The
partial interview transcription highlights important aspects
of the interview. Numbers on the left 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.
004 FAMILY BACKGROUND: Anna Johanna Kristina Laursen. Maiden
name is Nielsen. She is 81 now, born on June 11, 1896. Husband
was Marinus Laursen, and they were married February 17, 1916.
They have five children: Elmer [a Lutheran minister and former
chaplain in San Francisco], Elsie, Norma, Betty, and Richard
[with the Safeco Insurance Co.].
Anna has lived in the Tacoma area since she emigrated on November
17, 1914.
071 WORK: She did housework before marriage. After the children
grew up, she worked at the lunch room in Rhodes Department Store
and as a presser in a cleaners. She made sure she wasn't neglecting
the children while working.
Anna came from Copenhagen. Father was in business with a firm
that sold agricultural seeds, bulbs, etc. Grandfather used to
make wooden shoes. After he retired, he became a bill collector
so he could get in walking and exercise.
114 There are no relatives left in Denmark that she knows about.
Anna only had the one brother, and he and her parents emigrated
to America also.
EMIGRATION: She thinks her dad's firm went bankrupt, and they
released him after 20 years of work. He always thought about
emigrating to America even though his wife was strict against
it. He'd always say "Anna, do you want to go to America with
me?". "Sure! I was ready to go. But mother said no, nothing
doing". When Dad lost his job, the decision was easier. Mother
had an uncle with a berry farm in Puyallup with whom she corresponded.
Father and brother came first; Mother and Anna followed. It
was a group decision to emigrate, but Father had a travel bug
in him. Before marriage he had spent three years in South America
and wanted to see something different.
170 Dad and brother stayed in Puyallup with the uncle who was
a widower with several children. The children were grown and
married, some were schoolteachers, etc.
Father got a job at St. Paul Mill, 10 hours a day--manual labor
which was new for him. Then he worked at Northern Pacific painting
cars. When he grew tired of that job, he opened a grocery in
Midland and had that until he retired at the age of 72.
200 Anna and her mother took the steamship "United States" which
ran between Copenhagen and Kristiansand, but didn't stop in
England. They left on October 29, 1914, and the trip took 12
days. Dad and brother arrived on July 4th and stayed in the
harbor until they could disembark on the 5th.
256 There were no problems on the ship. World War I had started,
and an English boat stopped and boarded their ship in Mid-Atlantic.
Mother and Anna shared a cabin with a Mrs. Norsker (?) and her
two girls. Both mothers were sick, so she took care of the two
girls. One day Anna tripped over a rope on deck and fell flat
on her face. Her nose swelled and her face turned black and
blue. When she landed, she looked terrible. Went to a surgeon
and asked for relief and advice, and he said "No, my dear. Just
patience--patience". But the bump was on her nose and her eyes
were discolored for months. She was 18 at the time of emigration.
306 Father had a place to live. Later on, Anna's husband bought
and fixed up the same house, and they lived there for 34 years.
315 Anna didn't like New York because of all the big buildings;
it wasn't like Copenhagen. Mom and Anna got off at the Tacoma
depot and had to wait for Father. They had the house number,
1921 Durango Street, so when Father didn't come she took the
address to the traveler's aid. They had never heard of it. But
pretty soon, Dad came on the streetcar and all was okay.
SETTLING IN: Anna was thrilled about coming here. The Oakland
area at 33d and South Adams near the Oakland grade school was
wilderness: no street or sidewalks--just a few trails and houses.
Father had met another Danish family, and they lived on the
same plot. Their daughter eventually became her brother's wife.
The Nielsen's ate their first supper in America with this family--a
nice welcome, Anna recalls.
378 They had always rented an apartment in Copenhagen, so buying
and living in a house were different. Anna had worked as an
office nurse, telephone girl, etc. for a lady dentist in Denmark.
Later on she learned to make dentures. If her English language
skills were better, she could have gotten a similar job here.
She'd had English fundamentals in school, but there was a huge
difference between book-English and American speech. But Anna
got along "by keeping my ears open and reading...listening to
people when they talk. Just absorbing everything. It didn't
take me very long to learn it". The rest of the family learned
English also. Mother, Dad and Anna continued to speak Danish
around the house.
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY: Anna and her husband both knew Danish but
usually didn't use it. She gained her citizenship through marriage
in 1916. That law was changed in '21 or '22. She was 20 years
old at marriage. Marinus was born in Denmark and had gotten
his American papers in 1910.
450 They lived in the North End in a rented apartment for four
months, and then moved to the Oakland area. The neighbor lady
in the first house took in washing, and had the washing machine
on the back porch above them. Between her machine and her cussing
at the kids, Anna and Marinus decided to move. He bought a run-down
place and changed all the windows, partitions, etc. He had been
trained in Denmark as a carpenter/cabinetmaker.
486 Husband belonged to the Danish Brotherhood and she to the
Sisterhood. They had lots of good times in those days as it
was a main source of sociability: cards, dances, meetings. She
always took the kids along; would bed them down on the benches.
When it was time to go, they'd pick the kids up, catch the streetcar,
and put the kids to bed again at home.
Anna never played cards, but would invite people over and while
they played, she did embroidery. They didn't have a radio for
a long time, and when they did, you couldn't count on it working
when you wanted to hear a special program.
527 HOLIDAYS AND TRADITIONS: In Denmark there was always a first
Christmas day [Easter, etc.] and then the second day. Here,
they got together with two-three families and had big parties.
Christmas Eve was celebrated in a Danish manner with a huge
tree that went to the ceiling and with candles on it. Any fire
was extinguished with a big wet rag on a long stick. They never
had any real fires. The kids could dance until 11 o'clock at
night, and then the adults took over the dance floor. Anna danced
with both groups. Entertainment in those days usually consisted
of dinners and visiting.
Denmark now celebrates the 4th of July in Jylland out in the
hills. There is a log cabin with words from all the states in
America. The royalty comes and there are speeches--a big holiday
now. When she was a child, they had a children's day, "barnejobsdag"
?. The children would dress up and go door-to-door collecting
money in boxes for the more unfortunate children.
605 They subscribed to Danish newspapers for many years, and
there is still one on the Coast. There was little mingling of
Scandinavian organizations then, except for the Leif Eriksson
group. The Sisterhood met in one of two halls side-by-side to
the Brotherhood. After separate meetings, the two groups would
gather for the social evening--dancing, eating, playing cards,
etc. They also belonged to a Danish Church where she first saw
her husband. The minister was ........(?), and he helped them
put on Danish plays. Anna was in several that included lots
of singing and performing, both locally and in the Seattle Danish
Hall.
650 DANISH FOOD: After Sisterhood and Brotherhood meetings,
open faced sandwiches were served. Anna made quite a few Danish
meals at home including pea soup, kale soup, chicken soup with
dumplings.
674 At the Young People's Society at church they would have
district meetings with dinners and lots of people. Anna helped
serve food. She also sang in the choir at this church, Danish
Lutheran on South 13th and L--a nice, old church. Her mother
and she belonged to the Ladies Aid. Sheridan Lutheran and Danish
Lutheran merged later. The children were baptized in the Oakland
Church. It was close and convenient; it was hard to transport
four kids by streetcar. She was very active in this church also;
sang in the choir, directed another, and helped with dinners.
Two daughters were married in Oakland Church, the older son
in Moorhead, MN and the younger in Seattle.
732 After the younger son was 7 or 8, Anna opened a variety
store in partnership with another woman on Center St. The youngest
boy could walk there from school for lunch, and again when school
finished. Then she worked in a cleaning shop in 1952 when Richard
was 12. Her brother worked for the a laundry/cleaners and asked
her if she wanted to be a repair woman. Her job consisted of
checking military uniforms for spots, missing buttons, etc.
761 Their first doctor in Tacoma was Dr. Quivley (?), a Norwegian.
The five children were born over a 23 year span, all in Tacoma
General Hospital with Dr. McCreary?.
SIDE II
033 She told the children Danish fairy stories. The oldest son
grew up near his Danish Grandmother in Oakland, and she spoke
Danish to him. He still knows many words. The oldest girl knew
a little, and each successive child knew a little less. The
last boy was born in 1940.
She didn't insist on the children learning Danish. "I tell you
what. I believe...that the children go to school. There's no
use of me imprinting a whole lot of that stuff in them. They
got to go ahead in their own schoolwork. America comes first...with
the kids when they grow up. So I did everything I could to help
them in their schoolwork". She was asked by Oakland teachers
to talk about Denmark and its traditions.
She never taught prayers to the children in Danish, but she
still knows, likes, and recites one: "I Jesu navn gr vi til
bords...".
124 Anna attended a private school in Copenhagen for high school.
Brother had to finish two years of schooling in America. In
school, she did well in geography--countries, capitol cities,
etc. So much of that has changed since the wars. She also had
one year each of German, French, and English, and she was quite
good in German. Girls began knitting, embroidering, and sewing.
They did fine hand-stitching, not machine sewing. She still
does embroidery work. School began at 9 am and stopped at 3
pm. In the first part of July, final exams were held in all
subjects. Then they had a short summer vacation. School began
again around the 18th of August.
222 School provided a general education--no special training.
She has done a lot of volunteer work with the PTA. At one point
she had one child at Oakland, one at Jason Lee, and one at Stadium.
She attended all the PTA meetings and was on the board of some.
In addition, she was always very active in church.
248 SIGNIFICANT HAPPENINGS: During WWII there was shortage and
rationing. There were groups who helped the Danish people at
this time. She didn't know about any of her relatives.
Their own family never suffered during the Depression. She kept
right on buying butter, because her husband didn't believe in
cutting back on the children's food. She had to watch the money
carefully, but there was no hardship. Her husband worked for
W. B. Wingard ? and Son who put in butcher cases, etc. He worked
there for 20 years. He was lucky; had no problem in getting
and keeping jobs. They had four children during the Depression
so things were stretched.
The Oakland area was enjoyable; they lived on a dead-end street.
In the winter, the kids could sled on "Larsen's Hill" and they
had a wonderful time. After her husband died, Anna would walk
home from work to a dark house at 9-10 PM with no trouble. The
girls rode the bus and had three blocks to walk--no bother.
365 They lived in Tacoma area 62 years. She met quite a few
prominent Tacoma women through PTA, but no one real special.
387 Another person to interview might be Emma Grant.
400 End of tape.
Go to top
|
