Finnish American Historical Archive and Museum

FINNISH FOLKLORE AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE GREAT

LAKES MINING REGION ORAL HISTORY PROJECT 1972-1978 (Funded in part by the National Endowment For The Humanities)

F.F.S.C.G.L.M.R. DIGITIZATION PROJECT 2010-2011 (Funded in part by the Keweenaw National Historic Park Advisory

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SUOMI COLLEGE, HANCOCK

ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM

FOLKLORE II UPPER MICHIGAB

FOLK ~EDEIB:E

EDWARD R. Wn.I.MERS

Interviewed

byArbutua Bleise

om.

July 2,1973

Ble1seEdward W111mersJuly 2,1913

Comment~~T221c

1Help for colds

2Pneumonia

2Headache remedy

2Removing dirt for eye

3-4 . "cupping"High blood pressure

4Plantation leaf for sprains

4Felsnaptha

5Mustard Plasters

5Acid stomach and sore troat

5Ear ache and toothache

6Drinking acid

7Setting bones

7 Faith healingStop bleeding

7Mrs. Juntunen

2

I unders~d sometimes they would use wines ~r co1ds, now howwould tlr.fix that? Or what kind of wine would thff'use?

B:

Wine, when my family was small we used to take dandelion wine,heated in a metal bowl on the stove,give it to the children todrink as it was, not too hot but waft enoU&h and hot enough sothe7 could drink it and send them to bed and -the cold was gonein the morning.

IN:

It was interesting to me what they did tor pneamonia too. Can you!G~ihrOugh that and tell us how they cured that?

:8:

W: In European countries th4Jused to treat ailments with stale beerin an olJen container and take bread slices and soak the breadand ~t~them on the person's chest and wrap them with a cloth andthis would draw the fever from the lungs, and make it much easierfor the person to breath.

You were telling about some of the things they did for headaches.B:

W: Headache reaedy, the best remedy for children for a headachedwasraw potatoes soaked in vinegar and wrapped in a towel 0'1 clothseveral folds so the potato."iteel:t diu't make connection with theskin of the head and jus~ a few hours after the fever and headacheWBS gone, was drawn out ~ this means. ':J~Cl..l ::;:: i;'- :--\'lhen I was older Ai t understood for a longer period of headachewhatever caused 1. t I don't know but turpentine was applied, pure~pent1ne that's sold in the frug store ~ applied on the rore-head or a person that had a headache for several days and in justa matter of hours the headache waa gone.

B: Another thing tha was interesting to me was when you told me howyour mother would take and remOve a speck of dirt from 8omeoneseye. Could you tell what she did?

W: This was taught to her in the European countries. She was sort ofa nurses aid or pqt nurse in her country and during the time shewas in the United States here some men at the Company works, OsceolaMining Company men used to come to her recommended by somebody atthe company to come to her for the eye that was suffering from somedirt or steel. She would lay the person down and go around his eyeball with her toDgU.v~derneath the lid and felt the dirt or what-ever it was that was causing the trouble. She felt it with hertonsue. If it came out with her tOnsu8 it came out. If it was steelshe used to pass a magnet and the magnet used to draw the steelcrumbs out of the eye. For inside hair growth she had instrumentsthat would take care of those inward hairs that grew from the lid

inward instead of outward.

Ye4rS ago some people 8Ven rolled the eye didn't they?B:

W: Yes.~;. By turning the lJ:d back 8omehow---

W: They used to take a 8m80th stick andtake a ho1d of the eye1id andpre8~ thi8 stick and ~ this lid forward to find out if therewas anything stuc~ also on the lid she use d this method.

3'R. t know how t 'r were able to get that;!:uO,

dirNow

~01e are all interestlIout of 'there.

we talked a 11 ttle abo'for i-:'hat':'

.t high blo ~1u

the older people fort pressure 1mderneaththe 014 country to doSome had a m~ohine~

inind

\lJ.~

intne 8that, I1tt

trit

~J.Q.,",~. .c-~Vl-

work. The'Y+"'i+ +n~+

of 0 11 L5.

e.nd th-n thir:: cu,j;) uscd t,j bl;;; IJli:-c;,ced on- tr'.is cut sv:rfe.ce endthen it was vacuumed by ~ttiD8 the other end into the mouthdrawing outward and that would cauae the auction in the cup. Ithad a mouth piece that was fastened so when they took their lipsaway from the opening thia mouth piece was fixed 80 that it closedthe opening acting as a valve but the auction continuously WB8there until the cup let go i tselt or the person experienced withthis kind of work knew when to take the cup oft the body.

B: Did they have many s pote likE this done at a tim,

W: Some people had ~high a 30 cuppinga. The aaount of blood some-time8 to me, it seemed very much but the party that had this donefelt much better and they were goOd for a long time after. Somepeople had high blood pressure so bad that, I remember that, theyhad .een colored 8nakes even in the hay because this high bloodpre8sure affected their eyes. Eut when this cupping was done itcured their high blood pressure and gave them good sight.

rear or didlast ;hey 1 tB: How long did this generadone every 81% month8?

Say.y

W: Lot of it lasted according to what kind of food th~were eating.Some food will build blood pressure quicker and wit! some food itwill take more time before the blood pre.sure becomes the .ame aswas.

~B: How about those people] were they special people. It wasn't like

you or I could do thi8 cupping. It had to be 8omeone that ---

W: This person that did the cupping in the first place had to be usedto seeing blood. In the second place they had to be people thatkn88 what they were doing with this cupping. They app1ied a remedyafter the cupping, which I aon<t know what it was, on the cut areabut it did dry ahd heal. There was no blood after the cup wastaken off.seeping through. They couJ.d put on their clothes ~'itwas we11 ~aken care of.

~\\18~ the only thing they uaed for high blood pressure those days?B:

W: They used tor hi~blood presEure and a lot of men had 1t done#=---He was an experienced man. This w~ learned in Europe. A little c

tool, a certain vain under the tongue and this was triggered andwhen th8:~trigger was fUll it made a certain punch into the vainand it bleed from underneath the tongue from that vain. a certain

4

amount of blood. ~ don't know, I'm not experienced, how muchthey did take out it was done to my dad.

B: How did they take care of cuts and things like that those days

W: Cuts were rinsed. Most people had ordinary salt that was in a bot-tle and it wasn't even closed it was just an open bottle of saltwater, they used to W@8h the outs with the s~t water and someot them. that didn't do that...the common medic~tthose dap was ~.

drop a little iodine on the cuts.

What did theywide plaRt&UL11eaf too.You were talking about theuse that tor?

B:

That there was used in many cases for s*tains, swolle~ parts inthe~oot or anywhere. They'd take these leaves, they'~ ~t~~useuA~ swelling and bad bruises and draw out the f'ver. The waythey found this out a snake bitting a frog. The frog jumped onthe plant and it dr~w the poi80ning out of the frog and the frogkept on going. fhat was the first indication that the plant was

good tor drawing.

W:

Where would you find the plant?B:the yardIn the yard, among the small growth inW:

just a weed?It's:5:

W: It'. a weed, it's very low, the leaves lie flat on the ground,wi th big, big veins and it has a rod blossom.

I see, and that was used for drawing out infection andf~-B:

That was used for drawing out most skin infections.W:

B: Oht hay seed was us~d too wasn't it:

W:

What WaS FelsnapthaB: Fe1~naptha was of~en used too wasn't 1 tused for?

It was wonderful: PeleDaptha was used for different skin rashes.for those skin rashes and 80 forth.

B: Even when someone got in poison ivy I under8tand.-~'

W:

What did ~ey use that tor?B: They used bread and m1~ often?

They used bread and milk for a fellon poltice. It was known asfellon poltice and this also was used for a bad bruies thatcontinually was paining.

W:

5

B: What about a mustard plaster

Muettrd plasters were used tor backaches. The mustard was to be ~

put in between a flannel towel so on~8ide ot the flannel towellaid on the back and the other part of the towel had mustard wipedon it and than put OD the back. The back was first treated withthe white of an egg and then the plaster was ~t on top. I~ suredid draw. Mostly allot tho8e that had tha~ they couldn't keep 1~on very long, and i t drew away the backache.

If you kept it on too long what would happen then:B:

W: If it was kept on too long and you laid on anything with a oreas elike a bed sheet or blanket and it had a lot of creases you werelike a star 8pangled banDer when it WaS taken off.

So you really burned .1 th 1 t.B:

It really burned.W:

O.K. now I'. BOinC to ask you about the acid condition of thestomach. What did they do tor that?

B:

WJ -Moat er the,::.81d,r,-,p-..p19. ;p-..pia 'th8'i-wet-e U8ublsd-:,wi*h.,g.8systomach, all they did was take a little bit of salt on a teaspoondumped it into a glass container with a little water, jast abouta mouthfull it contained. They swallowed it. That waa all thetreatment tor a ga8sy stomach. ~

B: Once in a while they used baking 8oda I understand.

Baking soda was used mostly in a younger claes of people,and so forth.

childrenW:

What did they do for sore throat~B:

When 8omeone had a sore throat a woolen stocking was taken. It wasdipped in kerosene and rung out so it wouldn't be ~iDg. It hadthe kerosane amelI in it and the dampness and was put around thethroat and pinned behind 80 it would not get 10o8e.

W:

It was interesting to me to hear you tell me what they did forearwachee. Will you go through that again?

B:

W: The .~che aa tar &s I know it was done, they would take a pipeMost of the older people smoked peerless tobaooo and th~put thispipe cob in their mouth and blew ~he smoke in the ear. They didthis several times tD~the ear and the earache was over.

do for toothachesB: What did they

W: Toothaches, they used to take and dig the bottom or the pipe andget the oil and it it was a cavity, they took a little cottonbatton and put this oil on the cotton battoD and pressed it intothe cavity.

0

B: TheYsure had all kinds of ways of taking care of thos ailments t'i

tha/t we'd just go to the d'D.tist or doctor for now.adays.Can you tell me a 11 ttle bit about drinking acid? I know at thosetimes these accidents happened quiet often.

'f/: Olden times when a child drank acid it was understood by doctoreand sometimes by the parents the reeults ot it. The results ofit was the acid was powerful. The one child that took acidcouldn't take much more than a mouthful, it was so bitter hedidn't take any more than what they had in their mouth, theyswallowed it. Where the acid lodged it burned the inside liningof the throat and the results of it was later on. Through myown experiences at a year and a ha1f I drank the acid. At sevenyears old I was exAmined by a local doctor, not at a hespital.Just a local doctor in the kitchen. The doctor examined me and c:.::

asked me questions and I told him what it was all about. I CGuld~n't swallow anything I ~t into my mouth. I couldntt swallow itdown, Q~ liquid. So the doctor went back to his .tfice and cameback with a rod. This rod was pointed, the tip was pointed. thepoint was separate from the rod. It was threaded into the pointof the rod. Then I was strapped, bridled on a round back chairfrom my forehead to keep my throat clear, My arms ..re tied downbehind the chair, my knee.\.~e wrapped around the seat of thechair, my feet were tied and around the lege of the chair. Thedoctor said .Sit still1fd don't move, if ;his rod breaks it'llget l.tt in your throat. This was done the first time. It feltterrible. It was done the second time. It felt terrible. Hechanged the point the third time. Few days later again the rod waspushed down. It was given a quarter ~ for every up and downpull. .The last rod was the full size of the throat. It was pusheddown, by now my system got so used to it, it didn't seem tobother me and later on when I was ten years old t~Dr. Romp thatdid this work left the o~fice and he told my parents to watch thisthat when I got ten years old it may start. It did etart. Dr Roweour ~amily doctor gave me big pille to s.~l.w. TheJ get left wherethe healing was, where it was healing in again. So !e told me totake a little water ~d these big pills almost the size ot aDickle and twice the thickness. He said they'll dissolve and burnthe growth. I took six of them and I'M 74 years old and I'astill' livins and hall..ing.

antesept1c when the were doingB: Did they give you some kind of anithis ~ill1ng?

W; No.

B: Rea117!!

W: Just a war.Jl.ing. Don't move, if the rod breaks, it'l.l. get l.eft inyour throat. It would never have broken as it wasn't that kind ofmaterial. but I didn't know it. That was his warning.

Can you tell me something ab~ut these people so g1~ted in settingbones.

B:

7W: People ot older age to my knowledge, none of them had any

hospital experience aDTWhere. Out where they were working accid-ents had happened. Thes. people that did the first job,broken lege, collar bones and whatever it may be. They had the nnerve to tackle it and ~ did the bes t they knew how. Fromthere they learned on and on until they were wonderful. Theycould place aQ1 bone. Some people were so gi~ted. Nobody knowswhere they got the ti':tt. A bone the.t~s fitted by a doctorand taw gif.e4 ~'t*.d ..~'cthat it ..-Jfitted right would breakit allover again and just push it together and i~ it was en aman he'd walk.

That was really some gift.. Hn about stopping blood

W: No88:bleed8, knife wounds, axe wounds, wherever the wound wasand the vein was cut so bad that it bled, this gentleman thathad the gift all he had to do was loek at it and it would stopand they oould bandage it, There was no doctor and no hospital.

B: That was wonderful. There was a Mrs. Juntunen thatetc. Can you tell me a little about her?

lde salves

W: Mrs. Juntunen, to Hancock old people and there may be somemiddle aged people who and know Mrs. Juntunen. She'! dead .hedied. But she left a wonderfUl gift to her daughter and it wasa poltice that was made for blood po18oning. Haneock doctors andHoughton doctors often, r::whD I was a yoWlS man, Bent people upthere with blood poi.ea:i,ng that the weren't 8ure whether they c;:.-could cure 1 t or not 80 the sent the patient to Mrs. J~tuneD..Mr.. Juntunen put a poltice on there and drew the pain a~and it was healed and the blood po1aoning waa taken care of.~he salve that she made was for skin rash. It was for thesepeople that were alleregio to aomething, a sJtin raah\.'Which weap,weap a-lot of water and she made a salve and it was applied onthe persons body a few times and that took care of that.

that time?B: Can you tell me somethiD8 about midwives duringW: There W88 Mr.. Granett 1n~the Finnish and---

B: Wha t did th midwives do~

W: Midwives they took care o~ the child birth when doctors weren'tavailable. There wasn't too many and the midwives used to get theoa111and help the patient in a oonfinament case.

B: Your mother you said was an 1nterpeter.

W: My mother spoke three different languages and she used to act aaan interpeter between the do~tor8 and the patients. There weremany different nationality people and they spoke their owndifferent language and dida't understand ODe another.

,B: That,been very interesting.