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Astrid Rosing Sawyer

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Astrid Rosing Sawyer
A white woman with tousled fair hair and a stern expression
Astrid Rosing Sawyer, from a 1922 publication
Born
Astrid Scheel Rosing

15 May 1874
Denmark
DiedJanuary 31, 1954
Chicago, Illinois, US
Other namesA. R. Sawyer
Occupation(s)Businesswoman, translator

Astrid Scheel Rosing Sawyer (15 May 1874 – January 31, 1954) was a Danish-born businesswoman and translator.

Early life

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Astrid Scheel Rosing was from Copenhagen, Denmark,[1] the daughter of Ulrik Rosing and Anna Gustien. She emigrated to the United States as a girl in 1888,[2] with her siblings and their widowed mother.[3][4]

Career

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A side-view of a delivery truck in 1915; side is painted to read "Astrid S. Rosing Building Materials, Sand and Gravel"
A Kisselkar truck belonging to Astrid S. Rosing Inc.; "I hesitated a long time before deciding to buy a motor truck," she explained to a 1915 trade magazine, "but now I wish I had bought it six months, yes a year ago."[5]

In her teens, hoping to earn money for singing lessons,[1] Rosing worked as a stenographer and typist at a building materials company in Chicago. In time, she learned the business, and formed the Astrid S. Rosing Inc., a successful building materials dealer.[4][6] She owned a fleet of motor trucks (still a novelty in 1915 Chicago)[5][7] and several warehouses and supply yards. "Men told me it was no business for a woman," she recalled later. "No, that didn't discourage me and I never for a minute had any notion of giving up."[2] She spoke to the Illinois Clay Manufacturers' Association convention in 1917.[8]

Later in life, Sawyer did literary translations from Danish to English, including a children's book by Torry Gredsted [da],[9] The Castle of Contentment: Letters from a Jutland Farm (1937) by Gunnar Nislev,[10][11] Kaj Munk's VIctory and He Sits at the Crucible (1944).[12] She also translated Hjalmar Meidell's Henry VIII and Catherine Howard from Norwegian to English.[13]

Sawyer was also co-founder and vice-president of the Chicago Equestrian Association.[14][15]

Personal life

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Astrid Rosing married American engineer, Walter Percy Sawyer, in 1918, in Chicago.[16] He worked at Astrid S. Rosing, Inc. "Never leave your work to find yourself a husband," she advised. "Let him find you."[17] They had a daughter, Helen Marion Sawyer. Astrid Rosing Sawyer died in 1954, aged 79 years, in Illinois.[18]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Woman Singer Heads Business". Calgary Herald. 1931-07-07. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-04-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b Chase, M. E. "From Stenographer to the Ownership of a $100,000 Business" Fort Dearborn Magazine (1922): 8, 30.
  3. ^ "Once Failed as Typist; Now Makes Million Yearly". The Alexander City Outlook. 1928-03-08. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-04-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b Foley, Margaret (November 1919). "At the End of a Hollow Tile". The Green Book Magazine. 22: 85–88.
  5. ^ a b "More Modern Deliveries" Rock Products and Building Materials (December 1915): 13.
  6. ^ "Making More Money: The 'Hollow-Tile Girl'". Dayton Daily News. 1921-02-12. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-04-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Truck to Deliver Building Materials". Municipal Engineering. 49: 239. December 1915.
  8. ^ "Woman Talks to Workers in Clay". The Champaign Daily News. 1917-01-16. p. 9. Retrieved 2021-04-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Gredsted, Torry (1938). Jorn. Reilly & Lee.
  10. ^ Sydney, Walter (1937-05-15). "Passed in Review". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-04-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Plov, Jaegermester; Nislev, Gunnar (1937). The Castle of Contentment: Letters from a Jutland Farm. Literary Licensing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-258-14864-5.
  12. ^ Library of Congress Copyright Office (1943). Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [C] Group 3. Dramatic Composition and Motion Pictures. New Series. pp. 16, 67.
  13. ^ Office, Library of Congress Copyright (1945). Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [C] Group 3. Dramatic Composition and Motion Pictures. New Series. p. 33.
  14. ^ Chicago Equestrian Association (1921). Chicago Equestrian Association : Organized 1908 – via Internet Archive.
  15. ^ "Equestrians Defy Mail in Fifteen-Mile Ride; Woman Leads the Dash from Lincolin Park". Chicago Examiner. November 25, 1910. p. 6. Retrieved April 2, 2021 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  16. ^ "Astrid S. Rosing Forms Life Partnership". Brick and Clay Record. 53: 622. October 8, 1918.
  17. ^ Gibbons, Roy (1922-04-07). "She Found Success and Romance in Sewer Pipes". The Buffalo Times. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-04-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Obituary for Astrid SAWYER". Chicago Tribune. 1954-02-02. p. 45. Retrieved 2021-04-02 – via Newspapers.com.
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