Kneeland, Signe Andrea Anderson

Signe Andrea (Anderson) Kneeland was born on June 26, 1889 in Norbostad, on the Rana Fjord in northern Norway. She had three brothers and four sisters, and her parents were Johanna and Johannes Anderson; her father fished in the winter and farmed during the summer. Signe grew up on the farm and went to school in Lavong, a town five miles away. Her mother died around 1899, and Signe immigrated to America without her family when she was thirteen. She reached Trondheim, Norway, on April 1, 1903 and traveled with a woman named Nikoline, who was also on her way to the U.S. They landed on Ellis Island, took the train to Montreal, Canada, and then on to Minnesota. Signe was taken to Irvin (?), MN, where she worked for the Thomas Nilsen family for three years. She was confirmed while in Irvin and went to school for three months when she first arrived in the U.S.

After leaving the Nilsens, Signe did some housekeeping and then got a job in Willmar, MN, in a hotel. She worked for a Danish family, the Fritz Nilsen family, in Atwater, MN, for about six months. She then went back to Willmar, where she worked at Sambo's Restaurant and met Inga Tollefson. They both worked at Sambo's until it went out of business and then held a few other jobs. They took a train excursion to Washington State in 1910 and decided to stay in Washington because the trees reminded Signe of Norway. After visiting a few friends and relatives in Anacortes, WA and Parkland (Tacoma), WA, Signe got a job in a boarding house and Inga worked for a family in Tacoma. Inga then went to Shelton, WA, where she met the Kneeland family. Signe visited her in Shelton and also met the Kneeland's, and then went to California for four months before returning to Shelton.

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