EMIL  JOHN LEHTIMAKI was born in Lempäälä Finland in 1883 (Johan Emil Juhonpoika Lehtimäki b.  24.9.1883 Lempäälä, was son of railroad guard and went to USA with passport dated 1902, used later name Maki and Hill – information added by Solja. ¹)

His son Arnold tells about his childhood family:

My dad ran the farm for almost 30 years. He then took the job of managing the local farmers cooperative in Astoria, Oregon. By then Hugo and I were old enough to do most of the farm work. My dad died of natural causes in 1956 at the age of 74.

HILDA MARIA HILL, Hilda Tormanen (in the picture) was born in Kuusamo, Finland 17.12.1879. After she married my dad she worked very hard. All the clothes had to be scrubbed by hand. All the baking had to be done on a wood stove. We all pitched in to help. My mother passed away from a massive heart attack on March 14, 1938.

WILLIAM “Bill” HILL was born in 1907 and passed away in 1928 from TB. He graduated from Knappa Svensen High School. He played football and basketball while in school. After Bill graduated he went to work as a whistle punk at the logging company. Bill and my dad went together and purchased our first car, it was a Model T Ford. It had two seats and side curtains.

AINO HILL was born in 1909. She attended Knappa Svensen High School for two years. I do not remember Aino very well as I was only 6 years old when Aino passed away in 1925 of TB.

LAURA HILL SCHOESSLER was born in 1910 at our home in Hillcrest as were all the rest of us kids. Mina Make, our next-door neighbor was the mid wife that delivered all of us kids. Laura worked for a short time at Warrenton, Oregon. From there she moved to Portland, OR. There she met Dan Schoessler, they were married for over fifty years. Dan passed away in 1990. Laura passed away in 1994, she died from a brain tumor. They have three children, Bobby, Kathy and Stacey. A family to be proud of, I am proud of all of them.

AMELIA HILL WILLIAMS graduated from Knappa Svensen. She went to Portland and worked as a waitress for several years. She met and married Fred Starcher. They had one child, a daughter, Judy. Fred went to work for Page and Page driving log truck. He got me a job in the tire shop. I had twenty-two trucks to grease and change and repair tires on. I also ran the winch truck picking up logs that had been spilled along the road, that fall of 1938. I started to haul logs. I had a lot to learn. Amelia passed away in 1992, from a heart attack.

BERTHA HILL MOWE graduated from grade school and went to work in Warrenton. She met and married Melvin Mowe. They raised three daughters, all three are a credit to their parents. Mel and Bertha were good to Ethelin and I. Bertha passed away in 1954 from pneumonia.

WAINO HILL was born in 1915, after graduating from grade school, Waino worked at many different jobs. He had a natural knack for fixing things. He learned to run a lathe. Waino became a very good mechanic. He had no trouble finding work. Waino married Evelyn Kukka in 1943. They had no children, but they were happily married for many years. Waino passed away in 1981 from a heart attack.

HUGO HILL was born in 1917. Hugo went to Knappa Svensen where he starred at football and baseball. He was also the captain of the debate team. He graduated from high school with honors. He drove logging trucks for many years. He was truck boss for several years at Vernonia, Oregon. Hugo died of cancer in 1985.

ARNOLD S. HILL – I was born July 26, 1919. I am the last of the Emil Hill family alive. I don’t know when my dad had his name legally changed from Lehtimaki to Hill. He had it done before I was born. He changed his name because there were so many Maki’s in the area. Mail was constantly being fouled up.

P.S. Hilda Maria Törmänen lived as a foster child with his brother Johan Fredrik Törmänen on Pesola no 58 farm. Later Johan lived with his own family on Pikkarainen no 72 farm.

P.S. 2 Thank you very much Gaye McCabe for this article!