Finding the Elusive Ancestors - Swedish Finn Historical Society

Solving the Mystery Some people seem to disappear A certificate of good standing in your parish church [BETYG] worked
like a passport as you moved to another farm or another parish for a
new job or schooling.
You were required to present it to the pastor in your new parish
immediately. With the certificate in hand, you could obtain a
passport to leave the country, for a fee at the Provincial Clerk’s
office. The year the passport was issued is a good clue to when the
person emigrated.
If it was issued before 1917, when Finland was still a Grand Duchy
of Russia, one of the languages in which it was written was Russian.
You will also see Finnish, Swedish, and German.
A few lucky families have the document in the family collection.
Check with your relatives. Maybe they have some items that hold
clues. Postcards, letters and photos from friends in Finland also
hold clues.
The query is asking us to look for: Henry Gustafson Lived in Issaquah WA Died in 2000 at age 84 Parents listed as Emil and Katrina Gustafson Lived in Duluth MN Where should I go next? To the subscripMon website Ancestry.com. Census records may reveal when they came from Finland, and even perhaps a record of naturalizaton can be found there. There is o)en confusion about ancestors who spoke Swedish but were born in Finland. As a ma;er of fact, their family history may be in Finland’s church records as far back as anything was recorded. [I like to think as far back as pre Viking, but that’s not yet provable.] Or they could have come in during the centuries of HanseaGc League power and be ethnically BalGc German. Or Romani/
Gypsy. Or were sent from Sweden to serve the Crown any Gme a)er 1150 when Sweden’s rulers co-­‐opted much of what we now call Finland. And when descendants knew their emigrant forefathers spoke Swedish it was natural to assume that they came from Sweden! But now you know be;er ☺ 1920 census takers asked immigrants what year they entered the US and if they had been naturalized. SomeGmes having those dates can narrow the field as we search other databases for passenger lists and NaturalizaGon data. SFHS pays subscripGon fees to Ancestry, Genealogy Bank, MigraGon InsGtute, and so on out of donaGons to the Genealogy office. Volunteers of course are NOT paid. We do it for love, believe me. Hasse Nygård, is not paid. He walked up a)er a lecture about SFHS at Finland’s Genealogical Society in Helsingfors in 2001, and simply asked if we needed help with our webpages. YES we did. Then he proceeded to develop TALKO and Finlander, so people had databases and discussion forums to access if they had quesGons or names to research. 1920 census from St. Louis county MN [in which West Duluth is located] shows us that Anders Emil immigrated in 1902. He has stopped using his first name, Anders, which is a common pracGce in Scandinavia. The first name is given upon the child’s bapGsm to honor a relaGve, such as a grandfather. The second name is the one most commonly used to address a child, so that there are not too many people with the same moniker in the household. Emil’s children, born in America, are using their given first names, the new tradiGon. Emil arrived in 1902. Wife Katherine arrived in the US in 1905. Note the census taker carefully recorded land of origin, Finland, AND mother tongue, Swedish. Not all census takers are so careful. The couple achieved ciGzenship in 1919. Note: Nephew Carl Erickson is 5, living with them. Parents dead?? Address is on Wadena Street, which can help verify that we have the correct Emil Gustafson out of the dozens who are in the mid-­‐west in 1920. Emil is machinist in match factory. 11 year old Rolf is “salesman for a paper” ie a paper boy. Today you can put an address into Zillow and get a satelite image of the house, if it’s sGll standing, in which your ancestors lived. FantasGc! Perhaps he registered for the dra) for WW !. Here’s his dra) registraGon card. Lots of info! We have Emil’s birth data. With a birthday, we can more easily narrow down the Gustafsons born in Finland. The house address corresponds to the census record as well. And noGce that his wife is now Karen, not Katarina or Katherine. Names are o)en worn down with use in the new language, English. What about that extra scribble under ‘of which naGon are you a subject?’ First “Finland” was wri;en. Then “Russia” was squashed in above it. Emil le) Finland 15 years before it achieved independence as a naGon. Tracing Katrina’s journey from her homeland took some Gme, but by seeking a Katrina or Katarina about 21 going to Duluth in the year 1905, eventually a woman fikng those parameters showed up with the last name of BRO. If I could have located their marriage license in MN, I would have been sure of the last name to insert in the InsGtute of MigraGon search form. Parish Communion records were opened in about 1550 according to the Swedish king’s command. Every person was listed, with the farm owner and his family first on the page dedicated to that farm unit. A married child who lived on the farm and his/her family came next. Then -­‐ a)er a space -­‐ servants. Then iGnerant cra)smen. Even peddlers, tailors, blacksmiths. Soldiers were o)en listed in the last pages of the Book. The pastor was required to keep track of residents and report to the royal treasury, since his record was the basis for the tax system. I would like to find Emil’s family in Finland. Perhaps his descendants would travel “home” to Finland to see where he was born and grew up. Perhaps his reasons for emigraGng would become clearer. So I’ll explore HisKI Project, Finland’s Genealogical Society’s database. Perhaps he will show up in Christenings. StaGsGcally he is probably from Svensk Österbo;en. So I’ll click on secGon 15, then select ALL. h;p://hiski.genealogia.fi/historia/indexe.htm What do I know about Emil? Only that Emil is one of his names, and he was born in 1883. I’m assuming Gustafson is the father’s name, or patronymic. So I enter Gustaf as the father’s name. You will discover that some parishes have NOT released their parish data a)er a certain date perhaps to abide by privacy laws in place when the books were filmed. SomeGmes it’s as early as 1850, but in a few cases you can access material up to the 1920’s. Since we know the birth year from the US Dra) Record, we enter 1883. Eureka! Larsmo parish is the only parish in Svensk Österbo;en to have that parGcular year, first name and father’s name combinaGon. The birthdate which corresponds to Emil’s Dra) RegistraGon. Note that the mother has “35-­‐40” in the column a)er her names. That is her age at Emil’s birth. It appears here as an approximate. O)en it’s a single number which points us to that Birth year in her birth parish records. No other notaGon means that she’s probably also from Larsmo. Now we could conGnue back for Finnish Family History AssociaGon is a Finnish language database, and parts have been translated into English and Swedish. So choose your flag. It’s volunteers speak mostly Finnish, and are most interested in Finnish-­‐speaking parishes, so there are some Swedish-­‐speaking parishes missing. We’re looking for Larsmo. But it’s probably listed by its more recent Finnish name. Click on the “L” Aha. It’s called Luoto in Finnish. Now choose “Syntyneet” or “BapGsm/Births”. Choose the era which surrounds his birth year of 1883. . Remember Google Translate can quickly translate from Finnish to English. h;ps://translate.google.com Since 1883 is somewhere half way between the year the record was opened, and the year it ended, I’m going for page #104. And there he is, recorded in the hand of the pastor, his father’s occupaGon listed, as well as the Godparents. Btw I went back and opened TALKO, and found Katrina Bro. Her marriage date was not listed. So NO one has found that in a database. Find the church in North America where they most likely bapGsed their children. Perhaps in the Pastor’s book of “Non-­‐member Acts”. The marriage may well have occurred there as well. AND the County Courthouse archives applicaGons for naturalizaGon can also be very informaGve. You can pay for a copy of your relaGve’s paperwork. If they changed their name substanGally, the original may be listed under “what AKA have you been known by since you arrived in the USA?” Sunnie Empie wrote from journals kept by her grandmother and aunt, who describe coming to the USA, marrying here, moving back to Finland, and deciding once again that the USA was where their children should be raised. The Sundquists were part of the 20% who returned to Finland. However they didn’t stay there, and thus they are part of a very small percent who emigrated, you might say, twice. Sunnie’s book was mailed to all members when it came out, as a bonus from SFHS. I’m looking forward to Dick Erickson’s book on Rochester Washington going out to members when it’s published. Even if the idea of wriGng an enGre book seems challenging, you can preserve your ancestors’ names. Open the SFHS home page, click on #11 in the menu list on the le), DocumenGng Every Emigrant, and click on the link towards the bo;om of the page. Fill the form in. “Send” and you’re done. You can write down memories of life in a Swedish Finn family, or church, or lodge, or community. Then email the story, and any scanned documents and photos to SFHS for the history database. The Quarterly happily publishes such materials also. The editor can polish it if you wish. The emigrants were remarkable, daring, and hard working individuals. Let’s not let any name be forgo;en.