    
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Administrative
Information
Scope and Content Note
Biographical Information
Lineage
Selected Search Terms
Partial Interview Transcript
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Information
Resources
Robert A. L. Mortvedt Library
Pacific
Lutheran University
Tacoma, WASHINGTON 98447
Phone: (253) 535-7586 E-mail: archives@plu.edu
New Land
New Lives Oral History Collection
Ellen Katarina Eriksson Johnson
A Guide to Her Oral History Interview |
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Administrative
Information
Creator:
Johnson, Ellen Katarina Eriksson
Collection Nr: t025
File Content:
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2 file folders
0 photographs
1 sound cassette
1 compact discs
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Processing Information:
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The
interview was conducted 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.
Interviewed
by Julie Willson and Helen Tengesdal
Transcribed by Mary Sue Gee, Julie Peterson and Becky
Husby
Encoded by Kerstin Ringdahl & Amity Smetzler
Recording Quality: Good
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Restrictions:
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The
collection is available for research.
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Preferred Citation:
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[Collection
Number, Collection Title]
New Land New Lives Oral History Collection
Scandinavian Immigrant Experience Collection
Robert A.L. Mortvedt Library
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447
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This
interview conducted with Ellen Johnson on April 19, 1979 in
Tacoma, Washington contains information on personal background,
emigration, work, marriage, and return trips to Sweden. The
interview was conducted in English.
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Ellen
Katarina Johnson (Eriksson) was born in Dalarna, Sweden on September
20, 1900. Ellen's father died when she was five, and she lived
with her mother and brother in a small house near her grandparents.
In 1922, Ellen moved to the United States by herself in search
of a better lifestyle than what she had seen in Sweden. A woman
on the trip persuaded Ellen to move to the Pacific Northwest,
despite Ellen's intentions to settle in Chicago with relatives.
Ellen chose to settle in Tacoma and immediately found work as
a housekeeper. She started attending night school, but Ellen
learned most of her English skills from the woman who employed
her. At the Swedish lodge, Ellen met her husband, and the two
of them had three boys. The family moved to Alaska for a short
time, but Ellen decided to live in Sweden for a year while her
husband worked. She attained her United States citizenship in
1944. Ellen did not forget her Swedish roots though; she kept
in contact with her cousins and returned for visits in 1929
and 1961. Ellen also cooks traditional Swedish fare during the
holidays. She can still remember some of the language and maintains
pride in her Swedish heritage.
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Full Name: |
Ellen Katarina Johnson
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Maiden Name: |
Ellen Katarina Eriksson
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Father: |
Lars Eriksson
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Mother: |
Britta Janson Eriksson
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Brothers and Sisters: |
Erik Eriksson
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Spouse: |
(?) Johnson
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Children: |
Bertil
Kenneth
Leonard
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This collection is indexed under the following headings
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Personal Names |
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Johnson, Ellen Katarina
Eriksson, Ellen Katarina
Eriksson, Lars
Eriksson, Britta Janson
Johnson, Bertil
Johnson, Kenneth
Johnson, Leonard
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Family Names |
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Johnson family
Eriksson family
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Geographical Names |
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Dalarna (Sweden)
Tacoma (Wash.)
Latoosh (Alaska)
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Subjects |
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Family -- Sweden
Sweden -- Emigration and immigration
Dalarna (Sweden) -- Emigration and immigration
Stavangerfjord (Steamship)
Ocean travel
School attendance -- United States
Naturalization
Depressions -- 1929
Puget Sound Plywood Company (Tacoma, Wash.)
Valhalla Lodge (Tacoma, Wash.)
Sweden -- Social conditions -- 1945-
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Occupations |
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Domestics
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Genre/Form |
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Oral history
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Institution |
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Pacific Lutheran University. Scandinavian Immigrant Experience
Collection
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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.
015/01 FAMILY BACKGROUND: Full name is Ellen Katarina Johnson.
Maiden name is Erickson. Born in Dalarna, Sweden on September
20, 1900. Britta Janson Erickson and Lars Erickson were her
parents. Father worked in a small boat building business and
died when Ellen was five years old. She had one brother, Erik,
two years younger. He stayed in Sweden and never wanted to come
here.
049 Knew all her grandparents. Mother was a widow and wove fancy
tablecloths and linens to make a living. They lived in a small
two room house on her dad's place. The other grandparents lived
within walking distance.
063/02 EMIGRATION: Ellen emigrated in 1922 by herself. Why did
she come? "Well, that's a question. Why did I? I really couldn't
say." There were hard times in Sweden then; she noticed that
older girlfriends had a hard time after marriage. She thought
there should be something better than living in that small town
of 3000. She was used to traveling and staying with an uncle
in Stockholm. So, she could have moved to a large city. But
she "knew so many that went here. I wrote to them, and of course,
they bragged". She came with a lady who was visiting and wanted
to bring her mother back. Before that happened the lady's mother
was killed in an automobile accident. So, only the two came.
109 TRIP: They took train down from her home and came on the
Stavangerfjord out of Oslo. She remembers the beautiful Norwegian
coastline as they continued to Bergen. Took 14 days to reach
New York and five days to cross America to Tacoma. Ellen was
going to relatives in Chicago, but the lady talked her into
the climate of the Pacific Northwest. Ellen didn't have enough
money, but the lady loaned her some and Ellen repaid her later.
150/03 SETTLING IN: Ellen stayed with this married lady in a
newly built home for about a week. Then she started a housework
job, which she didn't like. But she had no language or job skills,
so she worked four years for a Swedish woman married to a tugboat
company owner who lived on the Tacoma's North end. The job helped
Ellen with the language; the lady spoke English to her but explained
the words in Swedish.
182 MARRIAGE AND FAMILY: Ellen also attended night school during
those four years. "I would have gone longer, but I got married".
She met her husband at the Swedish lodge and Swedish doings
on K Street. They had three boys. The oldest is Bertil Johnson.
[Discussion about another Bertil Johnson.] The second child
was Kenneth who was five years younger. After Ellen was married,
the family went up to Alaska. Her husband stayed in Latoosh
?, Alaska while she went back to Sweden for one year. Her oldest
son was a year and a half when they left.
222 She didn't worry about her husband, because he stayed in
a boarding house with good food and all. She returned to Alaska,
but when she became pregnant again [with Kenneth] she came down
to Tacoma. Then she had one more boy, Leonard.
241 Ellen had no problems in America. The countryside here was
similar to Dalarna although the winters were colder and the
summers shorter in Sweden. The environment made her feel at
home. To get her final citizenship papers, she had to be here
seven years but she moved around so much it was difficult to
establish residence. She applied for and received her final
papers in 1944; her husband had previously gotten his.
275 Kenneth lives in Tacoma and works in Puget Sound National
Bank. She has seven grandchildren.
289/04 TRADITIONS: Christmas in Sweden was special. She made
spritz, fattigmann, etc. Her sister-in-law was good at making
the Swedish meats; Ellen did the lutefisk and turkey.
304 Ellen was not active in church although the boys attended
Sunday School. Her husband lived in Alaska for six years, and
she was there nearly four-five years. She moved back here during
the Depression and those years were the hard times. Her husband
said, " You can get a job if you're willing to take any old
thing that comes along". There were no opportunities, so "he
got fooled there", and he was out of work for a long time. They
had extra money from the AK job, but then the banks closed.
Those were the worst years for them. They first lived on 12th
Street and then in University Place. Husband worked in town
for Puget Sound Plywood. He was one of eight to start that company;
they borrowed the money--a big risk--but it worked out.
346 RETURN TRIPS: Ellen kept in contact with her Swedish cousins
by writing to Dalarna and Stockholm. Her first visit was in
1929-30, and the second was in 1961 when her mother was ill.
She only stayed three months because her husband was alone and
not well. She enjoyed the first trip because she still knew
everybody. The second trip, 32 years after emigration, was different
because she knew so few people. They knew her so well, because
she had worked in a store before emigrating. "That way you're
known. And that way they knew me better than I knew them--even
then, you know. That wasn't so much fun. You were kind of disgusted
with people. You knew you should know them, but they never introduced
themselves. That's Swedes for you".
388/05 Ellen still remembers the language but needs to warm
up before she takes off.
408 Her other two sons live away from Tacoma. They have visited
them in Houston, Vancouver, Washington, and New York--wherever
they lived. One son was a pilot--flew the small private jets--for
an oil company, but is in administration now.
433 END OF TAPE
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