" "Find My Family" in the 1880s

Over the years I have photographed all the saved and microfilmed issues of American Finnish Paper. Yes, I have had some authentic issues in my hands, but they are so old and in a bad shape that they will fall apart in hands. Those old issues will be/ have been the impetus for many of my blog posts. In almost every issue of The American Finnish Paper there were a number of notifications, in which relatives living either in Europe or in America  were looking for loved ones who had disappeared in the huge American continent. If the American address of relative was not known, the newspapers were almost the only opportunity to get access to the emigrant relative. The newspaper was an 1880s substitute for a currently popular Finnish TV-series "Kadonneen jäljillä" (Find My Family/1-800-Missing). As an example I picked the attached notifications, which were in the American Finnish Paper, issue 32, 08/06/1880. Similar notifications were, of course, in "the old country's" press, but in the American Finnish Paper their share was strikingly abundant.

Notifications on left in English:
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Information wanted.
If a sea captain from New York, which have a Finnish name Johan Häikiö, originally from Muhos, sometimes happens to find these columns, so he is requested to notify his address, either in American Finnish Paper or to the laborer's wife Margaretha Lantto (nee Määttä) in Alkkula, Ylitornio.
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If Nils Lehto from Tornio, sometimes happens to find these lines, so he is requested with kindness to notify his place of residence to his brother-in-law, whose address is:
Jakob Penttilä
Negaunee P.P.
Marquette Co, Michigan
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If Anders Rito sometimes happens to find these lines, so he is requested with kindness to notify his place of residence to the signer below,
Olli Kestilä
New York Mills P.O.
Otter Tail Co, Minnesota
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If Matts Brandt, originally from Viitasaari, who has already been in America for 30 years sometimes happens to find these lines, he is requested with kindness to notify his place of residence to his nephew, whose address is
Anders Brandt
Allouez P.O. Keweenaw Co. Michigan

Information of newly arrived Finnish Immigrants in Copper Country /Tieto Kuparisaarelle vastasaapuneista siirtolaisista

Last Friday arrivced from Norway: Henrik Hurula,
Johan Abr, Tapio,Abram Ruopsa, Herman Umari,
Karl Kostamo, Petter Tervola, Esaias Pekkala, Erik
Kostamo, all from Kemijärvi; Matti Rantti
from Terveola; Pekka Hiltunen from Sodankylä; Johan Nampa from
Rovaniemi. - Last Sunday arrived
Johan Heikel and Alex Rantala from Raahe.
Source: Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti 05/21/1880

English version

A Finnish newspaper called American Finnish Paper was published in Calumet, Michigan between 1879 and 1894.
There was a list of immigrants who had newly arrived to0 Copper Country in almost every issue.  Some of them arrived through Norway, and could have lived there even for decades. Of today’s point of view it's nothing new to migrate with your family or as an individual from a country to another. But in the 1870s and 1880s, it was an important one. With the help of news published in the paper the information of one's arrival spread widely among Finns all the way to the Pacific shores. This way immigrants spread thousands of miles away from each other learned of their relatives and former neighbors arrival. Most American Finnish Paper volumes are spared. They can be read on microfilm either at the National Library of Finland in Helsinki or at the Archives of the Finnish American Heritage Center in Hancock, Michigan. Here (above and below) are a couple of examples 

Last Sunday arrived safely from Finland the following immigrants:
Johan Solkela, Jaako Jukkara, Tuomas Talonen, Johan Talonen, Mikko Waltari,
Mikko Karra, Simon Wallin, Jaako Myntti, and Mikko Myntti from Vähäkyrö,
Johan Wähäaho from Jalasjärvi, Jaako Kaisanlahti with his wife from Kemijärvi
and Jaako Walkki from Kuusamo. Source: Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti 06/25/1880.

I've picked up.

Finnish version

Vuosina 1879 – 1894 Calumetissa, Michiganissa kerran viikossa ilmestyneessä Amerikan Suomalaisessa Lehdessä oli lähes joka numerossa lista Kuparisaarelle juuri saapuneista siirtolaisista. Osa heistä saapui Norjan kautta ja saattoi olla jopa vuosikymmeniä siellä asuneita suomalaisia.  Tämän päivän näkökulmasta ei jonkun perheen tai yksilön muuttaminen maasta toiseen olisi uutiskynnystä ylittävä tietoa. Mutta 1870- ja 1880-luvulla se oli ja vielä tärkeä sellainen Lehtiuutisen kautta levisi tieto saapumisesta laajalle suomalaisten siirtolaisten keskuuteen aina Tyynen meren rannoille saakka. Näin tuhansien mailien päähän toisistaan levittäytyneet siirtolaiset saivat tietoa sukulaisten ja entisten naapureiden saapumisesta. Amerikan Suomalaisen Lehden vuosikerrat ovat suurimmalta osalta säästyneet. Niitä voi lukea mikrofilmeiltä joko kansalliskirjastossa Helsingissä tai Finnish American Heritage Centerissa Hancockissa, Michiganissa. Tässä ylhäällä pari poimimaani esimerkkiä-