    
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
Thomas Wilhelm Olsen Breiwick
A Guide to His Oral History Interview |
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Administrative
Information
Creator:
Breiwick, Thomas Wilhelm Olsen
Collection Nr: t184
File Content:
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3 file folders
0 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 Morrene Nesvig
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 was conducted with Thomas Breiwick on September 14,
1982 in Seattle, Washington. It contains information about family
background, emigration, work, marriage, church and community
activities, and Norwegian heritage. The interview also includes
a brief autobiography, a catalog from Kolstrand Supply Company,
and an article from the Western Viking concerning Thomas's ninetieth
birthday. The interview was conducted in English.
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Thomas
Breiwick was born on January 11, 1893 in Breivik, Stokmarknes,
Norway to Elling Lorence Olsen, a fisherman and small farmer,
and Thea Bergitta Sorensen, a homemaker. There were eleven children
in Thomas's family, but the first four died shortly after birth.
Thomas's remaining siblings were Sophia, Olga, Emma, Emil, Sigrid,
and Thorval. Thomas attended school for seven years and then
fished with his father. Feeling that he was lacking in education
and opportunities, Thomas decided to emigrate when he was seventeen
years old in 1912. He had an aunt and uncle in Tacoma who lent
him the money for a ticket. After arriving in Washington, Thomas
got a job at a sawmill in Selleck and later did road construction
in Tacoma. Thomas's uncle was a mechanic for Northern Pacific
Railroad, but when he grew tired of working in the shop, he
invited Thomas to start fishing with him. As it turns out, Thomas's
uncle did not like it, but Thomas continued fishing for the
next thirty-five years. He eventually owned nine boats. Five
years after Thomas emigrated, his girlfriend from Norway, Dagmar
Tekle, decided to join him. They were married and had four children:
Arnold, Lester, Eleanor, and Ruth. In Tacoma, Thomas was also
one of the founders of the Assembly of God Church on Union Street.
When the family moved to Seattle, he also served as the deacon
at the Assembly of God Church there, as well as being a member
of Nordlandslaget. In Seattle, Thomas and his son bought Kolstrand
Inc., a fishing supply business that had previously belonged
to a friend of Thomas's. The business is still in the family
and is now run by Thomas's grandson. Thomas has returned to
Norway seven times and continues to keep in touch with his relatives
there. He believes in the importance of heritage, and all of
his children have been to Norway and can understand the language.
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Full Name: |
Thomas Wilheim Breiwick
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Father: |
Elling Lorence Olsen
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Mother: |
Thea Bergitta Sorensen
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Brothers and Sisters: |
The first four children died at child birth before 1885.
Sophia Olsen
Olga Olsen
Emma Olsen
Emil Olsen
Sigrid Olsen
Torvald Olsen
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Spouse: |
Dagmar Tekle
Mammies Bohn
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Children: |
Arnold Breiwick
Lester Breiwick
Eleanor Breiwick
Ruth Breiwick
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This collection is indexed under the following headings
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Personal Names |
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Breiwick, Thomas
Olsen, Elling Lorence
Sorensen, Thea Bergitta
Tekle,Dagmar
Breiwick, Arnold
Breiwick, Lester
Breiwick, Eleanor
Breiwick, Ruth
Bohn, Mammies
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Family Names |
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Breiwick family
Tekle family
Bohn family
Olsen family
Sorensen family
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Geographical Names |
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Breivik, Stokmarknes (Norway)
Tacoma (Wash.)
Seattle (Wash.)
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Subjects |
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Family -- Norway
Norway --Emigration and immigration
Stokmarknes (Norway) -- Emigration and immigration
Kolstrand Inc. (Seattle, Wash.)
Baltic (Steamship)
Ocean travel
Railroad travel
Ellis Island Immigration Station (N.Y. and N.J.)
Norway -- Social conditions -- 1945-
Nordlandslaget (Seattle, Wash.)
Assembly of God Church (Tacoma, Wash.)
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Occupations |
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Fishing -- Norway
Fishing -- Washington (State)
Sawmill workers -- Selleck (Wash.)
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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.
026 PERSONAL BACKGROUND: Name, Thomas Wilhelm Breiwick. Born
January 11, 1893 in Breivik which is in Northern Norway between
Bodų and Tromsų. The area was called Stokmarknes. He lived on
an island where the only transportation was either to walk or
go by boat.
070 PARENTS: Father was Elling Lorence Olsen and his mother
was Thea Sorensen. His father was a fisherman and small farmer.
His mother was a housewife.
125 BROTHERS AND SISTERS: Eleven children, but only seven survived
past infancy. Thorval came over to the U.S. in 1923.
180 GRANDPARENTS: He doesn't remember them.
200 NAME: He took the village name. "Breivik" means wide bay.
He took the village name because his cousin that came before
him took the name Breiwick. His middle name is Wilhelm, is the
same as the German Kaiser Wilhelm that used to travel in his
boat in their area.
260 SCHOOL: In Norway at that time there wasn't much schooling.
They went for twelve weeks a year for seven years and then they
were confirmed.
295 REASONS FOR EMIGRATION: He felt he was lacking in education.
He wrote to his aunt and uncle to send him a ticket. He heard
about the Titanic sinking when he was on his way to leave Norway.
He had heard of Tacoma and he knew as the many other immigrants
of this time that it was easier to make it in the U.S. After
he left Norway, things changed and young people in Norway got
more education.
370 TRIP TO U.S.: Left alone. Stopped to visit his sister in
Trondheim, Norway (continues on I-455).
383 WORK IN NORWAY: He was fishing with his father. The earnings
went to head of the house.
400 IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENTS: He needed $100 to go through the
screenings process on Ellis Island.
408 FEELINGS ABOUT LEAVING NORWAY: Had no thoughts of going
back. Remembers saying goodbye to his mother whom he never saw
again.
438 LUGGAGE: Had only one suitcase that a cousin made out of
wood.
455 TRIP TO U.S.: Went from Trondheim to Bergen and then to
London by ship. From there he crossed the Atlantic. Arrived
in Halifax, Canada. He took a train to the west coast of the
U.S. and ended up in Tacoma, Washington. The ship was the "Baltic."
It was a nice trip. They had entertainment. A girl fell in love
with him on the ship, but Thomas had a girl in Norway.
510 SPOUSE: It took her five years to make up her mind to come
to America. Her name was Dagmar and she was from the south side
of the island.
552 SHIP: There were four people in a room. He wasn't seasick.
Most of the people on the ship were from Norway. It took seven
days to cross the Atlantic. They landed in New York and then
the ship went up to Halifax, Canada and there he got on the
train.
600 TRAIN TRAVEL: Traveled across Canada and came into the U.S.
at Sumas, Washington. He's not sure why he had to take that
route, but they were like "sheep being herded like a shepherd."
615 ELLIS ISLAND: (1912) Had to show your $100.
640 TRAIN TRAVEL: When they were traveling through Winnipeg,
Canada, a man from a road crew threw a clump of dirt into Thomas'
open window and he got a black eye. That was his welcome to
Canada.
665 LANGUAGE: It took a year before he was comfortable with
the language. Otherwise there was always someone that could
help.
686 They discuss a picture that was taken of Thomas just before
he left Norway. It was taken in Stormarknes, Norway. This was
on the island that he was born. The other town on the island
is Melbu. The island has a circumference of 36 miles. He was
17 when he came in May of 1912.
705 TACOMA: Uncle met him at the Union depot which was built
in 1910. Uncle was a mechanic in the shop for the Northern Pacific
RR.
735 SAWMILL WORK: Got a job at the sawmill in Selleck, Washington.
He ran some of the big machines. There were many Scandinavians
there.
760 ROAD WORK: Got a job wheeling sand and gravel for a section
of the road that goes through south Tacoma.
788 Didn't have time or money for school. He had to pay the
$100 he borrowed from his sister back. The bank had taken her
bankbook as collateral.
800 WORK: He worked ten-hour days and made $2.25 a day.
816 FISHING: His uncle was tired of working in the shop and
wanted Thomas to start fishing with him. Uncle took a leave
from work. Uncle didn't like it. Thomas bought a tent so that
he would have a place to sleep when fishing in Neah Bay, Washington.
He set up his tent on Waadah Island, Washington. He kept fishing
for 35 years. He had nine boats over the years. He got bigger
boats that he could live on. They made port sometimes in Grays
Harbor, Washington, Astoria, Oregon, or Cape Flattery, Washington.
There were no restrictions on the fishing season then.
920 SPOUSE: When she came, Abelsen, Thomas' uncle met her at
the station and it was a week before she saw Thomas. He had
a small home for her in Tacoma. It was in the Norwegian area.
945 CHILDREN: They had four children, two boys and two girls.
One girl died when seven after she had an operation. The family
now owns Kolstrand, Inc. in Seattle. The boys' names are Arnold
and Lester. Thomas' grandson runs the business now.
988 FISHING LIFE: Sometimes the earnings are meager. He tells
about fishing off of Tatoosh Island, Washington and catching
fish which he thought were worth $1 a piece and only getting
10 cents for them in Neah Bay, Washington. There were times
when he got 4 cents a pound and today's fishermen will get $3.
He enjoyed fishing when the weather was nice and there were
fish biting.
1050 They lived in Seattle, Washington for 27 years and prior
to that in Tacoma.
1060 CHURCH LIFE: He was one of the founders of the Assembly
of God Church on Union Street in Tacoma. This was in about 1918.
In Norway, there was only the Lutheran Church. This church started
out as a Pentecostal church. The original church burned down.
When they lived in Seattle they went to the Assembly of God
church there. He has been a deacon and active in what went on.
SIDE II
016 KOLSTRAND: Mr. Kolstrand started the company by making trolling
gurdies. They were friends and he had stood up for them at their
wedding. He was suffering from asthma and decided to sell the
business. This was a fishing supply business. Thomas and his
son went to run it after they had paid for it in full the day
after they got the call. The business was in Seattle and he
worked there for 27 years until his son retired him with a pension.
245 VISITS TO NORWAY: Went back for the first time in 1927.
They went by ship and visited his sister. He took his wife Dagmar
and daughter, Eleanor.
310 He talks about fishing and eating fresh fish in Norway.
They would have it boiled in a soup and have potatoes. In herring
season in Norway they salted 2-3 barrels of fish.
368 CONTACT WITH NORWAY: He keeps in touch with his sisters
and he has a lot of cousins too.
377 VISITS TO NORWAY: Has made six other trips. They like to
go in the summer time. It has been eleven years since they have
been to Norway. They returned because they have relatives there.
They live higher and are cared for in Norway. They are on the
same standard as we are. He says that he heard that Norway is
the richest land in the world.
444 IMPORTANCE OF HERITAGE: The children have all been there.
The children can understand Norwegian. He doesn't use Norwegian
anymore.
475 SPOKEN NORWEGIAN: He says a Norwegian table prayer and I
Jesu navn.
535 HOLIDAYS IN NORWAY: At Christmas they have at least three
days of vacation from work and the same at New Years.
553 FAVORITE HOLIDAY FOODS: He likes lutefisk and has attended
the dinners at Peninsula Lutheran. He tells how to eat it. He
likes lefse too.
607 NORDLANDSLAGET: He is a member. This is a group which is
supposed to be for people from Northern Norway but they will
accept anyone now.
635 IMPORTANCE OF NORWEGIAN HERITAGE: He is satisfied with how
things have turned out.
645 JOKE: He tells a joke about a lady who claimed she was injured
in a car wreck.
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