The Mikko Ranta (Jokela I) Family

The Family of Mikko Ranta (Jokela I) and Margareta Paksuniemi (the Birth Family of the Paternal Grandfather of the Editor's Maternal Grandfather), Köngäs, Kittilä Parish, Lappi Province, Finland. Mikko Ranta (Jokela) I was a paternal great- grandfather of the editor's maternal grandfather. In Book One, volume 2, Seasons and Rythms of Life, the editor wrote, "Eila [Jokela] told Paul [Renne] that 38-year-old Mikkel Kaukonen-Renta's wife, Anna, gave birth to a son in 1759, at age 34. They named him Mikkel after the father, which indicates that perhaps he was their first son." Jaako Jokela notes that Mikko was born on March 19, 1759.

Also, in Seasons and Rythms of Life, the editor writes, "Mikkel Renta-Jokela took the daughter of a family named Paksuniemi as his wife." Jaako Jokela reports that 27-year-old Mikko Ranta (Jokela) I married 24-year-old Margareta Paksuniemi on December 6, 1786. Then on May 10, 1795 (more than eight years later), a son -- Mikko Jokela II -- was born. Jaako does not report the names of other children who may have been born in this family.

Again, in Seasons and Rythms of Life, the editor reports, "The [Jokela] farm is situated on the east bank of the Ounas river, and its occupants, since at least the 18th century, have called themselves Jokela - the family by the river." It appears the Mikko Ranta (Jokela) I family moved to the farm on the Ounas river sometime before the birth of their son, Mikko Jokela II.

In her book, The Northern Light, the editor's Aunt Mary Mickelsen describes a visit to the Jokela farm in 1950: "It was nearly midnight as we reached Köngäskyla and came to another bridgeless river.



A woman, spying us from her hill house, hastened down the slope, tying her kerchief under her chin. She was the ferrywoman who plied the club to the cable. Waxing garrulous and very inquisitive she plied us with questions, and suddenly shouted: Lauri! Lauri! across the water to a man who was measuring his field in strides. Here's that Bishop from America you've been waiting for! I can tell by his Panama hat! Run, tell your wife!

"Turning to the Parson, she eyed him, and said, You are the priest from America, aren't you? Andrew allowed he was.

"Laurie Jokela appeared around the corner of the log house accompanied by a woman in a gray suit. Both took on a gallop down the slope to shore. Anni broke into ecstasy, and bade us welcome. Lauri's brother Martti ambled shyly forward.

"Their log house," Mary says, "stood silhouetted against the red sky, reflected in the quiet calm of the river.

"If the oval flat stone before the doorstep could talk, Lauri pointed out, it would tell of thousands of footfalls... for decades.

"The shiny surface had been worn smooth and indented from much use," Mary observes.

As a participant in a Jokela family reunion, the editor's brother (Paul Renne) visited the Jokela farm on June 24, 1978, and he wrote: "Then we were loaded on the bus for a drive to... the Jokela farm [at Köngäs, about 15 miles north of Kittilä]; one building still remains of the original [structures] built in [the] 1650's. This was... [constructed of] axe hewn [logs] and painted red... at one time the farmstead was enclosed by four buildings, three of which are still standing although only... one is original."

The one remaining original structure built in the 1650's

Inside the house, the editor's Aunt Mary says there is, "... a large room... that rose all the way to the roof, where the enormous, whitewashed brick bake-oven flanked one wall and extended into the center of the room like a rampart.

"The bake-oven," Mary says, "stems from feudal [sic] times, when the lord's oven was used by the serfs for baking bread, since in their primitive homes there were no stoves for that purpose... the fire is built within the oven itself with birch wood, which generates intense heat. Fired like a kiln, the bricks of the bulwark take several hours to heat thoroughly, and, in turn, retain heat for hours thereafter. When the required heat is reached and the fire is allowed to abate, the oven floor is swept... and is ready for... ten or twelve loaves of bread..."

The Earliest Known Jokela Ancestor. "On the ride back [from Sirkka village]," Paul said, "Eila [Jokela] went over portions of the family tree." She told him the earliest known Jokela ancestor was Matti Kaukonen. Jaako Jokela reports that Matti was confirmed on April 18, 1631, in Sodankyla parish. Jaako also notes that Matti moved to Norway on December 4, 1642. Later, Matti Kaukonen apparently returned to Finland's Ounas river valley near the present village of Kaukonen, where he married Regina. Jaako says Regina gave birth to Klaes (Clas) Kaukonen on July 20, 1674 (43 years after Matte Kaukonen's confirmation, in Sodankyla parish).

Klaes Kaukonen married Aili who, Jaako informs us, was 15 years younger than Klaes, and who at age-32 on January 27, 1721, gave birth to a son - Mikko Kaukonen (Ranta). This son of Klaes and Aili married Anna, and Jaako reports that at age-33, on March 19, 1759, Anna gave birth to Mikko Ranta (Jokela) I (a paternal great-grandfather of the editor's maternal grandfather).

Ranta probably is a place name, similar to Kaukonen. In Lapp Life and Customs, Vorren and Manker say, "Other surnames... might have their origin in place names. These may be taken from a place with which the family has, or has had, special connections, for example, as a dwelling place, or as a grazing and hunting ground."