in town. In 1937, Kingston-born William E. Leppä was appointed to the Minnesota State Board of Education.

Dassel: Eight miles due south of Kingston lies Dassel, a village of 614 persons in 1950, but which at the turn of the century included 150 Finns. As in other areas of Finnish settlement mentioned previously, the Dassel Finns have been primarily farmers. In the county fairs in 1923 and 1924 a Finn, Henry B. Abrahamson, won first prizes for his farm products; he also served as chairman of the Meeker County Guernsey Association and as a member of the Dassel school board.

The biggest population center in Meeker County is Litchfield (4,608 persons in 1950) about ten miles south of Dassel. Finns have not lived there, but during the Finnish Winter War a relief committee organized in Dassel, with D. F. Nordström as chairman, was able to raise $2,000 in funds in the Dassel-Kingston region.

In the county as a whole, the number and percentage of Finns in the population has been declining. With the total population of the county averaging 18,000 to 19,000, the Finns in 1920 numbered 233 but fell to 57 in 1950.

Kandiyohi County : At the turn of the century there were 3 Finns living in the county; the figure rose to 72 in 1940 but then fell back to 3 again in 1950. There was a Finnish relief committee in Willmar during the war, with O. F. Grangaard as its chairman.

Chippewa County : In 1900 there was one Finn in the county, and in 1910 there were three, but in 1940 the figure had dropped back to one. In Montevideo there was a Finnish relief committee with Oscar J. Halvorson as chairman; in Maynard, with E. G. Hein.

Big Stone County: In 1910 there was one Finnish resident; in 1920 there were three. In Graceville and in Ortonville (part of which lies in Dakota) there were Finnish relief committees, with J. Roy Geier and G. McRae, respectively, as their chairmen.

Traverse County : Two Finns resided here in 1900, but between 1910-1930 there was but one.

Stevens County: One Finn was listed in the census statistics in 1900 through 1930.

Grant County: The 1900-1920 figures listed two Finns; subsequent figures, one.

Pope County: In 1910 there were five Finns. In 1920 there were two, Johan Olson-Kaitaniemi and Jalmar Olson by name. They lived in Farwell village, on the northern edge of the county, on the fringe of the fairly large Finnish area in Douglas County.

114