Finglish Book and Photo Exhibition completed May 2013 The Finglish-project was finally completed in the spring of 2013, a photo book and two different versions of the photo exhibition. A total of eleven photography and interview trips were made each year between the years 2004 and 2011. The whole year 2012 was spent writing and editing interviews and scanning and selecting pictures. The book was published by Musta Taide / Aalto Photo Books and the photo exhibition opened in M

11th Finglish trip August 2011 #37 Kip Peltoniemi lives in Minneapolis. His grandparents had a homestead in New York Mills and he spent his youth in nearby Wadena, Minnesota. Kip is a folk musician who has performed at Finnish events in Minnesota and at venues from the West Coast to Florida. He began to play music in the 1970s. The idols of his early years were the Beatles and Bob Dylan. Kip Peltoniemi’s instruments are the guitar, bass and accordion. He has also been a vocal

11th Finglish trip August 2011 #35 Armi Nelson´s father Aarne Koskinen was from Raisio, Finland. He came to Duluth, Minnesota, to work as a lumberjack. Armi´s mother was Signe Rintamäki from Neppolankylä, Finland. After they got married in Duluth they moved to Superior, Wisconsin. Armi Nelson worked as a teacher in Golden Valley and Edina, Minnesota, where she also was an administrator for many years. She lives in Edina in a senior house with her cat Osmo. The cat is named af

11th Finglish trip August 2011 #33 The Finns of Minneapolis gathered every summer to celebrate “juhannus”, midsummer, in Theodore Wirth Park, west of the old Finntown. In 1958 some 400 Finnish Americans gathered in the park to unveil a monument for Finnish Pioneers. The monument was erected by the Finnish American Society of Minneapolis. This granite monument features, on one side, a map of Finland, marking also the lands lost in Finland’s mid-twentieth century wars, and, on

11thFinglish trip August 2011 #27 Tiina Watts teaches Finnish in the Salolampi Finnish Language Village at Concordia College, where Minnesota Finns maintain and teach the Finnish language and Finnish culture. The design of main lodge, with the Finnish name Jyringin Talo, was influenced by the Jyväskylä railway station in Finland. "From floor hockey (sähly), to warm cardamom bread (pulla), language learning and quiet reflection by the lake sauna, you’ll enjoy every moment at S

11th Finglish trip August 2011 #25 Raymond Bentley's grandmother's place, the old Tapio Farm, is now the Finn Creek Open Air Museum. His mother was born there, the daughter of Siffert from Jurva, Finland and Wilhelmiina, from Ii in northern Finland. They were granted the homestead in 1900. Raymond Bentley's parents were Norman and Tekla Bentley. The father's family was originally named Penttilä in Finnish. One of Raymond's nephews recently changed his name back to Penttilä. R

11th Finglish trip August 2011 #24 Annikki Marttila nee Visuri came to USA in 1975 to interpret her father as he searched for relatives. In Savo, South Dakota, Annikki met John Jussi Marttila and they got married and had two daughters. They made their home on the Marttila farm together, working and raising their family. The Marttila Farm is honored as a Century Farm because it has been in the same family for one hundred years. Prior to her arrival in the USA, Annikki was a te

11th Finglish trip August 2011 #23 Peggy Worthy lives in the town of Frederick, but runs a bed & breakfast in her grandfather’s house in the township of Savo. Her grandfather Lauri Iso-Oja (Lars Peterson) came to Chicago, Illinois, from Kalajoki, Finland in 1862 at the age of twenty. From there he made his way in different stages to South Dakota, where he was granted a homestead in 1883. Peterson sent money home to pay for his fiancée’s ticket to America. Peggy tells how her

11th Finglish trip July 2011 #21 Howard Carlson's grandfather came in 1912 from Kuusamo, Finland to Washington State to work in a mine. Arriving at Ellis Island, grandfather Jooseppi Luukkonen was asked if he could use an easier name, and he was officially recorded as Carlson. Jooseppi tried to manage for a few months as Luukkonen, but found it hard and changed back to Carlson. The grandfather was in an accident in the mine in which his best friend died and he himself was bur

11th Finglish trip July 2011 #18 Sontiainen is an amusing, intriguing and tragic story of home-sickness. The unfortunate Tom Sukanen had lost his family. Tom was born in Virrat, Finland, as Tomi Jaanus Alankola in 1878. He immigrated to Minnesota at the age of 20, where he married and became a farmer. In 1911, he left his wife and farm and walked to Saskatchewan where his brother Svante Sukanen lived. Tom then began a homestead in the Macrorie area and farmed there for seven

11th Finglish trip July 2011 #16 David Niemi's grandfather Johan Aukusti Niemi moved from Tampere, Finland to Black Hills, South Dakota, at the end of the 19th century to avoid being drafted in the Russian Army. David´s grandmother Ida Sofia Niemi nee Tilus was born in Himanka, Finland. Johan Aukusti initially worked at the Spearfish hydroelectric tunnel site near Homestake Gold Mine but had to leave due to a strike. With Charles Kalle Oja he moved from Spearfish to Cave Hill

11th Finglish trip July 2011 #14 Annette Oppedahl née Salmon (Salmu) comes from Custer Peak, near the mining town of Lead. The old homestead is still owned by relatives and Annette's family has a cabin there, where she spends the summer together with her husband Dick. She recalls attending Sunday school in Custer Peak together with other Finnish children, and how she would tend livestock. Annette is a trained teacher, but she mostly remained at home, first looking after her c

11th Finglish trip July 2011 #13 John Haivala´s grandparents came from Finland in 1904. John´s grandfather served in the Army. His father was a mining engineer in Ishpeming, Michigan. John´s mother was an American Italian from Negaunee, Michigan. In his childhood John was called Jussi. John came to Wyoming in 1976. He has worked in the oilfield construction since 1973. In 2002, John Haivala began building oil workers' homes in the North Dakota area of ​oil drilling. The Nort

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

11th Finglish trip July 2011 #9 Ronald and Elaine Kaminen´s roots are in southern Ostrobothnia, Finland. Ron´s grandparents came to America in the early 1900s from Vähäkyrö, Kurikka, Lapua and Honkajoki. Elaine´s roots are in Soini and Karvia. Both their grandparents moved to Upper Peninsula, Michigan. Ronald worked for 35 years as a locomotive driver and Elaine has worked as a nurse. During their working years, they lived in many places in the United States. After retiring,

11 Finglish trip July 2011 #2 The 28th FinnFest USA was held in Town & Country Conference Center in San Diego, California in 2011. FinnFest USA was first held in 1983 in Minneapolis, Minnesota establishing the concept that the festival would travel from site to site, year by year, always creating an opportunity to provide Finnish Americans and their progeny an opportunity to meet one another and to broaden and deepen their knowledge of Finland and Finnish American history and

11th Finglish trip July 2011 #1 The House of Pacific Relations operates in Balboa Park in San Diego, with cottages representing its member countries. The House of Finland is being opened here by Hannu Mikkonen who came in 1951 with his parents from Heinola, Finland via Halifax, Nova Scotia, first to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and from there in 1956 to San Diego, California. He still remembers the journey there by train as a little boy. Hannu’s father was a joiner and

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #22 Irja Mirjam Elisabeth Kallas was born in 1919 in Hausjärvi, Finland. Her parents were railwayman Aaron Edward Oinaala and Maria Sofia née Rimpiläinen. She went to school in Riihimäki and graduated from business school. In Finland she worked as a clerk, cashier, correspondent and as an archivist. In the spring of 1950 Mirjam migrated to Canada. Next year she married an Estonian born Sulev Kallas. In Canada they lived in Sudbury. Mirjam worked a

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #20 The small town of Searchmont takes it's name in honor of T. C. Search. He was from Philadelphia and was the treasurer of the consolidated Lake Superior Company. The local sawmill was the livelihood of most of the residents. When the mill closed in the early 1990s, much of the population moved away. Mr. and Mrs. Autio were the first immigrants to come to this country. In 1920 they moved to Wabos and opened a Finnish Co-op store in their home. M

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