the history of the Wickstroms after 1918 in the Viipuri region

EricNicolson

Hilda Maria Tiljander (b. 2 Jan 1872 Porvoo) relocated with her husband Johan Petter Wickstrom (b. 19 June 1869 Stromfors) moving from Helsinki to the Viipuri region in 1907. They divorced; she was institutionalized because of illness. One son, Gunnar Johan (b. 26 February 26, 1894 Stromfors), emigrated to Canada in 1911; daughter Wiera (b. 26 July 1891 Helsinki) to the USA in 1916, leaving behind their parents and brother Lennart (b. 9 September 1895) who married and had two sons. In her oral memoirs, Wiera said of her mother 'Many years later I heard that she had died. She was over 70 years old. My aunt Hilda wrote me and said my father had died about the same age'. The mystery for family in North America is what happened to Johan Petter, Hilda Maria and Lennart? Family lore is that Lennart perished in the war, ending his days in a gulag. Is this true? Did his parents relocate north of Viipuri after the war or did they remain and pass away in what was Finnish Karelia? Did they pass away before the war? It would be interesting to have the locations and dates of their passing. Are there records of this?

Heidi Kuosmanen

With a short study, I could find that Hilda Maria Tiljander and Johan Petter Wickström moved to Sortavalan maalaiskunta at 4 May 1907 from Helsinki and they were divorced at 20 Feb 1908. Hilda lived in Pitkäranta (name of the small town in Impilahti parish).

Sortavalan maaseurakunnan arkisto - Pää- ja rippikirjat IV 1910-1920 (I Aa:33, aukeamat 1 - 550, A - Ö), jakso 477, sivu 484: Ti; Kansallisarkisto: http://digi.narc.fi/digi/view.ka?kuid=2166741

Now I don't have more time, but later on I can look for more information.

Parish records which are available via internet end to year 1920. Records for 1921-1949 are available in National Archive of Finland with permission to study in the archive. Some day near future I might be able to see those records if needed. I have one archive library in the city next to us.

Heidi Kuosmanen

Ok, I looked a little bit more.

Hilda Maria Tiljander and Johan Petter Wickström were married at 30 March 1891 and had three children:

1. Weera Elisabet (Vera Elisabeth written in birth record) b. 24 July 1891 in Helsinki,
2. Gunnar Johan b. 26 Febr 1894 in Helsinki
3. Lennart Waldemar b. 15 Sept 1895 in Strömfors.

After divorce Johan Petter Wickström married the second wife Anna Ropanen b. 12 July 1882 in Soanlahti. They were married at 4 April 1908 in Sortavalan maaseurakunta. They had at least 5 children:

1. Anna Adelia b. 14 March 1908 - d. 8 Aug 1908 in Läskelä, Sortavalan maalaiskunta
2. Anna Adelia b. 4 Oct 1909 in Läskelä, Sortavalan maalaiskunta
3. Signe Helena b. 6 Nov 1910 in Läskelä, Sortavalan maalaiskunta
4. Reino Olavi b. 6 July 1915 in Läskelä, Sortavalan maalaiskunta
5. Sylvi Maria b. 23 April 1920 Lahdenkylä, Sortavalan maalaiskunta

Johan Petter Wickström with Anna Ropanen and their children moved for a year (1918-1919) to Harlu and then back to Sortavalan maalaiskunta.

Veera Elisabet Vickström moved to Helsinki at 2 Nov 1914

Lennart Waldemar married Anna Feodorova Salo at 25 April 1915. Only little information on Anna. Her father was Feodor and she was from a Greek Orthodox parish of Sortavala. They also moved to Harlu at 1918, but they stayed there when Johan Petter with his second wife moved away. They had at least two children:

1. Brynolf Vademar b. 8 June 1914 in Läskelä, Sortavalan maalaiskunta
2. Gunnar Valdemar b. 5 May 1917 Läskelä, Sortavalan maalaiskunta

I managed to find their marriage record, but it is in Russia, you need to ask someone else to translate it.

I also looked the war casualty records for years 1939-1945, but Lennart Waldemar is not listed there.

If you want more information then the Archive records are needed.

Here are public sources for this information in time order:

Communion book: Sortavalan maaseurakunnan arkisto - Pää- ja rippikirjat II 1900-1909 (I Aa:27, aukeamat 1 - 408), jakso 100, sivu 110: Läskelä 1 ; Kansallisarkisto: http://digi.narc.fi/digi/view.ka?kuid=2163782

Childrens book: Sortavalan maaseurakunnan arkisto - Lastenkirjat II 1900-1909 (I Ab:21, aukeamat 1 - 407), jakso 86, sivu 109 ja 110: Läskelä <Walta, Wickström, Hämäläinen, Wihavainen, Sutinen, Wänskä, Ettanen, Eklund, Woutilainen, Eronen, Julkunen\\"; Kansallisarkisto: http://digi.narc.fi/digi/view.ka?kuid=2158134

Communion book: Sortavalan maaseurakunnan arkisto - Pää- ja rippikirjat II 1910-1920 (I Aa:31, aukeamat 1 - 448), jakso 141, sivu 159: Läskelä 1, Läskelän tehdas; Kansallisarkisto: http://digi.narc.fi/digi/view.ka?kuid=2165478

Marriage record: Sortavalan ortodoksisen seurakunnan arkisto - Vihkimäkirjat 1914-1919 (I Jea:5), jakso 36: 12.4.1915 Lennard Vladimir Joannov Vikström ja Anna Feodorova Salo; Kansallisarkisto: http://digi.narc.fi/digi/view.ka?kuid=3830146

Communion book: Harlun seurakunnan arkisto - Pää- ja rippikirjat 1918-1920 (I Aa:1, kylät Harlu - Vehkalahti, tilattomat A - Ö, romaanit), jakso 277, sivu 308: Westman, Vetterstrand, Wetterstrand, Wickström; Kansallisarkisto: http://digi.narc.fi/digi/view.ka?kuid=3251218

Communion book: Sortavalan maaseurakunnan arkisto - Pää- ja rippikirjat IV 1910-1920 (I Aa:33, aukeamat 1 - 550, A - Ö), jakso 523; Kansallisarkisto: http://digi.narc.fi/digi/view.ka?kuid=2167053

Childrens book: Sortavalan maaseurakunnan arkisto - Lastenkirjat IV 1910-1919 (I Ab:27, sivut 1 - 524, A - Ö), jakso 363; Kansallisarkisto: http://digi.narc.fi/digi/view.ka?kuid=2160143