Densho Digital Repository
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: John A. (Jack) Svahn Interview
Narrator: John A. (Jack) Svahn
Interviewer: Tom Ikeda
Location: Reno, Nevada
Date: May 24, 2023
Densho ID: ddr-densho-1000-536-2

<Begin Segment 2>

TI: Going back to your father, how did your father's family go to Spokane, Washington? I ask this question because we're based in Seattle, Washington, and so I'm always curious how people got to the state of Washington. So how did your father's family come to the Spokane area?

JS: Well, my grandfather came from Sweden. And he went to work for the railroad, Northern Pacific at the time, and he was out in Montana and he just sort of moved across a little bit and he wound up, before he bought the ranch, he had a store and it was the train station, and he was the postmaster.

TI: Interesting.

JS: That was 1920.

TI: And then going back, what was your father's name?

JS: Albert, Al. Albert Russell Svahn.

TI: Okay. And then going back to your mother, mother was your mother's maiden name?

JS: Caferro.

TI: Okay, and her first name was?

JS: Esther.

TI: And same question about your mother's family. How did they come to...

JS: Same train.

TI: Same train?

JS: Only my grandfather worked for the Great Northern as opposed to the Northern Pacific. And they had a lot of, my mother's relatives came over from Italy and they all went to work for the Great Northern railroad. So I had relatives in Milwaukee and Chicago and Cut Bank.

TI: All the places where the train would stop?

JS: Whitefish.

TI: Because, I mean, Whitefish, those are all on the train line.

JS: Nice mountain go to skiing there.

TI: No, it is. I like that place, too. For the viewers, we're both skiers, we were talking about that before.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.