CXI EST. 1906 La Palma, California June/August 2017 Number 2 www.orderofruneberg.org

WHAT’S INSIDE:

continued on page 2

Genealogy Corner.....................................4

Lodge News..............................................6

Obituaries...............................................8-9

If you have been reading the“Publication Fund Report” in previous Leading Star is-

sues you know that this, unfor-tunately, is the last issue of theLeading Star/Ledstjärnan.Best wishes

I would like to give my bestwishes to all those I have workedwith in the former InternationalOrder of Runeberg, from the sec-ond convention I attended (2006Portland Convention), to thesefinal days. It was at that 2006convention I met the newlyelected IOR President,Annabelle Kergan, and sug-gested to her that a websitewould be helpful to IOR –Annabelle embraced this, andour website was born shortly af-ter the convention.Thank you

Thank you, first and fore-most, to our Leading Star edi-tors, Dale and Mary Lou Hjort.In their editor capacity, they:gather all information fromlodges’ submittals, put the ar-ticles in a standard format for thegraphic designer; if picture cap-tions are needed they write themout and anything else that might

Best wishes, thanks to all, and Leading Star historyBästa hälsningar, tack till allt, och

Ledande Star historiaParhain toivotuksin, kaikkia kiittäen ja

Leading Star historiaa

Stew Lyons

be needed; they hope to get con-tent from the lodges and not haveto supply content - as needed(typically needed), they obtainedcontent from various sourcessuch as their relationship withJune Pelo / Genealogy Corner,The Finnish American Reporter,The SFHS’s quarterly, and TheUSA Newsletter put out by theFinland Diplomatic Missions.They used the articles to developa layout for the paper. The basiclayout is set up before workingwith the graphic designer via acombination of email and handdelivery content that is providedto the graphic designer. Thegraphic designer, Lois Greene /Greene graphics, then puts theLS together. In a 3-hour meeting

with the graphic designer; theyfinalize the paper; they call theprinter to see when the paperwill be ready and then drivethere to pick it up; they do theaddress labels; they fold the pa-pers in half; apply the labels andthe mailing dots to hold the pa-per closed; apply the stamps;

2 June/August 2017

and lastly, take the “ready tomail” papers to the post office.THANK YOU, Dale & Mary Loufor your years of doing the LSeditors tasks.I would also like to thank, at theIOR level, Annabelle Kergan,and Ed Brannfors, for their con-tinued guidance and support fol-lowing the 2014 Vancouver, BCConvention, in which our lodge’srepresentatives voted to dissolveIOR.Leading Star History

The Leading Star newspaperhas been published since Janu-ary, 1906 (111 years!). Between1906 & 1920, The Leading Star(LEDSTJÄRNAN) was pub-lished by the “Temperance Asso-ciation” - in 1920 the “Temper-ance Association” & the “BenefitAssociation” merged to form theInternational Order of Runeberg(IOR). Commencing with theMarch, 2013 issue, the formatchanged from “newspaper” for-mat to standard “letter” sizepages, in Adobe Acrobat (pdf).This new format facilitates dis-

tribution via web and email.Therefore, the web page, http://www.orderofruneberg.org/leadingstar.html, contains themost recent quarterly (March,June, September, and Decem-ber) issues of the Leading Star,from March, 2013 to this finalJune, 2017 issue (17 issues).

Also from the 2014 conven-tion, it was voted to: (1) send therecords of each chapter to theSwedish Finn Historical Society.SFHS already had copies of mostof the Leading Star, and (2) pro-vide $10,000 to SFHS to helpsupport the archiving of theserecords. SFHS has recently com-pleted digitizing of the LeadingStar (See the issues of Leading Star

from 1913 and 1947 at http://

www.swedishfinnhistoricalsociety.org/digital_leading-star/).The digital copies are searchablein Swedish or English. They willbe made available to SFHS mem-bers online. SFHS has also nearlycompleted the digitizing of photofiles some of which are from IOR.These too will be available online.If you’d like to contribute, SFHS

Dale Hjort

Mary Lou and I were editorsfor the first time for theMarch 2001 issue of the

Leading Star. We took over fromDoug Hansen who helped us getstarted. We learned a lot witheach issue and found the paperto be challenging yet enjoyable. Over the years we have beenthe editors of about 63 issues ofthe paper. We have gone from 11issues of the paper per year whenwe started to four issues per yearsince 2003. The layout of the pa-per has also changed. We wentfrom tabloid size (17 by 11 inches)using newsprint to a booklet size(11 by 8.5 inches) using copy pa-per. Through all of these andother changes we have done ourbest to create a quality paper. Mary Lou was by my side asco-editor from the beginningthrough the December 2016 is-sue. In January of 2017 she be-came ill. She was not able to helpwith the March and June 2017issues which were the final twoissues of the paper. She passedaway in June and is rememberedin an obituary on page 9 of thispaper. Mary Lou and I were fortunateto have two special people withus for the whole time we were

Remembering theLeading Star

–DH

editors. Without them puttingthe paper together would havebeen more difficult. June Pelo provided the articlefor the Genealogy Corner foreach issue. She had started do-ing this before we became edi-tors. Even though she lives inFlorida she was just an emailaway. She has done extensive re-search on genealogy and she al-ways had an article ready for us. Lois Greene did the graphicsand layout for the paper. Loisworks out of her home and so

when we were ready to finalizethe paper we had very comfort-able and pleasant surroundingsto work in. More importantlyLois was always there for us nomatter what day or time of day. I am so glad and Mary Louwould be too, that the LeadingStar is being preserved digitallyby the Swedish Finn HistoricalSociety for future generations sothat it can always be remem-bered.

Stew Lyonscontinued from page 1

next column

3 June/August 2017

Reflections

Annabelle Kergan

is requesting donations to con-tinue this fine work.Website to continue As noted in the “PublicationFund Report” in this LeadingStar issue, it is estimated thatthe “last Leading Star issue,” tobe this June, 2017 issue (sameas previously projected). As-suming the June LS issue willcost the same as the March is-sue, we will have a balance in ourPublication Fund bank accountof $314.74. I have suggested toAnnabelle Kergan, EdBrannfors, and Dale Hjort thatwe use this small balance to sup-port our website until the fundbalance is zero, which shouldtake approximately 2 years. Theyagree. Considering this June LSissue is the last issue, updated“Publication Fund Reports” (forJune LS, and following updates,will be published at our websiteat the following location:http://www.orderofruneberg.org/leadingstar.html

Stew Lyons New Haven CT Runeberg

Lodge #205

June, 2017…This being thelast copy of the Leading Star andthe end of an era for the Interna-tional Order of Runeberg onewonders what we are truly leftwith.Memories of…Conventions, Song Fests, Musi-cal exchanges, dance groupsLifelong Friendships madeTrips awayThe Swedish languageLearning about our heritageInterest in Finland and SwedenPassion for community and theconnections madeFund raisingCharitable acts of kindnessDancing – Singing – ConcertsPicnicsPrograms

The list goes on and on – butone thing is certain – my life (andperhaps yours) as a member ofthe International Order ofRuneberg will never be erasedfrom my mind. Sadly, as the last page of theLeading Star is closed we areonly left with the memories.Thankfully we have the websiteto continue with for a short whileand then we have the SwedishFinn Historical Society whichgraciously has a collective of in-formation left behind by indi-vidual lodges as well as the Lead-ing Star copies that are nowmade available through the So-ciety. A wonderful legacy left forall to enjoy – be it for research orfor pure enjoyment. Let us notforget this wonderful opportu-nity made possible to us which isthe last tribute to this fine andhonorable organization. Hopefully, let us never forgetwhat the International Order ofRuneberg has meant to each ofus as we say goodbye to a veryendearing and noble organiza-tion. I am one who is proud tohave been a member. Enjoy the read …. The oppor-tunity will never come again.

Respectfully submittedAnnabelle KerganRuneberg Social ClubVancouver B. C.

FinnFest USA 2017September 21 @ 8:00 am -September 24 @ 5:00 pm

Stew Lyons

FinnFest USA 2017returns to Minneapolis, ThursdaySunday, Sept. 21-24, to create anational gathering for all tocommemorate Finland’s 100thanniversary of Independence.FinnFest will use the downtownHilton Hotel, 1001 S. Marquette Ave,and Orchestra Hall, 1111 NicolletMall, as its anchor locations for its

Friday and Saturday events. Events include: All-dayGenealogy Forum that will featurekeynote speakers, presenters, andworkshops; Finnish choral musicsymposium occurring at PlymouthCongregational Church, 1900 NicolletAve; Unannounced guest appearancesby Finnish and Finnish cultural heroesand celebrities, Finnish-defined sportsevents, All-Finnish composers concertwhere FinnFest registrants will receivea 20 percent discount on tickets;Family day at the American Swedish

Institute, 2600 Park Ave; Lectureopportunities; Contemporary popconcert featuring an ensemble ofprofessional Finnish and FinnishAmerican musicians and ensembles;Singalongs; Folk dancing; All-dayforum featuring Finnish America’s richlabor history at the East Side FreedomLibrary, 1105 Greenbrier St, St. Pauland more. For more information visit,finnfestusa.org, or finnfest.us. From the internet

4

Genealogy Corner

June PeloA Dedicated Genealogist

June/August 2017

In the last issue of Katternö

publication there was anoverview of the GreatNorthern War in Fin-land, as part of the war

known as the Great NorthernWar, 1700-1721. It describedhow a large part of Ostrobothniawas devastated, how people weresystematically murdered, abouthow 20,000 people, mostly chil-dren and young people, weretaken as slaves to Russia and howsome 30,000 people, mainlyfrom urban areas, fled to thewestern part of the country. Notmany were left to tell about theatrocities. And those who coulddo it often tried to forget their ex-periences. But of GustavLillbäck, son of the sheriff in Ii,there is extensive documenta-tion.

The description below isbased largely on KustaaVilkuna’s book “The Devil’sWar”, the core of which is thestory of Gustav Lillbäck.

Gustav Lillbäck was born justbefore the Great Northern Warwas launched, as the second ofthe sheriff Gustaf (fl. Kyösti)Lillbäcka’s and wife BeataLillbäck’s children. The baptism

Gustav Lillbäck -the boy who

became a devil

was conducted by the chaplain inOulu. A young man who wasstudying to be a priest, AbrahamFrosterus, witnessed the baptismas a godfather.

The son of Gustav had thesame name as his father, but theFinnish version of the name wasKustaa.

Sheriff Lilllbäck was tied to aninfluential farming family, andhis father had also for a periodserved as sheriff. The wife Beatacame from a family of Lübeckwho were adopted as citizens ofOulu.

As the sheriff’s son, GustavLillbäck followed his father onhis missions and helped him withthe records. They gave detailedknowledge about the conditionsand about the inhabitants andtheir property in Ii parish, whichat that time stretched into thecountry to Pudasjärvi.

Gustav Lillbäck’s escape onskis began when the Russiansattacked the home farm Hiivalaon the last day of 1714. Two ofthe brothers were taken as pris-oners, while Gustav managed toslip away. His value as a youngslave motivated the Cossackswho followed him; ski tracks inthe snow could easily be fol-lowed.

In a column with a hundredother children and adolescentsfrom Oulu and surrounding par-ishes, Gustav Lilllbäck was thenmarched through Savo toVyborg. In the column were alsoGustav’s brothers and theircousin Kristoffer Toppelius.

(As told in the previousKatternö article KristofferToppelius returned after manyyears to his home area and be-came the great-grandfather ofthe writer Zacharias Topelius.)

The patrol that took GustavLillbäck prisoner was led by theCossack corporal FyodorFyodorovich, and Gustav thusbecame his property. FyodorFjodorovitj’s data included col-lecting war taxes and the humili-ation and punishment of thepeople. Looting and rapes werepart of his everyday deeds.

Kustaa Vilkuna describes howthe captured youngsters syste-matically underwent Russianiza-tion. Gifted children - of whichGustav obviously was - learned

5June/August 2017

continued on page 10

Russian so well in a year that theycould act as interpreters for theRussian occupation army.

The official Russification wasconsidered to be throughrebaptism to the orthodox doc-trine. It tied the young people totheir Russian masters, the Rus-sian army and the Russian Em-pire. Rebaptism helped prison-ers escape deportation to Tatarcountry.

Gustav Lillbäck in hisrebaptism was named Vasily.With that he was no longer re-garded as a prisoner or slave, butas Fyodor Fjororovij’s own son.Kustaa Vilkuna describes howthe Cossack corporal conscien-tiously fulfilled his fatherly dutiestowards Vasily, who in turnlearned to behave like a Russiansoldier.

In January 1716 VasilyLillbäck returned with his newfather Fyodor Fyodorovich toNorthern Ostrobothnia as inter-preter and interrogator.

During a battle in Siikajoki,where the Russians simplyslaughtered a troop of peasants,Vasily acquired the rite of pas-sage with an ax to give the coupde grace to wounded opponents.As a gift, Fyodor Fyodorovichgave a captured horse and a rifleto his son. Vasily Lillbäck’s sta-tus and freedom of movementgrew with it.

Kustaa Vilkuna: “Russianfarmhands had been brought toviolence by violence, and whenthey suddenly incomprehensibllyhad so much power in relation tothe common people, they madethe most of it. With guns, sticks

and whips, they performed theRussian army’s order in a state ofunrestrained eagerness.”

The torture beginsThe last week of January 1716

Vasily Lillback began his careeras a torturer. The first victimswere the couple Gabriel and AnnaTeppelius from Oulu. They hadfled to the forests of Ylikiiminkiand were arrested. Vasily Lillbackhad known the pair previously.

The treatment was the samefor both. They were tied behindwith a rope, the rope was thrownover a ceiling beam, and the vic-tims were hoisted up in the air.Getting your arms pulled back-wards and upwards in this way isvery painful. The couple was alsobeaten and whipped. Anna Teppelius, who washighly pregnant, cried appeal-ingly to “Gustav”, her torturer,who was furious at being spokento by his old name. She seems tohave been rescued after the othertorturers intervened.

But this was just a quiet start.Brutality was one of the objec-tives. It could be justified by say-ing the Tsar ordered the destruc-tion. Another was to impose taxesby the occupying power. But of-ten the driving force to plunderwas for their own profit or plea-sure.

As the war approached North-ern Ostrobothnia, many had hid-den away prized possessions byburying them. They knew the oc-cupiers, and threats and torturewas their method to ascertain thehiding places.

As an interpreter VasilyLillbäck had an advantage also

over the Russians. By translat-ing selectively he could retain in-formation for himself about in-teresting items to loot. But thenit was important to not arousesuspicions of the superiors andto avoid the risk that people re-ported him. One method was to murderthose who confessed. VasilyLillbäck started this method inLiminka in March 1716. JaakkoVähä and old master Riski werediscovered in the woods andconfessed under torture abouttheir neighbor’s hideout. Riskiwas murdered immediately,while Jaakko died a week laterafter being severely beaten. Next stop was Oulunsalo,where Vasily Lillbäck led a longsequence of atrocities, begin-ning in Ervastila’s house. Fivewomen were hiding in the atticbut were revealed by two cap-tured maids. The women weretied behind and taken to a neigh-boring farm Tiltula where therewere already a number of otherprisoners and were tortured forthree days. One of the women, PirkkoPiipari, was hung from the ceil-ing with her hands tied. VasilyLibäck struck the woman for ev-erything he was worth until shewas nearly unconscious. Whenshe lifted down, her daughterappealed to him not to kill hermother.

“Then give me her moneyand her silver,” shrieked Vasilyand hit the final death blow toPirkko Piipari with a lump ofwood.

6 June/August 2017

LODGE NEWSLODGE NEWSLODGE NEWSLODGE NEWSLODGE NEWSLodge #205New Haven, Connecticut

Everyone had a good time atour annual “St Urho’sDay” celebration, on

March 19th. The celebration in-cluded a potluck dinner, recitingthe “Ode to St. Urho” and goodconversation at the home of ourhosts, Glenn and Sandy.

“St Urho’s Day” 2017 CelebrationGlenn and Sandy, did a won-

derful job decorating for the StUrho’s Day celebration - purple,green, and grasshoppers every-where! We had a good turn-outof members as can be seen in thepictures accompanying this ar-ticle.

It had been decided at ourJanuary meeting that in honor of“Finland 100 centenary celebra-tions,” the St. Urho’s Day potluckdinner meeting entrees would fo-cus on Finnish and Swedish tra-ditional foods, such as: Finnishcoffee cake (Kaarina), Finnishblueberry pie (Sandy), SwedishRice Pudding with boysenberries(Dottie), Chocolate chip cookies(Dottie), Jannen’s frestelse(Liisa), Rye bread with reindeer

Gathering at the serving

table.L-R: Kirsti

TuulaCindy andDoug

L-R: DottieTuulaLiisa Doug

photo byInke

L-R: SandyGlennKirsti

L-R:SandyKirsti

Reciting“Ode to

St. Urho.”L-R: Klas

CindySandyGlenn.

Glenn isleading, sonote the hatwith grass-hopper on

top.

Gathering at theservingtable.

L-R: Tuula,CindyDougInke

Brenda

7 June/August 2017

LODGE NEWSLODGE NEWSLODGE NEWSLODGE NEWSLODGE NEWSsert items were delicious - thankyou to all our members for theircontributions to the gourmet se-lections!

During our business meetingthere was discussion for electionof officers (normally done at ourJanuary meeting) - re: the presentslate of officers. All remained, ex-cept Inke who said that moving

(Liisa), Beef salad (Kirsti), Cu-cumber salad (Kirsti), Black cur-rent jam (Kirsti), Finnish mint-chocolate buttons (Kirsti),Karjalan paisti (Inke), Salmonloaf (Cindy), Pulla(Cindy),Karelian pies, egg butter (Tuula),Carrot casserole (Brenda), andBeef stew (Brenda). All the pot-luck appetizers, dinner and des-

to FL would make being VP diffi-cult. A discussion ensued andCindy Martin agreed to take herplace. A motion was made byGeorge re: adding “PublicityChair” as a new position, Dottieseconded, and George Nousiainenvolunteered to fill the position.Thank you, Cindy and George! Acard was presented to Inke, signedby all present, which conveyed themessage that we will miss her verymuch – i.e. her hosting of ourSummer Picnic for many years!Thank you, Inke!

After a business meeting, GlennHavumaki led the group in recit-ing the “Ode to St. Urho.” The 12pictures accompanying this article(6 of potluck food items, and 6 ofmembers celebrating Finnish andSwedish-Speaking Finnish Cul-ture and Traditions and sharing incomradeship) may be seen incolor at New Haven Lodge’s StUrho’s Day web page: http://www.orderofruneberg .org/2017sturho.html

The St Urho’s Day page mayalso be accessed directly fromour New Haven Lodge 205 webpage: http://www.orderofruneberg.org/lodges/l205newhavenct.html

For our next meeting, checkour lodge web page for details asthe date approaches.www.orderofruneberg.org/lodges/l205newhavenct.html

Stew LyonsNew Haven CT,

Runeberg Lodge #205

Finnish blueberry pie

Finnish coffee cake

Left: Rye bread with reindeer,Right: Karelian pies, egg butter

Front: Salmon loaf,Rear: Chocolate chip cookies

Pulla, photo by Inke

Swedish rice pudding withloganberries

8 June/August 2017

Obituary

Glenn C. Olsen, 87, a life-longresident of Hancock, Michigan,passed away at the HoughtonCounty Medical Care Facility inHancock on Wednesday, April 19,2017.

Glenn was born in Hancock atthe family home on January 26,1930, to the late, J. Fred and Saimi(Kyllonen) Olsen. He was a 1948graduate of Hancock High School,where he was a star player on thevarsity football team.

He served overseas in the United States Navy from1950 to 1954 during the Korean Conflict.Glenn was united in marriage to Adele Irene Kendallon December 26, 1952. She preceded him in deathon August 7, 2011.

He was employed at several businesses inHancock, including the A&P Grocery Store for manyyears, and at the Copper Crown Motel, retiring in1992.

Glenn was a member of the First United Method-ist Church in Hancock since 1960. He and his wifebelonged to several bowling leagues and the Order

Glenn Olsen (1930-2017)of Runeberg Lodge No. 8 of DollarBay, where they enjoyed dancing.Glenn liked to laugh and oftenplayed pranks and jokes on hisfriends and family. He owned anapartment building in Hancock,and enjoyed hunting, fishing, andhe even built several boats duringhis lifetime.He is survived by a sister-in-law,Lois Seiler of Calumet; a specialnephew and niece, Norman andBarbara Kendall of the HancockCanal area, who were his caregivers

in later years; and also by nieces, nephews andcousins.

Funeral services were held on Tuesday, April25, 2017, at the O’Neill-Dennis Funeral Homeof Hancock, with Rev. Scott Lindenberg offici-ating. Burial was at Lakeside.

Submitted by Renee Ozanich, Secretary, Lodge #8 Dollar Bay, MI

Mervin Sastamoinen (1923-2017)Mervin W. Sastamoinen, 94, of Dollar Bay, died

Friday, April 7, 2017, at the Houghton County Medi-cal Care facility in Hancock.

He was born February 11, 1923, in Mohawk, Michi-gan, a son of the late Nestor and Ida (Hoyer)Saastamoinen. He attended school in Mohawk andPainesdale, and graduated from Jeffers High School.

Mervin was a World War II veteran of the U.S.Navy, serving in the South Pacific.

He was employed at Atlas Powder as a shop fore-man and, prior to retirement in 1985, worked at theformer D&N Bank as head of maintenance.

On September 6, 1946, he was married to theformer Hilma Ypparila in Chassell. The couple hasmade their home in Dollar Bay since 1946.

Mervin was a life member of the Dollar BayVFW Post 6028 and the Order of RunebergLodge of Dollar Bay for 60 plus years.

Mervin loved to skate and play hockey, whichhe played well into his 80’s.

Mervin is survived by his wife, Hilma of Dol-lar Bay; two sons, Robert of Minneapolis, Min-nesota, and Gary (Joanne) of St. Petersburg,Florida; one daughter, Julie (Longin) Krol ofFairbanks, Alaska; seven grandchildren; onenephew, and several nieces.

Interment will be held later this summer atthe Mountain View Cemetery in South Rangewith military rites to be conducted.

Submitted by Renee Ozanich, Secretary, Lodge #8 Dollar Bay, MI

9 June/August 2017

George Sundquist (1924-2016)George Sundquist passed away on November

11, 2016 after a long illness at his home in Red-wood City, California. He was born in Munsala,Finland in 1924 and emigrated to America in 1952,moving to San Francisco where his uncle, alsonamed George, was living. He worked in construc-tion, eventually starting his own construction com-pany. He is survived by his wife Marion and theirchildren and other family.

George and Marion returned to Finland everysummer where they maintained the original fam-ily property. He cherished his roots in Munsala es-pecially the village of Vexala. They spent so manymonths there each year that Marion could speakthe Munsala dialect flawlessly.

Mary Louisa (Trumbull Pope) Hjort was bornto Mary (Castles) Trumbulland Charles Trumbull onJanuary 25, 1943 in Helena,Montana. Both of her parentswere school teachers wholoved music, and knew Latin.The family lived in ForestGrove, Oregon; Cathlamet,Washington; then finallysettled in Auburn, Washing-ton. Montana was dear to herheart, and Mary Lou spentmany summers and Christ-mases visiting family in Supe-rior, Montana, and elsewhereacross the state.

Mary Lou graduated fromAuburn High School in the class of 1960, and re-ceived a B.A. in Elementary Education from theUniversity of Washington in 1964. She played fluteand piccolo in the UW marching band, marchingin the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl twice.

In 1964, she married her high school sweet-heart, Claude Pope of Algona, Washington. Shetaught for one year in Auburn, and then the couplemoved to California, where Mary Lou continuedto teach elementary school for several years. In1978, the family of now five moved home to Au-burn. In November of 1987 her husband, Claude,lost his battle with melanoma.

George was well known in the Finnish andSwedish Finn community. He served on the boardof the Finlandia Foundation National for severalyears and also on the board of The Swedish FinnHistorical Society. He was active in the San Fran-cisco chapter of the Order of Runeberg along withother groups like the Norwegian Club and Ameri-can Scandinavian Foundation. He loved sports,travel, history, and especially music. George estab-lished a fund with Finlandia Foundation to pro-vide funds for Swedish Finnish musicians to travelto North America to give concerts. He would ar-range concert venues all around San Francisco andthe West Coast for performers.

The Quarterly of The Swedish Finn HistoricalSociety Winter 2017

Mary Lou Hjort (1943-2017) After all three kids graduated from Auburn HighSchool, Mary Lou married long-time friend DaleHjort and moved to La Palma, California where she

lived for the past 22 years. There,she became an active member ofUniversity Baptist Church in LongBeach. She was a leader in theLakewood Women’s Club, support-ing education-focused organiza-tions. She worked for Teacher Cre-ated Materials. She and Dale co-edited the International Order ofRuneberg’s Leading Star newspa-per.

On June 19, 2017 followingyears of struggle with a variety ofdiagnosed and undiagnosed ail-ments, she passed away peacefullyat her home. She is survived byhusband Dale Hjort, brother Bill

Trumbull, son Wesley Pope, daughter AnnetteWolf, son Bradley Pope, and grandchildren:Makenna, Rylee, Oliver, Claudia, Fiona, andGuthrie.

She was laid to rest in Mountain View Cemeteryin Auburn, beside her first husband, Claude Pope.Memorial Celebrations took place at MessiahLutheran Church in Auburn on July 1st and at Uni-versity Baptist Church in Long Beach on July 8th.

Submitted byWes Pope and Dale Hjort

10 June/August 2017

The next victim was SimoErvasti who described a hide-away where Oulu citizen JohanUhlbom had hidden money.Simo Ervasti reckoned that hewould be released, but Vasilytook out his bloody birch cluband slew him also.

In this manner, the brutali-ties continued. Before nighttimeVasily took a woman and rapedher. The next day he left a groupof children together in onehouse, killing one of them andleft the others to freeze to death

So continues the account inKustaa Vilkuna’s book, detailedwith so many examples that itbecomes unbearable. Vilkunaalso describes how the Russiansoccasionally are surprised byVasily Lillbäck’s brutality.

A twelve- year-old girl, RiittaLaanila, stood out by not show-ing Vasily the respect he de-manded. He began to beat herwith a birch cane and shoutedthat he will continue to beat un-til she begs for mercy. AnswersRiitta Laanila, “I hand over ev-erything to God’s hands. LordJesus, have mercy upon mysoul.” Whereupon Vasily contin-ued beating until she was uncon-scious and later the same day shedied from injuries.

Kustaa Vilkuna: “Everywherein Finland, there were plenty ofRussian farmhands who wantedrespect and honor like Lillbäck.But what separated Lillbäckfrom many others, and at thesame time showed what positionhe achieved with his brutality,was that “no one dared to go

Genealogy Cornercontinued from page 5

against him despite that he wasalone”

Vasily Lillbäck’s reputation asa cruel war criminal spreadthroughout the province. He wasthe worst of them all, worse thanthe occupiers, a devil figure.

EscapeThe turn came the summer of

1717. The Russians began to in-troduce civil rule in Finand andreduced its forces in NorthernOstrobothnia. The guerrillabands gained ground and beganto direct their attacks against theRussian soldiers still remaining.Fyodor Fjodorovitj’s troop de-partment withdrew southwardsto Vasa to reduce the risk of theirown losses.

Ostrobothnia was now so de-stroyed that it was no longer ableto support any major troops.Kustaa Vilkuna describes howthe buildings in many parisheswere almost completely wipedout. In Oulu and Liminka, wherebefore the war there were nearlya thousand farms, now just 60farms were entered in the tax list.The same level of destruction wasin Siikajoki, Pyhäjoki, Ii andKalajoki.

Karleby, Vetil, Kelviå andLochteå were destroyed, as wellas Kronoby, Lappajärvi,Jakobstad and Nykarleby. Halfof Vörå was deserted. South ofVasa, Malax, Närpes andLappfjärd had been destroyed inthe beginning of the Wrath.

With civil governmentstarted, the remaining peoplehoped for a future. Russian farm-

hands and interpreters of theRussian troops had to moveback to Russia, and they werenot eager to go. More and morebegan to flee, and a place to es-cape to was precisely the partsof Ostrobothnia that the Russiantroops had left. So did Vasily Lillbäck in Octo-ber 1717. He stole a smallamount of money, a horse andan old silver spoon from hismaster, was once again GustavLillbäck, and rode away to hisparents’ home in Ii.

Fyodor Fyodorovich did notlet him escape the theft In thesummer of 1718 he went to a pa-trol heading north to return thefugitive. In Kalajoki he met thechaplain in Liminka, JohanHedreaus, who said that GustavLillbäck had been tried and sentto Stockholm. The fact was that GustavLillbäck himself had asked tocancel the Orthodox baptismand he be restored as a memberof Ii parish. This presupposed,however, an investigation of theapplicant’s actual relationship tothe faith. When Ii and Pudasjärvi’s sum-mer court was held in early June1718 matters took a differentturn than Gustav had thought.It was a trial for his crimes.Lillbäck explained that he hadbeen a minor (under 15 years) atthe capture and had not acted onhis own will but by compulsion.But his defense speech did nothelp. He was arrested and takento Stockholm, to be accountableto the Åbo Court of Appeal.

Thus begins a new chapter inthe story of Gustav Lillbäck. Thetrial was to last over two years

Witnesses talk

11 June/August2017

and lead to investigations anddebates. The main question waswhether Gustav Lillbäck could beheld responsible for his actions.

Gustav Lilllbäck originatedthe idea in prison in Stockholmto eloquently write down hisstory. A letter was written di-rectly to Queen Ulrika Eleonoraand depicts how he as a poorprisoner sits innocently impris-oned. He points out that he hadto obey the orders of the Rus-sians, and that he bravely es-caped from the enemy after threeyears as a slave of a brutal enemy.

In a letter to the members ofthe Court of Appeals Gustav ex-plains that he is the victim ofunjust accusations by malevolentpeople. He proves his claim withtwo written certificates signed bythree people, Juho PekanpoikaTiesko, Iisakki Matinpoika andJuho Juhonpoika.

Step by step during the trialprocess Gustav was forced to re-treat. The reputation of the trialspread to the manyOstrobothnians living as refu-gees in Stockholm, and more andmore witnesses came forwardand gave details of Gustav’sdeeds.

After the testimony, KaarinaMatintytär from Oulu askedGustav whether he as a Christianwas not plagued by whipping thepoor people.

Gustav changed tactics by ar-guing that he had done manygood deeds which saved peoplefrom even worse brutality. TheCourt asked how he tormentedthe people and got this answer:

“We used three different tor-ture methods. Firstly, to bind thehands behind the back and hangup the person in the ceiling, sec-ond lashes, and third burning.”

Regarding the burning in-flicted, Gustaf sometimes shoveda person head first and some-times feet first into the furnaceand lit it. The heat was so hotthat people sweated and oftenburned their clothes in the fire.It was not deadly, he argued, buta good way to press for results.The people became more willingto revealing where they hid theirproperty.

In October 1719, there was astaggering blow for Gustav.Abraham Frosterus, his godfa-ther at the baptism, showed thecourt his old almanac, whichshowed that the baptism tookplace 29 December 1699. Inother words, Gustav Lillbäck was15 years old when he was cap-tured and was therefore crimi-nally of age.

In February 1720 Gustaf’s po-sition became worse. After testi-mony by Juha PekanpoikaTiesko, Iisakki Matinpoika andJuho Juhonpoika, it was re-vealed that the certificates whichhe refered to are counterfeit.

There was a question for theCourt of Appeals about the legalprinciples to be applied. Againsteach other were Deputy Court ofAppeals president SvenLeijonmarck (formerly Agricola)who believed that Gustav shouldbe pardoned under the IPDC In-ternational law, and the Court ofAppeals president Johan Cruetz,who required a harsh penalty. Behind this lurked a powerstruggle. Creutz represented thehighest aristocrats whileLeijonmarck was among seniorofficials and the upstart nobility.The gap was significant, but inthe end Creutz won.

In February 1721 the Court ofAppeals submitted the case tothe king for judgment.

The end of Gustav Lillbäckwas shameful. A common deathsentence was not considered ad-equate. First, they cut one of hishands off, then his head, The sev-ered hand was nailed to a pole todisplay.

From Katternö, #1-2015Svenolof KarlssonTranslated from Swedish byJune Pelo

News from Mika RoinilaHello to all my friends,

I hope all is going well for you.Things are good here in SouthBend, and I have something for youthat might interest you.

Last summer I was able totranslate the bookSissiluutnantti:Olavi Alakulppiby Kari Kallonen from Finnish intoEnglish, and I am happy to let youknow that this translation is avail-able as a Kindle e-Book throughAmazon.com. The book was re-leased on June 12

This is a great book for militaryhistory buffs and Finnish War vet-erans, but everyone would enjoythis story! The author is a wellknown non-fiction writer in Fin-land who won Finland’s 2008 WarBook Award for this book.

Have a look at this link for moreinformation - https://www.amazon.com/Guerrilla-Lieutenant-Alakulppi-Mannerheim-Champion-e b o o k / d p / B 0 7 1 Z W Q R L S /ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496663136&sr=8-1&keywords=kallonen

Feel free to tell others aboutthis book. Cheers, Mika Roinila

Dale & Mary Lou Hjort7682 Tracy LaneLa Palma, CA 90623-1501

Address Service Requested

The following guide-lines (condensed) wereprepared by SyreneForsman of SFHS, specificto IOR lodges. Theseguidelines were provided(full form) to all lodges,whether dissolving or con-tinuing, and lodges areurged to send in pastrecords of interest toSFHS.

Here is the list ofrecords according to im-portance. Oldest are mostimportant. ALL recordsare important of course,because they tell the storyof Swedish Finn immi-

SFHS Guidelines to IOR for Records of Interest

grants within a community.These records include mem-bership registers, minutesof meetings, scholarshiprecords,photographs (especiallythose with date, place,names), newspaper articles,memorial booklets aboutthe lodge history, lodgecharter, etc., banners, deskflags from partner lodges,and other realia

Financial records ofmembers are not important.Sick benefit records, duesrecords should probably beconsidered private informa-tion. Financial records oflodge activities on the otherhand can give a picture ofwhere the hall was located,who played for the dances,and other interesting mate-rials.

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