Parish Primer
The Parish Primer is a long-term project to capture information about the Swedish-speaking parishes in Finland where our ancestors once lived.
What was their life like before they emigrated?
Each parish has a unique personality and history that shaped your ancestor’s life. Parish records are the key to tracing your family story. For this project, parish records dated in the late 1880’s were used. This was around the time of the Great Emigration. Also used were parish specific books from the Swedish Finn Historical Society’s library, internet articles, land records and HisKi project information made available by the Genealogical Society of Finland. This project provides a historical perspective of parishes. Records and events from the mid-twentieth and twenty-first centuries were not within the scope of the Parish Primer.
This project was originally to make a list of villages and their farms to make navigation of parish records easier. The first phase was to research and document Ostrobothnia, Åboland, Åland Islands and Nyland parishes with villages and farms. The second phase will be to add city parishes. The third phase will connect parishes to the new communities that Swedish Finn emigrants settled in. Volunteers welcome!
Each parish has a unique personality and history that shaped your ancestor’s life.
Adopt a Parish
Do you know something about a specific parish that is not yet included on its page? Click here to adopt that parish and help expand the information available on our website!
The Swedish speaking regions in Finland:
- Svenska Österbotten (Swedish Ostrobothnia)
- Åboland
- Åland
- Nyland
Swedish speaking regions
Click on the region name to open an alphabetical list of parishes within that region.
Click on the parish name to open the primer about that parish.
Click on ‘List of Region Villages’ to open an alphabetical list of villages in that region.
Memorial gifts help fund Parish Primer project
Parish Primer Project
Thelma Lind Mosebar (1947-2017)
Born in Rochester, Washington to Edgar and Hulda Lind, Thelma lived in Olympia, WA in later years. Married to Bob Mosebar, they had one son, Todd who worked on his PhD in Helsingfors in the 2015-17 timeframe. Her Swedish Finn roots are in Kronoby, Finland where she often visited. Thelma loved Finland and all that it had to offer.
Don Forsman (1935 – 2007)
Born in Ballard, Washington to Ed and Ellen Forsman, Don’s family moved to Tacoma in 1947 where he graduated from Stadium High School. He attended Pacific Lutheran University after which he joined the Army. Don was an outdoorsman and an inveterate traveler. He married Syrene Staaf in 1962 after which they had two daughters, Britt and Siri. After 30 years with Chevron USA, he retired in 1992 to explore many areas of the world. His roots go back to Terjärv and Esse, Finland where Don and Syrene made annual trips to visit family and friends. Don was immensely proud of his Swedish Finn heritage and directed the Genealogy Office for the Swedish Finn Historical Society for almost 15 years. According to Syrene, his driving passion was to “connect descendants to their relatives and birth parishes. That was the driving force behind his daily research.”
Links to Museums in Finland
Stundars Open Air Museum and Craft Center in Solf
Brage Open Air Museum in Vasa. A farm on the city’s edge in 1800’s, interiors and buildings carefully preserved.
Jakobstad Museum: The Malm Mansion, Runeberg’s Cottage, etc.
Nanoq in Jakobstad. Exhibits and collections form Arctic life and exploration.
Malax Museum Association has three museums on four sites. Brinken was the home of three maiden ladies at the turn of the century. Kvarken Boat Museum is one of the most extensive maritime collections on the Gulf of Bothnia. Iron Age Trail is carefully marked for Iron Age communities on the ridges of the Malax area.
Fänrik Ståhl’s Center in Oravais offers a preserved officer’s house, a re-enactment regiment complete with cannon, all set on the actual battleground of the famous Oravais battle against Russian troops in 1808.
Kimo bruk or Foundry, near Oravais, opens for festival events, such as the blacksmith championship weekend. Buildings hold exhibits of equipment, and a model of the foundry in 1763.
The K.H. Renlund Museum in Karleby has a collection of National Romantic art in a burgher’s home of about 1850 and much more.
Carlsro Museum in Kristinestad. The old city itself is a museum. Walk through the 1700s port town.
Kuddnäs Museum in Nykarleby. Kuddnäs was the birthplace of writer Zacharius Topelius, 1818-1898.
Ostrobothnian Museum in Vasa. Their collection contains historical and cultural artifacts along with works of art.
