AP Report Previews Tonight’s Finding Your Roots Episode

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Yesterday (02 Oct) Lynn Elber, AP Television Writer, previewed a bit of tonight’s premiere of Finding Your Roots on PBS. She wrote:

If there’s a bigger cheerleader for genealogy research than Henry Louis Gates Jr. it’s unlikely they’re nearly as well-connected.

The prominent Harvard professor once again lures the famous and celebrated to PBS’ “Finding Your Roots,” which shares their ancestry and family stories as uncovered by impressive research and science.

In the fourth season beginning Tuesday (check local listings for time–8 pm in the Cleveland, Ohio area), the three dozen subjects include Scarlett Johansson, Lupita Nyong’o, Sean Combs, Amy Schumer, Garrison Keillor, Aziz Ansari, filmmaker Ava DuVernay, author Ta-Nehisi Coates and Christopher Walken.

Larry David, whom Gates said he’d “bugged” for three years to go under the “Roots” microscope, finally agreed and discovered that he’s related to Bernie Sanders, whom David memorably impersonated on “Saturday Night Live.” Their separate family stories are on the season opener.

David said he was reluctant to have personal details disclosed on TV but was glad he finally took part, lauding the “incredible job” done by researchers.

There were other revelations that took him aback, he said. David learned of ancestors who settled in Birmingham, Alabama, in the 1840s, owned two slaves and fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War. A hundred years later, many aunts, uncles and cousins on the maternal side of his family died in Nazi Germany’s Holocaust.

But “Finding Your Roots” is aimed at more than satisfying individual curiosity and telling an engrossing story, said Gates, an executive producer and writer as well as host of the series: It carries a message of shared origins that he argues can benefit society.

The science of DNA proves that “there aren’t four or five biologically distinct races. We’re all from one race, the human race, genetically,” Gates said. “And we know that genetically we all … descended from common ancestors that left the African continent 50,000 years ago. That’s a fact.”

Detailing how different ethnic groups contributed to world history and how their experiences “merged or conflicted” with those of other groups is also of immense value, he said.

“It’s part of a larger education process to make us all realize we’re fully human,” Gates said.

Advances in DNA testing and the increased digitization of records benefited those who participated this year, he said, while some searches required plain old shoe leather as well.

She went on to write about some of the other three dozen celebrities who will be featured in future episodes.

 

Hooray! Ancestry.com Adds New York Death Records

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If you have ever tried to research death records in New York State, you know it was a big pain. The state death index existed only on microfilm and was accessible only in a half dozen libraries across the state. You had to know the year of death to be able to browse these records effectively.

As soon as I learned that Ancestry.com had added the death record index, I checked for three members of the Nikkari family for which I didn’t reliable death dates and death places. Frank Nikkari married my Aunt Edith Huskonen. Frank and his family immigrated from Pori, Finland. Edith also immigrated from Finland, coming from Vesanto. I was able to chart their lives pretty completely partly because they ended up living in Ashtabula, only a few miles from where I grew up in Andover, Ohio. With many records for them available on Ancestry.com and obituaries from the Ashtabula Star Beacon, finding their records was like picking “low hanging fruit.”

Not so with Frank’s brother John, and their parents Juho Victor and Josefina Brander Nikkari. I was pretty sure that John died in the New York area but I had not been able to find a death record online. The same was true for Juho and Josefina. I believed that they were living in Spencer, Tioga, New York, when they passed away, but I didn’t know for sure and I had no death dates.

It was a simple matter to enter John in the Ancestry search window at http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=61535. He popped up as the very first result. It turns out that he died in Port Chester, Westchester, New York, on 18 Nov 1947.

I next entered Jose* Nikkari, using a wildcard in case her name was Americanized. Sure enough, it was and she was the first result. She passed away on 18 Oct 1924 in Danby, Tioga, New York, probably at a hospital there.

Juho has a little more of a challenge. I tried entering John Nikkari because I knew he went by that first name later in life. I had to browse through many names before I found him as John Nikkaria. That’s the way the entry is spelled on the digital image of the microfilm. I know that this is the correct individual because he died in Spencer, Tioga, New York, and the year was about what I expected.

So, finally, thanks to Ancestry.com, I was able to identify the death dates and death places of Juho and Josefina Nikkari, and son John. I was earlier able to find that information for their other children: Hilda, Aina Amanda, Otto, Frank, Lampi, Yrjo, and Kalle, using Ancestry and other sources.

I’m Looking Forward to Finding Your Roots beginning Oct 3

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It’s time once again to watch the television series “Finding Your Roots.” The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) series featuring Henry Louis Gates, Jr., as host premieres on Tuesday, October 3 at 8/7c.

Once again, Prof. Gates will present genealogical research results for celebrities. In the past, he has highlighted interesting stories and the guests are always engaging in their reactions to the revelations about their ancestors.10 New Episodes Explore Ancestry Stories of Scarlett Johansson, Lupita Nyong’o,

Ten new episodes explore the ancestries of Scarlett Johansson, Lupita Nyong’o, Ted Danson, Carmelo Anthony, Larry David, Bernie Sanders, Janet Mock, Ana Navarro, Ava DuVernay, Amy Schumer, Paul Rudd, Christopher Walken and more.

FYI: One place you can see the full schedule and list of guests is here: https://woub.org/2017/09/21/fourth-season-of-finding-your-roots-with-henry-louis-gates-jr-begins-october-3/. Or check your local PBS station listings.

I expect to hear once again complaints that the series doesn’t feature “regular” people as subjects. Folks, it’s all about ratings! I’ve always enjoyed the stories researched for guests on this series, and I’m looking forward to tuning in and learning all the back stories,  especially those of Scarlett, Ted, Larry, Bernie, and Amy. And along the way, learning a bit more about genealogical research and DNA testing.

Some Links to Read about President Niinistö of Finland

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As a followup to my attendance at FinnFest 2017 in Minneapolis last week (Sep 21 – 24), I have done some Google research to find links to news coverage of President Niinistö’s visit. Here is a brief selection:

Dropping the Puck at NHL hockey pre-season game

https://www.nhl.com/wild/news/finland-president-visits-092117/c-291247206

The President’s Personal Webpage:

http://www.tpk.fi/public/default.aspx?contentid=365353&culture=en-US’

U of M to confer honorary degree on Sauli Niinistö, President of Finland:

https://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/u-m-confer-honorary-degree-sauli-niinist%C3%B6-president-finland

FinnSource on President Niinistö visit:

http://finnsource.org/presidential-visit-sept-2017/

Minnesota Orchestra: Celebrating Finland’s Centennial:

https://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2017/09/22/minnesota-orchestra-celebrating-finlands-centennial

Hope you enjoy these bits of coverage. I know I did. And if you find other coverage items, please let me know at whuskonen@gmail.com.

A Blast from the Past: FinnFest 2007 Program Notes

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I can hardly believe that it was 10 years ago that FinnFest was in Ashtabula. Having just returned from Minneapolis and FinnFest 2017, I was curious about what publicity for that earlier event might still be available. So I went online and checked the website for the Star Beacon, the daily newspaper published in Ashtabula. Here’s a preview of the program for the 2007 event:

FinnFest speakers to rival Redpath

By CHARLES A. ALTONEN

Finnfestusa2007.com [link no longer working]

ASHTABULA – One of America’s greatest assets during the early years of the 20th Century was the famed Redpath Lyceum Bureau.

Essentially a speakers club, the Redpath featured great orators and educators, people with ideas and ideology who could speak publicly and knowledgably on the subjects of their choice.

Interestingly, the annual FinnFest USA that has been held all across the country over 24 years is quite similar. Each festival features a host of speakers, experts if you will, in a variety of subjects from industry to drama, music to genealogy, and politics to film and more. All who dare to be involved as speakers oft times bite off more than they can chew for their audiences are not only critical (which is good) but nearly experts in the same fields (which is also good) for they have studied their heritage over and over and not only know it well, but live it well, as well.

The lecturer, presenter, speaker list for FinnFest USA 2007 @ Ashtabula is turning out to be full of interesting variety, nearly all of it related in some way to Lake Erie and her early American industries and to the activities and organizations that held a young immigrant nation together as they adapted and assimilated into the American way of life.

As of Dec. 17, the topical agenda established by the Ashtabula FinnFest program committee decided discussions should cover life on the coal and ore docks, the many industries in which our immigrant forebears labored, and farming; notable Finnish-Americans, and Finland today and yesterday from an historical, literary, artistic, musical and cultural aspect.

Those expert individuals who have already made arrangements to speak to FinnFest attendees include: Don Cleary, who will talk about the Diamond Alkalai Corporation in Fairport Harbor where hundreds of Finns earned the money to put bread on the table and save for retirement. Clyde Norton of Ashtabula will speak on the historical aspects of Haywood Beach in this community, founded and maintained by Finnish-Americans since 1936. Chuck Isaacson will make an interesting and musical presentation on the famed Humina Band from Ashtabula which toured Finland in 1927, playing for famed Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius. And Lawson Stevenson will make a presentation about the Hulett operators and the docks of Lake Erie.

Anna Bento and Juanita Erickson will become “storyweavers” in a presentation of Kalevala tales. Carl Rahkonen will discuss and play favorite Finnish and Finnish-American musical instruments, the fiddle and the kantele. Sherry Rahkonen will make a presentation on women’s suffrage in Finland and what the results have been over the last many centuries, and Marianne Wargelin will lecture on the Finnish people in America. Dr. Wargelin is an absolute expert in this field.

Peter Lillback will discuss his mother’s new book which he edited: “Rediscovering John Morton, the Forgotten Finnish Founding Father.” (Morton, a Finn, was a signer of the American Declaration of Independence. His name is clearly visible on that document.)

Steve Lehto will discuss the book, “Death’s Door,” which is about the famed Italian Hall fire in Calumet, Michigan in which many Finns lost their lives. Margaret Väiniö from Saarijarvi, Finland will travel here to tell us how the English Christmas Carol, “Good King Wenceslas” can be traced to Finland. Wally Huskonen [that’s me] will conduct a program on genealogy research, and Walfrid Huskonen [my brother] will discuss U.S. President Herbert Hoover and his relationship to the Finnish people.

Other speakers and lecturers include Melinda Laituri with a presentation on Finland’s natural resources (forest lumber, copper, zinc and more.) Robert Hill of Warren will talk about the American Steel Industry and the varied roles Finnish-Americans played in it’s development. Walt Plosila of Conneaut will explore his Finnish roots from the 1550ss into the 20th Century and their migration to Conneaut. Plosila will have two sessions for his presentation which will include his humongous postcard collection.

I (Chuck Aaltonen) will discuss the temperance movement and building of temperance halls in the Ashtabula area during the last two decades of the 19th Century. He will take two sessions to cover the material and displays. Finnish-American Reporter Senior Editor, Jim Kurtti will talk about his “Family Letters,” and Marie Fowler will discuss her Moomin tales.

Suzanne Koski will discuss Finland’s connection to world famous Faberge eggs; Bill Lagerroos of Madison, WI will present his Conneaut Connection; Mika Roinila will discuss the Finnish connection to the fishing industry on the Great Lakes; and a number of high franking Finnish officials will appear here to make presentations and take part in FinnFest USA 2007 @ Ashtabula.

We are expecting Varpu Lindstrom who will bring along his movie, “Letters from Karelia;” and Ben Strout, with the movie he produced, “Fire and Ice.” Local Finnish-American museums will be represented and the tours that have been arranged for Fairport Harbor and Conneaut, will be exciting additions to this magnificent festival.

I would second Chuck Altonen’s view of this presenter lineup providing a “magnificent festival.” Like other Finnish-American families, we Huskonens used the occasion to hold a mini-reunion.

I first attended FinnFest in 1996 when it was held in Marquette, Michigan. My wife and I were able to attend FinnFest 2013 in Houghton, Michigan, and had planned to attend FinnFest 2015 in Buffalo, New York. Life got in the way of those plans for 2015, so it was great to be able to attend FinnFest once again and participate in the 2017 edition./2007

Encountering Security for Finland President Niinistö’s Visit to FinnFest 2017

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I popped into the Starbuck’s coffee bar in the lobby of the Hilton Hotel to buy a bottle of fruit juice last Saturday (23 Sep 2017).

In front of me in line were two gentlemen in suits. Both had earpieces and the coiled cable connecting those earpieces to receivers. They chatted briefly — in English — then I asked if they were involved in security. The man closer to me replied that they were. When they turned toward me, I saw they each had a small lapel pin on their suit coats and that the pins were different. The gentleman closer to me acknowledged that he was an agent with the American Secret Service and that he was helping provide security during the visit of Finland’s President Niinistö. I asked if his college was from Finland and he said yes. That gentleman then looked at my FinnFest name badge and we had a brief conversation about my surname, which he recognized as being from Eastern Finland. Both agents were very well-spoken and cordial. As would be expected, there was no exchange of names with the two agents.

During the two events involving appearances by President Niinistö that I attended, I saw no evidence of security details. The agents literally were behind the scenes.

The brief encounter with those American and Finnish security agents in Starbucks was a nice moment, and I’ll remember it as a small highlight of attending FinnFest 2017.

Advice to White Supremacists: You Might Not Want to Test Your DNA

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Last week (Aug 17, 2017) Dick Eastman posted an article with the title above on his blog, “Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter.” We are reprinting it here with permission:

UPDATE: This news story is mushrooming. The original news article listed in the article below was knocked offline for a while, probably because thousands of people were accessing it simultaneously. It is back online now but may disappear again due to all the publicity and thousands of people reading the article. However, dozens of other news services have since picked up the story and now it is one of the top trending articles on the Internet.

You can find dozens more stories about this by starting at: http://bit.ly/2wWKhr6

The recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia, this past weekend speak for themselves. The various news media are full of stories about bigotry, racism, and fringe far-right political activities that resulted in murder and also in a lot of embarrassment to the American people. However, there is one genealogy issue that might affect the motivations of these extremists:

Are these white supremacists really “all white?”

I suspect that many white supremacists won’t like to learn the truth.

A geneticist at the University of California at Los Angeles ran a project for months that culminated in the presentation of a paper in Montreal this week at the annual gathering of the American Sociological Association. It seems that DNA testing of many members of one white supremacy organization indicates that a number of those who were tested have mixed racial ancestry. In other words, these white supremacists are not 100% white.

The paper is based on an examination of thousands of posts on Stormfront — a white nationalist online message board launched by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Don Black, a protégé of former KKK leader David Duke.

Ancestry matters to Stormfront users because the website states that members must be of “wholly European descent to be white.”

Oops! Some of the present Stormfront members and even some of the leaders are not eligible for membership in the organization, according to their own DNA.

The publication of the geneticist’s paper is causing a lot of consternation amongst the hate groups. It seems that human biodiversity is far more widespread than what some of the white supremacists ever envisioned.

You can read the full story in article by Jamaal Abdul-Alim in the Diverse Issues in Higher Education web site at: http://diverseeducation.com/article/100349.

Of course, geneticists and anthropologists will probably tell you that very few, if any, of the white populations in North America, Europe, or elsewhere are 100% white.

 

One Hundred Years of Finland’s Independence

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Dec 6, 2017, is the day Finland will officially celebrate its centennial as an independent country. In the lead-up to that momentous day, it is appropriate that Finland has a website with information about the centennial: Suomi Finland 100.

The page on that website that is very interesting to me is “One hundred years of Finland’s independence“.

It provides a 100-year timeline of events and developments year-by-year in Finland and elsewhere in the world.

By reviewing the timeline. I have greatly expanded my knowledge and understanding of the country of origin of my paternal grandparents.

Thanks to Cousin Matti in Finland for suggesting that I look at this website.

 

Take Your Ethnic Purity Business Elsewhere

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This email was distributed to subscribers of the Ancestry Blog a couple days ago. Especially appropriate for us as genealogists is what Ancestry states in the third paragraph:

The entire Ancestry family is horrified and appalled by the tragic events that occurred in Charlottesville. We not only condemn the violence that occurred but are deeply disturbed by the ideologies of the white supremacist groups who marched there.

As a company, we believe in the importance of diversity, unity and acceptance, as well as the fundamental truth that we are all more alike than not. Our purpose as a company, and the intent of our products, is to bring our shared diversity into the spotlight in order to promote understanding and equality. To be clear, we are against any use of our product in an attempt to promote divisiveness or justify twisted ideologies.

Our product is built on science, which illustrates the diversity in all of us. People looking to use our services to prove they are ethnically “pure” are going to be deeply disappointed. We encourage them to take their business elsewhere.

Diversity is quite literally part of every person in this country and this planet. We built our AncestryDNA and family history products to celebrate just that—the diversity within each of us and the connections that bring us closer together. Diversity, after all, is in all of our DNA and is the very foundation of Ancestry.

Thanks Ancestry for making this statement about modern society.

Hello to Finnish Cousins

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I just received word via email that notice of my recent posts about Cousin Matti sending Kaapro Huuskonen’s biography to me, and how he and my brother Walfrid translated it into English, has been circulated to other Huuskonen (original spelling of surname) cousins.

For their benefit, in case they take a look at this blog, I thought I might write a bit about my interest in my Finnish ancestry and include some links to earlier posts about my grandparents.

In 1995, I traveled to Salt Lake City for a business conference on steelmaking. After the day’s activities were over, a colleague said he was going to visit the Family History Library (now called FamilySearch Library — see photo) to do some family research. Having nothing better to do for the evening, I went along.

While I was looking at databases on CDs for people with my surname, I heard an announcement over the public address system that there would be a short seminar on Finnish Genealogy Research starting in a few minutes. I told my colleague that I had to take advantage of this opportunity.

The instructor was able to convince me that even though I didn’t read or speak Finnish I could still research about my ancestors. She provided a list of key Finnish words and their English translations that would be essential to understanding Finnish records.

The first thing I did when I returned home was to contact my brother Walfrid in Oklahoma. Ironically, while I was being exposed to the idea of researching Finnish ancestry in Salt Lake City, he was in Portland, Oregon, attending FinnFest 1995. He said that he had obtained passport and passenger ticket information for our grandparents and their travel to America.

FinnFest USA is an annual gathering of people of Finnish ancestry at various sites around America. My brother and I arranged to attend FinnFest 1996 together in Marquette, Michigan. We picked up a little more information about genealogical research, and we were exposed to many aspects of Finnish culture.

Subsequently, we attended FinnFest 2007 in Ashtabula, Ohio (and had a mini family reunion) and I attended FinnFest 2013 in Houghton, Michigan. I presented talks at the 2007 and 2013 events describing how I had collected more information about my Finnish Ancestry.

In October 2011, I started the blog, www.collectingancestors.com. Given that my motherdescended from immigrants to America during the colonial period, part of the blog content deals with that part of my genealogy and family history. But many of the posts cover what I have learned about my Finnish ancestry. Here are some examples:

From Finland to America: How the Evert Huuskonen Family Traveled to Ashtabula County, Ohio

Grandpa Evert Huuskonen’s Journey to America 

Evert and Ida Huuskonen from Vesanto and Rautalampi, Finland 

Evert Huskonen — Laborer, Farm Operator, Farm Owner, Retired Farmer 

Grandma Was an Alien! 

More on Grandma Huskonen’s Alien Registration 

Grandpa Huskonen Becomes a U.S. Citizen 

These can be read like chapters in a book about my grandparents. Eventually, I want to add material about their parents and other relatives in Finland.