My own knowledge of my grandfather separates into two segments, [1] personal and [2] hearsay or word of mouth. I was six years of age when he died, so segment [1] is very limited and sketchy, nonetheless it is committed to writing and appears as under.
[1To me he emerges as a very old, quiet and gentle man wearing a `King Edward' type beard, always in a suit with waist coat and wearing a felt hat.
I often saw him sitting in the sun smoking his `peeper' [pipe]. I rarely heard him speak, although when he sometimes did speak to me I remember that I had to ask my mother [his daughter Pearl] "what did he say" for he spoke in a heavy Finnish accent.
When he died in bed in the `old home' off the Bannister Road out of Boddington, he was surrounded by most of his family (including granny Henrickson) as well as many grandchildren. The funeral service was conducted in the old church at Marradong on a warm but not hot sunny day.
[2 During my early to mid teens [about 1944], and when granny Henrickson made her customary yearly visit, staying for about a month at a time before moving on to visit another of her daughters, I recall that sometimes talking with her about earlier days in the `bush' some anecdotes about Dan would come up.
She told me one time that all the crew on a merchant sailing boat {including Daniel] were frightened out of their minds when they saw a huge sea monster `as large as the boat itself' swimming along just under the surface of the sea and traveling at the same speed as the boat and in a parallel direction. This apparently continued for several hours.
My mother and two aunts at various times relayed something of what he told them. His home town was situated about 14 miles inside the Russo-Finnish border of the 1860`s. This border since changed due to the various wars that raged in Europe at the time. The phonetic name of this town sounded like "Koomeny", but this sound would have been influenced by his heavy Finnish accent. His father was the village "doctor", which probable meant that he was a barber who also tended the sick and performed amputations. Who knows?
Dan, at about the age of 14 years left Finland with his older brother at traveled to England where they both enlisted in the British Merchant Navy. They sailed around the world as crew members for a number of years before being assigned to different sailing boats.
It has been reported that he arrived in New Zealand and stayed for several years. He moved on to Australia and at some stage Dan `jumped' ship when it berthed in Melbourne and seemed to drift toward the Victorian goldfields. History reveals that during the Victorian gold rush whole ship's crew often deserted to journey to the fields, only to return several months later. It is by no means certain that Dan also visited the goldfields, but may have occurred.The first gold was discovered in Western Australia in the Kimberley region in 1885.
He then appears in South West Australia around the Bridgetown area where he married and adopted a life that included Blacksmithing and small mixed farming. He gained a reputation of being able to fix almost anything and appears to have gained universal respect, being referred to as `Old Dan'.
At the same time as the family grew, they seem to have moved from place to place throughout the South-West, as share farmers, only setting roots as the came to Boddington where he finally died.
Summary, including information from other sources.
Daniel left Finland at about the age of 14 years.
His occupation was subsequently recorded as `farm worker'.
He joined the British Merchant Navy and circumnavigated the world several times, and `jumped ship' in Melbourne.
He must have had a sense of adventure.
In latter life it was noted that he signed his name on the birth certificate of one of his elder children with an "X".
He neither read nor wrote English.
He was very quiet and engaged in conversation infrequently.
He retained his heavy Finnish accent and used many Finnish words in his conservation.
He was dexterous and able to understand mechanical problems, fix and repair all manner of items [probably influenced by his time in the merchant navy].
He was adaptable and able to work within the Australian farming community, running a farm, assisting others when required.
It could be concluded from this fragmentary evidence that he had little or no school education, either in Finland or Australia, and that this may have contributed to his, reserved nature.
To compensate for this lack of formal schooling he acquired manual skills [probably as a member of the merchant fleet] which were to be a great attribute in later farming life. He became a adept blacksmith which would be greatly sought after within rural communities.
He may have left the Merchant Navy in New Zealand, moved to Melbourne, Adelaide and possibly Bunbury.
It is hard to imagine him as a surveyor in the WA goldfields for he was unable to read or write in English, but he may have been a staff man or assistant to a qualified surveyor.
Velcro
