Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Title
Date(s)
- 1978-04-11 (Creation)
Extent
2 file folders
1 sound cassette
2 compact discs
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
This interview was conducted with Sigrid Andersen in Tacoma, Washington on April 11, 1978. It contains information on Sigrid's family life and background, emigration, marriage, settling in, and Danish heritage. The interview was conducted in English.
Folder Contents
Box 1, File 3 Personal and Family History
Tape Archive Sheet, Tape Index, and Family Background
Box 1, File 3A Correspondence and Forms
Checklist and Release Form
Handwritten Tape Archive Sheet and Family Background
System of arrangement
Interviewed by Steven Melton
Transcribed by Mary Sue Gee, Julie Peterson and Becky Husby
Encoded by Kerstin Ringdahl & Amity Smetzler
Recording Quality: Good-general nursing home noises that are not an intrusion.
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Notes element
General note
Biographical Note
Sigrid Andersen was born in Næsby, Lolland, Denmark in 1885. Her father was a dancing instructor and her mother an obstetrician. Sigrid had five sisters and one brother. She finished seven years of school, not attending high school, and then went on to work for local doctors, learning all that she could. In 1904, Sigrid's uncle, who had been living in America for many years, chose her return to America with him.
Once in America, she first stayed with her uncle near Forest City, Iowa and then stayed with the Marshall family-Mr. Marshall was the Congregational minister-to improve her English. Harald Andersen was a follow passenger of Sigrid's when she immigrated to America, and after he settled in St. Paul, he asked her to join him. After a year in St. Paul, they moved to Tacoma, and in 1907, they were married in the Danish Lutheran Church.
In Tacoma, Harald worked for Northern Pacific Railroad and made a good salary, allowing them to have one house in town and one on American Lake. The Andersen's had four children: Elsie, Stan, Harald, and Morris. When all of their sons moved to California, Harald and Sigrid decided to move too. Sigrid has fond memories of selling jewelry at the World Fair in San Francisco. After thirty-five years of marriage, Sigrid divorced Harald. She later settled in Tacoma again.
Lineage
Full Name: Sigrid Marie Andersen
Maiden Name: Sigrid Marie Christiansen
Brothers and Sisters: There were seven children in all, six girls and one boy.
Spouse: Harald Bernhard Andersen
Children: Elsie Andersen, Stan Andersen, Harald Andersen, Morris Andersen