Genealogy

[Hemulen]

[Mod.edit: This and the few following posts have been moved to form a new topic (MG).]

I've spent a few weeks searching ancestry sites. It has been so thrilling that I've lost all track on cooking (= having a short break from kitchen activities & waiting for graduation on Dec 20th). Thanks to earlier researchers, free genealogy sites, church(y) records and scanned microfilms, I've found all paternal and maternal family lines online - some of them extending to the 16th century. Most ancestors were smallholding hosts or farmers (and sporadic dogsbodies/servants) without formal education or high posts. The most shocking news was that my late dad's grandfather - a blacksmith's handyman - had joined the reds during the Finnish civil war in 1917-1918. I don't know if my dad or other members of the family even knew that; they never spoke about it. The records don't show whether he was involved in some kind of mischief or activism or if he was just an innocent victim of circumstances, facing war time terror: he was shot to death by opposing whites (right wingers) in his home parish. He was in his 30's, married and had one son (my grandfather), whose fate was to be killed in WW2. The war records show that dad's father served in car troops and died on front but wasn't killed by the Russians (enemy action). He's buried in a formal soldier's grave, so he probably didn't commit suicide. I've been told that he died in an ambush, but probably the death was caused by a car accident or a sudden bout of illness. The car troop journal/diary (which is also microfilmed) has no markings of his actions, accidents or enemy incidents on his date of death.

Summa summarum: my ancestors are from Rääkkylä village in Eastern Finland, from Kuru parish in modern Ylöjärvi, from Linnainen and Häijää villages near Tampere and from Mäntyharju, Vesivehmaa, Heinola and Vähä-Pulkkila close to Lahti. No wonder I´ve taken root in this area, as most ancestors have lived in the vicinity for several centuries.

From the Geni site, I found a humoristic pic of my maternal granddad (a sausage company owner and wholesale entrepreneur, whom I never met, as he was 36 yrs older than my grandmother). He wasn't a nazi but definitely bogarted the well-known moustache.

Is anyone of you interested in genealogy? I'd love to hear all kinds of stories (in addition to those already heard).

 

[TastyReuben]

Is anyone of you interested in genealogy? I'd love to hear all kinds of stories (in addition to those already heard).

My wife is, very much so. She spent a good part of yesterday evening tracking down some ancestors, and found a picture online of her grandmother as a young woman, which excited her no end.

I don't have much interest in all that, though there are some good stories, some anecdotal and some documented.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Summa summarum: my ancestors are from Rääkkylä village in Eastern Finland, from Kuru parish in modern Ylöjärvi, from Linnainen and Häijää villages near Tampere and from Mäntyharju, Vesivehmaa, Heinola and Vähä-Pulkkila close to Lahti. No wonder I´ve taken root in this area, as most ancestors have lived in the vicinity for several centuries.

I had to double check the names, but when my husband & I were trying to cycle around the world, we actually cycled through Mäntyharju.

 

[Hemulen]

My wife is, very much so. She spent a good part of yesterday evening tracking down some ancestors, and found a picture online of her grandmother as a young woman, which excited her no end.

I don't have much interest in all that, though there are some good stories, some anecdotal and some documented.

Yeah, women like your wife and me are likely more interested in looks and in fitting our appearance in ancestral continuum. I was very excited to find and old pic of my maternal great aunt (on the right) and her family. Thin lips and straightforward expressions seem to run in the family :

I guess what really actuated my interest in the subject, was the recent digitalization and publication of all survived Finnish church records (dating back 100 yrs ->). They're persnickety. The clergy and our former occupiers; Swedes and Russians, were pedantic in that sense (partly because they needed to enroll most fit Finns as servicemen). Documented facts (like household specific face-to-face census and annual ecclesiastic Communion events = clerical hearings/exams/interrogations to check the know-how of ABC-spelling and biblical facts) recreate the ancestors and bring fourth general respect just for the fact that they've gone through life and death no matter how good or bad they've happened to be. That makes you think more about your own motivations and actions, too. Many former ancestral siblings moved to Northern America in the 19th century - and all events were documented. [Vaguely affiliated, I just ordered a rare Arabia Finland coffee cup from a Finnish immigrant in BC Canada]. Life was tough in the old days. Many died young; children in infancy and women in labour/childbed. Here are the Communion records of dad's maternal great granddad's, farmer and lay judge Ananias Juhonpoika (= Juho's son) Mikkola's household in Linnainen village:

 

[Hemulen]

I had to double check the names, but when my husband & I were trying to cycle around the world, we actually cycled through Mäntyharju.

Oh my, what a small world. You've truly been to places - even in that remote municipality on the edge of the world. You must have a huge sensory and social memory bank which enriches your personality and your professional and everyday life <making waves>. No wonder you ended up establishing this multifaceted site (when finally settling down down under)!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Oh my, what a small world. You've truly been to places - even in that remote municipality on the edge of the world. You must have a huge sensory and social memory bank which enriches your personality and your professional and everyday life <making waves>. No wonder you ended up establishing this multifaceted site (when finally settling down down under)!

lol, we've been to far more remote areas than that. try Grense Jakobselv on the edge of the Barents Sea where the Norwegian border meets the Russian border.... an amazing area.

we also went to the Winter War Museum (Talvisodan (Winter War) Monument). it's part of WWII that never really reaches into taught history yet really should be ...

this was our route through Finland. Our Second Tour - Touring on 2 yellow bikes: Finland I'll apologize now for our sense of humour loss, but after a while the total straight roads, just going up and down and rarely showing you anything other than trees got to us, plus we had the tail end of a hurricane to deal with on the south coast which dampened things a touch... we had wanted to cycle the whole of the Iron Curtain cycle trail (through to the Black Sea) but taking too long in Norway to recover from a repetitive strain injury cost us about a month of cycling (though being stranded inn the Lofoten Islands isn't all bad news, lol. we should really have cycled down the Baltic coast, but I knew it from family holidays and wanted to see the freshwater seals (we did and quite close as well) so needed a more eastern route.

bit that's enough. sadly not many people really want to talk about it, except for other keen to tourers. our theory is that it makes them regret not taking opportunities that came their way, or something like that.

 

[Hemulen]

lol, we've been to far more remote areas than that. try Grense Jakobselv on the edge of the Barents Sea where the Norwegian border meets the Russian border.... an amazing area.

we also went to the Winter War Museum (Talvisodan (Winter War) Monument). it's part of WWII that never really reaches into taught history yet really should be ...

this was our route through Finland. Our Second Tour - Touring on 2 yellow bikes: Finland I'll apologize now for our sense of humour loss, but after a while the total straight roads, just going up and down and rarely showing you anything other than trees got to us, plus we had the tail end of a hurricane to deal with on the south coast which dampened things a touch... we had wanted to cycle the whole of the Iron Curtain cycle trail (through to the Black Sea) but taking too long in Norway to recover from a repetitive strain injury cost us about a month of cycling (though being stranded inn the Lofoten Islands isn't all bad news, lol. we should really have cycled down the Baltic coast, but I knew it from family holidays and wanted to see the freshwater seals (we did and quite close as well) so needed a more eastern route.

bit that's enough. sadly not many people really want to talk about it, except for other keen to tourers. our theory is that it makes them regret not taking opportunities that came their way, or something like that.

Wow, what a long route to cycle through Finland. I understand the boredom regarding wood-surrounded, empty roads. I really love Norwegian fjord scenery, especially in Bergen which is a wonderfully green and well kept small city. The route from Lahti to Eastern Finland is filled with dull straights and flat, dryish pine or spruce forests + scarce villages 30 km/20 miles apart (until you reach the lusher and beautiful lake Saimaa region). It's the same with the flat West Coast. One has to travel to the archipelago/islands, turn to the small backroads or search for hilltops to enjoy verdant scenery and lake views. I get bored even driving the motorway from Lahti to Helsinki. That's why I often drive a smaller road with more villages and variant road alignments - if not taking the 50 min train. Luckily the local views are rather hilly thanks to ice-marginal formations and eskers.

The open, slightly hilly field views in Urajärvi and Vesivehmaa somewhat resemble Tuscany - only flatter, mousier and lacking cypresses (pic from Google Maps):

Grense Jakobselv (above; pic from Google Maps) is truly one of the remotest places in Europe. I've never been to North-Eastern Norway but we've driven to Hammerfest through Alta just to dip our toes in the Arctic Ocean.