Ruusi Family

Annti Heikki Ruosteniemi was born on October 22, 1871 in Teuva, Finland. Like most families in South Ostrobothnia, the Roustemniemis worked as farmers and laborers in the fields and woods of Western Finland. The work was hard and opportunities for growth were few. Even more troubling was that the Russian army (which controlled Finland) was conscripting young Finnish men into the army. After being told by a tax collector that he was going to be conscripted, Antti asked his father to let him go to America in place of his brother, Matti. Antti was only 17 years old when he left Teuva on foot for Vaasa to sail for America.

Like so many other Finns, he ended up in the Upper Peninsula and the town of Ishpeming to work in the mines. However, his greatest skill was as a woodsman and carpenter. From Finland he brought his “bearded” axe (on display in the case), and would eventually find work as a carpenter working on buildings across Marquette County (including Louis Kaufman’s “cottage” on Lake Superior, Granot Loma). However, it was in the mines where he found the most consistent work. In 1896, his brother Matti arrived in Ishpeming and would later purchase land for a farm in Rock. Antti met a beautiful young girl from Kurrika, Finland, named Anna Allina Viitala. She came to Ishpeming in 1897, where her brother Jacob already lived. They were married on April 27, 1900 and would have three children, Lempi Marie, Lilla and Henry Rudolph.

After Henry was born in 1907, Annti and the family suffered a terrible blow. While working in the Morow Mine in Ishpeming, Antti was severely injured in a mine cave-in. When he was brought to the surface, the coroner believed him to be dead. He was going to be sent to an undertaker due to his crushed skull but they soon found a pulse. He was instead sent to the hospital and eventually recovered. Ultimately, he would go back to work at the Barnum Mine firing boilers and farming in his spare time. During his recuperation and afterwards, Allina work in a boarding house to support the family. The goal was to make a better life for their children and both Lempi and Henry would go on to get degrees at Northern State Teachers College.

Henry would eventually build a service station in Barnum Location in Ishpeming. He became a successful businessman and respected individual in Ishpeming. He served on the Bethel Lutheran Church council, served on the Ishpeming City Council from 1943- 1946 and was the mayor in 1946. He also served on several community boards, was president of the Kiwanis Club and was a Scottish Rite Mason. He and his wife, Alma, would raise two sons, John and Richard. John donated the family items to the Beaumier Center to be used in this exhibition and saved for future generations.