More articles on Fort Bragg Finns: Founding and building the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church

The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church in Fort Bragg has changes its name to the Trinity Lutheran Church

The first Finn permanently moved to the Fort Bragg region, Mendocino count, in California as early as 1869 and the other early settlers in 1877. In the beginning of 1880s the Finnish population in the area increased rapidly. The Finnish immigrants came to Fort Bragg area because of the employment available in the logging, lumbering and fishing operations, trades they knew from the “old country”. Many members of the Fort Bragg Finnish community felt a need for a church where they could worship in their native language. The Finnish religious heritage was primarily Lutheran and early group of Finns formed al Lutheran congregation on February 17, 1889. The fifteen charter members adopted the name Finland Evangelist Lutheran Church. “Evangelist” was a mistranslation of the Finnish word “evankelis”. Notes from the minutes of this initial meeting establish the identity of founders:

At this first meeting we established and named the church with 15 members. Council members were elected by voice vote
Chairman: John Barquist
Secretary: Johan Petter Westerberg
Treasurer: Johan Guest
Board members: Johan Jensen, Herman Barquist/Berkovitz, Jacob Nyy, Isak Markkula, Jacob Backman (Haiman in Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti and in the original minutes), Peter Johanson (missing in Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti).
We agreed that the name shall be Suomalainen Evankelis-Lutherilainen Seurakunta and it shall be changed unless the whole congregation agrees. Members shall be morally upright and they shall not be saloon keepers.

The Finland Lutheran Evangelist Church' churchbook.

At the same meeting a lot was secured at the southeast corner of Corry Street and Redwood Avenue.  In  the next meeting in March plans were underway for the construction of a church building and was decided to clear the Church lot. At the meeting on April 28, 1889, a list was prepared for sign-ups for building funds. On June 30, 1889, the architect’s drawings were approved and a loan for $300 was negotiated to purchase lumber. At this point, however, the Mill (Fort Bragg Redwood Company) donated the necessary lumber, first-cut redwood timber which was being harvested at that time.

Finnish Evangelical Lutheran church in Fort Bragg

Following articles were published in the local Advocate-News:

On July 19, 1889:
Lumber is being hauled this week for the building of a Finland Lutheran Church on Redwood Avenue. It will be 30x50 feet and the top of the steeple, 75 feet from the ground.

On July 17, 1889:
New Church
The new Finland Lutheran Church is well under way and everything points to a neat house of worship. Mr. Barqvist desires to return thanks to those who donated toward the project: Fort Bragg Redwood Co $50, C. L. Burbeck $5, H. Houston $2,50, T. L. Johnson $10, H. A. Weller $5, G. W. Perkins $2,50, Geo Berryhill $1,50, Eri Huggins $5, C. R. Johnson $10, Marks & Leiser gave a keg of nails, Julius Wintzer $5, F. Kammerer $1,50, G. A. Johnson $1, Bucholtz Bros. $5, A .A. Lord $2,50, A. F. Carmichael $2,50, H. R. Danders $2, R. Glanders $1,50, A. C. Kimball $1, O. R. Johnson $25, A. B. Cambell $1, J. Barqvist $10, H. Barqvist $5, A. Wilson $5, Matti Pelta (=Pelto?) $10, J. Martin $3, J. Soderman $10, J. P. Westerberg $5, Y. Hyman $5, Jacob Nyy $5, This does not complete the list.

On August 28, 1889:
Work on the Finn Church has stopped for want of funds. This little edifice will present a neat appearance when completed.

On September 18, 1889
The following people are new contributors to the building fund of the Finland Lutheran Church: Peter Peterson $5, F. A. Whipple $5, T. Murray $5, Kaarl J. Jakobson $5, Eza Terraien $6, Herman Berkamtje (=Barqvist?) $6, J. Soderman $4, J.A. Diel $1.

The Finnish Newspaper wrote in the beginning of June, 1890,
that the Finnish Church in Fort Bragg was nearly completed.
Tampereen Sanomat June 4, 1890.

Construction of the building started in September 1889 and in the end of the same year the structure was roofed and closed in enough to hold regular services. The building was finished in the Summer 1890. It was painted both inside and outside, the altar, pulpit and pews were completed, too. The church was built of redwood and fir with clapboard siding on the exterior. There were four Gothic windows on the north side as well as on the south side of the church.

The membership of the congregation grew rapidly. As early as in the end of the foundation year it was counted to rise over one hundred, including children. In the end of the second year the membership had risen to two hundred. Membership has not thereafter at any point increased to enlarge. The church members lived in addition to Fort Bragg in Noyo Hill, Noyo, Caspar, Mendocino, Albion and Comptche. Some live up to thirty miles from the Fort Bragg.

The first Finns in Fort Bragg (California) area

Former Finnish Temperance Hall in Fort Bragg

In my past writings I have already dealt with the Finnish Americans and organizations they established in Fort Bragg, in the Northwestern part of California. You can find them here, here and here. In the 1920s and 1930s, Reverend Salomon Ilmonen, who lived his late years in Fort Bragg,  wrote a number of books, which described Finnish Americans and their activities. However, it seems that he have not been enclosed Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti / American Finnish Paper's article 02/13/1880. It gives information about the very first Finnish Pioneers in the region, as well as their wealth. The majority of Finns were working at logging camps and sawmills, but some of them had settled down also as farmers. The article states that the first Finn permanently moved to the region as early as 1869 and others in 1877. So, it can be useful to bring this one article out of obscurity in the history:

Giant redwoods north of Fort Bragg

Noyo, Mendocino Co., California, in January 1880.
Now I get a possibility to give information about this warm summerland, that the winter has been very soggy, but now there is hope that the rain is over and once again become a quite warm summer. Here, the air is very fresh and healthy, and the mortality is very low. I will also mention something about our citizens around here. We are seven young men at this place, who have their own redwood "claims", which currently employs over a hundred Finns. Here you could still get properties in a very appropriate place using the Homestead Law, but the Finns did not much want to become landlords, which is due to the fact that they are so greedy for earnings and in love with money.

Here you can find a lot of work on the sawmills and logging work, which will be paid around  $40 - 45 in a month, food included. Land owner's position is here extremely good because they can keep how many animals they only want. You do not need to acquire shelters for them, because they live outdoors summers and winters. wheat isn't sown here in a big quantity, but instead barley, oats and especially potato and all types of vegetables.

Obituary of Matts Toppila in Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti 12/3/1880

Deceased

My tenderly beloved husband Matts Toppila fell into peaceful sleep of death
after a long disease, in Noyo. Mendocino Co, California, in
November 2, 1880, after living 42 years, which is hereby relatives and
friends expressed.

Also, I get a possibility to give a little information about a few of the Finnish residents who have settled nowadays here and live about three English miles from Noyo. Their houses are in a beautiful location, at the coastal highway. The earliest [Finnish pioneer] resident was settled here as early as in 1869, the others not until in 1877. Their financial situation can be seen from the following:

Matts Toppila 115 acres of land, 2 people, 2 horses, 2 cows, 8 hogs, his entire fortune is valued at  $2800 .

Petter Johansson has 125 acres, 5 people, 2 horses, 1 ox, 2 cows, 16 hogs, and his entire fortune is valued at  $3000.

Elias Johanson has 380 acres of land, 1 people, 4 horses, 12 cows, 25 sheep, 30 hogs,
his entire fortune is valued at  $15000

August Jernberg has 40 acres of land, 1 people, 1 cow, 2 oxes, his entire fortune is valued at  $500.

Jacob Kesti has 150 acres of land, 2 people, 3 horses, 1 ox, 2 cows, 30 hogs, his entire fortune is valued at  $3500.

Jakob Hyman has 160 acres of land, 1 people, 2 horses, 2 cows, 18 hogs, his entire fortune is valued at  $ 3000.

One reader of the Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti

Finns in Fort Bragg: The Westerberg family from Vadsø, Norway

Westerbergs, which moved from Vadsø (Vesisaari), Norway to Fort Bragg, California, in a family picture taken  around 1903

Many of the early Finnish settlers on the U.S. West Coast came not direct from Finland but instead from Northern Norway. One of them was John Peter Westerberg. He was born April 11th, 1856, in Vadsø (Vesisaari) , Norway,  on the Varanger fjord at the Barents Sea. He had Norwegian parents and his ways may have been more Norwegian than Finnish. But he fit into the Noyo Hill's Finnish community very well, when he came there in 1881. At twenty-five years age he immigrated with his wife and four other Norwegian families from the same region. Three of them is known, Mathisons, Aulins and Raudios. Shortly after their arrival in America Westerberg's wife died.

John Peter worked first at logging in the woods along the South Fork of Noyo River. In 1892 he was able to purchase 160 acres on Noyo Hill from Simeon Covington. He paid $ 800. There was a cabin on the property that Westerbergs could use immediately. John Westerberg got married second time with Effina Emilia Hy(v)önen, who was also from Vadsø, Norway. She was born July 8, 1871 in Saltijärvi, Norway. Their marrige accured April 20, 1890, in San Francisco. John Westerberg's brother David and his wife Hilda and John's and David's grandfather moved also to Fort Bragg area. The men logged the hillsides and made ties to earn money. They also built John Peter a large barn and fenced the fields. At the same time a sauna and several cabins were built. Simeon Covington had planted a cherry orchard and the Westerbergs added orchards of apples and plums and vegetable gardens. Finally a two-story house was constructed.

John Peter Westerberg (1856 - 1934) was a lay
preacher first in the Finnish Evangalist Lutheran
Church and later in the Apostolic Lutheran
Church of Fort Bragg.

The Westerbergs had nine children in all. Their first child, Francis, fell against a hot stove and died from severe burns at the age of three in 1894. A second tragedy struck again when their daughter Annie was sixteen years old. She fell in the well and drowned.  Seven of the children reached their adult age and were also married. John Peter Westerberg became a citizen of the Unites States June 19, 1889.

When George Eskola finished church building in 1894 for the Apostolic Lutheran congregation on Harrison street, was John Peter chosen to serve congregation as a lay preacher. He had been a lay preacher for the Finnish Evangelist Lutheran Church during years 1890 - 1894. According to tradition, parishioners gathered almost every Sunday after church at John and Effie Westerberg's ranch. The yard was filled with horses and buggies as parishioners gathered for pot-luck dinner. Effie Westerberg had reputation of being a very good cook. Besides food supplied from the farm, in season there was salmon the men caught in Noyo River that she pickled or smoked.

John Peter Westerberg had a library in his home where people could borrow books, mostly written in Finnish. Each book had its own number, names of readers were written beside the numbers and record of when books were returned was noted by an X after the borrower's name. John Peter was a very energetic and highly considered person. He was active in his church, a board member of Tunnel  School at Noyo Hill, a member of the first board of school trustees of the Fort Bragg Union High School District. His obituary  states: "He was a fine, upright man who commanded the respect of his friends and neighbors." Effina Westerberg died in August 1930 and John Peter February 22, 1934 at the home of his daughter Ida in Oakland, California, where he had been living two - three years.

Westerbergs in the Finnish Evangelist Lutheran Congregation's church book, page 189

A series of articles about Finnish organizations in Fort Bragg: Apostolic Lutheran Church of Fort Bragg

The former church building of Fort Bragg Apostolic Lutheran Church, erected in 1894, picture taken in 2007.

I visited Fort Bragg, California, for the second time in October 2016. My aim is to write a few articles about the Finns, which lived in the city and its surroundings. Finnish immigrants moved en masse to Fort Bragg region in the 1880s. They were lured by logging jobs in local huge redwoods and sawmills. Solomon Ilmonen named the first Finns in his book History of American Finns III (1926). The earliest Finns in Fort Bragg were Johan Mulli (Jensen / Johnson) from Koivisto, Elias Johnson from Ikaalinen, August Grönberg and Jacob Kujala from Kemi, Herman Berquist from Ylistaro, William Rivert from Rauma, Kaarlo Rautio from Kukkola, Johan Saarijärvi from Kortesjärvi and Jacob Sillanpää from Ylistaro. South from Fort Bragg, in Noyo, the first one Finns were Anders Anderson Muikkula from Pyhäjoki, Herman Nyman from Siikainen, Abraham Hendrickson from Muhos and Matti Vilppula from Rantsila. In Sointula, which was a agricultural village next to Fort Bragg the first Finnish settlers were August Kinnunen and Jonas Jacobson Hätälä. In Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti  there was an article in February 1880, which gives more information about the very first Finnish Pioneers in the region. 

First, I will introduce those two congregations with Finnish background , which were set up in the city born in the city. 

The former church building of Fort Bragg Apostolic Lutheran Church,
summer of 2007

Among the Finns in Fort Bragg were established 02/17/1889 a Lutheran church, which was named Finnish Evangelist Lutheran Congregation.  I have written about the history of this church here and here. In 1894, the city got another Lutheran church with Finnish background  because of religious differences.  The founding meeting was held on 02/21/1894, where this new congregation was named Apostolic Lutheran Church of Fort Bragg. Thomas Ellison and George Eskola petitioned certification for the ccongegation and Articles of Incorporation were adopted in Mendocino County in  03/14/1894. Thomas Ellison was elected for Chairman, Charles Jacobson for treasurer and  Peter Kopra for clerk. Other board members were George Eskola, Peter Kostafson / Gustafson, John Hyvönen, as well as a person whose surname is not fully readable in  the documents.  (However, my hypothesis is that he was Carl Marin, born in Finland in 1855, whose name appears in the form of Mareen at the 1900 U.S. census). For the congregation was completed in the same year  a small church, which was erected by one of the Board members,  George Eskola.

The former church building of Fort Bragg Apostolic
Lutheran Church at Harrison Street, October 2016

In addition to the documents on establisment of the congregation, there is only little information about church activity. According to tradition, parishioners gathered almost every Sunday after church at John and Effie Westerberg's ranch. The yard was filled with horses and buggies as parishioners gathered for pot-luck dinner. Effie Westerberg had reputation of being a very good cook. The host,  John Peter Westerberg was in its early stages, a lay priest of the church. This is a task he had performed already in the years 1890 - 1894 in the previously established Finnish Evangelist Lutheran church. In the notice drawn up for the state authorities in 1951 is given, that in August 1951 the church had 20 members. The parish was chaired by Charles Luoma, and the secretary was Jennie Luoma. Church's activity gradually waned away, as most of the member’s in America born and raised next generation didn’t share their parent’s faith. In addition, local Apostolic Lutheran church suffered also about strong internal conflicts. Congregation’s  activity has already been long since ceased and the church building is now a private residence.

Member of the Executive Board in Fort Bragg
Apostolic Lutheran Church and church builder
George Eskola with his wife Mathilda

I have managed to find the following information about the founders of the church. The appilcant for registration and the church builder George Eskola was born on 08/22/1843 in Merijärvi in Finland and arrived in the United States in 1881. He was married 21/12/1873 with Mathilda Ponnikas. Mathilda Ponnikas was born on 10/21/1851 also in Merijärvi. George Eskola died 12/12/1918 in Mendocino County and Mathilda Ponnikas Eskola 09/21/1942 in Fort Bragg. They had eight children. Four of them birth as born in Albion, Mendocino County.

Personal data of the first chairman, Thomas Ellison, are contradictory. One data indicates that he was born in 1860 in Norway, the second, that he was born in December 1859 in Finland. His immigration year is in one document 1882, in the second one it’s 1887.  Thomas Ellison entered into two marriages. The first spouse Annie Moilanen Ellison was born in May 1855 in Finland, and died on 14/04/1924 in Mendocino county. In the marriage was born at least seven children. After his first wife death Thomas Ellison  got married with  Ida Maria Kauppila, who was born in Finland on 02/10/1865. She had at least two children from a previous marriage. Ida Maria Kauppila died in Mendocino County 10/14/1941. Thomas Ellison's life ended on 12/02/1937. He is buried together with his first wife, Annie, at Little River Cemetery.

Congregation’s treasurer, Charles (Karl) Jacobson,  was born in 1851 in Finland. The census of 1910 names Jacobson's place of residence is in Caspar. Karl Jacobson was married since 1881 with Justina Jacobson, who was born in April 1858 in Finland. The family immigrated to the United States in 1885. In the 1900 census, Jacobson had four children. Charles Jacobson died on 24.01.1923, Justina Jacobson in 1929. Jacobson’s are buried in Ocean View's cemetery.

Peter Gustafson Hannu was born on 20/09/1856 in Finland, in Alkkula, Ylitornio. He moved to northern Norway and from there to the United States. Obituary gives year 1884 for immigration, but in censuses appear years 1882 and 1885. He married in 1881 in Norway with Anna (Annie) Kristina Gustafson. Anna Kristina was born 15.11. 1863 Norway. The place of residence according to censuses was Ten Mile River township. In obituary the place of death is Glen Blair, a village six miles east of Fort Bragg, where there was a sawmill plant. Peter Gustafson Hannu died 06/24/1937 and Anna Christina Gustafson 10/22/1948. Gustafson’s are buried at Rose Memorial Park cemetery in Fort Bragg.

To John and Effina Westerberg’s stages of life I’ll come back in a separate text.