NORWAY-L Archives

From: "neil blom" <>
Subject: Re: More food for thought
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 1997 06:51:45 -0500

I recd this messsage twice. How many times did you think you sent it???
My name Neil means "champion". I think that I am miss-named! Cyunk

----------
> From:
> To: ;
> Cc:
> Subject: More food for thought
> Date: Sunday, November 02, 1997 12:11 AM
>
> 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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