Matti
“Matt” ERICKSON(1,2) was born
on 14 September 1877 in Finland.(3,4,5) He immigrated in 1906.(6) Matti submitted
draft registration cards for WWI on 12 September 1918 in Kemmerer, Wyoming.(5) Matti had light blue eyes and light brown hair
and was working for the Kemmerer Coal Company as a coal miner.(5) Matti married Brieta and it is unknown when
and where this marriage took place.(6) Matti,
his wife and son next appeared in the census in 1920 in Maynard, Middlesex,
Massachusetts.(6) In
1920 Matti and his son, Eino, were working for a woolen company, Eino was a
yard laborer and Matti was a carder.(6) Within
the next three years Eino and Matti settled in Frontier, Wyoming where they
were employed with the Kemmerer Coal Company as coal miners.(1) Matt, aged 45, and his son Eino died in a gas
explosion in Frontier No. 1 coal mine on 14 August 1923.(3,4) The day of Matt and Eino’s funeral the following
snippet was printed in the local newspaper:
Another
sad incident connected with the explosion is that of Mrs. Matt Erickson, who
lost her husband and son, her only living relatives in America. The bereaved widow was prostrated with grief,
and no sadder spectacle ever was witnessed than that depicted when the sheets
were lifted from the faces of her husband and son, lying in the morgue.(6)
Father and
son were buried next to each other, on 17 August 1923 in Kemmerer, Wyoming.(4,3)
Sources:
1.
Kemmerer Republican, (Kemmerer,
Lincoln, Wyoming), 24 August 1923, page 1, microfilm; Lincoln County Library,
519 Emerald Street, Kemmerer, Lincoln, Wyoming 83101.
2. Sneddon Robert T.
Inspector (Dist 1) & Robert V. Hotchkiss Inspector (Dist2),
"State Coal Mine Inspectors Of Wyoming, Districts No. 1 and 2,"
year: 1923; report, 1923; , Wyoming
State Archives on microfilm, Cheyenne, Wyoming.
3. Cemetery-Headstone, Kemmerer City Cemetery, Kemmerer,
Lincoln, Wyoming. Personal photograph,
property of and in possession of Roberts Roots & Branches, of headstone
taken between 2000 and 2003., Matt & Eino E. Erickson, headstone.
4. Matt Erickson, death certificate file no. 1460 (14
August 1923), State of Wyoming, Wyoming State Archives, 2301 Central Avenue,
Cheyenne, Wyoming 82001.
5. "United States World War I Draft Registration
Cards, 1917-1918," database with images, FamilySearch," digital,
FamilySearch, FamilySearch.org
(: online digital 7 March 2018), Matt Erickson; citing United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,
"United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,"
database with images, FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K687-GM2 : 12 December 2014), Matt
Erickson, 1917-1918; citing Lincoln County, Wyoming, United States, NARA
microfilm publication M1509 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records
Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 2,022,241..
6. 1920, , population schedule, Year: 1920; Census Place:
Maynard, Middlesex, Massachusetts; Roll: T625_714; Page: 20A; Enumeration
District: 306, Matti Erickson family including Eino Erickson; digital images, Ancestry.com (: online digital 7
March 2018); Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database
on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images
reproduced by FamilySearch.
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