Samuel Erland Wehmas was from the Tampere area in Western Finland, born to Vilhelmiina Vehmaa and Samuel Wehmaa. His father Samuel was the son of shoemaker Gustaf Hartman and Beata Caisa Gustavi from the village pf Kaltsila in Vesilahti. Samuel Erland had two older brothers and then three younger brothers and two younger sisters. He named his brother Nestor Wehmas Karhuas as his nearest relative in Finland when he came to the US. He married Anna Siiri Turunen from the town of Lieksa, Pielisjärvi, in eastern Finland around 1901. They moved to Viiala, which today is Akaa, in that region.
In 1911 they immigrated to the US in separate trips. Samuel came first, listed as Erland Wehmaa (a younger brother's name). He arrived in New York and then went to the Fitchburg/Gardner, Mass. area where many other Finns lived and he became known as Samuel. Anna soon followed, leaving their son Weikko behind, landing at Boston. The next year, when he was ten years old, they sponsored Anna Siiri's 17 year old half sister Maria to escort their son to the States.
Sam worked up from a laborer who could not speak English to a baker, eventually running his own bakery in another Finnish community in Quincy in the 1920s. Anna and Weikko helped with the business. Anna produced another son, Victor, and a daughter, Miriam. By 1930 they had moved to New York City and were running another bakery there. After a hiatus from work, Sam and Anna opened another bakery and deli. Presumably Sam continued in the business after Anna died. Finns would call his ambition sisu.
Sam and Anna lost two infants and had two earlier sons who predeceased them and a daughter. Their grandson Richard Sam Wehmas by Weikko survived them but their grandson out of Miriam predeceased them. Sam lived to see two great-grandsons born and two more were born later.
Sam was widowed for ten years before resting with his sons and wife in the town which fostered his career as a baker, Gardner, Massachusetts.
In 1911 they immigrated to the US in separate trips. Samuel came first, listed as Erland Wehmaa (a younger brother's name). He arrived in New York and then went to the Fitchburg/Gardner, Mass. area where many other Finns lived and he became known as Samuel. Anna soon followed, leaving their son Weikko behind, landing at Boston. The next year, when he was ten years old, they sponsored Anna Siiri's 17 year old half sister Maria to escort their son to the States.
Sam worked up from a laborer who could not speak English to a baker, eventually running his own bakery in another Finnish community in Quincy in the 1920s. Anna and Weikko helped with the business. Anna produced another son, Victor, and a daughter, Miriam. By 1930 they had moved to New York City and were running another bakery there. After a hiatus from work, Sam and Anna opened another bakery and deli. Presumably Sam continued in the business after Anna died. Finns would call his ambition sisu.
Sam and Anna lost two infants and had two earlier sons who predeceased them and a daughter. Their grandson Richard Sam Wehmas by Weikko survived them but their grandson out of Miriam predeceased them. Sam lived to see two great-grandsons born and two more were born later.
Sam was widowed for ten years before resting with his sons and wife in the town which fostered his career as a baker, Gardner, Massachusetts.
Samuel Erland Wehmas was from the Tampere area in Western Finland, born to Vilhelmiina Vehmaa and Samuel Wehmaa. His father Samuel was the son of shoemaker Gustaf Hartman and Beata Caisa Gustavi from the village pf Kaltsila in Vesilahti. Samuel Erland had two older brothers and then three younger brothers and two younger sisters. He named his brother Nestor Wehmas Karhuas as his nearest relative in Finland when he came to the US. He married Anna Siiri Turunen from the town of Lieksa, Pielisjärvi, in eastern Finland around 1901. They moved to Viiala, which today is Akaa, in that region.
In 1911 they immigrated to the US in separate trips. Samuel came first, listed as Erland Wehmaa (a younger brother's name). He arrived in New York and then went to the Fitchburg/Gardner, Mass. area where many other Finns lived and he became known as Samuel. Anna soon followed, leaving their son Weikko behind, landing at Boston. The next year, when he was ten years old, they sponsored Anna Siiri's 17 year old half sister Maria to escort their son to the States.
Sam worked up from a laborer who could not speak English to a baker, eventually running his own bakery in another Finnish community in Quincy in the 1920s. Anna and Weikko helped with the business. Anna produced another son, Victor, and a daughter, Miriam. By 1930 they had moved to New York City and were running another bakery there. After a hiatus from work, Sam and Anna opened another bakery and deli. Presumably Sam continued in the business after Anna died. Finns would call his ambition sisu.
Sam and Anna lost two infants and had two earlier sons who predeceased them and a daughter. Their grandson Richard Sam Wehmas by Weikko survived them but their grandson out of Miriam predeceased them. Sam lived to see two great-grandsons born and two more were born later.
Sam was widowed for ten years before resting with his sons and wife in the town which fostered his career as a baker, Gardner, Massachusetts.
In 1911 they immigrated to the US in separate trips. Samuel came first, listed as Erland Wehmaa (a younger brother's name). He arrived in New York and then went to the Fitchburg/Gardner, Mass. area where many other Finns lived and he became known as Samuel. Anna soon followed, leaving their son Weikko behind, landing at Boston. The next year, when he was ten years old, they sponsored Anna Siiri's 17 year old half sister Maria to escort their son to the States.
Sam worked up from a laborer who could not speak English to a baker, eventually running his own bakery in another Finnish community in Quincy in the 1920s. Anna and Weikko helped with the business. Anna produced another son, Victor, and a daughter, Miriam. By 1930 they had moved to New York City and were running another bakery there. After a hiatus from work, Sam and Anna opened another bakery and deli. Presumably Sam continued in the business after Anna died. Finns would call his ambition sisu.
Sam and Anna lost two infants and had two earlier sons who predeceased them and a daughter. Their grandson Richard Sam Wehmas by Weikko survived them but their grandson out of Miriam predeceased them. Sam lived to see two great-grandsons born and two more were born later.
Sam was widowed for ten years before resting with his sons and wife in the town which fostered his career as a baker, Gardner, Massachusetts.
Inscription
WEHMAS
1883 Samuel
His Wife
1881 Anna S. 1946
1913 Victor A. 1941
1903 Weikko 1944
Gravesite Details
Marker photos in his wife's Memorial by Marc Brouillette
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
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