Elias Adolf RUONA

                   Memories of Harold Ruona

Kemi is the area where my dad's (Lars Ruona) folks left from to come to America.  I remember hearing them talk about an area Semijoki and Semojarvi, they grew up in that area.  I'm not sure what they did for occupation, but they could have been in logging.  My grandfather (Elias Adolph Ruona) had a sawmill, so maybe that is what he learned to do in the old country.  My grandfather (Elias Adolph Ruona) and grandmother (Kaisa (Katie) Saviko) both came from Finland.  Her home area I'm not too sure of.  She had relatives in Michigan, and one time one of her brother's children came over and visited with us.

The country north of Kemi; would it be heavily wooded?

From what I saw of it, it would be pretty much like around Hoyt Lake, Minnesota.  Spruce trees, rocks, rivers and lakes.  It would be small timber.  But how large the timber was at an earlier time when they came to America, we do not know.  Both the Kemi and the Tornio Rivers were used to float logs down, rafts of logs.  So I would assume the logs in the 1800s were a fairly good size.  The mills were apparently near the ocean.  I suppose that from Oulu south would be more farming country.

We spent quite a bit of time in Turku, because that is where Martha's relatives came from.

We know the Timo's came from directly east of Oulu.  And greatgrandfather (Jaakop (Jacob) Ruona) was sort of a visiting preacher.  He would travel around and give sermons, baptize people, and perform funeral services.

In the early days of the USA we called those guys circuit riders, as they rode a horse from one place to another, preaching and being fed and housed by the local people.  Of course my greatgrandfather (Jacob) travelled on skis during the winter time.  He lived in Embarass, Minnesota.  My father (Lars Ruona) was the first generation born in this country.  There was another man named Lamppi who came to this country at the same time and went about preaching with him.  He started a store in Embarass, Minnesota, selling merchandise to the loggers in that area.  I don't know if they were related to the Ruonas.

He entered the US at th eport of New York in August of 1882.  He became a US citizen on 26 November 1888, Peter Nevala and Paavo Kuha signed as witnesses.  He applied for US citizenship in Becker County (Wadena County copy of record to become a citizen).  The records in Finalnd indicate that he was born Elias Adolf Ruona.