Recording a Finnish history of immigration, farming
By Karen Mann JOURNAL CORRESPONDENT

June Flinkstrom was surrounded by 38 fellow Finnish families while growing up in Westminster in the 1940's.

"From the time I was five until I married, there were only two or three non- Finnish families in the neighborhood," said Flinkstrom, who lives along Route 12 on the Fitchburg line.

A lot of these people have passed away though, she said.

"My children are some of the last 100 percent Finnish in the town," she said.

For these reasons, the Historical Society is working to put together information on the large Finnish farming population that was prevalent during the early 1900s.

This project, lead by curator Betsy Hannula, is part of a larger project to put together a written compilation of the town's history for the town's 250th anniversary in 2009.

The historical society held its second meeting this week, inviting those with knowledge of any Finnish farming families to come and share information, artifacts, pictures, or just stories.

The 15 people at the meeting either had great memories to share, or wanted to learn more about their parents and grandparents history.

"All of the people here are friends, they all have such great stories about the older days," said Flinkstrom. "It is fun to relay all of this stuff."

Most of the farms were chicken or cow farms according to Flinkstrom.

Resident Raymond Linnus brought in a film of Jasma Farm, now called Skyline Farm, from the 1950s. The film, which was originally shot on 8 mm film, had been transferred to DVD.

It featured shots of the family working on the farm, building a chicken coop, digging a well to provide water for the chickens, and then transferring chickens to and from the barn, one chicken at a time.

"It was quite a job to move chickens," said Hannula.

The group estimated at one point, there were almost 10,000 chickens on the farm.

The film also shows the popular buildings in town at that time, such as Raivaaja Publishing Company, The United Cooperative, and the Co-op Society Diary.

"Jack would be so proud to see his legacy live on," said Linnus during the film.

The audience shared memories during the film, giving the impression that the families all knew one another intimately.

Many of the family members had pictures to share as well, along with stories.

Elaine Seppelin Brown, who attended the meeting with her 85-year-old mother, remembers working in the chicken barn with her grandfather back in the 1960's.

Since she was in the seventh grade, and her mother thought she was still growing, she bought Seppelin Brown the next size up in a pair of patent-leather dress shoes.

However, unbeknownst to the family, Seppelin Brown's growth spurt was over, so the shoes were too big for her.

"So I used them as my chicken barn shoes," said Seppelin Brown.

She used them to hoof around the chicken barn, and stomp on rats in the barn to kill them.

"They were my egg-going flats," said she. When she was done, she would take them off and line them up next to her grandfather's big boots.

Stories like these, are what Hannula wants to hear. To track down each Finnish family that lived in town, she has been reading through the tax roles and valuation booklets in the town records. She said the list contains the names of almost 900 families.

Hannula will hold another meeting at the Historical Society in June, and anyone with information about their own Finnish family, or another one, is encouraged to attend.