Last time in the continuing saga of a newcomer in America, Aunt Eda had narrowly escaped being fired by Mrs Weeks, but when Mrs Weeks found out she really had gone to Chicago with her brother to see his wife after surgery, all was forgiven. Mrs Weeks was very particular about everything but aside from that it was a good place to work. Aunt Eda worked there for two years.
In 1911 bad news came from Sweden. Eda’s beloved grandmother died. With his wife and mother both dead, and only his youngest child left at home, Eda’s father decided to come to America, bringing his youngest, my Aunt Hilma with him. It was not unusual in that era for whole families to emigrate to America. In my father’s family, seven out of nine children came here. When they arrived (coming to Nels Johnson’s place as had Aunt Eda), old Anders got a job working on a farm and Aunt Hilma became a hired girl like her sister.
Life went fairly serenely until 1913. An acquaintance of Eda found a job paying $4 a week. Eda was still getting $3. She thought it was high time she got a raise and approached Mrs Weeks about it. Mrs Weeks refused but said “If you can get a job paying that much, you’re free to go”. Perhaps Mrs Weeks underestimated Aunt Eda’s resolve because in no time Aunt Eda found a job paying $4. This time, instead of a Doctor, she went to work for a dentist. Dr Thomas had an office in the upstairs of a building in town and his wife and a clerk named Bronson ran a pharmacy downstairs. Aunt Eda was alone in the house most of the time and had a relatively easy time. Mrs Weeks came over to see her. She had hired another girl and it wasn’t working out. She offered to meet Aunt Eda’s price, but Eda refused. She did get a job baby sitting at night for the Weeks family which earned her an extra 50 cents or a dollar a week. Practically rolling in money!
Her idyllic life with the Thomas’s ended when their house burned down. They moved to another house but things changed. Dr Thomas worked almost every night and Mrs Thomas started asking Eda to go to the neighbors very often. One night she came back early and found Mrs Thomas with Bronson. She didn’t like the feeling of knowing about the hankey-pankey going on and dreaded the possibility that Dr Thomas might question her about it. It goes to show that the sport of cheating on one’s spouse is nothing new. So Aunt Eda went back to the Weeks household. By now she was used to Mrs Week’s ways and wasn’t afraid to stand up to her.
We’ve talked a lot about work in these columns, but it wasn’t all work. Aunt Eda relates how, on her off Sunday (she got every other Sunday off) her sister’s husband Martin (my father) would pick her up after church, and take her to their house. Her sister Anna (my mother) would bake large quantities of cookies and cakes. There was plenty to eat and every young Swede for miles around came over. A fellow named Elof Danielson played the concertina and some high powered dancing took place. I knew Elof. He was a little man with a bristly walrus mustache. He was the most pessimistic person I’ve ever known. always doom and gloom. If you thought you were too happy you could have a conversation with Elof and you would soon be depressed. When it came time to go home my Dad would tell Eda “Alfred or John will take you home:” Obviously, my Old Man was trying to get Eda a boy-friend. He wasn’t very successful. Eda would go home with them but didn’t pick up a steady boy friend.
Finally, the fellow named John persuaded her to go with him. She doesn’t give his last name in her story. She really didn’t like him. She describes him as being a mess. Ugly, with eyes always red and runny is how she describes him. Mrs Weeks didn’t like him either. She said “Aren’t there any nice looking young Swedish boys that you can go with?” Judging from pictures taken in that era, Aune Eda was quite an attractive girl. Why she went with this loser is one of those mysteries that still happen. She says he tried to put his arm around her in the buggy but she wouldn’t stand for it.
One Saturday night the Church youth group (called the Luther League) had a meeting in Standard, a town some distance from Granville. There were 8 or 9 Swedish girls who didn’t have boy friends to take them, so Mr Johnson, in whose home the meeting was taking place, agreed to come and get them in a lumber wagon. They all rode standing up in the lumber wagon. One of the girls, Sigrid Nelson (my father’s sister) said to Eda: “You know who I’m going home with?”. Eda didn’t know. Sigrid said “I’m going with Nels Anderson”. Aunt Eda said “That’s nice”, Nels Anderson had been in the US for about a year, working for my father who was his cousin. He had just purchased a horse. It was a handsome dapple gray with a light colored mane and tail which had braided. He had new harness and a new buggy. This was the early 20th century equivalent of having a fancy sports car today. When it came time to go home Nels asked her how she was going home. She replied she would go home as she came, in the lumber wagon. He asked if she would go home with him. She didn’t have to think about it. She said yes. On the way home he asked what she was doing tomorrow (Sunday). She said “I don’t know”. He said “I’ll come get you”. That’s how it started!
Aunt Eda and Uncle Nels (he wasn’t my uncle yet) started going together. The disgruntled John didn’t pass up a chance to harass the couple, bumping them on the dance floor, and other things. One night when the Swedes were having a party. The boys kept sneaking out to drink whiskey (some things never change). Nels didn’t. Aunt Eda wouldn’t let him. John was the jugs best customer. Finally, he challenged Nels to step outside and settle things. The boys all went out, telling the girls to stay inside. When the two factions faced each other, the friends of Nels outnumbered John’s boys by a wide margin. John and his few friends backed down. On the way home, John who had brought a gun, fired several shots over Nels’ horse, causing the animal to run but Nels kept him under control. After that, John never bothered them again. Violence among teen agers is not a recent phenomenon.
At this point we will leave the saga of a greenhorn in America. Eda married Nels and they had 4 daughters My Aunt Hilma balanced out the family by having 5 sons. Eda had served her time as greenhorn and graduated to a full fledged American.