FARMED OUT IN ONTONAGON COUNTY

FARMED OUT

IN

ONTONAGON

COUNTY

P A T   W I N T O N

FARMED OUT

IN

ONTONAGON

COUNTY

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED to my dear wife, Elaine M. Winton, who went to be with the Lord in February of 2024. Her enduring love, infectious smile, inspiration, encouragement, and support provided the drive for me to complete this story of my early life. We loved and enjoyed sixty-two years of married life together, while raising three fantastic children. We were blessed with the addition of two daughters-in-law and a son-in-law, who presented us with seven grandchildren. They have been true blessings from our Lord.

First Edition

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www.PatWinton.com

All rights reserved.

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A coming-of-age story of a boy who faced a parent’s death, abuse,  abandonment, and extreme poverty in a Finnish community within Michigan’s Upper Peninsula during the 1940s and 1950s—and how he overcame all odds.

Content Type: Black & White

ISBN/SKU: 9798989948406

ISBN 979-8-9899484-0-6

Acknowledgements

CYNTHIA FURLONG REYNOLDS, author and award-winning journalist, has published twenty-four books and countless articles during her career. I joined her writers’ group, THE CEDAR CHIPS, in Dexter, Michigan in 2023, to fulfill a life-long ambition. Cynthia and her fantastic group of writers inspired me to publish this book. Their years of experience, critiques, reviews, humor, and consistent support made this a wonderful journey.

JORDON STYRK, owner of Postal + Prints in Dexter, has assisted me in the preparation for publication with his ideas, technical support, and knowledge of software and printing capabilities.

ANANIYAH.ahmed, 99designs byVista, transformed my ideas for the cover design into reality.

My Biblical inspiration remains ROMANS 8: 31:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us,  who is against us?

P R E F A C E

Origins

Early Memories

CHAPTER ONE

Life Without Father

School Days & Fun Nights

CHAPTER TWO

Farmed Out

CHAPTER THREE

Winter Fun: Ice Skating

CHAPTER FOUR

Family Farm Years

Dangerous Work

CHAPTER FIVE

Leaving Home

CHAPTER SIX

My First Job

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Winter Coat

CHAPTER EIGHT

A Carnival Life for Me

CHAPTER NINE

Life as a Farm Hand

CHAPTER TEN

My High School Years

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Pool Hall

CHAPTER TWELVE

High School Sports

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Working at the IGA Grocery Store

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Working at the Sinclair Service Station

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The Accident

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Toting Rail and Gandy Dancing

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

College Bound!

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

First Years at GMI

CHAPTER NINETEEN

GMI and Family

CHAPTER TWENTY

In Conclusion

A B O U T  T H E  A U T H O R

P R E F A C E

I AM WRITING the story of my early life to share my challenging journey into adulthood. A normal, happy family life ended when I was seven and my father died. From that point on, I was the man of the house. But when hard times quickly came, I was farmed out within Michigan’s Finnish community in the Upper Peninsula to a series of neighbors and relatives in different locations and environments, some of them abusive. The tales of these episodes and the people remembered aren’t meant to be negative or to disparage any persons. They were part of these life experiences.

My normal, fantastic family life ended when I was seven years old, on December 8, 1946. It was a Sunday evening, and my father, mother, sister, and I had just finished dinner. The grownups continued their conversations, but Blondie and Dagwood came on the radio at 6:00, and I asked to be excused to go and listen. As I got up, my father gasped and cried, My God, what has happened? He fell to the floor and tried to speak.

I ran into the living room to reach the phone, and upon picking up the receiver, I heard the operator ask what number I wanted to call. I screamed, My father’s dying! We need help! I had been taught our address on the Rockland Road and I gave it to her, but she kept asking for an adult.

In desperation, I hung the phone up and took off running to the neighbors, about one hundred yards up the road. It was a cold, dark December winter night in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I ran as fast as I could through the new fallen snow, without a coat or boots, and banged on the neighbors’ door. When Mr. Csmarich came to the door, I told him what was happening and how I wasn’t able to call for help. Mrs. Csmarich ran to call for an ambulance while her husband and I ran to our house.

My dad died that evening. Before Mr. Csmarich left, he placed his hand on my shoulder and said, Son, you are now the man of this house.

Those words and this event changed our lives—and from that point on, I tried to live up to that expectation.

More specifically, my father’s death changed each life in its own way. My mother was twenty-seven, and my sister was four.

We had no life insurance or any money.

Eventually, my mother sold the house, and we went on Social Security. As I recall, my sister and I each received sixteen dollars a month and our mother twenty-five. We were fortunate to have a debt-free ten-year-old 1936 Chevrolet Coupe, with a rumble seat.

We kept it in running condition for the next four years.

I had been told I was now the man of the family, and you can be certain that I assumed that role.

I believe in Jesus Christ. From the age of eleven, I have asked Him to lead me. There have been straying times, but in total, I have tried to follow His lead.

You will note throughout these chapters of my life that people in and outside of my family intervened in my life exactly when I most needed help and guidance. I give these people recognition for the fact that God brought them into my life and helped me to prevail. I’m also thankful to have grown up in America, the greatest and best place in the world, a place where a strong work ethic and a strong foundation can help anyone achieve success.

I learned that hard work and perseverance can—and will— pay off, and I hope these stories will demonstrate that success can be achieved and adversities can be overcome.

Origins

IN ORDER FOR YOU to better understand my story, I need to describe the background of my origin and early beginnings.

My mother’s parents each independently emigrated to the United States from Finland as young individuals, to avoid the Russian czar’s 1881 edicts imposed on the Finnish people. At that time, Finland was under the control of Russia, and the czar demanded that Russian become the official language and young Finnish men would be conscripted into the Russian Army. Essentially all Finnish national feelings were being stamped out. These Russian edicts didn’t end until about 1918, with the Russian Revolution.

Andrew (Antti) Hietala from Oulu, Finland, was born in 1874, and emigrated about 1900. After extensive study, I wasn’t able to find any records of how he arrived in America. According to the family story, he had been a Russian soldier, and was naturalized as an American citizen somewhere out West. He somehow ended up in the Copper Country of Upper Michigan—that story was lost.

Kreeta Kukkola from Ii (pronounced E), Finland was born in 1874. In 1899, she sailed from Helsinki and landed in Boston. How she ended up in the Copper Country of Upper Michigan is also unknown, but I do know that many Finnish people arrived in the Copper Country because the terrain, forests, seasons, work and living opportunities made them feel like they were home. This was often discussed when I lived in Ontonagon County.

Antti and Kreeta were married in 1901, in Ishpeming, Michigan, and homesteaded in Ontonagon County on eighty acres in Interior Township. This was a time when much of the virgin timber had been logged off in Ontonagon County, and the land was opened to homesteading.

Their farm was two and a half miles west of Trout Creek (pronounced crik.). The Trout Creek ran through the town of about five hundred people, with a large saw mill there employing many men. Beginning in 1887, the railroad was completed and ran through the town, providing transportation for lumber out and logs into the mill, as well as food and farming supplies to the stores. Passenger service was also provided. Small schools were scattered through the countryside; the consolidation process for schools began in 1930.

Nine children were born to Antti and Kreeta. My mother, Signe Irene Hietala, always called Irene, was the youngest. She was born in Trout Creek in March of 1919. Both of her parents died in 1932, only two months apart, Kreeta from a brain hemorrhage and Antti from stomach cancer. The oldest son, Jack, was thirty years old when his parents died, but he wasn’t able to keep the farm operation going. Life on a farm was dangerous, and Jack had been kicked in the head by a horse. He was confined to the Mental Institution in Newberry when his parents passed.

The only other son, Andrew, was fourteen years old when he lost his parents, and he was sent to an Army Civilian Conservation Corps camp in 1934. Because no one was available to continue the farming operations, the farm was abandoned, but the taxes were paid by someone in the Hietala family, to keep the property in the family.

All I know about my mother’s early life is that she was farmed out to two older sisters’ homes in Ontonagon. She was only able to finish the eighth grade in the rural schools located at the crossroads area called Agate, one mile west of the homestead.