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 #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,

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #17 Most of the Finns interred on Sugar Island rest in the Finnish Cemetery on the Homestead Road, however a number of gravesites are located at the Holy Angels Cemetery, initially a Catholic Cemetery which have been used since 1891. There is grave of Maria Fors (1862-1932) in the Finnish Cemetery on Sugar Island where the hammer and sickle emblem was forcibly removed from the headstone. According to local legend, there were several headstones fro

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #16 Workers’ movement marches and the ”Internationale” are performed in Finnish by the Finn Hall Band to a surprised American audience in a recently restored Finnish Hall at Sugar Island, Michigan. The Sugar Island Hall was built by labour movement hardliners in 1925 on land donated by Frank Kuusisto. The work was done with volunteer labor using locally grown and milled lumber. The building lost its original purpose in the 1940s and reverted to th

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #14 Beth Maki´s grandparents Jacob and Elisabeth Heikkinen were among the first homesteaders on Drummond Island. They arrived with Kristian Salmonson family in 1905. Salmonson had picked out their homestead in 1903. The Heikkinen´s had come from Muhos near Oulu in Northern Finland. Seven other families and three single men came also in 1905. Other families arrived in 1906 and 1907. The last Finns arrived in 1913, when there were estimated 300 Finn

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #13 This small homestead has remained in almost original condition at its site in the middle of a forest. The couple who presently own it have considered converting the cabin into a museum. The homestead belonged to Oscar Danielson family. Oscar came to Drummond Island from Ironwood, Michigan. He arrived with Andrew Kilstrom and Charles Jarvinen. Oscar and Lyyli Danielson had two children, Lydia and Adolph. As boats were the best means of transpor

10th Finglish story July 2010 #12 The Finnish history of Drummond Island began with the Kreetan community, named after its founder Margareetta Niiranen. One of the earliest suffragettes in the United States was the active Maggie Walz, or Margareetta Johanna Kontra Niiranen of the Finnish Apostolic Lutheran (Laestadian) faith. She was active in Calumet on Copper Island in real estate and other areas of business. Having learned English, she helped Finns, especially young women

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #11 In the Spring of 2008, Dave Barrett, along with his wife of 35 years, Beth, and son Matt, moved from the city of Flint, Michigan, to the quaint northwestern Michigan town of Kaleva. They followed their dream of re-opening the town's only full-service grocery store Kaleva Meats at 14468 Wuoksi Ave, after receiving so many requests from the town's people. Over the decades, Finns have had different businesses in Kaleva. The Union Store was organi

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #10 The Kaleva Historical Museum is in a house originally built by John Mäkinen from empty Kaleva-brand soft drink bottles in the late 1940s. Mäkinen never managed to live in the house although he walked two miles every day after work to build it. Finnish immigrants founded the village of Kaleva along a railway line in Michigan in 1900. They had bought land, which they believed could be farmed. In fact, it was a barren region, where the forests ha

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #9 On March 16, 1999 in Kaleva, Michigan a large metal sculpture of a grasshopper was dedicated in honor of St. Urho's day, which is celebrated on 16th of March. Kaleva is a community settled by Finnish immigrants in 1900. The legend of Saint Urho was the invention of a Finnish-American named Richard Mattson, who worked at Ketola's Department Store in Virginia, Minnesota in the spring of 1956. Mattson later recounted that he invented St. Urho when

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #8 Lydia Marie Fowler was born in Chassel, Michigan, in 1933. Her father's family came from Viipuri in the Karelian Isthmus and Karvia in Satakunta region in the early 1900s. Lydia´s father was born in the family farm´s sauna in Chassel. Lydia´s mother was from an Apostolic Lutheran family from Covington, Michigan. Mother´s parents were farmers and the farm still exists, even the dunghill is still there. Lydia graduated from Chassel Township Schoo

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #7 Markku Ketola was born in Lappajärvi, Finland. He came to Ishpeming in Upper Michigan with his uncle in 1952. Markku´s grandparents had lived in Copper Island in USA and in Sudbury, Canada but they had returned back to Finland. Markku went to school in Ishpeming and studied electrical engineering in Michigan Tech University in Houghton. He worked as electrical engineer for 30 years with Ford Company. In the Vietnam War Markku served one year in

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #6 Founded in 1966, the Finnish Center dedicated their Cultural Center in September 1974, in Farmington Hills, Michigan with the objective of promoting and preserving the Finnish culture as well as its social and educational activities. In 1975 an elder's housing committee was transformed into the FCA Senior Citizens' Housing Corporation. The Housing Corporation proceeded to develop the Tapiola Village housing for the elderly project in 1986 and t

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #4 Old Finntown in Detroit, Michigan is a desolated and sad looking neighborhood, burned down empty house after another. It used to be a lively place where thousands of Finnish Americans lived from 1920s to 1950s in the heyday of Detroit's automotive industry. It is estimated that at the most there were 10.000 Finns in Detroit. Upper Peninsula Finns started to move to Detroit, when in 1905 Henry Ford announced that he would pay workingmen $5 a day

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #3 Carol Pärssinen´s all eight grandparents came from different areas in Finland, Könni, Pyhäjärvi, Kuusamo, Kemi and Kotka. Her father's family moved from Finland to Port Arthur, Ontario in Canada and her mother's family to the Copper Island, Upper Michigan in the U.S. Eventually all moved to the Detroit area. Carol´s father Lauri F. was born in Detroit, Michigan, he was the only child of Lauri G. and Irja (nee Ojala) Pärssinen. Lauri F. attende

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #2 Steve Lehto is a writer and attorney, and teaches at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in Detroit. He lives in Farmington Hills in southeastern Michigan with his two dogs. He has a B.A. in history from Oakland University and a J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles. Lehto's family has roots in Upper Michigan and specifically at Suomi College. In 2009 Steve Lehto published a book about the Italian Hall Disaste

10th Finglish trip July 2010 #1 Lillian Lehto is a retired teacher and librarian. She resides in Birmingham, Michigan, with her husband Paul, a retired school administrator. Lillian graduated from the Lutheran Bible Institute and from Suomi College. She holds a B.A. and M.A. from Oakland University and a minor in Library Science from the University of Michigan. From 1984 to 1994, Lillian Lehto edited and published a magazine title Fennophile: A Magazine by and for Those W

8th Finglish trip June 2009 #30 Paul and Kalervo Halme were born in Los Angeles, California, to Finnish immigrant parents, the late Rev. Omar and Saimi Halme. Rev. Halme was one of the founders of Finlandia Foundation National. Omar Halme was the son of August Halme (birth name lkonen) and Aina Maria (nee Puranen). They first came to America in 1902 to preach the word of God to the immigrants. After Omar´s birth August and Aina returned to Finland. Entering the U.S. again via