NIPIGON HISTORICAL MUSEUM JANUARY
30/06
MRS. INGET
Resident of Red Rock/Highway 17
Husband: Oliver Inget
Children: Wayne, Shirley, Diana, Billy
Husband’s Parents: Magnus and Hanna Inget
My husband’s parents immigrated from Finland. Magnus came to the States first and then they
homesteaded here in Red Rock in 1921. He
sent for Hanna in Finland and then they were married in Thunder Bay. They homesteaded here and they’ve had the
farm here ever since. On their honeymoon
Magnus cut wood for Mr. Arolla’s Saw Mill in Hurkett and Hanna cooked
there. They also worked for Oivo Paju’s
dad who had a logging business too.
Magnus passed away in 1954 and Hanna died in 1962. Hanna worked as a maid for Magnus’ family in
Finland. When he homesteaded here he
sent for her and they were married.
Magnus and Hanna started a farm here at the homestead and they sold milk
to Mr. Ruoho in Nipigon. We bought the
farm from Hanna when Magnus died and we took over and sold to Ruoho’s and then
Palm Dairies who bought Ruoho’s out. We
would send the milk to Thunder Bay, we would drive it to Dorion and then a
truck would pick it up from Dorion, We increased the cows and started to sell
more milk eventually.
We quit farming in 1963 completely in 1963. I came to the homestead in 1946 and have been
here ever since. We sold our older home
to our son Billy and in 1986 we moved in to our house that we built here on the
property.
There was a lumber company in behind our property called
Newago Lumber, they used to cut pulpwood there and they shipped it through the
creek, they did a water drive there. In
1940 there was a fire behind our homestead and so the Newago Co. Was picking up all the burnt wood. My husband worked for them as a cook, camp 11
was the name of it. He was a kid when he
started in the bush camps. He was 14
when he quit school to go to work. He
worked for the bush camps until he joined the Air Force in World War II. We got married in 1946 and he was discharged
in March and he was in the war for four years and was discharged in march
1950. He was 18 when he joined because
at that time they were supposed to get called in but he didn’t want to get
called into the army so he decided to join the Air Force to avoid the
Army. Alec Fraser was with my husband in
the war and there was someone with them who had written a book on what happened
to them there.
I am Ukranian and I learned a little bit of Finn from Mrs.
Inget and she couldn’t speak a word of English.
So we taught each other what we could and we got by pretty good. When I listen to someone speaking Finn, I can
pick out a little bit here and there but I don’t understand it the way I used
to. Most of the people that Oliver and I
knew are gone now and there aren’t too many Finnish people around anymore. They used to have May Day parade in Nipigon
before, it was a celebration for peace and the Finnish people would gather for
it and they had it in Finnland too. I
think they still celebrate it in Thunder Bay.
