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Nordquist, Olive (audio interview #4 of 4)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This short addendum interview was conducted mainly with Olive Nordquist's sister who wanted to provide information about their family background.
- Date
- 2021-08-11
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- *** File: rrronordquist15.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:06-3:55)... Nordquist's mother's family name was Wilson and her ancestors sailed on the fourth ship that traveled from England to America following the Mayflower voyage. The Wilsons migrated from Massachusetts to Minnesota in the early 1850s. Several relatives were involved in Indian uprisings and the Civil War. Their grandfather, William Bradford Wilson, was the oldest child in his family after his nineteen-year-old brother was killed by Sioux Indians in an uprising near Fort Riley, Minnesota. (3:55-10:49)... Her grandfather worked as a carpenter in Salk Center (?) for fifteen years before purchasing two homesteads in Cushing, Minnesota. Nordquist's sister was sitting it on the interview to fill in details on their family history. She provides a detailed history of their grandmother's (Susan Phelps) family background, dating back to her great-grandparent's tragic voyage to America during the French Revolution. The family eventually settled in Salk Center (?), where she met and married Nordquist's grandfather when she was fifteen and he was twenty. They had three children. (10:49-13:00)... Nordquist's mother and grandmother were practical nurses and were in high demand by doctors in the community. When she was approximately fifty years old, Nordquist's grandmother moved to South Dakota and worked there as a midwife, delivering more than 100 children without the assistance of a medical doctor. In addition to midwifery, she rode seventeen miles, six days a week to pick up mail and deliver it to residents in her community. Nordquist's grandfather died in 1909 and her grandmother supported herself by operating a boarding house in Cushing. (13:00-16:35)... Nordquist's sister details their father's family background. Their Grandfather Childegaard immigrated to America from Norway. He and two of his brothers settled in Minnesota, where he met and married Nordquist's grandmother. They had six children and Nordquist's father was the oldest. Her father was recognized as a gifted student and went on to college, but it took him a few years to finish school due to a bout with tuberculosis. He moved to Cushing with his family when he was in his early twenties and with his father opened a saw mill and a general store. (16:35-19:06)... Nordquist's parents were married June, 1904. They moved into an apartment above her father's general store where they lived until it burned down, at which time Nordquist and her siblings moved in with their grandparents. After the fire, her father rebuilt the general store as well as several homes and a church out of cement block. In addition to owning a general store, he also bought and sold lumber and livestock. End of tape.
- SUBJECT BIO - Olive Nordquist began working at Lockheed in 1942 after crossing the US with her husband and small daughter one year earlier, attracted by the jobs opening up in the defense industry. The third of nine children, Nordquist was both and raised in the vicinity of Cushing, Minnesota. After a tumultuous childhood, when she graduated from high school in 1927, she went to Minneapolis to get away from home. After various short jobs, she started to work as a packer at a cheese company, and remained there until she married in 1937. Although she attended beauty college in the hopes of becoming an operator, she developed skin condition and was unable to continue working in this field. Instead, she managed a small farm that she and her husband leased while he commuted to an industrial job in the city. Nordquist worked in electrical assembly for three years until she was laid off. By then, the family had acquired a home in Hollywood which included several rental units. This is how she began her "career" of managing, renovating and maintaining properties. After surviving a non-communicative and unhappy marriage for twenty four years, Nordquist and her husband finally divorced in 1961. At that point, her daughter, who herself had several unhappy marriages and an abusive first husband, moved n with her. Although Nordquist was still an active woman with a wide range of interests at the time of the interview, her persona was rather subdued, almost depressed. After her three year stint TOPICS - This interview is narrated by Nordquist's sister, Beymer; The interview covers their family background, dating back to their parents' great-grandparents' immigration to America;
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