Finding Finland Rudy Owens

Laura Aho is the publicist for the Genealogical Society of Finland, Suomen Sukututkimusseura (⁠www.genealogia.fi/en/⁠). The organization, founded in 1917, the year of Finland’s independence, is an education and memory institution that, as a scientific society, promotes Finnish family and personal history research and publishes its results. It is based in Helsinki, Finland, and provides extensive genealogical resources for researchers in Finland and around the world. For the society, Aho also publishes the organization’s Jalmari magazine, a digital magazine for society members published 11 times a year.* The magazine’s stories cover current issues and themes dealing with the society and the field of genealogy. Aho is also a PhD candidate at the University of Helsinki, majoring in Latin language and Roman literature. She speaks seven languages, including Finnish, and is the author of many articles in her fields of study and collaborator on research projects in her home country and Europe.

*In February 2024, Jalmari included Rudy Owens’ personal story how I found my Finnish kin in Finland in the summer of 2023 and the larger story of Finnish immigration to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Jack Steinmann is a Twin Cities based marketing professional, with more than 25 years of production experience for commercials as well as digital and social media. He has worked with clients such as Target, IKEA, and many more. His films and photography have been featured in local galleries, news sites, and publications including the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Photo Center, the Twin Cities Daily Planet, the Saint Paul Almanac, Indian Country Today, and others. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and native of Minneapolis. He now calls St. Paul home. Steinmann also has family and roots in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. With his wife, they have shared their outdoor sauna for years. He recently presented a placemaking concept in Hancock, Michigan in February 2024 during Sauna Week to create a community owned, led, and accessible public sauna for residents and visitors alike in a city with deep Finnish-American roots from the late 1800s on. The Sauna Forum, held at the Finnish American Heritage Center and hosted by the Finnish Theme Committee, brought together some 50 area residents and visitors to discuss potential interest in bringing public sauna to Hancock, the nesting place of Finnish America. Steinmann describes placemaking a participatory process for shaping public buildings and spaces that harnesses the ideas and assets of the people and communities who use it.

Jere lives near the city of Kurikka, Finland, and is an avid outdoorsman and hunter. He is also my “cousin,” whose great grandmother was the cousin my of great grandmother. We recently connected in person for the first time in February 2024 at a family gathering that brought together relatives from across Finland and, in my case, from the United States. In our interview for the inaugural episode of the “Finding Finland” podcast, with host Rudy Owens, we talk about Jere's impressions learning about an American relative who reconnected with his family in September 2023, the meaning of the Finnish trait called “sisu” and its meaning amid overhyped social media marketing, the wonderful world of saunas, and even tent saunas used for outdoor adventures in Finland. We also discuss his views if a “Finnish-American” relative is truly “Finnish,” stories about our Finnish relatives who lived in Michigan, and how to enjoy a trip to Lapland without being tormented by mosquitos.