7th Finglish trip August 2008 #2
Susan is a retired teacher and a volunteer guide at the Rockport Museum. Her grandparents came from Lapua, Senäjoki and Kortesjärvi in Finland. Susan's father John Kielinen was very proud of his Finnish roots. In Kortesjärvi, Finland, there is a small village named Kielinen thus the family name. Her mother Sylvia nee. Jacobson was also of Finnish ancestry.
Rockport at Cape Ann had consisted primarily of large estates, summer homes, and a small fishing village while Gloucester was becoming increasingly urbanized. By the beginning of the 19th century, the first granitequarries were developed, and by the 1830s, Rockport granite was being shipped to cities and towns throughout the East Coast of the United States. As the demand for its high-grade granite grew during the Industrial Revolution, the quarries of Rockport became a major source of the stone.
For many years, there was a large number of residents of Scandinavian descent, dating from the days when Finnish and Swedish immigrants with stone-working expertise made up a large part of the workforce at the quarries.
Next Hilda and Lauri Kaihlanen Lanesville and Rockport Massachusetts USA.