Hilda Olsen

Hilda Olsen was born in 1896, making her 19 years Nina’s junior.  Hilda was introduced as “Miss Olsen” in Nina’s diary of April 10, 1923, when Nina was working as a library assistant at the Waltham Public Library and Hilda was a teacher of gardening and natural history in the public schools there.  Hilda and Nina went from a professional relationship to a personal friendship, as evidenced not least by becoming on a first-name basis with one another, by September 9, 1923.  Nina and Hilda discovered a shared passion for nature and the outdoors, and a deep friendship was quickly cemented.  Hilda is a professional landscape architect by training, a graduate of the prestigious Lowthorpe School in Groton.  Hilda is the illegitimate daughter of a mother who immigrated to the U.S. from Sweden and worked as a cook in a private home.  Hilda is at turns energetic, sickly, affectionate, moody, manipulative; she is overall force of nature with whom Nina is constantly preoccupied, in an almost obsessive relationship that is difficult to categorize as either mother-daughter or big sister-little sister.  Hilda has lived for several years as a boarder in the home of the late Bradford W. Drake of Waltham, and his daughter, Martha “Dickie” Drake.

Earl Grey and I were startled when you first identified Hilda Olsen, Norwegian immigrant, as a landscape gardener. My father's family came from Scandinavia in the late 1800's and we never heard of an immigrant woman who did anything other than domestic work. The men were mostly skilled tradesmen, with a few farmers for variety, but -- landscape gardener? I don't think there is a Norwegian word for such a thing.

So I set up a family tree for Hilda in Ancestry.com. Long story short, Hilda appears to be the daughter of an immigrant cook named Oline Olsen and an anonymous member of a wealthy Boston family. Oline could not raise a child and keep her job, of course, so Baby Hilda was raised by foster parents Henry & Mary Hill on their farm in Canton.

Far as I can tell, our Hilda Olsen appears in only one family tree on ancestry.com. It's a small and sketchy tree that traces Oline Olsen and her immigrant siblings, and includes a findagrave memorial to Hilda, who is buried with the May family in Canton. A note calls Hilda a mysterious cousin. The owner of this tree also has a larger tree labelled May Family, but it's not public. I'm guessing that descendants of the Mays knew about Baby Hilda's origins. Next rainy day, I might try to get in touch with the tree owner & see if they can fill in more story.

Hilda Olsen appears in the 1900 Census of Canton as the 3 year old Boarder of Henry May, Farmer, his wife Mary and their sons Oscar & Walter, all 5 born in Massachusetts. In the 1910 census, Hilda is 13 years old and At School, still born in MA. In 1920, Walter Hill & his wife live with 23 yr old Hilda Olsen, who is a Landscape Gardener for a Private Family. That would be Bradford Winslow Drake, whose household also lists a 23 yr old Hilda Olsen of No Occupation. The Drakes report that Hilda was born in Norway, as were both her parents. Daughter Martha Drake, a Wellesley grad and sometime school teacher, appears to be BFF with Hilda, who meets Nina Winn at the Waltham library. In 1923, Nina Winn accompanies Hilda Olsen to visit her brother Walter Hill on the family farm near Ponkapoag Pond and the rest is, um, history.