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

Commission / U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service) CONDITIONS FOR USE OF .PDF TRANSCRIPT: Finlandia University, formerly Suomi College, holds the exclusive copyright to the entirety of its Finnish Folklore and Social Change in the Great Lakes Mining Region Oral History Collection, including this .pdf transcript which is being presented online for research and academic purposes. Any utilization that does not fall under the United States standard of Fair Use (see U.S. Copyright Office or Library of Congress), including unauthorized re-publication, is a violation of Federal Law. For any other use, express written consent must be obtained from the Finnish American Historical Archive: archives@finlandia.edu. PREFERRED FORMAT FOR CITATION / CREDIT: “Maki, John”, Finnish Folklore and Social Change in the Great Lakes Mining Region Oral History Collection, Finlandia University, Finnish American Historical Archive and Museum.

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Finnish American Historical Archive and Museum Finlandia University 601 Quincy St. Hancock, Michigan 49930 USA 906-487-7347 - fax: 906-487-7557

IBTERVIEW WITH

INTERVIEWEE: Judge Charles Will "'A.n. retired

Heino A. "Hap" PuotinenINTERVIEWER :

DATE; August 9. 1973

H Going to the format of this interview, the first part, Part I, the family background,we would like to check into your family background and commencing with that then thefirst member of the family to settle in the Lake Superior region and here are the pos-sibilities: before 1875 or b~fore 1900, Just a rough date, when do you recall that thefirst member of your family --

c: About 1900

H: About 1900. Well. about the turn

c: Between 1900 and 1905. I think, I'm not sure

H: Well. OK. that sets that date.parent. or what?

r.tr first relative to move here was my' grandparent,

c: Oh, DIY' father

H: Your ~ather. Your ~ather was your first relative to move into this area. Yourtamily originally settled in Lake Superior region because and here are the possibilitiesbut I don't know it it's necessary to list all these,just ask you w~ do you think1"our ~ather moved here.

c: Because of the work in the mines; at that time it was mining and he worked in the mines.

H: Did he have any aspirations o~ owning his own ~arm or anything like that!interested in mining?

Or primarily

c: Seems to me he did own a small farm

H: Most of them did

c: But he didn't keep it very- long

H: During your 1 ifet ime s Cbar1ie s in how many different p1aces have you resided!

I was born in Rockland; as a chi1d, we moved to Green1and, and from Green1and we movedto Mass, and from Mass we moved to Ontonagon. So that's 4.

c:

H: 4 and yet they're all within the same county.

c: Ya.

H: Bow here we have some of this family tree inf~ation if the detai~s of the dates havea tendency to hamstring a person too much, we can dispensed vi th that part of it butyour address then is Green1and Road, Ontonagon County, and your bir'thdate is what?

Birthdate-August 3. 1908c:

H: Did you or do you have brothers and sisters t

c I have one sister

2And your father I s birthplace was where?H:

Finland.~.

You don't rec~ the birthdate though, I 'sposeH:

c: Bo. I don't remember

Likewise your mother's birthplace was where?H:

c: Finland

And we III again skip the birthdate. We a.1ready have your birthdate and birthplace, now,the birthdate and birthplace of your spouse.

H:

(I'~ ask her); she was born in Finland.She was born in 1905 or'06c:

And you have how many children?H:

c: 2 boys

The name and birthplace of each of themH: 2 bOY's.

Royce was born in 1930 and John was born in 1936.c:

Both born in Ontonagon County, I 'spose.H:

Royce was born in Ontonagon and John was born in Hancock.in the hospital.c:

I see. So much for that. Here we go into the category on person~ ski~s. You'rerequested here--this format was made to be handed out and this happens to be the onlycopy I have of it, so it states: please circle the number which indicates the highestgrade of form~ education for thefamily members listed below. You and your wife areboth high school graduates?

H:

c: I had high school and my wife finished graduate school. She had 4 years of collegeand then she worked for her master's. I don't know would that be 1 or 2 years.beyond college.Anyway she has a master's degree.

Your father had no formal education in this country?H: Ya. Very 'fine.

c: Not in this country.

He probably went to the usual graDDnar, equivalent of' junior high or high school ilJFinland, which is possible. And your mother, probably

H:

c: Same thing.

Now then, your children, are they both college graduates?H:

cOn the following chart describe the variety of personal skills which m8¥ reflect familyinterests, ethnic customs or informal means of education. Please check the skills whichyour parents m8¥ have possessed and in the space following. specify whenever possible thenature of that skill. Did your father have. to your knowledge. any special skill TEither in the trades or in the arts or sciences or anything like that'/

H:

He made basements and sidewalks and laid brick and carpenterc: He was a cement contractor.work and all this.

Did your father develop the ability to speak more than one language besides Finnish?B:

Yes, he spoke Finnish, Swedish, English was kind of broken but he could speak it; hespoke Russian; I think there were 5 different languages that he spoke.

c:

Through contact with these different nationalities inHow do you account for that?the community and on the job?

H:

No, while he was in Finland.c:

Oh, while he was in Finland he ~ead¥H:

He learned ~l these in Finland.c:

I see. Did he develop leadership ability, to your knowledge,since his arrival in this country?

in the old country orH:

No, I don't have no idea.c:

H: Now we have crafts, sk~s; you already said he was a successful building, mason,contractor; how was he with regard to the arts, music, poet~, painting, and so forth?Did he show any interest in it or ability in it?

c: No, not too much, no.

And with regard to sports, I imagine it would be hard to find a person :from Finland who

didn't at least take up skiing.H:

Yes, we had skis at home all the time when I was young.c:

H:C:H:

But there was no--you never had any involvement in team sports or anything like that.

No. specificNow, do you recall either on the part of your father or your mother, any /hame remediesthat they might have had? And here's another question in there--did your mother ever

have occasion to provide services of a mid-wife to a neighbor?

None, that I can remembercI Ive run across a number of people that the mother in turn has provided mid-wife servicesto her neighbors, and mB¥ have partaken of the services herself. Home cookery--do youfavor any special ethnic foods or specialties that your parents may have brought fram

Finland?

H:

Viiliat for one thing. I J.ove it.c:

Do you happen to have any now?H:

The starter went bad on us t a week or so ago.(!! Not ri~t now

We're in about the same fix at home; I myself can't go it, when we have it at the table,I have to leave. The same thing with buttermilk, I don't know why, I think I relatethat to having carried along these portable m.ilk bottles as a kid before I was weanedoff the bottle and then it soured in there,--instant reaction--it took me a long time tobe able to eat cottage cheese. But now I can eat .,that, but the rest. o-r ~t, absolutely not.Here do you recall either your father or mother harlng any unusual skills or anything?This might strike you as funny. You probably noticed when you read it--moonshining,fortune telling t

H:

c: No, No, -- fortune telling -- my mother did used to use cards

H: And also you FobabJ.y might rec~ that every New Year's evening. they used to "v81.o.&"--

4they melt lead or tin or its aloy t when that was poured into cold water tit wouldform a beautiful fi~e of some kind and then some were quite adept at reading fortunes

of all kinds; that was .. part of the New Year's

c: That was standard, I can remember those very well

H: Do you recall anything else?

c: Well t 11I3" mother used to use cards to tell fortunes

How about re__ading tea leaves? I've never seen that amongst Finnish people.H:

c: No, we never had tea.

I saw it done at a home of a lady who ran an employment office in Illinois. Now, alongwith this examination of skills, we'll discuss that same aspect with regard to your sons.

Do either of your sons speak more than one language?

H:

The youngest son just speaks English. But the oldest one t of course t took up foreignlanguages in college--Frencht and Spanisht and Finnish. too; he speaks Finnish.

c:

H: About your older son, I ~ber him having been active in the theatre

c: He atiJ.J. is

H: What was his master's degree in?

He taught English at Northern Michigan University.c: In English.. Humanities.

H: That's Royce?

That's Roycec:

What is his specialit7 in college?R: And the other son, John t

Sports. But Royce still takes part in plays in Marquette; he appears in 2 or 3 of thoseplays, they have a Little Theatre.

c:

Now. then t with regard to the boys: take Royce first--leadership abili ty--now he hasconducted certain theatrical presentations here

H:

c: Yes, he's a leader

He's a sk~ed stage manager and a directorH:

director, producer t actorc:

andH:

We have many of his paintings here.c; He used to do a ;Lot otpainting.

H: And John, what are his talents,

c: He paints different type of paintings

out t where the average person has to be toldHave either of' them gone for thiswhat the subject is?

'way'

That's one of Royce'sThere t S an example of one right there. Abstract.

The painting is whatever it represents for you.There's one.

paintings.

c:

5.Have either of the boys taken an activ~ ~t in social organizations as leaders or

just active members?H:

He's been active in different things (John); he moves around quite a bit so he doesn't

get too settled anywherec:

We've already discussed Royce's craf'ts, skills, construction of sets and so forth fortheatrical productions, calls for certain woodworking skills as well as the artistictalents and so forth, in that line, did John go for anything like that? Theatrical

skills of any king, or W:l.ri ting or anything?

H:

c: No

What did you say that his specialty was?H:

FootbUl t basebUlc: Spo~ .

coaching?H:

Since he's been out of school and out of the service he's been coaching youngsters in

towns wherever he's lived, he coaches football and baseballc:

Here's a category for him--sports: track and field, team sports, outdoor sports.He coaches youngsters in individu~ sports as well as team sports.

H:

Team sports.c:

Team sports mostly. Now here's something that often brings up interesting contributionsto the ethnic part and that's medical, home remedies and so forth. Do you recall yourfolks ever use remedies that they brought from the old country? Did they have occasion--you've heard of Mrs. Juntunen, the famous Juntusen muUDin, made that salve that was

supposed to have been quite a cure-all for infections,

H:

Seems to me we alw~s had some of that on handc:that woman, Mrs. Juntunen, passed on, but her children were supposed to kept the dis-pensing of that home remedy active but I don't hear any more about it. It was withregard to you, the cthnic foods and my reaction to several of them that you mention swhat about your boys ~ do they eat that yogurts like this viilia'l Or do they

H:

No, they don'tc:

T~ love it.Both of Jq boys eat it.They shy away from it.H:Of course they've been away from home so much t they wouldn't have a chance to get it

c:

Ya. Have either of them shown any tendency--well. it almost speaks for itself aboutbeing inventive if you're in the arts like Royce is, that is

H:

Designing.c:

H: Designing sets--that is a phase or form of inventing. That takes care of that.I was which you have listed in the previous question. Which one if any s did youlearn directly from your parents? Of the skills? I don't see any relationship to whatyou have listed here s but with regard to the skills s but there is a link between hereand there nevertheless but it will show in other places. Of the skills listeds whichones have you acquired on your own? Or from persons other than your parents? Yourown particuJ.ar skills s I was wondering where we should read this into here. You spenthow many years in the field of probate court; did you start in as a clerk in a probate

court?

6.No, I vas elected. 34 years of service.c:

Could you tell ua-~as your own volition~ apply torH:

c: We lived in Greenland Township, we lived in Mass, and some of my friends asked~e ifI would run for Justice of the Peace for Greenland Township. I was 21 years old.When I voted that time, I voted for myself the first vote I cast, I voted for myselfand I was elected Justice of the Peace. That would have been in 1930. Then in 1936my friends again got to me to run for Probate Judge t for the county. So we got a .

nominating petition out, and filled them all out, and so I got on the ballot and I ran

and I was elected.

At that time and .until very recent years, it wasn't necessary to have any legal training

what is the state todq?H:

Now it requires a lawyerc: No.

H: With regard to your service as a probate judge, you have met with the people of yourcommunity under conditions that the average people don't meet them; there's hardshipof same sort involved; it's a case of either death or some property of transfer, thenagain with the youngsters, those who are not tried in regular court, they're referredto you as a probate judge for disposition of their cases, so therefore, you met theyoung people under adverse conditions from the youngsters' viewpoint 8nYW8¥, and Iwonder what it must have--you must have liked that type of work and the demands itplaced on you and what you were able to do the young people through the years in thatwork, what are your comments on that?

a I certainly did like the work. I enjoyed working with the youngsters and I felt thatI did a pretty good job with them; I tried to understand them and most of them \Ulder-stood me, I guess, but being in the courthouse, I had a lot of dealings with -

a lot of Finnish people; the older people came to the welfare office or any of' theother offices and they weren't able to speak ~ English, so they always called uponme to interpret so I was a big help to a lot of people while I was there. They allappreciated it and I was happy that I was there, too, to help them out.In the later years that I was there, Hap, I wasn't called on to interpretting any more.So those older Finnis~eople had all passed on. There was no more calls for interpret-ting, the last 6 or 7 years that I was in office. Quite a change.

So what do you think of this system of having a probate judge take over and try toiron out the problems with the youngsters before they get too serious? Have you been

successful in rehabilitating quite a few of these?

R:

c: Oh, yes.

And how many years were you as a probate judge?H:

34 years.c:

You must have numerous instances where the.e one-time problem children have grown upand started to play the game according to the rules s and settled down s become reliablemembers of the community s and then I wonder if any of these have remembered you in the

years--have any of them come over to yous and said "thank Y3U"?

H:

Oh, yes. Yes, they have. A number of' them. Yes, they remember and they appreciatedwhat I had done if' you weren't too harsh on them. Some of' these kids get into troubleand the f'irst thing you hear :c: _~on the streett why doesn't he do something?why doesn't he send them awsy? The f'irst time t you can't do that t and I didn't.

One recent development I notice from reading the papers, maybe not in a local paper, butI read about the fact that they're trying--they made it possible for a youngst er to

H:

1.'l9!~ as if it hadgo back and have early convictions erased off the record.

never been there.

c: Right.

And you agree that's a good thing?H:

Oht yest ~hing that a person does when they're S&Yt 12 or ~ or 14 years of agetshould have no bearing on their life when they're 21 or 25 or 28.

c:

OK, is there anything else that you would like to add that might be of interest to us

about your experiences. Thirty-four years as probate judge.R,

Wbere's so many I 'spose. Of course as judge I was authorized, under law, to performwedding ceremonies; I had quite a few of those; married a lot of people.

c:

I've never given that aspect a thought.H:

The most important people that I married was {I don't know if' you're f'amiliar withthe Green Bay Packers) Ray Nitschke.

c:

H: I'm just barely familiar with the name.

He married a girl ~om Ewen, and he came up to my court and I performed the ceremony.Some 6 or 7 years ago.

c:

In disposition of property, things got pretty hectic, you had times in that, di~"~

you? Amongst the heirs?H:

c: Oh ~ yes ~ it seemed like the s~er the estate ~ the more squabbling.If they estate amounted to something ~ they 8.1.1 got 8.1.ong beautifully ~ but sm8.1.1 estates,the brothers and sisters they fight.

OK. let's continue here then. These particular skills which let to the probate judgeshipand continuing that, you learned on your own--did you enroll in any correspondence course?

H:

c~

It ~as strictly right there on the job that you learned.H:

c: Right.

Which of your personal skil.ls have you taught directly to any of your children or othermembers of your family?

H:

c: We didn't cover any ot my skills, we just covered my children, JJJY' 2 sons.As tar as my skills go, I'm a woodworker; in tact, one time there, 1948 or '45, I had7 mea. working, woodworking, making toys. We had quite an outlet tor toys but lackedcapital to really go into it.

I see there's something like that been going on in Iron River and Amasa in recent years.So you have that skill in woodworking and oh s one thing ~at there isn't any specificcategory here of an avocations but I happen to knowsis_i1fthe correct terms but yourinterest and activity in things historical;

(noisy'

H:

(interruption)

I happen to know that cyour interested and have been practically a founder of theHistorical Society located in ONtonagon County and I don It know what part youlvehad in the museum in Rockland. that's a separate thing entirely from the Ontonagon one.

c:

8,And then you're president or past president of the Michigan Archiological Association?H:

I'm president ot the upper Peninsula chapter of the Mi~an ARchiological Societyc:

And now, I wonder if you had any particular interest shown in either of those museumsby the young people of the area. Like Iron River, they over that lumber camp and dis-mantled it and moved it to Caspian.

H:

We've never had anything like that here.c:

For lour info~tion, let me supply you with this info~ation you might find of uselater on.

H:

(end of tape)

This group o:f youngsters; there's 400 in that cJ.ub in Iron River under the directiono:f Harold Bernhardt (I beJ.ieve you know Harold) and they raised $1,000 by dances, andcake sales and stu:ff like that, to go to work on this lumber camp which was given tothe Historical Society, or to the Junior Historica.l Society, and then they--by raising$1,000 on their own, they quali:fied for $1,000 additional as a grant :from Keep AmericaBeautiful (whatever it is, administration or organization) and so they had $2,000 towork on that project which covered it nicely I think an~so that's just one possibilitywhere young people might be attracted; now, any young people interested in archiological:finds and historical matters, they can be directed to you :for consuJ.tation?

H:

c: Very happy toYes, yes.

H: Just what have you delved into in the Archiological business? Have you been delvinginto this evidences of copper mining by the Indians, 5,000 years ago or something like that?

c: Well, we've done some of that but our biggest project was over in Baraga County wherewe dug/!ound, , burial mound; the reason we dug it was the man who owned the propertywas in the process of building a road through his property, and with a bulldozer, heleveled off a mound and I guess the first trip he made through it with a bulldozer,a skull rolled out and he stopped and informed us of this and invited us to came in anddig it out which we did. We worked at it for a couple years, amateurs, of course, so we

got people from KalsmEOO trom Western Michigan University from their archilogical depart-ment, they came up here and they spent 2 years digging and they found a tremendous amount

of artifacts.

In the line of recent events, do you anticpate any repercussions from the Indians overdisturbing their mounds, or do you expect that you could ftnd them in the fUture cooperativeproviding that they would get the custody of whatever remains are found.

H:

We didn t t have any problems at the time that this was done, al thou.gh, toward the end, I,t-hink they did, they came in and they curtailed part of this.

c:

So in addition to your historic&1. society activity, and being a historian, have you doneor considered doing any writing on your experiences in history of the area and also withregard to your archilogical experiences?

H:

Yes, I've considered writing some times; I have a lot of materials that I could use whenI ~ get ready to write.

c:

Are'1°U acquainted with the Upper Peninsula Writer's Conference?H:

Q No

I happen to be a member of that and have been for several years and people get the im-pression that because it's upper Peninsula ~fters that I hesitated in signing up as a

H:

9.I figured.member because/I don't consider myself exactly a writer, I said I dabble at it,well, this societ7 takes writers of all classifications, beginners, and there' sold-timers there, Harley Sacas trom the staff of MTU, he' s conducting the meetingsthis year at Houghton Tech. And he's a ve~ skilled writer and they always haveskilled writers on the agenda and you can send samples of your work into--that' sUpper Peninsula Writer' s workshop and they will evaluattfthem and then you can tellwhether to continue or whether--they'll definitely let the person know whether there'sany hope for a person as a writer or whether a person should drop it. But it doesn'ttake much to get an encouragement frCD. him, I'll tell you. they have had good to sayabout my doings for which I'm grateful. although I don't know if--they refer to meas a poet but I'll tell you a guy who is really a poet has got an article in theNonesuch News. that' s W11hart Niemi from Mass.

c: Oh, yes, hets good.

H: There t S a man with talent!»ou read that and get ahold of the Nonesuch News. it t 11 also be in the Herald. Ithas to do with Watergate. He has a knack of coming up right to the knitty-and-grittyof the moment. of this d&y and age and so forth. Please list any other persons in thecommunity who m~ have possessed same of the special skills listed in the question above.Well. you have been associated with a number of people in the historical society. etc.,and oh yes, along with that you might want to comment more on that shop you had orlittle plant for construction of tars. now, how did you dispose of those? Were theyput into local markets for disposal or did you have local

c: Local stores and I'd make a trip every couple weeks to Iron MOuntain, Houghton.and Escanaba and even Green Bq. I had one of' 'mY' items at Butler Brothers in Chicago,they wanted 50,000 of' them; I couldn't produce them. they were little logging trucks,all. made of' wood

H: And now sanebo~ in Iron River has been doing that for the 1.ast 1.0 years that I know of;they have 1.itt1.e trains and 1.ogging trucks and very highly po1.ished hardwood, varnished;now here are sane questions on ethnic identity. America has been sometimes describedas being a me1.ting pot of many nationa1.ities and their respective cultures. In thissection of survey, we are interested in finding out to what degree you, your parents,and your chi1.dren have preserved an interest in the 1.anguage, culture, fo~s, and soforth of your own ethnic group. These are weighted answers 1.ike No.3 is active, No.2is occasion~ active and no. 1. non-active. Bow for ~xamp1.e, would you say thatyour parents were interested in social., fraternal. organizations, much, same or h~at a1.1.?

c: Hardly at aU t I would sq. As :far as I can remember.

H: Did any ot this historical interest in things historical, rub oftfather'

on you from your

c: No.

H: Is there any- (excuse me if ~ memorJ' is tailing me), but did you mention about Roycebeing musically talented at all?

c: He loves music; he doesn't plS¥ any instruments but he loves opera

H: As an actor he has occasion to sing

c: He sings a little, his singing isn't too good; he loves good music, he has a lot ofgood records

R~ Wi th regard to religion t 7Our folks came from protestant Finland and they were members

10.undoubtedly 01" Lutheran Church which was known as the Suaa.i Synod CHurch. or werethey not so interested in things religious?

c: No. my father wasn't. because when he was in Finland. he practically lived in the church;his parents made him go to church. he was in church everyday. I guess. he sang in thechoir; he had lead tenor in the church choir. he spent so much time in church that whenhe came over to this country. he made up his mind he wasn't going to SO to church anymore. and he didn't.

H: Well. with other aspects, too, I've heard many sS¥ that that was a church and statetogether and the Bishop came around to crack the whip over the people; and a lot ofpeople resented the church for that.

c:

H: So then. charitable organizations--was your father or your mother active in certainfund drives

c: No t not that I can remember

H:to

Any other group activities that you think would be applicable/either of your parents?Now we go into your own interests with regard to different associations and &hnicorigins and so forth-would you sq' that you were acti vel.)" interested in social, fraternalorganizations? Wo~d you construe that to mean Kaleva Lodge, or Eagles or, thoseare social, fraternal.

c: Ya. I belong to Lions t I was a charter member of the Ontonagon Lions

H: '1b.en ,"au would be J.isted as being active, very detinitel.y active in sociaJ.s fraternalorganizations. HistoricaJ.--we already covered that and your own interest in music--Just music appreciation or have ,"ou pJ.8¥ed instruments?

c: I play' a piano with one finger, by ear.

H: Your own religious aspirations--you are a menber of a local

c: Yes, Siloa Church

H: 8iloa Lutheran ChurCh. If it isn't being too personal. you can refuse to answer thisnext question. having been interested in religion and having gone from. fa! th to another.total rejection of it. did your tather ot a later date find a more charitable attitudetoward the churCh in this country then? As tar as you know.

c: As :far as I know, he didn't.:for the :funeral service.

When he vas buried, when he died, we had him in the church

H: Some more on ethnic organizations: did your parents encourage you to be active inethnic organizations; what would there have been of ethnic? One that comes to my mindbecause I'm a member of it, is Kaleva Lodge and Lions which you're a member is not neces-sarily ethnic organization, it' s fraternal, there is no great when you get into certainother ethnic communities they have their--often, church picnics but they're regularcarniv~s. like the Slovish picnics. and the Polish picnics, and so forth; the Finnsused

c: We used to have picnics every summer, I don't know how many of 'em during the summer

H: Even without being members of any specific organizations

c: Ye,

u~

Peop1e Just decided they wanted a picnicH:

c: Yes, they re~y picnicked

H: Ya, and they had for the men and the older boys, shooting galleries and so forthAnd the typical ethnic foods were served. This is a "yes" or "no"--I have encouragedmy children to participate in various ethnic organizations and their activities.Maybe they have not had occasion but I am sure, supposing Royce would have an opportunityto put on a play or theatrical production of ethnic origin, well, he certainly wouldn't

have shyed away tl"om it

We~. he did. those productions that he had in Ontonagonc: No.

H: Those were Suomi singers

Yes. but he started, in one ot his productions he had one ot--portions ot it, was justFinland; Finnish customs and all that

c:

H: So there is a tie in there

Oh, yes, very def'ini te1.y; and he 's very much interested too in Finnish..c:

H: Do you feel that interest in ~hnic iden~i ty is dying out among children, among yourchildren and people of their age?

c: Well, I suppose to & degree

H: There is a ground wave, same kind of a swell arising now trying to return back to thisinterest, origins, and teaching it in school. Public schools have not placed sufficientemphasis on the contribution of ethnic groups, do you agree to that? That publicschools should place more emphasis?

c: Yes t yes, it should.

Churches--do you believe churches should place greater emphasis on preserving thelanguage and customs of ethnic-minded members?

H:

c: Ya, 1.:00

I happen to belong to a lodge that in the past has been conducting their services inFinnish and now besides the attrition of membership due to death, they're losing membersbecause some of the older ones aren't too well versed in ~ish, so when they changedthe services to English from Finnish, some of them have dropped out. I talked to a ladyyesterdB¥, who dropped out for that reason. So they would find it very difficult to ~indsufficient interest to teach any ethnic--teach any foreign language nowadays. The schoolsteach them and we're ~ortunate that they've had Finnish classes in the area by the adulteducation. Interest in ethnic customs is nostalgic and will have little bearing on thefuture history and education of people in this area. Do you ~eel that that's a truestatement? That ethnic customs will have little bearing on the tuture history? AndEducation. I myself think it won't have much impact on it.

H

c: No, no

Regardless of what my own personal. feelina ieH It's sut':ticient if they tolerate it.

c Yes.

Which of the fo~oving aspects of your personal life do you feel have been greatly in-

fluenced by your ethnic background! Here is 1, 2, or 3. Have your personal habits.H:

'I'~~.

with eating, drinking, and dress, have they been influenced great~ by your ethnic

background?

c: No

What &bout celebration of holidays and special events?your ethnic origin in those interests?

What kind of a tte-in betweenH;

c: No

H: Social and political attitudes? You have mentioned with regard to your duty as a judgeyou had occas,.ion to serve as interpretor for theses so there's a tie-in there.Reading newspapers and books; do you find a great deal of interest in ethnic publications?

c: No

tt A" for effort on and that is interest inHere's one thing that you'~e going to g1vemusic. drama. poetry. and art.

H:

c Yes

1)0 you remember any specific ethnic customs carried on by your parents to recognizethe significance of the following events in your family? If so t please identify thembriefly. Births and baptism--any special rites or considerations

H:

Bot that 1 can rememberc:

Child rearing and discipline--would you s~ that your folks brought with them from theold country, a discipline that's much tighter than what we're experiencing tod~?

H:

Oh, yes, because those d8¥S when a child did something bad he was taken to the woodshed.

Paddled.c:

And the father was the ~er ot the household and when he spoke that was it.H:

That was it!c:

Anything special that you might add?Courtship and marriage.H:

c: No.

H: Religious festivals? There hasn't been any great ones around here.National holidays? We discussed that a little earlier, summer picnics; I believe in alarge measure that community picnic was a carry-over from the parents experiencing some-thing !ike that in the old country.

Fourth of July.Yes. Jl~h~nnus was one of the picnics.c:

Ya. Sickness ahd death. I'~ ask you a couple questions on this: what were yourparents' opi~ions with regard to bleeding, cupping; kuppari, did they

H:

I don't rem~ber if I ever heard them talk about it orc:

And of course it's too early to get muCh information on it. but people in the countryare already becom£!\~ interested in accupuncture. I've heard of several claims of healing

in Ont~on Country.

H:

So have I.c:

13.H: Dr. Kui tunen from Ironwood is supposed to be the practioner.

c: He is.

H: Which of the customs mentioned above have you continued to observe in your familytradition? Community picnic, at least that.How would you relate your parents' ability to adjust to local c~-1ni ty situations inthe following areas in the same weighted answers again?Did they have little or great deal of difficulty in learning the English language?

c: Mother didn't; o~ course, she di ed when she was quite young, she vas only 38 when shedied, and my ~ather spoke broken; little di~~iculty I 'spose.

H: What about getting along with other nationalities?nationalities on the job?

Was there great rapport vi th other

c: I guess so.

H: Did your father experience any great difficulty in finding employment, and into that youcould possibly read, his being of ethnic origin, did that affect his ability to findemployment?

c: I don't believe so.

H: I wouldn't imagine that they had any di:rficu1.ty. did they both become naturalized citizens'

c: Yes

H: They were interested, most naturalized people are more fa! thtul to vote than a personwho is born in

:~at's right

H: How wou1d you rate your ability to adjust to local cOlEUnity situations in the followingareas: learing the English language, that vas just second nature to a person born inthis country; your own ability to get along with other nationalities; now as aprobate judge, you have plenty of experience in that,

c: yes, got along with all ot 'em

H: You know a fellow who I like to read and who finds every time I come out with a newbook t why t I get a comment t or I send him one or somebody else does t and that's JudgeVoelker; there's a fellow who writes in 7 languages t not fluently but he can tell youjokes in Po1.ish and Italian and SWedish and Finnish and al1. that t German t so he hasgreat rapport with all. nationalities for that. Has everything al~s been rosy foryou t Charlie t well t you already did mention involvement in that toy factory t so therehas been personal set backs.

c: Little bit.Dh, yes.

H: But nothing of drastic consequenc.- es.

c: No. no

H: Political involvement-your political involvement has always been happy I would take it

c: Ya

And now here are:events in the area?

how would you say' that the 1.ocal caamuni ty adapted to the followingLocal copper and iron strikes? Do you think that most of the

H:

people worked together to overcame the hardships or did they--were they indifferentto it or did they have a great deal of conflicting opinion?

c: There were conf1ictiog opinion, o~ course, i~ you weren't connected with the mine o~course,

H: Ya. There is a tendency amongst the---even tamilies ot the miners, every strike thatgoes on here some say that the merchants put the women up to this, that get your husbandback to work, but that boils over, that occurs only tor that strike period, ot course,in a community that has several ditferent unions, you run into this more frequentlyrather than it there was one union, so you see quite a turmoil at times at the end ofthe contract. Do you recall any particular stir in this community regarding involvementin World War It

c: No

H: Did a maJority ot the people seem to think that our country s~s, we tight Germany, wetight Germany?

c: Bo t I don r t remember anythina like that.

H: There were some in World War I and World War II, I heard that ~self in World War IIprotesting against u. 8. involvement, the German-American Bund did that in LakeForest protesting American involvement and wanted to see Hitler vin. And the GreatDepression. What recollections do you have about the great depression? That was thetime that you had your toy-making venture, wasn't it?

c: was 1930.No. Depression

H: This was after the depression?

c: I worked during the' 30' s.Ya. I was occupied all the time.

H: Charlie t how would you rate the future of the local area? And here are the differentitems that could affect it. Do you believe that tourism is our best economic hopein this area? You would have to weigh tourism against the mines.

c: Tourism is a bi8 factor.

If! Supplement the mines.

c: Ya, just a supplement, ot course, the tourist industry is a big industry, esPecially nowwith all year, skiing and snowmobiling

H: That's something we'd ~ like to have the answer to.local industry in the future'

Will mining be the most important

c: I think so.

H: Do you think that the interest in ethnic conditions wi~ decrease or increase?

c: Increase.

H: Do you think more people will settle here? I think there is a trend among people who areretiring.

c: Retiring .

H: They want to buy a plot ot land and get away from the city t like the riots and that

c: Tha't 's 'true.

15

To finish on the lighter side, how would you answer these questions on wit and

wisdom amongst local residents? WE're trying to find out hereH:

(end Qf; 1;;~eL

Januar,. 16, 1975

(

/~rlP"'- I /,.0

1

~. Charles Vi1l81nOntonagon, M1bhigan

Dear Charles:

Thank you very mnch for your cordial letter and the coW of your excellentarticle on .Ontonagon County in the Ci'rll War." We are pleased to haft itfor our archiw8, aM I am taking the liberty of 8.king an additional xeroxcoW for Nick Faller who was our studio guest last Wednesday for HeritageLine. G1.ftn his keen interest in the Civil War, he will appreciate readingthe .tine article which you have prepared.

Again, 8D'7 ~anks tor your assistance in ~i8 program and other heritageeffort,s. Best wishes to you and ~8. WillEn.

Sincerely,

Artk Puotinen

t9~ h",~~ ~~~_.. 2./-1l

Victoria. "WheYOe Copper Was Mined Before 'The RetIOlutionary Wm. and ~al CJ1Iou.sand YeaTS Prior'

Victor F. Keefer~~~x, Pre.ident:-.Jr~~.~~~~~~.~Q'.t"lLES WILLMAN, Sec..Treas.~i Doyle, Vice-Pres.

rJ~~.

January 15. 1976'lid Copper - We~ht 3,708

On DIsplay atSmithsonian IMtttutlon

Dr. Arthur Pu8ttinenSuomi CollegeH.n~ock, Michigan

near Art:

Heard only part of the Heritage Lin. program on

Wednesday - thought the enclosed paper I wrote on

"OntOnBIOn County in the Civil War" might be of

interest ana possibly serve as reference material

Sorry I did not have any covers left - perhap. you

ean take car. of this there. Did not have time to

look for one as my wife and I are leaving for Calitor-

niB tomorrow.

Sincerely your.. ,~~_-.e~ ~ ~Charles Willman

"-- ~ ~

c

Village of Ontonagon The Oldest Settlement on Lake Supenm. Founded M413, IB43 by James K. Paul

ORGANIZED APRIL 4, 1957

'. -. - . 11!!~~!~.

ONTOOAGON COONTY IN THE CIVIL WAR~ Charles Willman

~RD

It is not genera~v known to what extent remote areas such as the

~tonagon Country were affected by the Civil War. For this reason

the following account J relating to the western portion of the ,Upper

Pet insula during this cmt1.ict, is being ottered 88 8 contribution at

the beginning ot this cent8nnial commemoration, and as a small tribute

to those who served.

The keynote here is copper.

Copper had beSt discovered and was being mined in the Ontonagon

re!ion only a few short years prior to the Civil War; and, it all

started with the "()ltonagon Boulder".

This famous "Boulder" - over three thousand pounds ot plre copper,

fomd lying in the Ontonagon River several miles upstream from its

muth, now resting in the Smithsonian Institution in Washingt<m, D.C.

drew attention to this area (known in Europe as early a8 1660), lead-

in8 to the discovery of the copper deposits and the mining develop-

menta which followed.

Tb this writer it seems reasonable to believe that settlement of

this area would have been delayed for many years had it not been for

the "Boulder" - and there would have been no stOry to tell ot this

historic period.

But, the "Boulder" was there - and its discovery timed pertectl,y

to provide the war effort with this essential mineral. Could it be

that the Creator arrar~ed it that ~V?

But that is an~ther 3tOry.Charles Willman

Mb.rC-1t /CJ"

110000AGON COUNTY IN mE CIVIL WAR II

~NeWs that the diffe~ences between the North and the South had erupted

into war reached the Lake Superior port town of ~tonagcn). Mich:1,gan, by

pne of the early boat arrivals soon after navigation opened in the spring

or 1861 - water being the sole means of conunerce and travel to and rrom

this remote area on the south shore of the Lake, almost complete~ ieol6tec

during the winter mqnths

It is understandable then that a boat arrival, especiallY 10 the 8prin~

was cause tor excit~t ~ ~h..~ erlt:j.re .~~8t1on~ droppiJ)g all a.ctivities,

1ncl~!M church services, gathering at the dock, eager to greet and con-

¥erae with tra~eUer8 tram the oute1de ~rldJ extending warm hands in

friendShip with aost cordial hospitality, 8 trait very much in evidenceI

,amcng the people of this community to this day,

Mai.~~ arri'rlng irregUlarly dUring the Winter JlK>nths from Grem 9aY by

dog team (Peter White to Marquette in the 1850's and Joel Millard t&

Luke~tonagon in~ ~~~ ,!J()' 8) and frpm Wausau, ...ij;isconsin by fo.ot 9srri.er

'Edward Sale. &Welch - age 16 and his lather James Welch) or by stage

Samuel P. Bell), kept the inhabitants infonned on developn8'1ts of the

strife between the states and the election campaign, which they tollowea

For these were a patriotic end loyal peoPle,,' vitall.vwith avid int ere st.

conceme< and hopeful. to the laet that the South would concede without

bringing about ,a'bl~~ conatQ.t.

ltere, fran the time the .first settlers arrived ~ 1843, the 4th ot JulY.was ce,lel5!'at"ed 'With &mluine fervor - the event diligS'ltl.v coDmemorated witb

a degree..Df hilarity "but also that touch of propriety befi ttinS the

occasion. When the gatherings w~re 3ma~ in the eerly years i t ~s a day

tor a special feast, with to8sting, singing and reading of th. Declarat~an

of Independence. The temp~ changed ~t ccu~se ~hen the crowds grew larger

1

get a single vote!

Marquette, EagleAnd there were severallUpper Peninsula was mentionedl

Rockland (Webster & Rosendale) 2500,

Is he unacquainted with the factcolumns, "Who is this man Howes'?

"Will someone en-

In

of Missouri).

-)-

known to him who go.~erns all, but we a~~ ~68dy for th~ c~ll and e~ger to

advance. ~!e ~Y tell YOU D tale so~etime. For the present, good-bye"

He had much to tell and would have told it well, but he wns among those

killed in a battle a few days later c

Menadue left surviVing him his widow Hannah, and children, James, J~~e

and Isabel. Hannah later married Richard Matthews of Greenland.

,862The first actual recruiting was done during August and SepteQbe~

when 94 men enlisted, 84 or whom were assigned to Co. A. or the 16th Ir~.

¥~ch. Reg. under Capt. Thomas S. Bc1rry of Detroit. Many more ~rc believed

to have enlisted earlier at other points (Port Huron, Detroit, etc.) for

whom the county received no credit. In this group were ti va mrried r.en

Charles Abele, Csspnr Gordon, Patrick Fullery J Charles Leary and Charles

Uberoth .

Killed in action at ChickahominY, Va., June 27,- 1862 froI:1 this \O."1it were

Henry \ve1ss, Henry Balm, Charles Bester, Ormand Bechard, George Hartman

Two others died of wounds and 3 were discharged torand 1ot.athias Stark.

-disability. (Note German names - almost 100 or tho total volunteers were

ot Geman descent).

Yorkto,,"n - April.SOQe of the ens~gements the 16th participated in were:

4 to }liay 4 J t B62; Gettys~ur~ - J~ 1-2-3, 1863;Bull RUZl - A~. .30, 62;

Wilderness - May 5-7, 1864; SpottsYlvania - May 18, 64; Cold Harbor

June 7, 1864; Petersburg - June 18.. 64; Weldon R.R. - Aug. 19-20-21, 64;

Appomatox Court House - April 9, 1865

During this first period of enlistments in 1861 there was no extra re-

muneret~on DS an inducem~nt to volunteer - soldiers' pay of $11 per :onth

only. Bounties wer~ not ~cvi~e1 Ulltil tne :ollowing yca~.

-6-

On Aug. 5, 1~~. Dan1e1 Plummer, of Rockland, former supervisor (1855-56)

from Pewabic Township (area west of the Ontonagon River extending to the

Wisconsin State line) and County Sheriff 1857 thru 1860, pet1timed the

board ot 8upePV1.sor8 tor 8 ba\mty to be paid to volunteers in 8 company he

was organizing. consuting ot 89 men - 66 from Rockland and 2) from

Ontonagon.

At this meeting the board allowed $20 for each recruit and provided

that payment be met from the Court House Building Find, which amounted to

This county building had been held in abeyance since 1860 because$6,(XX).

of the unsettle4 internal aftaire of the nation and was not constructed

until 1886. In the meantime office space tor county otticers was rented

in the basemslt ot the Bigelow Hotel and the baesnent ot the Presbrt.erian

Church, and - Distrtot Court was held in the Firemen's Hall.

At later meetings, 88 the war progressed and the need tor more troops

increased, the bounty was raised to $40, then to $'46 and in '864 to $400,

the 'board borrc-.1iJ\8 t\mds to meet pa.vment.

Capt. Deniel Plummer resigned his commission on April 20, 1864, leaving

the army after serYing 2 years. ApparSltly felt he deserYet1 8 pro~tion

This 18 only s~se, based on Menadue' s expression~1ch wns not granted.

~f his feelings regarding the resignation, saying in his letter to Mr.

Crozer, 'rwe do not think he was fairlY dealt ~ th alter commanding the

Regiment th~ the campaign in Tenneseee".

In his call tor ~re troops in '862, as turther inducSlent President

Lincoln set a bo~Y' of $50, and in 1863 the War Dept. allowec1 $15 to

ag81ts tor each rec~t secured and the boWlty was raised to $.302 tor en-

Meanwhile the State Legislaturelis'tment and $1.02 tot- t-e-enUstm«lt.

'1863) a~rizC 8 $50 romty and in 1861. it was raised to $100 tor one

-7-

year enli8tment, $200 tor two years end $300 tor three yoears.

Although an enrGollment had b~ made, preparatory to a draft, by act of

Congs-ees r~~ the registration or all males eligible .tor 1Iilitary

duty between' the ages of 18 and 4', dl-atting of troops W86 not !l.ecessary

in ~ Upper Peninsula.

Running low 00 recruit material dUl-1ng a period in 1864, the board of

$upervisors unanimouslY agreed to accept the otfer or one Capt. Phillips

tor transfer ot 20 men from Marquette Co. Where they were not needed. It

these men were actually rece1.ed into the a~ they would each have re-

ceived. $1.00 bounty from Q1t0n8gon Co., $100 !ran the state tor each year

And, Capt., Phillips too wouldof enlistment and $302 from the War Dept..

have received his agents fee of $15. 9ut it is not kno'Wn at this point

if these bounties were paid to t"his group - county records tor the period

Oat. 13, 1864 thru 1880 were destroyed in an attempt to cover up irre~ar-

itie8 1n manipulation ot funds.

'nte enrollment record tor 1862 hod 531 men listed from Rockland, 164

£rom <A1t.onagon and 76 from Pewabic, Greenland and Algonquin Townships, for

In 1863 there were 8t.3 in-a total of 771 eligible f~r military dutv.

He was 8 mulat'toeluding one colored - a William Hill, age 43 and single.

and claimed to have been free bol-tt in Fredericksburg, Va. in 18T7. Hill

operated a shoe repair shop in Dntonagon and wae a member of the first

He is remembered tor his many kindnesses tovolunteer Fire Dept. in 1855.

Died here in 1 ~7 .needy families.

During the enrollment in 1863, Houghton Co. had 962 registered, Keweenaw

157 (2 colored) and Mar~tte-Schoo1crart 611 (2 colored).

Another colored man, Noel Johnson, a negro slave escaping into Ohio

ftoan llissouri, was brought here by Cyrus Mmdenhall, a prospector, in 1848.

-8-

Mendenhall pe14 $~50 to the e~t8te ot wm. S. Pemberton ot Mi8~our1 tor

JQbn6on'a freedom to enable him to sell his rights in mineral lands to

the Mass Mining Co. tor which he received $10,000. Johnson died here in

1853 lea ving his widow ~nd two children

In the order tor recruitmmt ot the 27th Regim~t, it was directed that

six companies be raised in the Lake Superior counties, but onlY three were

Co. A. was headed by Capt. Danieltilled. They were Co's. A., B. and C.

Plummer, 1st. Lt. Charles waite, a school teacher trom Rockland, and 2nd

Lt. Daniel G. Cash, son of one of the very first settlers in Ontonagon.

The officers or Co. B. were Capt. Samuel Moody ot Houghton, 1at. It.

Co, c.James Slawson, Houghton and 2nd Lt. Nelson Truckey of Marquette.

was organized under Capt. William B. wright or Eagle Harbor, 1st Lt.

Frederick MYers, Houghton and 2nd Lt. Chester W. Houghton, also or Houghton.

These three companies rendezvoused tor trainins at Port Huron, being

transferred to Ypsilanti on Feb. , 186.3 when the 27th and 28th regiments

'Were combined. The completed regiment, the 27th, was m~tered into

service with eight companies on April 10, 1863.

Siege of'Some ot tJ1e mgagemmts the 27th participated in were:

Vicksburg, Misl. - June 22 to July"4, '863; toJackson, Miss - July 1

'86.3; Siege of Knoxville, Tenn. - Nov. 17 to Dec. 5, 1863;

Wilderness, Va. - May S, 6, 7, 1864; Spottsylvania, Va. - May 10, 11, 12,

North Anna, Va. - May 24, 25, 1864;186l.; Va. - June 7,Cold Harbor,

186l.; Weldon ~R., Va. - Aug. 19-20, 1864; Capture of Petersburg, Va.

April 3, 1865

'nle 27th In!. Mich. Regiment contained 2029 men. Six officers and 122

were killed 1n action, 2 officers and 84 men died of wounds.. ~ officers

199 men died ot disease. The regiment was cited by Congre$8 tor the

-9- .

loss of one-third of its men.

Samuel Moody,3 advanced to the rank of }~jor, was one of the officers

Who died (June 20, 1864) of wounds rece~ved in battle at Wilderness and

Cold Harbor. In the action at Cold Harbor 89 men from this regiment were

killed or wo\D'1ded, Lt. Cherles Miller 0.' Rockland being one or them.

Daniel G. Cash, who joined this unit 88 8 2nd. Lt., was promoted to rank~

~ or Major by the time he was discharged on ?-26-65. He was wounded in

battle at Wilderness and Cold Harbor, captured at Ream's Station but es-,

caped to rejoin his regiment and wounded again a~ Petersburg, Va. After

the war he settled in Duluth, Minn. where he bacnme 8 prominent lawyer.

Sgt. James A. Croze~, eon or the editor or the L.S. Miner ond a printer

by trade, was wounded at Wilderness and discharged tor disability on

10-20-64. Crozer fcanded the Tribune at Escanaba, Mich, in 1869 and later

bought and published the Herald at Munominee I MiCh. He represented

Menominee County in the state legislature in 1885 and was 'Colmnandant ot

the State Soldiers' Home at Grand Rapids '897-98.

Corp. Arno Jaenig - wounded at Spottsylvania - returned to Ontonagon

but moved to Houghton sometime after he married Adelaide Loranger on

1-23-69. Their children were - Frank, Walter, Mrs. John Vivian, Mrs. &ick

Anderson, Mrs. Harvey Cornelier, Mrs. Benjamin Wieder, May and Belle.

Jaenig served as Houghton Co. Register of Deeds 1892-93 and died at

Laurium, Mich. 8-10-1914.

Sgt. Stephen Loranger, brother or Mrs. A. Jaenig, was wounded at

Wilderness and discharged. tor disability 1-6-65. He was one or the very

few who returned to Ontonagon to ~t8Y - served 8S County Treasurer 1867

to 1876 and agein tram 188) to 1881 and 1897 thru 1900, and as ProbAte

Judge in '880.

-10-

He was

his mother in 1876.Killed - Sgt. AlexanderAnd the list of killed and wounded continues:

Onto~gon.

Hc~hton Co.

Keweenaw $.3 ,620 and l-1arquet te $7,989 .16.$8,419.00;

-11-

Mackinac on 10-11-54. Short~p 8~er arr~ving at Ontonagon in 1854 he bcgan

farming - the tQ~ remaining &~d still o~cupled by his desccn~en~s. A

grandson, Norman 5chatte~, died here on Jan. 8, 1961.

Others among those with distinguished service records were: William

Freeman, who entered service as a private and was mustered out a Captain.

His widow I Frances Brown of Green-He died of the fever during the war.

land, later married Job Dowd Who leave a long list or descendents.

Raine A. Hadwick of Rockland rose tram 8 private to Brevet Major;

Charles Waite from a Lieutenant to Brevet Brig. General; William B.

Wright,4 Eagle Harbor, reached Lt. Col. rankj Frederick MYers became a

James Moynaham, Copper Harbor, trom Sgt. to Capt. and John Berry,Major;

Ontonagon, Sgt. to 1st Lieutenant.

The men and 'Joys fran this area who have been mentioned, and man.v

others whose names are not available, compiled 'a record not only to their

own credit but to the glory or the region. They were part of the Michigan

torces who drew the praise ot Adj. Gen. John ~bert8on, saying in one ot

"The troops from the State of Michigan have gained ahis reports,

prominent po8ition in the armies or the Nation. They have done their

duty falthfull.v and fearlesalv.. and bome the brunt of many well fought

battles-".

And Goy. Austin Blair, in his message to the legislature in 1863, said,

"Their battle cry is 'Michigan, Rsnember Michigan', and Michigan must

I hope you will in some appropriate 'Way I place upon tJ1eremember theml

enduring records ot the State your appreciation ot the valor and patriotic

Resolutions to this effect were adopteddevotim ot these brave men _"

and carried out by the legisla ture

But. n~thing has been d~8 locally to rsnember this episode in the early

-12-

history or this ~ton8gon Country - and it does not sean right that

attention should be focused upon it only during centennial years. Now,

during this centennial commemoration, would appear to be an appropriate

time to take steps for preserving this record by the erection of a

memorial to the manory of these men in the new Museum building planned

for construction in Ontonagon in the very near future.

It is interesting to note that 25 returning veterans recorded discharges

and about the same number of descendents of Civil war soldiers (not in-

cluding children and grandchildren of those named) have been located and

living in ~tonegon ~ty (at this writing), listed as follows:

Elden Emmons - grandson of Pat~ick Cusick and Bridget Henry. Cusick en-listed 5-20-61, serving as a Sgt. under Capt. Kurd in the 2nd Reg. ofKentucky Infantry Volunteers. Served as Sheriff 1878 thru 1882.

Mrs. P. A. Erickson - granddaughter ot Stephen Loranger.

Donald, Jack and William Miles - grandsons or George Miles.

George DuCleaux, Ewen, grandson, and Mrs. Gus Erickson, Rockland, great-grand~ughter or Michael DuCleaux.

William, Thomas and Harry ROBS - grandsons of George Gotschenberger.

Mary and Lorraine Hedrick, and Mrs. Elmer Drier - great-granddaughters otGeorge Gotschenberger, and grandnieces ot wm. A. Hadrick.

Mrs. William Daniels and Norman Ham, childrm, and Earl H8JIIIl, LawrenceHamm and Mrs. George Heinz, grandchildren of Theodore Ham who served inthe Union ArJJlV from Iowa and was wounded at Gettysburg. (Mrs. Danielsrecalls that the family lived with Mrs. J. K. Paul When they arrived

here).

Mary and Bertha McCanna - daughters of John McCanna and granddaughters ofHenry MCCanna - father and son, serving in the same unit with a con-tingent from New York.

Mrs. Ed~rd J. Carlson - granddaughter of G. William Abrahamson wh~ servedin Company K - 84th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Mrs. Carlsonis the ~i:fe .-of 'the. pastor of Siloa Lutheran Church" ~tonagon.

-13-

¥~s. ChJrles Hebert - granddaughtcr of Charles Forest who lived in the Lac~ux Desert arca in \visconsin an~ scrved from th8.t Stnte. Forest methis death by freezing whilo walking from Wisconsin to Rockland andburi~ ~ ~~~ nd . ..

lrthur J. \1alker - great-grnndson, Shelley Fr~ser, grandson and ~~s.~rvin Takala, great-great-granddaughter of Alfred Frascr of Ionia.Fraser was killod in action during the burning of Georgetown. ArthurJ. Walker is also the great-greet-grandson of Sheldon Curtiss of Saranac.who served in Co. M. 6th Mich. Cavalry, part of Custer's Cavalry Brigade.

T. L. Chamberlain - grandson of Elias Lillie - volunteered on Lincoln'sfirst call, cnlisting from Ionia County. Died in Ander"sonville Prison.In priv~te life had been a school tcacher in the daytime and gave vocallessons' in the evening.

***** *****

For part of the time during theso war y~ars the district (Houghton and

Ontonagon Counties) was represented in the legislative bodies G£ tn~ State

Joseph Coulter of hlgonqu~ ~uwnship (now Bohemia)by Ontonagon men~

served as State Senator in 1861. Mr. Coulter was the supervisor from

Algonquin township from 1854 thru 1860, Supt. of the Douglas Houghton ¥Jna

during this same period and had a mine operating which bore his nace

During these early copper mining ye~rs I it was the superintendents of

the mines who wore elected a s supervisors - apparently because of their

high standing in the co~munity and also being men of influence and ability.

And able men were scarce - at times being called upon to serve two offices -

such as Daniel Pittman who was County Clerk and also Justice of the Peace

at the saoo time in 1856, issuing marriage licenses and performing the

ceremony too.

Josephine Coulter, daughter of Joseph, married 1\. B. l.tiner and settled

Their daughter, }wry Miner, presently resides in Tucson,in Ishpeming.

J.rizona..To the House of Represent.atives ~t-onagOlt s..ent ~~- Sle.-man; a -lswyar..

to. ose-rvefl'Om.18SJo.to 1858-and: egain ir. 286.3.

-14-

OnlY thre6 others from Ontonagon Co~~ty hsve repreeented the district

They were - Willi;mt Willard, Jr., 1869-70;8S Senators since Mr. Coulter.

James Mercer 1883; and Willis F SawYer 1893.

In the House of Representatives, ~ addition to Abrler Sherman, Ontonagon

Qo. h~~ had John Greenfield - 1859; George C. Jones - 1865; Luther G.

~erson (Rockland) - 1867; William Harris (RockJBnd) - 187.:3-74; James

Mercer - 1881-82;James K. Jamison - 1935-36; Isadore A. Weza - 1937-39;

and William c. Stmson (Greenland - 194'.

John B. Bsmett is the onLY ~tonagon man to have attained 8 seat in

Congress. He was first elected in 1942 and serVed during 1943 and 44,

and has held that office continually since 941, having been re-elected

in '960.

Augustus Coburn of Ontonagon had the distinction of being one of the

six presidential electors from Michigan in 1860 to cast his vote for

Abraham Lincoln. John H. Constock was chosen as an elector in 1892, and

James Burtenshaw ot Greenland served as a delegate to the 1867 Constitu-

tional Convention. The Constitution as revised by this Conv~tion was

rejected by the voters.

Mr. Coburn was the first Ontonagon County Treasurer (1854) and later

served as a supervisor, harbor commissioner and in various other

capacities. He and Abner Sherman lost their lives when the steAmer

"Sunbeam" sank in Lake Superior on I~ugust 23, 1863. His widow and children

moved to Corydon, Indiana, from where the fan~ originated, a short t4me

atter the disaster.

**** ****

Har~r improvement was affected just as building of the Court House

-1~

-had - been .curt.!!i1NL because of the war.The Harbor, 8 natural at the mut.h

of tJte Q1tonagon River, kept filling in with 5e1iiDl~t ~Yft\tine vegs.els

fran entering - and it was costly to load 8M unlo8d with mnall boats

Much work had been done building piers, dredging, eta. - mostly by Charles

T. Harvey who completed building the Soo locks in 1855 - but much more was

necessary to keep this lifeline in effective operation for import of pro-

visions and supplies and export of copper.

In petitioning Congress for aid on the HArbor project, Which they had

refrained from doing earlier tor patriotic reasons during the war,

pointed out with pride that they had done so ~ch on their own before ask-

ing for Gov~t aid, .stating that over '100,,0CX> had been expended by

mining companies, vessel o~ers, private individuals and the County

Now, with the war ended and lake traffic increased very extS'lsively,

they felt the harbor was no longer a local problem entirelY, but was de-

serving ot GoveMruDent attention and help, an absolute necessity tor com-

pletion or the project.

In this petition they also pointed with pride to what had been done here

during the war for aid of ~unded soldiers, offering the following copY of

, 1865:proceedings from a meeting held at Washington, March

"At a meeting of the "Michigan Soldiers' Relief A8eociatioo"of Washington, held this evening ~t the rooms of the President,the object ot coming togcther at this time was etated, to takesuitable action in response to the donation f rom the citizens ofOntonagon County, to this association, amounting to $6 ,O' 7.43, tobe expended for the benefit of the sick and wounded soldiers."After reading the communications accompanying the money, Dr. H. J.Alvord presmted the following reeolution: "~LVED, That wechallenge the Union to produce another instance in Which a laboringpopulation of onlY 5,500 souls have contributed for the relief ofdisabled soldiers, an amount so munificent as have the people ot())tonagon, Mich."

This generous contribution ~_s ra ised at 8 d1nner and ball held on

Washington). ~rtJI..f4.T;" feb. 22, 1865, in the ramus Bigelow House -

-16-

grand h'ot~l of the whole Lake Superior region, five stories high, built

in 1850 at Q cost of $28,000.

It was in this hotel that the gcntlemen financiers from the cast gather-

ed and met with prospectors and explorers for planning and making their

Where public meetings were held; where county officersmining ,deals;

were quartered and Carson & Bradford printed the first issue of the Lake

Superior Miner in August 18SS

This center of such varied activities, the finest hotel north of Chicago

in its day, was destroyed on Jug. 25, 1896; when a tire broke out in a

swamp west of the village during a high wind, wiping cu t the entire town,

taking with it ma~V other historic landmarks and relics of the past, and

miraculously only one lite.

The fatality in this conflagration was Mrs. Albertine Pirk, an invalid

Mrs. Pirk, Q widow. died in here living quarters on the67 years of age.

8i te now o\tined by Milton H.egg and occupied by the !-1ichigan Einployment

Two grandchildren.. Mrs. Stanley Mnnnan andService at 540 River St.

Walter Geist, and a number of great-grandchildrml, descendents of Louis

Geist and Paul Geist, deceased, are still living in Ontonagon.

**** ****

-17-

in 1961.

copper mining isacti ve~v promoted - as are roads and transportation;

there are always drives to raise funds fordrDfted into the J'~ed Forces;

and

there are those who dream'tool

And this is 8 changing world?

********

(Inserted in the Congressional Ra~ord, dated June 14, 1961,

by Ron. John B. Bennett)

-18-

~to"(,oQ5:

t - ~~ St~pc first vi5ited Ontonegon in 1846 with CharlesOngi~ (¥dneral Rang& ~ilroad ~ployee 1899), both as ~DloYe~sof the Hudson Bay Fur Co. Stripe did not remain here at that ttmebut retu.~ed to th e 500 ~ere he lived for three years and a~ainheaded tor Ontonagon, residing here until his death October )1, 1899.

In tr.e winter of 1855, when the people were faced withstarvation because a sup~lv boat did not arrive in the fall"he wasa~n~ a group who went to Eagle Harbor by dog team (a rupged andhazardous trip) for supplies. Flour they broupht back sold for $25per barrel. In t862 he'llas appointed r.ight Eouse ¥eeper, a job heheld for 22 years. He left surviving him three sons, Edward, Thomas,Jr. and Cornelius, and three daughters, 1{rs. John Fuller, DoraStripe and ~~8. William Burgeon. (From obituary in the OntonagonHerald, dated Nov. 4, 1899.) Grandchildren stilllivin~ in the areaare I.~wrence, Archie, Donald, ~.iss Leah Stripe, ¥.rs. Fred Dunham,}.".rs. Clarence Trimberger and ?~s. Gerald DeHut, Sr.

2 - Nicholas Voelker, grand~~~' of Justice John D'. Voelker, ownedand operated the Ontonagon Brewery in 1859, oanufacturing a "fineli.~e for ~resent use and stock ales." He moved to tTe1:aunee withhis faI:dl." in 1866. Justice Voelker is the author ot "Anatom.v ofa }:urder", "Small Tow D.A.", "Danny and tJ1e Boys", and "Trout}~adness" .

3 - Samuel Moody was a well known sea captain on Lake Superior - atone ti~e captained the Siskowit. In 1850 he was a P~d ~ssionerand Justice of the Peace in J~rquette Township, Marquette County,and anDarently served in some capacity at the Cleveland }'ine as hespent a Bummer and winter there. When he moved to Hou~hton is not1a'l own . .

The Julia Palmer, a small side ~eel steamer 125 feet in len~th, ~ t~Samuel M~v as the Captain, brought Fa~v Cash, wife of naniel S. Cash,and their 2 children, Agnes. and Daniel G., to Ontonagon in the la te tallor 1847. The steamer left Sault Ste. Marie on October 24, 1847 andarrived on ~Tovember 14, after a stOrmy voyage. It is believed their son,William Cash, was the first white male child born in Ontonagon, onDecember 6, '848.

4 - William B. ~Tri~ht served in the Black Hawk t"~r at ~ge 18, late~ inthe Indian "'ar of Florida. In 1846 he was in charp.e ot Fort io,'ilkinsQ~ Ordnance Ser~~ant. ftter the Civil Wa~ he operated the PhoenixHotel at Eagle Riyer an4 was Sh8~itt ot Keweenaw County in 1880.

-19-

,I...,

Sources of into~tion:

Material fro~ collection of Ontonegon Co~~ty Historical Society.

County Records - Supervisor's Proceedings 1853 thru 1864;Probate Court; Marriage records, etc.

Lake Superior Miners - scattered issues - 1856 thru 1868 -Ontanagon County Historical Society. (}~ of these werecontributed by Marquette County Historical Society).

Historic Michigan - Vol. III - George N. Fuller.

Michigan Manuals - 1907 and 1957-58.

"This Onto~ gon Country".."Ontonagon Families up to the Civil t!ar" lmd"Mining Ventures of this Ontonagon Country" - James K. Jamison.

History or Upper Peninsula - Western Historical Co.,A. T. Andreas, Prop. 1883.

Michigan in the civil War - Adj. Gen. John Robertson. (courtesy ot James O"m~ara.. supervisor Bohemia 'l'wp.

and chairman ot the board).

l!arch 1961Ontonagon - Civil War

-.?C)-

Index to Names

PageFuge t~a::\E:Name

1)131.).12196

Forest, Chr.rlesFraser, ShelleyFraser, AlfredFreeJr.an, WilliamF'\lller, }/.rs. JohnFullery, Patr~ck

6135

10

Abele, CharlesA~raha!;lson, G. WiJ.J..i~l;.lan, Rob.ertJ.nderscn, ~frs. &ick

66

~a:-:-y, Capt. Th~'nBS S.;.. )., d 0 .:Jec..cr, :-:r.an~Be'" S"-u~" p, "' Be:':-y, John

Baster, ChesterBennett, Joh.~ B.Blair; "Gov. AustinB )., .. ..

o..~, rta!1..~

B:-aI:'.oert, l~athiasBrown, F:-ancesBu:-ns, ChristopherBl:..-Ce.~5haw" James

176

14.11111.3

11

5 -111I1

Geist - Walter, ~s~ PaulGordon, CasparGreenfield, JohnGreenf:.eld, r1m. A.Gorman, ?nos.Gotschenberger, George

111-12-13

13156

1513134

17111113

8

1 ~

Carlson, ~1rs. E. J.Cash, Daniel G.Chamberlai.."1, T. L.Coburn, J\ug~tusCo:nstock, John H.Corrlelier, ~.~s. HarveyCoulter, JosephCrozer, J. ",1.Crozer, Jailles A.Curtiss, SheldonCusick, Peter 8

911

Hackett, Jo;-.nHadrick, Hernan I..Ham - Norman, Earl,

lawrence, TheodoreHarris, WilliamHart~an, GeorgeHarvey, Chas. T.Hebert, Mrs. CharlesHedrick - Y~rY I 1orra~~eHegardt, I.Hegg, YdltonHeldt, .JacobHenry, AlexanderHenry, BridgetHenry, P.H" llW " ll -i

.J. , J. _amHoughton, Chester W.Houghton, C. W.

2- 10Jaenig, ArnoJaenig - Frank, Walter, Y~y

a."ld BelleJamson, James K.Johnson, Eben L.Jor.nson, NoelJones, George C.

101S118

14

Daniels, V.rs. ~L-:'..Death, JohnDeHutJ !t.rs. GeraldD e:npg en , NicholasDe.'1tz, PeterDowd, JobDrier, 1".rs. E1.~erD-~Clea1.JX, GeorgeDuClea~, !/j;chaelD\inha!:lJ Mrs. Fred

116

1'31

1110

31513131.3

~erson, George D.EI:ler~on, Luther G.&=.ons, ndenErickson, ~:s. P.A. (Helen)Erickson, }frs. Gus

Lane, RobertLeary, CharlesLillie, EliasLi."lcoln, Pres. A.Long, AlexanderLoranger, Stephen

11

Falk" Joh Felme:-1 Pete:-17Y.annlln, 2I:s. Stanley

65'261

i2'1i5

1-1

. 111.1

~I

,I

I-~

:393151510143

1O1313

"

;:191111;12f'."1119

Index to Nam~.3

PageName Name Page

s,S8. f4

1 l-f3

Takala, Mrs. MarvinTrimberger, Mrs. Cla~enceTruckcy, Nelson

13199

6Uberoth, Charles

Vasseur, LouieVivian, Mrs. JohnVoelker I John D.Voelker I Nicholas

101022

13

11

1-1

1

~11136t

IS101411

Mass MiniJ1g Co.Math.ews, Richar4Menadue, JohnMendenhall, CyruaMere.er, JamesMiles, GeorgeMiles - Donald, Jack,

WilliamMillard, JoelMiner, JosephineMiner, MaryMoody, SamuelMoynaham, James}.tvers, FredJ.tvers, Frederick

McCanna - Mary, Bertha,John, Henry

McRee, Christopher1.311

Waite, CharlesWaite, CharlesWalker, Arthur J.Weiss, Hmry .

Welch, JamesWeza, Isadore A.Wieder, Mrs. BenjaminWillard, William Jr.Williams, 'I11omaaWhite, PeterWright, 'tin. B.

~gie, Charles 199-11-12- 19

Pell, StephenPemberton, '.ohn. S.Pirk, Mrs. AlbertinePittman,. DanielPhillips, Capt.Place, HenryPlummer, Daniel 6

12112

13

)

Robertson, Adj. Gen. JohnRock, JohnRough, HenryRoss - William, Thomas, Harry

14-

Sales, EdwardSawyer, Willis F.Schaffer, AugustusSchaffer, NormanSherman, .AbnerSlawson, JamesSmith, HenryStark, Mathio8Stenson, \ohn. G.Stripe - Edward, Thomas Jr. I

Cornelius, Dora, LeahStripe, 'rnomas

192

449221

,

1-

917147

j 17

141112-15

9116

15