My People - The Journey

I enjoy genealogy research with endless twists and surprise discoveries. Stay tuned for a future "black sheep" post. This post is a summary of some research I've done on the ocean crossings of my Scandinavian immigrant ancestors.

The path of a Norwegian emigrant usually started with a journey to the port of Bergen, Kristiansund or Christiana to board a packet ship to Hull, England. In Sweden, the port of departure was usually Gøteborg. From Hull, a train journey across England to Liverpool to board a Cunard or White Star Liner to New York or Boston, or in some cases Quebec. 

It must have been frightening for a young immigrant venturing forth across the Atlantic, not to mention the North Sea - likely never before having been more than 30 miles from home and realizing that they would probably never see their families again. Of my own immigrant ancestors, only my maternal-grandfather Emil ever made a visit back to the homeland. But after that first brave soul made the journey, it became easier for other family members to follow.  

...

The following account comes from Norway-Heritage site and is a typical story for a young Norwegian immigrant. It provides personal insights into the wrenching departure and initial leg of the journey across the North Sea to England. The timeframe corresponds almost exactly with my Norwegian great-grandfather Nil's journey and I can imagine my great-grandmother traveling alone 2 years later with 2 children to join her husband in America. Another relative, Ellen Halbostad, traveled to Hull aboard the self-same S/S Tasso. Between 1880 to 1920, nearly 2 million Swedes & Norwegians emigrated to the US and Canada.

Tasso Ports of Call

1880   Trondheim-Christiansand-Aalesund-Hull

 1881   Trondheim-Christiansand-Bergen-Hull    

S/S Tasso, Wilson Line

This is the account of Ingeborg Olsdatter Øye's journey on the S/S Tasso in 1880. (Parts of Ingeborg Olsdatter Øye's diary has been printed in Dordi Glærum Skuggervik's book: "Utvandringshistorie fra Nordmøre" - ISBN 02-991394-0-6)


April 19th, 1880.
This will be the last time I write in my little diary here at my home. Tomorrow 8 days, I will go to Kristiansund. Thursday 29th S/ S Tasso will arrive from Trondheim. I am walking as in a dream now, I have taken farewell on many places to person after person for the last time......


Kristiansund 28th April.
The steamship Tasso will after what the agent says arrive at 1 o'clock tonight. We have to be ready for the arrival. It is impossible to get any sleep now in these waiting hours. I will try to use the time while I wait to write in my diary. The weather out at sea is not good. The "Pacific" which departed this morning, had to turn and come back to Kristiansund this evening. It will be a hard journey before reaching England. But the dear hope.....holds my courage up. So let it in Gods name go! ........

On Board the Tasso April 30, dinner time.
Now we have had a taste of what it is like to be out on the sea; and the ugly sickness has hosted most of the emigrants aboard. We departed Kristiansund at 5 o'clock this morning. The weather was already stormy when we left Kristiansund, and it has not become any better since. There is about 400 emigrants aboard the ship. It is a terrible mess since most of them are sick. I was a little sick crossing the "Hustadviken", but now I am quite well. I was happy to meet another emigrant that could speak the English language, we started to talk and that kept my courage up while I was feeling very sick. I think the ship now will call at Aalesund. It is so much strange here on the ship. If I can keep from being sick the rest of the time, I think the journey will go fine. The worst is the bad sleeping accommodations we have, so full and crowded as it is too. But thank God I have courage, as I am traveling to meet "my" Peder.

On board the "Tasso" in the morning of May 1st
We are now out on the North Sea, so we can not see land in any direction. The ship crew says that we will have good weather, but despite of that the ship is rolling about on the waves of the North Sea. Since dinnertime yesterday I have been free from sea sickness, and yesterday I had a "grown" supper. My sleeping accommodations were good, as there were 5 of us who slept on the deck with some blankets over us, as the bedrooms were overcrowded. It was quite fun, and though I did not sleep tight, it was a good night's sleep. Yesterday evening at 9 we left the Norwegian coast. Today it is quite busy up on deck, some are washing them selves, others are writing, in other words they are doing all kinds of different things.

May 2nd. Sunday onboard the Tasso
Last night I had a fairly good sleeping place, as good as one can expect on journeys like this, and which you can expect in a room overcrowded by women, men and children. I got up in the morning to get a little something to eat, namely a slice of bread and some biscuits which we receive in the morning with a cup of bad black coffee, but this made me ill, I tried to sit down in the room in front, but I had to go up on deck to be sick. I stayed up on deck after this. Here aft on the deck it is best to sit. Many of the passengers are not leaving their beds now. A Sunday morning like this they have never experienced before many says. It is not very pleasant today either. The wind is blowing cold and strong and the seas washes over the deck at times. This is the third day on board since we left Kristiansund. It was said earlier that we would reach England today; but due to the strong head wind it will probably not be before tonight or tomorrow that we will arrive to Hull. I have had fun for a while now; I have been sitting down discussing different issues with a young boy. Almost everyone aboard are very clever, so good company is not hard to find. Yesterday we had a long meeting up on deck and then a long discussion about love. It has been quite amusing at times. - If only I knew that my parents were not suffering. I know they will be thinking about me now. "Tasso" is not as bad as I once thought, and if it had not been so crowded it wouldn't have been bad. The food is also better than what I had expected, yes it is irreproachable. For breakfast we get black coffee which is very bad, a biscuit with butter and a slice of bread. For dinner we get a dish of meat, which is very good. For supper we get a biscuit and a cup of tea, which is good, without cream.

Liverpool May 4th 1880, at the dinner table
Yesterday morning at 3 o'clock we approached Hull. In the evening, Sunday the 2nd we already started to get the sight of the lighthouse. It was a splendid sight, when we came up on deck in the morning, and could see Hull for our eyes. The town is a great sight, but not very beautiful after my opinion. The huge stone buildings are blackened by the smoke and dust from coal which is in the air. But huge and beautiful were all the ships we could see in the harbor.

---

Hull - immigrant waiting station

At Hull, a train trip across England to Liverpool awaited, there to board a Cunard or White Line steamship for the USA or Canada.

My People - The Crossing 

In the 1860's, the days of sailing ships, an Atlantic crossing took over a month. By1880, with the introduction of steamships, an Atlantic crossing from Liverpool to New York was down to 8-10 days. By 1905, this had been further reduced to 5-6 days, with shipping lines vying for the "record" time.

Emil Pearson

My grandfather Emil, was born in 1889 in Hällestad, Ostergotlands, Sweden or more correctly on a small farm near Rösjö, just south of Hällestad. He emigrated with his wife, Hilma Elizabeth, and two daughters, Anna & Alice, in1914, traveling to Goteborg, then to Hull, England and on to Liverpool, boarding White Star Line's RMS Baltic for New York, and finally a journey by train to Des Moines, IA. The family of 4 stayed with brother Gustaf for a time. Gustaf's wife had died in childbirth earlier in the year. My aunt Alice reminisced that Gustaf got more than he bargained for with a pair of girls, age 5 & 3.

RMS Baltic

Launched in 1904, for a short time the Baltic was the world's largest steamship. "On 14 April 1912, Baltic sent an ice warning message to the RMS Titanic: 'Greek steamer Athenia reports passing icebergs and large quantities of field ice today in latitude 41° 51' N, longitude 49° 52' W. Wish you and Titanic all success. Commander.'"

On 17 February 1933, she was sailed to Japan where she was scrapped

Carl Nyren

According to family records, Emil's brother Carl emigrated in 1905 from Hällestad to Iowa, but I as yet have not found any matching passenger records in the passenger list databases. His name change from Persson to Nyren complicates things.

Ture Persson
Emil's brother Ture wrote an autobiography. (see several posts Ture's Story).  The following is an excerpt dealing with his emigration in 1907 from Hällestad ..

In Ture's words:
In 1905 came a man named Nordin home to Sweden, he was born in this area. When he went back, my brother Carl followed him and a year later Gustav went. On the 27th of October 1907, it was my turn to go. I will remember it was a Sunday morning. It was hard for me to say goodbye to my parents and relatives. We could not know whether we would ever see each other again. Father got the horses and took me to Hällestad station. It was to take your little bag, step on a train to Palsboda, there you changed trains to Göteborg. I was a little nervous to go on one had as I had never been away from home. I had to stay a couple days and there I celebrated my 20th birthday. Fare for the whole trip cost me 300 kroner and one had to have $1500 to land in America. {Editor note: I don't believe this is true}  I became acquainted with a few Northlanders young people. They were going to the large forests in the Northwester states to get work. Among them was a good and pretty girl, we had companionship to Chicago. We rode over North Sea in a old poor boat called Rollo, it took us 2 days, weather was very good. We landed in a place called Grimsby. We took the train to Liverpool, England there stayed overnight. Next day we went on board in Guardlinjens boat Luisitania, a new large and fine boat. It went fast and only took 4 days over the Atlantic. On trip we saw doctors and got vaccinations for small pox. Never got sea sick. Lusitania sank in battle in WWI. I think it was the reason American came into the war.

We got to go inland on a little island outside New York which was called Kastelgarden. There we were divided into groups. To get a package of food we went through duty and after on train to other places. I went to Chicago. It took over 2 days. There I changed trains to Des Moines, the capital of Iowa. There I got off the train showed an address I had for brother Carl to the police, who took me to a Swede who had a carriage and he took me to my brother’s shop and I was through with my trip. All had gone well. Everyone had been friendly and helpful to me, so it had been in all of my long life. A little depends on if a man tries to do his best for that’s what man can do. I was well accepted in my brother’s home, he had married in the fall of that year with a girl he knew back home. They had a good living. Carl worked as a watchman at Drake University. My brother, Gustav, came and visited me. He worked for a farmer for board. I followed him home and wanted to begin work. I got a job on a farm where they were picking corn.

{Caveat: I have not been able to find Ture Persson from Hallestad in the passenger databases, however I know he made the crossing. He was drafted, served in WWI and in 1920 "reverse emigrated" to Sweden.}

RMS Lusitania

Of course, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-Boat in 1915, turning the tide of opinion toward the entry of the USA into WWI.

Gust Pearson
Emil's brother Gust emigrated from Hällestad in 1907 aboard the Cunard Liner RMS Carmania, Liverpool to New York and on to central Iowa.

The RMS Carmania was launched in 1905, served as an armed merchant ship in WWI and was scrapped in England in 1932.

Augusta Maria Persson
Emil's sister Augusta emigrated from Hällestad in 1909. She traveled from Goteborg to England aboard the Wilson Line Ariosto and on to America aboard the White Line SS Oceanic. Maria worked as a housekeeper in Des Moines, IA for a number of years, before reverse emigrating to Sweden with her brother Ture after WWI in 1920.

Ariosto Passenger List

Wilson Line Ariosto

SS Oceanic Passenger List

In WWI, the Oceanic was equipped with 4.7" guns and put into naval service as an armed merchant ship. In 1914, due to a navigation error she was run onto the "Shaalds of Foulda" near the Shetland Islands and wrecked.  Courts martial followed.

Nils Hoplin
My great-grandfather on my paternal grandfather's side, Nils Hoplin was born in Levanger, Nord-Trondelag, Norway in 1848. He was a tenant farmer near Åsen, Norway when he left his wife Hanna, children Peter & Nikolina behind, emigrating from Norway to Minnesota about 1879.  Hanna and the children followed in 1881. Still digging for ship information. (see my "My People" post for the story of Nil's arrival Minnesota.

Carl Nelson
My great-grandfather on my paternal grandmother's side, Carl Nelson, was born in Grums, Sweden in 1847. In 1886, the family - wife Sofia, sons, John, Gust, Samuel, Olaf and young daughter Ida was living in Frykerud, Sweden. (Note - Ida died that winter in December of 1886 in Minnesota.) After several appeals from Elizabeth Aas, sister of Carl's wife Sofia, they departed Liverpool on June 29, 1886 on the Cunard Liner Bothnia to Boston, and then by train to Alexandria, MN arriving July 12, 1886.  (see my Fageras to Brandon post for the story of the Nelson's immigration journey.)

RMS Bothnia

The Bothnia made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York in 1874 and in 1885 was transferred to the Liverpool-Boston service. The Bothnia's last passenger voyage was in 1896 and she was sold and scrapped at Marseilles in 1899.


Johanna Killingberg Rosten
My wife's grandmother, Johanna Killingberg, was born in Leksvik, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway in 1882. She emigrated in May of 1907, traveleing to Kristiania (Oslo). Then a direct passage to New York aboard Scandinavian-America Liner Helig Olav and by train to Spring Grove, Minnesota. Two other women from Leksvig, each with children, also were aboard heading for Spring Grove to join their husbands. Johanna's passage was paid by Gabriel Solie, her brother-in-law who had immigrated with his wife - Johanna's sister Marie - sometime before 1904.

Helig Olav

Jacob Rosten
My wife's great-grandfather, Jacob Rosten, was born in Grong, Overhalla, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway in 1842. He emigrated in 1866, traveling from Bergen to Quebec, Canada on the bark Norden.  [note: a "bark" is a 3 masted sailing ship.] The crossing took over a month (May 5 - June 7).  He then made his way to Winneshek, IA.  Happily for me, in 1904, he moved with his family to Pope County, MN.

Related posts

Immigrant Stock - http://ussbb62.blogspot.com/2016/01/immigrant-stock.html

My People - https://ussbb62.blogspot.com/2016/11/my-people.html

The Family Name - http://ussbb62.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-family-name.html

Fageras to Brandon - http://ussbb62.blogspot.com/2016/05/fageras-to-brandon-1886.html

Ture's Story - http://ussbb62.blogspot.com/2016/02/i-tures-story-1887-1907.html

Lowry's Latvian DP's - http://ussbb62.blogspot.com/2015/05/lowrys-latvian-dps.html

Copyright © 2016 Dave Hoplin

Brodahl's & Albinson's

In 1939, my father was a sophomore at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.  How could one of 7 children from a small town in the days of the Great Depression afford to attend college with its outrageous tuition of $160 per semester? Well, the answer is - he worked.  [Editor note:  A number of years later, his son, while attending Augsburg, worked at Continental Baking Co. in downtown Mpls making Twinkies. It was not, however, sufficient to cover the then $1600 costs]

Brodahl ads in Svenska American 1930's

Each day, he headed to Brodahl's at 621 Cedar Avenue, Minneapolis, just a few blocks from Augsburg and washed dishes morning & evening for a meal - no wages. Brodahl's mainly catered to the large Scandinavian population of the Cedar-Riverside area. Lutefisk was served daily "with the option of drawn butter or cream gravy".


The local grocery stocked pickled herring by the barrel.

"Liquor Patrol Limits"

The Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, before the U of M expanded to the West Bank, was the most ethnically diverse neighborhood in Minneapolis, although the generally poor residents aspired to better digs. The notorious "Bohemian Flats" sat just below these neighborhoods along the Mississippi. (see my Immigrant Stock post). Upward mobility for the Scandinavians meant moving south of Lake St. near Ingebretson's Meat Market at 16th & Lake St - now meat market and Scandinavian shop. (Ingebretson's was and remains a thriving business. In the 30's it mainly served 1st & 2nd generation Scandinavians.) Nordeast was also a step up from Cedar-Riverside.

One of the family value issues with living in the Cedar-Riverside area was the unique to Minneapolis concept of "liquor patrol limits"which included a large portion of the 6th ward. Taverns were restricted to these "patrol limits" areas of the city. Roughly 100 of the 300 or so Minneapolis drinking holes were along Washington Ave; 7 Corners & Cedar Ave. south to Franklin Ave. The 7 Corners area became known as "Snusgaden" or Snoose Boulevard. Walking past a bar you were apt to hear the melody of "Nikolina" or "Johan pa Snippen". The "patrol limits" laws were repealed in 1959.

Swan Turnblad Mansion - aka Swedish Institute
MN Historical Society

The Svenska Americanska Posten was the most popular newspaper in the area.  As evidence of its success, its publisher, Swan Turnblad, built the mansion on Park Ave that now is home to the American Swedish Institute.

629 Cedar grocer (Brodahl's was 621 Cedar) - MN Historical Society

7 Corners in the 1930's - MN Historical Society

At night, Dad headed to the Albinson Funeral Chapel on Chicago Ave. as "night man" - watchman and on call to pick up the occasional after-hours corpse. Paul Albinson and my grandfather Ole had been classmates at the University of Minnesota Mortuary School in 1918 so Dad had an "in".  On quiet nights, there might have been a chance to hit the books - or even sleep.  Albinson's is now part of the Washburn-McCreavy dynasty.

Ole on the right, Paul standing (I think)

Albin Chapel in re-purposed church

Not all hardship.  Apparently he could at minimum afford cigars.

Glenn @ Augsburg ~1942

Copyright © 2016 Dave Hoplin

My People

My People

Why They Left

My people came from Norway & Sweden. I believe they crossed the Atlantic for the same reasons most immigrants choose to leave their homes - the promise of a better life for themselves and their children. Of course, the reasons are not that simple but the story of my people is a universal one.  In Norway, many of the early immigrants were farm families, so it is not a surprise that the promise of finding land led many to the United States, and to Minnesota. The Homestead Act of 1862 opened up land to settlers if they promised to farm and live on the land for five years. 

Land in the United States was also quite inexpensive. In Minnesota, land costs were as low as $1.25 per acre by the mid- to late-1800s when purchased from the government, or $5 to $10 when purchased from private corporations.

The difference between America and Norway socially and politically also pulled immigrants to the United States. In the 1800's, Norway lived under a strict social class system, with the "lower classes" (my people) expected to show deference to the upper classes.  And, during the nineteenth century, Norway gave the right to vote to only an elite minority of the population. In the United States white men were given universal suffrage in the 1820s, and by the end of the 1860s many states were looking into the possibility of allowing some women the right to vote as well - but the 19th amendment was not passed until 1920.

But the main reason for emigration from Norway from the middle of the 1860s was due to the country's ever-increasing population coupled with fewer jobs. Norway is only 3% tillable so little farmable land was available. Crop failures and farm foreclosures during this period coupled with a typically large family drove families to the brink of destitution. Because of this, many people left for the United States.  Often, the older children of the family "volunteered" to emigrate. [This was the case with my wife's Leksvig ancestors. Her grandmother and 2 sisters were "chosen" and sadly, never returned to Norway.]

Workers in the New World could make money, enough to live on and possibly even send some back the Old Country. For example, by the late 1800s, a sailor on an American ship could earn three to four times the wage of a sailor on a Norwegian ship. Jobs in American cities offered work and good wages for Norwegian immigrants. A laborer in Norway could earn $40 to $50 a year, while a laborer in an American city could earn as much $4 to $5 a day when times were good.

And of course, there were the promoters - some who were charlatans - the "emigration agents", newspapers and the railroads promising streets of gold. In 1862, American consuls in Norway were urged to promote the employment opportunities in America. The Bergenposten, for example, advertised the many mining jobs that existed in the iron ranges of Minnesota and shipping in the Lake Superior region. 

And the bold "early adopter" settlers often sent letters back to friends and family in the Scandinavia telling the benefits of living in the United States. These letters helped increase the "America fever". 

My People - Immigrants all

Why Minnesota

In Minnesota, land was inexpensive and available due to treaties with American Indian and attracted many Norwegian immigrants. Also in Minnesota, farmers often persuaded additional Norwegian immigrants to come to these new settlements by paying for their tickets to America. This was the case with my great grandfather Carl. His wife's sister, Elizabeth  & husband Carl Aas, had settled in Brandon, MN and they made 3 separate offers to sponsor the Nelson's immigration.  Carl Aas wrote to him in Sweden, " ... you can sit in a rocker on a painted floor and eat butter on rye bread and all the land around was as much his as anybody's". Elizabeth wanted to come but Carl steadfastly refused. Finally, an ultimatum that "this is the final offer" tipped the scales and Carl, Sofia & 4 boys packed and left Sweden for Brandon, Douglas County, MN.

The first permanent Norwegian settlements were in Minnesota were in the southeastern corner of the state, mainly in Goodhue, Fillmore and Houston Counties and by 1860, half of Minnesota's 12,000 Norwegians resided in those counties. My wife's Norwegian ancestors went to Houston County but her grandparents later migrated to Pope County - a story for another time.

{Editor note: Hoplins & Nelsons settled in Douglas, Cass and Pope Counties}

Immigrants also came to the Red River Valley in northwestern Minnesota, settling in the counties of Clay, Marshall, Norman, and Polk. The lure of railroad jobs during the early 1870s, the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad helped increase migration. 

Duluth was also a significant center for Norwegian immigration due to it's location on Lake Superior which provided Norwegian fishermen with employment. As a result, the Norwegian population of Duluth increased dramatically between 1870 and 1900. By 1900 the population had reached 7,500.

In the 1880s, Norwegian migration to Minnesota shifted to cities, many planning merely to make some money in America and then to return to Norway. The city of Minneapolis saw a large influx of Norwegian immigrations during the period from the 1880s to early 1900s, and settlement in St. Paul occurred as well.

Nils' Story

Nil's and grandchildren

The parents of my immigrant great grandfather Nils Hoplin were Olaus Jonsen and Berit Nilsdotter Undlein, married in Asen, Norway in 1844.  (aka “Olaus Jonsen Risan fra Frosta” in some documents.) 

From the Rygh Norwegian Farms website - http://www.dokpro.uio.no/rygh_ng/rygh_info.html - “Risan Frosten” is farm #37 and dates from the 1500's.

37-39. Risan. Udt. rí2san. -- af Risom AB. 28.Rise NRJ.
II 236. Riisze OE. 99. Rysse DN. XI 776 c. 1550. Ryse 1559. Riisse 1590. 1610. Rißemb 1626. Riiße 1664. Risum, Riisem, Risem 1723.

The names Risan and Risset are related. Risan comes from an alternate form of Risset (ved Sammensætning med sætr (not sure what this means - saeter is a pasture in the high mountains). The farms are neighboring farms and Risset are the closest to the sea. Risan is the older name of the two. Risan or Rise are a common farm name. farm 36 is in the land index as Risan,.}

Frosta is on the north shore of Åsen fjord, north of Trondheim. Nils was born in 1848 in Levanger, north of Åsen, in a hired man’s house. In 1865, Nils was a hired man ("dreng") in Nesjo farm near Åsen. In 1875, Nils was a hired man in Hopla - from which the name Hoplin is derived, I believe. (Risan and Nesjo are both examples of Norwegian farm names that were commonly appended to a person's given name.)  

Hopla Fjord & sawmill

Nils immigrated to Baldwin, WI in 1879, where a cousin lived, leaving wife Hanna and two children, Peter & Nikoline, behind. (My wife's grandmother, Johanna,  immigrated from Leksvig, across the Trondheim fjord.)

In 1880, Nils moved to Alexandria, MN. He was met at the train station by Johan Berg, who he had known in Norway. Johan Berg was the father of Ole J. Berg, former Judge of Probate of Douglas County, who related this story to Nil's son, Ole Hoplin. Nils arrived in Alexandria late at night and he and Johan walked 14 miles to Johan’s farm. While they were having lunch, Nils was told he could get work on the wood train that supplied the railroad. He did not sleep and got on the 7:00 o’clock train to Brandon the next morning to go to work for the railroad. Hanna and the children joined Nils in 1881.

{Editor note: This quote is famously attributed to James J. Hill, the Minnesota railroad tycoon. "Give me snuff, whiskey and Swedes, and I will build a railroad to hell.” I trust on the same diet, Norwegians could too.}

In 1884, Nils purchased some land near Brandon, on the shore of Little Chippewa Lake from Lars Flynn. He continued to buy adjoining parcels of land.

• May 1884. 23.16 acres. Lots 7 of sub A of Lot 8 Section 9. Township 129 Range 39. for $256.76 from Lars Flynn. 
• Oct 13, 1890 – 40 acres. Lot 75 Subsection A of Lot 8, Section 9 from George A Fredenrich
• Date <~1890's> 24.24 acres. Lot #2 Sect 9 Township 129, the woods between Baumbach & Little Chiippewa for $222.50 
• July 2, 1898, SE 1⁄4 + NE 1⁄4 Section 16, Township 129, Range 30, 40 acres from A.M.Clough
• July 14, 1899 40 acres NW 1/4 + SW 1⁄4 Section 16 from John Lind
• Aug 31, 1903. 40 acres NW 1⁄4 + SW 1⁄4 Section 15 from Wold Estate, $1120 
• Dec 2, 1918 - 40 acres SE of farm buildings from C.G. Rosengren for $2600

Hanna died of pneumonia in 1923 and Nils died of a heart attack in 1927. 

Copyright © 2016 Dave Hoplin

REA

My grandfather Ole had built the big Swedish style house in Lowry in 1929 with a loan from the Sogaaden brothers, bachelor farmers. You might recall that 1929 was a bad year for the stock market, ushering in the Great Depression. Foreclosure on that loan was avoided only through the goodness of the hearts of those brothers. There were many missed payments and the loan was not fully paid off until after WWII. The second thing that saved the family from destitution was the New Deal program, Rural Electrification Association (REA).

In the mid-30's, 90% of rural farms were without electricity. This was not true in towns and cities where electrical service was becoming common. In fact, the 1929 Hoplin's Lowry house had knob-and-tube wiring and a radio antenna wired into every room of the house - never used by the way. (See my 304 Drury Avenue post). But on the farm, candles and kerosene lamps were the norm and were carried from room to room, particularly in the long, dark Minnesota winters. Kerosene lamps were hung from the ceiling, required regular cleaning but even so, the kerosene aroma was pervasive in a farm house.  A kerosene lamp was carried to the barn and hung from the rafters at milking time. Hoplin & Nelson did a fine business in kerosene, wicks, mantles and chimneys. 

President Roosevelt established the Rural Electrification Association in 1935 under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture, but individual states were left to create co-ops and organize the effort. The REA role was to provide federal loans to electrical co-ops to install the distribution systems to serve rural areas of the US. 

Farmers paid $5 to join a co-op but of course needed to have the electrical services installed - and pay the subsequent light bill. 

REA crews traveled the countryside with local teams of electricians. REA teams brought power to a central location in a farmyard - the "yard pole" - and the electricians added wiring to houses, barn & perhaps out-buildings. A standard REA installation in a house usually consisted of a 60 amp service, 230 volt panel with:

1. A 60 amp range circuit
2. A 20 amp kitchen circuit
3. Two or three 15 amp lighting circuits

My grandfather was partner in Hoplin & Nelson and had a Master Electrician's license, a requirement to lead a REA installer team. This work provided a steady income when the hardware, furniture and undertaking business was operating but carrying many accounts receivables with few, scattered payments.

The average price for installation was $70, which seems small by today's standards, but these were depression days. Lights were the first priority - no farm family mourned the passing of the kerosene lamp.  After lights, a radio was the next most wanted appliance.  It was an end to isolation.

Ceiling mount light fixtures were installed in each room, usually controlled with a single-pole switch near a door. At most, one outlet was installed per room since plug-in appliances were expensive and rare. Wire was 'NM' (nonmetallic) sheathed cable insulated with asbestos reinforced rubber covered with jute and tar.

Many of these installations still exist today, though most have been upgraded. After World War II "...the number of rural electric systems doubled within four years, the number of consumers connected more than tripled, and the miles of energized line grew more than five fold.  By 1953, more than 90 percent of the U.S. farms had electricity."

{Editor note: What follows are memories of John Erickson, the oldest son of Axel Erickson, who I remember as the Watkin’s man}

John Erickson worked as an electrical helper for Ole Hoplin's electrical crew during the summers while he was in high school plus Saturdays during school. This was just after WWII. His mother, Judith, also worked for Ole preparing the forms that the government required for each farmer to get his farm wired for electricity. Also, the Erickson's rented and eventually bought the first Hoplin home up the street from the 1929 home on Drury Avenue.

John Erickson writes:

"After REA had brought electrical power lines to the farmstead, terminating them at a yard pole somewhere in the center of the farm yard, it was then the job of the Hoplin & Nelson electrical wiring crew to run power lines from this pole to the various farm buildings. At each building the entrance cable would be run into the building switch box, and the building wired to accommodate the various power receptacles, switches, outlets, and lights and fixtures installed. Each farmstead project would take from 3 to 5 days depending on the size, and number of buildings, and size of the work crew.

There were generally three, and sometimes four, people in the work crew. Clarence “Erick” Erickson was the journeyman electrician; he knew all of the code requirements and was the experienced electrician on the crew. In addition, Clarence Anderson, a retired farmer from Lowry was a helper, and I was also a helper. Occasionally, Hank Grondahl, another journeyman, was a part of the crew. Ole Hoplin was a master electrician and was the person responsible for all the work, the government requiring that a master electrician be responsible. Ole, however, didn't feel it necessary to show up on most jobs; he trusted his crew to do the right thing.

The work week was generally ten hours per day, six days per week. My assigned tasks gradually increased to cover most of the job tasks: cutting holes in walls and ceilings for receptacles, switches and lights; removing and restoring second story flooring in the process of drilling holes in joists for concealed wires; stringing wires in ceilings and walls; connecting up receptacles etc.; plaster patching around the outlets; making hookups at switch boxes; stringing outside wires between the center pole and the buildings; and installing the entry cables into the buildings. It was usually my job to do any required work in the hot attic or upstairs crawl space, a very hot location during the summer months. When working during the winter vacation, it was also seemingly my job to make the outside installations; an extension ladder against a wall can just accentuate the subzero temperature.

Hoplin’s good reputation in the area was enhanced in that they had a second Hoplin & Nelson Hardware store in Brandon, about 20 miles north of Lowry. The farm projects worked by Ole Hoplin thus covered quite a wide area - from south of Starbuck to well north of Brandon, and from Elbow Lake on the west to Villard on the east - an area with 40-50 miles on a side. In addition to farm projects, Hoplin also did some commercial work. I recall being involved in the electrical work for a new movie theater in Elbow Lake and for a new grain elevator in Kensington. The code requirements for such installations were much more demanding than for the farm installations. All wires had to be installed in metal conduits; some had to be explosion proof etc. In the theater, again I drew the duty in the workspace above the theater ceiling. Spending most of one day in the sweltering heat of this area, my belt and billfold had both essentially been ruined by the salty perspiration

Hoplin & Nelson was also involved with plumbing and heating work, although not to the extent of their electrical work. Ole Hoplin himself and his son Glenn were the principals involved with this work. This work was usually done in connection with a new home or a major remodeling of a home, with the territory covering the same as their electrical projects. In any case, I frequently had the chance to work with Glenn or Ole in such installations. This would involve cutting and threading pipes, sweating copper joints, packing and pouring lead into sewer pipe installations, running ductwork for furnace installations etc.

Ole Hoplin was “Mr. Outside” in this business but Dave Nelson was “Mr. Inside”. Dave not only ran the store, but handled all of the billing, paying, and other finance matters. At the start of my employment with Hoplin & Nelson, Dave told me that my pay would be $0.45 per hour. After working for some period -1 or more seasons - I recall asking Dave for a raise. After a few days, he came back to tell me that I would be raised to $0.70 per hour. The last season at Hoplin & Nelson, I believe the pay was $1.25 per hour. Working for Hoplin & Nelson was a great opportunity and a wonderful experience. Not only did it provide money that could be saved toward college expenses, it was a great practical learning experience for several of the building trades. It was, no doubt, a big motivating factor in my choosing - or falling into - electrical engineering as a college and career choice."

John A. Erickson 

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