#43 Automobiles

For transportation week, I’m posting some pictures of ancestors and their automobiles.

My husband’s paternal great-grandparents Leonard and Mayme (Kivi) Eklund on their wedding day in June 1931

My grandfather Charles T. Wilson, 1930s?

Belknap/Wells Family, c1945

Week 43 (Oct. 21-27): Transportation

#7 Grandparents in Love

I love finding pictures of my grandparents when they were young and in love. So sweet!

My maternal grandparents, Helen (Oakes) & Charles Wilson on June 4, 1932

My husband’s paternal grandparents, Ellsworth & Lillian (Mann) Eklund, in 1948

My husband’s paternal great-grandparents Leonard and Mayme (Kivi) Eklund on their wedding day, June 23, 1931

Week 7 (February 11-17): Love

#28 Leonard & Mayme

I really like this photo of my husband’s great-grandparents Leonard Eklund and Mayme Kivi and it looks like it goes with today’s “road trip” theme. I think it was taken either on their wedding day or soon after. They were married June 23, 1931. Even though Leonard lived in Ironwood, Michigan and Mayme was from Kimball, Wisconsin, they were married in Lake Linden, Gogebic County, Michigan up in the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Leonard & Mayme, young and in love, c1931

Lake Linden’s Main Street in 1935
Keweenaw NHP Archives, Curto Collection
https://www.nps.gov/kewe/learn/news/fth-lake-linden.htm

52 Ancestors #28 – Road Trip

Lifespans of Husband’s 3rd Great-Grandparents

My husband’s 32 great-great-grandparents are, by ahnentafel number:

32. Elias Hansson Eklund (1841-1891), 50 years
33. Lizzie Olafsdotter (1841-1930), 89 years
34. Johan Stenbacka (?-?), ?? years
35. Suava Mattson (?-?), ?? years
36. Tuomas Henriksson Skinnari (1821-1896), 75 years
37. Sanna Liisa Hietanen (1838-1912), 74 years
38. Matti Halvas (?-?), ?? years
39. Wilhelmina Sarvela (?-?), ?? years
40. Joseph Richard Mann (1850-1929), 79 years
41. Missouri Frances Martin (1847-1925), 78 years
42. Asa Bradley (1857-1932), 75 years
43. Nora Jane Pate (1859-1937), 78 years
44. Blake Byrd (1853-1932), 79 years
45. Caroline Clark (1855-1937), 82 years
46. Cornelius Brewer (1850-1918), 68 years
47. Martha Fields (1853-1903), 50 years
48. Johann George Becker (1826-1886), 60 years
49. Elisabeth Kline (1832-1905), 73 years
50. John Knisel (1834-1914), 80 years
51. Dorothea Straber (1838-1890), 52 years
52. Frank Dunham (1862-1935), 73 years
53. Elizabeth Bowersox (1864-1945), 81 years
54. Bernhard Flick (1859-1933), 74 years
55. Paulina Garbe (1861-1941), 80 years
56. Warren Salisbury (1820-1894), 74 years
57. Fidelia Pinkerton (1840-1892), 52 years
58. Nelson Grodi (1839-1924), 85 years
59. Margaret Bushroe (1850-1916), 66 years
60. ? (?-?), ?? years
61. Martha Amstutz (1865-1922), 57 years
62. Gottlieb Krauter (1853-1933), 80 years
63. Anna Mary Ertel (1860-1927), 67 years

The average birth year for third-greats is 1846, with a range from 1820 to 1865. (Calculated with 27 of 32 birth years).

The average death year for third-greats is 1918, with a range from 1886 to 1945. (Calculated with 27 of 32 death years).

The average lifespan is about 72 years, with a range of 50 to 89 years. Males average lifespan is 73 years, and females average lifespan is 70 years.

Ironwood Genealogy Trip – Kivi Family

This summer my husband and I traveled to Ironwood and the Keweenaw Peninsula for our vacation. His Eklund and Kivi ancestors settled there after arriving from Finland, most of the men working in the iron ore mines.

The Ironwood Daily Globe is fully searchable at Ancestry.com for the years 1919-1977. This has been an invaluable resource. Every little activity in the surrounding area (Gogebic County, MI and Iron County, WI) was recorded, including church socials, hospital stays, and visiting relatives. Below is an example of a treasure I found in the Thurs., Feb. 7, 1946 issue. Matt/Matti Kivi is my husband’s great-great grandfather.

Matt Kivi (seated), his son William (left), his grandson Carl (right), and his great-grandson Jack

Our first stop (after the hotel) was Riverside Cemetery, which is right on the border with Wisconsin, across the Montreal River. A kind person posted a very useful map at Find-A-Grave, which helped immensely in this surprisingly large cemetery, as did the clerk’s office of the city of Ironwood (call them if you want to know where a relative is buried in the cemetery). The first gravestone we located was for Matti Kivi (1873-1950) and his wife Wilhelmina (1874-1943) – maiden name Halvas or possibly Parkari (I haven’t quite grasped Swedish/Finnish surnames). Their son Arvid M. (1901-1995) is also buried there and has a military gravestone as well. Matt and Wilhelmina are the parents of Mayme Kivi, wife of Leonard Eklund (my husband’s great-grandparents).

Matt and Wilhelmina Kivi tombstone in Riverside Cemetery

Below are articles about the Kivi’s in the Daily Globe, including their obituaries which were on the front page of that day’s edition. Click to enlarge the images.

50th Anniversary, Dec. 24, 1942

Mrs. Kivi’s Obituary, Wed. Dec. 22, 1943

Matt Kivi’s Obituary, Tues. Dec. 12, 1950

Below is a photograph I found at this helpful genealogy site, Skinnar(i) > Kivi Family.

Some of Matt Kivi’s family, about 1899 in Ironwood, MI

Next time, I’ll discuss the Eklund family we found in Ironwood.