By Rudy Owens, MA, MPH
Jump below my short story and summary for links to stories and photographs I started publishing in 2023.
As a Finnish-American by birth, with one quarter of my ancestry rooted in the Nordic nation of Finland, I am by birthright personally and biologically attached to this country. Today, this is cause for celebration, as suddenly all things Finnish, in the eyes of the world and social media, are wildly cool—or as the Finns say, “Siistia!”
In March 2024, it was named for the seventh year in a row as the world’s “happiest country,” according to a United Nations report examining major areas of individual and societal wellbeing. But that is not the reason I have taken a strong and later-in-life interest in my core Finnishness and my biological family history that can be traced to Finland’s farming belt.
As an adoptee, I was separated at birth from my birth mother’s family in the mid-1960s. I’ve written a book about that, and it can be ordered here.
When I got settled in my adult life, I found her and my bio father. I learned in 1989, the year I found my maternal family in Michigan, that my birth mother had a mostly Welsh-American father (family name Owens) and a 100 percent ethnically Finnish mother (family name Nelson). My maternal grandmother was one of two daughters born in Michigan to Finnish immigrants to the Upper Peninsula.
That means my life story, as a Finnish-American, is tied to the story of the tens of thousands of Finns who emigrated from their homeland to this region on the Great Lakes during the decades of emigration from then-Russian controlled Finland, from the 1880s to the early 1900s. Up to 80 percent of all Finns who left Finland during the era of mass outward emigration to the United States moved to Minnesota and Michigan, to mostly work in the extractive and physically demanding timber and mining industries, like my great grandfather did in Michigan.
My family settled next to Hancock, Michigan, as did countless thousands of other Finnish immigrants. My great grandfather worked in the harsh world of hard labor for large employers that did mining and resource extraction. He died before he was 58 years old. My great grandmother outlived him by nearly four decades. As late as 1920, the U.S. Census data showing my great-grandparents’ and their kids shows, about half of those listed in the Census for Ripley, Michigan, spoke Finnish in their households.
It wasn’t until 2023 that I decided to finally go to my “home country,” as I call Finland.
My family, according to the family history records I have, that were created by my maternal grandmother’s sister, go as far back as 1770. The first entry begins with the marriage of Michel Törn and Magdalena Anders. Michel was born in Alahärmä. I later visited Alahärmä on my first trip to Finland in September 2023. Magdalena’s birthplace is likely in the regional jurisdiction surrounding the village, called South Ostrobothnia. It was and remains a farming area.
The first time I publicly shared I had started my research project was my Tweet on April 6, 2023: “And my new journey into my ancestral past has begun. Where it ends now, I know not. Once the ship leaves its harbor of safety for parts unknown, the mind, heart, and soul breath in the fresh sea air that only is found by discovery. #Finland” At that time I had not found my distal relatives, but fate ordained that to happen, I think, along with some old-school Finnish “sisu.”
A month after connecting by email and video with my Finnish relatives, I met them in the cities of Kurikka and Tampere, Finland, in September 2023. That was one of the most soulfully satisfying things I ever have experienced. In fact, it was so rewarding, I flew back to Finland in February 2024, to meet them again, and stay with three of my relatives in Kurikka and Tampere for an 11-day winter holiday. We had a great time, and I could experience the joys of Finnish saunas and cross-country skiing when snow covered the ground. I loved it!
My relatives asked me on my last trip, when are you coming back? I did not have an answer yet. But I told them it was time to explore Lapland, a place they all enjoy and love. It seems that another trip will be starting soon.
Podcasts
- Finding Finland (Click on the link to find episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube, added May 6, 2024)
Photo essays of Finland
- Rudy Owens Finland photo gallery for September 2023 trip (smaller collection, on my photo webpage, rudyfoto.com)
- Rudy Owens Finland photo gallery for trips in September 2023 and February 2024 (larger collection, by place and themes, on my Flickr page)
- Connecting with my Finnish roots, one sauna at a time (April 13, 2024)
- Finnish Nordic skiing, accessible for all (March 25, 2024)
- Tampere, Finland, “sauna capital of the world,” from February 2024 (April 6, 2024)
Stories and interviews about my Finnish ancestry and ties to Finland
- A Siberian log cabin tells the story of family kinship (September 28, 2024)
- When the sirens call, you must respond (includes video) (April 20, 2024)
- A year of living mythologically (April 16, 2024)
- Connecting with my Finnish roots, one sauna at a time (April 13, 2024, also listed under my “Photo essays” above)
- ‘Stateside’ interviews focus on Finland, adoptee rights, and our rights to know our origins (March 20, 2024)
- Rudy Owens interview with Michigan Radio/Stateside about connecting with kin in Finland (aired March 20, 2024)
- A new tradition begins for ‘Rudy-setä’ (Dec. 25, 2023)
- Blood is thicker than water: Meeting my kin in Finland (long-form story: 9,000+ words) (Nov. 5, 2023)
- Coming home to my Finnish ancestral villages, in defiance of Michigan’s adoption secrecy laws (October 14, 2023)
- We all have a right to know our origins (September 23, 2023)
- A hunger to know who we are and from where we have come (August 20, 2023)
- Kinship and ethnic ancestries matter in our bones (March 12, 2023)
Stories about Finland, Finnish policies, Finnish health, Finnish culture, and Finnish history:
- Reflections how Finland invests in the health of its people (October 2, 2024)
- Celebrating Finland’s baby box, the äitiyspakkaus (June 1, 2024)
- Why Finland has captured global attention for its national wellbeing (March 16, 2024)
- Fresh perspectives on Finland, the ‘happiest country in the world’ six times in a row (March 3, 2024)
- Story related to adoptee rights advocacy and genetic health risks for Finnish-Americans and ethnically Finnish people (January 13, 2024)
- In a sauna you won’t find a super model, but you will see a lot of sweaty flesh (Dec. 9, 2023)
- The health benefits of Finnish saunas (Sept. 23, 2024)
- What the United States can learn from Finland’s famous ‘baby boxes’ (September 16, 2023)
- Counting adoptions and not counting adoptions: a tale of two countries (May 20, 2023)
Keywords/Meta Tags: Finland, Suomi, Kinship, Genealogy, Finnish Immigration, Finnish-Americans, Upper Peninsula, Michigan, Finnish Immigration United States, Adoption, Adoptee Rights, Human Rights, Adoption Laws, Finland Travel, Finland History, Finnish Happiness, Finland Culture, South Ostrobothnia, Sisu, Alahärmä, Kortesjärvi, Kurikka, Tampere, Siirtolaisuusmuseo, Finland Public Health, Finnish Social History, Sauna, Finnish Saunas
Last updated: October 2, 2024