The Mathias Jokela Mikkelsen Family in America

The Family of Mathias Jokela Mikkelsen and Emma Kristine Tiberg (the Editor's Mother's Family), Minneapolis, Minnesota, (1900 - 1901).
When the Mathias Jokela Mikkelsen family arrived at the Farm of Matti's older brother in Franklin, Minnesota, on July 16, 1900, his brother Mikko was 51, and Mikko's wife Lotta was 58. Matti and Emma both were 40 years old. Their son Isaac was 13, daughter Maria was 12, daughter Johanna was 10, daughter Magnhild was four (actually five), and son Andreas would turn four in August.

Hans R. Wasastjerna reports in his book History of the Finns in Minnesota, "Angelica Charlotta Jokela died on 19 September 1900," two months after the Mikkelsen family arrived in Franklin.

In My Family HistoryDona Renne Meland says, "...in September [Matti] went to Minneapolis," where he searched desperately for a house to rent, with little success. Landlords were unwilling to accept families with children. He was bitterly disappointed.

Emma said he lamented, "Oh my! that I should have come here. In Norway I had a big house with 14 rooms. Here I can't talk; I'm so lonesome that I feel like going to the bathroom to cry."

"... after [two months of] weary house hunting," Dona says, "[Matti] ...found an upstairs, four room apartment where they could bring their five children..."

Dona wrote: "[Matti]... worked at his trade, as a tailor, but his health began to fail and in October of 1901, he died and left grandmother with the five children. By that time they had bought a small four room house in north Minneapolis."

In an affidavit subscribed and sworn to in Minneapolis on January 22, 1941, Emma Jokela Mickelsen Kumma said "...she was the wife of Mathias Jokela Mickelsen, sometimes known as Matti Jokela. That this affiant and her first husband, Matti Jokela, immigrated to the United States from Trondheim, Norway, and arrived in the United States about July 16, 1990, residing first at Franklin Minnesota... Affiant further states that her first husband... passed to his death on October 23, 1901."

The editor's notes report: Matti died at age 41, of tuberculosis. The notes also report that Emma gave birth to Jennie L. (Jokela) Mickelsen in 1901, and that she died the same year, soon after birth.

The remains of "Mickelsen, Mathias Jokela (1860- 1901), Jennie Jokela (1901)" were reburied on August 24, 1921, in the Crystal Lake Cemetary, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in lot 5, section 6, grave 48.

Considering the trauma associated with moving to a new community, in a foreign country, and then in one year having to deal with three sudden deaths in the family, it is not surprising that Emma became confused regarding the year and day of her daughter Magnhild's birth. Until 1950, mother and daughter believed that Magnhild had been born in 1895 (rather than 1894). And for the rest of her life, Magnhild continued celebrating her birthday on November 19 (rather than on November 17).