Gerda Farestrand Oral History Interview, 1982 PDF
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Farestrand, Gerda
- Title
- Dates
- 1982 (inclusive)19821982
- Quantity
- 2 file folders
1 sound cassette - Collection Number
- t179
- Summary
- An oral history interview with Gerda Farestrand, a Norwegian immigrant.
- Repository
- Pacific Lutheran University, Archives and Special Collections
Archives and Special Collections
Pacific Lutheran University
12180 Park Avenue South
Tacoma, Washington
98447
Telephone: 253-535-7586
Fax: 253-535-7315
archives@plu.edu - Access Restrictions
-
The oral history collection is open to all users.
- Additional Reference Guides
- Languages
- English
- Sponsor
- Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Biographical NoteReturn to Top
Gerda Farestrand was born in 1909 in Måløy, Norway to Torvald and Olga Gotteberg. Torvald, who passed away the year Gerda was born, was a baker and Olga did weaving and sewing. When Gerda was seven and half years old, Olga passed away as well, and Gerda, who was an only child, was raised by her maternal grandparents, Hanna and Haldor Gotteberg. Haldor made and mended fishing nets. Måløy was a shipping center, and Gerda clearly remembers WWI and the effects it had on Norway. Flour, sugar, shoes, margarine, butter, and grains were rationed from 1914-1919, but Gerda's family never went hungry. At the end of the war, Austrian and German children were brought to the island in order to restore their health.
Gerda attended school until she was fourteen, working in the cannery during the summers, and after she was confirmed, she went to work full-time. In 1928, Gerda's aunt and uncle returned to Norway for Christmas and convinced Gerda's grandmother that Gerda's future was in Canada, where they lived. Gerda's uncle offered to pay her way over, and she left for Flaxcombe, Saskatchewan on March 7, 1929. Gerda was not impressed with Flaxcombe and stayed with her aunt and uncle only fourteen months before moving to Saskatoon, where she got a housekeeping job. After fourteen months, Gerda moved to Toronto to find better employment. She got a job the first day she was there, which lasted for one month. She then began working for a doctor's family. While in Toronto, Gerda got a letter from her future husband, Ingvar Farestrand, who was living in Portland, OR. Ingvar was from Måløy also and asked Gerda to come to Portland. If she did not like it, he offered to pay her way back to Toronto. Gerda agreed to come, but at the immigration office in Vancouver, British Columbia, she was told that her passport was only good for travel in Canada. Ingvar then came up to Canada to help her obtain a permit to the United States, but she ended up applying for a marriage license, and they were married on January 15th.
At first, Gerda was not impressed with Portland either, but she made it her permanent home. In Portland, Gerda worked at a cleaning shop with her husband for almost thirty-one years and became active at Norse Hall. She and Ingvar had three children: Harvey, Irene, and a second daughter (name not obtained during interview). Ingvar had a bad heart and passed away twenty years after they were married. Gerda returned to Norway in 1958 and 1960, and believes that there is a revival of Norwegian culture in the United States, which includes their carving, sewing, knitting, and literature as well as the traditions. Since retirement, Gerda has kept herself busy with activities such as visiting the nursing home, participating in the Friendship Club, visiting her daughter, and attending a class on ancient Scandinavian history. She also donates to an organization called "Balogna Joe" and bakes cookies for the less fortunate at Christmas.
Lineage
Full Name: Gerda Farestrand. Maiden Name: Gerda Gotteberg. Father: Torvald Gotteberg. Mother: Olga Gotteberg. Maternal Grandfather: Haldor Gotteberg. Maternal Grandmother: Hanna Gotteberg. Spouse: Ingvar Farestrand. Children: Harvey Farestrand, Irene Farestrand, Unnamed second daughter
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
This interview was conducted with Gerda Farestrand on May 20, 1982 in Portland, Oregon. It contains information on family background, work, WWI, immigration to Canada and the United States, marriage and family, community activities, and Norwegian heritage. The interview was conducted in English.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
The partial interview transcription highlights important aspects of the interview. Numbers 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.
| Container(s) | Description |
|---|---|
| Cassette | |
| 179, side 1 | 013: PERSONAL
BACKGROUND Full name is Gerda Gotteberg
Farestrand. Her maiden name was Gotteberg and her married name is Farestrand or
Færestrand which how they spell it in Norway. She was born in Måløy, which is
south of an area called Vestkapp. This is on the western most part of Norway.
She was born in 1909. This was primarily a fishing area. This was also a
shipping center.
|
| 179, side 1 | 065: PARENTS He mother was Olga and her father, Torvald. Her father died
the year that she was born and her mother died when she was seven and a half.
She was raised by her maternal grandparents, Hanna and Haldor Gotteberg.
|
| 179, side 1 | 084: GRANDFATHER'S
WORK He used to make and mend
fishnets.
|
| 179, side 1 | 100: BROTHERS AND
SISTERS She was an only child.
|
| 179, side 1 | 103: GRANDPARENTS Grandfather came from the area and went out fishing
even up to Lofoton. One of his fishing friends had several sisters and he
married one. She came from Saltfjord near Bodø. They lived in Bodø and had five
girls. The flu epidemic came and three of the girls died. It was so cold they
couldn't even bury the bodies until spring. They moved to Måløy in 1892.
|
| 179, side 1 | 152: MOTHER Did weaving and sewing. She died at the age of 29.
|
| 179, side 1 | 160: CHILDHOOD Grandfather was an avid reader and every Sunday they
went to the library and he read to her. When she was 5 years old, he took out
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" for her to read by herself. That was the first book she
read.
|
| 179, side 1 | 180: WORK Went to work in the cannery in the summertime. This gave her
something to do and a way to earn money for school clothes.
|
| 179, side 1 | 186: Confirmed in 1914 and then went to work fulltime.
|
| 179, side 1 | 191: REASONS FOR
EMIGRATING Her aunt and uncle came back
to Norway for Christmas in 1928 and convinced her grandmother that Gerda's
future was in Canada.
|
| 179, side 1 | 202: FAMILY NAME The name Gotteberg came from the name of the place
where they lived and everyone there went by that name. This is the same as for
the name Farestrand. Everyone on that "Strand" (beach) went by the name
Faerestrand. Faerestrand was on the other side of the island on which she grew
up on. Gerda and her husband knew the same people and were distantly
related.
|
| 179, side 1 | 228: CHILDHOOD HOME It is still there. It was a two-story house. There
was a living room, a parlor, and a kitchen, two bedrooms upstairs and a full
basement.
|
| 179, side 1 | 245: CHRISTMAS They had a tree. She remembers the Christmas from the
year her mother died. She decorated a branch on the back of a chair and put the
dolls and the things that she had gotten from the neighbors on the chair. There
was a knock on the door and when she got there was a package and she never did
find out who that was from.
|
| 179, side 1 | 292: DOLLS She kept her dolls until she was 19. She gave them to some
neighbor girls that used to some and play with them. In 1979, on her way to
Scotland, she ran into these girls' younger brother. This gift had meant a lot
to them.
|
| 179, side 1 | 370: WEDDINGS They lasted for three days. Gerda's grandmother was
known for being a good cook and was often asked to help at weddings. Gerda got
to go along to these weddings and would get new clothes to go.
|
| 179, side 1 | 398: SYTTENDE MAI This was a big occasion. She would get a new dress
for this too. Not everyone had a bunad then.
|
| 179, side 1 | 433: SCHOOL DAYS Went to school until the age of 14.
|
| 179, side 1 | 436: CANNERY WORK This cannery packaged sardines and fish balls. She
ran the machine, which put the rubber part on the lids. It was very boring. She
was living with her grandmother at this time. Her grandfather had died when she
was 15.
|
| 179, side 1 | 455: WWI Måløy was a shipping
center. She recalls the day that she learned of the start of the war. She was
with her grandparents haying when the daughter of the man who had the telegraph
station came and told them. She ran all the way home to find her mother having
coffee with some ladies. She was upset that they were drinking coffee when the
whole world was burning up. They had seen the Kaiser the week before in his
cruiser in Måløy harbor. They went out in a rowboat to see the ship. A band
came out on deck and played for them and then the Kaiser came to the railing
and waved to them. When the war broke out the Kaiser was in Nordfjord salmon
fishing.
|
| 179, side 1 | 524: EFFECTS OF WWI ON THE
AREA They were rationed immediately.
There was rationing from 1914-1919. They rationed flour, sugar, shoes,
margarine, butter, and grains. You couldn't get thread unless you bought cloth
and that was hard to come by. They were never hungry. They had a few chickens,
four or five sheep and a cow.
|
| 179, side 1 | 562: END OF THE WAR Austrian and German children were brought to the
island along with some nurses to bring them back to good health. She remembers
a captured German submarine coming into the harbor. She recalls another
submarine coming in with two casualties. They had a funeral and the school
children got excused from school to see it. She talks about Quisling and his
involvement in helping the children of the war.
|
| 179, side 1 | 646: MEMORIES OF THE
TITANIC This was in 1912 when Gerda was 3
years old. Her aunt was packing to go to Canada when the paper came out with
its headlines in red about the Titanic sinking. Gerda's mother and grandmother
burned it in the stove before Augusta, Gerda's aunt could see it, because they
didn't want to upset her.
|
| 179, side 1 | 668: REASONS FOR
EMIGRATION Had hoped to go to Portland,
Oregon someday. In 1929, her aunt and uncle came home for Christmas. Her uncle
said he would pay her way to come over and that she could stay with them as
long as she wanted to and earn $25 a month helping her aunt. She wasn't too
excited about going because of the idea of the prairie didn't appeal to her,
but her grandmother thought it would be a good idea since she (the grandmother)
was getting old and that she wouldn't have to worry about Gerda.
|
| 179, side 1 | 688: TRAVEL TO
CANADA Left Måløy on March 7, left Bergen
on the 9th and went to Southampton, England where they took the train to
London, England and spent three days. Then they went to Southampton where they
boarded the ship and went across the channel to Cherbourg, France where they
picked up a lot of Polish people. From there they traveled to Queenstown,
Ireland and then to the open sea. She wasn't seasick until this point in the
journey but once on the open sea she didn't see the dining room for eight days.
The 23rd of May they came to Halifax, Canada.
|
| 179, side 1 | 719: TRAIN TRAVEL They left Halifax by immigrant train that night.
During the night they were told to leave their train car because its wheels
wouldn't go around and they were moved to another car. She remembers North Bay,
Ontario; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and then to Flaxcombe,
Saskatchewan.
|
| 179, side 1 | 748: AUNT'S HOME She wasn't impressed with the area. She describes the
town of Flaxcombe and how far they lived from their neighbors. She also
describes the climate and how muddy it could get.
|
| 179, side 1 | 800: CHRISTMAS IN
CANADA They had lutefisk and a Christmas
tree.
|
| 179, side 1 | 805: SASKATOON She stayed with her aunt and uncle for fourteen
months and then went out to be on her own in Saskatoon. She got Thursday and
Sunday afternoons off. She recalls her first pair of silk stockings costing her
$2 or four days of work. She stayed there for fourteen months.
|
| 179, side 1 | 815: LANGAUGE By necessity she picked up a few words a day until
she could make sentences. She had a hard time with the word "toy" because it
was so close to the Norwegian word, "toey."
|
| 179, side 1 | 830: WORK Got a job for someone who had college students. She got a
room and board for $28 a month. This was for students at the University of
Saskatchewan.
|
| 179, side 1 | 835: DUST STORMS They would get dust storms. If they saw a dark cloud
and they had clothes on the line they run to get them in because once the dust
got in you could never get it out. She tells a story about a Mrs. Løken (?)
from Gøvik, Norway who came to Saskatoon. She saved up snow water until she had
enough to wash her hardanger decorated sheets and pillowcases, but when she
hung them out they froze and broke off the line.
|
| 179, side 1 | 875: WORK She talks about how she did the washing when she was
working. It was too cold to take a basket full of clothes out at one time. You
had to bring each piece out separately and let it stick or freeze to the line.
Monday was washday and if you didn't have your clothes on the line by 7am it
was disgraceful. She had to get up at 4am to get the fire going to boil the
water. After the clothes were on the line she had to make breakfast.
|
| 179, side 1 | 894: TORONTO Some of the girls were going to Toronto, Canada to find
better jobs, more money, and to be rid of the dust storms. Gerda went with them
even though she promised her aunt that she wouldn't. She got a job the first
day with someone who needed help for one month. Then she got a job with a
doctor's family. The only one who knew where she was her grandmother in
Norway.
|
| 179, side 1 | 905: FUTURE
SPOUSE Got a letter from him in Portland,
Oregon. He had had trouble finding her. He wanted her to come and see the West
Coast and offered to pay her way back if she didn't like it. She thought that
was a good deal.
|
| 179, side 1 | 918: TRAIN TRAVEL Took the train from Toronto on Monday and came to
Vancouver, B.C. on Saturday. She had to wait there until Monday for the
immigration office to open up so that she could get permission to go into the
U.S.
|
| 179, side 1 | 926: IMMIGRATION
OFFICE She wanted a one-month permit to
be in the U.S. They told her that her passport was only good for travel in
Canada. She got stuck there for Christmas. Ingvar came up Christmas morning to
try to help her get the permit to the U.S. She applied for a marriage license.
Ingvar came up on the 14th of January and they were married on the 15th. Within
a week she got her traveling papers. When she came to the U.S. it was
prohibition time and they searched everything in her trunk.
|
| 179, side 1 | 974: PORTLAND,
OREGON She didn't like it at first, but
has been there for 50 years.
|
| 179, side 1 | 980: FAMILY Her husband had a bad heart and died about 20 years ago.
They had three children, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
|
| 179, side 1 | 990: IMPRESSIONS OF
PORTLAND Ingvar had an errand boy that
gave her the tour of the town. She was homesick a lot for Norway until her
grandmother died and then she didn't have any need to go back.
|
| 179, side 1 | 1015: TRIPS TO
NORWAY Went in 1958. Some things had
changed. They were still feeling the effects of the war. She talks about the
clothes they sent to Norway as their own form of aid. They returned again in
1960 and took the girls. Their son went in 1964 and three of his four children
have been to Norway.
|
| 179, side 1 | 1075: CLEANING SHOP She worked at this business with her husband for
almost 31 years.
|
| 179, side 1 | 1080: CHILDREN Harvey lived in Portland and works for a printing
company. Irene is a legal technician for the U.S. Attorneys Office. The other
girl was a purchasing agent for Bonneville (Power Co.).
|
| 179, side 1 | 1098: NORSE HALL Used to go sometimes but she didn't have a lot of
time for it.
|
| 179, side 2 | SIDE II: |
| 179, side 2 | 068: NORSE HALL Has been active for the past 18 years. She talks
about some of their activities, lutefisk dinner and making lefse.
|
| 179, side 2 | 140: ACTIVITIES She talks about the activities that keep her busy now
like visiting the nursing home, the Friendship Club, visiting her daughter and
a class on ancient Scandinavian history. At Christmas time she bakes cookies
for the needy. She also donates to an organization called "Balogna Joe," which
also helps the needy. She tells of more donations. She explains that helping
others in common in Norway.
|
| 179, side 2 | 280: NORWEGIAN
PEOPLE There are several kinds. Some will
work until the job is done no matter if there is pay or not. Other people came
from modest backgrounds and when they came to the U.S. whatever they earned was
theirs. She feels that Norwegians have made quite a contribution to this
country in the work that they did. They were willing to work.
|
| 179, side 2 | 386: DISCRIMINATION She felt some discrimination when she was a newcomer,
not from the Americans but from the Norwegians that had been here longer.
|
| 179, side 2 | 415: SNAKKE NORSK
GROUP This is a group of people who speak
a limited amount of Norwegian that get together to speak it. She talks about a
meeting they had where they read pages from Sigrid Undset's books.
|
| 179, side 2 | 470: NORWEGIAN
CULTURE Gerda feels that there is a
revival of Norwegian culture, which includes their carving, sewing, knitting,
and literature. She talks about the Norwegian Bunads. They look at some
examples of bunads in the book, "Våre vakre bunader" published by Hjemmenes
Førlag. She discusses the bunads of Sunnmøre and her interest in bunads.
|
| 179, side 2 | 555: NORWEGIAN
LANGUAGE There are Norwegian classes
every year and then they also have discussion groups. She talks about the
Vancouver, Washington group and the skit they did. The group Gerda belongs to
was started by Birgit Hanssen who is very interested in keeping Norwegian
going.
|
| 179, side 2 | 590: STONE CARVINGS She talks about the stone carvings, "Helleristninger"
which were discovered not to far from her home in Norway. She talks
particularly about the find in Vingen, which is close to Hornelen, but they can
be found all over Norway. Gerda is really interested in these.
|
| 179, side 2 | 681: REFLECTIONS ON
EMIGRATION She feels that she would have
got along fine in Norway. She has always wanted to go back to Norway and live,
but knows that life would be different for her there.
|
| 179, side 2 | 720: BUNADER She talks more about these cultural dresses and how they can
cost up to $2000 with their gold and silver decorations. She tells about a
choir, which she saw at her church on Måløy where the ladies had on Nordfjord
costumes with the belts that cost $1000. She feels that the expense had gotten
out of hand.
|
| 179, side 2 | 811: SPOKEN
NORWEGIAN She says the Norwegian table
prayer.
|
| 179, side 2 | 860: She talks more about the returning of the Norwegian
traditions and how there were several generations skipped, but now these
traditions are being brought back.
|
| 179, side 2 | 915: Gerda talks about the high living standards in Norway. She
talks about their furniture and dishes. She tells how they celebrate birthdays.
She talks about Bjoernsterne Bjoernson who wrote the Norwegian national anthem.
She relates a little Scandinavian history.
|
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
- Subject Terms :
- Costume -- Norway
- Emigration and immigration
- Family--Norway
- Marriage service
- Norwegian-Americans -- Celebrations and festivals
- Norwegian-Americans--Ethnic identity
- Norwegian-Americans--Northwest, Pacific--Interviews
- Norwegian-Americans--Social life and customs
- Railroad travel
- Sewing
- Weaving
- World War, 1914-1918
- Personal Names :
- Farestrand, Gerda--Interviews (creator)
- Farestrand, Irene
- Gotteberg, Haldor
- Gotteberg, Hanna
- Farestrand, Harvey
- Farestrand, Ingvar
- Gotteberg, Olga
- Gotteberg, Torvald
- Family Names :
- Farestrand family
- Gotteberg family
- Geographical Names :
- Flaxcombe (Sask.)
- Måløy (Norway)
- Portland (Or.)
- Toronto (Ont.)
- Form or Genre Terms :
- Oral histories
- Occupations :
- Cannery workers
- Domestics
