Looking for Kettula/Johnson family in USA

[Eriksson]

I'm searching for information about my relative couple which has moved to USA about 1895.

Husband is Matti Kettula, b. 4. February 1872 Alavus, Finland; d. 9 November 1921 and his wife Liisa Kuotesaho, b. 30 August 1875 Alavus, Finland; d. 22.4.1959. Married 1894.

Matti's ship manifest and arriving to USA 28.5.1895 is available from www.ellisisland.com. He seems to go to a place Rockfort/Rockford but I can't see what is the state after the place name. But, I know few places this family has been: Hannah WY, Leadville CO and Lyons CO before moving to Mount Holly VT in the early 1920's.

After moving the family changed the family name to Johnson. So the couple was in USA Matt and Lisa Johnson. They have had lots of kids, over ten, but I know only few of them:

- Sally Susanna, b. 3. August 1894 Alavus, Finland (later family name Ojala)
- Lizzie (later family name Nortunen)
- George
- Ernie (Ernest?)
- Dickie
- Richard

I'd like to have more exact information about the family: complete list of kids and their appr. ages - everything census' could tell about them! Even better if there would be any details about the families of the children.

Thank you!

Marko

[jeanette]

Hi Marko,
The final destination for Matti and his fellow travellers appears to me to be Rockport, Mass.

I also found a Matt Johnson on the Scandinavians in the 1910 Census. The age is wrong but he is Finnish born, named Matt and in Rockport - Perhaps someone with ancestry will check the image to see if other family members match your list.
Surname: JOHNSON Given Name: MATT
Age: 40 Sex: M Race: WHITE
Birthplace: FINLAND
County: ESSEX Locality: 1-PCT ROCKPORT
T624-Roll: 587 Part: 1 Page: 182 Subpage: A
State: MA

Jeanette

[granskare]

The manifest image was for a group of travelers from the continent. No mention of a Rockford or anything like that.

Perhaps you could put a scan of the image you saw online here.

EDIT: Jeanette just sent me a copy so disregard this post

chuck

[Karen Norwillo]

I looked at that 1910 census. Johnson, Matt, 40, married, 21, Finn, US 1898, laborer electric co, wife Susie, 40, 9 children, 5 living. Children: Ida, 16, born Finland, William 8, MA, Susie 5, MA John 3 and Anna 1 2/12, MA. Karen

[jeanette]

Karen, Thanks for checking the census.:)

Marko,
The Social Security death index lists two Nortunen people in Mount Holly, Rutland, VT.
Name Birth Death Last Residence Last Benefit SSN Issued
JOHN NORTUNEN 26 Sep 1903 Jan 1979 05758 (Mount Holly, Rutland, VT) 05149 (Ludlow, Windsor, VT) 008-09-5632 Vermont
FIINA NORTUNEN 02 Jun 1876 Jan 1968 05758 (Mount Holly, Rutland, VT) (none specified) 008-26-9841 Vermont
Perhaps you could track down some obituaries.
http://www.mounthollyvt.org/mhchm.htm
http://www.mounthollyvtmuseum.org/ historical photos
http://www.mounthollyvtmuseum.org/virtualtour/index.htm
This link has a photo of the Honour roll of WWII vets. Some of the names listed are Lehtonen, Pikkarainen and Pekkarainen and Ojalehto.

Jeanette

[Eriksson]

Thank you for responses!

Marko

[willyj]

Hi,

I noticed that you mentioned Leadville above . . .

Does anyone of you have old photos from Leadville?

I have some unidentified photos from Leadville during the same period as you are discussing.

Would you be kind to check if you can find any match between your photos and my photos or you might have information about some of the persons on my photos? My unidentified photos are published at the Internet page
http://oldphotos.homeip.net/Photos.htm

I'll be grateful for every single clue that will help my research; my contact information will be found at the Internet page
http://oldphotos.homeip.net/Photos.htm

Thanks!