Pearl Irene Veldee, 1900-1903

Headstone GPS Coordinates:

Birth: 21 Feb 1900, Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington, USA

Death: 17 Jan 1903, Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington, USA

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Martha Veldee

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None.

 

In the quiet, wooded Seabeck Cemetery lie two unmarked graves belonging to an infant and a toddler, Martha Veldee and Pearl Irene Veldee. They were the daughters of Norwegian immigrants Peder Pedersen Velde and Severine Salvesen—later known as Peter and Severine Veldee—who settled in Stavis Bay.

Peter Veldee was born July 2, 1859, in Rogaland, Norway, and trained as a schoolmaster. In 1882, he married fellow teacher Severine Salvesen of Kristiansand (born July 28, 1861). Their first child, Solveig (later known as Sophie), was born in 1883.

The family immigrated to the United States in 1885, settling in Hanley Falls, Minnesota. There  they had their son Conrad in 1886 and in 1888 they had another son named Willie.In 1889, the family traveled west to Seattle on an immigrant train equipped with a coal stove that allowed women to cook meals for their families along the journey. Upon arriving in Seattle, Peter worked as a carpenter while filing a claim for homestead land.

That same year, on June 6, 1889, the Great Seattle Fire destroyed 25 city blocks. Years later, Conrad recalled that his mother took the three children to the top of Denny Hill so they could watch the fire sweep through the city.

By October 1889, Peter had arranged for a man to help row the family and their belongings by boat from Seattle into Hood Canal. The four-day journey ended at their homestead site at Stavis Bay, south of Scenic Beach. The land included tidelands and offered sweeping views of the Olympic Peninsula.

Peter built a cabin using planks and cedar shakes salvaged from a burned mill at Seabeck. He cleared stumps, planted vegetables and fruit trees, and raised chickens. The family sold eggs to a grocery store in Seattle through the Seabeck store and earned additional income splitting cedar shakes.

Native Americans—likely members of the Skokomish Tribe—sometimes arrived by canoe and stopped to ask for milk for their babies. Peter learned some Chinook jargon to communicate with them. Conrad was often sent to hunt deer or ducks for food, and on one occasion he and his sister Solveig, both under the age of ten, caught a salmon so large they could not lift it into their rowboat. Instead, they dragged it behind the boat to shore.

The Veldee family continued to grow: Milton was born in 1890, shortly after the move to Seabeck; Martha was born in 1893 but tragically died later that same year and was buried in Seabeck Cemetery; Ida was born in 1894; Harry followed in 1896.

In 1897, Peter became an American citizen. At that time, he officially changed the family name from Velde to Veldee to make pronunciation easier.

On February 21, 1900, a daughter named Pearl Irene was born. Family accounts say she became suddenly ill at age two and died on January 17, 1903, in Seabeck. She was likely buried beside her sister Martha in Seabeck Cemetery, though no grave markers exist.

The last child, Nina May, was born in 1903.

The family lived on the homestead for fifteen years, during which time the boys learned carpentry skills that would serve them throughout their lives.

In 1903, the family moved to Bremerton so the boys could attend school. Peter purchased 30 acres in Central Valley at the intersection of Bucklin Hill and Fairgrounds Road, where he raised Jersey cattle and operated a truck garden.

Several Veldee children went on to distinguished careers, including education, carpentry, real estate, and medicine. Most notably, Milton Veldee became a physician and medical researcher, developing a scarlet fever antitoxin and serving for decades with the U.S. military and the National Institutes of Health.

In 1919, Severine died of the Spanish flu while living in Bremerton. Peter continued to live on the farm until his death in 1933. Both Peter and Severine are buried at Ivy Green Cemetery, where their graves are marked.