Beyond the pure enjoyment of remembering and writing, this blog is a family history for my children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. To that end I’ve been doing research on my Finnish grandparents' immigration to America.

Family narratives recount Grandma’s oral stories and a few bits and pieces of Grandpa speaking of his journey to America; but the official records, few that they are, don’t jibe.

I’ve come to believe their stories of over 100 years ago (and told in broken English) have been transposed and confused together.

The Victorian is supposedly the ship Grandma Lizzie sailed on from England in 1899; but it didn’t go into service until 1905. Information sent to me from Finland by Dad’s cousin, Olavi, and that I have since found in Finnish public records indicates that at age 20 Grandpa paid 322 Finnish markka for passage on the Polaris leaving Hanko, Finland, May 17, 1905 for England, and then eight days later continuing across the Atlantic on the Victorian (Allan Line). Ultimate goal, Cloquet, Minnesota. His Finnish passport identifies him as Matti Elis Matinpoika Kunnari. Matinpoika means son of Matti; poika is son or boy in Finnish.

The Polaris was a passenger ship, but Grandpa is said to have taken a cargo ship. Grandma, on the other hand, always talked about her adventure on a cargo ship on that first leg.

The story is that Grandpa went through Ellis Island, but there are few “Kunnari” records there and none of him. His sister, Fina, is legibly recorded going through Ellis Island in 1922 to visit her brother Matti (Grandpa) at 102 1st Street, Virginia, Minnesota. According to that entry, she had previously been in the United States from 1910 to 1921, but there is no Ellis Island record of it.

The Victorian sailed from England to Quebec. The story is told of Grandpa disembarking (supposedly at Ellis Island) and, neither speaking nor understanding English, wandering around listening for people who spoke Finn. He was directed to Michigan because “there were Finns there.”

Records of European immigrants entering the United States through Canada are not readily available on the Internet, but Grandma always said she entered the United States from Canada (after crossing the Atlantic from England to Quebec) at Saulte St. Marie, Michigan.

The ship's manifest proves that Grandpa was on the Victorian when she arrived in Quebec on June 3, 1905 and that he was planning to go to Cloquet, Minnesota. It’s likely that Grandpa stepped foot on American soil in Michigan just as Grandma did six years earlier.

And now at least part of the record is set straight; and, sadly, we are not part of the Ellis Island story.

In You, O Lord do I put my trust and confidently take refuge; let me never be put to shame or confusion! Psalm 71:1