Wikipedia

Astrid Rosing Sawyer

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

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

Early life edit

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 edit

 
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 edit

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 edit

  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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