1920 Norwegian Census - Paul Sevaldsen in Skien, Norway

In 1920 my grandfather Paul is working in Skien Norway as a chauffeur. My grandmother is working in Oslo where she recently went after the breakup with her boyfriend Harald. 

Harald and Paul were friends and Paul now confided to Harald that he was interested in the dark-haired Dagmar. Harald, still mad, said "fine with me, you can have her". Paul then went to Oslo to find Dagmar.

Paul and Dagmar soon returned to Skien together. They married in 1922.

The story of Dagmar and Harald can be found HERE

1920 Norwegian Census - Dagmar Gundersen in Oslo Norway

 The 1920 Norwegian Census is the latest that is released to the public. Here I find my grandmother Dagmar working as househelp in the home of Thorvald Richardt the "director of the research council". I am not sure what that title entails but it sounds impressive doesn't it? She is working in Kristiania (now known as Oslo). The story Grandma told me was that a friend of hers from her home town was working in Oslo and told her she could get her a good job there if she wished. She had had a fight with her boyfriend Harald and stomped off to Oslo in defiance. Harald's friend, my future grandfather Paul, followed her there and the rest is history.

Happy Birthday Grandma Dagmar!

Today I remember my grandmother with love. One hundred and twenty four years ago today Dagmar was born. She was the second child of Nils Gundersen and Gunhild Marie Olsdatter. In the earliest photo I have of her, she is pictured here with her mother Gunhild Marie and her older sister Gudrun. 

Dagmar Gundersen Sevald
b. 10 June 1900 Eidanger, Telemark, Norway
d. 12 June 1991 Skien, Telemark, Norway

   Happy Birthday Grandma!

One hundred years ago - The streets were NOT paved with gold.

This year marks 100 years since my grandmother Dagmar left her home in Norway for a new life in Chicago. It seems a good time to repeat a recollection I had written some years back telling  my grandmothers story as she had told to me. The story of her coming to Chicago.

In 1984 I traveled for the first time to Norway to visit my grandmother Dagmar. At that time I was not all that curious about my ancestry. Grandma, however, sat me down and showed me photos of the family prompting me to write the names on the back of the photos. She told me one story after another and my interest began to grow. The stories were of a large loving family. A family that had lived in the same beautiful area of Norway for as long as anyone could remember.  Looking around me Norway seemed like a lovely place to live. The most obvious question was...why? Why Grandma did you leave Norway? How did you come to that decision and what was it like? As well as I remember some 30 years later, this is the story she told me.

_____________________________________________

"It was not my idea but Paul's. When we were young Norway was not how it is today. People were poor and life was hard. For decades already many Norwegians were leaving for America where they said: "the streets were paved with gold". Letters arrived often, from those who had left, bragging how well they were now doing, sending photo postcards of their smiling well-dressed families posing in front of their home or with their new car.  Paul and I were never foolish enough to believe that the streets were actually gold but we were young, hopeful and it seemed like a good adventure. Paul was totally swept up in the America fever and I was totally swept up by Paul. Our courtship was pretty quick. I had broken up with my boyfriend and stormed off to Oslo. Paul, who was my boyfriends' friend, had always had his eye on me. With his friends' approval, he followed me to Oslo. Not as tall or good looking as my old boyfriend but he was such fun. He danced so well and told jokes and best of all..he thought I was the most beautiful girl in the world. I would have followed him to the ends of the earth." And then she laughed. "I guess that is exactly what I did!"

"We returned to Skien and married when I found myself pregnant with Gerd, my first baby. Paul talked constantly about America and saved money for the ticket. The plan was that he would go first and I would stay here, near my mother, with the baby. He would surely send for us. He had an aunt in Chicago who he would stay with. There were lots of good paying jobs in Chicago, they all said, He left when Gerd was 15 months old.

Paul sent money. It does not seem like much now but at the time it seemed like a fortune. I had some doubts and fears about leaving but Paul wrote letters and sent photos. He and his friends were dressed so fine. They must be rich in Chicago!

1923 Chicago, Illinois: Paul and friends 

At the end of 1923, the tickets for Gerd and myself came. Just a few weeks before our boat sailed Gerd died. She is buried in a paupers grave at Nordre Gravlund, I don't know exactly where. I had just one small suitcase and I took the train to Oslo. The agent helped me get on the boat. Paul had bought us cabin tickets! I did not know at the time but with cabin tickets, I did not have to go through the embarrassment of being looked at by the doctors on Ellis Island. I had some money that I hid under my skirt and although many others got very seasick, I was lucky and did not. I was afraid though. I thought I would never again see my mother and I worried what would happen if Paul was not there to pick me up. Right then I wished I was home and I didn't even care that I was about to be rich.

Chicago was not what I expected. Our apartment was in his aunts' basement. We had just a bed, a chair and a rug that the Salvation Army had given Paul. The pictures he had sent were taken in a studio. At the studio they rented the clothes, hats, and shoes just for the picture! Paul worked long hours in a Chicago brewery, fishing rats out of the vats of beer! I had to work too. I was so ashamed because married women never had work back home in Norway. I worked as a maid for a rich Danish family on the Gold Coast. I could not tell her I was married or that I had had a child or I would be fired. Chicago was loud, dangerous, mean and dirty. We lived in a neighborhood that was a mix of poor immigrants. At night the men would go to the Norwegian clubs where they would smoke, drink and do who knows what. Paul loved it in Chicago. I did not.

1928 Chicago, Illinois
Arnold and Grace Sevald

Time passed and I had your uncle and your mother.  In 1929 I took the children back with me to Norway. But it wasn't the same. It wasn't my home anymore. We went back to Paul and Chicago. Paul had grown tired of drinking and dancing and dedicated his life to God and our family. We had a nice apartment in a Norwegian neighborhood and Paul had a good job now.  We had made many friends. Chicago was our home now. And it was a good one."

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I remember my grandmother as a bold tough and determined woman, a real force to be reckoned with. But once upon a time, a hundred years ago, I envision a poor scared young woman who had just buried her baby, standing alone on the deck of the Bergensfjord.  For two weeks she must have looked out across the vast ocean ahead of her clutching her small suitcase and praying her husband would be on the New York dock to meet her.

Thank you, Grandma,
I love you.

**click on photos to enlarge for easier viewing**

1950 U.S. Census - Paul Sevald Family in Chicago, Illinois

 In the U.S., to protect the privacy of individual citizens, by law census records are not released until 72 years have passed. This year, 2022, the 1050 census was released to the public.

April 4, 1950 my grandparents, Paul and Dagmar Sevald are living in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Their address is 2420 N. California. My uncle Arnold is still at home while my mother Grace has married just six months earlier.

• line 8 Sevald, Paul, head, white, male, 55, married, born in Norway, naturalized citizen, worked 40 hours in the last week, machinist in a tool and die shop

• line 9 Sevald, Dagmar, wife, white, female, 49, married, born in Norway, naturalized citizen, worked 40 hours in the last week, assembler in a radio factory

• line 10 Sevald, Arnold, son, white, male, 24, never married, born in Illinois, worked 40 hours last week, assistant supervisor, paper mill

It is good to note how many people are now working as opposed to the 1940 census which was done during the "Great Depression" and pre U.S. entry in WWII. 

**click on photos to enlarge for easier viewing**

June 10th, Dagmar Gundersen Sevald's birthday.

One hundred and twenty two years ago on June 10th 1900, my Norwegian grandmother Dagmar was born. Each June 10th, as summer begins, I remember her with love.

     Happy Birthday Grandma
     Love you,

**click on photos to enlarge for easier viewing**

Grandma Dagmar - working at 12

On a visit to Skien, Norway, my grandmother pointed out this home. "See that house? When I was twelve years old I got my first job working as a maid in that house." Grandma was twelve in 1912. I am aware that it was very common for a child of that era to be finished with school and out working in an adult capacity at a young age. Her parents sent her to work at twelve? I think I was still playing with Barbie dolls at that age. Grandma told me she had developed early and appeared older than her age. "I was a sturdy girl" she bragged. Twelve, and my grandmothers childhood was over. 

**click on photos to enlarge for easier viewing**

My Grandparents - Paul and Dagmar Sevald

 This is the earliest photo of my grandparents together, taken in Norway, around the time of their marriage in 1922. At the time they carried the surname Sevaldsen. After they came to Chicago, grandpa shortened their surname to Sevald, perhaps he felt it sounded more "American"?

Skien, Telemark, Norway @1922

My Grandparents

Paul Skoglund Sevald(sen)

1894-1968

Dagmar (Gundersen) Sevald(sen)

1900-1991

married in Skien, Telemark, Norway

February 4, 1922

Deep Nostalgia - Dagmar Gundersen Sevald

 The genealogy site My Heritage (myheritage.com) has features to sharpen and or colorize old photos. I found that pretty cool . Their latest offering is called "DEEP NOSTALGIA" and puts movement to old photos. I have mixed feelings about this one. It is pretty cool technology for sure.  It is also an experience to see a family member long gone in a more life like venue.  But yet I am in a sensed a bit creeped out. What do you think?

my grandmother

Dagmar Sevald

1900 - 1991

https://www.myheritage.com/deep-nostalgia

Pa and a Grizzly Bear

 My father, Melvin, loved to tease my grandmother. She didn't always appreciate his brand of humor which unfortunately seemed to give him all the more pleasure. Around 1960 Grandma proudly bought herself a fake fur coat. Grandma was sort of a hefty gal and although she thought it looked like a rich mink coat......well it sort of ..........didn't.  That winter each and every time my grandparents came over my father would run to the door and loudly exclaim. "Look, it's Pa and a grizzly bear!" Grandma would stomp in and through  clenched teeth hiss "Oh you lousy guy". That only made my Dad laugh all the harder.

Pa and a grizzly bear

my grandparents

Paul and Dagmar Sevald

It seems Grandpa always thought she looked good,

Colorizing Paul, Dagmar and Gerd Sevaldsen

My Heritage had just offered free "colorizing" for black and white or sepia old photographs. I haven't really made up my mind yet if I like it or not. It works well for some, not for others. I am impressed that it saw Grandpa Paul's hair as a strawberry blond, which it was but Grandma Dagmar's was darker or black and her complexion was not as rosy as his. The people do seem more "real"? (I am not sure if that is the right word). I just don't know.
Here is the Sevaldsens in their first family photograph taken in Gjerpen, Telemark, Norway late in 1922, just before my Grandfather Paul left for America.

Dagmar's Stories - Grandma and Grandpa's engagement portraits

remembering one of the many stories my grandmother Dagmar shared with me

In the previous post I  celebrated the marriage of my grandparents Paul and Dagmar Sevald. Their marriage was small, most likely just the young couple and maybe a friend or two. They never had an official wedding portrait. They did have individual engagement photos taken.


On one of my last visits to Norway Grandma made a point of telling me the story of her family and passing on to me family photos. Among them this engagement photo of my grandfather. The original photograph is about 18" high and was originally displayed in an oval polished wood frame. It was no longer framed and a section of Paul's hair was missing. Where was the photograph of Grandma? Grandma immigrated to America alone. Grandpa had come the previous year and sent her the ticket to follow. She had only a small trunk with her but the precious photographs were packed safely inside among her clothes.


America was Paul's dream but for Dagmar living in Roaring Twenties Chicago? not so much. She said the happy go lucky Paul and she spent too many nights smoking, drinking and dancing the night away in local Norwegian dance clubs and bars. Once Dagmar had the two babies, my uncle Arnold and my mom Grace, she preferred quiet family nights at home and money in the bank. Paul danced on. Her pleading did not matter, so she assumed their family must not matter to him either. She threw his photo to the floor, her photo she "ripped up to tiny pieces and flushed down the toilet". It was 1929 and she packed up her babies and returned to Norway without him.

Good for you Grandma! She wanted better for herself and her children. And she got it. But I did wonder why she ripped up her photograph instead of his? So I asked her and her reply? She clicked her teeth in that Norwegian way and said "Oh yah, I should'a done that instead", and she laughed.

Grandpa surely got the message because he gave up the party life and Grandma returned to Chicago.  I remember him only as a devout Christian who did not smoke or drink, loving, generous, joyful and kind. But more importantly I remember that he adored my grandma, but he still loved to dance.

Grandfather's picture photoshopped, 

looks a little better don't you think?

Paul Skoglund Sevald

b. 25 Aug 1894 Kragerø, Telemark, Norway

d. 5 Sept 1971 Chicago, Cook, Illinois USA

A strong independant woman, my Grandma Dagmar, 
Grandpa knew she was a keeper.

**click on photos to enlarge for easier viewing**

Anniversary of Paul and Dagmar Sevald

February marks the anniversary of my grandparents.
February 22, 1922  Paul Skoglund Sevaldsen married Dagmar Gundersen in Skien, Telemark, Norway in a small civil ceremony. They wore their street clothing and no lovely wedding photo was taken. I present instead a photo taken perhaps forty years later, smiling just as I remember they did.

Happy Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa!

They did have individual portraits taken upon their engagement. The story Grandma told me about those photos is one I love because it says it all about my loving, feisty, independent, no nonsense grandmother. However, that's a story for another day. Maybe tomorrow.

ØVALD - Grandmother Dagmar's ancestral home

Dagmar Gundersen was born on ØVALD in Eidanger, Telemark, Norway, which was the ancestral family home since the 1600's.

Eidanger kirke, built in 12th century

 The farm Øvald in Eidanger, Telemark, Norway had been in existence since the middle ages but lay vacant after the Black Death. In the 1600's it was cleared again as a small landholding. The bygdebok  Gårds og slektshistorie for Eidanger Fra 1814-1980 by Per Chr. Nagell Svendsen  tells the story. A German noblewoman named Maria Lukretia von Boeselager, b. 1609 in Honeburg, Germany, moved with her daughter to the south of Norway after the death of her first husband. She married a Norwegian customs inspector named Peder Jacobsen and her daughter married the vicar of Eidanger, Jon Lauritssøn Teiste.  Maria and Peder were wealthy and bought three properties in Eidanger and one of those properties, Ødewald/Øvald, she gave as a christening gift to her granddaughter Sophie Jansdatter. Upon her death Maria was buried just outside the front entrance to the Eidanger church. At some point, early on, the small farm became part of the Eidanger rectory, which was farm #43, Øvald being section #5. The section was leased by the year and a farmers male heir (female heir and her husband if a male heir did not survive to adulthood) had the first right to lease in his/her turn.  The bygdebok, (above noted) and Norwegian National census' trace each generation on Øvald.

My grandmother Dagmar was the last of our family line to be born on the farm Øvald. The noblewoman Maria Lukretia von Boeselager had been her seventh great grandmother.

 This home ↑ was built in 1860 on Øvald. At that time Dagmar's great grandparents Nils Jensen and Johanne Olsdatter worked the farm. Johanne was well known for her cooking and entertaining skills as the couple hosted gatherings of family and friends on the beautiful Eidanger Fjord.

 Times were changing in Norway at the end of the 19th century and the small farm, in it's lovely location. was separated from the vicarage and sold by the church. This must have been very difficult for the family that had lived and worked the farm since the 1600's but they were unable to buy the farm outright. Dagmars grandfather, Gunder Nilsen, spent his last years as a poor man on a neighboring farm. The property became a summer retreat during the last years of the 19th century and first years of the 20th. ↓

Telemark Museum - "fair use"

Today the property has the address Nystrandveien 184, Porsgrunn and "Norpost" is one of several companies at that location.

In 1925 Norwegian law required each family to adopt a permanent surname. Dagmar and most of her siblings became Gundersen, the patronymic of their father Nils.  Dagmar's father Nils as well as Nils’ son and grandson, along with others of the family, adopted Øvald as their surname. A sign of respect for the historically family home. They certainly felt they had that “right” as their family had worked the farm for 7-9 generations until it was sold by the church. 

**clicking on photos or documents will enlarge them for easier viewing**

      ** to view each generation from Maria down to Dagmar see "Family Trees" (above)**