Lydia Savolainen Christenson

Information Resources
Robert A. L. Mortvedt Library
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WASHINGTON 98447
Phone: (253) 535-7586 E-mail: archives@plu.edu

Lydia Savolainen Christenson
A Guide to Her Oral History Interview

Administrative Information

Creator: Christenson, Lydia Savolainen

Collection Nr: t177

File Content:
	2 file folders 0 photographs 1 sound cassette 0 compact discs

Processing Information:
	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: Voice fades from time to time.
Restrictions:
	The collection is available for research.

Preferred Citation:
	[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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Scope and Content Note

This interview was conducted with Lydia Christenson on May 17, 1982 in Seattle, Washington. It contains information on family background, emigration, marriage and family, and Finnish heritage. Lydia's oldest son wife speaks on the tape also. The information was conducted in English.

Biographical Information

Lydia Christenson was born on February 12, 1891 in Laukaa, Finland to Otto Savolainen and Hilma Kerurolaine. Her father was a businessman, and there were four other children in the family. Lydia attended school for four or five years, but attendance was not mandatory, and the children were taught how to read and write at home also. Lydia immigrated to the United States when she was eighteen years old. She came with a group of teenagers from her neighborhood and planned on returning to Finland. Upon her arrival, Lydia began working at a laundry in Connecticut and then became a housekeeper in Worcester, Massachusetts. In Worchester, Lydia met her husband, Amund Christenson, at the Assembly of God church. Amund was originally from Norway and became a preacher. They had five children together: Arthur, Ray, Arnold, Enoch, and Elaine. Through the years, the family lived in various towns throughout the Midwest, and Amund could be compared to a travelling evangelist. Amund passed away while they were living in Missoula, Montana, and Lydia then moved to Seattle, where Arthur and Ray lived. She bought a small house and got a cooking job at Fredrick and Nelsons, retiring at age sixty-five. Lydia has not been active in any Finnish organizations, but has made two trips back to Finland and cooked some traditional Finnish foods for her family throughout the years.

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Lineage:
Full Name:	Hilma Lydia Christenson
Maiden Name:	Hilma Lydia Savolainen
Father:	Otto Savolainen
Mother:	Hilma Kerurolaine
Brothers and Sisters:	Otto Savolainen Lauri Savolainen Elli Savolainen Liisa Savolainen
Spouse:	Amund Christenson
Children:	Arthur Paul Christenson Raymond Christenson Arnold Christenson Enoch Rudolph Christenson Elaine Mariam Christenson

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Selected Search Terms This collection is indexed under the following headings
Personal Names
	Christenson, Lydia Savolainen, Otto Kerurolaine, Hilma Christenson, Amund Christenson, Arthur Christenson, Ray Christenson, Arnold Christenson, Enoch Christenson, Elaine
Family Names
	Christenson family Savolainen family Kerurolaine family
Geographical Names
	Laukaa (Finland) Norway Connecticut Worchester (Mass.) Missoula (Mont.) Seattle (Wash.)
Subjects
	Family -- Finland Finland -- Emigration and immigration Laukaa (Finland) -- Emigration and immigration Confirmation -- Lutheran Church -- Finland Assemblies of God Finland -- Social conditions -- 1945-
Occupations
	Domestics Clergy Cooks
Genre/Form
	Oral history
Institution
	Pacific Lutheran University. Scandinavian Immigrant Experience Collection

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Partial Interview Transcription

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.

027/010 Hilma Lydia Savolainen Christenson. Born in Laukaa, Finland, a community in central Finland, on February 12, 1891.

089/062 PARENTS: Hilma Kerurolaine and Otto Savolainen. Father was a businessman. He had a country store and a farm with cows and horses. They sold cream.

153/102 BROTHERS AND SISTERS: Two older brothers - Otto and Lauri. One older sister - Elli and another sister Liisa. One brother eventually took over the store which was by the lake. A boat would bring things for the store.

197 GRANDPARENTS: She doesn't remember them.

223 CHILDHOOD: She worked in the store when she was old enough. She remembers selling bundles of tobacco that smelled terrible.

253 SCHOOL: Went to school for 4 or 5 years. Attending school wasn't mandatory. She learned to read and write at home too. School wasn't very close to home. Lydia says it was fun to ski to school in the winter.

287 CHURCH: Wasn't close to home. Preacher went to each home once a year.

305 CHRISTMAS: Similar to Christmas here - presents. She remembers one Christmas when she first tasted wine. Did lots of baking weeks before. They had rice mush, cooked in milk, with sugar on it on Christmas Eve. They went to church early Christmas morning. You could hear horse bells all over. They had lots to eat at Christmas - meat, butter, everything. They had a Christmas tree.

377 CONFIRMATION: Confirmed in the Lutheran church, the state church in Finland.

386 REASONS FOR COMING TO AMERICA: Came when about 18 years old. Came for the fun of it with a bunch of boys and girls from her neighborhood in 1913. "We didn't get ready for the trip, we just went." Sailed from Hanko (Hangoe) to England. Took another boat from England to New York. Came to New York during the summer. Got sick on the boat. Parents didn't want her to go. Lydia didn't worry. She thought she'd return to Finland.

465 NEW YORK: Thought it was a big city. No problems coming through Ellis Island.

477 Stayed on East Coast. Worked at a laundry in Connecticut. She was with a friend, who also worked at the laundries.

488 LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES: "We had lots of laughs because we didn't know what they said." Learned the language from hearing it all the time.

510 MEETING SPOUSE: She lived with a cousin in Worcester, Mass. And worked. Met husband at a prayer meeting at the Assembly of God. Her husband was Norwegian. He became a preacher.

575 WORK: When Lydia met her husband, she worked as a housekeeper. She earned $4 a week. She liked housekeeping better than the laundry work. Learned different kinds of cooking. Went to evening school to learn English. As a maid, she had to wear a black dress. American cooking not difficult. Tells about first time she made doughnuts.

697 CHILDREN: Five - Arthur, the eldest is a retired carpenter. He has 4 girls, who are married. Ray, the second son, is a retired salesman. Arnold, the third son, is a manufacturer's representative. Enoch, the fourth son, lives in California and is an executive for the ARCO company. The fifth child is Elaine. She is married and lives near Reno, Nevada.

770 MOVING WEST: They moved to Minnesota after first three boys were born. Her husband, Amund, was preaching in small towns. They rented a house near Duluth, Minnesota. He died 43 years ago. They moved to North Dakota and then to South Dakota. They moved to Providence, Rhode Island then back to North Dakota, and then to Montana where Amund died. He was sort of a travelling evangelist but he did have some churches (Assembly of God). He died from a blood clot after an operation.

843 After husband's death, Lydia rented out rooms in Missoula, Montana.

853 SEATTLE: Moved to Seattle because Arthur and Ray were here. They were both married. They moved when WWII started. Lots of work in Seattle, not much in Montana. Lydia bought a small house in Seattle. She cooked at Fredrick & Nelsons; retired when 65. After a couple of years of retirement, she sold her house and rented an apartment.

908 FINNISH ORGANIZATIONS: Not active in any organizations.

915 TRIPS BACK TO FINLAND: Two trips. Many changes. Childhood home gone. First trip back, mother, brothers and sisters still living. Mother lived at brother's home. She lived to be 80 years old. Second trip, only her brothers' wives were living. Many improvements in Finland.

986 She speaks some Finnish. She talks about changes in Finland being similar to changes in America.

1006 FINNISH FOODS: Cooked some Finnish food for her family: some Norwegian also. She made a special kind of brown bread. She'd take a fork and poke holes in the bread (while it was baking) until it was soggy. It was really chewy. Lydia's children still bake this bread.

1039 Finnish and Norwegian languages in the home. The eldest son, Arthur can understand some Norwegian and Swedish but doesn't speak much. They lived in a Finnish community in Massachusetts when he was a youngster so he spoke Finnish. He hasn't really kept it up.

1064 During Christmas they had lefse and krumkake (probably because their father was Norwegian). Sometimes they had skorpor, a type of bread similar to rye bread. It's kind of like toast. She also made an oven pancake with lots of eggs and milk. They called it rapsua(?). You pour the batter in round flat pans and bake it fast.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Administrative Information

Scope and Content Note

Biographical Information

Lineage:

Selected Search Terms

Partial Interview Transcription