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"Fisher
Lapps" in Esko, Thomson Township, Minnesota In settlement days, the present village of Esko did not exist; it was Thomson Township and the area occupied the eastern end of Carlton County perhaps twenty miles from Cromwell. Statistics for the county reflect the makeup of the Thomson Township population. Today, most folks still identify with Thomson Township and Esko is an afterthought nearby. Karesuando Samesläkter, a collection of Sami genealogies from Karesuando parish by Sami historian Johannes Marainen has recently been published. Karesuando is a municipality in northernmost Sweden of about 1500 people and a center for Sami culture. A book published in Uppsala in 1988, "Bittert Bröd" by Marie Nelson, documents ethnicity in Karesuando between 1860 and 1870: there were 18 people who spoke Swedish, 343 who spoke Finnish and 965 who spoke Sami. This is about the time emigration to America began to occur. One of the family lines in the book is Raattamaa. According to Marainen, although they were not part of a "Lapp village" they were "Fiskar Lappar" who were identified as such in a number of court cases involving conflicts with settlers over land usage. Brothers Fred and Peter Maranen and their sisters Maria Kristina and Sophia listed in this line were pioneer settlers in Thomson Township in Northeast Minnesota arriving between 1886 and 1887. Over 200 of their descendants are listed. The name Maranen is another version of a common Swedish Sami name, usually written as Marainen or Marakatt. Other pioneers from the Karesuando parish were their first cousin Eva Stiina in Moose Lake, and though not listed in this book, their second cousin Isaack Raattamaa, as well as Erick Töyra (another name listed in the Raattamaa line). These were all relatives of the cofounder of Laestadianism, Juhani Raattamaa, who led the movement for many years after Læstadius' death. Of the six or seven Læstadian sects in the United States, three or four were represented in Thomson Township. Two of them had their own churches which were founded by some of the Karesuando pioneers. Today the congregations are Apostolic Lutheran. Peter Maranen's sons, however, were socialists and donated land on which the Socialist Hall was built. Don Kinnunen, a local historian, talked to us about the Thomson Township settlers: "Most of the people who came here were part Sami - they were from the north. How do you know a Sami? You'd have to take a DNA test. Most of the people here were small, and lots of them were dark. My hair was all black. My dad's hair was all black. My grandfather made a "komsio"(Finnish word for a Sami cradle board) for my aunt. They never really talked about being Sami. This big time reindeer herding in the old country didn't start until about a hundred years ago, but they always had driving reindeer and some for their own use. My relatives would have to haul the meat in sleds from the slaughter, but my cousin had a road built so they could come with trucks. Sophia Maranen Anderson told the story about this guy who was bragging about what a great sled deer he had, until one time it turned on him and he had to hide under the sled. My dad used to tell me the Sami words for things, but I didn't pay that much attention. Isaack Raattamaa was Juhani Raattamaa's nephew. Juhani's son Peter, who lived in New York Mills, Minnesota was Isaack's cousin. Isaack was kind of a shaman here. When a cow got milk fever or something, Isaack would come and split their tail. He had a lot of things that they did from that real old shaman time. You can almost be sure, like New York Mills, any of these places where there is a lot of this Læstadian religion - they are Sami. Any time they started talking about it years ago you knew they were from the north." The following story was written in 1935 "In 1878 Isaack Rattamaa went to a logging camp to buy some seed potatoes. There were a lot of potatoes there but they were not used to selling them for any price, so the bookkeeper told Raattamaa "no." Mr. Miller happened to be there and when he saw what was going on agreed to sell Raattamaa five bushels of seed potatoes for 75 cents a bushel. He got "Early Rose" potatoes which grow very well in this village because of the ash mixed in the soil, so everyone started getting their seed potatoes from Raattamaa and before long all the potatoes in the village were "Early Rose." The same fall Raattamaa went with 50 bushels of potatoes to the same logging camp. Mr. Miller happened to be at the same camp and saw how good they were. He offered 50 cents per bushel. Raattamaa wouldn't agree to that saying that he had paid 75 cents per bushel for worse potatoes than that which were a year old. Mr. Miller explained to him what the market price was in New York and that since there were no import restrictions on potatoes they were now very cheap. Mr. Raattamaa was not happy with this and wanted the same price he had paid. Finally Mr. Miller told the bookkeeper to pay the 75 cents. Isaack is known in Finland and America because he is the nephew of Juhani Raattamaa, a well-known Læstadian preacher. His father's name is Erik Raattamaa, who was in this village from 1893, but since he was already in advanced age, he wanted to go back to the old country that had been so good to him. His son sent him back to Karesuando. Isaack
was born
in 1841, coming to Calumet, Michigan in 1873 and to this village in
1877. He was a homesteader who changed ownership to his foster son
since he had no children himself. He is still in good shape physically
and mentally considering his advanced age. His memory is very good and
he has memorized big portions of the Bible and Læstadius' books
so he can recite more chapters than many of us have ever read. His
memory of things that happened fifty years ago or longer are as if they
were yesterday, but his biggest goal is to stay in good standing with
God so he can be on the right side of God on the last day among the
chosen ones." From Thomsonin
Maanviljelysseudun Historiaa, J. A. Mattinen. Northwest
Publishing Co.,
New York Mills, N.D. (1935)
Northern Swedish Sami Family Lines Karesuando
Samesläkter, by Johannes Marainen was published in 1997 by
Sámiid Riikasearvi (SSR) and can be ordered from them at: SSR,
Brogatan 5, 903 25 Umeå, Sweden. Arden Johnson is editor
of Árran.
Arden lives in
Minneapolis, Minnesota. His family history may be found here.
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