Jennestad tells tale of father's journey from Sweden to Sandpoint
(A few years ago, while working with Erik Daarstad filming the Sandpoint centennial movie, I had the opportunity to visit Edith Jennestad in her home. While there, I asked her to tell me how her father and mother had come to Sandpoint. Here, in her own words, with some editing due to space limitations, is what she shared with me.)
"Well, my mother was Hannah Carlson. She was born in Sweden on Jan. 2, 1887, and she was the first born of Carl and Clara Louise Carlson. When she was three years of age the family immigrated to the United States and settled in Mason, Wis.
"Carl secured work in a mill and Clara took in boarders and roomers. One winter they accepted work at a camp where Clara did the cooking for the crew. My mother recalled the girls dried the silverware by shaking it in a sack.
"During their playtime they would walk from opposite ends of a board, when they met they would say "How do you do sir, dum de dum de dum," and they thought that was fun. When spring arrived, it was time to be paid, but nobody received any compensation for the time worked that winter. However, the family had food and a place to stay."
"Carl died at the age of 35 and Clara and the girls went west and settled in Sandpoint, Idaho. All their possessions were lost before arrival when the train derailed and fire destroyed everything. Clara secured a loan from the bank and opened a boarding house at the corner of Fir and Fifth. Hannah, my mother, was a seamstress and one of three Swedish girls who worked in Spokane for the Corbin family."
"Ole Jennestad, my father, was born in northern Norway, the middle son in a family of four children. He read about America in school and decided he wanted to come here.
"A minister from Mason, Wis., arrived in their community and the family attended the services held by this man. Ole's father asked the man from Wisconsin if he would keep his eye on Ole if his parents would allow him to go to America; Ole was 15 at this time. Oh yes, the man would keep an eye on him. Therefore, his family gave permission to leave and he did not return until 1913. He left Norway in the company of this man from Mason, Wis."
"He went from New York to Chicago by train. He decided when he got off the train to look around the city of Chicago before boarding the train to go to where he was to live. Mason was the place he was to be for some time and he stayed with the minister's family.
"I am sure all the arrangements had been made and he was to take care of the horses and milk the cow. In Norway, and it is probably true of most European countries, the men do not milk cows, that work was for the women. So the minister's wife said, ‘You may do the dishes, and I'll milk the cow.' "
"In the summer he worked on the railroad for 10 hours a day for $1.25. He also worked piling lumber at the same price of $1.25 for ten hours. He said he did get lonesome and he tried to figure out how long he would have to work saving money to go back to Norway. He had this work there for a period until they closed down the mill.
"They had cut the old timber and the workers were told if they would go out to a new location in Sandpoint there was going to be a new mill there and they would get employment. My father and some of his friends did not want to go to this Sandpoint right away. They wanted to go as far as their money would take them, which was to Bellingham; $25 would take you to Bellingham, Wash. He stayed in the Bellingham area for some time and then decided to come to Sandpoint. When he arrived here, there were no jobs available. He walked the railroad to Laclede, there wasn't a road, and secured work at the mill."
"After that experience he came to Sandpoint and decided to go into business. He had $300 he had saved, and two other men had $300. So those two men became his silent partners. They opened the store in the 400 block on Third Avenue just across the street from where Taylor Parker is located now. The store was named "The Viking." It was really quite remarkable that he had faith enough to start a business because two blocks north was the Humbird Lumber Company store. They were located at
"The Viking from 1908 to 1910, a period of two years. Then in 1910, they moved to new quarters where the Pastime was located. Chris Larson and my father incorporated the business as Jennestad and Larson in October 1910. In 1920, the firm moved from the old Pastime location having purchased a building on 1st Avenue. In 1940, the partnership was dissolved but my father remained in the clothing business continuously and began his 74th year on Feb. 1, 1981."
"My parents were married June 26, 1912, and they marked their 50th wedding anniversary. My mother lived to be 70 years of age and my father lived to be 95 1/2."