History of the Finns in Michigan

History of the Finns in Michigan
Author: Armas Kustaa Ensio Holmio
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 548
Release: 2001
Genre: Finnish Americans
ISBN: 9780814329740

A history of the Finnish people in Michigan published in English for the first time.

Finns of Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Finns of Michigan's Upper Peninsula
Author: The Finnish American Heritage Center
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2018
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 146712978X

"On Midsummer Eve, 1865, more than 30 Finnish and Sami immigrants disembarked from a Great Lakes ship to a place called Hancock, Michigan. At the time, Hancock consisted of nothing more than a small cluster of humble buildings, but it was here, on the outskirts of mid-19th-century civilization, that Finnish settlement in Michigan's Upper Peninsula (UP) took root. Much to the surprise of these new Americans, Midsummer was not a religious holiday marked by feasts in celebration of the season's prolonged sunlight. Rather, the newcomers were immediately hastened into the bowels of the earth to extract copper in pursuit of the American Dream. In short order, hardworking Finnish immigrants became reputable miners, lumberjacks, farmers, maids, and commercial fishermen. A century and a half later, the UP boasts the largest Finnish population outside of the motherland and sustains the determined spirit the Finns call sisu--an influence that remains palpable in all 15 UP counties."--

Finns in Michigan

Finns in Michigan
Author: Gary Kaunonen
Publisher: Discovering the Peoples of Mic
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN:

Discovering the Peoples of Michigan examines the rich multicultural heritage of the Great Lakes State and explores Michigan's ethnic dynamics. Michigan's rapidly changing historical and social structures have far-reaching implications in such areas as public policy, education, management, and private enterprise. Discovering the Peoples of Michigan reveals the unique contributions that different and often unrecognized communities have made to Michigan's historical and social identity.

Swedes in Michigan

Swedes in Michigan
Author: Rebecca J. Mead
Publisher: MSU Press
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2012-05-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1609173236

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, large numbers of Swedish immigrants came to Michigan seeking new opportunities in the United States and relief from economic, religious, or political problems at home. In addition to establishing early farming communities, Swedish immigrants worked on railroad construction, mining, fishing, logging, and urban manufacturing. As a result, Swedish Americans made significant contributions to the economic and cultural landscape of Michigan, a history this book explores in engaging and illustrative depth. Swedes in Michigan traces the evolution of hard-working people who valued education and assimilated actively while simultaneously maintaining their cultural ties and institutions. Moving from past to present, the book examines community patterns, family connections, social organizations, exchange programs, ethnic celebrations, and business and technical achievements that have helped Swedes in Michigan maintain a sense of their heritage even as they have adapted to American life.

Finns in Wisconsin

Finns in Wisconsin
Author: Mark Knipping
Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society
Total Pages: 71
Release: 2013-03-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 0870205323

From mining to logging to farming, Finns played an important role in the early development of Wisconsin. Although their immigration to the state came later than that of most other groups, their contributions proved just as significant. Finns pride themselves for their sisu, a Finnish term which, roughly translated, means fortitude or perseverance, especially in the face of adversity. They needed their strength of character to help them face the difficult task of building a new life in a new land. Many Finns arriving in Wisconsin, unable to own land at home, hoped to establish themselves as small independent farmers in the new land. They settled mainly in northern Wisconsin, due to jobs and land available there. This book traces the history of Finnish settlement in Wisconsin, from the large concentrations of Finns in the northern region, to the smaller "Little Finlands" created in other areas of the state. Revised and expanded, this new edition contains the richly detailed story of one Finnish woman, told in her own words, of her hardships and experiences in traveling to a new country and her resourcefulness and strength in adapting to a new culture and building a new life.

Finland-Swedes in Michigan

Finland-Swedes in Michigan
Author: Mika Roinila
Publisher: MSU Press
Total Pages: 167
Release: 2012-05-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1609173252

Who are the Finland-Swedes? Defined as citizens of Finland with a Swedish mother tongue, many know these people as “Swede- Finns” or simply “Swedes.” This book, the first ever to focus on this ethnolinguistic minority living in Michigan, examines the origins of the Finland-Swedes and traces their immigration patterns, beginning with the arrival of hundreds in the United States in the 1860s. A growing population until the 1920s, when immigration restrictions were put in place, the Finland-Swedes brought with them unique economic, social, cultural, religious, and political institutions, explored here in groundbreaking detail. Drawing on archival, church, and congregational records, interviews, and correspondence, this book paints a vivid portrait of Finland-Swedish life in photographs and text, and also includes detailed maps that show the movement of this group over time. The latest title in the Discovering the Peoples of Michigan series even includes a sampling of traditional Finland-Swedish recipes.

Prohibition in the Upper Peninsula

Prohibition in the Upper Peninsula
Author: Russell M. Magnaghi
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2017-07-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 1625856962

Temperance workers had their work cut out for them in the Upper Peninsula. It was a wild and woolly place where moonshiners, bootleggers and rumrunners thrived. Al Capone and the Purple Gang came north to keep Canadian whiskey passing through Sault Ste. Marie to Chicago and Detroit. Federal enforcement agent John Fillion double-crossed both his office and the bootleggers. The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island survived due to gambling and fine Canadian whiskey brought in by rumrunners, sometimes assisted by the Coast Guard. Author Russell M. Magnaghi dives into the raucous history of Yooper Prohibition.

Community in Conflict

Community in Conflict
Author: Gary Kaunonen
Publisher: MSU Press
Total Pages: 560
Release: 2013-07-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1628950382

A mirror of great changes that were occurring on the national labor rights scene, the 1913–14 Michigan Copper Strike was a time of unprecedented social upheaval in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. With organized labor taking an aggressive stance against the excesses of unfettered capitalism, the stage was set for a major struggle between labor and management. The Michigan Copper Strike received national attention and garnered the support of luminaries in organized labor like Mother Jones, John Mitchell, Clarence Darrow, and Charles Moyer. The hope of victory was overshadowed, however, by violent incidents like the shooting of striking workers and their family members, and the bitterness of a community divided. No other event came to symbolize or memorialize the strike more than the Italian Hall tragedy, in which dozens of workers and working-class children died. In Community in Conflict, the efforts of working people to gain a voice on the job and in their community through their unions, and the efforts of employers to crush those unions, take center stage. Previously untapped historical sources such as labor spy reports, union newspapers, coded messages, and artifacts shine new light on this epic, and ultimately tragic, period in American labor history.

So Cold a Sky

So Cold a Sky
Author: Karl Bohnak
Publisher: Karl Bohnak
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2006
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780977818907

Finns in Minnesota

Finns in Minnesota
Author: Arnold Robert Alanen
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2012
Genre: History
ISBN: 0873518608

This succinct yet comprehensive volume outlines the contributions and culture of Minnesota's Finnish Americans, perhaps best known for their cooperative ventures, their political involvement, and, of course, their saunas.