ATDTDA (3) Dynamitic mania, 80-86

Mon Feb 26 11:33:42 CST 2007

Bekah, Thanks for taking the time to share that,  a beautifully  
relevant and direct insight into the time, and what a rich family  
story.  The rag rug story is classic.
On Feb 26, 2007, at 1:53 AM, bekah wrote:

> At 6:16 PM -0500 2/25/07, Monte Davis wrote:
>>
>> I hope Heikki Raudaskoski will weigh in on Veikko Rautavaara  
>> ("iron hills"??) and on Finland's restive status as a Grand Duchy  
>> within the tsarist empire since 1809.
>
>
> I'm not Heikki but my grandmother's maiden name was Hilma Rantala,   
> a good Finnish name, and she immigrated  from the area of Pori in  
> 1901.    My grandfather, Oscar Lindroos, was from the Aland  
> Islands, in the Bay of Bothnia.
>
> The Tsar's  decision of compulsory military service for all Finnish  
> men (a violation of their Duchy agreement)  went into effect in  
> 1901.  Service would be for four years.
>
> My grandmother's first husband,  Anton Anderson (Swedish name from  
> the occupation)  immigrated from Pori at about that time and  
> directly because of the intensified Russification.    (One dark  
> night,  he and his brothers swiped a Russian flag from atop a  
> government building and brought it home where their mother tore it  
> into strips and used it in  a little rag rug.  When the Russian  
> authorities came  investigating and looking for it,  they walked on  
> it.  This was a big joke in the family for years;  the Russians  
> walked on their own flag. )  The Russians had helped Finland set up  
> a  reasonable constitutional democracy,  but then had proceeded to  
> overrule it.   The increasing nationalism in both countries  
> resulted in difficulties.
>
> And my grandmother, Hilma Rantala, followed Anton (her sweetheart)  
> to Duluth,  Minnesota a year later where they bought land right on  
> the Mississippi River near Jacobsen, cleared it and started a  
> farm.  They had 4 children and Anton died in about 1916 (the time  
> of the iron ore mining strike but I don't think he was involved).
>
> Anyway,  my grandfather, a seaman, theologian and author had  
> immigrated in about 1913 and moved straight to Wyoming for the  
> mining.    After a few years there,  probably in the coal mines,    
> Grandpa Oscar  moved to Minnesota (1919?)  where there were lots of  
> good Finlanders living in a place called Jacobsen,  near Hill City  
> and Hibbing near the Masabi iron ore RANGE.   (and Bobby Dylan)
>
> My grandmother was a widow by that time with  4 children and a farm  
> so Oscar and  Hilma married and had 3 more (including my dad).     
> Oscar took to farming the land and being a custodian at the high  
> school (I think).   He and my grandmother were  very religious in  
> an atheist/ socialist community but splits like that were fairly  
> common in the Finnish communities of the day.    There was a co-op  
> in Jacobsen which served as a socialist meeting hall but it was  
> very difficult to do any union organizing there because for a long  
> time the mining bosses ruled the iron mines and forcibly prevented  
> the miners from forming unions by any and all means,  no matter  
> what the nationality (new groups).
>
> Although individuals Finns had come to the Colonies and Canada  
> since the 17th century,  most Finns immigrated  between the years  
> 1890 and 1920.  Those who came prior to 1890 were religious and  
> conservative and started Lutheran churches.  Most of these were  
> farmers and seamen.    Some of this immigration was the result of  
> "recruiting" efforts of US companies.  My grandparents were both  
> religious and conservative - although he came after 1900,   Oscar  
> was a seaman and a published author of theological books.   
> Besides,  he was from Aland Is. and I don't know what their  
> relationship with the Tsar was.
>
> Those who came after 1890 were mostly unskilled laborers  and they  
> tended to be at least somewhat socialist (of the Utopian, not  
> Scientific, variety - not Marxist),  and started Socialist Clubs.    
> The temperance societies were also very political and powerful  
> ( many Finn in Finland and the US thought that a major problem for  
> immigrants was the saloon.)   There were two Temperance groups,   
> one semi-affiliated with the Lutheran Church and one distinctly  
> not.   In 1913 there were four  daily (!) Finnish Socialist   
> newspapers which kept members informed.  (A couple of them were  
> around well into the 1960s;  my dad worked with them.  I think  
> there is only one monthly  left and it's in English.)
>
>
> In the Minnesota mines,  when the bosses got rid of the  
> questionable workers,  more were shipped in from the East Coast in  
> box cars or cattle cars.  (Reminded me of Veikko's tale in AtD.)    
> The new workers were new immigrants from Eastern Europe  chosen  
> because they would not to be able to communicate with the potential  
> unionists.  Finns had a very difficult time learning English and  
> nobody ever learns Finnish unless they grew up with it. (probably a  
> joke)
>
>
> Finns were important in many ways in Teluride in the 1900s.   
> <http://www.multi.fi/~olimex/read_more/klippiga_bergen.htm>  These  
> folks came over earlier (1870s?) due to a massive crop failure in  
> central Finland.
>
> In 1905 there was a large strike in Michigan (socialist and  
> temperance groups joined up)  in which several Finns were accused  
> of murder.  This made the national headlines.
>
> In Hanna, Wyoming a couple years later,  The Mountain Rose  
> Temperance Society (Vuoriston Ruusu Raitusseura) a very important,   
> progressive, reform group (because alcohol was a huge! problem)    
> together with the Finnish Kalevala Brotherhood,  had been holding  
> secret meetings in a run-down saloon  for miners who worked in the  
> Union Pacific coal mines.  After a series of strikes,  the company  
> recognized the union.  "Hurratkaa, pojat!"
>
>
> *************
> Some good resources:
>
> _Blueberry God: The Education of a Finnish American_ by Reino  
> Nikkoli Hannula (out of print?)  Excellent.  This is the story of  
> the Finnish socialist movement in the US.
>
> _The Journal of Otto Peltonen_ by William Durbin  (This is a  
> fictionalized young adult book but it's got the history right.)
>
> Finnish Immigrant Culture in America by Reino Kero Ph.D.,  
> University of Turku, Turku
> <http://www.genealogia.fi/emi/art/article266e.htm>
>
> Library of Congress Country Studies  <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ 
> cshome.html>  (and do a search)
>
> **
>
> Bekah
> Photos of my own  Finlander connection:  <http://homepage.mac.com/ 
> bekker2/PhotoAlbum77.html>
> Trip to FInland a few summers ago:  <http://homepage.mac.com/ 
> bekker2/PhotoAlbum27.html> (scroll down)
>

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