Book Description

Maggie Walz was a Finnish-American lady of many hats. Not only was she a newspaper publisher, teacher, ticket agent, sponsor of many of her countrymen and women, temperance leader, and suffragette, but also a United States land agent.Drummond Island lies the furthest east you can go in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In May 1905, land was available there for homesteading. The dream of many Finns was to own their own land. They no longer wanted to have to work in the depths of the mines with all of its dangers. A number of Finns traveled with Maggie from the Copper Country to Marquette. There she and six others filed homestead patent papers. They all then continued on to Scammon Cove on the Island. They were going to start their "utopian" community. This is the story of those first Finnish homesteaders and the others who followed. The author, Beth Maki, is the granddaughter of one of those first homesteaders, Jacob and Liisa Heikkinen. Six children were born to the Heikkinens while living on Drummond. Among them was Beth's Mother, Allie.Many Finns with Drummond Island connections shared their pictures and stories with Beth. This book, with 259 pictures, 3 fold-out maps, and many family's stories, is a compilation of information received, and data that the author has been able to glean from census records, land patent applications, and other sources.There is still more to the story. It is the hope that this book will continue the conversation about those Finns who are only represented by a name.