11th Finglish trip August 2011 #36 Marianne Wargelin´s family traces itself to the early Astoria, Oregon Finnish fishing community, mining towns of Upper Michigan and Minnesota, the urban Finntowns of Brooklyn, New York, Worcester, Massachusetts and Waukegan, Illinois, and the industrial villages along Lake Erie. Marianne was raised within the Finnish American communities of Berkeley, California, Hancock, Michigan, and Fairport Harbor, Ohio, with Finnish as her first language

11th Finglish trip July 2011 #10 Suzanne is the descendant of Swedish immigrants, and Arthur Koski comes from Drummond Island, Michigan. Arthur’s grandparents on his mother's side, Miina and Johan Laakso, were given a 160-acre homestead on the island in 1906. They had come from Luvia, Finland to the Kreetan community via Finntown in Brooklyn. Arthur Koski, however, wanted to travel and give up his role as the only son in his family. He signed on an iron ore freighter sailing

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #15 Art Koski´s grandparents John and Miina Laakso were from Luvia, Finland. They came to Brooklyn, New York, in 1902. Few years later they read about Maggie Walz´s Kreetan Community on Drummond Island and decided to move there. They arrived to Drummond Island in 1906 and John built his family home. Art´s mother Ellen was only three years old when her father John suddenly died. John´s widow Miina had to take care of the family and the farm. It was

9th Finglish trip October 2009 #4 The present day Brooklyn Baptist Church at 733 44th St. was formerly the home of the Finnish Golgotha Congregational Church of Brooklyn from 1920 until 1988. Originally it was build in 1915 by the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Free Church. The Brooklyn Finnish Congregational Church was founded in 1912 by Frans Lehtinen and Johannes Väänänen and 20 other Brooklyn Finns. The very first congregation was organized in Ashtabula, Ohio, in 1891. Al

7th Finglish trip September 2008 #35 Anna-Liisa was born in 1928 in Pori, Finland. Anna-Liisa lived with her aunts after her parents got divorced when she was six years old. During the Winter War in 1940 as a teenager Anna-Liisa was rescued by the Swedish Red Cross first to Sweden and eventually to Norway to live with her relatives. A day before Hitler occupied Norway in April 1940 Anna-Liisa moved to her aunt to New York City. She started to work as a maid in Brooklyn. Duri

7th Finglish trip September 2008 #34 Ridva Huuskonen moved to USA when she was 28 years old in 1962 to work as a cook for the Finnish Ambassador Ralph Enckell. After studies at the Perho Culinary College in Helsinki she worked as a cook at the Palace Restaurant. She was born in Kuopio region. After working for Mr. Enckell for two years she got naturalized and started to work at 1050 5th Ave in Manhattan for the director of the IBM. Doorman Dave Borg at 1050 5th Ave next to t

7th Finglish trip September 2008 #30 Nina´s and Harriet´s parents Pekka and Anja moved from Finland to New York in 1970. Pekka and his brother Seppo started the Kulmala Brothers Construction Company in Long Island. Pekka was a drummer in band and worked also as a bartender at Imatra Hall in Brooklyn and at Tyyni Kalervo´s bar in Manhattan. Kulmala family visited often Tyyni Kalervo´s summer place in Lomala, in northern New York State. Mother and father were eager dancers and

7th Finglish trip September 2008 #27 Päivö Tarjamo began his work as a pastor to Finnish immigrants in 1969 in Malmö, Sweden, during a period of active Finnish migration to Sweden. He worked in Finntown, Brooklyn as the last Finnish-speaking pastor of the Gloria Dei congregation (1987-1992) and went on from there to Dallas. He describes his years in Dallas with an anecdote noting that there were no funerals, because the members of his congregation were so young. Tarjamo was a

7th Finglish trip September 2008 #26 Linda Tani and Henry Orava and his mother Anneli live in the Finnish co-operative apartment house Hikipisara on 41st Street in the Brooklyn Finntown. In 1890´s Brooklyn Finns, who lived around Sunset Park or Pukinmäki, formed The Finnish Building Corporation whose first project was to built one and two family residences from 41st to 43rd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues in Brooklyn. The houses were all purchased by Finns. In the early 1

7th Finglish trip September 2008 #25 Helena Laitinen feels she is "The Last Finn" in the old Brooklyn Finntown where more and more Chinese immigrants are coming. She does not consider herself a migrant but an American because she was born in America although her parents were both Finns. They came from Pieksämäki and Viipuri. Helena worked most of her career as an editor in the publishing house and her last job was at the law firm. Her home church was the Finnish Golgotha Cong

7th Finglish trip September 2008 #24 Pentti Palonen came from Finland to the Unites States in 1946 to study in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Marja-Liisa was born in Kotka in Southern Finland. In 1973 Pentti started to work as a pastor at the Gloria Dei Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brooklyn. The name of the church had historical significance to Finns because a church of that name was built in Philadelphia Pennsylvania by Swedes and Finns in the year 1700. The religious work amo

7th Finglish trip September 2008 #23 The Imatra Society was a society of Finnish immigrants located in Brooklyn, New York. The society was founded by John A. Koski, a building engineer. A preliminary meeting was held on December 6, 1890 and was followed by the founding meeting held on December 14, 1890. The society built its own house for their activities and moved into it on November 1, 1908. Opening celebration was held on November 18 and 19. They also supplied to their new

3rd Finglish trip March 2006 #2 The former reception terminal for European immigrants in the Port of New York has been converted into a museum. The last ship docked here in 1924. Other routes to North America included Halifax, Canada. The Ellis Island museum has collected a great deal of information on the immigrants that passed through the island. The names of some 700,000 people are found on its Wall of Honor. Only memories remain of the Finntown in New York’s Harlem, where