Johannsson, Aleph

3 file folders
6 photographs
1 sound cassette

This interview was conducted with Aleph Johannsson on October 12, 1982 in Seattle, Washington. It contains information on family background, growing up in North Dakota, marriage and family, settling in Seattle, community activities, and Icelandic heritage. The interview also includes a photograph of Aleph's brothers (taken in 1893), a photograph of Aleph on her wedding day, a photograph of Cascade Drug Store, an article, which includes a picture of Aleph meeting President Vigdis Finnbogadottur (September 1982), and two photographs of Aleph at the time of the interview.

Folder Contents

Box 9, File 3 Personal and Family History
Tape Archive Sheet, Family Background and Tape Index

Box 9, File 3A Correspondence and Forms
Checklist and Release Form
Letter from Janet Rasmussen regarding Mrs. Johannson’s participation.
Handwritten Tape Archive Sheet and Family Background

Box 9, File 3B Photographs and Clippings
Six photographs
One clipping
Family background

Interviewed by Inger Nygaard Carr
Transcribed by Mary Sue Gee, Julie Peterson and Becky Husby
Encoded by Kerstin Ringdahl & Amity Smetzler
Recording Quality: Good

Biographical Note

Aleph Johannsson was born on November 9, 1882 in the Milton, North Dakota, near Pemblina. Her parents, Stigur Thorwaldson and Thorun Jornsdottir, were from Gislatordum, Iceland and Fljotsdalheradi, Iceland, respectively. They had met each other in Iceland and were married after they immigrated. Stigur and Thorun settled in the Tongue River Valley in North Dakota and had ten children, of which Aleph was the eldest. After Aleph finished grammar school and one term at Grenwold Academy, which was affiliated with the Lutheran Church, she attended a dressmaking school. She worked as a seamstress out of her family home.

Aleph's husband, Bjarni Johannsson, was from Framnesi, Iceland and had settled in the same area with his family. He attended the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington to become a pharmacist and corresponded with Aleph while he was gone. Aleph wanted to go to nursing school and did not want a serious relationship, but after Bjarni graduated, he proposed to Aleph. Neither Bjarni nor Aleph's father wanted her to become a nurse, so Aleph married Bjarni in 1906. They moved back to Seattle and had five children: Sigrid, Thorun, Wilma, Alice, and Lincoln. In 1912, they built the house that Aleph still lived in at the time of this interview, and Bjarni also owned Cascade Drug Company until 1946.

Through the years, Aleph has been active in the Lutheran Church, has sung in the Icelandic choir, and helped organize the Anning Society, a charity society that helps those sick or in financial trouble. She has also met Vigdis Finnbogadottur, the President of Iceland. President Finnbogadottur told Aleph that she spoke Icelandic as if she had been born there and send her a telegram on her 100th birthday.

Lineage

Full Name: Aleph Johannsson
Maiden Name: Aleph Sigriour Thorwaldson
Father: Stigur Thorwaldson
Mother: Thorun Jornsdottir
Paternal Grandfather: Thorvaldur Stigsson
Paternal Grandmother: Vilborg Jonsdottir
Maternal Grandfather: Bjorn Peterson
Maternal Grandmother: Olafia Olafsdottir
Brothers and Sisters: Valdi (Thorwald), Bjorn, Olafia (Polly), Wilmar Peter, Gudny (Gwen) Hjalmarson, Wilmar Thorwaldson, Olafur Thorwaldson, Jennie Thorwaldson, Anna Thorwaldson. Spouse: Bjarni Johannsson
Children: Sigrid Hastings, Thorun Robel, Wilma Vadnais, Alice Johannsson, Lincoln Johannsson