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.

Note: Should the Finnish American Archive be a resource for publication, please send a copy of the publication to the Archive:

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

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I This is an interview with Mrs. Sigrid Lepisto of 846 87th Avenue WestDuluth, Minnesota conducted by Adrian Niemi at Mrs. Lepisto's home onDecember 4, 1974.

R \\r\A~tU\\.\My father came to America in 1885. He was born in I1mauiki but hisfather died so they moved to Cauhiuki. Mother was born inand she came to America in 1890. She worked for a German family for -~

one year in New York and came to Newberry, Michigan and they weremarried in 1892. The Newberry Church was the first Luthern Church thatwas bull t in Newberry in 1888 and my father was a young man that timewhen the church was built and he was one of the Trustees that belongedto the Council to the Church. Newberry was one of the Churches thatformed the Suomi Synod. There were nine churches that formed theSuomi Synod. He wasn't even a married man at that time but I supposehe was brought up in a good religious home and he was one of them.

They married there in 1892 and six of us girls grew to womanhood. Igraduated in highschool in 1916. I was born December 17, 1~97. SoI'll be 77 years old December 17. My oldest sister is still livingin Newberry Michigan. She will be 81 years old December 30. Theywere all girls. We had several boys but they all died in infancy.My other sister became the wife of Reverend Oni Koski in 1928.Reverend Oni Koski went to the seminary and the second year she wentto have charge of that dormitory that they had behind Suomi Collegefor the boys. She took up music and she was a bible student alsothat Reverend Lepisto had at that time at Suomi College. That was inthe early days. Her husband died about 6 or 7 years ago. He was aretired pastor already when he died. So she's along too.

I Could we go back to your parents for a while?

R What?

I Could we go back to your parents for a while?to America?

Do you know why they came

R My dad didn't want to join the Russian Army so he came to America.There were other people that he knew in Newberry Michigan so that'swhere he came. He came there to live and lived there all his life.He was a carpenter. He built alot of homes in Newberry. The lastfew years he was a pattern maker at the furnace. They had a pig ironfurnace, the first step from the ore. That was the first step ofsmelting iron ore. He diedin 1947 from hard work. Mother died in1951. Mary, Olga, and Ida worked in office work. Ida worked fortwenty-five years. Pa said she was a perfectionist. You didn't everfind a mistake in her work. Mary took a two year commercial coursein Newberry. They had a very good commercial course there.

I Before your father came here, did he know that he would get a job in

Michigan?

R No he didn't. He worked a while at the hospital fixing chairs andthat. See Newberry has an insane assylum there. I don't know whenthat begun but he went to work there fixing chairs and things that thepatients had broke.

2

R It's two miles from town and mother always said she was so afraid thatsomething wo~d happen to him.

I Do you recall if your father ever talked about his experiences when hefirst came to this country? Any unusual experiences or hardships?

R I imagine it was kind of hard at first to begin a congregation. We hada minister and they came about twice a month to Newberry at first. Welived across the street from the church so we were really initiatedinto the church. My sister Mary was an organist for about 50 yearsbefore she quit. She started when she was in highschool. We alwaysbelonged to the choir and did Sunday School work and did things likethat.

I Was there quite a large Finnish community there?

R Oh yes, but most of the older people are dead and gone. There aren'ttoomany people of Finns left there. It was during Reverend Turko'stime that the church was joined withthe Swedes. The Finns lived in theeastern end of the town and the Swedes in the Western end of the town.Alot of those old Finns have services in the Swedish church only oncea month. It's kind of hard on the older Finnish people. They lovetheir church.

I Do you recall if there was much antagonism or rivalry between theFinnish and Swedish?

R Yes, because they thought they were the cream of the crop.

I Yes I've observed similar situations herein Minnesota.

R Where are you from?

I Originally Minnesota

R Where?

I Virginia Minnesota

R You know just as much as not

I Right.

R I had an experience here in Duluth. I was going to church and my homewas on 5Jrd Avenue West. We owned the house and I sold it three yearsago. I met a lady on the street and she said she went to this GloriaDei Luthern Church and she had a couple children with her. A ladycame up to her and said that's my seat. So she had to get out of thereand sit somewhere else. I thought that was kind of funny. We usedto go to church every Sunday morning atlOsOO and we enjoyed ReverendLuttinen very much although he was that kind of a minister thatpreached the Gospel and not the world event. That's how the olderFinnish educated during Nikander's time. I went Suomi one year afterhighschool and I took Finnish in all the four highschool grades. Ofcourse we always talked Finnish at home and I had my Confirmation likewe all did.

J

R We were baptized with Finnish. We went to Finnish Schools and joinedthe Finnish Choir. I still belong to the Finnish Choir here in Duluth.

I That's good.

R There's a Mrs. Enid Maki up on the hill and her husband died a few yearsago, about six or seven years ago. Mr. Maki's brother has a brotherin Ohio Jwho is a minister, Reverend Ottomaki. I guess they live inAshtabula Harbor now.

Well I was married in 1929 to Reverend Anti Lepisto. He wasn't aReverend when he came from Finland in 1909. He came to America andworked in the chair factory for one year in Massachusetts to earn alittle bit.

I Do you know what town in Massachusetts?

R What?

I Do you know what town in Massachusetts?

R I'm not sure.

I Okay.

R He came to Suomi College the next year to learn the English language.See he had graduated from so he had quite abit of knowledge already of the world and so on. He was a ready madespeaker when he came, he was very active in Temperence work in Finland.This was during Doctor Nikander's time and he was a wonderful president.He went to the Maywood Cemetery after he was an ordained minister atSuomi College and then to the Chicago University and he graduated fromthe Chicago University with a Ph. D. They asked him at the ChicagoUniversity why did you come here? You had alot of education already.He said I want to be the minister to raise the culture of the Finnishpeople in America. We had a letter to prove that we found in histrunk that he had given a copy to the Chicago Uni versi ty people.We brought it to the Suomi College on their 75th Anniversary. All thechildren went there. My four children, I have two girls and two boys.

My oldest daughter is a reading consultant for the Excelsior schoolsfor the first six grades. She tells the teachers how to teach thosepoor readers and she gives the teachers themselves so that they knowhow to teach the poor readers. If they need more help they come toher in her office so she can explain to the child how it goes. Shewas teaching her first year the year her dad died in 1954 and she'sstill teaching. She got married and has a son who is a senior inhighschool this year and a daughter who is a sophmore. She's a goodviolinist and been in the orchestra for three years. She has playedalot of solos and duets with another girl. God has given all mychildren good memories so they don't have a hard time going throughcollege either.

I That's good

4

R My second has been a Pastor for about thirteen years and when he wasfour years a pastor he got a scholarship to go and study in HelsinkiTheological Seminary for one year. He took a group of Finnish Peoplein March to Palestine and he was the Chaplain of the group. It wasvery interesting. When he came back he had taken alot of pictures andslides there. He was at Mass when he got called to go to Helsinki tora year. His wife went to Massachusetts. She was an English girltaking a nursing course at Boston. When he came back he got thiscongregation mixed congregation at Centuria. that's Norwegians. Swedes.Germans. Danish people there the farmers. If you've ever seen the showthe Immigrants those people are the ones. the Lutherns that moved inaround the District of Centuria.

I Right.

R He also had two Finnish congregations in Wisconsin. He was there forthree years and at the same time took more work at the NorthwesternSeminary. He started to take a drug and alcoholic counselling courseat Hazelton which is on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota where youturn in from Forest Lake there to go south. He finished it last yearat Jamestown in the big state hospital there. There were two Norwegianpastors, and a catholic pastor who were taking care of the patientswho were addicted to these alcohol and drugs at the big hospital atGrand Forks North Dakota and he's there now. On Sunday he preaches inchurches that call him and it's a good thing because around there, therearen't any Finnish pastors. So he has a good chance to talk and keepup with his Finnish. Our father wanted the children to learn andkeep up with the Finnish language and he always talked Finn to thechildren.

I Excuse me, you said you spoke Finnish at home? Is that right?

R Yes.

I Did you learn English at home also?

R No. I didn't know how to talk hardly any English when I went toKindergarten. My mother, we really never heard her talk English verymuch but my father was a carpenter and when people came to thehouseto inquire about dad and where he is, she was able to tell them. Therewere three of us girls in highschool at the same time. So it kept dadbusy as a carpenter when he earned only five dollars a day. In thosedays when we were children we just made both ends meet.

I Do you recall if you had any difficulty in school?

R No, I passed the first and second grade in one year. I was seventeenwhen I graduated from highschool. I was seventeen in December and Igraduated in June so I was 17 and a half years 'old.

I Your Finnish language was not a drawback?

R No, not a bit. I've never had any accent like some of these Finns havewho live out in the country and then come to the city.

s

R Dad Lepisto always corrected our Finnish here at home if I said somethingwrong. My husband would always correct us and sometimes when I go homemy sisters still talk the way our parents talked see.

I Then you married Mr. Lepisto in 1929?

R Yes, and I taught public school before that time. After I leftMarquette. I went to Marquette after I left Suomi Colle8~ the nextyear then. I had taught public school for ten years. The last sixyears at Amasa Michigan I taught the fifth grade. I could have taughtin St. Paul. I never had no difficulty in getting a job, it was justas if it was all prepared for me right away. I took a grade certificatebefore for one summer and then during the years I taught I took twoother summer schools at Marquette Michigan so I only had two terms totake a life certificate. I just got through in March and there was ajob ready for me at Eben Junction. I could have stayed there. Theyhad a consolidated school there. Ihad my contract signed for thenext year when I got a call and they wanted me to teach an ungradedroom. Well I was kind of scared to go way up to st. Paul in a big citylike that. I thought I might be too quick tempered to teach slowpokes. So another call came from Marquette and said ther's a fifthgrade opening at Amasa Michigan. It needed alot of church work there.The Amasa Church didn't have a church of their own, the Lutherns sothey bought one of the school buildings and changed thatinto a church.We formed a little Luther League and worked together. The last yearbefore I left we had a little bazaar when the church was done. Weinvited the whole town to come and help us if necessary and we madeenough money to buy a church bell. the carpets, linens and everythingthat a church needs. Our little Luther League did. Reverend Luomacame from Crystal Falls to have services to us. So that' show itstarted then.

I When did you first come to this area?

R I came here with Reverend Lepisto when we were married in 29 when Iquit school teaching after ten years. He was there at Suomi Collegefor three years. But before that he was Pastor in Duluth from 22 to27 and from 27 to 31 he was at Suomi College. After we were married fo~a few years he had to go to Finland because his mother was sick in theHelsinki Hospital. He was born in the southeastern part of Finlandnot near the Russian border.

I Do you remember anything about the Labor Movements in Michigan when youwere very young?

R I didn't know much about the Labor Movement in Michigan because theydidn't bother me much at all. I know that in Newberry Michigan theyhad a Socialist Hall on the next Street behind the church there. Someof the woodsmen were determined to come to town and I don't know whatthey were going to do. The town people, the town was a town of notquite four thousand people when I was there, they wouldn't allow this.They shut their hall and wouldn't allow them to have meetings there.I don't know if they were Communists or what. So later on a few yearssome of those people joined the church. Iknow when Anti was at MassMichigan there was a school teacher whose name was Kevanen and I wentto visit Anti several times and this old Mr. Kevanen said they were allgone underground.

6

R Many of them joined the churches just to keeptheir jobs. And here, whenwe were married I had four children in eight years. I was busy at home.My husband did alot of missionary work around here and went to those kindof places that did not have pastors on his own. Sometimes he didn'tget anything for it. It was just a sacrifice on his part. When wefirst came to Minnesota we were at Ealey for one year. Dad had beenthere before and then he was called to come to Duluth. But that wasbefore I was married to him. He came in 22 to Duluth in the fall andhe was here five years. He was five years Pastor in Duluth before hewent to Suomi College. When he was at Chicago University he rang thechimes at Chicago University mornin& noon and night. He was interestedin good music. And it was during this time that the Mesiah was givenin Duluth for the first time in his church. It was Reverend Lepistothat got the Mesiah Luthern Church to Duluth. It was on Lake Avenue.On this side of the Aerial Bridge. Mr. Hill and another man built thechurch right nextto the Hill Store. Do you know what these older peopletold me here? These two old men acted as if the church belonged to them.I heard that they had to go to court about it. Dad said that's noplace for a church. He said Duluth would neverhave that Mesiah LuthernChurch. There weren't enough people that were interested in it. IfReverend Lepisto hadn't been here. He made everybody work. He gavea job to every member see. Some people complained about that.Sometimes he went to Palo in the afternoon. You know where Palo is, thisside of Aurora.

I Right

R He said Monday he would lock the doors and take the phone off the hookso he could just rest and sleep. Because Monday is usually given tothe Pastors as a free day to do what they want to with it. He reallywas a hard working pastor. He paid ten thousand for that church andin the three years. of course people didn't earn much money in thosedays. they paid about eight thousand of it. But nobody was interestedin it. If they had kept services in that church even three or fourtimes a year they could have kept that church and sold it. But theydidn't get a red cent for that old church.

Now that first church is down near the Lake right?I

R

Then there was another church higher up on the hillIOh yes, in West Duluth here. Reverend Sauvola used to have and he usedto go to that Churchby the Lake there. He died in 31.

R

There's a Messiah Luthern Church in Duluth now, is that the same

congregation?I

That was bought from the Germans I guess. That was the first churchbuilt in Duluth. A few years ago it was a hundred years old. I don'tremember if it was in 1960 or 1965 that we celebrated the anniversaryof the Messiah Luthern Church.

R

7

R Of course we did alot of fixing. In 1960 we fixed the floor, put newpews in it and did!alot of fixing in there. We had a big celebrationthen too.

I Do they still have Finnish services there?

R We have Finnish services in the winter time. in the summertime only alittle bit earlier. We have it at nine o'clock in the morning withthe Finnish choir and the English service is at lO~45 in the morning.They have no choir at present. They tried to have a choir and we didhave a very good choir a few years back when we had a good leader.Now the organist is our leader. She's been an organist for over 40years. She's a public school teacher and teaches the fifth grade.She's a very good organist.

I Well since you came from a Finnish home, I wonder if you would rememberany old Finnish folklore? Sayings or songs?

R Oh my mother had alot of Finnish sayings.

I For instance do you remember the names of the fingers?

R The what?

I The names of ~he fingers?

R I haven't receited that for so long that I can't remember them all.Oh yes my mother had alot of sayings and every once in a while theywould pop into my head and I'd say them to my children.

I Do you happen to remember any right now?

R Oh let's see. I had a very good mother and she provided a very goodhome and we had a good Christian education, everyone of us. She was17 years old when she came to America. Let's see

I I haven't heard that one before.

R Do you know what that one means. See you look at a person and if they're:real beautiful then some person get married right away to a person like!that instead of one that isn't quite so beautiful. It's what inside of I

you and what's inside of your head that counts. ,-- ~ ~-~ ~ ~ I

Can you write it? I know alot of people wondered why I marr~ed Reverend!Lepisto because he was 14 years older than I am. I'm never sorry that i

I did marry him because he had alot things that he tried to interest i

our children in. Our children had taken paino lessons. My oldest i

daughter is an expert pianist. They all had excellent singing voices.

I Excuse me, letme try some of these children poems and see if youremember any of them.

R Children's what?

I Poems or rhymes.

8

I

R No, I've never heard that one before.

I

R No, I don't know, I've never heard that one

I

R No

I Okay

No, but we had alot of books that they could read. Dad had one of thebiggest libraries. There was a man who came from Superior and askedDad to help him because the Communists kicked him out I guess. Heasked dad would you go to the Board of Education here and ask them togive him a job. He was a book binder and he wanted a job binding theirbooks that needed to be bound. He got the job. He had lost his wifeand had two children so he remarried but he died accidentally. Hewas under his car fixing the car and someway the car started to rolldown and he was killed. His 'second wife is still living here and sheknows how to bind books too. She'll go and help them when they arein a hurry to get the books ready and things like that.

R

I Some people have told me that the Finnish immigrants had a tendency todrink alot.

R They had what?

I A tendency to drink alot.

R Oh I don't think so

I You don't believe that.

R I~ve never seen my father drunk.

I I mean other people

R I don't know, but before in Newberry there were alot of saloons. I'venever seen alot of drunks among the Finnish people in Newberry. Inthis big Duluth I don't know whatkind of life they lead. I had neverhad a chance to belong to the Kalevans or the Finnish historicalsociety.

I Do you still have contact with Finland and your relatives there?

R Ya. I made a trip to Finland in 1956 after dad died. Reverend Lepistohad a home there right next to the Church. They had a bigger placea little ways from there but they sold that place after the parentsdied. When dad died in 54 I knew the oldest organist and choir playerSeppala. He had been 69 years before he retired from that job. Ilived with them and he took care of dad's home in Finland.

9

R When they build churches there the bell steeple is a separate part ofthe church. That was on the other side of the road. Right by thebell steeple their home was right behind it and there was a cement postwi th a ring on it where he tied his horse when he came from away. Thathouse was used as a court place. There are quite a few gypsies inFinland. And when I was there a gypsy b9Y had stolen a horse from anearby home. They found it then. I had a very enjoyable time thereand we had a big service before I left. I told the Pastor ~hat I of~enwondered when I came ~o church, ~ha~ ~he paren~s would come ~o churchbut the children wouldn't come. They never brought the children along.So I thought to myself why do the parents come and not bring theirchildren along. One of the retired pastors said well I'll have toremember that. That's why when our children get confirmed they runaway and they don't go to church anymore see.

I That's the problem.

R Sure.

I Well I don't want to take too much more of your time but I wonder ifyou have anything else you remember. Any old stories, recollectionsanything unusual?

R I don't know, I spent so much of my time taking care of my childrenand getting my four children through college. Their all collegegraduates. Anna Maria has her Masters in Reading. The son Anti hasbeen a Pastor for 13 years, he went to North Western University inMinneapolis and he took this counselling course and is in Grand ForksNorth Dakota. That's right on the border and not far from northernMinnesota. He said there were 12 doctors there questioning him. Antihas gone to school so much. He had four years at Duluth, three yearsat the Seminary, one year at Helsinki and then this counselling coursenow. So if he doesn't know something it's funny hey. Veiko is thethird child and he took up four years here of Business Administrationmanagement. When he got through he got a job in Washington D.C. withthe administration of the Air Force. He was asked to write the rulesof the Air Force. He said it was okay and they had to get a Jew tolook it over and change some of his ideas see. The youngest daughterhas had art and music at the Uni versi ty of Duluth for four years. Onlythe oldest girl was through college when dad died. Anti was in theArmy and he went to the Army language school and he was at MontereyCalifornia studying Finnish and Hungarian. The Hungarians of LosAngeles invited them to a big party there those people studying thelanguage there. They said they didn't believe he was a Finn. He saidhe had the best time of his life there. Helmi has had music. Shetaught six years in Superior Symphony. She and her husband built righthere in West Duluth a welfare home for kids that can't live at homewith their parent. They have become delinquents because the parentsare too permissive with the kids and say go because we're going there.Parents aren't home long enough to take care of their kids.

I I have a release form here for you to sign saying you donate this tapeto Suomi.

R Have YOU met Kukkonen?

10

I Yes I have.

R See I was so taken up after dad died with the boys coming home from theArmy. Dad died in March and the oldest son was called away to the armyin January and he was away three years. The next boy was called twoyears afterwards. So when they came back they had to finnish theirwork at U & D before they could continue their other education.