Ethnic Research

Sisu and the 1939 Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union

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I have just finished viewing Fire and Ice : The Winter War of Finland and Russia, a documentary video on YouTube. I was interested in viewing this because of my Finnish ancestry–my paternal grandparents emigrating from Finland in 1902 and 1903. My grandfather had many siblings and half-siblings who remained in Finland, so I probably

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Learning About Another Country, South Africa, and its Dutch Origins

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I enjoy reading detective novels. And I especially enjoy them when they introduce me to another region, country, or culture. I have just finished reading Cobra, A Novel, written by Deon Meyer. This fast-paced detective novel provides an introduction to modern-day South Africa. The author wrote it  originally in Afrikaans, a language that has evolved from

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My Heritage & 23andMe Work to Combine Family Trees and DNA

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A few days ago, MyHeritage Founder and CEO, Gilad Japhet, used a news feed on Bloomberg TV to announce and explain a “strategic collaboration” with 23andMe. The announcement was captured and made available on YouTube, which you can view here: http://youtu.be/c1MefhlGTA8. I might point out that MyHeritage < http://www.myheritage.com/>has a very substantial presence in Europe

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Ready, Set, Go: Researching Nordic Roots

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I am finishing up my PowerPoint presentation on “Our Nordic Families: How to Research Your Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Finnish Families.” I will be presenting it at the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland on Saturday, November 1, starting at noon. To register, go here: http://www.wrhs.org/upcoming-event/our-nordic-families/, If you have questions, feel free to contact me by

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Researching Nordic Roots, Coming to WRHS on Nov. 1

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I am distributing the following announcement of a class I will be teaching at WRHS on November 1: “Our Nordic Families: How to Research Your Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Finnish Families,” will be presented by Wally Huskonen, member of the Genealogical Committee, on Saturday, November 1, 2014. He has researched his Finnish ancestry for nearly

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Ancestry DNA Results for a Niece

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Just got an exciting email from a niece. She reports that she has taken the AncestryDNA test! Her results: Europe 100% Europe West 46% Finland/Northwest Russia 34% Ireland 10% Great Britain 8% Trace Regions 2% At a quick glance, this squares up with what I would expect.  She has great grandparents on her mother’s side

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52 Ancestors – #2: Learning About Matthias Flaugh, Revolutionary War Ancestor

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Johann Matthias Flaugh (also spelled Flach) arrived in Philadelphia in 1773 as a 19-year-old immigrant from Rimhorn, Hesse, Germany. He was my fourth great grandfather, living most of his life in America in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. I started gathering information on Matthias early in my involvement in genealogical research. More recently, I have benefited from

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Accepting the Challenge: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks — #1 Frank Nikkari

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Today I accepted the challenge issued this morning by Amy Johnson Crow in her blog, No Story Too Small, of posting a blog once a week for a year about an ancestor. Go to http://www.nostorytoosmall.com/posts/challenge-52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/ for details from Amy. My first post will be about my uncle, Frank Nikkari, who emigrated from Finland in 1904

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MyHeritage adds billions of records in new partnership with FamilySearch

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To spread the word about this important genealogical development, I am simply reproducing below the official announcement from MyHeritage.com. If this development interests you–and I believe it should–be sure to read the FAQs at the end of the announcement release. We’re delighted to announce that MyHeritage has entered into a strategic partnership with leading genealogy

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Ellis Island Has Reopened after Sandy Repairs

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Many Americans have immigrant ancestors who were among the 12 million people entering America through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924. If you are like me, you were shocked when you learned about the devastation caused to Ellis Island by Hurricane Sandy as it struck the East Coast on 29 Oct 2012. Damage was so

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