Saturday, June 18, 2016

Matilda "Tillie" Sophie Rasmussen, RN, ANC, 1890-1945

Image Credit: Registered Nurse Licensing File
Washington State Digital Archives
Matilda “Tillie” Sophie Rasmussen was born on Oct. 4, 1890, to Hans Peter Rasmussen and Julia Gunderson.  Census records indicate she was born in Wisconsin, the exact city is unknown. Matilda was the couple’s second child, joining older sister Estella who was born in August, 1887. Three more siblings joined the family before the 1900 census; Alma born February, 1893, Nels born November, 1894, and Laura born in January, 1897. Records found for Nels and Laura indicate the family was living in Colby, Clark County, Wisconsin during the 1890s. This provides one clue as to where in Wisconsin Matilda may have been born.

The family uprooted from their home in Wisconsin in the late 1890s and replanted in the small town of Kent, Washington. Kent was incorporated as city in King County in May of 1890 and had prospered thanks to the success of growing hops. By the time the Rasmussen family arrived in Kent, an aphid outbreak had destroyed nearly all of the hop yield and the town had turned to other crops. Hans Peter found work as a blacksmith in Kent and the older children, including Matilda, attended school in the city. On July 24, 1900, daughter Helen Corinne was welcomed into the family.

After attending school, Matilda enrolled in the Minor Hospital nurse training school in Seattle. Three years later in May of 1913, she was one of ten nurses who graduated from the program. A few days after graduating, she applied and was approved as a registered nurse in the state of Washington.

In April of 1914, Matilda took a position at St. Anne’s Hospital in Juneau, Alaska. Records could not be found for how long this position was held. She enlisted as a nurse in World War I, however the exact date of her enlistment was not found. By July 1918, she was serving at the U.S. Army Base Hospital in Rockford, Illinois. In late 1918, she was sent overseas to serve at Base Hospital 50 in France.

Following the war, Tillie returned home to Kent, Washington. She found work as a nurse and lived with her parents.  Her mother passed away on January 16, 1926, and her father passed a few months later on April 18. Matilda continued to live in the family home at 711 Meeker St. E in Kent. She left nursing and found a career as a ladies hairdresser.

In 1930, tragedy struck when Helen’s husband, Kenneth Cahail, died when his work truck collided with an automobile in Seattle. Helen was left to raise their two young sons; Kenneth Jr and Joseph.   Seattle City Directories show the family living at a home in Seattle until 1931 when Helen and her sons are absent from the directory. It is likely that Helen moved back to Kent to be closer to the rest of the family.

According to cemetery records, tragedy struck the Cahail family again when Helen passed away sometime around 1940. No death record or obituary could be found to provide details on her death. She was buried next to her husband in Hillcrest Burial Park in Kent, Washington. Kenneth Jr. and Joseph are found living with their aunt Tillie in the 1940 census. It is unknown if the boys moved in after Helen’s death or if they had been living in the Rasmussen family home since the death of their father.

Just five short years later, on April 1, 1945, Matilda “Tillie” passed away in Kenmore, Washington. She is buried next to her sister Helen at Hillcrest Burial Park in Kent.

Sources: 
  1. Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Census Place: Kent, King, Washington; Roll: 1744; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 0076
  2. Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Year: 1910; Census Place: Meeker, King, Washington; Roll: T624_1657; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0043
  3. Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Year: 1920; Census Place: Kent, King, Washington; Roll: T625_1924; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 44
  4. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002. Year: 1930; Census Place: Kent, King, Washington; Roll: 2490; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 0306; Image:384.0
  5. Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Year: 1940; Census Place: Meridian, King, Washington; Roll: T627_4345; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 17-134
  6. Ancestry.com. Washington, Select Death Certificates, 1907-1960 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. 
  7. Helen Corinne Rasmussen Cahail. Memorial #117483434. Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/. 
  8. “History of Kent.” Kent Historical Museum . http://gkhs.org/kent-history/
  9. Laura Merriam Rasmussen (Baptism). Ancestry.com. U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Records, 1875-1940 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
  10. Matilda Sophie Rasmussen, Department of Licensing, Business and Professions Division, Registered Nurses Licensing Files, 1909-1917, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.wa.gov
  11. Matilda Sophie Rasmussen. Memorial # 120362380. Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/. 
  12. “Minor Hospital Will Graduate Ten Nurses” Seattle Times. May 30, 1913 Pg. 11
  13. Nels Arthur Rasmussen. Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. 
  14. “Nursing News and Announcements”. (1918). The American Journal of Nursing, 18(12), 1183-1205. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3405811
  15. "Nursing News and Announcements." The American Journal of Nursing 18, no. 10 (1918): 899-932. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3405471.
  16. “Personal and News Items: King County, Washington”  The Pacific Coast Journal of Nursing. Vol. X No. 4 April 1914. Pg. 188
  17. Seattle City Directories: 1925-1931. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
  18. ‘Truck Driver Dies in Crash.’ The Seattle Times. October 3, 1930. Pg. 7, Column 2



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