Mysteries
Tiina Kinna
Mysteries, Emma Kinna born of Tiina Kinna, (Maiden name and married name) married an Estonian or possibly Russian with an Estonian name. He must have been a soldier of rank or most likely a civilian government worker due to the lavish dresses and high education his children received. There were certainly Latvians and Estonians in the Tsar's military as well as civilians working for the government, what is unusual is that Estonians would be living such a privileged life in Russia at that time. There was a Russian law prohibiting mixed nationality marriages so it is unlikely that she was married to a Russian. Tiina's daughter Emma told my mother that her Estonian husband shared the same last name Kinna, "But not related, lot's of Kinna's in Estonia". The Kinna name is something like the name Smith in the US. I have also seen the name Kinna spelled as Kenna, to be honest, I don't which is correct, perhaps in Estonia it is one way, but in the US they spelled it the other way. There is another story that says the father of Emma tried to get in touch with them for years after they left Russia, so he must have survived the Tsars downfall.
Tiina raised her daughters in a castle in Saint Petersburg, Russia or at least they spent a good deal of time there. The lived within view of the Neva river and Hermitage. In the winters, Tiina and Emma used to ice skate across the Neva. Their education was very high, Emma could speak upwards of a dozen languages and could write in many of them. She had an equal aptitude for horticulture and in later years became known as a most valued "water witch" during the drought. It is possible that the many gardens of Saint Petersburg inspired her life long passion for horticulture, to the end of her days she collected plant specimens in many bottles. The Tomingas children inherited her passion for music, Emma's organ from the farm in Red Deer, Alberta Canada is now cared for by Arnold and Margery Tomingas in Arizona.
The Kinna family lived in an Estonian community in Canada, like the Toro's and other Estonian families, they kept to themselves. However, the brothers were health fanatics and lived to very old ages. Like many Estonians, they also loved steam baths. Both Tomingas and Kinna always made a steam house where hot rocks and ladled water would create hot steam.
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Emma read reports of "John Tomingas, freedom fighter" long before she ever met him and was quite impressed by him when she finally did meet him. The reports were published by some underground paper, possibly based in France, but I have not found a source yet. |
John Tomingas survived scarlet fever but it took all of his brothers except perhaps Uri (George). He was perhaps twelve and never grew (5 foot 5 inches) any further, his decedents are in the 5 foot 8 inch range. The story goes that his father and older brothers were all around 6 feet high, but then they all got sick. Johns papa hitched up the sled and went for the doctor in a snow storm. It took nearly a week, by the time he got back, all but one of the boys had died. The grief of the moment took his kindness away toward his wife as he ranted, "you let them die, you let them all die!". There are cousins Tomingas in Estonia, but the connection is not clear.
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John, being hunted with a large bounty on his head for "rebellious activities as a freedom fighter for Estonian and against Russia" made his way to Sweden where he learned his trade, carpentry while still in his late teens. He and a cousin or close friend then came over to the US. It is possible that he spent some time in the Boston area as a carpenter before moving to Canada to take up farming. When he arrived in Canada, he met Emma Kinna and they were married somewhat late in life for those days. They set up a farm and worked it during the time Paula and Art were born. Then moved to Wyoming and homesteaded. In all, they had eight highly gifted children. |
They sold the Canada farm and along with some of the other families such as the Toro's, they moved to an Estonian community in Adon which is near Gillette Wyoming and homesteaded a farm there. Unfortunately, this was about the time of the major drought that hit the Midwest. When it rained, it really rained, one night during an all too rare rain storm, they struggled up a slope near the house with all the belongings they could manage and then watched as the rising waters carried the house away.
They were having the rest of their exceptionally handsome and
intelligent children at this time and with the drought, there
were times when John Tomingas had to do what he hated most,
go to work in public places as a carpenter. It wasn't the work
that bothered him, it was people. Emma had to do all the
negotiations, there were times when a stranger would come to
the front door, John would stand at the back door ready to
make a break for it in case his past had caught up with him.
When my dad Rob was growing up on the farm in Gillette, they got a powered combine to help
with the harvesting one season. The horses were scared to death of the monster, they hadn't even
seen a car, let alone this noisy contraption. Rob was having a heck of time, keeping the horses
from panicking, every now and then though, he had to jump off the wagon and go do something
with the combine. It finally happened, the horses bolted when he was off the wagon and he
couldn't quite catch them. They ran with all their heart dragging the poor wagon, beating the
thing into small splinters of wood before they calmed down. The wagon was scattered over
many acres and absolutely destroyed. John Tomingas was not pleased and worked all night and
amazingly built a new wagon so they could finish the harvest the next day. This was during the
era where you made holes by heating a rod red hot and burning the hole. John could make the
whole thing, wheels, frame yoke and body, in fact, he could make anything for a farm, anything.
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John had old world names for all the children
it seems, he called Art Arturo, Arnold Arrno,
Rob was Scrob and Henry was Einy. As yet, I
don't know the names he used for his girls.
A drought and depression made for hard work just to get by for most of their life. |
While John Tomingas could drive a wagon at high speed through narrowgaps and judge things within inches, he was at a loss when it came to the
modern automobile. Not that he wasn't willing to try. Arnold was driving
the car out through the fields with John riding along and finally, John
couldn't stand it anymore and said "Move over Arrno, gim'me dat
tearrring wheel" and tearing is exactly what he did, banging through mud
holes, brush and hay, scared Arnold half to death and the car was an
awful mess. 
During a heavy winter, Rob and dad John were coaxing the car back to the farm and every so
often, John would have to jump off the running board and push it through the pot holes. But then
they came to the big ditch, so Rob gunned the heck out of it, but John had enough, he hollered,
"Goodbye Scrob, 'dis is de' end" and bailed off the car as it roared down into the gully.
A letter came from one of the long lost cousins who had become a doctor
and changed his name to Olsen. John didn't seem to really know this
cousin but decided it was worth a visit even if it was Chicago. Rob drove
him there without any brakes on the car. Aunt Anne tells me that Rob
often caused quite a sensation as Rob was well muscled and was often in
one of those sleeveless, neck less t-shirts, in those days, you didn't have a
lot of shirts available. But evidently he topped himself on this occasion
when his two shirts were both dirty, so he came down to breakfast and
into the Olsen formal dining area, in front of that very proper Mrs. Olsen,
without a shirt on, she had a fit, Rob and John left the next morning.
During the drought it wasn't always dry, when it rained, it rained with a
vengeance and washed a lot valuable things away like top soil, seed and houses. There was a
night where the family had to grab what they could and struggle to get up on the slope above in
the torrent rain and sure enough, they had to watch as the house John built floated away.
After having the rest of their children and raised them, Emma and John moved back to Canada and bought their old farm back. The children were all off living their own lives by then. John died first and a few years later Emma got Parkinson or something similar, she made a final trip around to see all the grandchildren, went back to Canada and then she passed away, I had the good fortune to meet her twice, but I was very small, I remember she showed me a gourd that she had been carrying around, I was fascinated as I had never seen one, I remember she looked like she was from the "old country" and was very nice. The women who married the sons of Emma absolutely loved her, she was a very sincere and sweet woman with many wonderful traits and always a romantic at heart.
