Esther Maria Riihimaa - her parents

Hi Gina,
Esther Riihimaa the daughter of Kusstaa Oskar (Oscar in Michigan, USA) and Elisabeth Vitala/Wittrala is my grandmother. I can vouch for her parents' names. I have documents for sources if you would like.
Best Regards from Maine,
Gayle

Thank you Gayle and Alex for your responses. Esther was the wife of my fourth cousin.

Your grandmother was such a beautiful and stately looking woman Gayle. I noticed this smart match as we moved to Windsor Ontario across from Detroit at the year that she died 1968. It was the year of the Black riots.

Hi Gina,

Nice to hear from you. My Grandmother Esther was married twice. First to Victor Edward Morris and second to Harold Graham. Which one was your 4th cousin? I never knew Victor. He and Esther divorced when my dad was a child. I do have pictures though. Harold was a gentle soul especially in his older years. He moved in with my parents after Esther died.

Hi Gayle

My fourth cousin was Victor Edward. My tree shows they had a son Gilbert Elinor.

The tree also shows Victor Edward Morris dying at age 49. I hope he wasn't unkind to your grandmother but am glad that she found someone kind.

Morris was Victor Edward's mother's name according to my tree and his dad's name was Burt, a name from a family in Old Perlican Newfoundland with very close ties to my family. Perhaps there was a difficult start to his life.

Gina

Hi Gina,

My Grandmother Esther could be a difficult woman. She always treated me well, but I've been told she was a bit on the wild side when she was younger, and she was judgmental which led to problems between Esther and my mother.

I know a few things about Victor:
- My grandmother told me they met at a logging camp in Michigan where she was working in the kitchen, and he was on the logging crew.
- Victor came to my dad's school yard and asked him to go with him when he left Detroit. Esther told my dad she would buy him a bike if he stayed with her.
- My dad lived with a feeling he had been bribed and a certain amount of regret with the decision he made as a 7- or 8-year-old. My Dad looked for Victor periodically over the rest of his life and died without knowing Victor had moved to Chicago, started to use his middle name, and remarried and then died in an auto accident in Kankakee, Illinois in 1949. I learned all that with my own research.

Victor's mother Sarah L Garland was married to Jacob Samuel Morris, a widower who was 23 years older than she. Sarah became pregnant with Victor while she was still married to Jacob and so Victor's delayed birth record shows his father was Jacob. The evidence that Alan Burt is Victor's father is based on very strong DNA evidence and a family reputation for liking women.

Apologies if this is more information than you were looking for.
Best Regards from Maine,
Gayle

Gayle

So lovely of you to send this background!

I began Geni laid up with an orthopedic issue and a haunting feeling about my dad's sense of connection with the family from Old Perlican. This small village was first populated by non-indigenous people in the 1500's by what are called Plantars. These were fisherman from England given money to start the fishing industry in Newfoundland. My grandfather grew up there leaving I am guessing in the years after he was seriously injured in the WWI.

I am not good with geneology or with Geni. The part that I love is the stories. Thank you for sharing yours.

Hi Gina,

I agree the stories make the research more rewarding and they are sometimes hard to come by. I've been in touch with quite a few of my Burt DNA cousins, who are all very nice. For some reason, perhaps the number of years I believed my great grandfather was a Morris and all the research I did on that line, I've not felt ownership of the Burt line. So, I've not collected stories about them. But strangely Old Perlican has always been of interest to me.

Hope your recovered from your Orthopedic injury.

Thanks for contacting me.
Warm Regards,
Gayle

Hi Gayle
Maybe you are lucky to have two families, Morris and Burt.
My son and I plan one day to visit Old Perlican. We drove there when he was 7 with my Dad but did not get a chance to look around. If we do, I will remember you and send you the best of our finds and stories. It has been very nice to chat with you, my first contact with a Burt relative.
Gina