    
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Administrative
Information
Scope and Content Note
Biographical Information
Lineage
Selected Search Terms
Partial Interview Transcript
|
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
Ole Karolius Eide Davidson
A Guide to His Oral History Interview |
|
Administrative
Information
Creator:
Davidson, Ole Karolius Eide
Collection Nr: t204-205
File Content:
|
|
3 file folders
2 photographs
2 sound cassettes
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: Fair. At times there is a lot
of background noise and his voice becomes faster.
|
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
|
Go
to top |
This
interview was conducted with Ole Davidson on November 9-10,
1982 in Tacoma, Washington. It contains information on family
background, emigration, schooling, WWI, marriage, congregations
served, experiences as an Army Chaplain, affiliation with Pacific
Lutheran University, and work after retirement. The interview
also includes two black and white photographs of Ole at the
time of the interview. The interview was conducted in English.
Also see Bertha Østby Davidson, t006.
|
|
Ole
Davidson was born on May 4, 1894 in Vassdal, Tjongsfjord, Norway
to Ivar Davidson and Kaja Olson. Before coming to America, there
were four brothers in the family: Ole, David, Alfred, and Martin.
Ivar was a fisherman, and the family lived in a little valley
with Ole's paternal grandparents David Olson and Kaspara, who
were also fishermen. Only Ole's family lived in the valley,
and in an effort to improve their lifestyle, they immigrated
to Minnesota in 1901, where Ole Sabin, a distant relative of
Kaja's owned a farm. Upon arrival to Minnesota, Ivar and Kaja
worked on Ole's farm in order to pay off the dept for their
tickets over. Eventually, they rented their own farm and five
more children were born: Emil, Ida, Odin, Agnes, and Arthur.
In Minnesota, Ole attended school through the eighth grade,
but did not actually pass his eighth grade examinations. Nevertheless,
the minister who confirmed Ole, asked Ivar if Ole could further
his education. Ivar agreed providing that Ole attended Waldorf
Lutheran Academy in Forest City, IA. At the Waldorf Academy,
Ole completed the eighth grade and went on to finish high school
in three years. L.W. Boe, the President of Waldorf Academy at
that time, then suggested to Ole that he attend St. Olaf's college.
Money was tight, but Ole managed to pay for his tuition through
1917. At that time, Ole knew he would be drafted for WWI and
arranged with the St. Olaf's President to attend a few months
of seminary before he had to go overseas. Ole went overseas
in 1918, but caught pneumonia and came home fairly ill. Upon
his return home, Ole received letters from both St. Olaf's and
the seminary, asking him to finish his education at their respective
institutions. Ole chose the seminary and finished in 1920, after
which he got his pastorate in Sacramento, CA. While at the seminary,
Ole had met Bertha Ostby, and after working with his first congregations
in Bozeman, MT, Livingston, MT and Shields River Valley, MT
for one year, Ole and Bertha were married. They adopted one
son, Paul. They stayed in Montana for four years, and then went
to Sacramento, where Ole was called into the Civilian Conservation
Corps and became a reserve Chaplain in the Army. He served at
seven camps between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite Park. Following
this, Ole served a congregation in Portland, OR and became a
member of the Board of Regents for Pacific Lutheran University
in Tacoma, WA. While living in Portland, Ole also become part
of the Oregon National Guard as a Chaplain, and in 1940, they
mobilized and Ole spent five years in the service. Two of these
years were spent in New Guinea and Australia. When he got out
of the serve, Ole served at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Tacoma
for ten years, and then spent five years as the manager and
pastor of Josephine Sunset Home before officially retiring.
After retirement in 1960, Ole became the assistant and visitation
pastor Hope Lutheran Church in Tacoma, which lasted for twenty
years. Ole claims he won't change anything about his life.
Go to top |
|
|
Full Name: |
Ole Karolius Eide Davidson
|
|
Father: |
Ivar Davidson
|
|
Mother: |
Kaja Olson
|
|
Paternal Grandfather: |
David Olson
|
|
Paternal Grandmother: |
Kaspara Olson
|
|
Brothers and Sisters: |
David C. Davidson
Alfred Davidson
Martin Davidson
Emil Davidson
Ida Davidson
Odin Davidson
Agnes Davidson
Arthur Davidson
|
|
Spouse: |
Bertha Ostby
|
|
Children: |
Paul Davidson
|
Go to top |
This collection is indexed under the following headings
|
|
Personal Names |
|
Davidson, Ole
Davidson, Ivar
Olson, Kaja
Olson, David
Olson, Kaspara
Sabin, Ole
Boe, L.W.
Davidson, Bertha Østby
Davidson, Paul
Rølvaag, O.E. Ole Edvart
Tingelstad, O.A. Oscar Adolph
|
|
Family Names |
|
Davidson family
Olson family
Østby family
|
|
Geographical Names |
|
Vassdal, Tjongsfjord (Norway)
Minnesota
Forest City (Iowa)
Sacramento (Calif.)
Dell (Minn.)
Bozeman (Mont.)
Livingston (Mont.)
Shields River Valley (Mont.)
Portland (Or.)
Tacoma (Wash.)
Stanwood (Wash.)
|
|
Subjects |
|
Family -- Norway
Norway -- Emigration and immigration
Vassdal (Norway) -- Emigration and immigration
Ocean travel
School attendance -- Dell, Minn.
Waldorf Lutheran Academy
St. Olaf College
Pacific Lutheran University -- Board of Regents
Emmanuel Lutheran Church (Tacoma, Wash.)
Josephine Sunset Home (Stanwood, Wash.)
Marriage service
World War, 1914-1918
World War, 1939-1945
Pacific Lutheran University -- Fund raising
Norway -- Social condtions -- 1945-
Hope Lutheran Church (Tacoma, Wash.)
|
|
Occupations |
|
Lutheran Church -- Clergy
Chaplains, Military
|
|
Genre/Form |
|
Oral history
|
|
Institution |
|
Pacific Lutheran University. Scandinavian Immigrant Experience
Collection
|
Go
to top |
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.
TAPE 204
SIDE I
025 PERSONAL BACKGROUND: Name is Ole Karolius Eide Davidson.
Born in Vassdal, Tjongsfjord, Norway, south of Bodø and north
of the Artic Circle. He was born on May 4, 1894.
083 PARENTS: Ivar Davidson and Kaja Olson. They were from Vassdal,
which is a little valley with two small lakes, and a river,
which led to Tjongsfjord. His father was a fisherman.
140 GRANDPARENTS: Paternal grandparents were also fishermen.
Their names were David Olson and Kaspara. They all lived together.
He didn't know anything about his mother's parents. Fishing
was the main occupation there. They would go to Lofoton.
220 FISHING: The men were gone for weeks. They didn't have motorboats
but used oars or sails.
237 VASSDAL: They had a cow or two. It wasn't really a farm.
There wasn't a wheel that came up to that place except for a
wheelbarrow, which was carried up there. It was about a quarter
of a mile that everything had to be carried up into the valley,
which was shaped like a cup. The only way you could improve
your life was to leave. There were only his people living there.
A few other people tried to live there but the government sent
them out because of the danger of rocks falling. No one lives
there now.
325 BROTHERS AND SISTERS: There were four brothers when they
came to this country and ended up with seven brothers and two
sisters living. Two children died in infancy. David lives in
Bonesteel, South Dakota where he is a farmer. Alfred lives in
Charles city, Iowa and was a machinist working for Oliver Equipment
Co. there. Martin lived in Rhame, North Dakota and then in Hettinger,
North Dakota the rest of his life. He was a farmer. Emil lives
in Hettinger, North Dakota. Ida is a widow in Hettinger, North
Dakota. Odin died. Agnes lives in Spokane, Washington. Arthur
lives on the boarder of North Dakota and Canada. He worked with
the Internal Revenue at the border.
448 CHILDHOOD: Remembers the boats on the fjord and being scared
of the "Helgelands" whistle. They grew molte in a bog near their
house.
487 CHRISTMAS IN NORWAY: The chief goodie that they had was
spekulasis (?) which was a kind of triangle shaped cookie. He
doesn't remember a tree or presents.
510 CHURCH LIFE IN NORWAY: The church was on Rødøy or Rødoyelven
which looks like a lion when you approach it. They didn't get
to church often. He was baptized by his grandfather at first
because they didn't think he would live long. Later it was confirmed
in church. It was a big even to go to church and was dangerous
if the weather was bad.
555 REASONS FOR EMIGRATION: Ole Sabin (?), a distant relative
of his mother's was living in Faribault Co., Minnesota, sent
them the tickets. He was a farmer there.
586 GRANDFATHER: He was a highly thought of man. He could stop
blood. He lived to be 96 years old.
608 TRIP TO THE U.S.: They left home in a small boat and then
caught a larger boat. His mother was sick a lot. They left in
1901 and arrived in the U.S. in June. They stopped in Liverpool,
England and then came to this country. Ole was sick on the boat.
One night he went to the bathroom and returned to the wrong
cabin. They thought he had fallen overboard.
660 ELLIS ISLAND: They went through and he just followed where
he was led.
680 TRAIN TRAVEL: They took the train to Minnesota.
685 FIRST IMPRESSIONS: He didn't experience anything that wasn't
pleasant. Everything was interesting.
695 MINNESOTA: They stayed with these people for about a year.
His parents worked on the farm to pay off their debt.
710 LANGUAGE DIFFICULTY: The hired men asked him to get some
oil. He came back with "ull" or wool.
745 SCHOOL IN THE U.S.: There was a county school there in the
community called Dell. There was a store, a schoolhouse, and
a church in Dell. His clothes made him look like a newcomer.
Some of the children were mean to him. The first day he got
a spanking. All eight grades were in one school. The longer
he went to school the better he liked it. He never knew what
grade he was in. There were eighth grade examinations in the
town of Frost, Minnesota and Ole said he wanted to go because
it was chance to go to town. He wasn't really through with eighth
grade. He passed in one subject, history.
890 FATHER'S WORK: They got their own little farm that they
rented and his father worked draining sloughs and lying drainage
tiles. Ole worked with him.
905 FURTHER EDUCATION: The minister had talked to his father
and persuaded him to ask Ole if he wanted to go to school. Ole
had impressed the minister during confirmation. His father said
he could go to school if he went to the Waldorf Lutheran Academy
in Forest City, Iowa.
930 CHURCH LIFE IN U.S.: They became active right away. It was
all Norwegian. He recalls some of the pastors, Erik Sandvig,
J.J. Akre, and P.B. Trelstad, who confirmed him.
950 WALDORF ACADEMY: They found out that he hadn't finished
the eighth grade. They accommodated him and allowed him to take
the classes that would help him finish the eighth grade and
other classes if he could handle them. He went to classes from
7am-5pm. He was weak in arithmetic and they gave the same book
that he had used in grade school. Peter Sundrof (?), the dean
of men helped him with the math.
1027 HOMESTEAD: His father took a homestead in Bowman Co., North
Dakota near Rhame. Things started to go bad for them in this
dry country.
1034 WORK: There was no more money for him to go to school from
his parents so he and his roommate got a job taking care of
the furnace of a millionaire named Thompson (?) during the school
year. They got their room for free doing this. He had to borrow
$75 the last semester to pay his bills.
1064 SCHOOL: He worked like a fury. He finished the eighth grade
and he finished high school in three years. It paid off for
the good. He spoke Norwegian there. He was one of the valedictorians
and gave his oration speech in Norwegian. He took Norwegian
and German too.
1098 WORK: That summer he did farm work and made $150 and paid
back the $75 he owed. One summer, between his junior and senior
years, he taught parochial school near Bricelyn, Minnesota.
He got $40 plus room and board.
1116 L.W. Boe was the president of Waldorf College at that time.
SIDE II
035 ST. OLAF'S: Mr. Boe wrote him a letter and told him to go
to St. Olaf's. Ole only had $75, but Mr. Boe told him to go
anyway. He went and after about four weeks he and his same roommate
Chris Norem (?) got a job tending the steam and light plant
at St. Olaf's. They worked every night. The business manager
of St. Olaf's at that time was P.O. Halland (?). He told Ole
that they could get along with a man at St. Olaf's whether he
has any money or not if he means business. Eventually he paid
for everything. He borrowed money from Pastor Trelstad several
times. He managed to get through until 1917 when he was drafted.
308 WWI: He knew from his number that he was likely to be drafted
soon, and he wanted to spend a few months at the seminary. He
talked to the president at St. Olaf's and it was arranged. It
ended up to be the whole year before he was called. He spent
some time overseas and got the 1918 flu with pneumonia on top
of it and came home pretty ill.
357 SCHOOLING: He got letter from St. Olaf's and from the seminary
saying that each would help him finish his last year in one
semester. He chose the seminary. He worked himself real hard
and finished the seminary in 1920. He decided to make some money
and then he was going to go back and get his college degree.
He was things kind of backwards.
415 PASTORATE: He got his pastorate in Sacramento, California
and he took a college course in philosophy at one of the Sacramento
colleges.
422 CONGREGATIONS: Went to Bozeman, Montana, Livingston, Montana,
and Shields River Valley in Montana. (See counter Tape 205 735-763)
434 MEETING SPOUSE: She worked at the seminary baking bread.
Her name was Bertha Østby from Sogn, Norway in a place called
Søreide. Ole worked one year with his congregation and then
they were married.
467 LIFE AS A PASTOR: In the beginning he had three congregations
and was traveling all the time. He had this call for four years.
He wanted to stay and after he left no one would take this call.
They were all home mission congregations. The old idea was that
you had to get enough people together to feed the minister.
500 CONGREGATIONS: He went to Bozeman, Montana, Glendive, Montana,
Sacramento, California, and while there he was called into the
CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps). He was a reserve Chaplain
in the Army.
520 CHILDREN: One adopted son, Paul, who working at St. Regis.
533 SACRAMENTO: He got Dr. Braafladt to take his place there,
but after three months he died so Ole had to work there too.
He had seven camps. He preached everyday but Saturday. He went
to one place each day and stayed part of the day for consultations.
He was traveling all the time. On Sundays he would preach three
times and drive 250 miles. He would preach for his home congregation,
a camp at Lake Tahoe and another one just south of there. His
camps were located between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite Park.
585 LANGUAGE USE IN CHURCH: Livingston, Montana and Shields
River Valley, California were Norwegian. Bozeman, Montana was
English. In Glendive, Montana, they were using Norwegian but
had to switch to English to start growing. Sacramento, California
was the same as Glendive. In Portland, Oregon the congregation
was divided into English and the Norwegian sections. He stopped
them from using Norwegian. The Norwegian congregations were
dying.
620 CHAPLAIN: Became part of the Oregon National Guard as a
Chaplain. In 1940, they mobilized and he spent five years in
the service. During WWII, he was overseas for two years. He
was in New Guinea and Australia.
652 TACOMA, WASHINGTON: Came to Emmanuel Lutheran Church, which
wasn't much of anything. He stayed there for ten years.
662 JOSEPHINE SUNSET HOME: He was the manager and the pastor
there in Stanwood, Washington for five years. Then he officially
retired.
670 AFTER RETIREMENT: He became assistant and visitation pastor
at Hope Lutheran Church in Tacoma where he stayed for twenty
years. He quit that in 1980, but he is still included on their
staff. He still teaches some groups.
713 VISITS TO NORWAY: He has been back in 1960 and 1966. It
was clear to him what his parents had to leave when he saw it
again.
737 TRADITIONS: Bertha cooked Norwegian foods.
744 SPOKEN NORWEGIAN: He prays his own prayer in Norwegian.
(The tape ends at this point and begins again on 205.)
TAPE 205
SIDE I
010 Ole Rølvaag: He was a professor, a poet, and a historian.
He also went by the name Paal Moerck, but returned to his real
name when he wrote his big volumes, Giants of the Earth, Peder
Victorius, and Riket grunlaegges. His writings were interesting
to him because they had similar backgrounds. Other works were
America-Brev, To Tullinger, which was about money, nuts, people,
and Laengselens Boat which was kind of a psychological book
analyzing the Norwegian state of mind.
140 OLE RØLVAAG: He had one class, which Roelvaag taught at
St. Olaf.
150 P.J. EIKELAND: This was another man at St. Olaf that impressed
him. He wasn't a popular writer like Rølvaag but he knew his
Norwegian from A-Z. He wanted Ole to go to Norway to study and
become a Norwegian scholar.
217 NORWEGIAN PEOPLE: He is proud of them. They were earnest
and sincere in what they believed and what they wanted to do.
244 PLU: He became a member of the Board of Regents or Trustees
at Pacific Lutheran College and University. He was in Portland,
Oregon when he first became a regent. These were hard times.
Money was tight and credit was hard. He remembers that in about
1940 in one day about seven faculty members had come into the
treasurer's office asking for $5 to buy groceries. In 1940 he
and his wife moved to Parkland, Washington and rented a house.
After hearing about the faculty needing grocery money, he went
home and he and his wife dug up $75 and brought it back to the
school. Ole was being paid by the Army. After meetings with
the board, he wouldn't be able to sleep because of wondering
how they were going to keep the school with no money. He also
did some speaking for the college.
400 BUYING A CHURCH: While in Portland, Oregon he worked for
one year and then they needed to find a new church. They found
a church for sale with an organ in it and bought it for a very
low price. This got him a good reputation in finance and got
him the Vice-President for Field Work at PLU.
485 VICE-PRESIDENT FOR FIELD WORK: This was money raising job.
Ole refused it because he knew that he wasn't the financial
wizard that he was believed to be. Dr. Tingelstad was mad because
he thought Ole could save PLU.
523 SECRETARY OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS: Ole was the first secretary
to take the minutes himself instead of having Eastvold's secretary
do it. Mrs. Jero was the secretary then and helped him with
the minutes. In those days he had to sign all the diplomas.
He signed several honorary diplomas including one for Albert
Schweitzer. During these years they built all the dormitories
on top of the hill.
595 HOPE LUTHERAN CHURCH: He still had one class. He teaches
the women's Circle leaders.
613 BIBLE STUDY: He belongs to a bible study group, which meets
at the home. He did organize this group.
640 The last ten years of his ministry was as a retired person.
He was an assistant pastor and a visitation pastor. He retired
when he left Stanwood, Washington in 1960 and came to Tacoma
where he visited regularly with older people at Hope Church.
The two pastors at the time he came were Burton Smith and Aalbue.
735 HOME MISSION WORK: He worked in this area all the time.
This meant that he was assigned churches, which were on their
last legs, or ones that were trying to start up. In Bozeman,
Montana it was a brand new congregation, which didn't even have
a place to meet. It was called Bozeman English Lutheran Church.
His installation in this congregation took place in an Adventist
church. His first call was to three churches, Bozeman, Montana,
Livingston, Montana, and the Shields River Valley in Montana.
763 SHIELDS RIVER VALLEY: He preached in schoolhouses, homes
and in the summertime he preached outside.
770 REFLECTIONS ON LIFE: He wouldn't change anything.
779 GLENDIVE, MONTANA: After Bozeman, he went to Glendive. He
tells the story about how he gained the respect of the chief
doctor at the hospital there. Ole was the Chaplain at the hospital.
He tells a story about a woman who was disturbed at the hospital
and was turned over to Ole for two weeks before she was ready
to have surgery. He would also counsel pregnant girls who were
ashamed to talk to other people.
865 ARMY CHAPLAIN: He had to deal with people who were mentally
and otherwise in bad shape.
870 TACOMA: Next, after the service he came to Emmanuel Lutheran
Church on Stevens Street.
873 RAILROAD PASS: The railroad sent him a system pass, which
enabled him to travel anywhere that the railroad went. He got
this as recognition for his work in the hospital in Montana
(which was the Northern Pacific Benefit Association Hospital).
(See counter 779)
895 Came out of the service in January of 1946.
900 HOSPITAL WORK: After the service he was assistant Chaplain
at the hospital out by American Lake (Veterans Administration
Hospital). He worked there for three years. He recalls one incident
during a Lenten service where a man gave his pipe as an offering.
Go to top
|
Maintained
by archives@plu.edu
© 2002-2003 Pacific Lutheran University
|