Marija was born in Finland to Simon and Judit or Judeta (Lamberg) Evonen. She had several older siblings: Daniel (a founding settler of Toivola), Abraham (1864-1869), Maria (1867-1868), Matti, and Agneta. Brother Daniel left for the United States in the early 1880s, eventually settling in Houghton County. In 1893, the family followed in waves: first Simon and Judit, then Marija, Matti, and Matti's wife and daughter. They settled in Calumet before moving to the Atlantic Mine area.
While on a trip back to Finland in about 1901, Marija adopted her oldest child, Jim, from a couple who could not care for him. After her February 14, 1903 marriage to Joel Riippa, nine natural sons and daughters eventually joined Jim in the family.
Marija's husband, a miner, moved around frequently to find work, and the two resided in Atlantic Mine, Toivola, Trimountain, Winona, and Greenland. They eventually settled permanently in Winona, where Joel died in 1923 after a long period of infirmity.
She was known in Winona as being quite a colorful character. Marija dabbled in the production of moonshine during Prohibition and lost a leg to disease, but that did not stop her from being a feisty and active member of the community. Rather than accept help from her neighbors when her roof needed patching, Marija negotiated the ladder and roof on her wooden prosthesis and fixed the problem herself. She also regularly skied from Winona to Houghton--a round trip of sixty miles--in the winter to pick up supplies. No one could match her for speed.
Her name can be found on pages 119-120 of the book "History of the Finns in Michigan," which mentions a business deal negotiated by the savvy woman in her later years, though it erred in the description of her husband's occupation:
"In connection with mining, a story was still being told toward the end of the 1950s about the elderly widow of a Finnish farmer by the name of Riippa. She had a vein of a copper running up to the surface on her land. She loosened the ore with a pickaxe and brought it to her yard with a wheelbarrow. As soon as she had a truckload, a mining company would buy the product of her labors."
Besides her husband, Marija was preceded in death by her daughter Lempi Garfield.
At the time of her death, she was survived by her other nine children and innumerable grandchildren.
While on a trip back to Finland in about 1901, Marija adopted her oldest child, Jim, from a couple who could not care for him. After her February 14, 1903 marriage to Joel Riippa, nine natural sons and daughters eventually joined Jim in the family.
Marija's husband, a miner, moved around frequently to find work, and the two resided in Atlantic Mine, Toivola, Trimountain, Winona, and Greenland. They eventually settled permanently in Winona, where Joel died in 1923 after a long period of infirmity.
She was known in Winona as being quite a colorful character. Marija dabbled in the production of moonshine during Prohibition and lost a leg to disease, but that did not stop her from being a feisty and active member of the community. Rather than accept help from her neighbors when her roof needed patching, Marija negotiated the ladder and roof on her wooden prosthesis and fixed the problem herself. She also regularly skied from Winona to Houghton--a round trip of sixty miles--in the winter to pick up supplies. No one could match her for speed.
Her name can be found on pages 119-120 of the book "History of the Finns in Michigan," which mentions a business deal negotiated by the savvy woman in her later years, though it erred in the description of her husband's occupation:
"In connection with mining, a story was still being told toward the end of the 1950s about the elderly widow of a Finnish farmer by the name of Riippa. She had a vein of a copper running up to the surface on her land. She loosened the ore with a pickaxe and brought it to her yard with a wheelbarrow. As soon as she had a truckload, a mining company would buy the product of her labors."
Besides her husband, Marija was preceded in death by her daughter Lempi Garfield.
At the time of her death, she was survived by her other nine children and innumerable grandchildren.
Marija was born in Finland to Simon and Judit or Judeta (Lamberg) Evonen. She had several older siblings: Daniel (a founding settler of Toivola), Abraham (1864-1869), Maria (1867-1868), Matti, and Agneta. Brother Daniel left for the United States in the early 1880s, eventually settling in Houghton County. In 1893, the family followed in waves: first Simon and Judit, then Marija, Matti, and Matti's wife and daughter. They settled in Calumet before moving to the Atlantic Mine area.
While on a trip back to Finland in about 1901, Marija adopted her oldest child, Jim, from a couple who could not care for him. After her February 14, 1903 marriage to Joel Riippa, nine natural sons and daughters eventually joined Jim in the family.
Marija's husband, a miner, moved around frequently to find work, and the two resided in Atlantic Mine, Toivola, Trimountain, Winona, and Greenland. They eventually settled permanently in Winona, where Joel died in 1923 after a long period of infirmity.
She was known in Winona as being quite a colorful character. Marija dabbled in the production of moonshine during Prohibition and lost a leg to disease, but that did not stop her from being a feisty and active member of the community. Rather than accept help from her neighbors when her roof needed patching, Marija negotiated the ladder and roof on her wooden prosthesis and fixed the problem herself. She also regularly skied from Winona to Houghton--a round trip of sixty miles--in the winter to pick up supplies. No one could match her for speed.
Her name can be found on pages 119-120 of the book "History of the Finns in Michigan," which mentions a business deal negotiated by the savvy woman in her later years, though it erred in the description of her husband's occupation:
"In connection with mining, a story was still being told toward the end of the 1950s about the elderly widow of a Finnish farmer by the name of Riippa. She had a vein of a copper running up to the surface on her land. She loosened the ore with a pickaxe and brought it to her yard with a wheelbarrow. As soon as she had a truckload, a mining company would buy the product of her labors."
Besides her husband, Marija was preceded in death by her daughter Lempi Garfield.
At the time of her death, she was survived by her other nine children and innumerable grandchildren.
While on a trip back to Finland in about 1901, Marija adopted her oldest child, Jim, from a couple who could not care for him. After her February 14, 1903 marriage to Joel Riippa, nine natural sons and daughters eventually joined Jim in the family.
Marija's husband, a miner, moved around frequently to find work, and the two resided in Atlantic Mine, Toivola, Trimountain, Winona, and Greenland. They eventually settled permanently in Winona, where Joel died in 1923 after a long period of infirmity.
She was known in Winona as being quite a colorful character. Marija dabbled in the production of moonshine during Prohibition and lost a leg to disease, but that did not stop her from being a feisty and active member of the community. Rather than accept help from her neighbors when her roof needed patching, Marija negotiated the ladder and roof on her wooden prosthesis and fixed the problem herself. She also regularly skied from Winona to Houghton--a round trip of sixty miles--in the winter to pick up supplies. No one could match her for speed.
Her name can be found on pages 119-120 of the book "History of the Finns in Michigan," which mentions a business deal negotiated by the savvy woman in her later years, though it erred in the description of her husband's occupation:
"In connection with mining, a story was still being told toward the end of the 1950s about the elderly widow of a Finnish farmer by the name of Riippa. She had a vein of a copper running up to the surface on her land. She loosened the ore with a pickaxe and brought it to her yard with a wheelbarrow. As soon as she had a truckload, a mining company would buy the product of her labors."
Besides her husband, Marija was preceded in death by her daughter Lempi Garfield.
At the time of her death, she was survived by her other nine children and innumerable grandchildren.
Gravesite Details
Headstone lists year of birth as 1877, but christening and Social Security records suggest that it was 1878.
Family Members
Siblings
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