Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Title
Date(s)
- 1981-10-30 (Creation)
Extent
3 file folders
3 photographs
1 sound cassette
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
This interview was conducted with Nels Simonseth on October 30, 1981 in Stanwood, Washington. It provides information on family background, emigration, marriage and family, employment, and community activities. The interview also contains a photograph of Nels and a friend felling a cedar tree with a 13ft. diameter and two photographs of Nels at the time of the interview. See also Gertrude Simonseth. The interview was conducted in English.
Also see Gertrude Simonseth and Nels and Gertrude Simonseth's personal recording.
Folder Contents
Box 5, File 8 Personal and Family History
Tape Archive Sheet, Family Background, and Tape Index
Box 5, File 8A Correspondence and Forms
Release Form
Letters from Janet Rasmussen regarding Mr. and Mrs. Simonseth’s participation.
Handwritten Tape Archive Sheet and Family Background
Box 5, File 8B Photographs
Three photographs
System of arrangement
Interviewed by Inger Nygaard Carr
Transcribed by Mary Sue Gee, Julie Peterson and Becky Husby
Encoded by Kerstin Ringdahl & Amity Smetzler
Recording Quality: Good
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Notes element
General note
Biographical Note
Nels Simonseth was born on May 13, 1901 in Rindal, Norway, which is ten Norwegian miles southwest of Trondheim. His parents were Endre Simonseth and Marit Drugli, and there were eleven children in the family. Endre was dairy farmer, and the family lived on a large farm. Nels attended school for seven years, and after he was confirmed, he did carpentry work.
Nels met his wife, Gertrude Sinnes, when she was working for his relatives, and they decided to immigrate to America in September of 1922. From New York, Nels and Gertrude took the train to Dawson, Minnesota, where Gertrude's friend's boyfriend had a farm. They began to work on farms in Dawson and were married in Madison, Minnesota. Nels later got a job with the railroad, and they moved to Watson, Minnesota and later Montana.
After a few years, Nels and Gertrude moved to the West Coast, where Gertrude had relatives in Conway, Washington. They had two daughters at this time, Marie and Esther. They settled in Washington, and Nels obtained a logging job. He worked in logging camps until World War II broke out and then began doing carpentry work again.
In 1941, he began building naval bases in Oak Harbor and later joined the union. He continued to do carpentry work for another thirty-seven years. He and Gertrude also had five more children while living in Washington: Edmund, Norman, Grace, John, and Agnes. Nels attends Free Born Lutheran and belongs to the Sons of Norway. He has returned to Norway twice and says that the country has changed so much, he no longer recognizes it.
Lineage
Full Name: Nels Simonseth
Father: Endre Simonseth
Mother: Marit Drugli
Paternal Grandfather: Tore Halgumseth
Paternal Grandmother: Mali Simonseth
Maternal Grandfather: John Fredrekli
Maternal Grandmother: Olaug Drugli
Brothers and Sisters: Malie Simonseth, Olina Simonseth, Tore Simonseth, John Simonseth, Ingeborg Simonseth, Karen Simonseth (died as a child), Nils Simonseth, Einar Simonseth, Marie Simonseth, Eline Simonseth, Karen Simonseth, Magnar Simonseth
Spouse: Gertrude Sinnes Simonseth
Children: Marie Simonseth, Esther Simonseth, Edmund Simonseth, Norman Simonseth, Grace Simonseth, John Simonseth, Agnes Simonseth.