Many remembered their immigrant roots

By Kay F. Reinartz

In my last "Notes from Old Ballard" I gave a demographic profile of the people who made Ballard their home the 19th and early 20th centuries. Contrary to popular Ballard folklore, Scandinavians were never the majority of the population. Scandinavians were most numerous in Ballard at the beginning of the 20th century when first and second generation Nordics accounted for 34 percent of the Ballard population according to the 1910 censes.

Some people new to the community have asked me "just who is included in the Nordics?" The Nordic countries, often called the Scandinavia, include Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland. In fact, the Finns are not Nordic by ethnic origin but have Turmeric origins. That is a long story of European immigration for another day.

A count of the birthplace of the children of Ballard immigrants shows that 93 percent of the children were born in the United States. In 1910 one out of every three children in Ballard was from a Scandinavian ethnic background. This is a substantially greater representation of the Scandinavians than in the adult population. This discrepancy is easily explained. The Scandinavians in Ballard at that time were largely young married couples, often with numerous children were enrolled in the various grade schools and the high school. More than one young schoolteacher was perturbed to find that her students often barely knew English. This situation often became more complex as the school year progressed and new families of immigrant back ground moved into the community. One teacher reported that, to her dismay, her class had expanded from around 20 in the fall to more than 40 by February, "and many of the children did not have any language in common, certainly not English!"

Many Ballardites remember what it was like to be an immigrant. Anne Marie Frodesen Steiner recalled her young cousin's experience with the language. Shortly after the Norwegian immigrant family found its first rental home on Sunset Hill, little Steiner came running into the house all excited, crying, "Mama, Mama, kraakensnakkernorskher! Desier kaw, kaw, kaw, akkorat som in norge!" That is, "Mother, Mother, the crows talk Norwegian here. They say 'caw, caw, caw,' just like in Norway!"

Capt. Oldsborg shared memories of his Ballard childhood in an oral history interview taken in 1988.

"The Olsborgs, like so many of the other immigrants from Europe, were a poor family and each of us boys, as we reached the ripe of age of 10 were out on the Seattle Golf Links caddying. . . ."

When he was 10 years old, Olsborg recounted, he was paying for his own clothes, shoes, and school supplies. In addition, he was contributing a small measure of support to the rest of the family. This contribution increased in the next couple of years. He explained "my father has been injured and passed away before I was 14."

Kay Reinartz may be reached via bnteditor@robinsonnews.com