A series of articles about Finnish organizations in Fort Bragg: News on the establishment of the Evangelical Lutheran congregation in Fort Bragg

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Fort Bragg photographed pretty soon the building was completed.

In the Finnish American Newspaper there was April 7, 1889, news on the establishment of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran congregation of Fort Bragg, in Mendocino County, in Northern California. I wrote it down and translated to English. Above you'll see the image of the church built the same year, which I found in a short history of the congregation.

Fort Bragg, Mendocino Co., Cal., Feb. 21..

We ask for a place to get something to said on A. S. Paper's columns also about this place. At the meeting held on this month's 17th day, was established Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church, which elected with majority of votes John P. Bergqvist for Chairman, John P. Westerberg for clerk, John Gert for treasurer, for board members were chosen John Jensen, Herman Bergqvist, Jacob Ny, Isak Markkula and Jacob Haiman (Hyman ?). Members of the congregation joined 17 people. Next meeting is scheduled for the forthcoming month's 17th day, in which congregation's laws ja constitution will be treated. The meeting will be held in Fort Bragg in John Bergqvist's house. All citizens living in surrounding area are asked to come to the meeting. The construction of the church will be implemented as soon as there will be enough money together to begin. Lot is given by Fort Bragg's company free of charge, which would have cost $ 500 when buying. On behalf of the church:
John Bergqvist, manager
John P. Westerberg, clerk,

Artikkelisarja Fort Braggin suomalaisyhteisöistä : Uutinen Fort Braggin evankelisluterilaisen seurakunnan perustamisesta

Fort Braggin evankelisluterilainen kirkko kuvattuna  melko pian rakennuksen valmistuttua.
Fort Bragg Evangelist Lutheran church in a very early picture

Amerikan Suomalainessa lehdessä oli 7.3.1889 uutinen Fort Braggin suomalaisen evankelisluterilaisen seurakunnan perustamisesta Mendocinon kauntissa Pohjois-Kaliforniassa. Kirjoitin uutisen puhtaaksi. Yllä kuva saman vuonna rakennetusta kirkosta, joka on otettu seurakunnan historiikin sivuilta.

Fort Bragg, Mendocino Co, Cal., Helmik. 21 p.

Pyydämme sijaa saadaksemme jotakin lausua A. S. Lehden palstoilla tästäki paikkakunnasta. Tämän kuun 17 päivänä täällä pidetyssä kokouksessa perustettiin suomalainen evankelisluterilainen seurakunta, johon valtuusmiehiksi valittiin äänien enemmistöllä esimieheksi John P. Berqvist, kirjuriksi John P. Westerberg, rahastonhoitajaksi John Gert, lautamiehiksi John Jensen, Herman Berqvist, Jacob Ny, Isak Markkula ja Jacob Haiman (Hyman?). Seurakunnan jäseniksi liittyi 17 henkeä. Ensi kokous pidetään tulevan kuun 17 p., jossa luetaan seurakunnan säännöt ja perustuslaki. Kokous pidetään Fort Braggissa John Berqvistin talossa. Kaikkia kansalaisia ympäristöiltä pyydetään tulemaan siihen kokoukseen. Kirkon rakennus pannaan toimeen niin pian kun saadaan sen verran rahoja kokoon, että päästään alkamaan. Lotin (maa-alueen) on Fort Braggin yhtiö antanut ilmaiseksi, joka olisi ostaessa maksanut 500 dollaria. Seurakunnan puolesta:
John Berqvist, esimies
John P. Westerberg, kirjuri

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.