Johnson, Hilma

Johnson, Hilma

• 1979-04-19 (Creation)

2 file folders
1 sound cassette
1 compact disc

This interview with Hilma Johnson conducted on April 19,1979 in Port Townsend, Washington contains information on family history, first marriage and husband's death, life in a mining town, running a farm, emigration, settling in Seattle, work in the U.S., traditions in Norway, return trips to Norway, fishing in Alaska, trapping, and life in Alaska. The interview was conducted in English with some Norwegian towards the end of the interview.

Folder Contents

Box 1, File 22 Personal and Family History
Tape Archive Sheet, Family Background, and Tape Index

Box 1, File 22A Correspondence and Forms
Checklist and Release Form
Handwritten Tape Archive Sheet and Family Background

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

Biographical Note

Hilma (Ludli) Johnson was born in the northern part of Norway in about 1893, and she was one of six children by Peder and Anne Ludli. She was first married in Norway and had five children; her husband Karl worked in the Sulitjelma mine, which produced gold and copper.

Before marriage, she waited tables at a little Sulitjelma restaurant owned by her sister Mette, and she lived on Karl's farm after they married. Karl was killed in an accident at the mine and Hilma was left with the farm to run and the children to raise. Her husband's male relatives were overbearing and bossy and she wanted to get away, so she and the children emigrated around 1937-38. They lived in Seattle, Washington with Hilma's sister Mari, and Hilma kept house for a Norwegian family for a couple of years.

She received her citizenship papers after two years. Her sister's husband was the boss of an Alaskan herring fishing company, and Hilma and some of her children went to Alaska. She worked in the kitchen, helped wait tables, and scrubbed floors at first, and then got married again to a Norwegian fisherman. They fished in Alaska, sometimes staying for the winter, and Hilma took up trapping. In Norway, she belonged to the Lutheran church.

Lineage

Full Name: Hilma Johnson
Maiden Name: Hilma Lundli
Father: Peder Lundli
Mother: Anne Lundli
Brothers and Sisters: Peder Lundli, Mette Lundli, Mari Lundli, Astrid Lundli, another sibling
Spouse: Karl Johnson
Children: Hilma had five children in Norway by her first husband.