Finnish Newspapers in America part one: Finnish American Paper (1876)

Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti /Finnish American Paper

The first Finnish language newspaper in America was Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti. It started in Hancock on April 14, 1876. Its founder and editor was A. J. Muikku, a Finn who had been actually called to the community to serve as pastor for local Lutheran congregation . 

In the fall of 1875, Hans Roernaes, the Norwegian pastor in Hancock received a letter from a Finnish university student Antti J. Muikku in New York. He was expressing a wish to come to the Copper Country. The letter-writer informed also that he didn't have money for his fare. Pastor Roernaes read the letter at a worship service of his Finnish-Swedish-Norwegian congregation. The Finnish members were immediately interested. They thought that now they would have a preacher who can speak their language. So they collected the money.

Antti J. Muikku, the son of a carpenter, was born on March 22, 1846, in Liperi. His family moved later to Joensuu. After his graduation from the lyceum at Jyväskylä, Muikku studied  mathematics at the University of Hel­sinki . His studies ended because of a lack of money. After working for example at the Pulkova Observatory near St. Petersburg, he came to America.

The newcomer was not planning to be a preacher or speaker of any kind. Muikku had in his mind a Finnish newspaper which could serve the growing Finnish population of the Copper Country. Muikku spent the winter 1875-76 collecting funds and subscriptions. He could get 300 subscribers and started his paper with the name Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti (Finnish American Paper). The first issue came out on April 14, 1876. This was the birthday of the Finnish American press. Muikku's newspaper came out on Fridays and consisted four four-column pages.  The price was two dollars a year. It was printed on a press owned by German-born E. P. Kibbee.

The  local newspaper Karjalatar in Joensuu, Finland noticed hometown boy's new career:

Muikku tried to make his paper many-sided and lively. It included local news, news from other places where Finnish immigrants had settled down, and from Finland. 

Muikku's greatest difficulty was his inability to take care of paper's financial businesses. Subscriptions did not increase in number. Only a few of the immigrants appreciated the value of having a Finnish newspaper. Another problem was that Solomon Kortetniemi, pastor and leader of the Laestadians (Apostolic Lutherans), forbade his congregation to subscribe to a secular paper. At this time most Finns belonged to this congregation. All together 14 issues were published. The last number came out in July 1876 as an edition of only two pages.

Nearly all copies of Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti have disappeared. There may be only two copies left—an incomplete one in the Finnish National Library, and another, in fairly good condition, in the FinnishAmerican Historical Archives at Finlandia University in Hancock

Antti J. Muikku died on February 5, 1877 at the Johan Fredrik Frisk's home on Quincy Hill. Later a monument was placed on his grave in the Quincy Hill cemetery. On it was carved the following inscription: "A. J. Muikku. Died 1877. The founder of the Finnish American press. A memorial from his countrymen."

The Quincy Hill cemetery was abandoned a few years later when the rental agreement with Quincy Mining Company ended. Many graves were moved to the new Lakeside Cemetery in Hancock.  Muikku's grave was still there unti year 1914, when four men, J. A. Kärkkäinen, Emil Saastamoinen, Juuso Hirvonen, and F. Tolonen, decided to move it also to Lakeside Cemetery. Muikku's bones were dug up by Kärkkäinen and Hirvonen, and moved to a coffin of Finnish model. And on Sept. 18, 1915 the coffin was laid down in the grave at Lakeside Cemetery. The old gravestone was replaced by a new one in 1916. It was made by Sampo Granite Co. of Quincy, Massachusetts.

The old marker was moved to the museum of Suomi College. Today it belongs to the collection of Finnish American Heritage Center at Finlandia University. The cemetery at Quincy Hill was "found" in 1999 while construction works were made to build a new water tower. It was investigated using geophysical methods and named Ingot Street Cemetery in the investigation report.