HomeMy Public PortalAboutErikson, Henry/9,e0
/da4ocStuts/77,9r1
Ethel Erickson
Services for Ethel
Marie Erickson, 99,
Eagle, formerly of
Donnelly, who died
Thursday in a Boise
hospital, were conducted
afternoon Monday in the
Finnish Church in Lake
Fork by the Rev. Robert
Keyes. Interment
followed in the Finnish
Cemetery in Lake Fork,
under the direction of
Heikkila Chapel, McCall.
She was born July 7,
1881, in Finland. She
moved to Carbon Wyo., at
the age of 9. She
homesteaded with her
parents in Long Valley in
1898 near Lake Fork. She
married August H.
Wilson on Feb. 2, 1902, in
Rock Springs, Wyo. He
died in March 1911. She
moved to Rochester,
Wash.
She married Tom Eld
in Cascade. They lived in
Roseberry, where they
ranched. He died in 1941.
She married Henry
Erickson on June 24, 1955.
They lived in Donnelly.
He died June 24, 1977. She
moved to Eagle in August
1977.
She was a member of
the Finnish Ladies Aid
for more than 20 years
and a 50-year member of
the Valeria Chapter of the
Eastern Star.
Survivors include two
daughters, Edna
Erickson of Eagle and
Viola Goode of Donnelly:
a son, Rayno Wilson of
Portland: a sister, Elvira
Dueber of Rochester: two
stepsons, Ray Eld and
Bill Eld: two step-
daughters, Ruth Johnson
of Brigham City, Utah
and Joan Smith of Boise:
two grandsons, a grand-
daughter:, eight great, -
grandchildren and five
great -great-
grandchildren. She was
preceded in death by a
daughter, son, sister, and
brother.
l
i
Ethel M. Erickson
EAGLE — Services for Ethel Marie
Erickson, 99, Eagle, formerly of Donnelly,
who died Thursday in a Boise hospital, will
be conducted at 2 p.m Monday in the Finnish
Church in Lake Fork by the Rev. Robert
Keyes. Interment will follow in Finnish Cem-
etery in Lake Fork, under the direction of
Heikkila Chapel, McCall.
She was born July 7, 1881, in Finland. She
moved to Carbon, Wyo., at the age of 9. She
homesteaded with her parents in Long Val-
ley in 1898 near Lake Fork. She married Aug-
ust H. Wilson on Feb. 2, 1902, in Rock Spr-
ings, Wyo. He died in March 1911. She moved
to Rochester, Wash. She married Tom Eld in
June 1922, in Cascade. They lived in Rose -
bury, where they ranched. He died in 1941.
She married Henry Erickson on June 24,
1955. They lived in Donnelly. He died June 24,
1977. She moved to Eagle in August 1977. She
was a member of the Finnish Lutheran
Church, president of the Finnish Ladies Aid
for more than 20 years and a 50-year mem-
ber of the Valeria Chapter of the Eastern
Star.
Survivors include two daughters, Edna
Erickson of Eagle and Viola Goode of Don-
nelly; a son, Rayno Wilson of Portland; a sis-
ter, Elvira Dueber of Rochester; two step-
sons, Ray Eld of Rosebury and Bill Eld of
McCall; two stepdaughters, Ruth Johnson of
Brigham City, Utah, and Joan Smith of
Boise; two grandsons, a granddaughter;
eight great-grandchildren; and five great -
great -grandchildren. She was preceded in
death by a daughter, son, sister and brother.
ilP 1?ece,t-ci "
� nc7f, /clahc
/ Your reporter had the
opportunity to attend the
funeral services for Mrs.
Ethel Erickson, 99 years, on
August 11th at the Finnish
Lutheran Church near
Lakefork, Idaho, conducted
by Heikkila Funeral Home of
McCall.
The Finnish people have a
unique way of conducting
funeral services. Rev. Bob
Keyes is usually the speaker
and Mrs. Meryl Kantola and
Olive Leaf, accompanied by
Linda Duncan, sing one song
in the Finnish language and
one in English. Larry Eld,
son of Mrs. Ella Eld, just
recently sang at a funeral,
and I hear he still sings
beautifully, just as he did
when he was a kid. A lengthy
eulogy is read, extolling all
the important events of the
life of the departed one and
Mrs. Erickson's was an
especially interesting one as
read by Rev. Keyes.
At the close of the services,
the bell begins to toll as the
mourners slowly file into the
well -kept cemetery ad-
joining the church and tolls
until the speaker says his
last words at the grave -site.
Mrs. Erickson was the last
of the first Finnish
emigrants to immigrate to
Long Valley in the late
1890's. She was born in
Finland on July 7, 1881, but
her parents moved to the
U.S. when she was quite
young and settled in
Wyoming where her father
worked in the coal mines. In
1898 he took up a homestead
in Long Valley and moved
there with his family; this
was the usual pattern
followed by the most of the
early day Finnish people
who settled in Long Valley,
where their descendants still
live. The people are thrifty,
hard-working and their well -
kept farms tell this story as
one travels through this
community known as Elo,
which at one time boasted a
post office. "
Mrs. Erickson outlived her
three husbands, August
Wilson, Tom Eld and Henry
Erickson. She is survived by
two daughters,_ Edna of
Eagle and Viola of Donnelly, j
one son, Rayno Wilson of;
Portland, a sister, Elvira;
Dueber, Rochester, Wash., i
two step -sons, Ray Eld and
Bill Eld, Roseberry, two
step -daughters, Ruth
Johnson, Brigham City,
Utah and Joan Smith of
Boise, also two grandsons,
one granddaughter, eight
great-grandchildren and five
great -great-grandchildren.
She was very active up to the 1
last day she lived, com-
pleting her last pair of
knitted socks the evening
before she passed away. She
had been making her home i
with daughter, Edna, of
Eagle the last few years of '
her life.
.RELEASE OF TAPES TO IDAHO BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION'S ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
tY
on this day,
hereby give and grant to the Idaho State Historical S:.ciety and the Idaho
Bicentennial Commission as a donation for such scholarly and educational
purposes as the Idaho Historical Society and the Idaho Bicentennial
C'omission shall determine, the tape recordings made today, and aZl
literary rights therein.
r
(signed)
(witness)
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Erickson
with Joe Bennett
and Doug Jones
March 9, 1976
Page 1
DOUG "This is a tape between Mr. and Mrs. Henry Erickson and Joe Bennett. Today's
date is Mich 9, 1976. We are visiting at the Erickson's home."
JOE "The first thing I want to ask you, I'll ask Henry the date of his birth and
how old he is, and where he was born."
HENRY "I was born in Finland in 1892, October 23rd."
JOE "What town, Henry?"
HENRY "I don't remember."
2E "Where were your born, Mrs. Erickson?"
"In Finland in 1881, July the second."
"What was your maiden name?"
sTHEL "Kampala. My father was Andrew Kumpala that settled here in Roseberry."
JOE "When did your father come to this country, Henry?"
HENRY "Dad came, I think, June, 1892."
JOE "Where did he land?"
HENRY "Wyoming"
JOE "ghat town in Wyoming? Do you remember?"
HENRY "Di amondvi I Ie"
JOE "When did your mother come? Did she come when he did?"
HENRY "No, mother and I, we come in either 1897 or '98."
JOE "When did your folks come to this country and where did they land at?"
Page 2
ETHEL "I don't really remember when father came but the rest of the family came in
1892, no 1892 into Carbon, Wyoming."
JCS "When did you come to Long Valley? Did you come from Diamondville to Long
Valley?"
HENRY "Yeah"
JOE "How did you come? On a train?"
HENRY "In a train up to Salubria."
JOE "That's as far as the train come then."
HENRY "That was in 1900."
'39JE "He homesteaddthen, at that time."
RENRY "Yes"
JOE "When did the Kumpala's come?"
ETHEL "We come to Long Valley in 1898. The whole family from Diamondville, Wyoming
where we started from. On a train, and we come to Boise. From there on we
come to Long Valley on a covered wagons. It took us five days and five nights
to get to Long Valley from Boise."
JOE "Your dad homesteaded right over here."
ETHEL "Yeah"
HENRY "Her dad filed the place that is Art Bollar's now."
JOE 'bne of the Kumpala's lived where that little resevoir is. Was that it?"
IENRY "Yeah, kind of. There's a hot springs there. That was on their place."
JOE "Then he started farming here, did he?"
Page 3
HENRY "Yeah"
JOE "How many kids did he have when he came here?"
HENRY "There was just me and Jenny. Jenny was born in Wyoming in 1909."
JOE "How many children did you have altogether in the family?"
HENRY "There was three boys and four girls."
JOE "How many children was there in your family, Mrs. Erickson?"
ETHEL "Well, there was three of us, one boy and two girls."
JOE "Are the other two alive, Mrs. Erickson?"
ETHEL "My brother died about two years ago. Here at the rest hhme."
HENRY "To finish that, we came on the train and from there we come with a team. All
the family come at the same time."
JOE "Was your dad in one the bunch that bought the threshing machine over there
at Council?"
HENRY "No, they bought a company machine over here at Engen's. That was Coonis,
Koskella's,_-,Kantola's and Norte That was a horse power machine."
JOE "Aid Mahala run that one year for you?"
HENRY "Nb"
IJOE "He had a=horse power machine he threshed with for us one year."
HENRY "i�and that bunch over there, they got a horse power machine about the
same time. Then they discarded the horse power and got a steam engine."
JOE "What did your dad grow down there when you first come?"
HENRY "He raised some oats and wheat. There on the hill we most generally raised
Page 4
'HENRY "wheat. The frost never hurt."
JOE "That's on what they call Sugarloaf."
HENRY "Yeah, and we raised some potatoes."
JOE "I suppose your folks raise grain, and milked cows?"
HARRY "Yes, a few cows we had. We used to make hay off the ranch."
JOE "You kids had to help with the chores. Help milk the cows."
ETHEL "Yeah, we had to help:milk the cows."
JOE "In them days kids pure near had to do the chores."
JOE "How many children did you say was in your family?"
HENRY "Seven"
JOE "Can;you tell us something about your parents background there in Finland?
Do you remember how they were raised? Were they raised on a farm or in the
city?"
HENRY "I don't really know."
JOE "You never did hear them say."
HENRY "If I did I didn't pay no attention:"
JOE "John Hasi said that when the bunch that come up there at Elo, none of them
knew how to farm. They'd get together to decide what to plant. I just wondered
if some of them were farmers."
HENRY "I think they were raised on the farm, all right, both dad and: mom."
JOE "Your folks were too probably."
ETHEL "Yes, they were farmers, both of them. When we come to Carbon, Wyoming my
father worked in a coal mine."
Page 5
JOE "Did you go back after they landed here?"
ETHEL "We went to Finland after we stayed four years. Then we stayed in Finland about
a year and then we came back again and came to Roekspring, Wyoming. Then we
stayed there a little while and then came to Diamondville. We lived there
maybe a year and that's where ye started to Long Valley."
.10E "Did he ever go back to Diamondville to mine?"
ETHEL "No, he didn't go back anymore."
JOE "How about your dad?"
HENRY "No, but he did go to Thunder Mountain for the gold strike. Mather and dad
moved over there."
JOE "He went over there to stake a claim or just to work?"
HENRY "Just to work. I think he was there one summer."
ETHEL "My folks after they sold from here they went to Washington and lived there
the rest of their lives."
JOE "They were probably living here when we came."
HENRY "Yes"
JOE "Do you remember when your dad proved up? Did he in five years or seven years
or what? Some of them got their patents in five years some waited seven
years cause they didn't have to pay taxes."
HENRY "I don't know whether it was five or seven. He had to go to Idaho City to
prove up."
JOE "You didn't have any home on the place when you Come, did you?"
HENRY "There was-iclog house there."
JOE "He probably got somebody's relinquishment or a squatter."
Page 6
HENRY "Some fella from Oregon come over here and filed on it first. Then he went to
Warren, he was mining there. I think he got killed there. When we first
come here dad was living on the place that Downend filed. When he went to
file Downed had beat him to it."
JOE "Wasn't Downend's place just across the old road on the east? Was that where
he filed first?"
-17a kerkc
HENRY "No, Joe Downend homesteaded, you know where ma's » lives. That's Downend
home place."
.TOE "I was thinking he lived out there in the valley one time."
NRY "He did, but he bought that from somebody. It was Webster."
"Well, Mark Webster he married a Downend girl."
,AY "Yeah"
JOE "It was probably his dad that Joe bought the place from."
HENRY "I think so"
JOB "Did Mark have rhomestead where the hot springs is? Didn't Mark Webster own
that?"
HENRY "No, it was, well they call that hot springs Hoover."
OE "hasn't he a relative of Websters, Hoover?"
HENRY "I don't know, must've been, though. Mrs. Downend was a Webster."
JDE "That's the way it was. I see in the paper where J.C. Webster, in 1904, sold
bia oats for seed to same bo d for two dollars and fifty cents a hundred. They
offered him six bits for the rest of them. But he wouldn't sell them because
ha thought he would get three dollars. That when Thunder Mountain was going on.
Did you dad build a home there? Did you live in that log house for awhile?"
Page 8
JOE "This was log was it? Or was it a frame building ?"
HENRY "It was frame."
JOE "And Sash Hall was John's dad."
HENRY `Yeah. Sam Hall lived on this side of the road."
OE "What school did you go to first, Mrs. Erickson ?"
ETHEL "I went to school one year there in Carbon, Wyoming. Then.3I didn't have time
to go to school anymore, I had to stay home and work. When we came to Long
Valley here, Mrs. Spink was teaching. I don't know how I could say what
plece is that where she was teaching. There was Shaw kids and my younger
sister and me. I went to school a little bit but my young sister she went
to school more."
JOE Nas it on that Socenson.Flat ?"
ETHEL "Yeah, I didn't stay here in Long Valley very long, then the next fall I went
to Boise and started working for the families."
JOE "How old were you then ?"
l
ETHEL "Oh, seventeen. I went to work for the Shanewall's, they were bankers. I
worked for that family."
JOE "adhere did-you meet your husband ?"
ETHEL "About a year after I went back to Diamondville and I met my husband there.
We got married in Diamondville in 1902."
JOE "Was his name Wilson ?"
ETHEL "Yes, August Wilson."
JOE Nas he any relation to Johnny McMurren's wife? Her name was Nilson."
Page 9
HENRY
$#No"
JOE
"When did
you buy the place next to me, Henry? What year was that ?"
HENRY
"That was
in 1918, I think.."
JOE
"You just
owned that a year or two didn't you before you sold it ?"
HENRY
"I had it
two years. Then I sold it to Maempa and Leaf. Then Leaf didn't pay
his part
so we got it back, 120 acres. Where Bill Ax lives now Maempa bought
that. He
payed for that, it was the only thing I got out of it. Then we sold
the place
to Deinhardt:'
ME
"How long
did-you go to school? Did you go to that school there at Cascade ?"
HENRY
"I didn't
quite finish fourth grade."
JOE
"Who was your teacher, do you remember ?"
HEITRY
"I don't
remember. Dad, he wouldn't let me go to school. Only sometimes
mayAa day
or two. Then stay away for about a week or so. The he say, 'Well
you can go to school."
JOE
"So you never really got acquainted with your teachers."
HENRY
"No"
JOE "Well, the rest of the kids got to. You can't remember any of your teachers.
Did Lizzie Coonrod teach down there? She taught everywhere else I think."
t„v'tNrrt
HENRY "No Lizzie didn't teach down there NellieAdid. My teacher there was
Ed Heath. He was married at that time. too."
JOE "Was he married to one of the Spicklemire's ?"
HENRY "Yeah, Ida Spieklemire."
Page 10
"I went to school to her."
ETHEL "Mrs. Spink was our teacher here."
JOE "Was she married then when.she taught?"
ETM "Yeah, she was married but I don't remember if she had that son already or
not. I guess he must have been already but the boy;-,didn't go to school, anyway."
JOE "Did the Bell school sit right across the road there ?"
�,1
ETHEL "Yes, that log cabin that's been burned or destroyed or somethes where that
school was, that first school."
HENRY "It was one of the Whaley boys that owned that property. There was an old
log building on the west side of the road."
JOE "I got to remember that one, too. There was schools all over this place."
rXNRY "Then the Bell school was built later on."
JOE "After you were married you came back to Long Valley ?"
ETHEL "No, we just came viciting."
JOE "And you had two girls and a boy."
ETHEL "Yeah, I had two girls and a boy. We stayed in Roeksprings while we were
married. That's where my first husband died, in 1911. That's where I had those
three kids."
JOE "Your oldest girl married Oscar Erickson."
ETHEL "Yeah, she married Oscar Erickson. The younger married Francis Goode. My
son married some girl, Dorothy Peterson, her name was. She was widowed. Then
they worked a while there at McCall: :then they moved to Ogden, Utah and stayed
there quite a many years. I don't remember what year it was they sold there
and went to Portland. That's where they are living now. She had daughter, but
Page 11
ETHEL "they never had any children between them."
JOE "How many rooms did your house have down there at the first one ?"
HENRY f lTwo"
ETHEL "We had two rooms, too. It was all fixed up.already for us. They made all
kind of wooden furniture and there was two beds made out of lumber. Table and
chairs and everything like that."
JOE "inhere did you get lumber? Was there a saw mill around there close to where
you lived ?"
HENRY "Stun!"s had a saw mill over there in Beaver Meadows."
JOE "It was a fairly large house."
HENRY "It had two pretty good iized rooms and an upstairs. At that time when they
built that house there they bought eighty acres from Jack Johnson. They moved
this cabin and joined on this house for the kitchen. When they moved this
house up there they left off that kitchen part and built onto it over here."
JOE "Can you telU us something interesting that happened when you went to school?
Do you remember much about it ?"
UNRY "Not much"
JOE "What did you people do for entertainment at that time? Henry ?"
n
HENRY "They had some kid of picnics where the whole Jpng Valley Finns gathered."
JOE Nas that June 25th ?"
J
Page 12
HENRY "Yeah"
JOE "I suppose you had dances ?"
HENRY "Not very much dancing among the Finns. Mostly religious stuff. Of course,
the youngsters they danced."
ENT) OF SIDE TWO AND INTERVIEW
Subject: Henry and Ethel Erickson
Address:
Date: March 9, 1976
1 (Mr.) Birth date -1892 (Mrs.)1881
Birth place- Finland Finland
Andrew Kumpala- Roseberry
2 Arrival of parents in Long Valley
Homestead
4 Surgarloaf
5 Thunder Mt.
6 Joe Downends
7 Hoover Hot Springs
8 Sam Hall
Mrs. Spink taught school
Sorenson Flat
9 Maempa
Nellie Scott taught school at Cascade
Ed Heath teacher at Cascade
10 Bell School
Whaley boys
11 Stun Sawmill at Beaver Meadows
June 25th Long Valley Finns Gathering
I