Otto Wilhelm (Ottosson) Laaksonen

(1870-1953)

Otto Wilhelm (Ottosson) Laaksonen

• Born: 8 Sep 1870, Kärkölä
• Married: 2 Dec 1894, Helsinki Finland
• Died: 29 Jan 1953
• Buried: Kaleva, MI

   Other names for Otto were O. Wilho Laakosnen, Wilhelm Laaksonen and Otto Wilhelm Ottosson.

   Events:                                                               

1. Otto and his siblings were all born in the 1870s in Kärkölä, Finland.

2. Otto came to Chicago via Ellis Island (see Ellis Island Records on Otto, a lot of interesting stuff and even a picture and history of  the ship Trave that he sailed on - start by pressing on the ship link on the left, works even though the .htlm is incomplete) to work in 1893. On passport records from the 1890s with his name, the occupation listed was seaman. On the passport we still have, he was listed as a worker (see Laaksonen Family Photoalbum). He then married and started a family in Helsinki. Otto and the rest of the Laaksonen family moved to Kotka from Helsinki on 18 Jun 1900.

3. Apparently lured by the prospects of cheap land and a prosperous farm life, the Laaksonens immigrated to the US in 1900. After shelling out 21 USD, Ida, with their four small kids on the same Cunard Line ticket, left for Chicago via England on the Polaris on 14 Dec 1901. They arrived to Ellis Island (first stop for all immigrants until 1924) on 7 Jan 1902 (see Ellis Island Records on Ida, even has the ship manifest). Otto had left some time earlier.

The family settled down in Kaleva in 1903 (see Kaleva’s own web site Kaleva Web Site and our History of Kaleva and the Laaksonen Family Farm), a Finnish American community in northern Michigan founded in 1900 by Jaakko Saari. Rumor has it that the immigrants were swindled by the Finns selling the farmland. This may not be completely true, but the land was far from fertile, and in 1903 was nothing more than stumps and sand. Farming must have been at least somewhat profitable, because Otto continued it until the 20’s or 30’s. The current Kaleva property consists about 100 acres. The house sits on a 20 acre lot contiguous with another 20 acres on the back side of the creak. The other 60 acres on nearby lots that are not directly contiguous with the main lot.

The Kaleva homestead has not always been the country side manor with all the modern amenities that it is today. The main farmhouse was built after the first house burned down in 1903, killing third-born child Milda. After active farming ended, the barn became run down. Yrjö tore down the barn and converted the granary into living quarters, a second house. He also built the sauna. The shanty (former granary) and shed fell into disrepair in the mid 1980's, when Hilja and Yrjö quit spending summers in Kaleva. The main house also fell into disrepair, and the whole place became a target for vandalism. Alan and David made some minor repairs in 1992-1993 in an effort to save the main house and sauna from water damage, but it was not until the late 1990s that Alan, Marvin and Donald decided that renovation of the farm would be worthwhile. Marvin has been in charge of the project, the most important phases of which have been completed. The project has been funded by sales of pine (once thought to be worthless and the source of cynical jokes, but later found to be quite profitable). 

4. Otto paid his taxes; 1909, Kaleva, MI. Otto was a law-abiding American at least most of the time. He also paid his property taxes at least most of the time, 23.50 USD in 1909. His son Yrjö paid the delinquent taxes from 1939 and 1940.

5. Laaksonen family; 1908-1917, Kaleva, MI. It would be preferable to make a hero out of Otto because of his central role in the Laaksonen Family Heritage, not the least of which was his adopting that name. His grandkids (Donald, Helen and Marvin), remember him as being mean and stern, and as never paying much attention to them. Marvin Horner, Edith's only child, was raised by Otto and Ida, and didn't have much nicer memories.

Yrjö never spoke much of his father. For some reason, Yrjö was the black sheep of the family, even though he was one of only three of the six children who were able to live stable lives .

On the other hand, Otto was hard working, and never known to be guilty of murder, rape or any other major felony (is bootlegging a major felony?), and Otto also did not have a serious alcohol problem.

Otto became a US citizen on 19 April 1915. How he passed the test, nobody knows, because Otto knew practically no English.

6. Otto and Ida moved from Kaleva to Smokey Lake (in the Upper Peninsula on the border of Wisconsin and Michigan) before the Depression, leaving Kaleva to Yrjö. Beside renting out cabins, they must have had some cows and chickens. In addition, they ran a two-pump gas station, which also served as a cover for a small bootlegger operation.  They lived at Smokey Lake until about 1950, when they were forced to leave because both had become too senile.

7. Otto had a lot of different names. Otto was most frequently called Otto, but at least in some records he is referred to as Wilho or Wilhelm. Why that is so, we don't know. He was christened as Otto Wilhelm Ottosson. At that time the patronym system was in use (as it still is in Iceland), and Otto's father was named Otto Adolfsson. 

   Marriage Information:

Otto married Ida Elina (Riihinen) Laaksonen, daughter of Matti Riihinen, on 2 Dec 1894 in Helsinki Finland. (Ida Elina (Riihinen) Laaksonen was born on 23 Sep 1870 in Petäjävesi, Finland (near Jyväskylä), died on 7 Jan 1954 and was buried in Kaleva, MI.)