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Archiver > NORWAY > 1997-11 > 0878447488


From: <>
Subject: More food for thought
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 1997 00:11:28 -0500 (EST)


Neil and Bonnie:
The following is from my notebook of years ago - maybe 20. (I remember Mary
Isaacson well. She was still alive when I married Earl.)

Children born in Finland to Anna Kate Hongala (Hers)
1 August - born in Finland
2. Lydia - born in Finland
3. Mary - born in Finland

Mary Anna Peltoniemi Mansick Johansen (stepfather) Isaacson (husband -
August)

Her Mother Anna Kate Hongala
Her father, Peltoniemi, was killed in a tar/mining accident. (Did they use
pitch in the mine?) Mary's mother remarried a man with children of his own,
Johan Johansen. Somewhere along the line the name Mansicka was added to the
family. Mansicka means strawberry in Finnish.

After her parents (mother and step-father) were established in America, they
sent for Mary. She was 14 at that time she made the trip. She told about
her trip to America and related the part about landing in New York and being
herded into pens like cattle. She was given a bag of oranges and put on a
train for the midwest. She did not speak a word of English at the time.
Even in her later years she spoke only Finnish.

Mary was very sickly with her asthma. In her final years, she rotated from
child to child, staying a month in each place and the winter months with son
Delbert's and his wife Eileen's. Eileen's mother was not her biological
mother but the person who raised her. Her name was Tena Kumpula. She also
stayed there in the winters and spoke Finn with Mary.

Once when it was Mary's turn to stay at Florence Rokala's house a funny thing
happened, although it didn't seem so funny to Mary. Bruce and Bradley Rokala
were visiting. They were just little boys under 5 years. All of the adults
were out of the house doing chores. Mary was sitting on a temporary bed in
the living room. Because she didn't speak English, the little boys didn't
understand her. In the kitchen Florence had an old fashioned flour container
- a bin attached on the inside of the cabinet door. The boys opened it, took
some of the flour and threw it at Mary. They thought it was fun and kept
throwing more and more. When the others came in from the barn, she was
covered with flour. With her asthma, it was a very difficult experience for
her, but it is one well remembered by the entire family.

*This entry in my notes makes me think maybe it is true that there was a male
child born in Finland that died and was buried there as a child before Anna
Kate emigrated. If we don't have a name for Anna Kate's first husband, my
guess would be August, because often a first born son has his father's name
(depending on the culture and times). It might be a good clue to the
Peltoniemi side of the family, if it is true.

**Incidentally, our daughter Kathleen Mary was named for my grandmother and
this grandmother of Earl's. (My grandma was actually Karen, but I didn't
want my daughter to have my name, so we chose Kathleen which has the same
meaning as Karen - Pure.)

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