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Happy Birthday, Grandma Margaret
By Terrie Soberg | February 28, 2008
Today would have been Grandma Margaret’s 91st birthday. I am posting this history of her in remembrance of her birthday. She passed away on June 29, 2004.
History of Margaret Gail Anderson (Ekroot)’s life, as told to Betty Carlson by Margaret in June of 2000
Things About Herself
Margaret Gail Anderson was born February 28, 1917, in Duluth, Minnesota at her home. She was given her name Margaret because it was a name her mother liked.
Margaret had several nicknames: Muggs, Maggie, and Marge. Her brothers called her Muggs a lot, and some of the people she cleaned for called her some of those names.
She cannot remember if her parents or other people told any funny stories about her when she was a baby. The only thing she cared about growing up was anything that had something to do with any kind of sports.
Family
Margaret’s mother’s name was Eva Anderson. She was born in Sweden on March 20, but she doesn’t know the year. She passed away in 1932. Some of the most vivid images she has of her mother were that she always had fresh baked bread, coffee cakes and other baked things and the kettles of homemade soup she made. She shared these things with a lot of people besides her family.
Margaret’s father’s name was August Anderson. He was born in Stockholm, Sweden, but she does not know the year. He passed away in 1929. Her father was a hard-working man. He owned a dairy farm that kept him very busy. Sometimes he stayed right at the farm and only came home on weekends. He enjoyed taking his family for rides in the car. He always brought them ice cream.
Her parents met in the United States after they both came here from Sweden. They were married in Duluth. There were eight children born to them. They were: Lillian, Margaret, Ruth, Shirley, Roy, Einer, Arthur, and a sister, Margurit, who died as an infant.
Some of the things that she remembers include going berry picking, especially blueberries, with her family, and then coming home with a big pail of berries.
They always had a lot of company and big dinners with family and friends.
Her parents always taught them that work did not hurt you, and that you should always be willing to do things—anything you were asked. This meant picking berries so that her mother could can them and make a lot of jelly and jam for the family to have to eat.
Grandparents
Margaret’s grandmother’s name was Elizabeth Larsdotter and her grandfather’s name was Eric Andersson. Her grandmother was born in Sweden and lived there all her life. Her grandfather also lived in Sweden. She doesn’t know what they did for a living. She never knew her grandparents or what they were like. She doesn’t know their names of her father’s parents. They were born and lived in Sweden, but doesn’t know anything more about them. She never saw them nor did she have a chance to spend time with them. They did have a brother living in California and a sister in Duluth. She never heard anything about her great grand parents, nor did she ever meet them. They emigrated from Sweden and became U.S. citizens. They came by boat. She said she could still have relatives living in Sweden.
They settled in Duluth. She stated that she doesn’t have any relatives that she has ever heard of who were famous or who took part in well known historical events. The family has traced its family tree back to the 1800’s.
Childhood
Margaret was born in the West End of Duluth. At the age of three she moved to Lester Park at 5027 Wyoming Street. The house was made of wood. It had three bedrooms, a kitchen, dining room, and bathroom. It was a rather cold house. It was a nice home, had a big yard and cement sidewalks. She played hopscotch, and had a lot of room for playing. The family ate in the kitchen most of the time except when company came. When they first moved in, wood was used to heat the house but later it was heated with coal. There was not a fireplace.
Her mother cooked and baked on a wood burning range. They had to buy their wood. It was stored in the basement and they’d put it in there through a window.
They had electricity in the house at Lester Park, but she doesn’t remember about the house in the West End Duluth. She did not know if they used candles or kerosene lamps, but remembers using real lighted candles on the Christmas tree. The home had a big cellar where wood and all the canned goods her mom made were kept. They also had a root cellar to keep their fresh fruit and vegetables in. They had city water in their home and it was plentiful.
Family, Relations, Responsibilities, and Conditions
Margaret was the sixth child born in her family. One of the duties she had as a child was to help pick the berries for the families use. When Margaret was 12 she had a paper route, winter and summer. She delivered 60 papers a day for three years. After her mother passed away she had to help with washing and ironing clothes.
Before her mother passed away, she did most of the cooking and cleaning, but afterwards the children had all of those things to do. Sometimes there was a lady who would come and help out.
Margaret’s mother had a good friend who came and made most of the children’s clothes although on occasion they bought some. After her mother passed away, Margaret learned a lot of these things from her mother’s friends. She never did learn to sew, crochet, knit or embroider. These just weren’t her things to do. She never did learn to drive a car or learn anything about them.
Margaret’s mother kept in touch with the relatives in Sweden. She had an uncle who lived in California and he used to come to visit. They never did go to visit relatives much. They only had an Aunt, uncle and a cousin living near them.
A postman delivered the mail to their home. Margaret’s sister, Shirley, named their pet cat Grandma. Margaret wasn’t sure why she chose that name. Maybe it was because she was old.
Margaret was especially closes to her brother, Einer, and her sister Shirley, but cared a lot for the rest too.
Most of the time the children took care of themselves and did their own thing—especially after her mother’s passing.
Margaret never had an allowance, the only money she had was what she got from her paper route. Sometimes on the way home from her paper route she would be so hungry she would stop and buy a can of soup and come home and eat the whole thing herself. Sometimes she’d buy some candy.
Margaret doesn’t remember hearing her parents discussing politics, or “maybe I just wasn’t interested!”
Family Income and Livelihood
The family’s income came from the farm Margaret’s father had at Bay View Heights out of Proctor. Her mother never worked out of the home. She only took care of her family. The only money Margaret ever had was from her paper route, which was very little in those days.
“We always raised a big garden which all of us kids helped out with. We raised many different vegetables and many potatoes to help feed the family.”
Margaret’s home had city water in it and it was plentiful.
Days, Seasons, Special Occasions
Margaret always went to Sunday School, at the Lester Park Methodist Church, and quite often her mother would invite friends in for Sunday dinner.
There were no other special days, except Margaret remembers always looking forward to summer coming, so that she could play softball, horseshoes, and other games.
Margaret remembers her mother always going to church on Easter Sunday, but doesn’t remember if the children went with.
“We always went to Lester Park on the 4th of July. We’d go early in the morning and come home around midnight.” These celebrations lasted for at least three days. There were many picnics. Margaret entered in all the races she could. It was always exciting for the family to watch the fire works. Margaret recalls getting in on a Jewish Picnic. The group let her be in their races, which she quite often won.
Margaret never had a birthday party as a child, but had her first one on her 80th birthday at the Parkside apartments. “What a party that was!”
To keep cool, in the summer, the kids would turn the water hose on, or wait for the wind to come off the lake.
Margaret didn’t have much for clothes when she was young. She always had to wear long underwear and long stockings. She had a jacket, but it wasn’t very warm. There were no snow pants like kids today have to keep them warm.
When her father had the dairy farm in 1928, Margaret woke up early one morning to a blizzard outside. Her father was going to try to get out with the car to call the fire truck, as their garage was on fire, but someone had siphoned the gas from their car, so they had to sit and watch it burn to the ground. They lost 2 cars besides many other things.
Margaret did not have many toys, but her favorite one was a baseball.
Margaret’s favorite recreation was playing baseball or horseshoe. Once she knocked out a catcher when they were playing ball, so they wouldn’t let her play with that bunch anymore.
She like to read books too, her favorite kinds were adventure and mystery.
Her brothers and sisters all liked sports. She considered sports “her hobby”.
“My best friend I can remember was Helen Faklo. In the evenings when we got together we would go skating in the winter. We would build a bonfire and roast wieners. What fun we had!”
“We used to play organized games, some of which were: Pump, Pump, Pull A-way, Anti Over, Kick the Can, and Redlight-Greenlight. I am sure there were more, but I don’t remember them.”
Even though we lived close to a big lake, I never learned to swim. I never participated in youth groups from the community.
I can’t remember if there was anyone I really admired. The one I considered to be my soul mate was Robert L. Anderson, Sr.
School
Margaret went to Lester Park Grade School, which was a big building. She never attended a one-room school. Her favorite subjects were “all of them” but especially gym and recess. Her favorite teacher was her kindergarten one. She couldn’t think of anyone in particular that she went to school with.
Margaret only lived three blocks from the school, so she always had to walk, but sometimes she ran. It really wasn’t a hardship because it wasn’t far to go.
“I did miss a lot of school;-, when we had all the common diseases that most kids got. We would read or play card games to help pass the time until we could go back to school. In the summer, I lived at the play ground and picked berries.”
Margaret had her first date at the age of 18. It turned out “to be a joke!”
Margaret’s proudest achievement in school was, “just getting out!”
Transportation and Surroundings
We lived in Duluth and it was big. We shopped in down town Duluth. There were a lot of stores there. A few other big places we used to go, when we were young, were to Two Harbors, Cloquet, and Solon Springs, Wisconsin. When we were young we never went anywhere by train, and I never went in a horse and buggy. I don’t remember when my dad got his first car or how much it cost, but it was an Oakland. We never did go on vacations.
Traditions
Margaret doesn’t recall having any family traditions. She attributes that to her parents passing at such a young age.
Margaret stated that she would like to pass on to future generations “It never hurts anyone to work hard” and she believed she helped her children to “learn to think wisely for themselves and make wise decisions.”
Marriage and Later Life
Margaret met her husband-Robert Leslie Anderson, when she lived with her sister and her husband. Her brother-in-law had arranged to have her there to meet Margaret, but when she saw him come in, she hid in a closet for three hours. She didn’t think he would ever go home! Later, she started dating him. Her first date was on New Year’s Eve. She was proposed to after they had dated around a year. They were married at the Zion Lutheran Church in Duluth on December 29, 1937. Margaret was 21 and her husband was 26. She never did go on a honeymoon. She moved into a brand new home on Stebner and Arrowhead Road. They had 10 acres. They lived there for three years before moving into a home on Piedmonts Heights.
Margaret’s husband worked on the boats on the Great Lakes. “My husband was a good carpenter and could fix any thing.” Robert once baked her a birthday cake.
One of the memories Margaret has of the war years was always having to stand in line for things. She also has always voted for a democratic president.
Margaret and Robert were blessed with the birth of three sons, all born in Duluth. They were Robert Leslie Anderson, Jr. in 1939, Keith in 1949 and Jeff born in 1952. Keith was born during Margaret’s seventh month of pregnancy weighing only four pounds. She barely made it to the hospital with him.
Margaret says she struggled greatly after becoming divorced. It was challenging to raise three small boys by herself.
Margaret claims to have strong religious beliefs and believes it is important in living a good life.
The thing that gave Margaret the most satisfaction in life was raising her three sons and playing sports of any kind.
The thing that disturbed her most in her life was losing her parents at such a young age and not having them to grow up with.
“I am very proud of my kids and my most important achievement was winning the Horseshoe in the Senior Olympics at the age of 70. “I threw my last horseshoe and won with a double ringer, and then I retired from it!”
One of Margaret’s most embarrassing moments was the night she was married to Ray Ekroot. “When we left after the wedding, he made a wrong turn and ended up spending the night in a gravel pit.”
Margaret says she enjoyed listening to all music except loud rock and roll.
Margaret never did travel much, but did make three boat trips on the Great Lakes and spent one winter on the boats on Lake Erie with Robert Anderson, Sr.
Another bit of added information:
Margaret’s family used to go out to the dairy farm her father ran in the summer time. When Margaret was about nine, the dairy barn burned down.
It was a short time after their garage and cars burned up that her father passed away.
Margaret quit school when she was sixteen and went to work to help support herself by working for people in their homes.
You have a wonderful mom that is proud of her children. She set a good example for you boys, that hard work never hurt anyone.
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Topics: Genealogy and Family History | 3 Comments »
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