Swedish American Genealogist

Volume 26 | Number 2 Article 5

6-1-2006 The miE gration from the Valley Sture Torikka

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Recommended Citation Torikka, Sture (2006) "The miE gration from the Tornio Valley," Swedish American Genealogist: Vol. 26 : No. 2 , Article 5. Available at: https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/swensonsag/vol26/iss2/5

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center at Augustana Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Swedish American Genealogist by an authorized editor of Augustana Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The emigration from the Tornio Valley (Tornedalen)

People left from all parts of the country, even the far north

BY STURE TORIKKA

The emigration to North America Stranded sailors of have for centuries from Norrbotten, in northern-most It happened sometimes: some people walked or skied to northern Norway Sweden, started in earnest during traveled to and fro and found it dif- in times of poverty. They had open the latter half of the 1870s. In the ficult to settle in one place. As early harbors without ice there, which Tornio River Valley (Tornedalen/ as 1858 the sailor Peter Tumber arri- made life easier than at home. When Tornionlaakso) the emigration per- ved in the port of New York, where the copper works started at Kåfjord haps did not start in earnest until the he mustered out and stayed when his in Northern Norway in the 1820s this 1880s. This article focuses on the first ship continued. His real name is said gave work opportunities for a grow- emigrants from the Tornio Valley, to have been Tornberg and he was ing population in the river valleys who left their homes in the summers born in Nedertorneå. In contrast to and along the coast. This is true not of 1865 and 1866. Mansten, he stayed in the U.S. only for the Tornio Valley but also for At times it happened that men Perhaps he was the first person from large parts of northern Sweden and from the Tornio Valley found em- the Tornio Valley to settle in the U.S.? northern . People even did ployment as sailors, and it is easy to Peter Tumber found work on move there from as far away as Da- imagine that some of them arrived American ships and travelled along larna. One of the first men from Tor- at various ports in America and the Mississippi river and around the nio Valley was the fisherman Mickel mustered out and stayed behind Gulf of Mexico. During the Civil War Harnesk and his family from Över- when their ship set sail again. he served in the Union navy and took torneå who arrived in Kåfjord as From the village of Niemis (pre- part in several sea battles. In 1867 early as 1827. sent day name: Luppio) in Hieta- he moved to the harbor city of Erie, niemi parish we find the share- Pennsylvania, and spent the rest of Miners as emigrants cropper’s son Emanuel Mansten who his life as a farm owner. The copper works in Kåfjord suffered went to sea first in 1853. He came During the Crimean War (1854- decline in both production and econ- home for short periods and found 1856) a number of Finnish sailors omy from the end of the 1860s. In time to get married and father child- were stranded in some of the larger 1866 the English investors wanted ren. He left again but came home American ports, and some of them to close down the whole operation. regularly. In 1860 he is recorded as stayed on in the U.S. There are The economic situation for the Kå- “sailor, sailing in foreign waters.” In sources that claim that about a hund- fjord Copper Works was problematic. the court records from Nedertorneå red Finnish sailors served in the There had not been any emigra- District Court in 1883 concerning Union navy during the Civil War. tion from Finnmarken before then, some unrelated matters, he tells that but in 1864 there were 20 emigrants “he had made several journeys to Many reasons for to America from Alta. Most of them America.” Emanuel Mansten, later travelled by way of Tromsø, where known as a photographer in Hapa- emigration two ships from Bergen were boarded randa under the name of Andersson, As in Norrbotten, the major wave of by 200-300 emigrants. Among those emigrated in 1875 without his certi- emigration to the U.S. did not start who left because of the bad times at ficate of moving out (utflyttnings- in Finland until some decades later. Kåfjord were a large number of kvän- betyg), and this was his first actual Reasons and backgrounds for migra- er (Finnish-speaking people). As the emigration. His other travels to and tion are numerous, and that is why Civil War was going on in the U.S. at from America were when he was a the phenomenon of migration has that time, it was a good time for the sailor. He came home a year later, but existed among our ancestors at all American copper works. At the same did not stay. Instead he made an- times. The Finnish-speaking people time many men were joining the other journey to and from America. Swedish American Genealogist 2006:2 9 Hammerfest

NORWAY *Kåfjord

Tromsö

RUSSIA

FINLAND

SWEDEN Torneå/Tornio

Union army, and there was a lack of Three early emigrants emigrated to Norway in 1853 and in skilled miners. The agents that had Thus the first wave of the Tornio 1864 to North America. He settled in been sent to northern Norway by the Valley people left from northern Franklin, Minnesota. Rovainen was Quincy Mining Company of Michigan Norway during the spring and sum- a farmer’s son from Haapakylä, who promised the kväner in the Nor- mer of 1864. Who exactly these came to Norway in 1858 and went wegian mines prepaid tickets. This emigrants were has not been stated. on to the U.S. later. He is said to have was a big help and an enticement for The emigrants were born on both started a new settlement in Frank- the Tornio Valley and the Finnish shores of the Tornio river with indi- lin, Minnesota, already in 1865. In people there, as they had never viduals from the Swedish parishes of that area a little colony of Finns was before received such a good offer. One Nedertorneå, Karl Gustaf, Hieta- established. Anders was the father might guess that the Tornio Valley niemi, and Övertorneå, as well as of Johan Abraham Rovainen, born in people did not hesitate long before from and Alkkula () 1865, whose tombstone states that they started on their second emigra- on the Finnish side of the river. he was the first Finnish baby born tion, this time for North America. On the first emigrant vessels in in Minnesota. Finally, Mickel Heikka During the next two decades between 1864 were found, among others, An- 700 and 1,000 “Finns” arrived in the ders Rovainen, who was born in U.S. Övertorneå, Petter Lahti, born in Nedertorneå, and Mickel Heikka from Finnish Övertorneå. Lahti was a farmer’s son who 10 Swedish American Genealogist 2006:2 group of travellers direct emigrant from the Tornio went on to Quebec and Valley, arriving in New York in Sep- from there to Chicago tember 1865, the total travelling and finally reached St. time from the moment they left their Peter in Minnesota home until landing in New York was after many weeks on one month and two days. Rova and the road. Lahti also his family travelled on a steamship. functioned as a link It is more difficult to say how long a for the later Finnish- voyage by sailing ship took, as it speaking immigrants depended on the weather. A typical to the U.S. He was time for the crossing was between also recruited as a twelve and eighteen days, if you went soldier for the Union on the older type of ship that com- army, an event which bined sail and steam. Those ships happened during the were more susceptible to bad weath- fall of 1864. He was a er than the next generation of pure soldier for about ten steamships, which normally took months until the eight days for the crossing. But in the peace was concluded total travelling time one must also the following year. count the time used for land travel. According to other So Rova’s 32 days can function as a sources, it says that median time for the Tornio Valley Anders Rovainen did emigrants during the latter half of not arrive until 1865. the 1860s, at least for the ones travelling by steamships. Three phases of emigration The pioneers from the To sum up: we first Tornio Valley have sailors from the Rumors about the possibilities in “the Tornio Valley who promised land” of America reached jumped ship or stayed people back home amazingly quickly. behind and settled in The first man from the Valley who the U.S. Then we have asked for a moving certificate [flytt- the miners from the ningsbetyg] to go to America did so Tornio Valley who left in the beginning of April 1865. Some- from northern Nor- thing had happened in Lappträsk way. In the third wave village of Karl Gustaf parish – we have the emi- “America Fever” had hit. grants who arrived Stories spread very quickly and directly from their already in April 1865 four families homes in the Valley. from Lappträsk with a total of 24 In most cases the individuals went to the parish minis- emigrants during the ter in Karunki and explained that The Tornio Valley. 1860s and 1870s trav- they wanted to leave their country elled by way of northern Norway. In and move to the other side of the At- also emigrated in 1864 from Vadsö Norway they boarded a ship at Vadsö lantic. They needed a written permit in Norway and settled in Franklin, or Hammerfest and travelled to that listed their family members and Minnesota. Trondheim or Bergen. From there their conduct. These four families all Petter Lahti was an unusually they either went on a direct ship to had Swedish names and had their interesting man in at least two ways. Quebec in Canada, or in some cases, origins mostly in the parish of Neder- First, it is known that he emigrated New York, but most often they went kalix. Their mother tongue was with his family in April 1864 on a to Hull in England, and then on the evidently Swedish. Norwegian sailing ship from Ham- railroad to Liverpool, where they The first family was the former merfest to Montreal in Canada. An- boarded ocean liners. They probably farmer Erik Magnus Jakobsson and ders Rovainen is said to have been had to wait a few days in England. his wife Florentina Sandberg and on the same voyage, which lasted for According to information from their four children. They asked for a seven weeks. From Montreal the Isak Rova, who was probably the first moving certificate for “Norrge. Amer-

Swedish American Genealogist 2006:2 11 ika,” and then went to northern Norway. But further than that they never went; there was no voyage on the Atlantic. Instead they returned to Lappträsk from Norway during late fall of 1865. This was the first planned direct emigration from the Tornio Valley. What happened to them in northern Norway that made them change their plans is not known. When they returned they also brought a fifth child, Johan Fredrik, born in Hammerfest in Sep- tember 1865. Next were three other Lappträsk families: farmer Lars Olof Bergström and his wife Lisa Greta and their four children; farmer Henrik Wilhelm Lithner and his wife Greta Lena and their three children; and farmer Jo- han Bäckström and his wife Johanna and their five children. From the same village came the Finnish log cabin from 1865, Cokato, Minnesota. Photo by Joan Dwyer. lodger Anders August Sundkvist who Välimaas finally settled, it is still told lived in the U.S. he continued to send wanted to leave during the month of that John Walimaa had a commis- reports back to Tornio Valley from the June. He changed his mind and sion to find good places for future various places he visited. Within a returned his permit in early July. It immigrants from the Tornio Valley to year after his immigration other has been said that a moving certi- settle. Part of his mission was to immigrants from the Valley started ficate was valid only for one month regularly report back home on the to arrive. Just a few days after Väli- from the date of issue, otherwise it possibilities to earning good wages in maa’s decision to emigrate, his neigh- was cancelled. Sundkvist returned the U.S. During the first five years bor Johan Henrik Perttu and his wife his permit well within the month. he travelled from the East Coast to Elisabet also started to think about Minnesota and had had time to live emigration but changed their minds Johan Välimaa in both Pennsylvania and Michigan. and stayed home. Now the Finnish-speaking neighbors After about eight years in Minnesota were waking up. Naturally it was an- he and his family travelled by train The Rova story other man from Lappträsk who had to Pendleton in Eastern Oregon. Other parts of Karl Gustaf parish been caught by the talk about Amer- They travelled twice there and lived also started to move. In Korpikylä, ika in the village. Farmer Johan for a while in Astoria on the coast of just by the river shore, the farmer Välimaa and his wife Eva and their Oregon. Later they returned to the Isak Rova, born in Haapakylä in three children at Kauppila farm in area of New York Mills in Minnesota, Övertorneå, and his wife Greta Toljus Lappträsk asked for their moving where John Walimaa purchased a (Torikka) and their four children certificate for Norra Amerika in July larger farm of 120 acres. The place asked for their moving certificate in 1865. Johan Välimaa was born in was named Heinola. the middle of July 1865. This is the Hietaniemi and had come to Lapp- In the early 1900 John’s wife Eva second totally Finnish-speaking fam- träsk through his marriage. This died and John decided to return ily from the Swedish side of the Tor- seems to be the first Finnish-speak- home to die and be buried in the soil nio Valley who emigrated directly to ing family from Swedish Tornio of his ancestors. His five children the U.S., but may well have been the Valley who aimed to go to America, stayed in the U.S. In the late sum- first ones to land on American soil. but it is not certain that they were mer of 1907 he came back to his In a letter sent home three months the first to cross the Atlantic. Accord- ancestral village of Koivukylä (Hede- later Isak tells that they had arrived ing to a local tradition in their new näset), but had already caught in New York just “1 month and 2 home in Minnesota, they had travel- pneumonia. He died only a few weeks days” after leaving their home in led on a clipper ship (and these later, in early October, and was Korpikylä. The Rova family arrived needed several weeks for the voyage). buried in the cemetery of his home at Castle Garden, New York, on the In Deer Creek Township, Otter parish Hietaniemi, in the same soil 7th of September 1865. Tail County, Minnesota, where the as his fathers. Isak also tells that the family had During the 42 years John Walimaa 12 Swedish American Genealogist 2006:2 been forced to stay in New York for Rathbone in early November 1865. emigrants in 1866: former farmer three weeks as their travelling All of them were Swedish- Nils Alrik Koski (Holk) and his wife money, which they had in gold coins, speaking emigrants. Maria Gustafva (they settled in Ban- had been stolen. Later in September From northern Norway the emi- don Township, Franklin, Minnesota, they all went to Chicago, where they gration kept growing among the min- where he died 1906); farmer Anders stayed, even though their first inten- ers from the Swedish Tornio Valley Sepponen with his wife Eva Lisa and tion had been to go to fertile Minne- and Finland. two children, who settled in Cokato; sota, where the Federal government In 1866 the parishes that did farmer Per Selvelä and his son Jo- distributed farmland for free. nothing in 1865 started to move. In han Oskar; farmer Nils Selvälä from This immigrant family ended up Övertorneå the dug-out dweller Isak Karsikkojärvi travelled alone. He in the big city of Chicago with more Parpa, wife, and one son from Haa- built himself a cabin in the woods of than 200,000 inhabitants. Like John pakylä decided to start on this long Cokato in 1867, after having lived for Walimaa, Isak Rova also wrote back journey, and got their moving certif- some time in Red Wing, Minnesota. about the possibilities of a good in- icates in June 1866. Parpa, who was The servant girl Brita Johanna Törn- come that were offered. After only Americanized to Barberg, became a gren travelled alone (after arriving seven weeks in the U.S., Isak knew farmer in Cokato, Minnesota. They in Minnesota, she married Nils Sel- almost everything about his new were followed by the dug-out dweller välä); the farmer Erik Lappiniemi fantastic homeland. He tells about Isak Brännström and his family from with his wife Helena and six daugh- the fertile soil, lots of game in the Kuivakangas. They are supposed to ters. forests, and fabulous earning oppor- have lived for some time in Cokato, From the city of Haparanda the tunities. This is one of the exag- but arrived back in Övertorneå al- only immigrant was the young man geratedly positive rumors concerning ready in July 1867. Their only child, Karl Gustaf Strömberg. America that went the rounds in the son Karl, died in America only two In northern Norway the emigra- home parishes of the emigrants. months after arrival, which might tion went on as before, as well as However, Isak Rova did not get to have been a contributing cause for from the Finnish side of the Tornio reap the benefits of these fine earn- their return. Isak Brännström later Valley. From there, for example, left ing opportunities, as he died of became a Laestadian preacher and Anders Kauvosaari from Finnish consumption after only about four drowned in 1873. Övertorneå. He is supposed to have years in Chicago. travelled in 1866 and afterwards And more lived in Holmes City, where he called More immigrants Hietaniemi had three emigrating himself Anderson. Also Gustaf Frisk In Lappträsk village the interest in families in 1866: farmer Johan (Sukki) left and later lived in Frank- America grew and farmer Johan Paloniemi and his family from lin, Minnesota. Henrik Ekman, his wife, and five Vitsaniemi; former farmer Per Väli- children got their moving certificates maa and his wife Maria Magdalena, A break in the only a few days after the Rovas. But and one child from Vuomajärvi; and immigration they also changed their minds and former farmer Johan Mäki, his wife, Almost immediately after the start stayed in their home village. and children from Koivukylä. of the emigration there is a decrease As said above, Karl Gustaf has Johan Paloniemi was called John in the number of emigrants. From more than their share of emigrants Palm in America, and settled in Das- Övertorneå no emigrants are of- in 1865, but from nearby Hietaniemi sel, Minnesota. ficially recorded for the period 1867- we find the settler [nybyggare] Johan Per Välimaa was called Peter 1870, only emigrants with desti- Sundbäck, his wife, and eight child- Peterson and lived with his family in nations like Norway and Finland. ren from Saarijärvi who left their Holmes City, Minnesota. His wife Of the ones that went to Norway home. The Sundbäcks arrived in was a sister of John Walimaa’s. some will probably show up in the New York on the bark McRathbone From Karl Gustaf parish came the U.S. later on. There are no emigrants th on 4 November 1865, and later former farmer Johan Jakob Haara from Hietaniemi, Nedertorneå, or became farmers at Manistee in Mich- and his family from Keräsjoki, and Haparanda, and just two from Karl igan. they seem to have settled in Holmes Gustaf; it is a bit strange. In 1871 The settler Karl Petter Nilsson and City, Minnesota. From the same Övertorneå has one family recorded his family from Kiilisjärvi received parish came the farmer´s daughter and two single individuals, but none their moving certificates just two Eva Pipping from Korpikylä, who from Hietaniemi. From Karl Gustaf days later. Another settler from seems to have travelled alone. She four single people emigrated in 1871 Kiilisjärvi was Elias Eliasson and his later married a man named Viinikka as well as two families. Nedertorneå family who left another ten days lat- from Kukkola. They married in had eight emigrants and Haparanda er. He is probably identical to “Olof Cokato, Minnesota. just one. There is no change in the Olofsson,” who arrived on the Mc- Nedertorneå also sent their first

Swedish American Genealogist 2006:2 13 emigration from northern Norway: More information? Isak Parpa had built in 1866, have emigration continued. This is a compilation about the first through their own contacts with their The stream of emigrants from the pioneers from eastern Norrbotten local mayor received an official paper Tornio Valley is still not constant, for who emigrated to North America. linking Cokato and Övertorneå as sis- some years no emigrants were re- The information can never be com- ter cities. The descendant Harvey corded. From Hietaniemi the emigra- plete, but if any of the SAG readers Barberg solemnly handed the docu- tion to North America continued in knows anything about those early ment to the kommunalråd [coun- 1873 with six individuals, 1874-1875 immigrants I would appreciate hear- cillor] of Övertorneå at the big stage no emigrants were recorded, 1876 ing from you. during the Övertorneå summer mar- just one, 1877 five, and in 1878 six. It is with great joy that I can see ket. The picture is the same in the other that Övertorneå kommun has ac- The circle has been closed. Tornio Valley parishes. But in the cepted these findings on the earliest 1880s the emigration increases and emigration from this area. What in This article has been published in from now on grew every year, and 1866 was regarded as the start of a Swedish in Släkthistoriskt Forum that is true for all the Tornio Valley negative development concerning 4/05. parishes. In the upper valley the the population has 140 years later Translation by Elisabeth Thorsell emigration starts a few years later. changed to a positive view; as a and Christopher Olsson. From then on the number of possibility to promote the area both emigrants from Tornio Valley has commercially and as a tourist goal. grown every year, and does not In July 2006 the municipality has decrease until the economic crisis realized the unusual project of in- during the later 1920s. But we find viting two of the descendants of the emigrants still during the 1930s, as first emigrants from the munici- Contact information well as a few during the 1940s, 80 pality, Isak Parpa and his wife Eva Sture Torikka lives in Luleå, years after their forbears’ daring Maria. These descendants from Sweden. decision to emigrate and after their Cokato, in fact living in the same E-mail: laborious and demanding travels buildings and on the same farm as both on land and at sea.

The first “savusauna” [smoke sauna] built in 1868 on the Parpa farm near Cokato, Minnesota. Now moved to Cokato Open Air Museum. Photo by Joan Dwyer.

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