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M1 Homesteader Maggie Walz · Two Tools, No Clue

• Jey & Anna: Hey everyone, welcome to the Two Tools No Clue podcast. I'm Anna. And I'm Jadon. And today I'm going to be talking about a homesteader of homesteaders. It is a woman. American name is Maggie Walz. American name. Yep. you know. A lot of people don't realize like the struggles that immigrants go through even today with like changing their names to kind of like assimilate into what America thinks, you know, we should be. Even right now that's a really hot topic so I'm not going to get into it. But you know, even all the way back, back, back in the day this is like I'm talking like 1880s. You know, just at the very beginning of homesteading, she's actually one of the women immigrants who was very fortunate because of the Homesteading Act that I was talking about in like the first episode. That's awesome. Yeah. By the way, guys, it's a minisode today. Oh, yeah. Today is a minisode. Minisode. Minisode. Oh, OK. Anyway, so born. Margarita Johanna Contra and Niiranen a great job. Thank you. I probably did it all wrong, but your confidence. She came from Torneo, Finland in 1861. She was only 20 years old. She actually even wasn't 20. She was just about to turn 20 when she got there. She landed in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Interesting. Yeah. Do know how she ended up there? There's a lot of opportunities there for like mining and like a lot of European ancestry, no matter where it was done. Like you have miners in your, I have a lot of miners in my ancestry and I am Scottish. Like the mineral. Yes, mining, like physical. Like it's crazy to think about. We're not even that far away from it. Like that was a job that people had Yeah, a terrifying job. Terrifying. ⁓ And a job you could easily get stuck in. Yeah. Like the companies would own the company markets. unions did not exist. You were lucky. That was the time where people literally, you know, you would line up and they picked you or they didn't pick you. There was no like equal anything like that. And it's really weird to think about. Yeah. But anyway, yeah. So she ⁓ did a lot of jobs just to kind of get her going before she even like thought of getting land. She was a domestic servant. She was going to night school to learn English so that she could do more things. And I just think that's really cool that she was doing this. Yeah, this is a woman. Okay. There is no what year was 1861. Wow. like I said, she did change her name because she just wanted to fit in. ⁓ that was one of the first things that she did. ⁓ She chose Maggie Walt so that she could ⁓ get more jobs I don't really know how to say this not immigrant jobs because that was a thing. She's from Finland so she's a white woman. Yes. And as soon as she changes her name she's assimilated. Yes. ⁓ So that makes sense that she would want to change name. She's still very much finished though. ⁓ Obviously should have an accent and it's also just it's at a time where it is like a kind of like a true melting pot in a sense where people they look very different. It's very new still. So people do know where people are coming from. So just like, you know, her her features. OK, you are Finnish. Interesting. I could never do that. Yeah. And I've seen the pictures of her. I'm like that. Even accents. I don't know what. I can't place a single accent. ⁓ So yeah, she was selling machines, ⁓ pianos and organs to door while going to school. then as soon as she became more like versed in the English language, she became a sales clerk like permanently. ⁓ And ⁓ she became like master of trade. She wasn't afraid. She would go toe to toe with the men and they respected her for it. Go for her. She did the damn thing. ⁓ She was very involved in the Finnish community. Like she helped people immigrate. ⁓ She was very involved in the Finnish church. But she also was like, I want to help more. She was one of the main reasons that there was a large Finnish community that continued but also one of the like starting points for like women's votes women's anything because people respected her well just You know men didn't actually they were they didn't really give her shit That's crazy. Yeah They're like, knows what she's doing ⁓ So she actually did you find a picture of her? Yes, I did. I can I can show it to you after I can also put it up on our page. Instagram. have a few pictures of her, honestly. It's really cool. And that's like how much of a badass she was. There are pictures of her and these other women, too. It's very cool. Yeah, very cool. And there's like and they're really fancy, like, you know, and they just like stare. Yeah. Very. four women just like powerhouse. Damn. I'll show you that picture. I'm excited. So she ⁓ I don't really know what her thought process was of this, but she went back to Finland. Okay. And when she went back to Finland, she like gathered the troops. She's like, all right, ladies, let's go. Ladies. Yes. She, ⁓ she brought 14 young women with her. Wow. I feel like I saying that. Yeah, no, so I'll read I'm gonna instead of interrupting myself I'm just gonna read through this a little bit because she did a lot of Really incredible things and I don't want to take that away from her. So she she helped these women To get to the US by underwriting their passage teaching them English and helping them find employment it was like a win-win for her because it also helped her with business opportunities because she had people that you know she could use for jobs and then that and then people were like, ⁓ yeah, she's resourceful. know, like she has these very capable young woman coming in and doing the things that we needed done, you know? ⁓ And she ended up becoming a ticket agent, a notary public and an open currency exchange. What community? How do you even do that? I know as a woman. Like, and I'm not like, you know, ⁓ I wish more women were in power. We need that. Right. And I'm just saying it's like, the heck did like what guys like, seriously? Like, why did we stop? I interrupt myself she provided interpretation services for Finnish speaking immigrants in business, legal and other transactions. because they didn't know how. Right. And like, that is still very much a thing today. People need access. Yeah. People need a shot. It wasn't the norm that women did pursue these things. And I think that's one of the reasons that people just were like, ⁓ OK, you're going to do this. OK. All right. Go ahead. Like we need more people doing this. Yeah. And you're you're very good at it, by the way. And ⁓ which is really impressive. But. By and these are some quotes, I think they're I think they're pretty cool. By establishing herself as an independent businesswoman, she challenged the notions of women's proper role in late 19th century ⁓ She was often described as unladylike, if not downright masculine. ⁓ she may wear skirts, but she's no lady ⁓ an expression commonly quoted in her regard. Others said she had a voice like a sea captain. So I'm guessing they didn't consider her like Beautiful no no I'm not even trying to be rude like I Wonder if she had been beautiful if that had would have helped her hindered her I don't think it would have because her presence it's like I think it would have hindered her you know She would be really good at rugby like she was a solid woman. What do you mean by that? like I don't think it would what? Help or hinder. I don't think it would have helped. Okay. I don't think they would have taken her seriously. Yeah, because she looks like a scary lady I would not mess with her. That makes a lot of sense. I would be like, aye aye captain. You know what I mean? Literally, I'd be like, aye aye captain. Like, whatever you want. She's one of us. Yeah, no. ⁓ Which is horrible. That shouldn't be how she gets that done. I just want to say, um, I think you should be able to be as beautiful as you want and still come in the room. Like that's so silly. I think people are stupid when they think like that. Um, so she, like on her professional side, obviously she was doing crazy things, but that was not enough for her. So she was bored, obviously, with all the things that she was doing professionally. How? I'm being sarcastic. don't know. I think it was more just like a necessity. Her and her friend, her and her gal pals were like, all right, girls, we need to stick to the man. We deserve votes. We deserve voice. We deserve public representation, you know? So she attempted to establish a women's suffrage organization in 1888. It didn't meet much success, but it was still valued as a ⁓ really grand effort, because it helped spark the things. It at least put it on the map as a topic. Was this before Susan B. Anthony? I think so. was 1888. ⁓ She left the upper Michigan area to go to college in Indiana. ⁓ She organized a Finnish women's society there. Girl doesn't sleep. No, she doesn't. And I'm just like, when do you sleep? You have to sleep when you eat, when you breathe. Even in her dreams, she's looking for opportunity. It's like Leslie Knope. know what mean? Literally reminds me of Leslie Knope. ⁓ But this group was more dedicated to general advancement of women rather than like just the suffrage alone. ⁓ It later became a national organization. Wow. Society, they had a newspaper. It was called the Women's Paper in Finnish. I am so sorry, Finland. It is called ⁓ Neisten and Lehti I'm saying this. just lost all of our Finnish listeners. ⁓ That also was ⁓ eventually distributed throughout the country. Thought it was really, thought that was really cool. ⁓ She built and I like picture her doing this, but I'm sure she had help. Right. Because this is insane. She built a stately three story business story business block. Oh, I was like, Oh, she built the building. No, hun bought a block. went the whole way. Pine Street was hers. It was a commercial center. Like, seriously, like it. Yeah, so she had a commercial center. It was also like a community center. There was an opera house. In this block? Yes. Wow. And then a bit of everything. Yeah. And then a bunch of stuff, like a bunch of storefronts, business offices, there was a clothing store and she operated the clothing store herself. Wow. There was meeting rooms. Like it was like a whole. Where was this block? in Michigan somewhere. So she still hasn't bought the land by the way, I just want to state that. But she's Jesus Christ, she's getting there. So she's still bored, guys. He's like, the block isn't doing it for me anymore. I would like 160 acres of land, please. So applied for the Homestead Act for 160 acres on Drummond Island. ⁓ It ⁓ A very large island on the Upper Peninsula Michigan. a large island ⁓ in Lake Huron. OK. Is the whole island? for a while. It wasn't even America's like it was like back and forth, back and forth. ⁓ wow. Like hands for a while. Britain had it was like. You know, territories be territories. So like, I think it was back and forth between Britain and finally there's like you can have it here it is. And it was used as like a lot of those areas were used as like mining and ⁓ logging towns. So they literally just there. ⁓ I got into it. This is so off topic. Didn't even put it in my notes, but. There was a town called Watson Town. ⁓ wow. Yep, this town was literally created just for logs being transported. Wow. Yep. Because like back in the day, they just use water systems on the island. It was it's no, this is just another area in the upper area. I think it was called I found it on a page called Ghost Towns. And it's really. really cool. was about all of these towns that are like, they don't really exist anymore, because we don't use that method of transportation anymore, because it really was like, you know, a stop to gather up all these logs again, and then they would ship them out or bring them elsewhere, you know, like, that's how they made their money. It existed because of of walks being moved. Like they had to be stopping. Which is really interesting. It reminds me of like Bellas Falls. Why? Bellas Falls was created for logging. ⁓ yeah. When remember when the. ⁓ When the the dam went real dry. the old platform and I thought it so cool it is cool it was old platforms for the down the Connecticut River that's really awesome shit but yeah I love stuff like stuff like that exists and even Hensdale Hensdale probably literally exists because of stuff like that to begin with because it was stopped yeah so anyway I thought that was cool so she got 160 acres on Drummond Island Is that the whole island or is that just a portion of it? I think it's the whole island. OK. Because if she was me, if I was her, I'd be buying that whole island. I want to share an island. actually might have been some people there already. OK. ⁓ Like indigenous groups. OK. Possibly. I think they were all kind of like, yeah, okay, like this is our side. can have that side, whatever. Because a lot ⁓ had already kind of gone down between changing hands and just like, no, this is mine. No, this is yours. Yeah. You can have it. Whatever. The indigenous people are like, hi, guys. Because you actually about it. Canada wasn't Canada. Canada was a British territory for a very long time. Like a very long time. ⁓ And a lot of the islands that are on the coast of Canada are still owned by Britain. They are not Canadian islands. People don't realize that. But yeah, so it's just really interesting. So they so, you know, she shows up. She's like, this is a Finnish community now. Like all of her Finnish people were like, Yep, that sounds great. They started building. So, yeah, 1905, she establishes the colony. and she you know bases it off of temperance cooperative capitalism in christianity ⁓ my yep and you know she i mean she did the damn thing ⁓ so in her honor the community was named cretan a shortened name a shortened form of margarita similar to like maggie in english cretan yeah Sorry, let me say it in a non-New England accent. Cretin? Sounds a little bit better. From Marguerite? Marguerita. Marguerita? Cretin? Yeah, I don't get it either. you know, the finish are already upset You sure you're saying that right? So let's not. I mean, I don't know. No, there's an N at the end of it. Anyway, Maggie in English. I believe them. That's what it was called. ⁓ So they did really well. ⁓ There were five settlements. There was a population of a thousand people. Education was great there. ⁓ They prioritized the homesteading way already. They were farmers, naturally, miners and farmers, naturally. So they just, they knew what to do. ⁓ They had their own schools school system, which is, you know, one of the first signs of getting it done. Yeah. Then like towns really were still being formed. Like it was serious. You know what I mean? Like, no, we're doing this. And people are like, OK, sounds great. Like if you literally came like if we got here today in the middle of Hensdale and we're like, no. This is Watson town. Like just something crazy like that. You know what I mean? They'd be like, nobody. Yeah. You live in Hint. They like it. Yeah. Yeah. Like this is the law. Um, but yeah, so that, that it was successful for a really long time. Um, it had five stores, a hotel, a hotel. Visitors came and they needed a hotel. Um, I wanna move there. ⁓ sounds wonderful. I should have spaced this out better. It's really driving me crazy. Just so everybody knows, Jay is reading a novel he wrote himself. It is not bulleted. It's a story about Maggie. Really did. I really did myself dirty. That's for sure. So yeah, we're our best. Learning on the fly. It was... For a while it was her main home, but then she started going back and forth. Cause the girl can't sit still. Yeah. She had other businesses still do these. had the whole Okay. Like she had a society to run. Like she was not sleeping. ⁓ so she, she started to go there less and the Island. Yeah. Because a group of socialists showed up. I like took over. She was like, so they showed up and they're like, this is Watson town. Yeah, basically. And ⁓ Maggie did not endorse that whatsoever. So she kind of just left. She didn't even fight the system. No, I I she had bigger things to do. ⁓ And she also like at that point, like she was already in her 40s. ⁓ And I think she was kind of just like. not doing this. have a whole block. My other house is nicer. Like I think that's really what it was about. And it was up there. her thousand people family. Yeah, she's like, you're welcome. Thank me later. ⁓ this is later. Bye. But I mean, you have to think about it. Like the fact that she was able to genuinely help all these people like establish like a home. Yeah. A community. and still be able to hold on to their culture. Like that's okay. Because there's, you know, so valued, especially up there. Like that was not a hard and not an easy job to do. Yeah. Mining, logging, like the majority of the things that these people were doing up there were no luxury. Like some of them were probably working in the hotel, but I still think it's great. Yeah. Is this still there? Yeah. I don't know, like how established it is now, but like, yeah, I mean, the upper peninsula of Michigan definitely has people up there. I don't really know what they do for jobs, but. I still think, yeah, I think it's pretty cool. ⁓ It's not one of the ghost towns. Okay. It's there. don't know if people still live on the island. Yeah, I don't know if it's still Cree in, but people still live there. ⁓ So she, you know, didn't want to hang out there. She started just traveling because she was back on like the women stuff. She was like, okay, you know, hold on. Hold my drink, we still need to talk about this situation at hand. she, ⁓ she, ⁓ became a part of the Michigan's women Christian temperance union. Wow. And what I can't. And was the American delegate to the international women's Christian temperance union meeting in Glasgow, Scotland. How'd she get over there? In 1910. She she participated in a women's delegation to the Coolidge administration in Washington DC and She became very well known around the country ⁓ Even the newspapers they were just like this is Maggie Walz like let us tell you the story and that's why there's so many pictures of her Wow because she was like HBIC They're like tell us how you got here. Tell us your story. Like how did you do these things? ⁓ And I think that was probably. No, not probably. I think it's really important to women's history, and I've never heard of this woman before. Yeah, like I haven't either. Yeah, I I found the majority of this information about her, by the way, on the like the National Parks Historical website. ⁓ cool. Like features and stuff like that. And ⁓ I actually found. her on their in their database about like the history of homesteaders. And it was just a bunch of there's a there's a lot of cool ones. So I actually am going to be kind of diving into that probably for my mini so it's because I thought it was really cool. And there were a lot of women, homesteaders and a lot of ⁓ immigrant homesteaders. was also a lot of black homesteaders and I thought that was really cool, but it makes sense. Like all these people are coming to America and just trying to do the damn thing. ⁓ So yeah, I want to excited to do that. So that will probably be my ⁓ go to for a while. Yeah. Mine are so random. I like that, though. And like some of us, feel like What I'm excited about it is I am going to stick to like the American side, like, I just think it's cool how like we don't. It's important that we talk about all the shitty things that we've done and we need to probably talk about more things that we've done America to ourselves and to everyone else because you know our history needs to be spoken on but I also feel like they should talk about these types of stories at school. Yeah. when they're bringing this up instead of just drilling weird things in our head. It's like, tell me about Maggie, tell me her story, tell me why it's important. Because I think that would be a really large connection also to just make people understand that. You might be speaking English now, but at one point your ancestors were not in this country. And that is a fact. People, is a fact. And if you want to fight me on it, fight me on it. ⁓ like because it is our email is to tools, no clue. Tell me how you feel. ⁓ because you're allowed to in this country, you're allowed to tell me how you feel and I will accept it because you're listening to me about how I'm So yeah, before I, you know, going any further, she did the damn thing until the age of 65. And I know you're thinking like, oh, that's not that old. But back then, that was very old, like good for her. She survived a lot. But she did end up passing away of like pneumonia. think it was pneumonia. she held a legacy, that's for sure. And I just think it's really cool because I bet in Michigan people know about Maggie Waltz. Yeah. And I think it's really interesting because there's a lot of people with that name or a similar name. And I just wonder how they all figure out if they're related or not. I don't know. just I always think about stuff like that. I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but I was born in Scotland. Have I? we talked about this yet? We've recorded so many episodes out of order. have no idea. ⁓ Sorry if I'm repeating myself, but yeah, one of the main reasons that I am a little bit passionate about immigrants in America is because I am one. ⁓ I technically am a citizen now, but that just happened. This past year, not even a year into being a citizen. I've been here since. 1995, January 5th, 1995, Boston Airport. First time I landed in America like I remember it. But I've also just seen and heard some crazy things about immigrants because people don't think I'm one. You don't look the part I don't look the part. I have an American accent. ⁓ So I have I have been fortunate and privileged to live a life of assimilation, but I still bang my chest. You know this about me because it's important, especially right now. But yeah, so Maggie Waltz. What was her? Margarita Johanna. yeah, so you homesteader for the win. I thought she was pretty cool. You know, Michigan is no joke. I've never been there, but I feel like it's similar to ⁓ New England. Michigan? Yeah. said machina. ⁓ You say that weird. Michigan. ⁓ If you're from Michigan and you've heard of Maggie Waltz, let us know. Yeah. Tell me all about her. I thought she was pretty cool. And I feel like she probably had a lot of protege out there, like doing the damn thing. Yeah. Does have kids? Does she get married? No, no, no. What a badass. No, she just did it. Well, history will call them roommates. She had her ladies. Maybe. She's mask masculine woman. ⁓ you never show me a picture. ⁓ I got you. We'll be posting these on Instagram. I want to show you the state. They were the. So this is her right here. That's the individual one, but I want to show you the other one too. I can see why men didn't fuck with her. She's not like hideous. No, she's just ⁓ very she's a presence. Are there more? Yeah, This is about time. Wait, isn't that an impressive picture? I thought that was her in the middle. No, she's on the end. Yeah, and she's wearing a suit. Yeah. I guess they all are. I'm like pushing, pushing my narrative on this poor woman. Yeah, you're like stereotyping. Rude Make it make sense. Why didn't she have any kids? They probably would have been amazing. I was joking about her being bored. You heard her resume. Come on. She didn't have time for that. That's very true. Ain't nobody got time for Yeah. So should I do the farmer's almanac? Yeah. Let's do it. So today is March 5th. The 5th. Launch day of Two Tools No Clue podcast. for listening. I shouldn't have said last week. Like, this happened today. Yeah, because they're both going out. So Thursday, March 5th. Ella and Austin Curtis created 531.178 pound Nana Nana. And I'm far setting record in Lavic, Ontario, 2020. nothing to me. Good job, Canada. Thanks, Canada. All right, if you want to follow us on social media Facebook Instagram YouTube you can follow us at two tools no clue podcast Tick-tock is at two tools no clue You can subscribe to our patreon at patreon.com slash two tools no clue and you can email us your stories your critiques your feelings your feedback your your topic ideas you want to yell at me about immigrants. Yeah, anything. You can email us at twotoolsnocluepodcast at gmail.com. Thanks guys, we love you. Yeah, we love you guys. Be safe out there. We'll see you next week. Bye.