Einar Magnus Nerland Oral History Interview, 1982 PDF
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Nerland, Einar Magnus
- Title
- Dates
- 1982 (inclusive)19821982
- Quantity
- 2 file folder
1 sound cassette - Collection Number
- t186
- Summary
- An oral history interview with Einar Magnus Nerland, 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
Einar Nerland was born on October 3, 1908 in Nærbo, Norway, which is close to Stavanger. His parents were Elling Nerland and Malene Tunheim, and he had nine siblings: Berta, Elias, Axel, Borghild, Borgny, Alf, Malene, Gustav, and Eivend. Elling was a farmer and fisherman, and after Einar was confirmed at age fifteen, he began working for his father. When he was twenty, he decided to immigrate to Pierpoint, South Dakota, where his brothers Elias and Axel lived. Pierpoint was a farming community, and Einar initially thought it was the worst place he had seen on his trip over. Einar arrived in February 1929, and when spring came, he was hired at a Swedish man's farm, where he began to learn the English language. He lived on the farm as if he was a family member, and he eventually grew fonder of Pierpoint. He did farm work for five years, and times were especially hard during the Depression. Most farms could not grow crops and dust storms were a frequent occurrence. When the farmers began to lose their jobs to the insurance companies, the companies would then come and fix up the farms for resale. With the help of his brother, Einar managed to obtain a carpentry job. While living in Pierpoint, he also met his wife, and later had two sons, Dale and James. In hopes of making a better living, Einar and his wife moved from Pierpoint to Milwaukee, WI, where he built houses until the war broke out. At that point, they went to the West Coast, where Einar's wife had a couple of brothers in Tacoma, WA. In Tacoma, Einar got a welding job at Todd Shipyard, and then went back to carpentry after the war ended. As a carpenter, Einar build primarily homes, but also helped with some of the dorms at Pacific Lutheran University and the University of Puget Sound. He eventually became a member of the Carpenters Union and retired as a carpenter. Einar continues to remain in contact with his relatives in Norway and has returned to Norway twice. He is a member of the Sons of Norway, but has not been very active, and also attends Bethlehem Lutheran. In regards to the importance of his Norwegian heritage, Einar claims that he is simply a human being, and "one man is as good as another" regardless of their background.
Lineage
Full Name: Einar Magnus Nerland. Father: Elling Nerland. Mother: Malene Tunheim. Maternal Grandfather: Axel Tunheim. Maternal Grandmother: Bertha Tunheim. Brothers and Sisters: Berta Nerland, Elias Nerland, Axel Nerland, Borghild Nerland, Borgny Nerland, Alf Nerland, Malene Nerland, Gustav Nerland, Eivend Nerland. Spouse: Name is not mentioned. Children: Dale Nerland, James Nerland.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
The interview was conducted with Einar Nerland on September 29, 1982 in Tacoma, Washington. It contains information on family background, emigration, work, family, church and community involvement, 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 |
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Cassette | |
186, side 1 | 025: PERSONAL
BACKGROUND Name is Einar Nerland. He was
born on October 3, 1908 in Naerbo which is close to Stavanger, Norway.
|
186, side 1 | 045: PARENTS Father was Elling Nerland and his mother was Malene Tunheim.
His father was a farmer and a fisherman, and his mother was a housewife.
|
186, side 1 | 075: The name of the farm was Nerland. There were about ten
farmers that went by that name.
|
186, side 1 | 110: BROTHERS AND
SISTERS There were Berta, Elias, Axel,
Eivend, Einar, Borghild, Borgny, Gustav, Alf, and Malene.
|
186, side 1 | 130: GRANDPARENTS They were farmers on both sides. His maternal
grandfather's name was Axel Tunheim. His paternal grandfather's name was
Eliasen (?).
|
186, side 1 | 192: NERLAND His name hasn't changed and there are still Nerlands in
Norway.
|
186, side 1 | 203: CHILDHOOD The area was a lot
like Washington with good farmland and fishing. They had their own home. They
would go down to the ocean and fish. The kids worked from the time they were
big enough. They would clean the barn and carry wood. He came to the U.S. when
he was 20.
|
186, side 1 | 300: SCHOOL Started at a one-teacher schoolhouse. After the first and
second grade they had to go further. They had to walk.
|
186, side 1 | 325: WEATHER They would get plenty of snow, but it wouldn't last long.
They would have 6' snow banks. You had to go further inland to ski.
|
186, side 1 | 354: Finished school when he was 15 years old and then you were
grown up and got to wear long pants. This was after they were confirmed.
|
186, side 1 | 373: CONFIRMATION Went to read with the minister, almost the same as
here.
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186, side 1 | 395: WORK Worked like a man on his father's farm. The other brothers
were there too. After they got to be about 20 they left for the U.S.
|
186, side 1 | 425: STORIES OF
AMERICA They thought that they were
making lots of money in the U.S. There were too many at home so some of them
had to leave.
|
186, side 1 | 443: EMIGRATON OF
FAMILY Axel came to the U.S. in 1923 and
Elias came in 1925. Axel came with a relative but there wasn't family in the
U.S.
|
186, side 1 | 470: COMING TO THE
U.S. His brothers were here. He was going
to leave when he was 18 but his mother said he was too young so he cancelled
his first trip and signed up again. By the time that went through he was 20. He
thought he was traveling alone until he saw some friends on the ship.
|
186, side 1 | 505: Einar's brothers settled in Pierpoint, South Dakota.
|
186, side 1 | 520: FEELINGS LEAVING
NORWAY He was happy to go and see the
world. He always knew that he would go back for a visit. 35 years later he
did.
|
186, side 1 | 525: LUGGAGE He took just enough clothing to get along.
|
186, side 1 | 543: TRIP TO THE
U.S. He took the train to Stavanger and
then he took the Bergensfjord. This was in 1929 in February. The ocean was
pretty rough the whole way. There were storms every day and the people were
sick. It cost 700Nkr for passage. The trip took seven days. He arrived at New
York. He didn't go to Ellis Island, but was taken directly to the depot.
|
186, side 1 | 610: TRAIN TRAVEL His ticket took him all the way to Pierpoint, South
Dakota. In New York there was a man that told you were to go. They were herded
like sheep.
|
186, side 1 | 630: FIRST
IMPRESISONS Saw the Statue of Liberty. It
was so foggy the first day they came that they had to wait for the fog to
clear.
|
186, side 1 | 645: LANGUAGE
PROBLEMS "It was just like coming into a
beehive."
|
186, side 1 | 652: TRAIN TRIP He liked New York and the country looked pretty good
until he got to Chicago, Illinois. He got off at the worst place he had seen on
the whole trip at Pierpoint, South Dakota. Everything was bare. There were only
dirt roads. He thought he had better stick it out. At one point the train broke
an axel and they were stopped for half a day. Food was expensive and not very
good.
|
186, side 1 | 725: PIERPOINT, SOUTH
DAKOTA This was a farming community. His
brother met him at the train. His brother was working at a farm. At first he
stayed at a hotel and then the farmer said he could stay with them. Soon spring
came and help was needed on the farms.
|
186, side 1 | 750: WORK He got a job on a Swedish man's farm.
|
186, side 1 | 756: LANGUAGE The area was full of Swedes, Norwegians and Germans.
He couldn't speak any English. He had been here a year before a farmer he was
working for told him that he would never learn English by only speaking and
hearing Norwegian, so this farmer started speaking English to him and Einar
would answer in Norwegian and he started to pick up the language.
|
186, side 1 | 787: FARM WORK Plowing and preparing the fields for wheat, barley,
oats, and corn. He lived with the farmers he was working for like he was one of
the family. He started to like the area better. There was no use getting
homesick for Norway because there was no money to go back to.
|
186, side 1 | 810: DEPRESSION They couldn't grow any crops because everything was
dried up. If you did get a crop it cost too much to harvest it. Kansas was
really the dust bowl, but South Dakota would become pitch dark in the middle of
the day because of the dust. Farms were failing. People survived because they
had a few cows, potatoes, and meat. People got credit at the store for
food.
|
186, side 1 | 890: ENTERTAINMENT There were barn dances. They played pool in town.
People didn't celebrate the holidays in the Norwegian ways.
|
186, side 1 | 900: CHRISTMAS It was only a one-day holiday in the U.S. and in
Norway they had almost a week.
|
186, side 1 | 913: PREJUDICES There were none against him.
|
186, side 1 | 915: DIFFICULTIES The language was the hardest. Sometimes the Native
Americans would tease him.
|
186, side 1 | 935: Best thing about coming to American was to be able to get an
automobile. He got one about a year after he came. Then he had fun taking the
girls out and going to dances and shows.
|
186, side 1 | 960: FARM WORK He got $40 a month plus room and board, but the wages
went down each year until he got $35 a month for his 10 hour days. He did farm
work for about five years.
|
186, side 1 | 980: CARPENTRY WORK When the farmers lost their farms to insurance
companies, the companies would come in and fix up the farms. Einar wasn't a
carpenter but with the help of his brother he got the job. Then he stayed with
the carpentry work until 1940 or 1941.
|
186, side 1 | 995: MILWAUKEE,
WISCONSIN He was building houses and
stayed for about one year until the war broke out and then they left for the
west coast.
|
186, side 1 | 1006: MEETING
SPOUSE They met in South Dakota. Her
mother was Norwegian and her father called himself a "blue belly Yankee." They
had one boy there and one boy here.
|
186, side 1 | 1020: CHURCH LIFE IN SOUTH
DAKOTA There was a small congregation in
their town and they shared their pastor with another church.
|
186, side 1 | 1030: MILWAUKEE,
WISCONSIN Moved there because he could
make more money.
|
186, side 1 | 1033: WEST COAST His wife had a couple of brothers out here that were
making good money in the shipyards.
|
186, side 1 | 1040: TACOMA,
WASHINGTON Got a job at the Todd Shipyard
building for the war. They have lived in Tacoma ever since then. He started
welding and after the war he went back to carpentry work.
|
186, side 1 | 1055: CITIZENSHIP Obtained in 1935 or 1936.
|
186, side 2 | SIDE II: |
186, side 2 | 025: VISITS TO
NORWAY He has returned twice. They left
from Vancouver, B.C. stopped to refuel in Greenland, and then landed in Oslo
where he took another small plane to Stavanger where the whole family met him.
He didn't know very many of them. He thought they talked very fast. He was
there for two months. This was in about 1956. Everything had changed. The
little town was completely different. The farming was different. They had silos
and didn't work much with hay like they used to.
|
186, side 2 | 204: SECOND TRIP About five years, he and his wife left from Sea-Tac.
The first trip had taken 18 hours by a DC-7 to get there. This trip was on a
DC-10. They stayed for three weeks. They traveled around Bergen and the
southern part of Norway. They visited relatives.
|
186, side 2 | 260: CONTACT WITH
NORWAY They still keep in contact. He has
a sister in Kopervik, Norway and another one in Mandal. They write to each
other.
|
186, side 2 | 280: LANGUAGE The younger people can speak American.
|
186, side 2 | 284: VISITS FROM
NORWAY There were six of them that came
over at one time.
|
186, side 2 | 300: FAMILY They have two sons, Dale and James. Dale works for the
Tacoma Sanitation. James works for a door plant in Tacoma. The sons don't have
much interest in Norway. Norwegian wasn't spoken in the home.
|
186, side 2 | 335: IMPRESSIONS OF
TACOMA The area is more like Norway and
he likes it.
|
186, side 2 | 350: SONS OF NORWAY He is a member but not very active.
|
186, side 2 | 362: CARPENTERS
UNION He also belongs to this. As a
carpenter he built mainly homes. He helped put up some dormitories at PLU and
at the University of Puget Sound. He retired as a carpenter.
|
186, side 2 | 385: CHURCH He is a member of Bethlehem Lutheran.
|
186, side 2 | 393: He's not sure if he will go back to Norway again. He'd like
to.
|
186, side 2 | 405: SPOKEN
NORWEGIAN He recites the table prayer, I
Jesus Navn.
|
186, side 2 | 425: NORWEGIAN
TRADITIONS His wife makes Norwegian food,
kumla-potato dumplings, cookies, krumkake, and fattigmand.
|
186, side 2 | 465: NORWEGIAN
PEOPLE They are aggressive and smart.
|
186, side 2 | 500: IMPORTANCE OF BEING
NORWEGIAN He is a human being. One man is
as good as another.
|
186, side 2 | 513: REFLECTIONS ON
EMIGRATION He is glad that he came. He
feels that he is better here than he would have had it in Norway. Now they have
just as much as we have, but it didn't used to be that way. You are freer
here.
|
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
- Subject Terms :
- Confirmation
- Depressions -- 1929
- Education--Norway
- Emigration and immigration
- Family--Norway
- Naturalization
- Norway -- Social conditions - 1945
- Norwegian-Americans--Ethnic identity
- Norwegian-Americans--Northwest, Pacific--Interviews
- Norwegian-Americans--Social life and customs
- Ocean travel
- Railroad travel
- Personal Names :
- Nerland, Einar--Interviews (creator)
- Tunheim, Bertha
- Nerland, Dale
- Nerland, Elling
- Nerland, James
- Tunheim, Axel
- Tunheim, Malene
- Corporate Names :
- Bergensfjord (Steamship)
- Bethlehem Lutheran Church (Tacoma, Wash.)
- Sons of Norway (U.S.) Norden Lodge No. 2 (Tacoma, Wash.)
- Todd Shipyards Corporation
- United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. Local 1719 (Tacoma, Wash.)
- Family Names :
- Nerland family
- Tunheim family
- Geographical Names :
- Milwaukee (Wisc.)
- Nærbo (Norway)
- Tacoma (Wash.)
- Form or Genre Terms :
- Oral histories
- Occupations :
- Carpenters
- Farmers