00:00:00 (whistling)
-MARK GLAD (MG): My name is Mark Glad and I'm interviewing Mrs. Oscar Elge, and
she is my grandma, and I'm interviewing her in her home in Aurora on December
6th, 1976, and she was born by Philips, Nebraska on a farm, May 11th, 1897, and
what are some things you remember from your childhood?
-MRS. OSCAR ELGE (ELGE): Well, I guess I remember a few things. We lived in quite an old
three, well it was just a two room house out on the farm, and I don't remember
much about that, but when I was about five, they built us another house, a four
room house, well maybe it was five rooms. And, we went to the country school
half a mile west from where we lived, and I kinda remember the first day I was
00:01:00in school. When I was three years old, I couldn't speak Swedish because I had
been in an orphan's home for a year.
-MG: Was it a Swedish school?
-ELGE: No, no, country school. There, they just talked English, so that was
all I knew at that time, and then when my father remarried while I was a little
over three. Then, of course, and his second wife came from Sweden, and she
didn't know any English, so we just talked Swedish and by the time I went to
school, I was about six, well then all I knew was Swedish. So, I kinda remember
the first day in school, I was out playing with some children, and we were
00:02:00running, and of course, I didn't know what running was, so I said, (speaking in
foreign language) in Swedish we call it (speaking in foreign language)
(laughing) instead of saying running, you know. Oh, I suppose after a few days,
I began to learn, and of course at home we only spoke Swedish all the time. So,
it might of took me a while to learn English again. And, we lived a mile from my
cousins. A lot of times, we'd walk. We walked a lot of times between those two
farms. They were a little over a half a mile from us, I guess, across the
fields. So, we had a lot of good times together, with the cousins.
-MG: Back then you didn't do too much traveling, did you?
-ELGE: No, we never traveled anyplace. We had five miles to church, and
that was just to go hitch up the horses to the old carriage, and it took a whole
hour to get there. Took an hour to get those five miles over to the church. But,
we went to Sunday school, and every Sunday morning we went to church, and
probably some evenings, but that didn't happen so often. That was kinda too hard
on the horses to drive the five miles again in the evening.
-MG: Then during the depression, what were some of the things you raised on the
farm, and area around?
-ELGE: Oh well, seemed like in those days, all we raised was corn and
wheat, and oats. We never thought of any other grains, probably a little rye.
-MG: Yeah. Was the soil blowing a lot and that around, in the 30s?
-ELGE: Well, I suppose. Oh, it was in the 30s, it was so dusty. We could
00:03:00never keep the dust out of the house. We'd clean up one day if we was gonna have
company the next day, and the next morning you just had to go all over it again,
so much dust.
-MG: It just blew in the house, in through the cracks?
-ELGE: Yeah, blew in the house, under the door, and otherwise, and the
windows I guess weren't so tight. It got all dusty.
-MG: And, did you own or rent your land?
-ELGE: Oh, we rented, (laughing) nobody owned. Not very owned their farms
in them days.
-MG: Was that on a salary or so much a share crop?
-ELGE: It was share crop.
-MG: Okay.
-ELGE: That was on a share crop.
-MG: Did you have difficulty selling the crop in town, or did you feed it to the animals?
-ELGE: Well, we had to feed our animals first, but of course, we didn't
have any extra animals. We just had the cattle and hogs, and of course the four
00:04:00horses, I believe, was all we had (laughing) in them days. We had five, maybe.
-MG: What kind of equipment did you have to farm with then?
-ELGE: Well, to begin with, they had to, what do you call that? Plows and
two bottom.
-MG: One bottom or two bottom?
-ELGE: Two bottom, I think the plow, but that always was. I mean, I don't
remember, probably, we had one to begin with, I'm quite sure of it.
-MG: Did you harrow it after that, then?
-ELGE: Oh yes, 'cause I know him. I had some cousins that, they were boys,
I mean quite a few boys in the family, and so my cousin Frank was at our place,
and he knew harrow, you know, just one section. I suppose he used two horses.
00:05:00
-MG: Two or four maybe?
-ELGE: Oh, I don't think four bought it in them days.
-MG: Oh.
-ELGE: It was only two. That's when I was a baby, not big enough to
remember, but that's what they told me.
-MG: Yeah. What about the transportation of the goods to the city? Like to
Aurora out from your farm out there.
-ELGE: Well, so we hauled all our grain to Philips, and it was too far to
Aurora. We had 12 miles to Aurora.
-MG: Yeah.
-ELGE: So, it was just in the common lumber wagon. How many bushels of
wheat would that hold?
-MG: Maybe 100 or so, or?
-ELGE: I doubt it was that. I don't think you've even seen one of them,
lumber wagons. I don't know, they were just drove by two horses, so I always get
two, about two.
-MG: In the 1930s then, did you own your own farm?
-ELGE: No, oh well yes, we bought the farm there in '27. So, of course we
00:06:00lived on our own farm then, we moved there in 1927.
-MG: Then in the 1930s and that, was it pretty hard to keep the farm? You know,
'cause money was hard to get?
-ELGE: Yes, it was awfully hard because, because you didn't raise so much.
I know a lot of farmers that had just bought their farm, and through the years,
they lost it. They just couldn't keep up.
-MG: Did it happen to your neighbors then?
-ELGE: Yeah, it happened to some neighbors.
-MG: Did your relation have a, I mean like, Elton Elge's and all them, did they
have a, being almost neighbors to you, did they have a hard time with their farm
and all that?
-ELGE: Well, I suppose it wasn't any harder for them than for us. But of
00:07:00course then, they had another family that, of course, we weren't related to, but
was related to them. They gave up, they lost their farm. And, I suppose there
were several others that were--
-MG: How's Elton Elge related to you, then?
-ELGE: Well, Elton Elge, he's my nephew of course, because my husband was
his father's brother, so he's the nephew, yeah.
-MG: Alright and, did the Dust Bowl of the mid-30s, I mean, did it really affect
your area that made things hard and that, or how did it really affect your area?
-ELGE: Oh, it um... It was awfully hard, I can't remember if we got any
00:08:00wheat that year or not. But, the corn, later on in those years. One year, I know
in 1935, we went to put up some sweet corn, and you couldn't find any ears
except in a draw. You know, where it was a little low there, you could find
some, so we put up some sweet corn, I remember we canned it in those days.
-MG: What happened to the banks in that time? Like, their relationship between
farming and banks, and loans, and credit?
-ELGE: Well, I suppose they, they lost, too, I know. You know, the Fidelity
Bank here in Aurora. That, it was closed.
-MG: The banks that you did business in Aurora, did it stay going?
00:09:00
-ELGE: It stayed going. This one, we, I don't know, somehow we hadn't, well
we... It was newer, I suppose, than the others, so we never... We didn't have
any at this bank that failed. Except, the kids had a little. (laughing)
-MG: What happened to the people that had money there, then? Did they get part
of it back, or none of it?
-ELGE: Oh, and they surely got part of it back, I'm quite sure they did.
Although, I suppose it took a long time.
-MG: And, do you remember anything about Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal on
policies, like the Agricultural Adjustment Administration with AAA?
-ELGE: Oh, I don't remember much about it.
-MG: Do you remember anything about the WPA?
-ELGE: Well, I heard about it, (laughing) that's all. Like I said, in those
days, I don't know. I was busy, I guess.
-MG: Were any of the neighbors in that, or?
00:10:00
-ELGE: What's that?
-MG: Were any of the neighbors in the WPA?
-ELGE: No, no, that was mostly people in the cities, wasn't it? I think so,
in the cities.
-MG: How was food stored then? Like, out there, since you didn't have electricity?
-ELGE: Well, you know we didn't have no refrigerator, that's for sure, but
we had that deep cave, and that's where we kept milk and butter, and other foods
that you wanted to keep.
-MG: Did you have coffee back then?
-ELGE: Oh yeah, we had coffee. I can't remember, it wasn't hard to get coffee.
-MG: Were your meals pretty stable, or did you have to... Did you eat more
starchy foods then, or more potatoes and that?
-ELGE: Oh. (laughing) Oh, I guess we had some vegetables, we raised
vegetables in the summer. Tried a few vegetables.
00:11:00
-MG: How did you heat your house then? Did you have to go try to find wood for it?
-ELGE: Well, we had plenty wood on the farm, so we burned wood. In the
middle, maybe we'd get a load of coal to use in between when we wanted to bank
the fire a little bit at nights. I thought we burned a lot cobs and wood, a lot
of wood for the heat in the stove.
-MG: In the relationships within the family, was the family close then or not?
-ELGE: Oh yes, we... My folks lived close and Oscar had a brother and a
sister, they lived close by, and we were together quite a bit.
-MG: Now Oscar, he came from Sweden, right?
-ELGE: Yes. I think he came from Sweden in 1907.
-MG: 1907, mm-hmm, and when did you get married with him, then? What year was that?
-ELGE: 1921.
-MG: Did he speak Swedish then, like in the 1930s mostly, or did he know English
pretty fluent?
-ELGE: Oh, he knew it pretty well, so he got along better. The language.
-MG: Yeah. Were people in the family more brought together by the Depression?
-ELGE: Oh, I suppose. I don't quite remember anything of that.
-MG: Did you do much canning back then? Like, you were talking about sweet corn
and that, to make it preserve it for a while.
-ELGE: Yes, we cold-packed our sweet corn in the glass jars, and that kept
real good. Then we put it down in the cave, of course, where it was cool, then
00:12:00we canned a lot of fruit. We had a lot of fruit trees. We had apples and
cherries, and mulberries. We used to can lots of mulberries. We'd even mix 'em
sometimes with cherries, and we made some sauce with rhubarb and the mulberries,
and even if we had gooseberries, anything like that would make the mulberries so
sweet tasting. They taste good enough and so, well it gave them a better flavor, anyway.
-MG: In your sweet corn and that, do they do it about the same way now as you
did it then? Canning it and that?
-ELGE: Well, of course now we always freeze it. Everybody's got a freezer,
00:13:00so we just... Well, we have to blanch it and cut it all from the cobs and put it
in small packages and freeze it, and of course, you can freeze an ear of corn,
too, and have roasting ears. Yeah, you'd have to blanch them a little, and then
put 'em in plastic bags and get some freezing, and that always keeps good.
-MG: What'd you do for the meat then to preserve it?
-ELGE: Oh, every once in a while we'd butcher a beef.
-MG: You'd do it right on the farm there then?
-ELGE: Right on the farm, yes, and we'd cut it up ourselves and took care
of it, and we canned the meat. That was quite a job. We'd cut it up and fry it a
little bit, so it got brown on each side, and then you'd pour a little water in
00:14:00the pan so you'd get some juice there. You can get some nice broth there, and
then I put some of that in there. We'd can it in glass jars, and then we'd, of
course, carry that down and, well we had to cook it for three hours. We put our
jars in the little boiler that we used when we washed, in the wash boiler, and
cook it for three hours, and then when we got it cold, then we'd carry it down
(murmuring), we kept doing it. Very good tasting, too.
-MG: Now, was there a church pretty close by where you lived there?
-ELGE: Yes, the church was just two-and-a-half miles away.
-MG: Were the people brought together by the church, in the 1930s, because of
the Depression?
-ELGE: Well, I suppose. When we'd get together, we'd usually be at church,
00:15:00and then things had kind of belonged to the church.
-MG: Did you have a lot of social gatherings there at the church?
-ELGE: No, I can't say we had much of social gatherings there. I guess,
once in a while, we'd get together, doings.
-MG: How's the church changed from then to now?
-ELGE: Well.
-MG: Or has it changed that much really?
-ELGE: I don't think it's changed so much, but probably somewhat, some
difference in.
-MG: In schooling and that, where'd your children go to school in that day?
-ELGE: Oh, we just had half a mile to the country school, and for a while,
00:16:00all four were in school. Just got it down to fixing (laughing) four school
lunches every morning. But they walked to school mostly 'cause it wasn't too far.
-MG: What were all the children's names?
-ELGE: All the children's names?
-MG: Yeah.
-ELGE: Well, there was Cecil, Frances, Anna Marie, Irving, and Lois.
-MG: Did they all finish all the way through school then, or how far along did
they usually go to school then?
-ELGE: Well, they had to finish from the first to the, to the eighth grade,
finished the eighth grade at the country school.
-MG: Then where did they go?
-ELGE: Well, they went to a high school in Aurora.
-MG: When Cecil passed away, was it pretty hard to pay for the funeral because
00:17:00of the times then and that?
-ELGE: Oh, yes it was hard times, that was in '37.
-MG: Was it pretty hard to pay for the funeral? Did you have to pay in something
other than money, or?
-ELGE: No, it was just, it was just, it was paid with money.
-MG: Did the people travel very much in those times?
-ELGE: Well, people didn't travel so much, or those, of course, that were a
little better off, I suppose could do some traveling, but we never traveled any place.
-MG: Did you have a car then?
-ELGE: We had a Model T Ford. For 12 years, we just had that Ford, then we
00:18:00got a Model A Ford, I guess and we had that one for 12 years. Then, we got a,
was about eight, well. I don't remember that, don't you remember, Frances?
-MG: A V8.
-ELGE: V8 Yeah, we had a V8.
-MG: In a country school, what were some of the things they did, gatherings and
things that happened?
-ELGE: Oh, it seemed like every year, we had a program at least once a
year, and of course we served lunch. Lots of times they had pie socials. But
then, mostly I remember, well, basket, what do they call it, basket suppers? You
had to fix up a fancy box and you'd have all kinds of, sort of lunch goodies in
00:19:00there. (laughing)
-MG: What'd you do for electricity out there?
-ELGE: Well, we didn't have no electricity. They must of had, maybe they
had some gas lamp. I don't remember that, otherwise just some good lanterns.
We'd have to bring a few so we could see, then we'd bring an auto stove and fill coffee.
-MG: Did the people in town have electricity then?
-ELGE: Oh yes, in Aurora, they all had, I guess, the whole town.
-MG: Were the people in town better off with their lives than people in the
country, on the farms?
-ELGE: Oh, that, I wouldn't know. I suppose if they had jobs, they got a loan.
-MG: What'd you do around Christmas time? Did they have programs and that, or?
00:20:00
-ELGE: Yes, we always had a Christmas program at the schoolhouse. All the
kids took part and, well usually all the parents came and a few others. Too busy
we'd have a house full.
-MG: Did they have anything after it then, or a social gathering after the
Christmas program, or?
-ELGE: Well no, I don't remember that, but I think the children always
bring out a little sack of candy and the teacher would give each one of them candy.
-MG: Was there very many in a country school like that?
-ELGE: Oh, we must have been about a dozen anyway, or maybe 15, most of the
time, quite a few.
-MG: What'd they do for heat in the country school, then?
-ELGE: Oh, they had a big potbelly stove in the center of the room, and
00:21:00they burned coal, usually. Usually, the teacher would, and be one of the bigger
boys, they'd go down there and start the fire in the morning. So they'd get
warmed up a little bit.
-MG: What'd they do at church for heat, then?
-ELGE: At church?
-MG: Did they go get wood, or?
-ELGE: Yeah, they burned wood, of course. Yeah, because the farmers would
go down to the river and then cut down trees and have the wood solid and bring
it to the church. Yes, I remember when Oscar got poison ivy down at the river.
Of course, I suppose it was just growing there (laughing) in the trees, and
couldn't help but touch it, I guess.
-MG: Did your family go swimming down at the river very often?
00:22:00
-ELGE: Not very often.
-MG: The children, did they?
-ELGE: The relatives in my family, the relatives would go on down to the
river maybe once in the summertime. We'd bring some food and have a little
picnic, and then we'd go wading in the water, (laughing) swimming I guess, those
who could swim, probably did swim, swim in there.
-MG: So, there was quite a bit of water in the river, then?
-ELGE: Well, it was, but, well at times, but some summers, no, there wasn't
much water. I can remember when we used to, when we lived close by Philips, boy,
we'd hitch up the horses to the carriage and we'd ride across the river to Grand
Island! But, now that's just like a dream, but I know we did. I remember my
uncles must of done it, and that was when we were in school, so it was in the
00:23:00fall, I suppose, or in the Spring. Coulda been in the spring. And, they rode
across, there was a little bridge. Boy, that woulda been too far with a team.
Well, we could never make it (laughing) in a day, even then, but they went and
they came home in the afternoon. I remember one time when one my uncles, and
they caught up with us walking home from school, in that then what they call a
spring wagon, and then they, we didn't have any top, but it, like a carriage,
you know, and they gave us a ride the rest of the way home and picked us up
there, and when we got up to the hill. I can remember that, I think.
-MG: What happened to your barn, and what year was that?
-ELGE: That was in August of 1934. Oh, it was so dry and dusty in them
00:24:00days. Of course, and one evening we had thought we'd drive up to Marquette to
see my brother's family and pretty soon they saw, seen there was a fire to the
southwest, and so the men got in the car and then kept driving, and we found it
was our barn that was on fire. And then, we were sure thankful that the
neighbors had seen it and they had got in the house and called the fire
department and oh a lot of neighbors' farmers were there to keep it from, from
the house catching fire.
-MG: You had telephones back then?
-ELGE: Yes, we had telephones.
-MG: A party line then?
00:25:00
-ELGE: Yeah, a party line.
-MG: What caused the fire? Back then?
-ELGE: Well. We think that it was caused by, a person.
-MG: Was there other fires around that time?
-ELGE: That was so strange, that same evening, there was a fire about...
That was only two, or was it three miles straight east of our place, and that
was, that was set by a man right there. But, I don't know, they hadn't of...
They were people around, so they, uh... They carried water pretty soon and got
that out. So then the fire didn't burn there.
-MG: Did something happen to the telephone line, or were the telephone wires
cut, or?
-ELGE: Oh no. No, I never do think they were.
00:26:00
-MG: What'd you do for clothing in those hard times? How'd you supply clothing
for all the children and everyone?
-ELGE: Well, I mean, I had got a few hand-me-downs and dresses, I don't
know, we had some coats, friends and, neighbors, should I say? (laughing) Oh
well, though. We done our own and we sold our own dresses and shirts, and so
that way it didn't come too high.
-MG: Did you have shoes, not good shoes, or were shoes expensive?
-ELGE: No, they weren't so expensive them days, we always had good shoes.
-MG: Did you have enough clothes in the winter to stay warm in that, or you went
00:27:00out, or?
-ELGE: Oh yes, I think so. Good coats, and scarves, and caps, and
(laughing) wrapped up real good.
-MG: Your home and that, how did you keep the wood in that?
-ELGE: Well, every evening, we'd have to carry in cobs and wood and coal so
we'd have it handy. In the morning, when we got up, start the fire going good again.
-MG: How'd you get your water then?
-ELGE: Oh, the windmill wasn't too far from the house, but they always had
to remember to... Just have to pull that wire up so that it would ring out,
00:28:00otherwise it would freeze way up to the top of the pump. Well, it would happen
once in a while and that was an awful job to get it thawed out.
-MG: There's a lot enough wind then to run the windmill?
-ELGE: Oh, there seemed like there was always enough wind.
-MG: Was there days when there wouldn't be wind?
-ELGE: Well, there was always winds around, now and then so there was
always enough for the cattle during the winter. In the summertime, you would
probably be so stale, it was probably hard to have enough for the cattle.
-MG: Did you have running water then? A pump for running water?
-ELGE: No. (audio cutting out)
-MG: What'd you use to wash clothes then in the 1930s?
-ELGE: Well, we had the rain, what do you call it? Rain spots, and we
caught rainwater. We had a rainwater cistern right by the house, and I used that
00:29:00water for the reservoir on the stove. I just filled that with the rainwater all
the time.
-MG: What do you mean by?
-ELGE: For washing dishes and such.
-MG: That first part, that rainwater, reservoir?
-ELGE: Well, we had a cistern outside the house, and rain spots so the rain
water run down in the cistern.
-MG: Then use that to wash with, or?
-ELGE: We used that to wash with, well everything except cooking, of
course, we didn't cook with it, but washed dishes and washed our clothes, or if
we had just an old fashioned washing machine that you'd, um... Um, what do you
call it? (laughing) Well, it was done by hand, anyway.
-MG: A crank kind, you had the?
ELGE: Yeah. Later on, we had a little gasoline engine that we hooked onto
our washing machine. Well, that sure was a relief, otherwise it was hard work to
sit and have to wash it by hand.
00:30:00
-MG: Did it snow a lot then in those years, in the 30s?
-ELGE: Oh, it snowed, it snowed a lot, and then we really had some cold
weather. Yeah, oh yes, and it filled up the road down towards the schoolhouse,
and there was some tall trees there in the road, it'd fill in. (sneezing) Oh,
the men, they'd get their scoops and try to scoop it out so that they could get
to the school, of course, so the mailman could get around.
-MG: You had good mail service then?
-ELGE: Oh, we had good mail service, yes.
-MG: Did you have a good telephone service then?
-ELGE: Yes, the telephone service was good.
-MG: Okay, and what were the houses like, or the types of houses people had
then? Were they pretty good because it was right after the 1920s when it was a
little bit better?
-ELGE: Well, I think that all the houses in the country were getting kinda
old, but they were, they were good. Alright, and of course in the wintertime, we
didn't use more rooms than we had to. We didn't use the parlor, we just closed
those doors for the winter, so we got along pretty good.
-MG: So it took less heat then?
-ELGE: What's that?
-MG: You took less heat, you closed off part of it?
-ELGE: Yeah, we closed it off, so we didn't heat 'em at all. Then, of
course, in the mornings, all the children slept upstairs and it didn't get much
heat up into those rooms. There was a little register above the heating stove,
so I suppose a little heat, it got up there, and then we'd, they'd come down and
dress around the heater.
-MG: What'd you use to cook then, what kind of a stove or what?
-ELGE: Oh, we used to use the common stove that you burned cobs and wood
in. And, in the summertime, we got a kerosene stove, but I didn't get a kerosene
stove in my house until 1927. (cuckoo clock chiming) Before that, oh we just
burned cobs in the summertime. Cobs and then wood, mostly cobs for our cooking
and baking.
-MG: So, you shelled most of your corn?
-ELGE: Oh, we always shelled our corn in them days, yep. So, we always had
plenty of cobs. Oh, I don't suppose it was getting a little skimpy in those dry
years, but somehow we got along, and I suppose some of it was left over from the
good years. So, we got along.
00:31:00
-MG: Yeah. And, for bathrooms and that, y'all had like an outhouse, or?
-ELGE: Yeah, we yeah, oh, everybody had an outhouse (laughing) a little
ways from the house. It wasn't too bad, we got along.
-MG: What were the prices for grain in the 1930s, some of those years, when it
was low?
-ELGE: I wished I could remember that. I only remember one year when corn
was only $.10 a bushel. We had quite a few hogs, so my husband bought corn from
the neighbor, $.10 a bushel.
-MG: Wasn't worth selling so you fed it in the hogs?
-ELGE: Well, we had to have it for the hogs when we had the hogs, and we
had to feed them, of course. That's how farmers had to buy, I guess, corn from
neighbors that didn't have so many that they had some to sell.
-MG: Did the government come out and kill some of the hogs one year, 'cause
there was so many hogs?
-ELGE: Don't I remember that, I wonder what year that was. You had to count
your little pigs, so it must of been in the spring. We usually had pigs in the
spring. I know we had two too many, and I don't remember how old, I guess they
had grown (laughing) a little bit, anyway. So, you had to get rid of 'em. So,
(laughing) I believe we butchered them, but I can't remember if we could, I
don't believe we could, it wasn't good. Oh, I was sorry that we ever tried to
use somebody else. It just didn't work (murmuring) no not.
00:32:00
-MG: Do you remember Lindbergh's flight, plane flight?
-ELGE: Yes, I can remember hearing about Lindbergh's flight. That was in
1927. In the spring of 1927. That was quite interesting to read in the papers.
-MG: Is that what gave Irving the idea to, your son Irving, the idea to fly, or
was it something else?
-ELGE: Oh, it was Elton, I guess so. (laughing)
-MG: Did he fly?
-ELGE: Elton was at home with his dad, with his folks, yeah, and he got
interested in flying, so he went and took some lessons I guess and he didn't
fly. And then Irving got in the notion when he got a little older, so he took
some lessons, and he was up one time, trying out, you know, but I can't remember
that he... It was just that one time, I think, that he soloed, I guess you call
00:33:00it. But I couldn't envision what year that could have been.
-MG: Do you remember... have any remembrances of the approaching war in Europe
whether the United States would get involved, and the attitudes toward the rise
of Hitler in Europe in the late 1930s?
-ELGE: Well. It was quite a worry, I guess for even to hear about it, and
afraid that if America gets involved in it. In 1918, in the spring, my brother
got, my brother was, and a few others--
-MG: Which brother was that?
-ELGE: Jim. He was in, what do you call it?
-MG: Draft?
-ELGE: Drafted, yeah. Yeah, he was drafted. Him and two other boys from our
community, or from our church, but he um... He was in Kansas in the camp. He was
in Kansas the whole time. Took him out 'til end November, so he was there six
months. In November, you know, when the Armistice was signed. Why, at first he
came home. I don't remember those other two boys who were in as long as he was
in. It went by age, though, didn't it? So, I suppose they were. Then, that was a
happy day, the 11th of November. We really celebrated, we had to go into town
then. It's funny, I don't remember if he came, if he was home that day or came
00:34:00home that day. I suppose they came right away, weren't they? Oh, it maybe took a
few days, but anyway. He got to come home, I don't know if the armistice was signed.
-MG: What were the other two guys' names that were in the service?
-ELGE: It was John Olson and Clive England.
-MG: What was your brother's full name?
-ELGE: James, James H. Gustafson.
-MG: Gustafson, okay.
-ELGE: My husband woulda been called, he woulda had to gone to service just
right shortly before or after the Armistice was signed.
-MG: You wanna say something about your husband, since he did come from Sweden?
-ELGE: Yes. They told him in Sweden that he was such a healthy baby that
they used him for before a, what do you call that?
-MG: Inoculate?
-ELGE: They used him before they inoculated the other children, and I think
they really needed that in Sweden.
-MG: And, was he in the service there?
-ELGE: Yeah, well, I think when he wasn't, a child not very old, he had the
scarlet fever. That's what caused his eye trouble. But of course in Sweden, they
had to... all the young men, even boys would have to be in the service like a
year or two, whichever it was, and the training went on, but I think he was only
in one year on the account of his eyes. He couldn't then keep up longer. And
00:35:00they said then, you know when they came to this country, they'd have to have a, um.
-MG: A permit, or something?
-ELGE: Yeah, they had to have a permit to leave Sweden. Even then, it had
to be signed by the king even, before they could leave the country and, oh, I
guess it had to be signed at the church, too, I believe, that you're saying.
-MG: What did he come over to the United States on?
-ELGE: Oh yes, he said he came over on a freighter. Yes, and he said the
one night, why, the water was coming in to the ship there, and I guess he was
00:36:00the one that... Well, he was the first one to notice it or so, but anyway, he
sure got busy there, it was something about the door that you know it was
leaking in. He got it stopped, so nothing bad happened. Got across to this
country alright. (clearing throat)
-MG: Learned the English language?
-ELGE: Well, he, up and came to his brother in Iowa, when he came to this
country, and he stayed there for some time with the brother in Dubois, and he
went to the country school with his brother's children, so that way he learned
the English language pretty good so he could get along.
00:37:00
-MG: You know the Swedish language then pretty good, too?
-ELGE: Oh, of course yes. How old was it when I came to this country? I've
forgotten that much.
-MG: Did they have ladies' groups at your church?
-ELGE: Yes, we did. I believe the young people, I don't know if everybody,
the young ladies by themselves, or anyway, we had ladies aid, and we did some
sewing, and then once a year, the ladies, they would have a sale, or sale the
things we made and that way they made a little money to send to the missions.
-MG: What were some of the types of entertainment around there?
-ELGE: Oh, the young people used to get together, have a, like an old,
they'd call it an oyster stew, and we'd meet together, play games and have some fun.
-MG: Did your family play many games together then? Around then?
-ELGE: No, I can't remember. Not sure that kind.
-MG: Yeah.