This letter does not have the year stated, and 1922 is just a guess.
Jonas Victor mentions a terrible storm that struck the area that he calls a hurricane. I have found a record of a bad tornado that struck Omaha, NE on November 4, 1922, so this must be the correct date.
After the death of his wife, Anna Greta, in June 1922, Jonas Victor lived part time with his children, mostly in Omaha, Nebraska, and Randolph, Clay Center and Cleburne, Kansas.
I wish he had written what work the women in his family did. I do know that my aunt Huldah, daughter of Grandma Matilda Swenson Skonberg, worked in a store the Swenson Brothers had set up near Osage City, Kansas. Roselyn
Omaha, Nebraska
November 8, 1922
Dear Brother Albert and Family.
Now in my life's evening, I will try to write a letter to you. I cannot verbally talk to you, but my thoughts are often of you, and I wonder how you are.
I am still in Omaha, but if I am still alive when you get this letter, I will be with my son Alfred in Randolph, Kansas, a big town like Omaha. (I never knew Randolph to be nearly that size-Roselyn). There is so much to see. Everything moves so quickly. If you are in the shopping center among the big buildings, some are from four to eight stories, there are many automobiles and trucks there. It is nearly impossible to cross the street, and everybody is in a hurry.
I think that in forty years it will be another generation. Of those who are now living, not many will be alive. Everything is vanity and perishes under the sun. It I go to a park, there are many flowers and it is very beautiful and nice to see. There are thousands of people there, and they talk to each other and enjoy it. You do not see any discord.
A week ago there was a hurricane in the south part of town; about four miles from here, trees were pulled up by the roots. The houses were destroyed, with large floods and five people were killed and five hundred were homeless.
In a little town twenty-five miles from here, there was a burial of 118 people, some from Illinois, who were in the same house after the burial, were killed. (I am not sure what he means here--Roselyn). The rain and the hurricane destroyed the house. Such accidents do not happen in Sweden. I think that you can read in the newspaper what happens in other countries, that never happens to you.
Here in Omaha they have built several hundred houses in summer. The people go to the bigger towns, especially the young. If they have knowledge and are clever they earn a lot of money. They have short working hours. In the evening they visit different places of amusement.
Even the girls earn much money. My daughter (Matilda), has a daughter who makes $175 a month. She works seven and a half hours a day. Saturday afternoon is free. My daughter (Matilda), has a daughter in law who makes $175 a month. They have no children and her husband is sick. Many people do not earn that much money. Girls who have grown up on a farm can work for a rich family and earn $15 a week.
The railway workers say what they want to earn. If they do not get that, they go on strike. When there are hundreds of thousands, and the trains stop, no power can do anything against them. The bigger towns grow quickly. In the smaller towns there is not much work. The carpenters receive $1.25-1.50 an hour. In small towns they do not build anything.
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