worked in a hospital
in Stockholm for two years and thought about training to become a nurse;
however, she was too young to start training. Around 1922, Hildur met her
future husband in Norway while she was working with her aunt. After he had
attended business school and had not found a job, he left for America. Hildur
decided to follow him and left for the United States by herself on September
13, 1927. She departed reluctantly, but happily the two of them were married
within 24 hours of her arrival. They lived in Hoquiam, Washington while
Hildur's husband worked at the sawmill. In 1930, they had their first child
named Judith. When a bad flood hit Hoquiam in 1933, the family moved to Tacoma.
Hildur's husband became an American citizen around 1941, but Hildur never
wanted to become a citizen. Part of her wanted to return to Scandinavia, but
when her children began school, she realized she needed to stay in America. For
a long time Hildur delayed learning English; Hildur and her husband mostly
spoke Norwegian in their home. The two of them became editors of the Western
Viking in which Hildur published poems in both Swedish and English. She and her
husband belonged to the Sons of Norway, and Hildur was a member of the Ladies
Aid in the church-Emmanuel Lutheran. Hildur never returned to Sweden, but her
son Edgar did. Hildur still decorates and cooks for Christmas in the Swedish
tradition. She enjoys writing poetry and has passed that love on to her family
members.
Lineage
Maiden Name: Hildur Anna
Maria Johansson. Father: Johan August Magnuson. Mother: Matilda Bryntesdotter.
Paternal Grandfather: Magnus Adamson. Paternal Grandmother: Anna Kristina
Johansdotter. Maternal Grandfather: Brynte Andersson. Maternal Grandmother:
Christina Magnusdotter. Brothers and Sisters: Hedvig Kristina Johansson, Hilmer
Mauritz Johansson, Hilda Olivia Johansson, Helga Elisabeth Johansson. Spouse:
Ole Elias (Ed) Larson Fjorstad. Children: Judith Larson, Edgar Larson.
Content Description
This interview was conducted on April 6, 1979 in Tacoma,
Washington with Hildur Larson. It contains information on personal background,
emigration, marriage, church and community organizations, traditions, and
Hildur's poetry. The interview 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
Helen Tengesdal 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
19, side 1
005/01: FAMILY
BACKGROUND
Hildur Anna Maria Larson, born
February 12, 1896 in Edsdalen, Sweden close to the Norwegian border in the
south.
19, side 1
042:
Mother's name was Matilda Bryntesdotter and father was Johan
August Magnusson. He was a farmer; Mother wasn't so well, and she was in the
house and did weaving--fabric for clothes. They raised their own flax for
linen. Mother would work with the fibers spinning a linen thread and then
weaving cloth, sheets, pillow cases--all that. Hildur still has some of these
items.
19, side 1
083:
There were five children in the family but one sister died
three hours after Mother. Oldest was Hedvig Kristina, then Hilmer Mauritz,
Hildur, Hilda Olivia and Helga Elisabeth who died.
19, side 1
109/02:
The paternal grandmother lived nearby in a little house and
Hilda, the younger sister, stayed with her after school. The youngest sister
and brother were with her when she died in 1912 or 1913. These grandparents
were farmers. Morfar [the maternal grandfather] was married a second time and
had a bigger farm with trees and fruit. They lived a little ways from Hildur
but visited often. During one visit when she was 10 years old in 1906, there
was an earthquake. They could feel the house move. She remembers where she
stood and how she hung on. The church, Edskyrka, was cracked by the
earthquake.
19, side 1
159:
Farfar [paternal grandfather] died long ago; farmor [paternal
grandmother] had to raise four young children [two boys and two girls] by
herself. "I loved her. She was the best", because she helped raise Hildur's
family also. Hildur's father's name was Magnus Johansson, and his father was
Johannes Magnusson. By Hildur's time, the girls took the father's last name,
Johansson, not Magnusdotter.
19, side 1
199/03: EMIGRATION
Hildur emigrated alone in 1927 coming from Stockholm
on the Stavangerfjord to New York. She was seasick for most of the trip, but
kept a log in Norwegian. "S. S. Stavangerfjord. Utdrag av logbok, Reise Nummer
78. Fra Oslo via Stavanger, Bergen, Halifax til New York, 1927, og skipet gikk
den 13. september ankom New York den 22. September". The trip took nine days
and six hours.
19, side 1
245:
One American citizen on the boat was let off the first day,
and the emigrants followed the next day with no problems. The customs people
asked the same questions the officials had in Stockholm. Hildur was going to
her "mannlig venn" [fiance, boyfriend]. But she couldn't say that; only married
women could do that. Whatever she told those officials, she repeated it to the
American customs people: "Because they told me there, they won't let me go
until he comes and picks me up". Hildur felt that if he didn't pick her up that
would be fine; she could always go back to Sweden. Her cabin mate had a room in
Brooklyn and Hildur could have stayed there until her boyfriend picked her up.
But it wasn't necessary; she just got on the train in New York for Seattle.
19, side 1
290/04:
In preparation for the trip Hildur got her passport marked
valuables like silver. Unless silver was monogrammed, you had to pay duty on
it. There was a traveler's aid on the train who knew Scandinavian and watched
out for the girls, "so no one would come kidnap us. Lots of girls there. And
some of them were real dumb too; they went out in the city". Hildur was older
[31], knew better, and could take care of herself.
19, side 1
328:
Hildur wanted to say good-by to her entire family in Dals
Län, her sister in Stockholm and the brother in Fredriksberg. After that, the
train continued to Oslo where she boarded the Stavangerfjord. In Oslo, she had
two aunts [father's sisters]. She had stayed and taken care of one of the aunts
with arthritis for eight and a half years. The other aunt had lived in New York
for 19 years before coming home to take care of the arthritic sister. Both were
in Oslo when Hildur emigrated. She stayed with them a few days. Her boyfriend
had sent the ticket.
19, side 1
356/05: MEETING HUSBAND IN
NORWAY
Hildur met her husband in Oslo when
she worked with her aunt. One day in 1922-3, Hildur, her sister, and her friend
were eating ice cream, listening to music and having a good time at an outdoor
cafe in Oslo. Three fellows wanted to share the table. The girlfriend had gone
to school with them, so she introduced the fellows and "assured them there was
plenty of room for three more". He was in the last month of business school in
Oslo. Then he returned home to Strand looking for work. Not many jobs were
available, so he stayed one year with a brother and helped build his house.
Came back to Oslo for a two week vacation and stayed at Hildur's aunt's place
while he looked for work. Not finding any, he finally went home saying "I'll go
to America". Hildur said "Go ahead. But I didn't think he meant it". They
continued to correspond, and he left for America from Bergen.
19, side 1
409:
She felt sad when she left Oslo. Hildur's sister had come to
Oslo to care for the two aunts. So she and the aunt [who lived in America]
accompanied her to the boat, said good-bye, and waved. "I waved back, and there
I was. I'd been saying good-bye all along from Stockholm, but that was the
worst".
19, side
1
422:
She didn't stay overnight in New York but got right on
the train. The traveler's aid [a man] took Hildur out to a restaurant. After
she ate, she had sandwiches made up for herself and some friends on the train
and bought some fruit, postcards in Norwegian, and stamps. This was in St. Paul
or some place between New York and Seattle. She also sent a telegram to her
boyfriend in Hoquiam stating that she'd arrive a certain day, and he was to
meet her. She got up early that day, got dressed, and had breakfast. When she
looked up and out the window, they were in Seattle and "I saw him walking" with
another boy whose brothers were on the same train.
19, side 1
466/06:
"When I saw him, I run out of the train, of course. And the
porter, he come after me to see what happened". The porter was a tall, Negro
man and she hadn't seen black people before. Hildur was wearing a brown suit
and lost a button when she hopped off the train, but took time to pick it up
before she met him. Then he and the other boy came on board. Marriage
in America: The traveler's aid said they had to notify him within 24 hours that
they were married. So they continued on the train to Hoquiam. On September 30,
1927, they went to a Swedish pastor [Hilen ?] in Aberdeen, and he performed the
ceremony in Swedish, and "I cried". They had their golden wedding two years
ago. The pastor's daughter played the organ at the wedding, and they had coffee
after with the witnesses. This girl's fiance lived in Stockholm and she was
going there to marry him.Settling in: Her husband could speak English.
He had lived up in the woods at first, as did most of the Norwegians. These
were hard times, and he got work for awhile at the sawmill. In 1930, the first
child, Judith was born. They moved to Tacoma on New Year's Eve in 1933. There
was a bad flood in Hoquiam; motorboats were in the streets and could tie up to
the tops of tents. Someone drove them up here leaving most of the furniture
behind. They lived on Ainsworth at first because husband had a cousin across
the street. After that they had a little house where Edgar was born in 1935.
19, side 1
551/07:
To do the shopping in Tacoma, Hildur pointed. In Hoquiam
there were so many Norwegians, Swedes, and Swedish-Finns--something she'd never
heard of before. There were all kinds of stores where Swedish was spoken, so
she had very little problems there with the language.
19, side 1
564:
Her wedding dress was black silk with a pleated white silk
front which she brought with her. She didn't bring any heavy clothes, including
a good wool coat, because they said she didn't need any. "I about froze the
first winter". She bought a big trunk in Oslo, packed it and traveled with it
across the world. Still has the trunk.
19, side 1
585:
There was so much rain in Hoquiam; she didn't like that
nearly as well as Tacoma. Tacoma was a larger city, which was familiar to her
and reminded her of Oslo and Stockholm. Swedish friends [Mrs. Atterberg?] from
Tacoma visited her in Hoquiam. And Hildur took the bus between Tacoma and
Seattle to visit her friends. Once when her husband was out of town, she and
the children traveled and stayed in Seattle with a friend.
19, side 1
620/08:
Her husband became a citizen around 1941-2. He worked up in
the woods until the fall of 1939 until the strike hit. Then he began work in
Tacoma. She never became a citizen because she didn't plan to stay. She made
plans with a friend to take English at Jason Lee School, but then Edgar came
and she didn't have the time. But her friend did. She and her husband were
editors of the Western Viking. Hildur wrote some poems for the paper; some in
Swedish and some in English.
19, side 1
660:
Hildur hadn't learned much about America from her aunt in
Oslo, because Hildur was in Stockholm when this aunt was in New York. The aunt
had wanted Hildur to come to New York many times and years ago starting when
Hildur was 12. Before Hildur went to Oslo, she worked two years in a hospital
in Stockholm as she wanted to be a nurse. But she was too young to start
training. Then she changed her mind and just worked there [Ebenezer ?
Hospital], and loved it. Sister Sofia, the head deaconess, had a nephew in New
York. While visiting him, she had been invited to Hildur's aunt's house [Martin
and Maria Lauritson ?] in Brooklyn. "The world was small".
19, side 1
709/09:
When Judith started school, Hildur decided to stay in the
United States. "You find out by and by that things don't go the way you think".
19, side 2
057/10:
Hildur and husband spoke Norwegian in the home, so Judith
spoke it very well when she began grammar school at Stanley. When they moved,
the children attended Jefferson.
19, side 2
095: CHURCH AND
ORGANIZATIONS
Belonged to the Norwegian
Lutheran Church--Emmanuel--on Stevens. Then they moved to 16th and K to a
better house and to be closer to the bus and her husband's work at General
Hardwood. The children started Sunday School in Our Saviors on G St. Then they
transferred to Central Lutheran by Stadium. On their golden anniversary they
received a telegram from President Carter and his wife.
19, side 2
162/11:
Her husband belonged to the Sons of Norway; she joined too,
but didn't go very often because of the children. She belonged to the Ladies
Aid in church. She could speak Scandinavian with friends on K St. She didn't
want to learn English, so she read mainly books and magazines from Sweden. A
magazine salesman came to the house one day, and she explained why she didn't
read any English magazines. He replied "How do you expect to learn if you don't
try? I got so angry I started to learn--just started to read". She learned by
reading children's books and then reading them out loud to her children. She
still receives and reads the Svenska Journalen but it takes so long to reach
America nowdays.
19, side 2
218:
Hildur never returned to Sweden for a visit but her son,
Edgar, has. He visited his father's family in Norway. His wife, Betty, has a
Swedish background, so they also visited her family in Jamtlands lan. Betty and
Hildur speak Swedish to one another and the children.
19, side 2
245/12: TRADITIONS
They didn't have nissen in Sweden. "When you got
something, you know where you got it from and you said thank you many times".
They had a juletre with candles [levande ljus]. The first tree in Hoquiam was
decorated with white cotton, tinsel, and candles and there were three silk
flags on top--Norwegian, Swedish, and American. Hildur made sylte and
rullepoelse herself. But lutefisk was the Christmas Eve meal with
risengrynsgroet for dessert. Hildur didn't care for lutefisk, but made it for
the others.
19, side 2
322/13: MEDICAL
CARE
The first baby was born at home with
a doctor's help. She had a friend stay with her, and another one and her
husband were godparents for Judith.
19, side 2
344: HILDUR'S
POETRY
Hildur has written poetry for many
years and for various occasions. Some poems have been published in the Tacoma
News Tribune and the Western Viking.
19, side 2
355:
The first one is in English and was written on August 19,
1956.
19, side 2
367:
The next is in Norwegian and was written in May 1945 in honor
of Judith's confirmation.
19, side 2
411/14:
A Norwegian poem about autumn was written in October
1937.
19, side 2
438:
One about a chestnut tree was published in the TNT on July
23, 1955.
19, side 2
462:
"Min far" was written in honor of her father when a friend
requested a poem for the newspaper for Father's Day. Hildur's mother died when
she was six, so Father and Grandmother raised them until she was eleven years
old. Then, her father died.
19, side 2
516/15:
Many family members like to write poetry. Hildur finishes the
interview by reading another poem in Swedish based on Isaiah 1:8-10.
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 :
Bryntesdotter, Matilda
Fjorstad, Ole Elias Larson
Johansson, Hildur Anna Maria
Larson, Edgar
Larson, Hildur Anna Maria
Larson, Hildur Johansson--Interviews
(
creator)
Larson, Judith
Magnusson, Johan August
Family Names :
Adamson
family
Andersson family
Johanson family
Larson
family
Magnusson family
Corporate Names :
Emmanuel Lutheran Church (Tacoma, Wash.)
Our
Saviors Lutheran Church (Tacoma, Wash.)
Sons
of Norway (U.S.) Norden Lodge No. 2 (Tacoma, Wash.)
