Altonen, Karhu, Kuivinen Family reunion 1919 At the dawn of the twentieth century many of my ancestors from Finland immigrated to the United States. They settled in Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio on the shores of Lake Erie. In the above photo seated are my Karhu great-grand parents surrounded by their offspring. Directly behind my great-grandfather(in the black Jacket – seated) is my Dad, Kaarlo.
Over the past decade a number of stories about my father’s adult life as a Professional Mining Engineer were presented on this blog. However, from his neatly organized photograph album we get a glimpse of his youth.
Kaarlo Victor Lindell was the oldest son of Johan Hjalmar Lindell, a blacksmith and Ida Susanna Karhu. He was born November 14th, 1905. The family lived on Bridge Street above grandfather’s shop. Dad was second of eight children, four girls and four boys
This is one of the earliest photos of Kaarlo pictured here with his four sisters. He was about 9 years old at the time. His brothers were born years later.
Dad would have been about 11 in this photo with his sister Leona.
Kaarlo attended Elementary School in Ashtabula Harbor.
The description says it all!
Grade 5 Class Picture and the signatures of Kaarlo’s classmates
Ashtabula Harbor High School
The Mariner – The yearbook for Ashtabula Harbor High School 1923.
Dad was on the Advertising Committee and was also involved in many of the school activities as can be seen in the following photographs.
As a youngster during his teenage years Kaarlo had “many irons in the fire”. He built a crystal radio to the delight of his family. To earn money for college he read meters and ran the movie projector in the local theatre. During the summer months he sailed the Great Lakes as an assistant cook on ore boats.
From his humble beginnings as the son of a blacksmith throughout his life he became a driving force in the mining industry and travelled the world.
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Part Two: will focus on his years as a student at Michigan College of Mines in Houghton, Michigan where he studied Mining Engineering.
The following stories about Dad’s career appeared in our Genealogyensemble.com blog over the past decade:
https://genealogyensemble.com/2024/05/15/honesty-pays-off/ https://genealogyensemble.com/2024/07/10/honesty-pays-off-part-2/https://genealogyensemble.com/?s=Life+Changing+Events 2023
Genealogy Ensemble 