Finnish Americans

Finland is a northern European country, notable for its sparse population (the most sparsely populated in Europe) and its late introduction of industrialization by European standards. Until 1809 it was part of Sweden, and so depending on the date of immigration, it is not always possible to [Page 878]differentiate between Finnish and Swedish Americans. From 1809 to 1917, it was part of the Russian Empire but has since been independent.

Finns do not always agree about who is and is not a Finn; as a linguistic definition, it is easy to determine Finnish speakers, but as an ethnic group, there is not universal agreement about whether the Swedish-speaking population of Finland should be included. (A 2008 genetic study found that Swedish-speaking residents of Finland are more closely related to Swedish residents than to Finnish-speaking residents in their own province.) The Finnish language is in the same family as Estonian; Swedish is unrelated. The origin of the Finns as a people is unclear, adding to the controversy of defining who is a Finn today; while there is archaeological evidence that Finland has been inhabited since the last ice age, it is not clear that today's Finns are descended from the original inhabitants. Certainly Finns are more closely related to other Europeans than to the Sami, the indigenous people of Scandinavia, but given thousands of years of invasions and intermarriages, this does not necessitate an extra-Finland origin of the Finns.

Finnish Americans, of whom there are about 700,000, may be descended from Finnish speakers from either Finland or Sweden, Swedish speakers from Finland, or Sami. Some Norwegian Americans may also be descended from Kvens, the descendants of Finns who left Sweden or Finland for Norway in the 18th and 19th centuries. There have been Finns in North America since the founding of New Sweden, the 17th-century Swedish colony along the Delaware River. A small but healthy Finnish community developed in New Sweden before the colony was taken over by the Dutch in 1655. Just before the transfer, Martti Marttinen joined the colony. He later Anglicized his name to Morton, and his great-grandson John Morton was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Until the 19th century, Finnish immigration to the United States was low. In the 19th century, transportation advances that made the trip abroad cheaper and safer, combined with worsening agricultural and economic conditions in Finland, encouraged Finns to begin immigrating to the United States as so many other groups were doing. The vast land of America attracted many farmers, as well as thrill-seekers and other migrants.

Agents—professional recruiters for companies in industries like mining and shipping—moved in secret through Finland, against the wishes of the government, spreading the word of American opportunities. Three thousand Finns moved to the United States in the 1870s and 36,000 in the 1880s. When the Russian government began an extensive program designed to Russify Finland, that number jumped fivefold.

The Great Laestadian Migration of 1864–95 was a migration of Finnish families from Finland and northern Norway to the United States after the death of Lars Laestadius, the founder of their religious sect. Laestadians settled mainly in the midwest and northwest, homesteading farms in Washington, Oregon, South Dakota, and Minnesota, or settling down in mining communities in Michigan.

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