I am an intrepid Internet surfer. John and Ruth Stierna wrote in the March newsletter about many of the available resources for the beginning genealogist on the WWW. Several additional Internet tools you can use to enhance the success of your search follow:
Juntunen descendants are everywhere. I have enriched my life by learning about the Finnish culture and language through my local Finnish community. Friends I made in Finnish classes and participating in Yooper Club activities have turned out to be Juntunen relatives.
A summer outing for vacationers to the UP's Copper Country often includes a trip to Copper Harbor. What you may not know is that a number of Juntunen descendants are local residents.
Enter the Fisherman's Daughter Boutique or the Jamsen Fish Market next door and you will meet the grandchildren of Charles Jamsen of Vitasaari, Finland and Kaisa Mathilda Juntunen of Hryrnsalmi, Finland. Christine Jamsen Protzel runs the boutique and Fred Jamsen fishes and runs the market. They carry on a fishing tradition that has served the area for over 80 years. Their brother Gale, a retired employee of the Department of Natural Resources, is currently a Peace Corps volunteer in the Ukraine. Fifteen years ago, Gale, his daughter, Kristi, and I took Finnish lessons together in Lansing.
My first contact in Finland , Juhani Juntunen, was interested in tracing the families of his grandfather's brother and sister, Janne and Anna Mathilda Juntunen.
I located the John (Janne) Juntunen family in the Chassell area. Juhani was pleased to be able to make contact with his family. But I was having difficulty finding Anna Mathilda's family because we did not have her married name.
At the Juntunen reunion held in Hancock in August 1997, I met several of Juhani's aunts and an uncle as well as John Juntunen's daughters. We asked Ruth Juntunen for information about Anna Mathilda's family. Ruth was able to provide us with her married name, her children's names and names of several grandchildren.
One look at this list was enough to get me excited. I knew several of Anna Mathilda's grandchildren. Mary Bartrum and Ellie Isola were fellow Finnish students. I had some very enjoyable phone conversations with Mary and Ellie renewing our acquaintance.
Concerns were expressed to the coordinators about the confidential nature of data submitted to the Project for living persons. After discussion, the coordinators decided to follow the rules laid down by the Mormon Church. Names will be included in the Juntunen book for anyone identified as still living but the birth dates, place of birth and other personal data will be respected as confidential. We hope this addresses the concerns expressed.
We recently received our first submission of family data from Bruce Baker in Alaska. Thank you, Bruce for coordinating the mailings and compiling the data from each of your extended Juntunen-Huovinen family. We also appreciate the wonderful pictures from the family albums. Bruce's writing inspired a nostalgic trip down memory lane. If all submissions are as wonderful, we will have a great Juntunen book.
Margaret Smith is a gr-gr granddaughter of Elsa Kustaava Juntunen of Suomussalmi.Elsa's daughter and son-in-law (Margaret's great grandparents) immigrated to the UP in 1881 settling in Atlantic Mine. She is coordinating the Juntunen Family History Project for immigrants to Michigan. A computer professional in her other life, Margaret also acts as webmaster for the Project's website on Geocities. John Stierna and Margaret Smith are cousins several times over. She is excited about dicovering her Juntunen roots.
