52Ancestors52Weeks Week 39 Theme: Steps.......Margaret and Claire Hansen on the Steps Eating Cheerioats

      The theme for this week is Steps....I have so many photographs of family members having their pictures taken on steps!  School pictures, sports team pictures, going off to war pictures.  Just posing for a picture pictures.  Pictures on steps seems to be a theme for my ancestors. For this week's theme, I chose to share one of my most cherished photographs.  This one could have been lost forever in the Hansen house fire of 1950 (see my previous post "Fire!" published March 18, 2020).  And yet, here it is!

Margaret Hansen is sitting next to her little sister Claire (who is generously sharing her Cheerioats) on the porch steps. It must have been a warm morning or afternoon in Grass Valley.  This has to be one of my all time favorite pictures of my Mom and my Auntie Claire.  It is still charred, sooty and brittle from the fire but captures such a sweet moment between sisters.  The Cheerioats are fun, too! This picture was probably taken around 1945.  I am so thankful I was able to digitize it and preserve it in a safe place for future generations of our family.  It has been a labor of love to continue the genealogy work my Auntie Claire started many years ago. 

  

Relationship Reference:  Me-Margaret Hansen Boothby->Harold and Margaret Elizabeth (Betty) Hayes Hansen.  Lavinia Claire Hansen Clark is Margaret's younger sister. 

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.....

Fire! Continued....(Hansen)

  These are pictures of items rescued from the fire in 1950.  They provide a glimpse of what life was like for the VanDuzers and the Hansens pre 1950.  

High School Diploma Margaret Elizabeth Van Duzer 1936

Grass Valley High School Commencement Program 1936

Class of 1936 Commencement Program
Margaret Elizabeth Van Duzer

Lavinia Claire Hansen's Certificate of Baptism 25 April 1943.  She was born 25 March 1943.

Order of Worship the Sunday Lavinia Claire Hansen was baptized.

Harold Hansen was part of the choir at the First Methodist Church in Grass Valley. This was in Lavinia Claire's baby book;  he sang the anthem with the choir after his second daughter was baptized on this Easter Sunday.

Margaret Ann Hansen's baby announcement.  It was inside of Claire Hansen's Baby Book.

  After the fire, the Hansen family lived with Emma Van Duzer on South Auburn Street, then moved to a rented flat on Conway Avenue for a short time, then moved back with Emma, then to Pleasant Street, then back to South Auburn Street with Emma until 1958 when Harold and Margaret Hansen were able to buy their own newly build house on Lidster Avenue.  That is the house I remember from my childhood and early adult years.  That was always "Grandma and Grandpa's house". 

 

Fire! (Hansen)

Emma VanDuzer with Margaret and Claire Hansen 1943.  Picture saved from the 1950 fire.

  In 1950 The Hansen Family (Harold, Betty (Margaret), daughters Margaret and Claire) were living in a house on property owned by Emma VanDuzer (Nana) on South Auburn Street in Grass Valley.  Nana's house was behind what is now A&A Sheet Metal.  Where that building sits now is where the apple and pear orchard was, as well as a berry patch.  Across the driveway from Nana's house was a very small cottage which she rented out and next to that house was the house that burned. Sometime ago someone bulldozed a parking area where the Hansen Family house was that is now level with South  Auburn Street.  Another house was never built where the Hansen  house was.  Nana's house eventually burned down; another one was built on the same spot and it also burned down.  The third building is now Vela Massage Retreat. 

  The Hansen house burned down in 1950.  Mom (Margaret) was 9 and in the third grade. Claire was 7.  Grandma (Betty) and Claire were visiting over at Nana's house when their house caught on fire and they watched in horror as it burned.  The GV Volunteer Fire Department came, but before they got there several neighbors went into the house and removed the piano, Grandma's cedar chest, some kitchen chairs and a few other things in the kitchen they could reach.

 After the fire the Hansen family went to live with Nana in her house.  Townspeople brought clothing and household goods to help and a collection was taken up by neighbors to purchase blankets.      * Information provided by Margaret Hansen Boothby. *

  This is where I have begun my digital archiving.  I have a box of charred and blackened pictures and items that were rescued from the house before it burned.  They are snapshots of family life pre-1950 and have a unique history all their own. 

Margaret Hansen and Don Holman.  Looks like a back to school picture!

Harold Hansen with Claire Hansen.

Christmas 1945-46? Margaret and Claire Hansen.

Fran and Joe Holman probably with Jim as a baby.

Margaret Hansen 1941

Claire and Margaret Hansen. Winter 1945-46?
I'm so glad this one survived. A favorite!

*Emma Lavinia King Hayes VanDuzer (Nana) m. Lester Franklin Hayes 1908 San Francisco, CA

  *Dorothy Ross Hayes Arthur (Auntie Dot)  b. 1910 d. 1989

  *Francis Charlotte Hayes Holman (Auntie Fran) b. 1911 d. 2003

  *Margaret Elizabeth Hayes Hansen (Betty/Grandma) b.1917 d.1991