10/04/2006

Finding family in USA

I found some relatives in USA last week.

My great aunt asked me to check if I could find her second cousins from the Finnish church books. I did, but many of them had moved to USA in the beginning of last century. Thanks to Ellisisland.org and ancestry.com websites I was able to find some of them. They had moved from Jalasjärvi, Finland to Minnesota Iron Range area.

I found their descendant Rita, who is my father's third cousin. It was so intresting to read from her mails what things are special to our family, like the musical talent. She told me that her grandfather Axel (Akseli) had played the violin.

3 comments:

dmflower said...

I am near the Iron Range area!
Grand Rapids,MN. is not far from Hibbing,Nashwauk,Virginia, Chisolm
the now famous IronWorld where you can research family history!
My grandfather was writer for the I.W.W. in "Industrialisti"
...am slowly reading through your past...have not caught up to your present yet...
denean

dmflower said...

Who is this Rita ?
maybe she and I can meet?

Riikka said...

Rita lives in Savannah. Her grandfather Aleksanteri Hakala left Finland in early 20th century. The family used to live in Chisholm, MN.

I also had relatives who moved from Finland to the USA in Scofield, Utah; Roberts, Montana; Ashtabula, Ohio; Ironwood, Michigan and in Chicago, Illinois.