ILKKA

Ilkka Family History  - North Dakota

 Jaakko & Edla Ilkka 
(picture courtesy of Viola Jamsa Harmon)

Jaakko & Edla Ilkka and their three children came from Finland to homestead land in Sauter Township, Walsh County, Brocket, North Dakota. We are told that Jaakko (Jacob) came over to the US a few times before settling in ND. He first went to Wyoming looking to settle or maybe pan for gold. Below is the a record of him coming over on a ship in 1992.

Jaakko (Yuko) Ilkka age 34 boarded the Sarmatian vessel from 
the Allan Shipping Line in Liverpool, England. He arrived in Quebec, 
 Canada on May 4, 1893.

Jaakko (Jacob) was born Oct 3, 1858 in Finland to Juho Jacobsson & Anna Lovisa. Edla Maria Kujala was born July 28, 1861 in Voyri, Vaasa, Finland to Anna Maria Simonintr Talmod.  In Finland Jaakko was a military man and a stonemason. He built a special Finnish fireplace called a "Mooli Murri." He used a stone-splitter called a "Kivi Vasara" in Fin.

Jaakko & Edla Ilkka had nine children. Their first two children Gustva, and Anna Sofie died in Finland before the family came to the US.  Mary, Anna, Jack were born in Finland.  Lempi, Fanny, Helmi, and Arne were born in North Dakota. Below is the record from Ancestry.com of Edla and her three children coming to America.

Edla Ilkka boarded the Ottoman (from the Dominion Ship Line) and 
sailed to America in the year 1896. According to the passenger list they 
left Liverpool on Oct 10, 1896 and landed in Quebec on Oct 24, 1896. 
 Edla - age 35 had her three children with her: Mary age 9, Anna age 5, 
Jack age 3.

Jaakko had a good sense of humor. Jaakko was a school bus driver for many years for the Suater School near Brocket. The bus was a team of horses and a sled. Bob Jamsa, his grandson, said Jaakko taught him how to tie his shoes. Bob has very fond memories of his grandpa Ilkka. 

Edla became a midwife and helped deliver many babies in the local Finnish community. Helmi remembered coming home from school and looking for her mom but she was out helping deliver a baby.

Ilkka farm Sauter Township, Brocket, North Dakota

During the depression, Waino & Helmi's family moved to the Ilkka farm to live with Jacob in 1934. Edla had passed away in 1932. Waino worked for other farmers in the area. He was paid 75 cent per day and stayed at the farmers house and walked home on the weekend to be with his family.

Ilkka farm house 2011 - near Brocket, North Dakota 
(picture taken by Kyle Lefler - great great grandson of Jaakko Ilkka)

Jack & Arne Ilkka plowing on Jacob & Edla Ilkka's
farm east of Brocket, North Dakota.

Lempi, Jack, Mary, Annie 
four oldest children of Jacob and Edla Ilkka 
(picture courtesy of Ed Miller great grand son of Anna Ilkka)

Ilkka sisters: Mary, Anna, Lempi, Fanny, Helmi (picture courtesy of Ernst Kangas)

The Ilkkas - Jack, Arne, Mary, Fanny, Annie, Lempi, Helmi

John Karna & Mary Ilkka, Oscar, Sadie is on Mary's lap & Rose is sitting in the chair (girls labeled wrong).
(picture courtesy of Duane Karna)

Second from the left Jack Ilkka, second from right Great Grandpa Jacob Ilkka
(picture courtesy of Christine Miller - granddaughter of Anna Ilkka) 

Fanny, Anna (or Helmi), Lempi, Mary, G-Grandparents Edla and Jacob Ilkka

Paul and Anna (Ilkka) Miller Family( picture courtesy of Duane Karna)

Charlie and Fannie (Ilkka) Kangas (picture courtesy of Duane Karna)

Lempi Ilkka and first husband John Parkali (picture courtesy of Duane Karna)

Lempi Ilkka and second husband Bill Koski (picture courtesy of Duane Karna)

Olli Juho (John) Kärnä

(No umlauts in the surname in the USA)
Written by Duana Karna grandson of John and Mary Ilkka Karna - 2012

            John Karna was born on 9 Sept 1883 in Nurmes, Finland, the second of nine children born to Juho Olli Kärnä and Katri (Korhonen) Kärnä.  On 11 Sept 1899, the family moved to Juuka, FI where his parents apparently stayed.  In 1903, John immigrated with his Uncle Matti (Matt) Kärnä to the USA.  Immigration documents show they arrived at the Port of Quebec on 27 Jun 1903 from Liverpool, England.  Their destination was Marquette, MI on the Upper Peninsula where Matt’s younger brother Ruubert (Robert) lived.  Robert immigrated to the US in 1893.  John and Matt worked as laborers in the mines.  In 1904-05, they both moved to ND where Matt homesteaded land near Ryder in Ward County and John to Nelson County where he married Edla Maria (Mary) Ilkka on 7 Jun 1905.  Their first child, Oscar, was born on 4 Jul 1905 in the Sauter Township in Walsh County.  According to family history, Oscar was born in the Ilkka’s sod house  and was likely delivered by Mary’s mother, Edla Anna (Kujala) Ilkka, a well-known midwife who delivered many babies in that part of rural ND.

Three of John’s sisters also immigrated to the US.  Amanda left Finland in 1910, Anna in 1912, and Hilja in 1914.  Amanda married Matti Piippo and lived in northern Idaho, Anna married Andrew Halonen and lived in Butte, MT, and Hilja married Eino Kotila and lived in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

            In about 1906, John and his family moved to Ward County ND where the 1910 Federal census (taken on 18 May 1910) shows that the family lived in the Kirkelie Township (located NW on Minot, ND) and John worked as a coal miner.  According to family history he worked at the Burlington Coal Mine.  John and Mary’s next two children were born in Ward County:  Rose Elvira Karna (9 Apr 1907), and Sadie Ester Karna (9 Dec 1908). 

          

           John, Oscar, Rose, and Mary with Sadie.

Around 1911, the family returned to the Nelson County where they leased a farm located a few miles southeast of Pelto, ND.  John farmed that land until 1938.  Their next four children were born in Pelto:  Arvo John Karna (17 Jun 1913), Vienna Helmi Karna (31 Aug 1915), William Toivo Karna (9 Nov 1917), and Lillian Marie Karna (3 Jul 1919).

            

   Oscar’s daughter Joan feeding turkeys at the Karna home near Pelto, ND.

Mary and John Karna in later life.

In 1938, John became sick with a bowel obstruction (likely colon cancer).  He never recovered after surgery at the hospital in Devils Lake, ND and died on Dec 2, 1938, at an age of 55.  He is buried in the Finnish Lutheran Cemetery located in Nelson County north of the former Town of Pelto. 

Pelto no longer exists; the railroad depot, school house, grain elevator, dance hall, general store, blacksmith’s shop and nearly all of the homes have been removed or torn down.  The Finnish American Historical Society set up a fund to purchase a monument for the town.  The monument was placed on 10 Nov 1999.

The Town of Pelto, named after the pioneer John Pelto, was established around 1912 after the Soo Railroad Line was built.  The school house is shown on the upper right side of the monument.  The dance hall and the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church are also featured.

Pelto School in the Enterprise School District, 1914 to 1955

                                           

                                           

                                                Pelto School classroom, Arvo Karna 5^th from left.

2^nd Row (from left) 1^st child is Lillian Karna, 12^th child is William Karna, 14th child is Arvo Karna, and the 2nd child from the right is Vienna Karna.  Bob Ingram, superintendent and teacher, standing on right.