Ostrobothnia

Pörtom

Land

‘The main portion of Pörtom is located in the upper part of the Närpes river valley. Parts of the parish are within the Malax and Petalax river basins. The parish is at 20 to 90 meters above sea level and about 20 km for the Gulf of Bothnia. The landscape is flat and consists of arable and forested land.’ ⁸

This map highlighting the Pörtom parish from 1938 displays on the HisKi project website, made available by the Genealogical Society of Finland.

Parish History

In the Middle Ages, Pörtom was a part of the Kyro parish ⁷
Between 1555 and 1859 it was a part of the Närpes parish
In 1555, Pörtom became a chapel church for Napes ⁸
In 1859, it became an independent parish ⁷

Pörtom was a small and isolated village until the 1700’s. There were only a dozen farms concentrated close to each other. At the end of the 1700’s significant changes occurred. Marshlands were cultivated for fields, making agriculture more efficient. New building and expansions occurred. A new straight road was built which made the area easier to access and grow. ⁴

Parish Records

The village of Pörtom Kyrkoby and its farms were recorded in T.W. Karsten’s work, Svesk Bygd I Osterbotten: Nu Och Fordom. ²Pörtom Parish Communion records were not used to confirm these findings.

Because parish Communion records are listed by village and farm names and because farm names often were used as a part of a person’s name, it is interesting to note the following farms.

To open a printable list of villages and farms (pdf), click here.