Fenni 2: More Finns Among Us, A History of the Finns in America
- Author: Art Jura
- SKU: 2022
- ISBN: 0897254597
- Our Price:
$34.50
-
Description:
Fenni-2: More Finns Among Us, A History of the Finns in America, by Art Jura. 304 pages, photos, every name index. 2005.
This work is the end result of six years of research on Finnish immigrants by the author. In many ways, it also completes a trilogy. His first book (Fenni, published in 2001) is an introduction to Finnish origins, history, and emigration; with a glimpse into the families, organizations, and churches founded by those Finns who settled in America.
His second book (Norden, published in 2003) elaborates upon the origins, history, and emigration of all nine of the Nordic nations, peoples, and autonomous regions. It includes a Nordic word list, and numerous Internet websites for each country. These can all be of great value to future genealogoical research, as American families often have roots that originate in various Scandinavian, Finnish, and Sami cultures.
This third (and last) book, Fenni-2 is a much closer look at the original immigrants who founded many of the very same families that have lived among us for several generations. The USA is not just the product of immigration, but also of assimilation. This is especially true of the Finns, whose original surnames were often unpronounceable to English speaking employers and neighbors! These "difficult" surnames evolved into more usable versions, and both have been preserved within many of these family biographies. These histories will be found within the first five chapters.
The middle section of this book contains fifteen short chapters, each being a complete story. These tales are entertaining, yet factual, and range from the author's own adventures in Finald, to narratives of Finnish-Americana.
The last four chapters include a translation of the original records of the Finnish Congregational Church of West Paris, Maine. These include 334 christenings, plus all of the weddings and funerals, with entries dating from 1914 to 1946. The other chapters include an update on the Finnish Congregational Church of South Thomaston, Maine; a history of the Lutheran Churches in Maine; and a contrasting look at an historic Lutheran Church in Fairport Harbor, Ohio.
The entire book is profusely illustrated with hundreds of rare photos of these original immigrants, along with their families, passports, and documents.
