Mary Ralph Erkkila and Annie Sullivan Ralph Family Papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MS-952

Staff Only

Collection Scope and Content Summary

Family papers, 1861-2003, compiled or produced by Mary Ralph Erkkila, her mother Annie Sullivan Ralph, and their relatives on the lives and familial relationships of the Sullivan and Ralph families in the Upper Midwest. The collection, which includes a wide range of materials, also documents certain members of the Erkkila family. In her later years, Mary Helen Erkkila prepared a family scrapbook that incorporated her memories of life and her relatives, photographs spanning the 20th century, family obituaries and war reports clipped from newspapers, correspondence, and assorted other materials. Items pertaining to Erkkila's death were later added by her descendants.

In addition to the scrapbook, materials compiled by Annie Sullivan Ralph illustrate the Sullivans and Ralphs through photographs, letters, greeting cards, marriage licenses, insurance and war bond certificates, probate documents, and other related materials. Of particular interest are Civil War enlistment and discharge papers, as well as pension certificates, for John Ralph, Annie's father-in-law.

Dates

1861-2003

Language of Material

English

Access

Available for use in the Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections.

Conditions Governing Use

Various copying restrictions apply. Guidelines are available from Michigan Technological University Archives & Copper Country Historical Collections.

Biography

Honora Anna (“Annie”) Sullivan was born July 26, 1877 in Franklin Township, Houghton County, Michigan, to Irish immigrants John and Johannah (Hanley) Sullivan; she was one of six children. Following the death of her mother, Annie took responsibility for household upkeep and cared for her father and older brothers.

On August 19, 1908, Annie married Frank A. Ralph, a carpenter who later became the chief of the Hancock police. Over the next twelve years, she became the mother of six children: Madaline Annie, Arthur Gribble, Helen Mary, WIlliam Francis, John Sullivan, and Frank Arthur, Jr.

Annie was widowed in 1940 and died in Hancock on November 21, 1949, at the age of seventy-two. She was buried in Houghton’s Forest Hill Cemetery.

Mary Helen Ralph, daughter of Frank and Annie Ralph, was born in Hancock on May 17, 1913. Christened Helen Mary, she reversed the order of her given names while in school and received a legal name change in 1961.

Mary spent her childhood in Hancock and graduated from the town’s St. Patrick Catholic School in 1932. In her junior year of high school, a friend introduced Mary to Ernest “Ernie” Erkkila, eight years her senior. The two were married at the rectory of St. Patrick’s on October 20, 1934 and had three sons: Ernest John, William, and Robert.

Following their marriage, the Erkkilas moved to L'Anse, Michigan and then to Pontiac, Michigan, where Mary’s sister and her family resided. Less than three years after the birth of their youngest son, Ernest died suddenly, leaving Mary a widow. She remained single for the rest of her life and worked at General Motors in the Truck and Coach Division until 1971.

Mary Helen Erkkila passed away in Midland, Michigan at age ninety-two on March 26, 2003.