Finnish

FinnFest USA Set for Tampere, Finland, in June

Have passport, will travel. I have known since last fall that FinnFest 2018 would be held in Tampere, Finland. In fact, knowing this spurred me to acquire a USA passport. Now, I have learned the dates: June 24-July 1. The following note is posted on the FinnFest USA Facebook page: It’s happening! FinnFest in Tampere June

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My 2017 Year-End Letter to Relatives and Friends

December 2017 Greetings from Brecksville, This is the toughest year-end letter I have ever written. My trusted proofreader is not available to give her stamp of approval. It has been seven months since MJ passed away after a lengthy period of declining health. Fortunately, she was able to spend her last days at our home

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Finnish Immigrants in Cleveland by 1915

Recently, while checking the extent of Finnish immigration to Cleveland, I found a report in the Western Reserve Historical Society Research Library entitled Foreign People in Cleveland. It was in a 1915 reprint from the Western Reserve University Bulletin, Vol. XIX, No. 8 published by the Flora Stone Mather College Alumnae Historical Association. The reprint is

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Small World Dept: Meeting Up with a Cousin

Last evening, I presented a program, “Some Experiences with Finnish Genealogy,” at the Geneva (Ohio) Public Library. Among the attendees were James Siekkinen and his wife Nancy. Jim is my first cousin once removed and they live in Ashtabula, Ohio. In reminiscing after my presentation, he said he remembered visiting our house in Andover, Ohio, as

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Hooray! Ancestry.com Adds New York Death Records

If you have ever tried to research death records in New York State, you know it was a big pain. The state death index existed only on microfilm and was accessible only in a half dozen libraries across the state. You had to know the year of death to be able to browse these records

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Some Links to Read about President Niinistö of Finland

As a followup to my attendance at FinnFest 2017 in Minneapolis last week (Sep 21 – 24), I have done some Google research to find links to news coverage of President Niinistö’s visit. Here is a brief selection: Dropping the Puck at NHL hockey pre-season game https://www.nhl.com/wild/news/finland-president-visits-092117/c-291247206 The President’s Personal Webpage: http://www.tpk.fi/public/default.aspx?contentid=365353&culture=en-US’ U of M

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A Blast from the Past: FinnFest 2007 Program Notes

I can hardly believe that it was 10 years ago that FinnFest was in Ashtabula. Having just returned from Minneapolis and FinnFest 2017, I was curious about what publicity for that earlier event might still be available. So I went online and checked the website for the Star Beacon, the daily newspaper published in Ashtabula.

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One Hundred Years of Finland’s Independence

Dec 6, 2017, is the day Finland will officially celebrate its centennial as an independent country. In the lead-up to that momentous day, it is appropriate that Finland has a website with information about the centennial: Suomi Finland 100. The page on that website that is very interesting to me is “One hundred years of

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Hello to Finnish Cousins

I just received word via email that notice of my recent posts about Cousin Matti sending Kaapro Huuskonen’s biography to me, and how he and my brother Walfrid translated it into English, has been circulated to other Huuskonen (original spelling of surname) cousins. For their benefit, in case they take a look at this blog,

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Burning the Turnip Patch

In today’s earlier post containing Kaapro (aka Gabriel) Huuskonen’s biography, there was the following statement about his farming practices in Finland: “Every summer he burned off a small patch for turnips … ” This intrigued me so I did a Google Search and came up with an interesting website exactly about this practice in Finland.

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