In search of our Finnish roots

 Lennart Elg, October 2020

The first known ancestor of our Elg family was a Finnish settler who arrived in what is now the village of Säfsnäs in the early 17th Century - Pål Larsson Turpoinen. Pål was one of the first to settle in the area, and many Swedes with roots here count Pål among their ancestors. For many years, the main source for this was oral history, recorded by Finnish linguist Carl Axel Gottlund in the early 19th century. The community of Finnish settlers had a strong tradition of oral history, but the interviews were conducted 200 years after they arrived.

Finnish migrants

Life in the woods

When Pål and other Finnish-born settlers arrived in the area they were neither "illegal" nor "immigrants". Finland was part of Sweden since the 13th century, and would remain so for another two centuries, until we lost Finland in a war against Russia in 1809. And the King of Sweden provided tax incentives for settlers, not only to develop the economy, but also so he would get early warning if Danish troops crossed the border to march on Stockholm. The area is close to Norway, which was then controlled by our traditional arch-enemy, the Danes.

The Finnish settlers aquired somewhat of an outlaw reputation, since they preferred to settle deep in the forests, far from Swedish homesteaders. Pål first shows up in a police investigation from 1622, suspected of hunting moose, which all belonged to the Crown.. Pål was a suspect in this investigation, but - as usual - rumour preceded the sheriff and he found no hard evidence. Pål was not convicted, though remains of a slaughtered moose had been found close to his cabin.

In later documents, Pål is referred to as sheriff for the Finnish community (finnelänsman). This indicates that he had become a man of substance in his community, and also that he spoke Swedish in addition to his Finnish mother tongue, and could communicate with Swedish authorities.

Slash and burn farming

These Finnish homesteaders practised a highly efficient form of slash-and-burn farming which made it possible for them to subsist in remote forest areas, far from Swedish farmers. They would cut down an area of forest and burn the vegetation. The ashes would provide rich nutrients for the soil for a couple of years. However, once these were depleted they would have to clearcut a new area.

Iron mills

The situation would change as an emerging, but primitive, iron industry was growing in the beginning of the 17th century. Smelting was powered by charcoal, and charcoal was also required to reduce the iron oxide to pig iron. The Forest Finns with their demanding slash-and-burn agriculture were suddenly considered an economic threat by increasing the cost of charcoal as they burned off now valuable timber. The burning of the forests was officially forbidden in 1647 and the Finns were obliged to support the iron factories by providing charcoal at an artificially low price.

  

Traditional charcoal pile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charcoal_burner

An iron mill was founded ca 1720 at Gravendal, around 10 miles southeast of Säfsnäs. Here our ancestors found work in the blacksmith shop, and blacksmithing became a family tradition for more than 200 years... The name Elg was adopted by Petter Jansson around 1770, when he became a master blacksmith, and this trade was taught from father to son for at least four generations. Petter was a 3rd great-grandson of Pål Larsson Turpoinen, and at least the fourth generation to be born at Elgsjöhöjden (the Hill above Moose Lake – elg is Swedish for moose). Most of us are descended from Petter´s son Lars Elg (1789-18539, who became a master blacksmith at Gravendal, a few miles south of Älgsjöhöjden.

 

18th century blacksmith shop, with a small waterpowered drop hammer

By the end of the 18th century the very existence of the Forest Finns was forgotten and they were considered to have assimilated into the Swedish population. But they were not, as was clearly shown by Finnish linguist Carl Axel Gottlund.

Gottlund made two trips to the Forest Finns, the first in 1817 to Dalarna and the second, a longer one in 1820--21 to Värmland. He collected folklore and other ethnographic data as well as geneaological information. The last mentioned was partly because he wanted to improve the social circumstances of the Finns and to prevent the Sweden from taking their land ownings. It has been estimated that in the beginning of the 19th century there were about 40.000 Finns, still using Finnish as their mother tongue, in central Scandinavia, of which about 14.000 in Värmland.

 

Carl Axel Gottlund

DNA research

Recently, genealogists have come to suspect that Pål is identical to a man of that name who grew up in a small village called Pihtipudas in central Finland, and who disappears from Finnish records in 1603.

One clue has been that the name – now spelled Turpeinen - still lives on in Pihtipudas. Now, DNA testing done by my distant relative Per-Göran Jansson has shown that both Per-Göran and another Swedish descendant of Pål Larsson Turpeinen shares genes with a member of the Pihtipudas Turpeinens, going back to around 1600. So it appears that the origins of Pål Larsson Turpoinen/Turpeinen have been confirmed. And since he disappears from Pihtipudas in 1603, his birth if probably closer to 1580. I have parish records which show that Per-Göran and I have a common ancestor in this line as far back as 1710.

At present, we do not yet know for sure whether it was Pål Larsson Turpeinen or his father who left Pihtipudas. We also know nothing about his life before the first reliable information about his existence in the Säfsen area appears in 1622.

You can find the location of Pihtipudas here:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pihtipudas,+Finland/ 

The Elgs are descended from Pål´s son Jan/Johan. In an ”it´s a small world” moment, Ritva has found that, according to MyHeritage, she is related by marriage to Jan´s brother Erik Pålsson Turpoinen..

Pihtipudas

Today, Pihtipudas is a small town of around 4100 inhabitants. On a trip to Finland in 2018, we stopped in Pihtipudas, and met our distant cousin Juha Turpeinen, who we had found through the DNA research of Per-Göran Jansson. Juha showed us remains of the early settlements. Close to the church is a museum dedicated to the early settlers, and also a statue dedicated to the slash-and-burn farmers.

Juha Turpeinen and Lennart, studying our joint ancestors

History of Pihtipudas

Before abt 1550, the area where Pihtipudas lies today was unpopulated, used for hunting and fishing. Around 1550, land for slash-and-burn farming was running out, and the Swedish kings encouraged cultavation of new land in order to increase tax revenue.Pihtipudas started to develop as a center for the new settlers. One of the first settlers was Tapani Turpeinen. Tapani founded a large family in the area, a 1638 survey lists five farms owned by Turpeinens.

Still, the farming methods used continously required new land, and migration continued, both north, and west across the Baltic sea, to Sweden. We do not know whether it was Pål Larsson Turpoinen or his father Lars Pålsson Turpoinen who migrated, or what triggered the migration across the Baltic in this case: It may have been social unrest at the time, it may have been the risk of being conscripted to the army, it may have been a son knowing he was not in line to enherit the family farm. Also, the king of Sweden offered tax incentives for Finns who settled in the west forest regions of Sweden. This was partly for economic development, but also to provide early warning against our traditional enemy, the perfidious Danes, who ruled Norway at the time.

Monument to the slash-and-burn farmers, Pihtipudas, Finland

Trip to Värmland

 

Map of central Sweden

In the autumn of 2020, we made a trip to the northwestern part of Värmland county. There were once Finnish settlements on both sides of the Norwegian border. On the Norwegian side, there is actually a farm, Turbeinstorpet, named after a descendant of Pål Larsson Turpeinen who was the first settler there. Värmland has the best collection of preserved old buildings and artefacts. One of the museums also had a café where we could try the forest Finns staple food, ”hand porrige”.

Hand porridge

”Hand porridge” was a staple food of the forest Finns, nourishing and easy to take along. The end result is dry lumps which can be picked up by hand with no need for fancy cutlery. It is made with a flour ground from toasted oats.

Lingonberries are a Swedish specialty, they resemble cranberries but have a lot more flavor.

Serves 4

• 4 cups of water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 lb of toasted oat flour
• Pork loin or bacon
• Lingonberries

1. Fry the pork or bacon, and set aside. Leave the fat in the pan and keep it warm.
2. Bring the water to a boil with salt, and turn off the heat.
3. Sprinkle the flour on top of the water, use a ladle to push it into the water but do not stir.
4. Put the lid on for 10 minutes.
5. Stir gently. The aim is to get a dry and lumpy porridge, so you can pick up lumps and eat with your fingers.
6. Drizzle pork/bacon fat over the porridge, serve with bacon and lingonberries.

 Smoke cabins

In addition to their proficiency at slash-and-burn farming, the forest Finns brought their own style of buildings, known as ”smoke cabins”.  Simple cross timbered log cabins, the earliest examples were heated with an open fireplace, but these was soon replaced with massive stone ovens, which could store heat overnight.

  

Traditional smoke cabin.

The window is a later addition. Originally, there were only openings to let light and air in, which could be closed with wooden shutters.

Instead of a chimney, which would let out not just the smoke but also most of the heat from the oven, the hot smoke was let out into the room, to collect under an insulated ceiling supported by two strong ridge poles. From there the hot smoke radiated heat across the whole room. A hatch in the ceiling regulated the escape of hot smoke, and a set of hatches in the walls regulated the inflow of fresh air.

When properly adjusted, this system was both more efficient and provided more comfort than the traditional fireplace connected to a chimney. This type of building were used for centuries, the last permanently occupied smoke cabin was abandoned in the 1950´s.

Smaller versions of these buildings, without the top smoke vent, were used and are still popular as ”smoke saunas”.