My Great-Grandparents - the Wahtolas

Andrew Wahtola married Johanna Kustava Jakola in 1899 in his hometown of Sievi, Finland. They had 11 children in 20 years. He died on January 5, 1945, in West Barnstable, Massachusetts, at the age of 69, and was buried in Centerville, Massachusetts.
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Andrew Wahtola

When Johanna Kustava Jakola was born on November 21, 1876, in Sievi, Oulun Laani, Finland, her father, Mikko, was 26, and her mother, Maria, was 23. She died on November 30, 1955, in Bourne, Massachusetts, at the age of 79, and was buried in Centerville, Massachusetts.

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Johanna Kustava Jakola 

4 Generations
I believe that is Johanna in the middle. Aunt Martha is on the right and I believe the baby is Mary Anne. Johanna died a few months after Mary Anne was born so the time is right. Unfortunately I'm speculating about everyone but my great grandmother and Aunt Martha, her daughter

Aunt Martha had a restaurant on her property in Centerville. She would arise every morning, except Sunday, to make pies for her restaurant. It made enough money during tourist season every summer to support herself for the year. Her baking was phenomenal!

After my father's parents split up he spent many summers (years) living with the Wahtolas on Cape Cod. He remembered his grandfather as a stern man who believed in the Bible's "spare the rod, spoil the child" philosophy. I don't know how much time he spent there, but the impression was that it was quite considerable as he seemed to know Cape Cod as well as he knew Fitchburg. In New England  streets generally are not straight so only someone familiar with where they are going can easily get around. My father never had difficulty finding anything on Cape Cod and I don't remember him ever using a map either.

My grandmother's maiden name was Wahtola and she was their 3rd child. Aunt Martha was the eldest. My grandmother was an independent woman who was quite successful monetarily. She lived in an upscale home in Fitchburg and held management positions in several department stores. She was frugal, but not too much; that is how she ended up prosperous - she was good with money. Just before she contracted cancer she could do things that Joe and I, as 8 or 9 year-old boys, couldn't do - walk like a duck in a full squat across her kitchen floor.
Miriam Aino Kustave Wahtola
This is how I remember Grandma Rauma

At the end of her life, when I was maybe 7 or 8 she managed an S&H Green Stamps store. She would save up Green Stamps and then we would go down, after the store was closed and pick out something which she would pay for with the books of Green Stamps she had accumulated.

REMEMBER LICKING S&H GREEN STAMPS IN THE 1960รข€™S BEST ...

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