    
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
Brynhild Kjøsnes Garberg
A Guide to Her Oral History Interview |
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Administrative
Information
Creator:
Garberg, Brynhild Kjøsnes
Collection Nr: t276
File Content:
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2 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 Janet Rasmussen
Transcribed by Christer Uthus
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 Brynhild Garberg on August 23,
1984 in Spokane, Washington. The interview contains information
on her family, her family's trip to America, life in LaCrosse,
Washington, her work on farms and married life. The interview
was conducted in English with some Norwegian towards the end
of the interview.
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Brynhild
Kjøsnes Garberg was born on March 30, 1894 in Selbu, Norway,
a small community in Trøndelag outside of Trondheim. She was
one of four children by Ole Kjøsnes and Sissel Kulseth. Her
family immigrated to America in 1907 two years after her brother,
John immigrated. Brynhild celebrated her 13th birthday aboard
"The Baltic" on her way to America. Brynhild's family settled
in LaCrosse, Washington. After settling, Brynhild attended school
for one and a half years in Lacrosse. She was confirmed in the
Selbu Lutheran Church at age fifteen. Brynhild married Peder
Garberg on December 14, 1921. They lived with her family until
they rented a farm. They have four children, Clara, Irwin, Sadie,
and Phyllis. In 1962, the Garberg's moved to Spokane when owners
of their farm sold it. She was around 40 years old when she
received her citizenship.
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Full Name: |
Brynhild Kjøsnes Garberg
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Maiden Name: |
Brynhild Kjøsnes
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Father: |
Ole Kjøsnes
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Mother: |
Sissel Kulseth
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Paternal Grandfather: |
John Kjøsnes
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Brothers and Sisters: |
Ragnhild Kjøsnes
John Kjøsnes
Regine Kjøsnes
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Spouse: |
Peder Garberg
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Children: |
Clara Garberg
Irwin Garberg
Sadie Garberg Allen
Phyllis Garberg Maynor
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This collection is indexed under the following headings
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Personal Names |
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Garberg, Brynhild Kjøsnes
Kjøsnes, Ole
Kulseth, Sissel
Kjøsnes, John
Garberg, Peder
Garberg, Clara
Garberg, Irwin
Allen, Sadie Garberg
Maynor, Phyllis Garberg
Wigen, Beret
Wigen, Peter
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Family Names |
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Garberg family
Kjøsnes family
Kulseth family
Wigen family
Allen family
Maynor family
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Geographical Names |
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LaCrosse (Wash.)
Selbu (Norway)
Ellis Island (New York)
Spokane (Wash.)
Colfax (Wash.)
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Subjects |
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Family -- Norway
Norway -- Emigration and immigration
Selbu (Norway) -- Emigration and immigration
School attendance -- Norway
Confirmation -- Lutheran Church -- Norway
Baltic (Steamship)
Ocean travel
Railroad travel
Norwegian language
Selbu Lutheran Church (LaCrosse, Wash.)
School attendance -- LaCrosse, Wash.
Education -- LaCrosse, Wash.
Marriage service
Naturalization
Norway -- Social conditions -- 1945-
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Occupations |
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Farmers -- Norway
Farmers -- LaCrosse, 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.
015 NAME: Brynhild Kjøsnes Garberg.
025 EARLY YEARS: Brynhild was born in Selbu, Norway. This is
a small community in Trøndelag outside Trondheim. Her birthday
is March 30, 1894.
PARENTS: Her parents were Ole Kjøsnes and Sissel Kulseth; both
were born in Selbu. Her father worked for a lumber company marking
lumber for people working in the forest. Brynhild's parents
owned their own farm. The farm mostly produced hay. Ole and
Sissel had four children, Ragnhild, John, Regine, and Brynhild.
Her brother came to America two years before the rest of the
family immigrated, because he followed his aunt when she was
visiting Norway. Two years later Brynhild, her parents, and
her two sisters left for America.
100 AUNT: The aunt was Brynhild's paternal aunt. She immigrated
to America in 1901 and spent the first two years in Minnesota
before she moved to LaCrosse in 1903. Her aunt's name was Beret,
and she was married to Peter Wigen. They came early to the LaCrosse
area, so there was hardly anyone in LaCrosse when Peter moved
there.
139 FAMILY: When Brynhild's brother went to America, her father
did not have any help at home, so her father quit farming and
went to America as well. The family kept in touch with Brynhild's
brother by writing letters, and he wrote back. Brynhild's grandfather
came with the rest of the family. He was 80 years old when he
left and he lived just a couple of years after they got to America.
None of her family was back in Selbu after they left. Brynhild's
paternal grandfather joined them on the trip; his name was John.
Ole's mother died before they immigrated, so Brynhild's grandfather
lived together with the rest of the family.
171 TRIP: Brynhild celebrated her 13th birthday on the way to
America. She had never been outside Selbu before she left for
America. Did not know the language, she started school without
being able to understand the language. She, however, liked the
idea of immigrating to America.
Brynhild remembers that one of her neighbors died during the
trip over the Atlantic and she was buried when they got to New
York. That girl was around 20 years old and died from some illness.
There were twenty-seven people from Selbu leaving at the same
time and all of them went to LaCrosse.
The group went to Oslo from Trondheim by boat and then on another
boat from Oslo to New York via England. The name of the boat
from Oslo to New York was "The Baltic." There were many immigrants
on this boat. The family left Selbu on March 20, and arrived
in LaCrosse on April 14. Brynhild did not have a cake when she
celebrated her birthday at sea.
234 PAYING FOR THE TRIP: Her mother liked leaving Selbu, but
Sissel's mother was still living in Selbu. Brynhild remembers
saying good-bye to her grandmother. The family had saved money
for the trip. Her father worked on other farms and they sold
the farm, which had hay, cows, and cattle. Brynhild also worked
on the farm helping to rake hay and she herded cattle in the
forest as well.
254 SCHOOL IN NORWAY: Brynhild went to school in Norway. They
had twelve weeks of school a year.
263 BROTHER AND SISTERS: John was about 18 when he came to America
and started working for his aunt and uncle. Ragnhild also worked
for the aunt and uncle when the family came to LaCrosse. Regine
was two and a half years older than Brynhild, so Regine did
not go to school in LaCrosse; she was through with school before
she got here. The whole group that came to LaCrosse with Brynhild's
family found jobs right away.
290 LIVING IN LACROSSE: The first house the family lived in
was quite small. They bought the house from her uncle and it
was close to the farm her uncle owned. The house had five rooms
downstairs and three upstairs. It had a wood stove in the kitchen
and a little pantry. The family got water through a windmill
pump.
309 LIFE ON THE FARM: Brynhild feels that the temperature is
higher in the area now than it was before. The family arrived
in April and they stayed at her uncle's place for the summer.
Brynhild played with his two twin girls. Her uncle had two older
boys as well. Brynhild started the first grade in the fall but
she could not understand anything. The Wigen girls knew both
Norwegian and English so they taught Brynhild to speak English,
and they explained to her what the teacher said. She attended
school another one and a half years. However, she did not feel
comfortable with the English language after this period.
330 NORWEGIAN LANGUAGE: The family spoke Norwegian at home.
Brynhild's mother understood English, but she never spoke it.
Her father had hunted with Englishmen in Norway, so he learned
quite a bit on those trips.
337 TRIP TO LACROSSE: The family had food on the boat. They
went through Ellis Island for immigration. After that was accomplished,
they took a train from New York. Her grandfather was old and
the family had to go with him, which meant that they lost touch
with the rest of the group. However, when they got on the train
they met the rest of the group again.
351 ARRIVAL IN LACROSSE: When the group arrived, all twenty-seven
came together and received coffee and lunch from the editor
of the "Clipper" a local newspaper in LaCrosse. The editor was
not Norwegian.
364 CONFIRMATION: After attending school for one and a half
years, she was confirmed at age fifteen. Brynhild was confirmed
in LaCrosse in the Selbu Lutheran Church. The Norwegian Pastor,
J.K. Lerohl who preached in Norwegian. She remembers that she
received some cards for confirmation and a new set of clothes.
381 FARMING: Father liked farming in America, but it was hard
work, especially during harvest. They came in April, so the
harvest came quickly after they arrived. Her father mostly had
wheat in his fields. Brynhild's uncle had a big farm and cattle
as well. Brynhild did not know what she was going to do, so
after confirmation she continued to stay at home and helped
with the housework. The family stayed in LaCrosse, and did not
travel much around. She never had a paid job; she worked at
home her entire life.
405 HUSBAND: Brynhild and Peder were married on December 14,
1921. Her husband came from Norway. He worked on the farm as
a hired man, while her brother John was called to service in
World War I. Her brother was stationed in Germany and he was
not wounded. After John returned from the war, he came back
home to help with the farm.
434 MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN: They lived at Ole and Sissel's farm
when they first married. Then they rented a farm. Brynhild and
Peder have four children. Clara is the oldest and lives in Pennsylvania.
Irwin, Sadie and Phyllis live in Spokane.
454 AFTER FARMING: They moved from LaCrosse to Spokane in 1962.
The people who owned the farm sold it, so Brynhild and Peder
had to move. They bought a house in Spokane and moved there.
462 VISITING NORWAY: Brynhild and Peder were in Norway once,
in 1964. She did not see many differences and she recognized
places from before she left.
469 CONTACT WITH NORWAY: She does not receive many letters from
Norway. She used to get some letters from cousins in Norway
but they have died now.
474 CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION: They serve "rømmegrøt" (cream porridge)
and lefse. The children know some Norwegian language; they can
understand it, but cannot speak it.
484 NORWEGIAN LANGUAGE: She has not used the Norwegian language
much. She is still able to speak a few sentences. (This passage
is spoken in Norwegian).
489 CITIZENSHIP PAPERS: Brynhild received citizen papers after
a test in Colfax. She was still living in LaCrosse at the time
and she was around 40 years old when she got her citizenship.
Husband received his papers first, so she went Colfax by herself.
502 LACROSSE: LaCrosse was Norwegian. Many Norwegians lived
in the area. The church was Norwegian. Some Swedish and Danish
families lived in the area as well.
515 PARENTS VISIT: Parents went back to Norway for a visit after
spending 10 years in America.
520 BROTHER AND SISTERS: All her siblings settled in LaCrosse.
All three married and had their own farm.
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