Hats off to the Juntunen Sukuseura for their blockbuster family book! This meticulously researched, 351- page, cloth-bound volume, printed by Gummerus Kirjapaino Oy of Jyvskylä, has already taken its place among Finland's outstanding genealogy books. We thank Margaret Smith for making it available in North America.

The Juntunen Sukuseura's genealogist, Matti J. Kankaanpää and his able research assistant, Helvi Juntunen, have thoroughly investigated the Juntunen family's 1500's origins and history in Taipalsaari, Finland. They have accurately traced early Juntunen migrations northward into Finland. Sources of documentation for Juntunens from the 1500's to 1600's came from Finland's earliest census, taxation, land, military, court records still available. In these earliest records, owners of farms were listed with names of their children.

In Finland during the 1500-1600's, exact birth or other dates were not often recorded. The Sukuseura's research team estimated birth dates for the earliest Juntunen individuals. Data for these individuals was then related to years of recorded Juntunen farm ownership to establish family linkages. Juntunen data after the early 1700's came from various types of Finnish Church Books as well as the earlier state records.

Even though Juntusten suku I osa is written in Finnish, the book's sequentially numbered genealogy lists are not difficult to understand and use to trace the generations of any particular Juntunen family line. The following few basic terms and abbreviations for Finnish genealogy will help: ''s.'' means ''syntynyt'' = ''born". A birth date always follows ''s.'' in the Juntunen Book family lists. Birth dates are written numerically in the Finnish order: day, month, year. ''k.'' in the family lists means ''kuollut'' = ''died''. A death date follows ''k.'' ''Pso'' in the lists means ''puoliso'' = ''spouse married''. A marriage date and name of spouse follows ''pso'' in the book's family lists. Knowing only these three abbreviations will permit very effective use of Juntusten suku I osa for finding and tracing individual lines of the earliest Juntunen generations.

Those who understand Finnish will find a wealth of Juntunen family history in the text of Juntusten suku I osa. The many detailed maps of farm locations and colored photographs of surviving farmsteads in Finland add substantially to the value of this beautiful book.

Work is under way for a future volume of Juntunen descendants from Kainuu, Finland for the years 1800 to 1900. Further, we will have a series of publications containing our work tracing Juntunens in North America.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to own a copy of Juntusten suku I osa. It is a landmark work of genealogy scholarship produced for our Juntunen family's benefit by the Juntunen Sukuseura of Finland. A heartfelt ''thank you'' to Kalle Juntunen, Matti Kankanpää, and the generous members of the Sukuseura for all their hard work in making this book available to us. The arrival of Juntusten suku I osa in North America is truly one of our Juntunen family's historic occasions.

The following link to Margaret Smith's web site will give you information on ordering Juntutsen suku I osalink 

 

Project Coordinators Highlight Genealogy Research at Project 34

 

North American Juntunen Project coordinators, John and Ruth Stierna and Margaret Smith traveled together to the 6th Annual Project 34 Conference held January 29-31, 1999 in Houghton/Hancock, Michigan. We enjoyed our drive through the beautiful, snow-white, winter wonderland of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

 

To quote from the Project 34 Web Page: ''Project 34 is an effort to develop long range strategies for perpetuating the Finnish culture in America to the 3rd and 4th generations of Finnish-Americans and beyond.'' Many people with varying interests in Finnish culture are involved. Friends of Finnish culture from North America, Finland, or elsewhere are welcome to participate in the conferences held annually at differing locations. See: http://www.eskimo.com/~p34/project34 The Project 34 Web site has excellent links. See the Genealogy on the Web link for useful information about Finnish genealogy research.

We benefited by making many contacts with Juntunens at this year's Project 34 conference held at the Franklin Square Inn in Houghton and the Finnish-American Heritage Center in Hancock. The conference theme was ''Complexities: Diversity of the Finnish Experience in America''. Some of the presentations were: The Finnish presence in culture, education, community, and lore of the Copper Country, Architectural preservation-the Quincy Mining Community and Honka Homestead, the Finnish presence in religious communities-the inheritance of Lars Levi Laestadius, The Sami Siida of North America-perspectives on Ethnic identity, Finnish exchange programs-both student and professional-work related, and our presentation: Genealogy-A Modern, Electronic Community.

During an online demonstration of Internet use for Finnish genealogy research, we recommended the use of the Genealogical Society of Finland's Web site. At their HisKi Project link in English, there is a searchable database of Finnish Church records from earliest records to c.1860. Work continues on completing the database for all Finnish Church records. The Web site can be found at http://www.genealogia.fi

At the Main Page of the Web site, scroll down to near the bottom of the left column to ''In English'' and click there. Follow the links to instructions for how to use the site, as well as to the search forms. HisKi is an excellent resource for Juntunen family researchers who already have genealogy data going back to the early 1800's in Finland. By using in combination the wealth of data in the new Juntusten suku I osa and the data already on HisKi, you will have a powerful Juntunen research tool.

For researchers seeking to locate other researchers of mutual-interest family lines, it may be possible to make valuable exchanges of data by subscribing to Finngen. Send an e-mail to [email protected] with the following command in the body of the e-mail message: subscribe finngen Your e-mail name will be added to the Finngen mailing list, and you will receive instructions and helpful information for using Finngen.

Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Project 34 by the Juntunen Project's good friends and kinfolk, Jim and Debbie Kurtti of Painesdale, MI, conference participants had a wonderful time. We enjoyed fabulous Finnish food as well as a rich variety and abundance of traditional Finnish and Sami music and other performances at two banquets and the Winter Market. The city of Hancock's Heikinpäiva parade and Winter market were well attended by the community. The entire event energized our Juntunen Project!

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