The coordinators are "gung ho" about the Juntunen Family History Project. Genealogy research is worthwhile work in that it allows us to reconnect with our origins in Finland, establishes a sense of pride in our ancestor's accomplishments and/or contributions in the United States and increases our self-esteem. We are working toward a common goal to publish a North American Juntunen Family History Book. Each individual contributor has control over what will appear about their lines. We value the thoughts and ideas expressed which will improve the quality of our end product. Remember that we should all have fun in discovering our roots! Volunteer to help in the Juntunen Family History Project! Contact John and Ruth Stierna or Margaret Smith .

We have made a major find of microfilmed records for 151 Juntunen immigrants from Finland. They are in records at the US National Archives called Canadian Border Entries from St. Albans, Canada to Vermont, USA, 1895-1924. We also found 2 Juntunen records from manifests for the Port of Detroit. The microfilmed manifests are in very good condition, and most can be easily read. They are filled with information. In comparison to Juntunen Soundex cards from the Port of NY, this find is a gold mine. We have yet to check the Port of Boston Soundex and several other ports, including Pacific and Southern ports.

From Juntunen Soundex cards copied so far, 40 Juntunens are listed as born at Suomussalmi, Finland. The others came from various places, mostly in northern Finland. About half of the Soundex cards list immigrant's father's or mother's name. The cards give immigrant's ship name, port of arrival in Canada, and date of arrival. The immigrant's age is given, so we can subtract age from arrival date to get an approximate year of birth in Finland. The cards include the immigrant's US destination and name of US sponsor. Quite often the address of destination is listed. Some are post office boxes in towns.

It was especially exciting to discover John's grandfather, Edwin Juntunen's, Soundex card in this find. We had known the approximate time period of arrival and his birthplace, but hadn't known details of his arrival in North America. Now we know he came to Quebec as a third class passenger on the ship, SS Empress of Britain. He arrived May 13,1911. The Soundex card says he was born at Kiannankylä, Suomussalmi, and his father was Matti Juntunen. (This confirms what we already knew.) Edwin was recorded as ''laborer''. The card says a cousin paid for his ticket. The cousin's address was PO Box 208, Painesdale, MI. (We already knew that Edwin's first job was in Painesdale, MI's copper mine.) Edwin had $25 when he entered the US. According to card entries, he had paid a ''head tax''. His height was listed as 5' 6''. He had a light complextion, brown hair, green eyes, and good health.

The Juntunen Soundex cards will allow us to look for, and hopefully find on microfilm, the actual ships' passenger lists where many of these 153 Juntunens were listed. On our next research trip at the National Archives, we will check if microfilms of these Canadian Ports' passenger lists are actually available in the US Archives, or whether they are in the Canadian National Archives in Ottawa.

The recently discovered Juntunen Soundex data will also now enable a search for these many Juntunen immigrants in US Census records. Hopefully we will find them and many more living at the same location. It's going to be a huge research job, so we welcome help from family members willing to search census microfilms for their area at their local libraries. We have obtained instructions from the National Archives for how to obtain US Census microfilm loans. If you need help in learning how to search the microfilms, we will be happy to assist you by e-mail. Please contact us and volunteer to help!

As we look to developing the Juntunen family story for North America, we are considering what organizational arrangement would work best for completion of the project with quality products produced in a cost-effective manner.

Our counterpart, the Juntunen Society in Finland, as an organization of Juntunen family members, has financed research for their first book from dues. When their book is sold, income from book sales will fund research and printing of their second book.

For North America, efforts thus far have been volunteer service from a small group of individuals. We would like your views and input on the following proposal :

A non-profit organization be formed that would

• Establish by-laws, and by vote of members, establish a voluntary board of directors
• Solicit dues paying members and contributions
• Recruit volunteer help for project activities and support of the organization
• Raise funds from related-product sales and book sale
• Finance costs of project products from the organization's financial base

Such a non-profit organization can help finance both a high quality book and potentially CD's or other media to communicate project findings. However, the organizational activities will take time away from actual project research. In the absence of a non-profit organization and a greater amount of voluntary assistance, current voluntary activities would continue and could stretch out for a longer time. The project results in book form or other media will likely be more expensive in order to recover up-front publication costs.

We would welcome volunteer assistance and your comments on the method that would be an acceptable way of carrying on this project. Contact John and Ruth Stierna or Margaret Smith.

Bruce Baker reports that so far, the majority of his cousins in the Hannah Fredrika Juntunen line have contributed information to the project, and he's hoping more still will. Contributions include several short written recollections they have of their parents and their grandparents, Hannah Fredrika and her husband, Herman Huovinen. It seems that folks are more inclined to write about the oldest members of their family and not so much their own lives. However, each generation is best able to report on itself, and Bruce suggests that contributers to the project keep in mind how valuable it is to see something a past relative put down on paper about himself or herself. That may prompt contributors to write down more about themselves than they would otherwise.

The project has allowed Hannah Fredrika Juntunen's descendants to share old letters and photos some of them didn't know exist. And there have been humorous exchanges, like cousin "A" telling how cousin "B" accidentally dropped his cap down his grandmother's outhouse hole when he was a little kid. "A" being slightly bigger, held "B" by the ankles to retreive the cap. Funny thing, in "B's" account, he says "Don't believe that "A" story about the cap and the outhouse. He lies a lot."

In these days of farflung families, it's nice that a family history project can bring relatives in contact with each other.

Bruce lives in Alaska so we appreciate being able to use the Internet to keep in touch with him.

As a service to North American Juntunens, Margaret Smith has agreed to act as the distribution agent for the first volume of the Juntunen Sukukirja covering 1500-1800. The price of the book in the United States will be $90 if purchased in advance. This price covers the book (which is hardbound), shipping from Finland to the US, exchange rate costs and customs charges. State sales tax and US postage are additional. The Juntunen Society anticipates that the book will be released this fall. Ordering information is available through the Internet. We anticipate that the books will become collectors items.