    
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
Selma Inez Erickson
A Guide to Her Oral History Interview |
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Administrative
Information
Creator:
Erickson, Selma Inez
Collection Nr: t035-036
File Content:
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2 file folders
0 photographs
2 sound cassettes
2 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 Janet Rasmussen
Transcribed by Mary Sue Gee, Julie Peterson and Becky
Husby
Encoded by Kerstin Ringdahl & Amity Smetzler
Recording Quality: Excellent
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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 was conducted with Selma Erickson on July 2, 1979
in Seattle, WA. It provides information on Selma's family background,
her experiences as a teacher and a nurse, her return trip to
Norway, and her interest in genealogy. The interview also contains
five papers by Selma ("Scandinavian Contributions to the American
Revolution and the Declaration of Independence," "My Family
Record, with Emphasis on the Halling-side," "The Ingvald E.
Erickson Family," "Selma Erickson Writes of Christmas in Zululand,"
and "My Childhood on the Farm in North Dakota"), a poem by Selma
entitled "A Visit to My Birthplace," Selma's family tree, and
two letters from Selma to the interviewer, Janet Rasmussen.
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The
daughter of Norwegian and Norwegian-American parents, Selma
Inez Erickson was born in 1903 in Turtle Lake, North Dakota.
Selma was the third child out of eleven. Her father was born
in Bergen, Norway and immigrated to Rock Dell Township in Minnesota
when he was two. Her mother, also of Norwegian descent, was
born in Rock Dell Township. While in North Dakota, Selma's father
farmed on a homestead, but after ten years with only one good
crop, the family moved to Osakis, MN, where Mr. Erickson worked
as a carpenter. When Selma was seventeen, she took her fourth
year of high school as teachers' training and began teaching
at Osakis High School. She worked in the Osakis area for three
years and then went on to teach for two years in Rochester and
one in a Cherokee Indian School in Oklahoma. Encouraged to become
a nurse, Selma began training at Deaconess Hospital in Minneapolis,
MN when she was twenty-five. Nurses were in demand at this time,
and she worked as a private nurse in Osakis, Alexandria, and
other places in Minnesota. Following this, Selma studied at
the Lutheran Bible Institute in Minneapolis and decided to become
a mission nurse. She was stationed in South Africa at a dispensary-store
for seven years, where she lived with special patients and some
younger native girls. The special patients Selma cared for were
a set of triplets born prematurely to a local Christian family.
Selma considers the time she spent in South Africa as the highlight
of her life. She finished her mission work in 1945 and then
returned to Portland, OR, where her parents lived and continued
nursing in Oregon, Washington, and California. After returning
to Rock Dell to visit her grandfather, Selma became interested
in genealogy. When she moved to Seattle in 1957, she joined
the Genealogical Society at the Seattle Public Library and in
1966, became the chairman of the Scandinavian interest group.
Selma celebrates her own Scandinavian heritage by continuing
to cook special dishes and speaking and writing Norwegian.
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Full Name: |
Selma Inez Erickson
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Maiden Name: |
Selma Inez Erickson
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Father: |
Ingvald Emil Erickson
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Mother: |
Helen Larson Alseth
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Paternal Grandfather: |
Ingebrigt Erickson Tvedt
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Paternal Grandmother: |
Synneva Rasmusen Fjaeren
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Maternal Grandfather: |
Gjermund Larson Alseth
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Maternal Grandmother: |
Guri Nopson Mehus
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Brothers and Sisters: |
Hjalmar Ludvig Erickson
Mabel Gertrude Erickson
Lilah Grace Erickson
Luella Mae Erickson
Ruth Viola Erickson
Clifford Ernest Erickson
Cordelia Emily Erickson
Theodore Olaf Erickson
Donald Lloyd Erickson
Dale Floyd Erickson
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This collection is indexed under the following headings
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Personal Names |
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Erickson, Selma Inez
Erickson, Ingvald Emil
Alseth, Helen Larson
Tvedt, Inglebrigt Erickson
Fjaeren, Synneva Rasmusen
Alseth, Gjermund Larson
Mehus, Guri Nopson
Erickson, Hjalmar Ludvig
Erickson, Mabel Gertrude
Erickson, Lilah Grace
Erickson, Luella Mae
Hayes, Ruth Viola
Erickson, Clifford Ernest
Erickson, Cordelia Emily
Erickson, Theodore Olaf
Erickson, Donald Lloyd
Erickson, Dale Floyd
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Family Names |
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Erickson family
Alseth family
Tvedt family
Fjaeren family
Mehus family
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Geographical Names |
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Bergen (Norway)
Sogndal, Sogn (Norway)
Rock Dell Township (Minn.)
Turtle Lake (N.D.)
Osakis (Minn.)
Minneapolis (Minn.)
Esohwe (South Africa)
Seattle (Wash.)
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Subjects |
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Family -- Rockdell Township (Minn.)
School attendance -- Turtle Lake (N.D.)
Education -- Turtle Lake (N.D.)
Missionary Work
Genealogy
Norwegian-Americans -- Ethnic identity
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Occupations |
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Farming (father)
Carpentry (father)
Teaching
Nursing
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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.
025/10 FAMILY BACKGROUND: Selma Inez (Inas on birth certificate)
was born on a farm near Turtle Lake, ND in 1903.
071 PARENTS: Her father was Ingvald Emil, and mother was Helen
Larson Alseth, originally Helene Gjermundsdatter. Dad was born
in Bergen, Norway on June 25, 1874. When he was two, he emigrated
with his family which included mother, dad, and two older siblings.
Dad's mother was born in Sogndal, Sogn and moved to Bergen.
His father
/11 was a farmer and worked with the fishing industry. The grandfather's
oldest brother, Jakob, got the farm. So, grandfather and the
other siblings had to do other things, and he and two siblings
immigrated to Rock Dell Township near Rochester, MN in about
1876.
177 Selma's mother was born in Rock Dell Township. Her mother
was also born in America, probably around the Rock Dell area,
although her parents emigrated from the Hallingdal area.
219/12 Selma's parents were married on December 24, 1898 in
the East St. Olaf Lutheran Church at Rock Dell where mother
was baptized; it was a Norwegian Synod congregation. Her parents
had eleven children in all. The two oldest children were born
in Rock Dell: Hjalmar Ludvig (6-3-1899) and Mabel Gertrude (1901).
Then Selma Inez was born on 8-23-1903; Lilah Grace two years
later, Luella Mae, Ruth Viola, Clifford Ernest, Cordelia Emily,
Theodore Olaf and the twins Donald Lloyd and Dale Floyd.
297 Dale was about eight years old when he died of a brain cancer
at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester.
313 Ruth (Mrs. Edward Hayes) lives in Ballard, and Selma lives
with Cordelia Emily.
324 Father was a farmer, but like many Scandinavians, he was
also a carpenter. He took up a homestead at Turtle Lake, ND
but had only one good crop in ten years from 1903-1913. During
part of those years, he supported the family as a machinist.
They moved to town and he began construction work.
354 Selma was born right after the move to the homestead. Later
on, at the age of nine, she lived with an aunt for a year in
Aneta, ND. The aunt had four boys and wanted to have a girl
in the family.
378 CHILDHOOD: Selma had a happy childhood. She had cousins
that lived across the field and that were playmates with the
Erickson kids. The children were brought to church weekly.
399/13 CHURCH: A group of young people had moved from Rock Dell
Township to Turtle Lake, so the new ND congregation was Norwegian
Lutheran also. Services were in Norwegian. Before school, Selma
knew only Norwegian as that's what her parents spoke at home.
When she went to school, she had to learn English as the school
in ND used only English. Just the oldest children learned Norwegian;
Hjalmar and Mabel went to a Norwegian primary school in MN.
Lilah and Luella knew some Norwegian, but the younger ones didn't
learn any. Selma tries to keep up with her Norwegian by studying
and writing.
456 Discussion about a picture taken before Hjalmar enlisted
in the Marines prior to WWI. Aunt Agnes helped get the family
ready for this picture; she was an opera singer from Oslo.
478/14 Father was almost 81 when he died; mother reached the
age of 96. After quitting the homestead, they moved to Osakis,
MN, when she was 10. Selma took her teacher's training at normal
school there.
509/01 LIFE FOR MOTHER: She was a hard worker who knit and crocheted
in her spare time. They lived on five acres on the outskirts
of town, and everyone learned to work. Mother raised and sold
fryers, eggs, and vegetables. Later on, she got a loom, and
wove and sold rugs. After moving to Seattle, she continued to
make and sell crocheted goods. Discussion about a newspaper
clipping from the Seattle Times, Sunday January 9, 1972, which
is an interview with her mother about her handwork.
595/02 WORK: Selma taught three years in the Osakis area, two
in Rochester and one in a Cherokee Indian School in Oklahoma.
The superintendent at the school was the pastor who confirmed
Selma. The original teacher was not able to come, so Selma took
over the primary grades. After that, she stayed and helped one
year at the Indian Mission. People encouraged her to be a nurse,
and after prayerful consideration, she applied to nursing school.
She had planned to attend Dana College, but she used her savings
to pay for her nurses training at Deaconess Hospital in Minneapolis,
MN. She was only 25 when she entered in 1928 and finished in
1931.
669/03 Selma started teaching at the age of 17; the kids were
almost her age. There was a shortage of teachers, and she, like
many girls, took her fourth year of high school as teachers
training at Osakis High School in the normal department.
688 DEACONESS HOSPITAL: The training was bedside nursing: making
beds, cleaning linens, etc., and studying. There were about
20-25 girls in one class; Deaconess (a Norwegian Hospital) was
in demand as a training hospital.
707 Here she had a chance to use her Norwegian. She took care
of elderly Norwegian deaconess' twice and had the chance to
speak, sing Norwegian songs and read the Norwegian Bible to
them.
731 After graduation, she was a private nurse in Osakis, Alexandria,
and other places in MN. There were few nurses around, so she
was in demand. Later she studied at the Lutheran Bible Institute
in Minneapolis before going to Africa in 1938.
SIDE II
012/04 More discussion about work.
043 DECISION TO BECOME A MISSION NURSE: After Bible study in
1933-34, she went to Harvey, ND to work as a nurse. She had
a great interest in being a mission nurse because of church
influence, family attitude, training, etc. During the Depression,
she applied to be a nurse in India, but that didn't materialize.
116 Then, she went to the Mission Secretary (under the Norwegian
Lutheran Church) in Minneapolis, and asked where an opening
was available. Missions were sponsored in China, Africa, and
Madagascar, but the only available opening was in South Africa.
She applied, and in preparation, she attended a missionary conference
and read up on tropical diseases.
185/05 Her initial contract was for seven years. She traveled
on a German-African boat via Hamburg, Germany and South Hampton,
England and then along the western coast of Africa. Her destination
was a Zulu mission in Natal in the southeastern part of South
Africa. The country, prior to WWII, was a British colony and
was called the Union of South Africa.
245 She was stationed at a dispensary-store; the nearest doctor
was 12-14 miles away at Esohwe. He made regular stops at the
store, and emergency cases were taken to him. She lived in a
house with some special patients and some younger native girls
who helped keep house. Most patients spoke Zulu, so Selma had
a tutor who helped her with the language. During WWII there
were blackouts. The South Africans fought in North Africa, and
had a training camp outside of Esohwe. She had a visit from
a Jewish doctor who observed that she had a wider selection
of medicine in her dispensary than he did. Selma ordered her
supplies from an English pharmaceutical.
340/06 Selma was to have been relieved in order to take a course
in midwifery, but her replacement died while returning from
a furlough. Selma was able to go later when a Zulu nurse took
over the dispensary. She attended a six-month midwifery course
offered at Queen Victoria Maternity Hospital in Johannesburg.
In the US, there was only one place to receive this training,
and Selma had not been able to take it. She had delivered two
babies before taking the course, but did not encourage the practice.
383 Her special patients were a set of triplets born prematurely
in a government hospital in Durban. At six months of age, the
mother brought one girl to Selma for medicine. Six months later,
she met up with the family when another triplet was very ill.
Selma walked two miles to reach the home, and found the babies
were badly undernourished. The parents were Christian and loved
the children. So the mother gave Selma permission to keep the
sick child and even carried it to Selma's house. The little
girl, at one year, was only seven pounds. Selma didn't contact
a doctor, just fed her small amounts often. Gradually the girl
improved. The non-Christian natives believed that twins and
triplets were very bad luck, and often killed one or all. These
parents, being Christian, kept all three, but were shunned or
scorned by older people.
428/07 Selma cared for these triplets during her time there,
and still receives letters from them. She finished her mission
work in 1945. She re-applied for more mission work, but wasn't
accepted. She returned to Portland, OR, where her folks had
moved to be by their youngest son, Ted. Selma continued nursing
in OR, CA, and WA Her mother was one of the first residents
of the Elsie Foss Sunset Home in Seattle.
525 TRIP TO NORWAY IN 1970: Some of the people she worked with
in South Africa were Norwegians as the mission was Norwegian-American;
it was named the Hans Skruder (?) Mission. She was interested
in visiting Norway to contact both relatives and friends from
South Africa. She traveled with a tour group from Tacoma led
by Pastor Thompson from Trinity Lutheran, and was accompanied
by a good friend of Norwegian descent. The home place was still
in the family; her sister had located its owner through the
Oslo archives.
618 GENEALOGY: Her interest in genealogy began when she was
in the Rock Dell area and visited her grandfather, Ingebrigt
Erickson Tvedt. There were a number of relatives around, so
she learned quite a lot of family history. After she moved to
Seattle in 1957, she joined the Genealogical Society at the
Seattle Public Library, and became the chairman of the Scandinavian
interest group in 1966. The Seattle Times interviewed several
people and ran an article on genealogy; from that came a great
response, and membership in the interest group grew to 35.
746/08 For the Scan Presence Conference, the Scandinavian interest
group contributed genealogical materials. The group has also
prepared research information packets for Norwegian, Swedish,
Finnish, Icelandic and Danish people. She works as a volunteer
for Seattle Genealogical Society from 10-1 on Saturdays.
TAPE 035
SIDE I
004/09 CHURCH WORK: Returning from Africa, Selma visited a prayer
group and was impressed with the power of prayer. She has belonged
to many prayer groups through the years. Her sister, Cordelia,
and she have been advocates for mission work and for a mission
prayer group. One of her church's pastors, Pastor Rude (sp?),
was interested and supportive in starting a mission society.
164/01 NORWEGIAN HERITAGE: They still have lutefisk and julekake
at Christmas dinner. Her mother's favorite song was "Vi er saa
glad..." which they sang every Christmas.
187 SPEAKING NORWEGIAN: Selma has a mixed accent: Sogn, Telemark,
Bergen and Hallingdal. She speaks and reads Norwegian, but does
not write it.
219 The highlight of her life was the time spent in Africa.
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