Hilma Johanna Benjaminsdotter Kiviniemi, aka Hilma Johanna Stone

This is my 2nd attempt at this blog.  I had a full blog written last night but went to publish it and it wouldn't.  I rebooted my laptop, figuring my browser would reload as it always does and it did, with just the title of the post.  Needless to say I'm more than irked by that.

Anyway, I've already blogged twice about Hilma, once about some new information that was found about a sibling we didn't know about and once about her sewing machine.  It's time for a post dedicated to just her information.

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Hilma Johanna Benjaminsdotter Kiviniemi was born at Gamlakarleby Finland 21 Jun 1879 to Benjamin Henriksson Kiviniemi and Lisa Greta Johansdotter Känsäkangas.  She had a sister Anna Elisabeth born right around when her dad apparently left the family and vanished, allegedly to America.  Her mother went on to have a daughter Selma born out of wedlock and then a son (that's for another blog).  I have found no correspondence for Hilma with either parent, but all indications are that her mother stayed in Finland.

I haven't been able to find a ship log for Hilma or her sister Anna coming to America but the same gentleman that found Emil's ship log for me did find this record of her passport being issued 19 Aug 1897 so I assume she left for America shortly after that.  Given that she's listed in a communion record with Emil's family and came before her sister I assume that she came here to reunite with him.

This document was folded inside one of the bibles that my grandpa's cousin Shelly gave me.  I posted a picture of it on a Finnish genealogy Facebook group and this is the translation that was provided:

The text is in Swedish (used as official language before in Finland). It says:  Lodger Hilma Johanna Benjaminsdotter Kiviniemi (Finn. Hilma Johanna Benjaminintytär Kiviniemi), from the Storby (Finn. Isokylä) village of this parish, born 21.06.1879 here, is eligible for Holy Communion in this Evangelical-Lutheran parish, is vaccinated and is enjoying trust as a citizen. In Gamlakarleby (Finn. Kokkola), August 18, 1897. F.W. Neunstedt, Pastor.

Given that this is dated one day prior to her passport being issued, I'm guessing she needed this to get the passport.

This photo came from Hilma's grandson David Johnson (1930-2018), who was the adopted son of her daughter Ellen.  He lived a few streets over from my grandpa and would occasionally walk over and say hi.  My grandpa brought me over to his house once and he showed me a gallon sized Ziploc bag of photos that had one belonged to Ellen.  He let me bring them home to scan them and when I returned them I asked if I could keep this one to put in my acid free photo album to protect it (and he agreed).  I think he'd have given me the whole bag if I had asked - he was a great guy.

Emil and Hilma married 5 Dec 1899 at Ashland Wisconsin and although I have a plethora of photos of them, I don't have a wedding photo.  This one could be her in her wedding dress, although having seen the photo of her sister's wedding I tend to believe she'd have been in a more elaborate outfit with a decorative headpiece.  I'll never know but it's still a great picture of Hilma as a young woman.


So why do I have an aka for Hilma?  She is a Kiviniemi in every single Finnish record found, even those written in Swedish.  My grandpa wrote a family tree and listed her as "Sten", which is Swedish for stone.  So how did they get Stone from Kiviniemi?  "Kivi" in Finnish means......you guessed it, stone.  So it makes sense that Hilma adopted the Americanized version when she came to America.  If her dad came to America I believe he probably lived as Benjamin Stone and perhaps started a 2nd family, just as Hilma's mother did.  He is a ghost who may be destined to never be found.

Hilma holding a ghost-faced child	With daughter Ellen and possibly Ruth
Mildred Jennie Phyllis, Porkos wife, Evelyn Ellen Hilma (seated) Burke	Hilma on the left.  The other 2 woman are in quite a few photos but I have no idea who they are.  If you do, please contact me!
With sister Anna 18 Aug 1946	Is this the royal blue velvet couch Shelly referred to?
1952 - from my grandpa's photos	Photo says Jan 1969 - perhaps taken Christmas 1968.  This is the last known photo of Hilma.

I still don't have Emil or Hilma's death certificates, but will be getting them next time I make a trip to Muskegon.  From her record of funeral she passed away at the age of  91, 21 Sept 1970 in Muskegon of "gangrene of left foot".  She was laid to rest next to Emil and their son Arthur at Oakwood Cemetery in Muskegon.







 I find it strange that my grandpa had her funeral card but not Emil's, as it's definitely something my grandpa would have kept.  I know he went to Emil's funeral as his signature is in the funeral register.

Muskegon Chronicle 22 Sept 1970

I have several more blogs to write that are Hilma-related (so stay tuned).  I have more photos, documents and memorabilia for her than any other 2nd great-grandparent.  She only died a little under 7 years prior to my birth so was easily my last 2nd great-grandparent to pass.  That said, I wish I had asked my grandpa more.  He was obviously close with them, and even lived in Muskegon for a bit as a child.  I've gotten wonderful help from his cousins and have a pretty decent picture of their life but I just wish I knew more.  My dad remembers them both (he says Emil was so old he scared him) and that Hilma was always baking.  In the color video she pushes her hair back and he told me he remembers she did that all the time.  My grandma remembers that Emil had some sort of character that was a guy's head and he "smoked" a pipe (it blew bubbles) but Hilma hated that it depicted smoking and hid in the attic, in spite of Emil thinking it was hilarious.  Stories like that can really complete the picture and I feel like I had ample opportunity to ask my grandpa more and just failed to do so.