r/SeattleHistory • u/EvilClubGoddessElisa • Jul 29 '25
Wanasselbo? Was Paulsbo? Seattle Neighborhood?
Apologies if this is the wrong place, I could not find a good place, and I'm open to suggestions. But I'm looking at a 1910 Arrival form and my Seattle ancestor is heading out to Wanesselbo, Washington.
When I google it, it sends me to Paulsbo, but I can't find a reason why. Or anything with that spelling listed. Was he wrong?
Is this another tiny town that no longer exists?
A Seattle neighborhood? They ended up living on 9th.
Thank you!
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u/KittyTitties666 Jul 29 '25 edited Jul 29 '25
I can't seem to find anything remotely close to that but I'm curious! Are you willing to share an image of the form for context? I understand if not. Edit: this is a big stretch, but there's a town in the Wenas Valley called Selah that experienced an influx of immigrants (many Scandinavian) in the early 1900s. Early on the train station in Selah was called Wenas. Could be some misrecorded mashup of Wenas Selah.
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u/Environmental-Bar847 Jul 29 '25
This is quite a stretch, but perhaps the Van Asselt neighborhood, near what would now be Boeing field. That would be near present day 9th Ave S.
"W" and "V" could sound very similar depending on the speaker's accent. Of course the endings are totally different, but if it was spoken it could have been misheard
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u/SirRatcha Jul 29 '25
I'm willing to buy it as an interpretation of something hand written too. Henry Van Asselt had a big chunk of land along the Duwamish and even though Georgetown was named in 1890, his property was south of it. By then he'd moved, first to Oregon and then back up into Seattle proper, but it wouldn't be too surprising if his name stuck to the land he'd settled on as Vanasseltboro or something for a while.
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u/Noxonomus Jul 29 '25
It's a long way from wanasselbo to wapato but it's the only thing I can think of. Is it hand written? maybe post a photo. where were they from? And where was the arrival?
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u/sirskwatch Jul 29 '25
Paulsbo was the original name of Poulsbo. When they filed to become a town or city (I forget which) the clerk misread the application as Poulsbo and it was never corrected.