Amalie+Bratberg+(Elizabeth+Bolton)

Amalie Bratberg was born in Minnesota in 1880, the daughter of Anders Bratberg. Her mother left soon after she was born, so she does not know much about her mother or even who her mom was. Her dad tells her that her mother has done some wonderful things in her life, but Amalie can not imagine that a woman who leaves her own daughter could be a good person. Amalie's father, Anders, immigrated to the United States from Norway with his parents and two sisters in 1849 when he was ten years old. One of his sisters died during the journey, and this led him to become a very protective, cautious father to Amalie. Although he tried to be a good father, he worked as a miner, minning limestone every day, with very long hours and small paychecks. Early in her life, Amalie's father has financial trouble and he sends her to work at James Aaron Richardson's farm, a very rich, prosperous farmer with many acres for immigrants to work on. On her first day going to work, she meets a wonderful young man named Charles H. Mayo, who relates to her the recent tragedy of a tornado ruining his father's career. She vows to help him, and ends up working at the Mayo Clinic for a year, not letting her father know. When her father finds out, he beats her and gets very angry, causing her to run away.
 * Amalie's Early Childhood:**

[|Mining for Limestone in Minnesota] [|History of Mayo Clinic (Where Amalie works for a year)]

She ends up going to Chicago, where she goes to Jane Addams' Hull House and meets Lena Kepple. Amalie can not help but feel very attached to Jane, feeling as though Jane is the mother that she has missed in her life. Amalie and Lena become very good friends at the Hull house, and often discussed the many problems in America, such as poverty and the status of women. Amalie would often think about their conversations, and soon joined The Social Purity Movement and the [|Illinois Woman Suffrage Movement.] -- (Illionois passed a bill for women's suffrage in 1913-- [|Women's Suffrage in Illinois] ). Jane Addams encourages Amalie to receive a college education. Since Jane Addams taught some classes at the University of Chicago, she brought Amalie along with her one day. Impressed by her background with science and Jane's recommendation, [|William Rainey Harper], the president of the University, decides to offer Amalie a scholarship. Amalie spends a majority of her time [|University of Chicago]. In her spare time, Amalie talks to the immigrants in the Hull House and plays with the children. She soon decided to spread her ideas with Lena at a public, very popular place, and where better to spread their ideas than the Chicago World's Fair? Lena and Amalie travel to the Fair together, where they are enthralled by the people, the buildings, especially the Liberal Arts Building, and the Ferris Wheel. It was also there though, that Amalie saw Masika "Moonlight" and other belly dancers that absolutely disgusted her. She decided that she wanted to help women throughout America by purifying their problems like their need to flaunt themselves sexually, and also advocated women's suffrage. While in Chicago, Amalie saw that there would be a speech by members of the [|Woman's Christian Temperance Union.] The president of that union, and the speaker at the meeting would be [|Frances Willard]. Amalie was very excited to go and stayed in Chicago a little longer than she had planned to attend that speech. Afterwards, Amalie approached Frances and spoke wither her about her many progressive ideas. They went back to Frances' house and spoke regarding America and it's future.
 * Amalie in Chicago:**

She would never forget how much Frances Willard inspired her. Two years later, Amalie sees that Frances Willard will be giving a presidential speech in Baltimore, Maryland, and she gets on a train to listen to her again. Frances' [|President's Address] (especially look at Purity, Politics, and the Enfrachisement of Women) caused Amalie to want to travel and spread her ideas about purity and women's suffrage. Amalie travels to Los Angeles to spread her ideas, but also eager to see all of the new developments in California. While there, Amalie visits the Orpheum Theatre, where she meets Pietro Vincenzo. When she finds out that a major source of income for him are his belly dancers, she reprimands him and tells him of other alternatives rather than promoting prostitution. From Los Angeles, Amalie travels to New York, a place she had always wanted to visit since she was younger and eager to spread her progressive ideas. While in New York, Amalie picks up a copy of William Randolph Hearst's //The New York Journal.// In it she sees that stock prices are rising very quickly and decides to invest some of her money in the stocks. Amalie also goes to Ellis Island and speaks to a group of people about women's suffrage and the immorality of prostitution.
 * Amalie traveling:**

[|Progressive Women's Attitudes Towards Sex]

When the United States entered WWI, Amalie decided that she wanted to help and play an important role. Back in Baltimore at the time, Amalie travels to Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, where she enrolls as a [|nurse] at the naval base in Annapolis. For the next four years, Amalie served as a nurse in Annapolis. While there, she helped heal Peter Edwin, a British marine who fought in the [|Battle of Jutland] under the command of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. A year later after many months spent together, Peter proposes to Amalie, and Amalie says yes. They get married in Annapolis, but decide to settle in Baltimore, still close enough to Annapolis so Peter can travel to the naval base in Annapolis and help train the new marines. Amalie and Peter have two children, two boys named William and Kenneth. **
 * Amalie during WWI:

Pictures: Frances Willard's House



Amalie Bratberg Bibliography