Individual Details
Emma Viola Engebretson
(4 Jun 1902 - )
HSO, 16 Nov 1967
Hudsonite Surrounded by Useable Antiques
Editor's Note: The following article, written by Katherine L. Karras, appeared in the Wisconsin section of Sunday's St. Paul Pioneer Press.
There is nothing new in collecting antiques, but for many collectors it is a new adventure to actually use what they have dug out of attics and cellars.
"You can sit in any of my chairs," said Miss Emma Engrebretson. "I wouldn't have anything around that couldn't be used."
Miss Engebretson has a whole houseful of antiques which have been brought into service.
"I like wood burning stoves," she said. "I had three at one time but I can only have one in the kitchen." A teakettle whistles on the stove and coffee--egg coffee, no less--is perked in a little enameled coffee pot.
"There's quite a bit of work in keeping a wood stove fired up," Miss Engebretson laughed. "Part of the fun is going in the woods to get fuel. My job is to stack it right near the door so its handy."
There are flatirons at the back of the range, heated "just right." "They come in handy for quick touch-ups for scarves or blouses," she said.
There is a combination writing desk and cupboard of oak which serves as a good place for Miss Engebretson to store or sort music in the dining room.
The pictures, many of them more than a hundred years old, have hard-carved frames. "I remember some of these things in my grandmother's house. I like to have them around because of the memories," she said.
Her memories take her back to her parents' farm near Martell, Wis. My father (Jacob) played the guitar - zither and mother played the organ and sang. I earned $25 for playing the church organ in the country church for one year. I was 13 years old then."
Miss Engebretson has both the old reed organ ahd her father's guitar - zither. There isn't a day goes by that she doesn't practice on the organ because she is a solist at weddings and funerals in churches locally and in the area.
Miss Engebretson is a member of the St. Croix Historical Society. She can make history spring into life when she dons her ante-bellum costume, packs up a small portable reed organ and gets behind the wheel of her 1929 Model A Ford, and heads for a convention of Wisconsin historical socities.
She can sing and play most of the old-time songs from the Civil War era through "Keep the Home Fires Burning"--a World War I piece.
She has retired from her job at the telephone switchboard to attend to the things she feels important.
"I want to be ready to sing anywhere. There were so many times I couldn't go to a nursing home or a hospital to sing. Now I can go when I'm needed."
"I feel that singing hymns is an important part of my life. I want to fulfill this part of Christian missionary work. There is so much joy in singing the good old church hymns."
Miss Engebretson said that in collecting and preserving many of the good things of her ancestors, she feels she is surrounded by furnishings that bring peace and contentment.
There is one thing which she particularly cherishes but it would be a useless item. It is a big wooden sledge. "During the holidays we drove from farm to farm, singing Norwegian songs and sharing in neighborhood treats. "Rolla Polsa," a Norwegian pressed meat used in sandwiches made with warm homemade bread, was the "treat" most often served by the Norwegian families in the Martell area.
HSO, 30 May 1996, p18a
Emma Viola Engebretson, 93, of Hudson died Wednesday, May 22, at the Christian Community Home of Hudson, where she had been a resident since 1993.
She was born June 4, 1902, at Martell, Pierce county, the daughte of Jacob M. and Karen (Knutson) Engebretson, and attended school there. In 1920 the family moved to Hudson.
She attended the McPhail School of Music in Minneapolis, where she excelled in piano and voice.
For many years she was a telephone operator in Hudson for the Wisconsin Telephone Company, retiring in June 1967.
Music was an important part of her life, and she gave freely of her talents to the community. She was in constant demand to play or sing for weddings, funerals, programs and many special events.
She was a longtime member of the United Methodist Church, the Rebekahs, the St. Croix County Historical Society and the Pioneers of the Wisconsin Telephone Company. She was the proud owner of a 1929 Model A Ford car, which she drove about town until a few years ago. She also appeared in local parade driving her vintage Ford, enjoying every minute of it.
Surviving locally are a niece, Shirley (George) Spencer of Hudson; grandnephews David (Lila) and Michael Spencer of Hudson, Donald Spencer of Oakdale, Minn. and other nieces and nephews.
Besides her parents, she was preceded in death by four brothers, Alfred, Melvin, Peter and William Engebretson, and two sisters, Julia Lake and Clara Zentzis.
Funeral services were at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 25, at the United Methodist Church in Hudson, the Rev. Thomas Nustad officiating. During the service Mary Post was organist, and Adele Dolan was guitarist and vocalist.
Burial was in Willow River Cemetery.
I can recall Emma being present a some family functions, she was vocalist at my mother's funeral, but it wasn't until I begin to tie the loose ends togethr for this family history that I made the family connection.
Hudsonite Surrounded by Useable Antiques
Editor's Note: The following article, written by Katherine L. Karras, appeared in the Wisconsin section of Sunday's St. Paul Pioneer Press.
There is nothing new in collecting antiques, but for many collectors it is a new adventure to actually use what they have dug out of attics and cellars.
"You can sit in any of my chairs," said Miss Emma Engrebretson. "I wouldn't have anything around that couldn't be used."
Miss Engebretson has a whole houseful of antiques which have been brought into service.
"I like wood burning stoves," she said. "I had three at one time but I can only have one in the kitchen." A teakettle whistles on the stove and coffee--egg coffee, no less--is perked in a little enameled coffee pot.
"There's quite a bit of work in keeping a wood stove fired up," Miss Engebretson laughed. "Part of the fun is going in the woods to get fuel. My job is to stack it right near the door so its handy."
There are flatirons at the back of the range, heated "just right." "They come in handy for quick touch-ups for scarves or blouses," she said.
There is a combination writing desk and cupboard of oak which serves as a good place for Miss Engebretson to store or sort music in the dining room.
The pictures, many of them more than a hundred years old, have hard-carved frames. "I remember some of these things in my grandmother's house. I like to have them around because of the memories," she said.
Her memories take her back to her parents' farm near Martell, Wis. My father (Jacob) played the guitar - zither and mother played the organ and sang. I earned $25 for playing the church organ in the country church for one year. I was 13 years old then."
Miss Engebretson has both the old reed organ ahd her father's guitar - zither. There isn't a day goes by that she doesn't practice on the organ because she is a solist at weddings and funerals in churches locally and in the area.
Miss Engebretson is a member of the St. Croix Historical Society. She can make history spring into life when she dons her ante-bellum costume, packs up a small portable reed organ and gets behind the wheel of her 1929 Model A Ford, and heads for a convention of Wisconsin historical socities.
She can sing and play most of the old-time songs from the Civil War era through "Keep the Home Fires Burning"--a World War I piece.
She has retired from her job at the telephone switchboard to attend to the things she feels important.
"I want to be ready to sing anywhere. There were so many times I couldn't go to a nursing home or a hospital to sing. Now I can go when I'm needed."
"I feel that singing hymns is an important part of my life. I want to fulfill this part of Christian missionary work. There is so much joy in singing the good old church hymns."
Miss Engebretson said that in collecting and preserving many of the good things of her ancestors, she feels she is surrounded by furnishings that bring peace and contentment.
There is one thing which she particularly cherishes but it would be a useless item. It is a big wooden sledge. "During the holidays we drove from farm to farm, singing Norwegian songs and sharing in neighborhood treats. "Rolla Polsa," a Norwegian pressed meat used in sandwiches made with warm homemade bread, was the "treat" most often served by the Norwegian families in the Martell area.
HSO, 30 May 1996, p18a
Emma Viola Engebretson, 93, of Hudson died Wednesday, May 22, at the Christian Community Home of Hudson, where she had been a resident since 1993.
She was born June 4, 1902, at Martell, Pierce county, the daughte of Jacob M. and Karen (Knutson) Engebretson, and attended school there. In 1920 the family moved to Hudson.
She attended the McPhail School of Music in Minneapolis, where she excelled in piano and voice.
For many years she was a telephone operator in Hudson for the Wisconsin Telephone Company, retiring in June 1967.
Music was an important part of her life, and she gave freely of her talents to the community. She was in constant demand to play or sing for weddings, funerals, programs and many special events.
She was a longtime member of the United Methodist Church, the Rebekahs, the St. Croix County Historical Society and the Pioneers of the Wisconsin Telephone Company. She was the proud owner of a 1929 Model A Ford car, which she drove about town until a few years ago. She also appeared in local parade driving her vintage Ford, enjoying every minute of it.
Surviving locally are a niece, Shirley (George) Spencer of Hudson; grandnephews David (Lila) and Michael Spencer of Hudson, Donald Spencer of Oakdale, Minn. and other nieces and nephews.
Besides her parents, she was preceded in death by four brothers, Alfred, Melvin, Peter and William Engebretson, and two sisters, Julia Lake and Clara Zentzis.
Funeral services were at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 25, at the United Methodist Church in Hudson, the Rev. Thomas Nustad officiating. During the service Mary Post was organist, and Adele Dolan was guitarist and vocalist.
Burial was in Willow River Cemetery.
I can recall Emma being present a some family functions, she was vocalist at my mother's funeral, but it wasn't until I begin to tie the loose ends togethr for this family history that I made the family connection.
Events
| Birth | 4 Jun 1902 |  |
Families
| Father | Jacob M. Engebretson (1859 - 1950) |
| Mother | Carrie (Karen) Knudson (1872 - 1944) |
| Sibling | Peter Edwin Engebretson (1883 - 1936) |
| Sibling | Julia Matilda Engebretson (1886 - 1936) |
| Sibling | Melvin E. Engebretson (1896 - 1977) |
| Sibling | Clara Mae Engebretson (1900 - 1987) |
| Sibling | Alfred Engebretson |
| Sibling | William Engebretson (1908 - 1931) |
Endnotes
1. Book, Is There Any Lutefisk And Lefse Left?, P.M. Wiff, 1994.