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 subscripon 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 oen confusion about ancestors who spoke Swedish but were born in Finland. As a maer of fact, their family history may be in Finland’s church ck records as far ba as anything was recorded. [I like to s think as far back a pre Viking, but that’s not yet provable.]

Or they could have come in during the centuries of Hanseac League power and be ethnically Balc German. Or Romani/ Gypsy. Or were sent from Sweden to serve the Crown any me aer 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 beer ☺

1920 census takers asked immigrants what year they entered the US and if they had been naturalized. Somemes having those dates can narrow the field as we search other databases for passenger lists and Naturalizaon data.

SFHS pays subscripon fees to Ancestry, Genealogy Bank, Migraon Instute, and so on out of donaons to the Genealogy office. Volunteers of course are NOT paid. We do it for love, Hasse believe me. Nygård, is not paid. He walked up aer a lecture about SFHS at Finland’s Genealogical Society in Helsingfors in 2001, and simply asked if we needed help with S our webpages. YE we did. Then he proceeded to develop TALKO and Finlander, so people had databases and discussion forums to access if they had quesons or names to research.

1920 census from St. Louis county MN [in which West Duluth is located] shows us that Anders ted Emil immigra in 1902.

He has stopped using his first name, Anders, which is a common pracce in Scandinavia. The first name is given upon the child’s bapsm to honor a relave, 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 ven using their gi first names, the new tradion.

Emil arrived in 1902. Wife Katherine arrived in the US 1905. Note the census taker carefully recorded gin, land of ori Finland, AND mother tongue, Swedish. Not all census takers are so careful.

The couple achieved cizenship in 1919. Note: Nephew Carl Erickson is 5, living with them. ress Parents dead?? Add 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 1920.

Emil is machinist in match factory. f 11 year old Rol 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 sll standing, in which your ancestors sc! lived. Fanta

Perhaps he registered for the dra for WW !. Here’s his dra registraon 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 noce that his wife is now Karen, r not Katarina o Katherine. Names are oen worn down with use in the new language, English.

What about that extra scribble under ‘of which naon are you a subject?’ First “Finland” was ssia” wrien. Then “Ru was squashed in above it. Emil le Finland 15 years before it achieved independence as a naon.

Tracing Katrina’s journey from her homeland took some me, but by seeking a Katrina or Katarina about 21 going to Duluth in the year 1905, eventually a woman fing 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 e in the Instut of Migraon 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 -­‐ aer a space -­‐ servants. Then inerant crasmen. Even peddlers, tailors, blacksmiths.

Soldiers were oen listed in the last pages of the Book.

The pastor was required to keep nd track of residents a report to the royal treasury, since his record was the basis for the tax system.

I would like to find Emil’s family s in Finland. Perhap his descendants would travel “home” to Finland ere to see wh he was born and grew up. Perhaps his reasons for emigrang would become clearer.

So I’ll explore HisKI Project, Finland’s Genealogical Society’s database. Perhaps he will show up in Christenings.

Stascally he is probably from Svensk Österboen. So I’ll click on secon 15, then select ALL. hp://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 patronymic name, or . So I enter Gustaf as the father’s name.

You will discover that some parishes have NOT released their parish data aer a certain date perhaps to abide by privacy laws in place when the books were filmed. Somemes 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 Österboen to have that parcular year, first name and father’s name combinaon. The birthdate which corresponds to Emil’s Dra Registraon. Note that the mother has “35-­‐40” in the column aer her names. That is her age at Emil’s birth. It appears here as an approximate. Oen it’s a single number which points us to that Birth year in her birth parish records. No other notaon means that she’s probably Larsmo also from . Now we could connue back for generaons.

Finnish Family History Associaon 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 terested are most in in Finnish-­‐speaking parishes, so there are some Swedish-­‐speaking parishes missing.

We’re looking Larsmo for . But it’s probably listed by its more recent Finnish name. Click on the led “L” Aha. It’s cal Luoto in Finnish.

Now choose “Syntyneet” or “Bapsm/Births”. Choose the era which surrounds his birth year of 1883. .

Remember Google Translate can quickly translate from Finnish to English. hps://translate.google.com

Since 1883 is somewhere half way between the year record was opened, and the year it ended, ge I’m going for pa #104.

And there he is, recorded in the hand of the pastor, his father’s occupaon listed, as well as the Godparents.

Btw I went back and opened TALKO, ro. and found Katrina B Her marriage date was not listed. So NO one has found that in a database.

Find the church in North America where y they most likel bapsed their children. Perhaps in the Pastor’s n-­‐member book of “No

Acts”. The marriage may well have occurred there as well.

AND the County Courthouse archives applicaons for naturalizaon can also be very informave. You can pay for a copy of your relave’s paperwork. If they changed their name substanally, the original may be listed t under “wha 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 A, to the US marrying here, moving back to Finland, nce and deciding o again that the USA was where their e children should b raised.

The Sundquists were part of the 20% who returned to Finland. However they didn’t stay hey there, and thus t 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 wring an enre enging, book seems chall you can preserve your ancestors’ names.

Open the SFHS home page, click on #11 in the menu list on the le, Documenng Every Emigrant, and click on the link towards the boom of the page. Fill the form in. “Send” and you’re done.

You can write down memories of life n in a Swedish Fin 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, ng and hard worki individuals. Let’s not let any name . be forgoen