Sippala, Hanna

Sippala, Hanna

• 1981-08-28 (Creation)

3 file folders
1 photograph
1 sound cassette

This interview was conducted with Hanna Sippala on August 28, 1981 in Astoria, Oregon. It provides information on family background, emigration, employment, marriage and family, and Finnish heritage. The interview also includes a photograph of Hanna's homeplace in Finland. The interview was conducted in English.

Folder Contents

Box 4, File 7 Personal and Family History
Tape Archive Sheet, Family Background, and Tape Index

Box 4, File 7A Correspondence and Forms
Release Form
Handwritten Tape Archive Sheet and Family Background

Box 4, File 7B Photographs
One photograph

Interviewed by Donna Mallonee
Transcribed by Mary Sue Gee, Julie Peterson and Becky Husby
Encoded by Kerstin Ringdahl & Amity Smetzler
Recording Quality: Good

Biographical Note

Hanna Sippala was born on December 15, 1897 in Kello, Finland, which is located in northern Finland, near Oulu. Her parents were Juho Jaakko Hekkala and Kristina Teppo Hekkala, and Hanna had a half-brother and half-sister from her father's first marriage as well as a brother and sister from her parents' marriage.

When Hanna finished school, she got 'America fever' and convinced her parents to let her go. Hanna traveled to New York and found a housekeeping job with a minister's family. She was paid $10 a month at first but then got a $2 raise every month, as her English improved. Hanna's sister came to America thirteen months after Hanna, and Hanna found another housekeeping job, giving her previous job to her sister.

In 1919, Hanna and her sister moved to Astoria, Oregon, where Hanna's sister's boyfriend lived. In Astoria, Hanna found more housekeeping jobs and met her husband, who was also from Finland. Hanna's husband was a logger but began working as a longshoreman when their daughter, Violet, was born in 1922.

From 1929-1931, Hanna and her husband managed boardinghouses, and Hanna also worked in the canneries for twenty years, starting in 1939. Hanna belongs to the Finnish Brotherhood and has made one trip back to Finland. She remains in contact with her relatives there but would never want to move back to Finland herself.

Lineage

Full Name: Hanna Kristiina Sippala
Maiden Name: Hanna Kristiina Hekkala
Father: Juho Jaakko Hekkala
Mother: Kristiina Teppo Hekkala
Paternal Grandfather: Janne Hekkala
Paternal Grandmother: Hilma Maria Hekkala
Maternal Grandfather: Jaakko Heikki Hekkala
Maternal Grandmother: Helmi Helena Kari
Brothers and Sisters: Helme Hekkala, Heikki Hekkala, half-brother and sister: Jan Hekkala, Hilma Hekkala.
Spouse: (?) Sippala
Children: Violet Paulson.