Pernula

Pernula, Härkönen, Anderson, Johnson

Antti Kallunki (1822–1894) moved from Kallunki farm to Sulasalmi farm 1871 and started using name Sulasalmi.

Antti's son Iisak (1850–1908) moved to Määttälänvaara farm in the early 1870's and started using surname Härkönen.

Pictured Härkönen farm. Photo source Vanha Härkönen.

In 1876 Antti bought from auction the Pernula farm in the island of Hailuoto in the Baltic Sea. When he moved to Hailuoto, he changed his surname to Pernula.

At that time, the Czar of Russia ruled Finland. In the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 Finnish boys were being conscripted into the Russian army. Many young men rebelled against the thought of fighting for the Czar by leaving to the United States. In 1882 Antti's son Abram was selected in army in the draft lottery. He left to USA 1888. He was soon followed by brother Herman and sons of their oldest brother Juho. Also Juho followed in 1911 when his wife had died. Only Abram returned to Finland.

The family settled in Astoria, Clatsop, Oregon. Some of the family moved to Deep River, Wahkiakum, Washington and Oneida, Washington. Juho's youngest son Herman changed his surname to Johnson.

Andrew Pernula with his wife

Anderson

Herman Pernula entered in the United States via Ellis Island and settled in Astoria region at the Columbia River. When he sought to secure his American citizenship, the judge thought Herman should have an Anglicized name so Pernula became Anderson (son of Anders) because of a Scandinavian system of creating surnames.

1900 Herman Pernula Anderson married with Wilhelmina (Mina) Witikka, who was only 14 years old. It was custom during this time for women of the west to marry early since there was a shortage of females.

Herman and Mina began married life in Astoria where Herman worked as a fisherman. Sailboats were used for gill netting salmon. The canneries furnished boats for those who could not afford their own, for a percentage of the catch. Fishing was a hard and dangerous occupation as storms could blow up without warning. On one occasion in 1880, more than fifty men were lost. Large barns were built upon pilings driven into the sand bars of the lower Columbia River to house the many horses used to pull large seine nets filled with salmon, caught while swimming up the river to spawn. The nets were towed out into the river with boats, pulled into shore, and the load transferred to the horses to finish the job. There were so many salmon during the migration upriver that it used to be said that a person could walk across the river on the backs of the salmon. Astoria was a busy place with the thriving fishing industry as well as lumbering going on. Many Finnish and Scandinavian people were engaged in these trades. Chinese were brought in to work in the canneries also.

About 1905 Herman gave up fishing and moved his family to the area of Salmon Creek, Washington straddling Wahkiakum and Pacific Counties. They lived in a rough logging camp and Herman went to work in the woods.

In the summer of 1906, Herman bought a small acreage on Sisson Creek, a tributary of the Columbia, that also straddles the Wahkiakum and Pacific County lines. The previous owner was a man named Behnke. Herman added on to the house, put some cows in the barn, built a chicken house and a sauna – the steamy bathhouse that is a necessity for Finns. The nearest post office was at a landing, located at the mouth of Deep River, called “Oneida”.

Anderson farm in Sisson Creek

On the farm, there was always lots of work to do. Herman purchased thirty more acres and the entire family helped to clear and burn the stumps left by the loggers. The original ten acres had an orchard on it planted by the previous owners. The fruit trees had name tags in them and all the children learned names such as Maiden’s Blush, Winter Banana, Baldwin, Yellow Transparent, and Gloria Mundi which were jokingly called “Glory Monday”. The food was plain, but plentiful. More fish than meat was eaten, but there was salt pork, bacon, and occasionally beef and chicken. Mina cared for the pigs, chickens, and cows since Herman spent the weekdays at the logging camp, and was home only on weekends. He did have to learn to milk the cows probably out of sheer necessity when Mina was in the last stages of pregnancy. In Finland milking was women’s work – it was considered demeaning for a man to milk! Mina baked at least once a week anywhere from six to ten loaves of bread. Sometimes she would run short before the week was over so she would bake a quick bread called rieska. Rieska is somewhat like an Irish Soda Bread made of flour, buttermilk, soda, and salt. It’s rolled into flat rounds and baked on the floor of the oven. Even with a large family, the cost of living was not high. The farm provided all the dairy products, fruits, and vegetables. There were no fishermen in the family, but the neighbors furnished plenty. Each summer Mina would “salt down” several large salmon to use during the winter. Into a fifty gallon barrel would go a layer of salt, then alternate layers of salmon and salt until the barrel was full; then, a brine was made “heavy enough to float a spud” and poured over it. The salted fish had to sit at least a week before it was considered ready to eat. It had to be soaked about for about eight hours with several changes of fresh water to leech out enough salt to make it edible. Usually it was made into loks loata, a casserole consisting of alternate layers of sliced fish, potatoes, and onions covered with milk and baked for about an hour. Sometimes it was pickled with a brine made of vinegar, brown sugar, pickling spices, and onions. Desserts were very simple, usually applesauce or apple dumplings made with apples and a biscuit crust. Cakes and pies were usually made only at Thanksgiving or Christmas. Riisi Puuro (rice pudding) was a favorite. It was served with milk, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon with a dollop of butter on the top. Herman loved rice pudding because in Finland, rice was considered a luxury and eaten on only two holidays a year, Christmas and St. John’s Day. Another favorite was called rakans velli. It was made with dried prunes, raisins, sugar, and water thickened with either tapioca or cornstarch. Usually meals were quite simple except on holidays or when a visiting preacher was expected.

Anderson family making hay

Mina’s sister, Emma, lived across Gray’s Bay on Miller’s Point with her husband, Andrew Pernula, (pictured on their porch) and their eight kids. The two families often rowed back and forth to visit each other. For many years the rivers and creeks were the only means of transportation as there were no roads in the area. Everyone owned a rowboat and depended on the high tide to provide enough water to make the shallow creeks and bays navigable. The two families rowed back and forth to visit each other and took turns hosting Christmas dinner. They also met at Stark’s Point for St John’s Day (Juhannus or mid-summer day celebration) picnic and bonfire on June 24.

Father Herman ruled his household after the manner of the times as somewhat of a tyrant. Mina and children obeyed instantly when he spoke. He is remembered as saying “Mina Oi! Keep those brats away from the green apples” or “They don’t have to go swimming in the creek every day. No wonder they have bellyaches and headaches all the time!” Herman had lots of orders and everything that was wrong with the kids was some way or another, Mina’s fault. When the kids were good, they were Herman’s kids, too. But that was not often after they outgrew the baby stage. The mere appearance of Herman’s dark hair and flashing blue eyes usually caused the kids to run in the opposite direction if they could.

Brix Logging Company, where Herman worked, built a railroad down to the river for transporting logs to the “unloader” located at Brix’s Landing. Herman worked a “bucker” in the woods. He sawed the felled trees into manageable lengths to be traded out to the railroad cars. This was a “lower echelon” job, but it provided money for a rather anti-social man who never learned to speak the English language very well. As long as his health was good, Herman worked very hard and had a reputation for always paying his bills. Later Herman developed asthma and had to quit logging. Then he stayed home doing what he could to help.

There were other small farms nearby and a one-room school was built with volunteer labor on land donated by Herman. Now the children could be educated. District 21 was formed in about 1912 and Mina was the district clerk for many years. She was very bright and went to night school when she could. Several teachers came and went after a short stay, but about 1915 a wonderful teacher by the name of Mrs. Clara P. Stevens arrived. She inspired curiosity and a love of learning that followed the Andersons all their lives. She loaned books to Mina and the children that were read by lamplight. Sometimes a child would sneak a book under the long tablecloth, or under the bedcovers to finish a story. Thus the isolated family learned about the big world out there beyond the hills and rivers.

In 1918 tragedy overtook the family. They lost 6 children, 4 of them died in the Spanish influenza that had swept across the country. Another tragedy occurred when in 1924 a fire wiped out the home destroying everything. The logging company donated a small house. The house was hoisted onto a railroad flat car and transported by locomotive; then, somehow, carted to the building site. The house arrived at the farm fully stocked with staples such as flour, sugar, coffee, and some furniture. Shortly after that in 1925, Brix’s logging camp moved out as did most of the families that lived along the tracks.

In the spring of 1926, Mina was 40 years old and had five kids still at home. On May 20, Herman was across the Columbia in Warrenton, Oregon, and there had a heart attack and died. His casket had to be shipped back over the river on the steamer General Washington and unloaded at Brix’s Landing; then, it was transferred to a gill net boat to go to across Gray’s Bay to Seal River to the churchyard.