    
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
Anna Gudrun Hauge Holmes
A Guide to Her Oral History Interview |
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Administrative
Information
Creator:
Holmes, Anna Gudrun Hauge
Collection Nr: t153
File Content:
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3 file folders
2 photographs
1 sound cassette
0 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 Inger Nygaard Carr
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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The
interview was conducted with Gudrun Holmes on March 18, 1982
in Stanwood, Washington. This interview contains information
on family history; church life in Norway; father's carpentry
work; brothers and sisters; family home, Christmas, and school
in Norway; Norwegian foods; living with a cousin; meeting husband;
reasons for emigrating; wedding; parents' feelings about emigration;
voyage to America; West Coast; house in Stanwood, WA; railroad
work; Great Depression; impressions of U.S.; language problems;
children; visit to Norway; church life in U.S.; Norwegian foods.
The interview also contains photographs of Gudrun Holmes and
her husband Elias at the time of the interview. The interview
was conducted in English with some Norwegian towards the end.
Also see Elias Holmes, T152. Gudrun's family tree is also in
the Karmøy Torvastad bygdebook on page 53.
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Anna
Gudrun (Hauge) Holmes was born on February 13, 1898 in Hauge,
Torvastad, Karmøy, Norway. Her parents were Johan and Gurine
Hauge, and she had six sisters and two brothers. Gudrun started
school when she was seven and went for seven years; she then
attended Ungdomsskole at Kopervik on Karmøy for six months,
where she learned to sew, cook, weave, do arithmetic, and speak
English. She stayed with a cousin in various places in 1914
and then returned home. In 1927, she met her husband, Elias
Holmes, who had lived in the U.S. since 1914 and was her sister
Sophie's brother-in-law, when he was visiting Norway. Her cousin's
husband died in 1929, and Gudrun went to help and stayed there
until Elias came back to marry her in 1930. They were married
in Dome Church in Stavanger on June 7, 1930 and left for the
U.S. on August 17, 1930. They lived in Huntley, MT, which is
near Billings, MT, for six months when they first arrived, and
then in Judson, ND for a number of years. Because Elias was
young and worked for the railroad, they were moved often; they
moved to Richardton, ND, then Stipek, MT, and back to Richardton
before Elias left the railroad and the family bought a farm
in Stanwood, WA in 1937. They have four children-Kjell, John,
Gudveig, and Leif. Gudrun visited Norway with her daughter Gudveig
in 1966.
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Full Name: |
Anna Gudrun Hauge Holmes
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Maiden Name: |
Anna Gudrun Hauge
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Father: |
Johan Hauge
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Mother: |
Gurine Hauge
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Paternal Grandfather: |
Asbjørn Hauge
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Paternal Grandmother: |
Marie Elisebet Hauge
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Maternal Grandfather: |
Peder Hauge
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Maternal Grandmother: |
Anna Sofie Hauge
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Brothers and Sisters: |
Peder Hauge
Marie Hanevik
Sofie Holmes
Amalia Hauge
Johan Arnt Hauge
Astrid Boe
Signe Østhus
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Spouse: |
Elias Holmes
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Children: |
Kjell Holmes
John Holmes
Gudveig Holmes Nelsen
Leif Holmes
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This collection is indexed under the following headings
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Personal Names |
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Hauge, Anna Gudrun
Holmes, Anna Gudrun
Hauge, Johan
Hauge, Gurine
Hauge, Asbjørn
Hauge, Marie Elisabet
Hauge, Peder
Hauge, Anna Sophie
Holmes, Elias
Holmes, Kjell
Holmes, John
Nelsen, Gudveig Holmes
Holmes, Leif
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Family Names |
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Holmes family
Hauge family
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Geographical Names |
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Hauge, Torvastad, Karmøy (Norway)
Landenes, Avaldsnes, Karmøy (Norway)
Stavanger, Høle (Norway)
Billings (Mont.)
Bismarck (N.D.)
Glendive (Mont.)
Mt. Vernon (Wash.)
Stanwood (Wash.)
Huntley (Mont.)
Judson (N.D.)
Richardton (N.D.)
Stipek (Mont.)
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Subjects |
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Family -- Norway
Norway -- Emigration and immigration
Norwegian language
English language
Norway -- Social conditions --1945
School attendance -- Norway
Education -- Norway
Stavangerfjord (Steamship)
Marriage service
Good Templar Lodge (Norway)
Christmas
Ocean travel
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Occupations |
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Carpentry
Farming
Teaching
Railroad
Engineering (Civil)
Nursing
Banking
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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 PERSONAL BACKGROUND: Anna Gudrun Hauge Holmes. Born in Hauge,
Torvastad, Karmøy, Norway which is near Haugesund. Had a boat
that went back and forth to Haugesund several times a day which
they would send the milk from their farm to. All the boats used
to go this way. When she left on the Stavangerfjord they went
through here. Many ships during the war took that route too
(WWI). After WWII in about in about 1950 they built a bridge
across here so now big ships can't pass this way.
160 PERSONAL BACKGROUND: Born on 13 February 1898. 84 years
old now.
175 PARENTS: Johan Hauge and Gurine. It was a family custom
to name a girl in the family "Gud" plus an ending which varied.
Her mother's maiden name was Hauge because she was also from
that area. They took the name of the place they lived. Father
had a farm and was a carpenter too. He built many houses and
a bedehus (a prayer house).
225 CHURCH LIFE: Everyone was religious there. Everyone was
Lutheran because the church belonged to the state. Went to church
at 11am and then at 5pm they would meet and collect money not
for the church because they were supported by the state, but
for various missions. They still give lots of money to foreign
countries. (5pm was the Bedehus meeting)
280 PREACHERS: Uncle, father and neighbors. The minister never
came (Bedehus). They still keep this up.
316 VISITS TO NORWAY: Went back in 1966 with Gudveig. It was
really nice to see again.
330 GRANDPARENTS: Sofie Hauge her maternal grandmother died
of pneumonia in 1910. Her husband's name was Peder. He was a
farmer. Paternal grandparents were Asbjørn and Marie Elisabet.
He was involved in many things, school board, insurance, and
carpentry.
380 FATHER'S CARPENTRY WORK: Built for neighbors. Could take
down houses and move them and build them up again.
410 BROTHERS AND SISTERS: Six sisters and two brothers. Marie.
Sofie came to Seattle. Amalia stayed at home with her mother
until her death. Astrid they have a farm. Signe they have a
farm. Peder came to the U.S. for 12 years. He worked for Northern
Pacific RR building railroads in the summertime. He returned
to Norway and bought the neighboring farm. Johan got the family
farm.
465 FAMILY HOME: Not a big home. Had an upstairs and a basement
which was made up like a kitchen. This was very common to have
the basement fixed up like a kitchen. Used to have a big fireplace
for baking in.
510 ELECTRICITY: Came in 1922. Later they got an electric stove.
She remembers Christmas Eve that year and how it was lit up.
524 CHRISTMAS: Didn't have a tree because they don't have trees
on Karmøy. It is too windy by the North Sea. Now they have brought
in some sturdier trees from Alaska. Before that they had such
little trees. Talks about Store Øy which has nice trees. Had
good food and went to church for Christmas. After Christmas
they went to all kinds of things. They had big trees in the
Bedehus. They went to Ungdomslaget. Got some candies and an
orange. They sang around the tree.
625 BELONGED TO THE GOOD TEMPLAR LODGE IN NORWAY: Promised not
to drink. Lots of young people went there. Had a Christmas tree
there too.
645 CHRISTMAS: Lasted for about two weeks. A lot went on after
Christmas. Foods - lefse, rice, ribs, and cutlets.
675 FOOD: Ate a lot of fish. Bought a bunch of fish and would
salt and dry it. Ate torsk (cod) and sill (herring), and mackeral.
Ate it smoked sometimes too.
725 FAMILY FARM: Raised vegetables and cabbage for the cows.
Lots of potatoes. Her brother and she worked together. Her brother
got half the income and her father the other half.
765 PARENTS: Father died in 1934 after Gudrun left. He was about
76 years old. Her mother lived until 1944.
780 SCHOOL DAYS IN NORWAY: The school was about 10 minutes away.
Had one teacher and one "laererinne" (female teacher). Started
school at age 7 and went to school for three years with the
laererinne and then for four years with the teacher. The teacher
was a nice old man. He was very religious. He played the violin
and taught hymns. They didn't go to school everyday. The first
three years they went three days a week (M,W,F). The next four
years they went on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
833 UNGDOMSSKOLE: Went to this school which belonged to the
whole "Fister" (township) of Rogaland. Young people came from
all around. The school was located at Kopervik on Karmøy. Utgarden
fylkesskole was the name of the school. This was about one Norwegian
mile from her home. Would either walk or get there by horse
and buggy.
863 UNGDOMSSKOLE: Learned to sew, cook, weave, arithmetic, and
English. There were two or three teachers. Went there for six
months.
880 Cousin was married to a professor in the seminary on Store
Øy. He had a "stipend" (scholarship) in which he had to travel
to a different country for a whole year. The two girls went
to Sigdal which is close to Drammen where the cousin's father
(her uncle lived and stayed there for the summer. This was in
1914. There was a big celebration in Oslo that they went to.
910 WENT TO SETESDAL: This is near Kristiansand. This is where
her cousin's husband's family lived. They stayed there for the
entire winter. Gudrun took care of the three small children.
They had a lot of fun skiing.
925 WENT TO BERGEN: Cousin's husband got a job in Bergen. He
was a professor who studied old things. Thorleif Hanus (?).
Gudrun stayed with them for a year and then returned home. He
died in 1929 when he was about 50 years old. Gudrun went to
help. He had an operation and died three days later. Gudrun
stayed with them until Elias came back to marry her in Norway.
(He was in the U.S.)
970 MEETING HUSBAND: Met in 1927 when he came home on a visit
to Norway. He had been in the U.S. since 1914. He brought greetings
to her from her sister who married to his brother in Belfield,
ND. Gudrun and her husband had met in 1913 when she was 16 years
old. In 1914 he left for America. Her sister Sofie and his brother
Louie were married when Louie came home for a visit. Louie went
to the U.S. and said he would return, but didn't so Sofie went
to the U.S. to be with him. Elias knew Gudrun's brother Peder.
Gudrun was away visiting her cousins in Bergen. This was a sad
period for Gudrun because she was going to marry a man who got
pneumonia and died. Gudrun's brother wrote to her and asked
if she would come home and help out in the summertime. This
was when Elias came over from Stavanger to Karmøy again and
they met.
1087 REASONS FOR EMIGRATION: Elias asked her to sign up to come
to America and she did. She had always wanted to come to America.
She was going to come when her sister came, but she was in eastern
Norway at that time. Her mother liked that idea that the two
would go together. Elias wrote many times for her to come to
America, but she wouldn't and couldn't because of the quotas
being enforced at that time. So he came over, married her, and
took he back in 1930. Didn't have anything to do in Norway.
Didn't like to work for other people.
SIDE II
026 WEDDING: Married in the "Domkirke" ( cathedral) in Stavanger.
Had dinner in a restaurant afterwards. She recites what the
pastor said to them in Norwegian for everything to go to the
Lord and He will do it for you. June 7, 1930. had a beautiful
white dress with a veil. Family wedding. Could have had the
wedding in the Torvastad Church but didn't want to. Parents
didn't come to the wedding because it was too far to travel
and her father wasn't in good health.
145 PARENTS' FEELINGS ON HER EMIGRATION: Hardest on her father
because he knew that he would never see her again. Elias was
interested in buying a farm in Norway, but Gudrun was young
and wanted to see America. They decided to come to America for
three years and then return to Norway.
175 THOUGHTS OF RE-EMIGRATION: Their plan was to go back to
Norway. Elias told her to go back and then he would follow,
but Gudrun thought it was better to go together. When the children
were 6 years old they decided that they couldn't stay any longer
in North Dakota because of the climate. Decided to take a trip
to Seattle first to see the West Coast and to visit their family
there. They had free train travel because he worked on the railroad.
215 WEST COAST: Looked at farms. Returned to North Dakota. Got
a message form his brother that a farm they had looked at was
for sale. Gudrun told him not to buy that farm, but he did.
When Elias bought the farm he was finally satisfied. When the
war came they were glad that they had stayed in the U.S.
254 EMIGRATION: Left the 17th of August 1930 from Stavanger.
They left together.
267 SHIP TRAVEL: He had a good time, but she was sick the whole
time. Came to New York on the 26th of August. Left from Bergen
on the Stavangerfjord.
288 TRAIN TRAVEL: Remembers how warm it was in New York and
Chicago. Visited a cousin in Chicago. She was expecting the
Vinland that Leif Erikson talked about, but it was so dry.
313 WEST COAST: Just like Norway. Children could play outside.
319 HOUSE: Had been rented out for 11 years. Everything was
so dirty. They have almost rebuilt the house. Now she likes
the house. (This is their house in Stanwood.)
345 HUNTLEY, MONTANA: This is where they lived after they first
came to the U.S. This is near Billings, Montana. Elias worked
on the railroad. They rented a little house there. They stayed
there for 6 months.
355 JUDSON, NORTH DAKOTA: The house they lived in belonged to
the railroad. The birds had been living in the house. Kjell
was 6 months old then. They cleaned up that house and lived
there for some years.
380 RAILROAD WORK: He was young so they moved him from place
to place. Moved to Richardton, ND then to Stipek, MT, which
is near Glendive, MT, then back to Richardton, ND, and then
they moved out here (Stanwood).
397 1930S: They had money because he worked for the railroad.
She remembers a lady in Judson, ND giving her eggs for 5 cents
a dozen. In those days the train was full of Hobos on the flatcars.
They would take water from the well until there wasn't anymore.
She would feed them sometimes. They were starving. After Roosevelt
came in there weren't people on the flatcars anymore.
437 IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA: Remembers how hot it was. They didn't
go through Ellis Island. They just went right to the railroad
station in New York. In Chicago she met her cousin there because
the train stopped for a few hours. It was hot.
455 LANGUAGE PROBLEMS: Had a hard time learning English because
they had no electricity, no radio, and she never got the chance
to talk to people. Got a chance to talk to people when she visited
her sister in Belfield, ND, but they all spoke Norwegian. When
they came out west they bought a little radio and she learned
English from that and the children's Sunday school paper. Still
has problems speaking English.
490 Spoke Norwegian in the home. She only speaks Norwegian with
her children. Gudveig only speaks Norwegian with her. They correspond
by letters in Norwegian also. Gudveig and John took Norwegian
at the university.
525 Came to the coast in 1937.
530 CHILDREN: Kjell is a civil engineer and works for the Atkinson
Co. in California. He graduated from the university after spending
four years in the Air Force first. They live in San Diego, California.
The company builds roads. He married a girl from Oregon who
is a nurse, Laura Burdett. They met at an Air Force base near
Spokane. They have two children, Erik and Julie who are attending
the university. John went to the university and studied business
and was in ROTC so he went in the service for two years. He
started at the Bank of Stanwood and is now the president. He
married Nancy Gordon from Seattle. They were in the service
in Louisiana for two years. They have three children, John,
Scott, and Lance. John studies civil engineering and business.
Scott studies business. Lance is in high school.
619 CHILDREN (CONT'D): Gudveig went to the university, became
a teacher, taught school in Seattle, went to the University
of Hawaii for the summer, and then taught school in Palo Alto,
California for several years. Married Andrew Nelsen who is an
engineer for the town of San Francisco. They have one boy. Leif
went to Edison and took up machinery. He worked for Norman's
Chevrolet. He married a Stanwood girl, Susan Kokstad (?). They
live in Stanwood, Washington. Leif commutes to Lynnwood, Washington
to work. They have three children.
677 TRIPS TO NORWAY: 1966, Gudveig and she went to Norway. Many
changes, more buildings. Had been 36 years. They took a plane
from Seattle to Alaska and then over to the North Pole to Copenhagen,
where they took another plane to Stavanger, Norway. Sister met
them. Talks about peoples' children and their occupation in
Norway. They went to the Catrhedral one Sunday.
733 CHURCH LIFE: Goes to church every Sunday.
760 SPOKEN NORWEGIAN: Says the Norwegian table prayer "I Jesus
Navn". Gudveig's little boy can say this prayer in Norwegian.
John's boy can say "Kan du snakke norsk?"
780 NORWEGIAN FOODS: She makes lefse and fattigmand. They like
Norwegian food. A favorite is kumla (potato dumplings) which
she makes and her daughter-in-law Susan makes.
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