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 August 2011 #22 There are still some forty Finns in the Savo area in South Dakota. Standing in the yard of the Lutheran church is the Savo Monument in Memory of Finnish Pioneers 1882−1955. On the other side of the road there is the Savo Hall, originally the Finnish National Hall, which, served both the local Finnish temperance and leftists’ organizations. Adolph Leinonen and Kustaa Frederick Bergstadius were the first to arrive in this area. Bergstadius was