January 13, 2015

What was Emma Lehtola's Maiden Name?

As I began researching Herman Sylvester Lehtola who emigrated from Finland to Massachusetts in 1909, I found him married to Emma on his 1917 World War I registration. I have been unsuccessful in finding a record of their marriage assumed to have been in/near Quincy, Mass between 1910 and 1917.

Emma was also a native of Finland, but I did not know her maiden name. I didn't know where to look beyond familysearch and ancestry. So, when all else fails, go to Google.  And there I hit upon a Finnish genealogy website with a page titled RAITTIUSKANSAN KALENTERI with an index of obituaries for Finnish Americans.  

Listed on the 4th page was Lehtola, Emma nee Waihkonen, housewife Quincy MA which seemed to match.  Now with her maiden name I went back to familysearch to see if I could find a marriage record for verification, but did not. 

Herman was single in the 1910 census living in Quincy working as a granite cutter. I have not found Emma though I know I should have since she arrived at Ellis Island on Jan 24, 1904. The ship's manifest can be viewed for free on the Ellis Island website and her entry shows her destined for Quincy, Mass with her passage paid by her brother-in-law Gustaf Sten. It seems he was married to Emma's older sister Alma.

The 1910 census showed Alma and Gustaf Sten living in Quincy, MA but Emma was not with them. There is some confusion over Gustaf's name as well ... their 1903 Quincy marriage record lists her as Waikonen and him as TUTINEN. Referring back to Alma's arrival record I can see that her passage was paid for by Kustaa Tutinen of Quincy .... Kustaa is the Finnish version of Gustav.  Could he have also shortened his surname?  I'll leave that investigation for others.

It seems that Emma and Alma's father Johan or John was also in Massachusetts based on his 1912 Quincy death certificate at age 69 with the informant "his daughter Mrs Gusraf Sten". So I feel quite sure that Emma was born Waihkonen .... now I want to find her in 1910 and locate her marriage record.