Diary of Linnea Gord July 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th 1930 - Visit To Orawais

SUNDAY, JULY 13th, 1930 - ORAWAIS, FINLAND

We took the 9:40 bus from Vörå  to Orawais.  The bus stopped at the Orawais cafe and we asked how to get to Gustafson's.  They didn't seem to know where they lived, but they told us to go up towards the factory.  We did and the bus went on.  We didn't know where we were, so we asked two little boys which way to go.  One of the boys knew Gustafson's, and they told us we had gone in the wrong direction.  Therefore, we had to walk almost two kilometers.  Boy!  what walking we do!  We found Gustafson's all right, after asking the whole country.  Anna was the only one home when we got there, as the mother and father were to church and the rest of the girls and boys were at a wedding.  Later in the afternoon they came home, and we had a good time talking.  We went for a walk that evening -- to the monument and to the church, where I tried to play the pipe organ.  It was a pump organ, and Eric would get behind and pump a while and then he would come out to watch me play.  Then there wouldn't be any air to play with.  The church and the Ungdoms Foreningshus are situated on a huge rock--sort of a glacier.  Walking from the hall to the church we just walked on rock--like pavement.  It is a rocky country, as I found out.

MONDAY, JULY 14TH, 1930 - ORAWAIS, FINLAND

We fished this morning.  Hanna, Eric, Auntie, and I went out in the boat and fished for four hours, catching 28 of the poor little fishes.

Went visiting at Kimo this evening--to Eric Eklund's home.  We had a very nice time there, although all we did was eat and drink, laugh and talk.  We had four kinds of drinks--all at different times.  At nine o'clock we had saft, at 10 o'clock--chocolate, at 11--coffee and at 12:30--tea.  And with each, we had cookies and all kinds of cakes and coffee bread.  Were we stuffed!!  At midnight we went out walking to see the hjaltegraverna.  These are just big piles of rocks but they had quite a history behind them, as they are supposed to be two or three thousand years old.  The bodies, they say, were cremated and the ashes buried there.  Every year many tourists come to see these graves.  The country there is queer.  Around the graves there are just the rocks all over, with white moss and dry pine trees.  It has sort of a dead look.

In Orawais

TUESDAY, JULY 15TH, 1930 - ORAWAIS

Went fishing again this morning, but we only caught one, so we gave it up for a bad job.  We went swimming in the afternoon and just about froze to death.  B-r-r-r!  but the water was cold.

About eleven o'clock in the evening we all went fishing.  We had two boats and we certainly had fun.  Eric and Fred Carlson also were there.  We caught thirty-four fish and we stayed out until they stopped biting.  Eric and I were having a race to see who could catch the most.  Just when he would get a fish, so would I, but I think he won in the end by one fish.  After we came to shore again, we all went upstairs and had tea and biscuits, and we talked and talked and talked some more.  A regular "gab fest".

(I washed my hair today, because they have such nice water in Orawais.  The girls were all curious to see if the curl would come out of my hair, and when it didn't they were all surprised.)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 16TH, 1930 - ORAWAIS

We were awfully lazy today.  We just sat around in the morning and played the phonograph, drank coffee and talked.  We went picking blueberries in the afternoon, and I almost ate myself sick.  (At least I can say that I ate myself blue in the face, because I was blue around the mouth.)  The berries were thick and big and juicy.

Fishing was in order again in the evening, but it didn't work, because the fish were ornery and wouldn't bite.  When we got home again, Mia broke her beads, so we all crawled over the floor hunting for them.  The evening was spent in stringing beads, because the girls all brought out their broken beads.  It was our last night there, and we certainly had fun.

Arnold Koutonen and Orchestra

Perhaps Arnold Koutonen thought Blanche Johnson and Linnea Gord were talking about a different weekend.  His presence as their spelman was greatly missed.  Perhaps word did arrive at a later point about why he was not at the concert.  According to the internet, Arnold Koutonen returned on Frederick VIII and arrived at New York on October 12, 1930.  Other choir members Amelia Hendrickson and William and Anna Wias were also on board. 

Linnea Gord had letters from her friends in the Runeberg Choir who had not gone along on the tour to Finland.  And after she had been home for awhile, they organized a reunion.  They called themselves, "The Gang", and had a lot of fun during Songfests and Conventions.  In May 1931, during their reunion, in Olympia, Washington, they danced at the Eagles Hall to the music of Arnold.

July 12th, 1930 Concert With Blanche Johnson, Choir Tour Soloist

SATURDAY, JULY 12th, 1930 - Vörå             Had coffee in bed this morning.  SOME CLASS!

Blanche went to Vasa today, so I had to amuse myself with various things.  I played with the children, went picking flowers, chasing butterflies, and I also practiced all by myself.

Concert at Koskeby

The concert that evening was scheduled to start at eight o'clock, but it was right in the haying season, and nobody came until about 8:30 or 9.  We started the program at 10 o'clock.  Inasmuch as Arnold didn't come, I had to play two piano solos.  Blanche and I each had a beautiful corsage which she had gotten in Vasa.  Gee!  But they were pretty.  After the program we also had to supply the dance music.  (Darn Arnold!)  It was quite a bit of fun except that the people were too bashful to dance where there were Americans.

On the internet on a site that describes ungdomsforenings in Finland there is this explanation:

Koskeby uf:s hus från 1912 blev den gemensamma samlingslokalen som idag är Vörå uf.

(According to Google Translation:  Koskeby UF's house from 1912 became the common meeting hall which today is Vörå uf.)

Linnea Gord's Diary, Friday July 11th, 1930 - Vörå Concert With Blanche

FRIDAY, JULY 11th, 1930 -- MALAX, VASA, AND WÖRA, FINLAND

Market in Vasa

Got up at 5:20--awfully sleepy--and caught the six o'clock bus to Vasa.   When we got to town and arrived at the market place everyting had a deserted look because it was so early in the morning.  But one by one the wagons came and torget began to fill with booths of all kinds.  It was interesting to watch the wagons come in.

I got to Vörå about 9:45, after a very wonderful ride through parts unknown, and Blanche met me at Vörå Handelscompanie.  We went to her uncle's place where I was to stay.  All we did for a while was eat.  At 11 we had coffee and coffe bread, at one we had frukost and at three we had dinner.  Blanche has three little cousins, Kjerstein, Ingmar and Stig.  They were amusing and I got a great kick out of them.  The girl and the littlest boy didn't seem to mind me, but Ingmar kept saying "Du far gå hem".

That afternoon we practiced at the hall for a while and then came home again to telephone.  Blanche had been telephoning all over the country to try and find Arnold, but he coulnd't be found.  She telephoned to Vasa, Orawais, Munsala and Vörå, but nobody knew where he was or where he had been.  He didn't show up for the concert either. 

Marie Malm's Photographs: " ...She went over to Övermalax yesterday..."

In Övermalax lived a sister of Marie Rosenback.  Marie Malm visited Emelia, and her family.  I captioned their photo at the Malaxbygden Förr  Och Nu Facebook Group: 

Lågas farm

“Marie Malm took this picture of Lågas sisters Emelia and Alina in 1930. I wonder if this was the childhood home of Marie’s mother Johanna Lågas Malm.  Emelia and Alina were daughers of Matt Lågas. Matt Lågas and Johanna Lågas Malm were brother and sister, and Matt Lågas died in California in 1926. Lågas was an unusual name in the United States. Matt Lågas son called himself John Mattson in the United States. John Mattson and Emelia and Alina were brother and sisters, first cousins of Marie Malm. Marie and her sister Amanda left Malax with their mother Johanna in 1896 to live in Tacoma, Washington.”

Lågas sisters Amelia and Alina
and families 1930

Another letter, one written July 7, 1930, from Linnea Gord to her mother in Tacoma, Washington, identifies the day other photos were taken, later labeled on the back, Mother’s cousins in Finland.  These photos were also among photos kept in the red Fraser’s box. 

Yttermalax, Finland / July 7, 1930 

Lågas sisters, other snapshot

Lågas farm

 It has been awfully hot here
for the past weeks, but today it rained pitchforks.  The boys were working like the dickens to get the hay in before it rained.  I think they got most of it.

Auntie just came home. She went over to Övermalax yesterday and she stayed overnight.  Last night when we came home we tiptoed into the bedroom so we wouldn’t wake her, and then she wasn't even there.  All that trouble for nothing.

 

Marie Malm's Photos: "In Närpes Auntie met Marie Rosenback..."

One day in late July, in the handwritten diary, Linnea Gord wrote that "Auntie went to Närpes".  That trip has more explanation in this letter – (Linnea Gord wrote letters home as well as her diary):

Jeppo, Finland / June 18, 1930

I'm in Jeppo now waiting for everybody to get ready for the concert.

We've seen quite a few relatives now.  In Närpes Auntie met Marie Rosenback (Lågas) at a place where we had coffee.

Rosenback Couple

Among the formal portraits from my mother, Linnea, one is labeled on the back Mother’s cousin Marie in Närpes. 

Photographs of Marie Rosenback and her family at their home are only labeled on the back, mother's cousins in Finland. 

After some study of photos, although some years have passed after the portrait, the young couple in the portrait are the couple who age-progress to Marie Malm's photograph in 1930. They are Marie Rosenback and her husband. 

Rosenback Family 1930

Clues on the Portrait, the photograph, in the diary, and in the letter combine to tie to a Finland genealogy namelist for the names of the people in the photograph.
 

The Fraser's Box Which Contained Photographs

Provenance of a resource is a record that describes entities and processes involved in producing and delivering or otherwise influencing that resource. Provenance provides a critical foundation for assessing authenticity, enabling trust, and allowing reproducibility. Provenance assertions are a form of contextual metadata and can themselves become important records with their own provenance.

(From a website associated with University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute)

Some photographs from my parents’ archives were kept in a red gift box.  Some of these were photographs taken of relatives in Swedish-Finland by grandma's sister Marie in 1930.  Marie died in spring, 1939, she had lived with her parents next door to her sister and had worked at the Sperry Flour Mill test kitchen.  Along with the photos in the red gift box were photos that had belonged to John and Johanna Malm.   They died during the years of World War Two.  Then the photos belonged to my grandmother.  Marie also left a photo album.  My grandmother had these things, I believe my mother brought things to her house  to keep.

Fraser's Box That Contained Photos

I associate the red gift box with the 1950s and the 1960s.  Some nice gifts were given to my grandmother in those years, when I continued to visit with my mother every Wednesday and Sunday afternoon.  Boxes were stored with paper in a cupboard to the left of the kitchen door.  In the later grade school years and in junior high school my grandmother was sometimes in or out of the hospital.  My mother filled out forms for medicare for her or sorted things when we were there.  I believe she also brought letters to her house to keep.

I wonder if a description about the red box is provenance.  My provenance descriptions include this sort of information.  I put the photographs in a closing photo ring binder in archival pages and in a photo album with slide-in pages.  The red box fit a record album, so I stored my mother’s Swedish record albums in the red box.  A while back, the red box became time-worn.  I retained some of the box.  It was something I always called the Fraser’s box. 

As a note, my grandmother worked at a hat shop on Broadway, this was listed in a Tacoma City Directory before she married in 1905.  Fraser’s would have followed in the building when it was started in 1934.  The Fraser’s box at my grandmother’s might have created an emotional thought for her.  On her closet shelf were old hats with plumed feathers.