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.
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Cassette
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023: PERSONAL BACKGROUND: Name - Einer Marinus Nielsen. Born in Henne, Denmark,
which is on the west coast near Varde on February 14, 1897.
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080: PARENTS: His father was known as Sern Christian Brun. Brun was an old
family name. Einer was called the Burn's son. He's not sure where Nielsen came
from, but it was his mother's name. Her name was Anna. They were farmers and he
worked part time for a house builder. They raised some grain and potatoes. His
father worked out quite a bit and might stay where he was working.
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158: BROTHERS AND SISTERS: Martin was a farmer and stayed in Denmark as did
Matilda. Sigfrid was in this country for many years and worked as a sewer
contractor in Seattle, Washington. He got some arthritis and got a boarding
house where workers from Alaska would come to stay for the winter. They would
always pay even if they didn't have the money at the time. After this he went
into the apartment house business. Following Sigfrid to the US came Kris,
Viktor, Margrethe, and Edith who married a farmer in Snohomish, Washington.
Kris went to Alaska, worked in a mine and later started raising foxes. He fed
the foxes with the fish he caught. Viktor was a farmer between Enumclaw and
Tacoma. He died young from Bright's disease. Margrethe married a farmer in
Seattle. Edith married Chris Hansen.
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360: GRANDPARENTS: Had met his paternal grandparents Brun.
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370: CHRISTMAS IN DENMARK: They always had a tree and decorated it. They ate
either rabbit or ducks or geese with red cabbage. They made their own bread,
pumpernickel.
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424: SCHOOL IN DENMARK: It took about 25 minutes to walk and/or run there.
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430: CONFIRMATION: Went to the minister with four girls. They met with the
pastor on Saturday. They had to go about three Danish miles.
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458: CHURCH IN DENMARK: They didn't always go because it was too far to walk and
they didn't have horses.
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470: FARM WORK: That was all there was to do. He lived with the people he worked
for. They would hire out for a year. After one year he went to another place
where he stayed until he came to America. They wouldn't let him go because his
time wasn't up.
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505: REASONS FOR COMING TO AMERICA: His brothers and sisters were here and doing
well. Most thought they would go to America and make some money and come back
and but a place. It was a loss for the parents to lose their children. He
promised his parents that he would try to save and come back, but no one ever
came back. Einer did come back to visit.
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545: PREPARING FOR THE U.S. TRIP: He didn't have enough money to some and he
never asked his brother because they didn't want him to come because they
wanted to the youngest to stay home with the family. He couldn't see any future
in Denmark. This was the start of WWI.
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570: TRIP TO US: He got the money from the grocery man that he was working for
in his spare time. He borrowed 300-400 Dkr. They left from Copenhagen and went
to England. This was in 1914. They didn't know when they would leave England in
the Lusitania because they were afraid of the U-boats. They were ordered to
sleep in their clothes and come on call. There was a battle ship that escorted
them out. This ship was sunk on the way back. There were movies and dances on
board. He came with two other boys that were going to homestead in Canada. They
were supposed to go to Canada but they couldn't land because of the war so they
came to New York. The trip took about ten days from England to New York. They
had waited several days in England and waited in a boarding house. The food was
bad.
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695: TRIP FROM COPENHAGEN, DENMARK TO LONDON, ENGLAND: They were in a small boat
and it was rough and he was sick.
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705: LUSITANIA: The food was good and he wasn't sick.
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712: ELLIS ISLAND: They had to go through but they didn't have enough money. $5
was required so Einer went through first and handed the money back to the next
guy to get through. They were going to send him back because the address that
he said he was going to didn't exist. The ticket agent in Denmark made up the
place. Some Danish people helped them explain that they were going to work on
farms up there because they knew that farm help was needed.
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750: TRAIN TRAVEL: Took the train to Toronto, Canada. They bought food to take
on the train.
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760: TORONTO, CANADA: There was lots of snow so they thought that they would go
and stay with one boy's brother in Detroit, Michigan, but his brother refused
him when they called from the border because he didn't know that his brother
was coming and thought that it was someone playing a trick. The people at the
border wouldn't even try to call Einer's brother after that, but sent them back
to Toronto. When they got back they stayed at the RR station until it was time
for them to close and a person came that took in travelers and took them to a
boarding house.
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850: BOARDING HOUSE: The man gave them a nice room and fixed them a big
breakfast. He helped was the dishes to pay for the food. This man took him to
the Norwegian immigration man.
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877: IMMIGRATION MAN: He told them that the railway had to refund their ticket
to the US because they didn't have the papers for passage. They got their money
back. This man arranged for them to go to Tavistock, Ontario where there was a
Danish man that could find them a job.
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915: Worked on farms until they got enough money to send the one guy to his
brother. The third boy in their party couldn't land because he was engaged to a
German girl and they had to marry before he entry would be allowed. They never
saw him again. His last name was Petersen.
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945: FARM WORK: Einer stayed at the farm. His friend repaid the money he had
borrowed. Einer asked for a raise and got it. He stayed until the crops were in
and then he was ready to head for Seattle. The farmer was German and spoke
German so he had a hard time learning English.
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980: TRAIN TRAVEL: Knew enough English that he didn't have any trouble
traveling. The trip took a couple of days. Other immigrants were cooking food
on the pot-bellied stove on the train. He had contacted his brother and his
brother met him at the train.
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1010: BROTHER: He had a boarding house at this time and he was
also responsible for taking care of the Danish Brotherhood Hall. Einer helped
him until he got settled himself.
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1025: SEATTLE, WASHINGTON: This was the year of the big snow. They
got 4'. He worked shoveling snow because buildings weren't made for this much
snow. Einer had a room in his brother's boarding house.
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1050: BAKERY WORK: He filled orders for the drivers that went out
the next morning. This was a night job. His neighbor would play violin in the
day when he was trying to sleep. He learned a lot the language there.
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1077: ENGLISH SCHOOL: Didn't learn more than conversational.
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1090: Brother Viktor was also selling bakery goods, but he got
tired of it and wanted to farm. They went and worked on a 1700-acre farm. His
brother wanted him to go into partnership with him. They lassoed wild cows and
milked them and sold the butter.
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SIDE
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015: He continues talking about the wild cows and how they broke them. They used
a separator to get the cream. They had about four cows and that was enough to
live on.
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070: ROY, WASHINGTON: They found a better farm that was suitable for dairy
farming and that's what this brother had done before.
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095: ALASKA: His other brother went to Alaska and found a job for Einer too. The
brother had a bunkhouse near a mine. When the tide was coming in it was Einer's
job to keep the water out of the mine by means of a dyke and a wood powered
pump.
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160: ENTERTAINMENT: Were dances every week. There weren't any white women there.
There wasn't a lot to spend your money on.
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192: SEATTLE MILK BUSINESS: He bought out a man that had a milk route and a few
cows. Einer's brother-in-law got the cows and Einer took the route. He
delivered the milk in truck. The milk was in bottles.
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260: MEETING SPOUSE: They met in grade school in Denmark. She had become a nurse
in Denmark. Her name was Hilda Dungaar (?). He had to go back to Denmark and
get her in 1921 or '22. Had someone take his milk route. She came back with
him.
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305: VISIT TO DENMARK: Visited old friends.
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315: WEDDING: Married in Seattle. His brother, Sigfrid, and his wife had the
wedding for them. They had a dinner and a dance. They played tricks on him so
that he couldn't get away in his car. They had a house to move into.
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380: TRIP: They took a trip with his brother and went and stayed in a cabin by
the river.
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430: HOUSING: They lived in their first house until they decided that it would
be better to move into town closer to his business. They rented there.
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450: KRISTOFERSON'S DAIRY: They were a large dairy with 30-40 delivery wagons.
He got a job there and liked it, but had a chance to buy a route. The previous
owner was being sued for selling milk which carried undulant fever. He got the
milk to sell from a farmer out in Renton Junction.
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530: CHILDREN: His wife stayed home after they were married. Viktor graduated
from Washington State and was a teacher. They live in Springfield, Oregon. They
have great grandchildren. Esther Temple (?) was a navy nurse and has now
started an old people's home in Hawaii. Her husband worked for the government.
They have four girls.
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620: APARTMENT HOUSES: Sold the milk route and the Danish brick house he had
built and moved into the apartment houses where he stayed until he moved to
where he is now.
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645: SECOND WIFE: She was one of his tenants. Her name was Helen Bogardis (?).
She had been taking care of her old mother and her cancer ill brother who died
within a week of each other. At this time he had sold the apartment but stayed
on as its care taker. Helen was born on Capitol Hill in Seattle.
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715: VISITS TO DENMARK: Had a trip down through Europe with a Danish minister's
tour. They went all the way to Italy. The old home is gone. Before his mother
died she was living with her daughter who was a baker in Copenhagen.
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755: ORGANIZATIONS: He wasn't very active in the Danish Brotherhood because his
wife didn't like the drinking. They were active in the Church.
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775: SPOKEN DANISH: He tells about his second trip to Denmark in Danish.
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