Digiarkiston keskustelufoorumi

My husbands grandparents came from the Nurmo area, and were farmers, according to the immigration records in Canada. His Grandfather Herman Perkkiomaki came to Canada in 1924, and had family who remained in Finland. His father was Kustaa Perkkiomaki, and he had a sister that we know of, Eli Susanna Perkkiomaki, who died in Finland as a single woman. Aune Valiharju came from Finland to Canada around the same time as Herman, we do not know where they were married.

I do not speak Finnish, so researching his family history is very challenging. Any information on the family, or tips on how to research Finnish family history from Canada, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Donna in Canada

Hi, was Herman's date of birth 21st June 1907? And his father's 16th March 1876?
Brs, taltta

Hello taitta,

Herman's date of birth is 1907, we do not know the day and month of his birth. We have no birth date for his father Kustaa, still searching. We have Kustaa Perkkiomaki's name from the immigration records, which name the father of the individual immigrating to Canada. Herman also had brothers that we know of, Henry, Etu, and Jusi, Henry having also emigrated to Canada in 1923. My husband always understood Henry to be Herman's brother, his father's uncle, but the immigration record names him as brother, which is crossed out and cousin written to replace the word brother. But in the same record of Henry's immigration, his father is also named Kustaa Perkkiomaki, the same father as Herman Perkkiomaki.

Thank you! Donna

Hi,
The on-line availability of communion books of Nurmo stops at the year 1900. There are, however, archives of births ranging from 1899 to 1908 (and a bit of 1909).
The siblings of Herman that you have mentioned were most likely born between 1900 and about 1915. I found Elli Susanna born 14th of January 1909 with the same parents as Herman.
Looking good so far.

Did some browsing of the birth records (Sorry, you probably cannot see the pages as membership of SSHY is required, but adding the page links anyway)

Elli Susanna b. 14.1.1909
http://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/sivut/j ... 47&pnum=90

Herman ??? b. 21.6.1907 (second name unclear)
http://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/sivut/j ... 47&pnum=74

Fanny Elisabet b. 19.3.1905
http://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/sivut/j ... 47&pnum=57

Esaias? b. 14.8.1903 (Eetu)
http://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/sivut/j ... 47&pnum=41

Juho Kustaa b. 23.12.1901 (Jussi)
http://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/sivut/j ... 47&pnum=27

Henrik Ensio b. 11.10.1899 (Henry)
http://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/sivut/j ... 847&pnum=5

Communion book page 1260 (up to 1900) (page 709 from 1901 onwards, but not available)
http://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/sivut/j ... 4&pnum=972
The place is at Alanurmo nr. 8 and called Marielund, where they had a cottage called Perkiö.

On that page Kustaa b. 16.3.1876 and Sanna Liisa Heikintytär b. 7.4.1873 are linked with # sign
Matti Ensio b. 16.11.1896
Tyyne Katarina b. 2.12.1897
Henrik Ensio b. 11.10.1899
Btw, Kustaa Matinpoika (son of Matti) had also a brother called Hermanni (1872)

BRs taltta

My view on these two:
21.6.1907 Herman Villiam
14.8.1903 Edvard (suites better for Eetu)

Jaska

Thanks Jaska for those interpretations. I concur. BRs, taltta

Hi, do you have the birth date of Aune Valiharju?
Brs, taltta

Thank you taltta, this is amazing. And thank you to Jaska as well. How wonderful!

Aune Rosa Valiharju was born in 1905, we think in Nurmo. Her parents were Nikalai Valiharju and Sanna Luoma from Teuva. She had two sisters who remained in Finland, but we do not have their names. She also had a brother in Sweden.

Thank you again!
Donna

Place names are challenging for me, I have been trying to transcribe this place from a border crossing document for Kustaa Perkkiomaki, the word before Lapua is beyond my skill level to read. I have included a link to a screen shot of the place name of the document:

http://www.haslehurst.com/perkkiomaki/k ... iomaki.png

Can anyone read the word before Lapua?

Thanks!

Hi, the word could be "Ketoluoman" (I'm not, however, entirely satisfied with this word). Kustaa was born (16th of March 1876) in Nurmo, but Lapua was a better known place and one would mention Lapua instead of Nurmo. (Keto-Luoma existed in Nurmo)
http://digi.narc.fi/digi/view.ka?kuid=10186834 (page 533 in communion book referred to)
http://digi.narc.fi/digi/view.ka?kuid=23067577

BRs, taltta

"Aune Rosa Valiharju was born in 1905, we think in Nurmo. Her parents were Nikalai Valiharju and Sanna Luoma from Teuva."

I checked, but did not find Aune Rosa Valiharju in the birth records of Nurmo (1904-1906).
BRs taltta

Thank you taitta for looking for Aune Rosa Valiharju's birth record. I suspect that the information on the marriage certificate is not accurate, that she must have been born in either another location in Finland, or that the age she gave on the marriage license is inaccurate.

Thank you also for the feedback about the place name, and sharing your knowledge of the place names and the language!

Best Wishes,
Donna in Canada

Hi,
you might find Aune's birth date in an obituary or in a headstone.

If you think that Nurmo was the place, then you could also browse through the "henkikirja" pages of Nurmo from the year 1910 (which are publically available). As Aune wasn't at least 16 years old, she cannot be found by name in the "henkikirja" (I would translate "book of people"), but her parents should. That is IF they were living in Nurmo at that time. http://digi.narc.fi/digi/view.ka?kuid=21635190

If the parents are found, then there could be e.g. text "L: 1-2" which would mean that they had 1 boy and 2 girls under the age of 16 (from 1865, before 15).

BRs, taltta

P.S. The municipality of Lapua is also included in the same book from 1910. In that book e.g. Marielund / Perkiön torppa (at Alanurmo # eight) is shown under Lapua (book page 556) rather than Nurmo. http://digi.narc.fi/digi/view.ka?kuid=21633962 (Tal. Kustaa Matinp. Perkiömäki)
Index to municipalities found in that henkikirja: http://digi.narc.fi/digi/view.ka?kuid=21632604
I checked but couldn't find Aune Rosa Väliharju in the birth records of Lapua (1905).

Hi, it is not easy to find Aune Väliharju in Finland. I did however find out that she probably went to Canada via Gothenburg.
http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1910 (I don't have a subscription in Ancestry)

Gothenburg, Sweden, Passenger Lists, 1869-1951
Aune Väliharju (birth) year date Halifax, Canada

It would be good to get a confirmation of the year of birth (hopefully she is the right person).

BRs taltta

P.S. By playing with the search filters (exact year) and searching 1904, 1905, 1906, I get the feeling that the year of birth on the passenger list is 1905 - even though I don't get to see it.
(The year of departure from Gothenburg would have been 1929.)
It is also possible that her parents had a different surname e.g. until 1906, which was a very common year to translate/change one's surname from Swedish into Finnish. There were not too many people by the name Nikolai (/Nikodemus) Väliharju. I found one Nikodemus Wäliharju living in Kristinestad (Kristiina or Kristiinankaupunki) from year 1907 in old newspapers (far right, establishing a grocery store):
http://digi.lib.helsinki.fi/sanomalehti ... ju#?page=2

P.S.2 The obvious has not been tested yet, due to church records of Teuva (around the turn of the century) not being available on the net. Maybe the henkikirja pages on Teuva from 1905 will reveal something. See lInk below:
http://digi.narc.fi/digi/view.ka?kuid=21619418

Hi, I wonder if Nikolai Valiharju could actually have been Nikolai Kustaanpoika Harjulaakso?

He was from Lapua (anyway living in Lapua in 1903) and
http://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/sivut/j ... 6&pnum=165
(there's a name Wälimäki, which refers to Maria Reeta's husband Juho Wälimäki, who died in America in 1893)
(Marja Reeta and Juho found also here: http://kaikki.nettihotelli.net/2w/dat1346.htm#5)

this Nikolai was born 8th of January 1881 and known as Nikolai Harjula(a)kso.
He married Sanna Maria Jaakontytär Hippolin on the 19th of July 1903 (she was from Marielund)(Hiski).
According to declaration nr.37: Nikolai was born 8th of November 1881 and Sanna Maria 5th of January1882.
http://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/sivut/j ... 78&pnum=28
I checked the year 1905 and found no children born to Nikolai and (Su)sanna.
They might have moved? (something to do with Teuva?)

I may be completely mistaken here and those two probably have a different history
(to be found out). Any idea of the names of (your) Nikolai's siblings?
BRs taltta

P.S. Sanna Maria was born in Lapua
*5.1.1882 6.1.1882 Heikkilä Ittell. Jaakko Jaakonp. Hippolin v:mo Liisa Heikint:r Sanna Maija
http://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/sivut/j ... 73&pnum=78
Sanna had 2 (living) sisters up to 1888. *Most probably never had a brother (up to 1905).*