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Jaako and Briita (Karvonen) Kemppainen

Among the early Finnish settlers in Burleigh county was Jaako Jacob Kemppainen. Due to his advanced age, Jacob was unable to play as active a role in the settlement of Burleigh county as some of his younger countrymen. His presence in the community was however significant since he was typical of the hundreds of elderly people who accompanied their younger children to newly opened areas that would hopefully provide an improvement in the quality of life. Since Jacob's birth in Finland and eventual settlement in Burleigh county is representative of hundreds of other Finns who eventually settled in the local vicinity, the few known details of his life are reported below.

Jaako Kemppainen (together with a twin brother Carl) was born Aug. 8, 1839 at Komulaanvaara farm, Kerala village Hyrynsalmi parish in eastern Oulu Province, Finland, the son of Lars Lauri Kemppainen and Elin Keikkinen. The Kemppanens like generations of ancestors were peasants who had eked out a living on the many small farms and estates scattered through out Finland.

On Apr. 3, 1870 Jaako Kemppainen married a brown eyed girl from the neighboring village of Vayryla in Puolanka parish. Briita Stiina Karvonen was born December 1, 1851, the daughter of Taavetti David Karvonen and Anna Liisa Kemppainen. Since several of Jaake and Briita Kemppainen's children would eventually setttle in Burleigh county, these offspring are listed below.

All births occured at Hitula farm, Aho village, Puolanka parish. Amelia was born Dec. 25, 1872. On Jan. 4, 1891 she married Heikki Henry Mulari from Utajarvi and to them was born a large family. Amalia died near Richwood, MN, Nov. 5, 1951 after having lived earlier in both Lien and Lyman Townships in ND. , Eeli August Eli was born Dec. Dec. 14, 1874. He married at Ellendale, ND, a widow named Mina. They eventually settled in Alberta Canada where Eli died. In America and in Canada, Eli used the more convient family name of Jacobson., Anna Valpuri, born Apr. 12, 1877, died at age of 3 ,. Matti was born Nov. 15, 1878 possibly came to America, but was lost track of., Kaisa Kreeta Kate was born Jan. 17, 1881. She married John (Peldomaa) Hill, at Ellendale in July 1900. His family was originally from Kauhajoki, Vaasa, Finland. They lived many years in Burleigh county but later moved to Minnesota. Kate died in Apr. 1970 and was buried at Wolf Lake, MN she and her husband left a large family. Kaarlo born Sept. 9, 1883 died Oct. 1884., Stiina Aliina was born in July 1886. In 1903, at Ellendale, she married Alex Pihlaja. She died May 7, 1958. Details of their settlement and family born in Burleigh county are referred to in the account of Alex Pihlaja's life.

The croweded and difficult living conditions on the sub divided farm plots throughout Finland in the late 1800's prompted Jaako Jacob Kemppainen and his eldest son to come to America in 1889. Their obvious intention was to earn sufficient money to send for the remainder of the family. Before this dream could be fully accomplished Briita Stiina became ill in Finland. Her death on Jan. 3, 1892 at Hitula farm, Auho village, occured before Jacob was able to make arrangements for a return to Finland. The younger children still in Finland, specifically Kate and Stiina Aliina or Aliina as she came to be known, were cared for by their recently older sister Amalia Mulari. By 1893, probably with the financial assistance of Jacob Kemppainen, Henry and Amalia Mulari, together with those minors dependent upon them, left for America.

By 1897, Jacob Kemppainen together with his surviving unmarried children and married daughter and son inlaw and their young children were living in the Finnish settlement at Savo Township in Brown county South Dakota. Undoubtedly their residence in this vicinity was influenced by acquaintances and relatives from Finland who had earlier settled in the Dakotas. Jacob's brother inlaw Paul (Karvonen) Geranen had come to Savo in the early 1880's. He became a prosperous farmer and later established a general store. Another of Jacob's relatives already in Savo township prior to his arrival, was his deceased wife's mother, Anna Liisa Kemppainen Karvonen. After the death of her first husband in 1858 in Finland, she married Antti Andrew Waisanen. They homesteaded in Brown county until advanced age forced them to live with their children. Anna died at Savo township about 1907 or 1908.

By 1903, Jacob Kemppainen, probably with his son inlaw Henry Mulari was residing and wirking on homestead or farm near Fullerton and Silver Leaf in near by Dickey county, ND. As the available farmland in neighboring Brown and Dicky counties became saturated by the.continued influx of Finnish immigrants, the Mulari's together with their children and now dependent and aging father, Jacob Kemppainen, looked for other, less croweded and less expensive farm land. When new homestead property became available in Burleigh county, this family together with other eager neighbors traveled northwest to the available homestead sites.

The original Henry Mulari homestead was near Lyman-Lien township border line. Jacob Kemppainen spent his last years of gis life at the Mulari home in semi paralyzed condition, the probable victim of a stroke. Although no church records or state records are available to confirm his exact date of death, some of his grandchildren recall that the funeral took place in the autumn of 1910 or 1911. According to atleast one verbal account, his unmarked grave was the first (or perhaps one of the first) in the Finnish Ahola Cemetery, near Wing, ND.

This account was written by Timothy Green