Chicago

My husband is currently attending a conference held in Chicago. While he is there - and I'm here in my home Helsinki, Finland - I keep wondering, what the city is like and what it used to be in the 20's and 30's. The time of organized crime and Al Capone.

I had a relative who lived there since the beginning of the century until his death in 1950's. He was called Andrew Nelson (Antti Pitkämäki). He was my grandmom's uncle and he worked in the construction business. He had a wife Amanda and a son called Frank E. Nelson. Frank was an insurance guy. They were active members of Finnish congregation in Chicago. I checked from the Census records, that they had lived in 334 West 79th Street (1910) and Albany Avenue (1930) in Chicago. He never visited Finland again. My grandparents invited him to come to the Helsinki Olympic Games in 1952, but he answered that he was too old. It would be fun to know more about him, but unfortunately his son is dead and didn't have any children. I found Andrew's obituary in Siirtokansan kalenteri.

I have actually been to Chicago myself as well. Or actually I have been in the airport. That's not really Chicago, isn't it? I quess the closest we get to Chicago here in Finland is by watching the ER.