Primary Name: Varnes, Ms. Osvald

Filed as: Varnes, Ms. Osvald

Also known as: Mrs. Osvald Varnes

Occupation / Association: Charter member, Svalbard Lodge No. 12, Sons of Norway

Associated places: Juneau, Alaska

Keywords: Osvald Varnes family, Mrs Osvald Varnes, Sons of Norway Svalbard Lodge, Svalbard Lodge charter members, Norwegian Americans Juneau, Juneau Norwegian community, Juneau fraternal organizations

Biography

Ms. Osvald Varnes was associated with the Norwegian-American community in Juneau, Alaska, during the early twentieth century.

She was a charter member of the Svalbard Lodge of the Sons of Norway, which was organized in Juneau in 1934. The lodge was established to promote Norwegian heritage, language, and mutual support among Norwegian immigrants and their descendants living in Southeast Alaska.

As a charter member of the lodge, Varnes helped found one of the region's principal Scandinavian fraternal organizations in Juneau, reflecting the strong Norwegian presence in the region during Alaska’s territorial period.

Sources

Sons of Norway Svalbard Lodge records.

Primary Name: Varnes, Osvald

Filed as: Varnes, Osvald

Also known as: Osvald Varnes

Occupation / Association: Charter Member, Svalbard Lodge, Sons of Norway

Associated places: Juneau, Alaska

Keywords: Osvald Varnes, Varnes family Juneau, Sons of Norway Svalbard Lodge charter members, Norwegian Americans Juneau, Juneau fraternal organizations

Biography

Osvald Varnes was a charter member of the Svalbard Lodge of the Sons of Norway in Juneau, Alaska.

The Svalbard Lodge was organized in 1934 as part of the Sons of Norway, a fraternal organization that served Norwegian immigrants and their descendants by promoting cultural heritage, mutual aid, and community fellowship.

Sources

Sons of Norway Svalbard Lodge records

The Svalbard Lodge of the Sons of Norway was chartered in Juneau, Alaska in 1934.

The formation of the Sons of Norway as a fraternal benefits society came as the result of several historic events in 19th century America—an intense period of Norwegian emigration to the United States in the 1870s and 1880s, the rise of fraternal organizations to address the economic needs of members, and the onset of the economic depression of 1893.

The Norwegian immigrant men responsible for founding the organization lived in the Norwegian colony that had formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the 1870s. What they created was a merger of a love for their homeland, a fierce loyalty to their new country, and the desire for a degree of financial security for themselves and fellow Norwegian-Americans.

The economic consequences of the 1893 depression were dire for Norwegians. Most were farmers who depended on optimum conditions of health, crop production, and market prices to provide a decent quality of life for their families. Smaller numbers of Norwegian tradesman and craftsmen depended on the financial successes of others in their communities for a livable wage. When local, regional and national economies spiraled downward, all were affected negatively.

Practical, cautious, and driven to find solutions to the financial problems many Norwegian-American families faced, the founders looked to their homeland for answers. Several of them had lived in Trondheim, where for a small weekly fee, members and their families acquired free medical care. Borrowing from that plan, the men designed a mutual assistance organization to provide members with security against financial crisis, a forum to celebrate Norwegian-American nationalism, and a means to preserve the treasured literature, music, art, foods and customs of Norway.

Membership was limited to men from 20 to 50 years old who were in good health, capable of supporting a family, morally upright, and Norwegian or of Norwegian decent. All requirements but the last were typical of fraternal insurance organizations of the time. Later in the 19-teens, women were first allowed to join Sons of Norway lodges in places where no Daughters of Norway auxiliary was available.