Nannie Lundbeck Whitman Oral History Interview, 1982 PDF
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Whitman, Nannie Lundbeck
- Title
- Dates
- 1982 (inclusive)19821982
- Quantity
- 2 file folders
1 sound cassette - Collection Number
- t166
- Summary
- An oral history interview with Nannie Lundbeck Whitman, a Swedish 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
Nannie Whitman was born Nannie Lundbeck in Toere, Sweden in 1898. One of twelve children, Nannie lived on the Lundbeck farm and helped with the chores. The Lundbeck family celebrated holidays like Christmas, Pingst, and Midsummer. Nannie attended school through the sixth grade. She worked one summer in Luleaa, but for the most part, Nannie helped with all the children. She began to think about improving herself, and she was convinced she needed to move away in order to do so. Therefore, in May of 1923, Nannie traveled to America. She sought out her mother's cousin who lived near Hoquiam, Washington and helped Nannie find work helping a local family. Then Nannie found a job at a boardinghouse where she cooked and washed dishes. In 1924, Nannie married Mr. Whitman, whom she had met on the ship over to America. They had three sons. Nannie did some housekeeping and some weaving while her husband worked in the lumber industry. In 1956, they visited Sweden for the first time to visit relatives. Nannie initially tried to maintain Swedish traditions in their home, but the children did not seem to be interested. As a child, Nannie and her family read Lutheran books and occasionally attended the Lutheran church, but now she is a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Lineage
Full Name: Nannie Lundbeck Whitman. Maiden Name: Lundbeck. Father: Anders Lundbeck. Mother: Anna Lundbeck. Brothers and Sisters: There were twevlve children in all. (Please refer to Emil Lundbeck t138 for more detailed information.) Spouse: (?) Whitman. Children: Lawrence Albin Whitman, Carl Stanley Whitman, Harold Eugene Whitman.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
The interview was conducted with Nannie Whitman on April 28, 1982 in Port Angeles, Washington. This interview contains information on family background, Swedish holidays, school, work, emigration, Swedish organizations, visits to Sweden, church and community life, and Swedish heritage. The interview was conducted in English. See also the interview with Nannie Whitman's brother, Emil Lundbeck (SPEC T138).
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 | |
| 166, side 1 | 018: PERSONAL
BACKGROUND Name - Nannie (Lundbeck)
Whitman. Born in Toere, Sweden in 1898. Toere was the county seat & was
about a half hour by car from Luleaa. This is in the northern part of Sweden
and is on the same latitude as Anchorage, Alaska. They lived by the Bay of
Bothnia (Bottenviken). There is the Gulf Stream, which makes the area warmer
than Anchorage.
|
| 166, side 1 | 086: PARENTS Anna and Anders Lundbeck. Father did a little of everything.
They had a farm; he was a cobbler and did fishing too. She used to go fishing
with her father. Father fished in the evening and sold the fish from his wagon
in the larger villages.
|
| 166, side 1 | 160: FAMILY FARM AND
HOUSE 2 houses on each place. Wasn't so
bad. They moved when she was 16 years old to a little bigger place where it was
easier to make a living. Father worked in the woods in the winter.
|
| 166, side 1 | 192: MOTHER She was very patient and gentle person. Father was the
disciplinarian.
|
| 166, side 1 | 210: FOOD People weren't very interested in vegetable gardens. Had
milk, butter, and a lot of bread. Made flat bread and rye bread. Picked wild
berries - lingonberries and blueberries. She was too far north to grow apples.
Fruit was expensive to buy because it was imported.
|
| 166, side 1 | 253: FAMILY Their mother worked at home. There were 12 children. One girl
got sick and died - the doctor wasn't' very close by. Talks about her siblings,
which have passed away.
|
| 166, side 1 | 273: GRANDPARENTS Didn't know them. They were farmers.
|
| 166, side 1 | 285: FARM Barley was the main grain they grew. They thrashed it
themselves on the farm. They had a thrashing machine, which was powered by a
horse. Afterwards there would be a big dinner for those who had been working.
|
| 166, side 1 | 315: FAMILY NAME Hasn't researched the name. Wished that she would have
done that in 1956 when she was in Sweden.
|
| 166, side 1 | 345: HOLIDAYS Christmas was very important. They danced around the
tree at several houses. They would get some treats - cookies or something. One
of the boys would go out and cut the tree and then they would decorate it. Then
they moved. Raaneaa was the county seat. On Christmas morning they would go to
Julafton (a Christmas service) by horse and fancy sleigh. This was in Raaneaa.
|
| 166, side 1 | 390: HOLIDAYS Pingst. Midsummer - got lemonade, made something out
of birch branches. Had lots of church holidays. Thanksgiving was November 2nd.
Christmas - had a sleigh and bells on the horses when they went to church early
Christmas morning. Birthdays- celebrated your name day rather than your
birthday. This was according to your name day on the Swedish almanac. Didn't do
too much celebrating because they couldn't afford to make so many cookies.
|
| 166, side 1 | 470: SCHOOL They were divided into three parts. The first part was first
and second grades, the second part the third and fourth, and the third part was
fifth and sixth. She finished the sixth grade. Before they moved they skied to
school. They didn't have many frills in school. Sometimes they would put
together a baseball game and in the winter they would ski.
|
| 166, side 1 | 520: WORK Worked some. There wasn't much work. She was really needed in
the home because there were so many children. Worked out one summer in Luleaa.
|
| 166, side 1 | 558: WASHING
CLOTHES In the barn they had a large pot
to heat the water in and then they washed the clothes on a board.
|
| 166, side 1 | 575: CAME TO U.S. May of 1923. Couldn't see any future on the little
farm. She thought that she would try to better herself. There were so many
children that she doesn't think that her parents took it too seriously. Her
father helped her get the money to come.
|
| 166, side 1 | 596: SHIP TRAVEL Came with the man who was to become her husband and
some others. Came on the Canadian Pacific Line. Crossed the North Sea. Went
from Gothenburg (Goeteborg), Sweden to England where they took the train across
England. It was here that they went through customs and health inspection. She
recalls one lady who was a nurse who got really upset when they were searching
for lice in her hair. This was in Southampton, England. They left there by
Canadian ship and landed in Quebec and then Montreal where they had to go
through customs again.
|
| 166, side 1 | 620: FEELINGS AT EMIGRATION
TIME She was excited. It was an
adventure. She was about 23 years old.
|
| 166, side 1 | 629: LANGUAGE Learning the language was the most important thing.
She came to her mother's cousin near Hoquiam, WA. This lady found her a job
helping with the family in a nearby home. Nannie couldn't speak much English.
The lady got out a first reader and made her start reading aloud.
|
| 166, side 1 | 648: LUGGAGE Brought the best clothes she had. Didn't bring much.
|
| 166, side 1 | 657: TRAIN TRAVEL Went through customs in Montreal, Canada. Then she
went by train to Vancouver, BC and then by boat to Seattle, WA.
|
| 166, side 1 | 665: TRIP LENGTH Took about one month. Left home the 28th of April by
horse and sleigh to Luleaa where she could catch the train. Came to Seattle the
last part of May.
|
| 166, side 1 | 695: HOQUIAM Liked the food. Mrs. Bairnsfield (?) was very good to her.
|
| 166, side 1 | 700: FUNNY
EXPERIENCES Had never seen a girl dressed
in jeans and a sweater. Nannie thought it was a boy.
|
| 166, side 1 | 717: WORK Stayed one month with the family. Then she got a chance to
work at a boardinghouse 17 miles from Hoquiam, WA. Thought she would make lots
of money. She had her ticket paid back by Christmas time that same year. Had
board and room there and was making close to $100 a month. She would have to
wash dishes. In the summertime there were up to 75 men. Later on she became 2nd
cook. This was located at a place where the train went farther up the line. The
men who stayed there were going to the logging camps farther up and would float
the logs down.
|
| 166, side 1 | 750: SCANDINAVIANS Weren't many others at the boardinghouse except for
the cook. Met one man from Dalarna, Sweden.
|
| 166, side 1 | 769: HUSBAND Met him in Sweden. They were on the same ship. There was
another family in Seattle that was on the same ship - Ellis Johnsen (?). They
were married in 1924. Nannie wants to research the Whitman name. They were
married in Hoquiam, but moved quite a bit.
|
| 166, side 1 | 795: HUSBANDS WORK he worked in the lumber industry and moved around a
lot to do different jobs.
|
| 166, side 1 | 803: CHILDREN three sons. Lawrence Albin Whitman, Carl Stanley
Whitman and Harold Eugene Whitman - lived in the same town. She has eight
grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
|
| 166, side 1 | 814: WORK Worked doing housework and stuff for people by the hour
during the Depression
|
| 166, side 1 | 830: WORK AT HOME Wove a lot of material for working clothes and even
curtains. Work is much easier now. Everything is handy and powered by
electricity.
|
| 166, side 1 | 845: CHURCH In Sweden the Lutheran Church was the state church and you
were born into it. To get your small pox vaccination and be baptized in the
church was required. Didn't go to church very often because of transportation
problems. Father used to read to them on Sunday from a Lutheran book put out by
Martin Luther.
|
| 166, side 1 | 863: CHURCH LIFE
U.S. Didn't belong, but would go
sometimes to the Lutheran Church in Hoquiam, WA.
|
| 166, side 1 | 870: ORGANIZATIONS Husband belonged to Vasa for a while. When they moved
in 1941 they didn't keep it up anymore. Nannie belongs to the Seventh Day
Adventist Church.
|
| 166, side 1 | 885: VISITS TO
SWEDEN Went in 1956. They brought the car
and drove from Gothenburg, Sweden. Everything closed early and surprised them.
They have quite a few relatives there. The boys have about 29 cousins on both
sides. Some have come to visit in the U.S.
|
| 166, side 1 | 934: SWEDISH PEOPLE They have changed from how they used to be. They are
ambitious and do good work. Her father was that way.
|
| 166, side 1 | 950: LIFE IN OLD
SWEDEN She describes how they got water
to the barn.
|
| 166, side 1 | 966: SWEDISH
LANGUAGE She only uses Swedish when she
has to. The boys and their wives don't understand Swedish. They tried to teach
Lawrence Swedish, but he started speaking such a mixture that they gave up. In
the mid west there were many opportunities to speak Swedish. They had Sunday
school and lodges in Swedish in the mid west. Nannie has forgotten some.
|
| 166, side 1 | 985: SWEDISH
CUSTOMS When they first came they tried
to keep up the customs in the home and teach the children Swedish, but the kids
never seemed to be around much and they gave up.
|
| 166, side 1 | 993: CHILDREN AND
GRANDCHILDREN'S INTEREST IN SWEDEN Not
really interested. Harold can speak some Swedish because he was working with
some Swedes at his job. Lawrence was going to take a trip to Sweden after he
met one of Nannie's nephews, but the trip never occurred.
|
| 166, side 1 | 1016: SPOKEN
SWEDISH Recites part of a song she knew
from school.
|
| 166, side 1 | 1037: EXPERIENCE IN THE
COOKHOUSE A Lutheran minister used to
come and give a sermon there. They disturbed him while he was preparing his
sermon and got really embarrassed.
|
| 166, side 1 | 1053: Talks about a Norwegian man who hurt his food and that she
told the train brakeman to quit making fun of him.
|
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
- Subject Terms :
- Emigration and immigration
- Family -- Sweden
- Swedish-Americans--Northwest, Pacific--Interviews
- Swedish-Americans--Social life and customs
- Personal Names :
- Lundbeck, Anna
- Lundbeck, Nannie--Interviews (creator)
- Whitman, Lawrence Albin
- Lundbeck, Anders
- Whitman, Carl Stanley
- Whitman, Nannie
- Whitman,Harold Eugene
- Corporate Names :
- Canadian Pacific (Steamships)
- Seventh-Day Adventist Church (Hoquiam, Wash.)
- Family Names :
- Lundbeck family
- Whitman family
- Geographical Names :
- Hoquiam,(Wash.)
- Töre (Sweden)
- Form or Genre Terms :
- Oral histories
- Occupations :
- Domestics
- Farmers
