Sources & The Original Tomingas Stories
PRIMARY SOURCES:
Robert (Rob) John Tomingas son of John (Jan) Tomingas
and Emma (Kinna) Tomingas
Henry Lynn Tomingas son of Robert John Tomingas,
older brother to Byron
Hallie Tomingas, wife of Robert Johnt Tomingas
Ann (Tomingas) Barone daughter of John Tomingas
and Emma (Kinna) Tomingas
Margery Tomingas, wife of Arnold Tomingas son
of John (Jan) and Emma (Kinna) Tomingas
Art Tomingas, oldest son of John (Jan) Tomingas
and Emma (Kinna) Tomingas
ADDITIONAL SOURCES:
I have NOT fully investigated all of these
sources, some I have not contacted at all, but I thought you may be interested
in the sources I have found. The library provided a long list of books
on Estonia, however many are in German or Cyrillic Russian, only a couple
in English where as most are in Estonian.
Books by Wihelmine (William) Tomingas:
Malestused (Memoirs), Kultur Pub.1970
The Soviet colonization of Estonia, Kultur Pub.1973
Wihelmine (William) Tomingas, Newscaster in Estonia
1918, 718-789-5556, 327 Sterling Pl. NY (Wihelmine is likely deceased by
now, born in 1895)
Estonian Central Council in Canada: Mr. Simonson
201-363-3242
Estonian Archives: Lakewood N.J.
Eestlased Kanadas refers to Jaan Tomingas and
the Kinna family in Medicine Valley
Estonian Archives in the US: Heino Taremae,
607 East 7th Stree, Lakewood, NJ 08701-0726
Catalogue of Books & Periodicals on Estonia
in the British Library Reference Division by Salme Pruuden, Pub. British
Library, London and Garland Publishing, Inc. New York & London
Note that there is a number of publications by
pro-Russian Estonian, but it was a small distribution and rather hard to
find. Jaan and Emma were adamantly anti-Russian.
The Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 50 Ease North Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84150,
The European reference is Zdenka Kucera.
Zdenka Kucera, A.G. Genealogist:
1270 Laird Ave. Salt Lake City, UT 84105, 801-467-8611
National Geographic Vol. 157, No.4 April 1980:
Return to Estonia by Priit Vesilind
National Geographic Vol. 175, No.5 May 1989: The
Baltic by Priit Vesilind
National Geographic Vol. 178, No.5 Nov. 1990:
The Baltic Nations by Priit Vesilind
Priit Vesilind responded to my letter but is not
aware of Tomingas or Kinna
Estonian Learned Society of America: Estonian
House, 243 E. 34th St. NY, NY 10016
Research of old eastern block archives of the
Morman Church which was very limited at the time but may be more fruitful
now that Estonia is free of the Soviet Union. Margery and Arnold have the
most complete collection of photos and memorbilia and may know than anyone
about Tomingas history. I work very slowly, so don't hold your breath for
immediate updates.
The Tomingas Farm In Canada:
The
Tomingas family farm still exists near (Medicine Valley) Red Deer Alberta
Canada although several of the brothers and sisters have consolodated their
property. Margery and Arnold have the original farm. Bob and Sadie (Tomingas)
Gourley may have the largest parcel through acquisition of Art and Donnas
(?) pieces. Canadian laws make it very hard to break out a parcel and get
a separate title on it, Gourleys have done it and possibly Marg and Arnold.
Rob still has the section by the trees, with the exception of Gourley's
and Marg & Arnold, each member has about 60 acres, but this was an
agreement drawn up amongst themselves and it does not consitute a legal
document.
Something that really should be done soon,
is to get separate titles to each member but it may take cooperation between
all the brothers and sisters, other wise that land will get tangled up
in legal problems between all the decendents and Canadian laws, there are
cases of the land be absorbed back into Canadas holdings. One method involves
getting lawyers and going before the local counsels to see if the community
will allow subdivision which in the past they have not for the small size
(60 acres) that most of them have. Another method is a "Quit Claim"
which simply states that a person renounces any claim to a piece of property.
So, if each member would do a "Quit Claim" for the pieces that
are not theirs, it would free each piece legally for each owner. Single
page "Quit Claim" forms are available in any good bookstore or
stationary shop.
Tomingas Brands registered in Wyoming
The Mill Iron Lazy 8 was registered by Emma Tomingas
Tomingas Family History
These stories are confirmed by several sources,
however there are interesting differences, Rob portrays Jaan as a young
boy caught up in intrigue almost by accident, however my brothers version
is more heroic along the lines of a leader of a rebel band that had many
adventures, as usual, the truth may lie somewhere between. If it was Red
Sunday that got him in all the trouble, then he was in his twenties by
then, Red Sunday is my educated guess, nothing confirms it. My brother
did know and talk to Jaan and Emma and certainly had more curiosity about
such things, he still has the blue agate handled pocket knife that Jaan
gave to him. I think that my dads brother Chick has the strongest resemblance
to Jaan.
The Original TOMINGAS Family Stories:
John (Jaan) Tomingas nearly died of scarlett fever
in his early teens
John never grew after the scarlett fever
John's dad went for the doctor in the winter on
a sled
When John's dad came back all of the boys had
died except John and maybe Uri
Johns dad wailed at his wife, "You let them
die, you let them all die"
Jaan left Estonia as there was a price on his
head
He and a band of his friends had raided a nobleman's
castle
Jaan had buried a jeweled dagger brought back
from one of the raids
Jaan was caught once but they didn't know who
he was (referring to the bounty)
They were all on a sled going to be burned in
Tallinn's town square when he escaped
He was shot in the leg but the high boots kept
all the blood in so they couldn't track him
There was a winter blizzard when he escaped
He and his cousin hid out in the forest all that
winter
They broke into a church and stole food as they
were starving
When they finally came to town, a policeman stopped
them with "Kula boise, ohtsen valez"
They made it to Sweden
Jaan became a carpenter
The cousin or a close friend became a Doctor
The cousin changed his name
The Tomingas family in Estonia was Lutheran
August Mehikas is Jaan's sister's son living in
the Tomingas family house in Tallin,
Eesti, N.S.V.
Tallinn
Tehnika 27-6
August Mehikas
The Original KINNA Family Stories:
Emma was raised in a castle in Saint Petersburg
Emma & her mom Tiina skated on the Neva River
The place where they lived, they could see the
Neva River & Hermitage
Emma was highly educated
Emma could speak upwards of twelve languages
Emma could write in a half dozen languages or
more
Tiina was married to an unrelated Kinna
Tiina's husband was a civilian working for the
military/government
Tina's brothers kidnaped her and her daughter(s?)
Emma met John in Canada
Emma was very anti-Russian
Emma never(or almost never?) saw her Russian father
Emma read an Estonian underground newspaper about
John Tomingas before she met him
Tiina's husband was still searching for them years
later
Tiina is the heart of most of the mysteries, was
she a renegade personality or a victim of circumstance. I've looked carefully
at her picture and can't tell yet. It would be nice to talk to her even
if it's through reading letters that she wrote to someone else.
Jaak Kinna looks like a very gentle man, but I
don't see his cheekbones in any of the Tomingas family. Emma's diary mentions
that he was did Christenings. Tiina, like Jaak has the typical Estonian
nose, her features are prominent in the Tomingas family.
The Kinna brothers were health enthusiasts and
lived to very old ages, the old bachelors they were called, but the diary
seems to indicate that Sam was married to Leena.
Sam Kinna was in an accident while working on
a bridge and could not walk in his later years, but he always stood on
his cane for photographs.
Some of the following were brothers to Tiina but
I don't know for certain who, all are listed as living Medicine Valley
Alberta Canada. This family is much bigger than my little list and it's
members should have the answers to most of the mysteries, but I currently
don't have any contacts.
The Kinna's should know:
1) When Kinna's came over
2) Possibly what castle Tiina and Emma were at
3) What Tiina was doing there IE; living or working
4) Name of the Russian soldier
5) Rank of the Russian soldier
6) Was Tiina really kidnaped from Saint Petersburg?
7) Tiina had two daughters?
8) Ownership of old letters
9) The accurate list of Kinna relatives (my guesses
have '?' marks by them)
10) Under what circumstance Tiina went to Saint
Petersburg, was it love or bondage?
INTRODUCTION