The Life Story of Harold Hansen (continued) (Hansen)

Margaret Elizabeth Hayes and Harold Lloyd Hansen
2 July, 1939

  Harold Hansen's Life Story is compiled from his own writings and audio cassettes that he recorded in 1991.  They were transcribed and written down by my Auntie Claire.  We continue with Harold's story after he completed his trip to Norway.  Louise, the young lady he thought he had been in love with, had gotten married while he was gone.  The family story goes (as retold by Margaret Hansen Boothby) that when he went to see her she met him at the door and told him he had been gone too long.  She had met and married someone else.  She then proceeded to "throw all my stuff at me" (things he had given her).  But, that was not the end of his story.  

  "The young lady that I thought I was in love with had gotten married while I was gone.  I lost interest in being a sailor, as it was hard work and not as exciting as I had expected.  So, I went to work at the Idaho-Maryland Mine."

  There I worked as a rock crusher that prepared rocks for the stamp mill, for $2.88 per hour.  In a couple of months I went to work as a 'mucker' underground with partners Jack Dunavan, Ernie Angove and Homer Simon at the 850 foot level.  That's where (we had) a close call down there.  In the process of running a drift we had to drill a new piece of ground.  At the end of the drift was a pile of muck blasted down the day before.  Jack and I were shoveling out the pile of muck into the shoot.  We went to eat lunch when there was a drip where we were sitting.  We heard the tommy knocker warn us to get out of the way.  When that happened underground, we were thankful for the warning.  Another time I turned up a whole stick of  powder with the blasting cap still there.  The cap was on the end of my pick.

  After some time working in the mines I decided that mining wasn't for me.  So, I went to work for Uncle Roy, mother's brother, in Reno.  He had an iron works making columns for buildings.  I went to the Baptist Church with brother Bob and Alma.  All along I  kept up my singing in churches and for concerts.  There in Reno someone suggested that I take singing lessons.  So, I went to Oakland, Ca because I found that there were some good teachers there. 

Caption on the back...The "Ensign" in the "Sho-Gun"
Heath Club Show at Auditorium Oct. 1-2 1937

  First, I found a Welsh man.  He had me think of singing with expression, feelings. He didn't give lessons though.  Paul Ralston was an organist and he gave me the name of a woman who lived in the Piedmont.  She taught me to breath properly, sing right, and I had to find places to sing while she coached me. As she was a Christian Scientist, she told me of some churches that were having tryouts for soloists.  I went to these try outs and I won a position with the 2nd Church of Christ Scientist in the Fruitvale area of Oakland where I worked for 3 years.  Each Sunday (I sang) new songs that were not repeated for 6 months.  I found a practice room too.  Also  in those years, I had a radio spot on KROW Oakland, 1934-35, but as I couldn't get a sponsor the station dropped my show as it was the depression days.  I went back to Grass Valley to work in the mines. 

  
   

The Idaho-Maryland Mine as it looked in the 1930's

  I kept up singing in churches of Grass Valley. There was a woman who came to me to ask if I would come to the Methodist Church to help them with their Easter music.  She just cornered me on Mill Street one day.  Her name was Emma Van Duzer.  Well, I did attend their practice.  There I met up with Emma's daughter, Betty, who was a sweet soprano in the choir.  She wanted some help with her singing.  So, I went to her house.  Well, I took a shine to her from the start.  I don't know if she ever had any lessons.  But, she became my wife on July 2, 1939, until she died March 26, 1991. We had just celebrated our 50th (wedding anniversary) with a big family party a couple of years before her death."  


  

Emma Van Duzer with Harold Hansen

Jack Hansen Harold Hansen Margaret Hayes Hansen Dorothy Hayes
Methodist Church Grass Valley, Ca  2 July, 1939

 

  

Betty and Harold Hansen 2 July, 1964
25th Wedding Anniversary

                                                           Harold and Betty Hansen sometime in the 1980's.  

 

    Harold Hansen went on to serve in WWII along with both of his brothers,  raise two daughters with Betty, and continued to sing tenor in the choir at the Grass Valley United Methodist Church until his death, 21 October, 1993.  

  

The Life Story of Harold Hansen (continued) (Hansen)

Vere Hansen with sons Jack (l), Bob (r) and Harold (top) about 1911

  I am continuing the story of my grandfather, Harold Hansen, compiled from his own writings and audio cassettes that he recorded in 1991.  This was transcribed and typed out  by my Auntie Claire.  Several posts earlier, I shared the part of his story which described the trip to Norway he took as a young man. This part starts at the beginning....

                                                     My Life's Story--by Harold Lloyd Hansen
  "The Beginning---for a preface to my story, let me say that as the years have rolled on, I am convinced that the Lord deemed that I was to be a special person with a special job to do, and He has been watching that I do it, and as my story unfolds you will understand my reasoning and that He has guided me through thick and thin, and has brought me safely so far, and will be with me until the end.  So much for the preface, now let the accounting of my life begin.

  On 11 October 1910 at 4:00 AM, I was ushered in upon this planet.  My mother, Clara Vere Burrows Hansen, was staying with her mother Elizabeth Burrows, in a house owned by a Mrs. Lloyd on East 28th St., Oakland, CA.  My father, John H. Hansen, was in San Salvador with a group of miners, hoping to find gold.  A cable-gram came from Dad advising that I be named Salvadore in respect for that country.  Fortunately for me the cable came to late, as I had already been named Harold Lloyd Hansen, which had duly been recorded.  The Harold was a mispelled old Norwegian name (Harald). 

  I was the third son born to my parents.  My brothers were Jack Klemments and Robley Evans Hansen.  I was somewhat frail and susceptible to bronchial troubles.  So, the doctor advised my mother to take me to a warmer climate.  So, she took my brothers and I back to Grass Valley when I was about 18 months old to a house at 418 W. Main Street. 

  Our house was near the top of Main Street Hill on the north side.  That was the focal point to my early boyhood, until four and a half years old.  That was where I had an established trail that led where food and fancy dictated--a second breakfast across the street, a hot dog at the butcher shop, a cookie at the bakery, then back up the hill to visit neighbors before returning home for lunch.  After lunch, I usually associated with hillside young folks. 

  One evening, I was seized with a excruciating pain in my stomach that made me lie on the couch screaming and crying with pain.  A young doctor, who had been next door on a maternity case, heard my cries.  He hopped over the fence, took a look at me and bundled me off to the Jones Memorial Hospital.  He operated to remove my appendix, which was inflamed and infected.  Thank the Lord that I was spared then.  When I was recuperating from the operation I visited other patients and cheered them with singing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary".  I received $3.29 in tips which Mother had me deposit in an account at Nevada County Bank. 

This is a postcard of the Jones Memorial Hospital in 1910.  The hospital opened in 1907 and closed in 1968.  It is located at 328 S. Church Street, Grass Valley, Ca and is now the Swan Levine House Bed and Breakfast. 

    At the beginning of 1916, my father acquired a 5 acre ranch near the Idaho-Maryland mine, near the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railway tracks.  In March that year, he moved our family from Main St. amidst a blinding snowstorm.  Our possessions were loaded into a couple of freight wagons, and the family members climbed aboard an express wagon with side blinds drawn to escape the blizzard conditions.  The draft horses had a hard time making their way out E. Main St. to the Idaho-Maryland Rd. 

  Our 5 acre spread surrounded by wire fence was home for 20 years.  The large house had a well, woodshed, utility shop, and a cemented cellar.  There was a screened back porch that was used to land the produce from our self-sufficient acreage.  Out in front a walk way led from the front porch to the gate that opened to the road.  The road led to the mine in one direction, and in the other it almost divided the ranch until it took the hillside and disappeared toward the county road.  

  The house was shaded with a combination of locust and walnut trees.  Roses climbed trellises against the sides and flowers adorned the garden.  Green grass covered the level areas that accompanied the house and adjoining dwellings.  Border gardens on the eastern and western sides featured mostly roses; the old fashioned varieties. 

  In an easterly direction, there was a chicken coop, fenced tightly from skunks and other chicken loving wild animals that came down from the backwoods during the night.  Next to that was the cow barn, with its adjoining hayloft and barnyard.  We kept 2 milking cows, a heifer, and a calf stall.  These cows gave us fresh milk, cream, butter and supplied extra milk for our dairy route.  Us boys delivered to customers on the way to school and picked up bottles on the way home.  Sometimes we delivered eggs, produce and cut flowers, too.  Besides the dairy, our family had several fruit trees, berries and vegetables.  Hay and oats for the cows grew as ground cover under our orchard. There was the remains of a bottling works where we found remains of clay bottles.

  The house had a spacious front porch with a place for sleeping cots, where I usually stayed with the dog, a border collie that helped round up the cows at milking time.  The front door opened to a long hallway.  On one side was my parents front bedroom, on the other the front parlor.  Behind these were the other bedrooms and dining room off the kitchen. 

  After we moved to the ranch, I started school.  I went to Washington School for 1st and 2nd grades.  Then I went to Lincoln School for 4th grade and came back to Washington.  There I had a teacher Miss Alice Dillinger.  Once I was playing ball with the other boys when the ball went through the window.  She had us all stay after school and asked who was responsible.  I admitted to the deed.  Another time a boy called me "Heine".   That made me mad and I beat him up.  That got me in real trouble with Miss Dillinger.  Also, the nickname stuck with me all my life.  But, I always hated it. 

  

  After I finished grammar school, I attended Grass Valley High School.  I played on the school ball teams, especially football, basketball, baseball.  I had a knee injury that spoiled my ambition to go to Annapolis.  that made me so depressed that I barely graduated in 1928 (18 years). I couldn't get into Berkeley either."  

Harold Hansen's Graduation picture 1928 Grass Valley High School

  I love Grandpa's description of his life on the ranch.  I like to think he got his love of gardening, keeping a beautiful yard, and working hard at whatever you put your mind to from his parents and from growing up in such a unique and special place.  

Harold Hansen with the Sacramento City College Glee Club 1929.  Harold is third from the left in the front row. 

   A few posts ago I shared my Grandfather's story of his trip to Norway in 1930.  Before he went he attended  Sacramento City College for a short time, thinking he wanted to be a forester. His extracurricular singing activities soon effected his studies (or was it spending time with Louise?), and he eventually decided to take some time to travel.  

Harold Hansen with John Hartwig Hansen on board a ship before his trip to Norway.

  

    Music would always be a part of Harold Hansen's life in many ways.  It was intertwined with his faith, his church, and his community.  It would eventually lead him to an encounter on Mill Street one day with Emma Van Duzer.   And Emma Van Duzer had a daughter who had a sweet soprano voice in the choir at the Methodist Church...... (to be continued). 

  

Emma Lavinia King and the Great San Francisco Earthquake April 18, 1906

Emma Lavinia King aged 16 or 17 (1904 or 1905)?

  The 1906 earthquake struck the coast of Northern California at 5:12 am on Wednesday, April 18. The estimated magnitude was 7.9.  Approximately 80% of the city of San Francisco was destroyed.  My Great Great Grandparents and my Great Grandmother lived through this event. 

  Emma Lavinia King was my maternal  Great Grandmother.  I called her "Nana".  She was born in St. Austell, Cornwall, England on April 13, 1888 and was the only child of my Great Great Grandparents  Charles John King and Anna Levers King.  She came to America in September of 1894, arriving with her mother in New York on the ship The Majestic. This steamship was built in 1890 for the White Star Line.  An interesting tid bit of information...in 1895 the Majestic was assigned  Captain Edward Smith who served as Captain for the next 9 years.  He later became notable as Captain of the Titantic.  But that is an entirely different story. 

  The King family settled in Grass Valley where Charles built houses.  By 1906, they were living in San Franscisco at 1900  Golden Gate Avenue where Charles continued with the house building trade.  Emma was 18 years old at the time of the quake.  The Golden Gate house was not consumed in the fire or badly damaged,  but the gas was turned off.  Nana told the story of taking the cook stove down in the yard to cook meals.  At that time she was a clerk at the Hale Brothers Department Store in downtown San Francisco.  The employees were told to report for duty when the dust had settled as the Hale Brothers people had salvaged a lot of things and had set up shop on boards over saw horses and were selling them on the street.  Emma washed out her white shirtwaists each day and ironed them with the flat iron heated on the cook stove out in the yard and reported for work downtown, selling salvaged crockery and household items. 

  An excerpt from San Francisco-A History of the Pacific Coast Metropolis, Vol. 2 by John Philip Young describes the department store after the earthquake..."The south side of Market street enjoys the distinction of having the two largest department stores in San Francisco, the Emporium and Hale Brothers..."  This building was rebuilt in 1912 and "adds another to the handsome structures lining Market street, which was almost entirely rebuilt from Ferry to Eighth street before the close of the year." They were some of the first "department" stores to "conform to the modern idea of making it convenient for the purchaser to find what he wants in one place."

  After the earthquake and fire many San Franciscans went downtown looking for "mementos", including the King family.   Nana found a silver tea set from the Colonial Hotel (formerly located at the southeast corner of Pine and Jones streets) that is still in the family.  

Silver Tea Set from the Colonial Hotel San Francisco

  There used to be a tray with the set (teapot, creamer and sugar) which had a large crack in it.  The crack finally separated and was thrown away.  The tray was just the right size for the tea set which was probably used for room service in the hotel.  Several years ago, I took this tea set to the Antiques  Roadshow when it came to Reno, Nevada.  It was appraised as less than $100. We also had a discussion with the appraiser about the many items that were "looted" after the earthquake.  I wonder what Nana would have said about that! 

  I love these stories that are unique to our family's history.  There is certainly more to Emma Lavinia's  life story, as she met and married Lester Hayes in San Francisco, had three daughters and eventually moved back to Grass Valley.  I thought I'd share her earthquake story today, the 114th anniversary.  

  

Emma Lavinia King at 2 1/2  years in Cornwall before coming to America. 

Emma VanDuzer with her Grandchildren Jim, Joan and Donald Holman and Margaret and Claire Hansen
in Grass Valley around 1944.

A Mystery Mostly Solved (Hansen)

1865 Norway Census which lists the family of Hans Johan Gunderson and Anna Soffie Olsdatter

  Sometimes genealogy research just goes like this....
In my last post, I shared the partial transcript of my Grandfather Harold  Hansen's Life Story and how he went on a grand adventure to Norway to visit his father's family when he was a young man.  Harold's father was John Hartwig Hansen who immigrated from Norway and eventually settled in Grass Valley.   In that story, there were clues.  Clues that were important, because this side of the family has always been a mystery. I don't have much information on the Norway family in my possession, nor have I been able to find anything when I did preliminary research.   Yet, there is a still a strong cultural connection with the country of Norway that has been handed down to  members of my family on the Hansen side.  We still identify in some ways as being "Norwegian" to this day. I've always been curious about this family that my Great Grandfather John Hartwig Hansen came from. 

 Who were John Hartwig Hansen's parents?  Did he really change his name to Hansen when he immigrated to America from something else? Who exactly did Harold Hansen visit when he was in Norway?  Grandpa said that his father John Hartwig wrote to his brother-in-law Harald P. Klemmetsen who had a shipping firm out of Norway.  He said his father's sister was Aunt Hulda.  Aunt Hulda and Uncle Harold had a son named Ralph who was a ship captain, and another son Christian who was a farmer in Ski. So, from these clues I was able to find the Klemmetson family in Christiana, Norway.  From there, I discovered an 1865 Norway census on Ancestry.com that listed not only Johan Hartvig, but his sister Hulda E. Christine.  This family lived in Christiana.  The father listed on the census was Hans Johan Gunderson.  Humm.....Hans, Hansen, son of Hans.  Yes!  After some quick research on Scandinavian family name etymology I found out that heritable family names were adopted rather late within Scandinavia.  More precisely in 1923 in Norway it was ordered by law that each family should have a single, hereditary last name.  So, before 1923, names were originally patronymic and commonly ended with the suffixes "--ssen", "--sson", "sdatter", "-sdotter" which is the genitive s plus the word sen or son for son or datter or dotter for daughter.  The genitive s was often dropped; compare Hanssen and Hansen.        Light bulb moment.    Two days later, this is what I came up with.  Looks like I found them! 


                                Hans Johan Gunderson b. 1824 d. 1874 Christiana, Norway
                                                                        married 
                                            Anna Soffie Olsdatter b. 1824 Christiana, Norway


1. Gustav Olaf Hansen b. 1848  Christiana, Norway
2. Carl Fredrich Hansen b. 1855 d. 1875  Christiana, Norway
3. Hulda Elvine Kristine Hansen b. 1857  Christiana, Norway
4. Oliver Valdemer Hansen b. 1861  Christiana, Norway
5. Johan Hartvig Hansen b. 1865  Christiana, Norway  d. 1945 Grass Valley, CA

*********************************************************************************

                                       Harald Peter Klemmetsen b. 1862 Christiana, Norway
                                                             married
                                                        15 February 1885 
                  3. Hulda Elvine Kristine Gundersen (listed as Gundersen on her marriage                                                                              certificate). 

                                         (Children all born in Christiana, Norway)
1.  Hartvig Harald Aleksander Klemmetsen b. 1885
2.  Elvira Matea Sophie Klemmetsenb. 1887  d. 1894
3.  Marie Kristiane Harolda Klemmetsen b. 1892
4.  Kristian Valdemer Klemmetsen b. 1892  (Christian the farmer in Ski)
5.  Emma Hansine Klemmetsen b. 1894
6.  Hans Petter Klemmetsen b. 1896
7.  Rolf Henry Klemmetsen b. 1898.  (Ralph the ship captain)

Grandpa also talked about Mia and Emma.  Mia may have been Marie.  This family was easier to find as they all kept the name Klemmetsen. (Thank goodness). 



                                        5. Johan Hartvig Hansen (aka John Hartwig Hansen) 
                                                           married  3 July 1904
                                        Clara Vere Burrows in Grass Valley, California

1.  Hulda Elizabeth Hansen b. 1905 d. 1905 Grass Valley, Ca
2.  Jack Klemmet Hansen b. 1906 d. 1986 Grass Valley, Ca
3.  Robley Evans Hansen b. 1909 d. 1985
4.  Harold Lloyd Hansen b. 1910 d. 1993 (my Grandfather).



  What is interesting to me is that the only information my Auntie Claire had written down for John Hartwig Hansen's parents were the names Hans Gundersen and Annie Alson.  I found a copy of John Hartwig Hansen's marriage certificate at the Historical Society and the names listed as parents were Hans Hansen (father) and Sophy (mother).  Alson could have been close to Olsen, which refers to her last name of Olsdatter (daughter of Ole, which would have been Olsen, son of Olsen).  Norwegian genealogy research is not for the faint at heart.  Other interesting connections are the names Hulda and Klemmet in my Grandfather's family.  I always wondered at the origins of those very Norwegian names! John Hartwig was obviously very attached to his siblings and brother in law.  Maybe he missed his Norwegian family very much.  And, his last name was always Hansen.  He did not change it when he came to America, but he Americanized his first and middle names like so many immigrants before and after him. 

And so the mystery is mostly solved.  There is still more research to do, but Ancestry has limited resources that have been digitized for Norway.  Maybe someone in the future can find more information.  I would love to travel to Oslo and do some hunting for original source material.  And how about this question... was Hans Johan Gunderson's father named  Gunder? I found a buriel record for a Gunder Knudsen in 1829.  His buriel place is listed as Den Norske Kirke, Froland, Aust-Agder, Norway.  It is suggested by 23andMe that our Norwegian DNA may be from the Aust-Agder area of Norway.   So, another mystery that needs solving!


PS...the name of Christiana was changed to Olso in 1924. 

                                                      

More Fire Pictures...The Life Story of Harold Hansen (Excerpts about his trip to Norway) (Hansen)

                              A continuation from The Life Story of Harold Hansen.  

  "Then we sailed to Gothenburg, Sweden.  It had taken us 21 days for the voyage.....

  We went ashore to a hotel.  My room was near theirs.  We got up early the next day to get the train to Oslo, Norway.  We had breakfast on the train, a steam train.  Soon we passed over the border to Norway.  I was in my father's native land.  It was beautiful farm lands in summer time.  Clean white houses with red barns, dairies, hay fields and lots of forests around the farms.

  We went to the family house in Oslo.  There I met my father's family.  His sister, Aunt Hulda and Aunt Emma married to Harald Klemmetsen.  Their son, Ralph, a ship captain was at sea so didn't meet him.  Christian, a farmer had a farm at Ski.  Aunt Emma had studied Norwegian history at university.  Mia, too. 

  Their house was two story with a basement.  That is where my room was.  It had feather mattress, no blanket, yet sometimes too warm.  There was a 'dumbwaiter from the kitchen.  Upstairs was the parlor and dining room.  The family put on a Norwegian style birthday party Oct. 11, 1930, the year I turned 21.  That was a memorable moment for me.  Many parts of the family arrived for it and we all sat down in the drawing room before dinner where we sang and talked.  I was able to meet many relatives from my Dad's family.  Of course, I sang and played the piano for them.   The highlight of the dinner was the toast of my birthday and the cake made in layers with candies and lots of decorations, made by cousin Mia."

  There is no caption on this picture, but I'm going out on a limb and saying it was taken on Harold's trip to Norway.  

  "I learned some of the language, some words I haven't forgotten either.  I went on a walking tour around the city of Oslo.  I learned about the place where my Dad was born.  I visited the house where the Bishop lived near the cathedral, and the palace of the King.  The ship of Amundsen who went to the Arctic was there. 

  My Aunt and Uncle took me to their farm at Ski where their son, Christian operated it.  He raised potatoes, blueberries, cranberries, and other berries.  When the produce was ready for market, they were  put on a wagon train of small carts to be taken to Ski where they were auctioned off.  That was quite a site.  Another trip that was impressive was around the country.  Aunt Emma and Uncle Harald took me on a trip around the fjords and up the coast partly by ferries and partly by train to the Tronheim Cathedral for the 900 year anniversary celebration of when King Olav Helvev accepted Christianity.  I was able to get into the celebration service because my aunt told them I was a University student.  We also saw the place (Edesball) where Norwegians and Swedes worked out the settlement so that Norway could be independent.  Another trip they took me on was up a mountain area to a lake resort area.  It was beautiful.  We caught fish and my uncle went hunting, but as that's not my sport, ' I went hiking around the forests and lake.  I got lost and a goatherd took me into his cabin, then helped me get back on the right trail.  I even became interested in a young lady while I was there.  But, at last I needed to return home, as jobs were scarce in the depression.  Besides my girlfriend Louise was waiting for me.  So, I decided to leave Norway and work my way back home. 

  I worked on a ship of the Johnson lines "Bueno Aires".  I was a deck hand this time to get added experience.  My aunt and uncle took me to docks where they prayed with me for my safety and then we said "good-bye".  The ship left the Oslo Fjord.  This was the port my father sailed from in his youth.  We were heading out of the Northern Sea when a terrific storm came up in the winter sea.  We had to be careful not to be knocked overboard by lashing waves.

  We answered the SOS of a disabled lumber schooner, but a bigger ship had already given them aid, so we sailed on down the coast to Antwerp, Belgium.  After Belgium, we headed to South America and Porto Columbo, Venezuela.  The rest of the trip across the Atlantic Ocean was uneventful.  We passed the Azores again when storms came up.  We had to control the rolls of pulp to keep the ship upright.

  The, we headed up back through the Panama Canal again to the Pacific up the coast of Central America.  We got to Point Arena to let off cement and were headed up to San Francisco where my trip to Norway came to an end.  I got back to Grass Valley just before Christmas and was happy to celebrate with my brothers and parents.  There were lots of exciting stories to tell, and I had the pictures from my Brownie printed to show them beautiful Norway and our family there." 

Possibly crew mates? I love the accordion! 

   "The young lady that I had thought I was in love with had gotten married while I was gone.  I lost interest in being a sailor, as it was hard work and not as exciting as I had expected.  So I went to work at the Idaho-Maryland Mine."  

And so the story of Harold Hansen will continue through these blog posts.  His name was originally spelled Harald, but was recorded on his birth certificate as Harold.  

*********************************************************************************

John Hartwig Hansen born 2 Feb. 1865 Christiana, Norway died  10 April 1945 Grass Valley, California

                                                                        married 3 July 1904

Clara Vere Burrows born 25 Sept. 1882 Grass Valley died  17 Oct. 1974 Grass Valley, California  
                                                    (They are my Great Grandparents)

                

                                                                         Children

1. Hulda Hansen (born and died 1905 Grass Valley)

2. Jack Clemmet Hansen b. 6 Oct.  1906 d. 10 Aug.  1986 Grass Valley CA (Uncle Jack)

3. Robley Evans Hansen b. 23 Jan.  1909 Grass Valley d. 1 Oct.  1985 Reno, NV married Alma Goins 17 Oct. 1931 in Reno, NV (Uncle Bob and Aunt Alma)

4. Harold Lloyd Hansen b. 11 Oct.  1910 Oakland, CA d. Oct. 21  1993 Grass Valley, CA  married Margaret Elizabeth Hayes 2 July 1939 Grass Valley, CA (Grandpa and Grandma).

More Fire Pictures.....The Life Story of Harold Hansen (excerpts about his trip to Norway) (Hansen)

   I found a curious collection of images among the last of the fire pictures.  Some had writing on the back which gave a few clues to a story.  They were all the same size (approximately 3"x 5") and looked like they had been taken out of a photo album. I dug through my files and found a gem..a transcript of "The Life Story of Harold Hansen", compiled from his own writings and audio cassettes that he recorded in 1991.  Claire Hansen Clark had added this to her genealogy research on Family Tree Maker in 2011. What gave me a real start was finding this picture..

On the back was written "Panama Canal-Train crossing long bridge". As I was reading through the transcript I came to the part where my Grandfather, Harold Hansen, talked about using his Brownie postcard camera to take a picture of the Panama RR with a train crossing on Gotham Lake.  Bingo!  I knew these pictures were from his trip to Norway in 1930.  Following is a section from his Life Story telling of his wonderful and unique adventures when he was a young man.  Enjoy! 

(Harold graduated from High School in 1928)....
  "Following graduation, I went to work with the forestry service at Lewis Mill.  I was part of a crew to construct a phone line on Babbitt Peak to Sardine Peak.  We had to brush out cottonwood trees and haul the poles up the hill. We were above the timber line where the wind blew fiercely.  I was the flunky on the job.  I had to get all the cement, water, lumber.  I was cook also.  After taking the supplies to the work site, I came back and prepared meals while the other fellows worked.  The nearest town was Truckee or Loyalton, where we went once a month for provisions.  We also went to forest fires. We used a rake/hoe to make fire breaks.

  After that fire season, I was ready to study to be a forester.  So, I enrolled in Sacramento City College.  There I took courses with that in mind.  One of those classes was botany.  That's where I met Louise. As I was doing pretty well in the class, the instructor asked me to help another student.  It turned out to be Louise.  Soon we became friends as well and I spent a lot of time with her. 

  I had tried out for the men's glee club, a quartet, and that all took my time.  We performed at the Alhambra Theater, Lions, etc around Sacramento. Soon I was too busy and my studies started to slip.  I decided to take a leave of absence and go to Norway, my father's homeland.  This was the fall of 1930, I was soon to be 21 years old. 

  My Dad's brother-in-law, Harald P. Klemmetsen had a shipping firm out of Norway.  So, Dad wrote to him to see if it was possible for me to get on a ship of his sometime.  Well, Uncle Harald wired that he had a ship coming up the Pacific and that I was to get ready to be on it.  That was so exciting and there was much to do.  I had to get a passport and clothes and get packed.  I got white tables (? possibly pants) to wait on tables and blue jeans and shirts for other work.  then my folks drove me to San Francisco to wait for the ship. 

  Before the ship could take on cargo and passengers, it had to be cleaned out and fumigated.  I worked for a week living on ship before it was ready.  My quarters were in the aft below deck.  I was going to be a real good sailor, so I bought tobacco, and stuff like Popeye.  So, I got my things settled then went out on the deck to watch as the ship left San Francisco Bay the Pacific.  I was told that if I stood on the deck and looked up at the mast that I wouldn't get seasick.  That seemed to work for me.  But, I forgot to close the porthole in my quarters and in came seawater.  What a mess!

  I was assigned to the galley squad for the passengers and crew.  Since this was a Swedish ship, they sure like potatoes.  Before long we stopped at San Diego for cargo and passengers.  One was a Dane who had a tropical fever, so he was put with me.  He rubbed something on his chest, drank some wine and went to sleep. 

  Next, we stopped at Acapulco, San Salvador, Costa Rica, and finally we got to Panama.  I thought that I had earned days off and I was all ready to go on deck and take photographs with my Brownie postcard camera.  But crews from the canal came on board to guide the ship through and we had to feed them.  But I did get some pictures of the Panama RR with a train crossing on Gotham Lake.  The Battleship New Mexico was making its way to the Pacific.  Finally we go to Cristobal on the Atlantic side. 

  Out in the Atlantic we went to the Azores then to England.  We put in on the North end of the English Island.  We had some time off in Edinburgh.  I went to church there and walked around the streets to see the buildings, heard bag players, saw changing of the guard at the castle.  It was the 4th of July.  We were at that port 3 days.
  

"Here I am on the Balboa. Take a look at my nice white pants. This was taken just outside of Hull
in the outer harbor.  You can see the land in the extreme back ground"

"This is the American Memmorial (sp.) to the Scottish soldiers in Edinburgh.
I also snapped Edinburgh castle and Scott's Monument but no luck." 

  Then we sailed to Gothenburg, Sweden.  It had taken us 21 days for the voyage.  My aunt and uncle met me and Uncle took me to the fore deck to the captain's cabin to toast my arrival.  The steward had to serve me!

To be continued.....