In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

41 Migration from Finland to North America Migration from Finland to North America Reino Kero The mass emigration of Finns to the United States extended from the 1870s to the early 1920s, with a gross figure of about 389,000 Finns emigrating to North America, while every fifth person returned home. The 1920 federal census counted 150,000 persons born in Finland. The migrants were mainly peasants and laboring people from the countryside, with males clearly predominant. In the following pages, analysis is also presented on the minor migration wave of the post–World War II period, which is composed of different types of more educated migrants. How Did Emigration Begin? As was true of other European countries, migration from Finland to North America began as a movement of sailors. The moment when this migration started cannot be determined precisely. In the first decades of the nineteenth century, Finnish sailors now and then deserted ships sailing in American coastal waters and remained in America, thus becoming immigrants. However, an appreciable increase in the number of sailors who migrated occurred at the time of the gold discoveries in California. This took place around 1850. The emigration of sailors probably continued to be relatively common from the time of the California gold rush to World War I. It is perhaps typical of this emigration that a great portion of the émigrés left from towns—including such seafaring centers as Oulu, Raahe, Kokkola, and Turku. After the end of the American Civil War, migration to the United States received a new tone. In addition to sailors, the “normal” population of rural districts in Finland became interested in emigrating. The year 1866 seems to mark rather clearly a turning point in Finland. It is the year when the first fairly large groups of emigrants left from the Tornio River valley and from the vicinity of Kokkola. By the beginning of the 1870s, emigration was already fairly extensive from these two areas and also from the vicinity of Kristiinankaupunki. Emigration from the interior parts of Oulu and Vaasa provinces also began to occur at the beginning of the 1870s. At the beginning of the 1880s, emigration spread beyond Oulu and Vaasa provinces to the northern Reino Kero 42 regions of Turku and Pori Province and to the Åland Islands. By the end of the decade, people from the coastal area between Turku and Pori began to emigrate, although emigration from this region was still comparatively small in the 1890s. By the beginning of the 1890s, migration to America was occurring from all the provinces of Finland. However, with the exception of that from Vaasa and Oulu provinces, that from the northern regions of Turku and Pori Province, and that from the Åland Islands, emigration was rather sparse. Migration to America was an almost unknown phenomenon in many towns in Häme and Mikkeli provinces. Around the turn of the twentieth century, the phenomenon of emigration had spread, however, to all parts of Finland, but it remained rather sparse in the areas that it “conquered” last. How did this migration to America begin? Some Finns had, no doubt, become familiar with this phenomenon by observing their relatives migrate to northern Norway, and some farther to North America. Those living in the Tornio River valley must have observed the lives of Finns who had migrated to the Swedish side of the river. In Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia, trips to seek work in Sweden were undoubtedly also of significance. Also, sailors who had emigrated earlier must have spread information about the opportunities available in North America to the coastal regions of Finland. Additionally, in the eyes of the educated classes, America had become an ideal land where all things were better than in old Europe. This idea of America was attractive to many prospective emigrants. How Many Emigrants? The official Finnish emigration statistics for Oulu and Vaasa provinces are from as early as the beginning of the 1880s, but they include information about the entire country only from 1893. For this reason, notions of immigration that took place before 1893 vary considerably. My estimates of the numbers of earlier emigrants (up to 1893) are based on passport lists, passenger lists of shipping companies, and information found in newspapers. These materials indicate that before 1870, perhaps several hundred persons emigrated. As mentioned earlier, large groups of Finnish sailors deserted their ships when they were sailing in American waters. These sailors, too, emigrated. In the 1870s, there were probably about...

Share