Finn Family

For most of our time in Finland we have been in western Finland with David’s uncle and aunt. Uncle Onni is David’s mother’s brother.

Interestingly, during the depression their parents decided to go to Canada to seek their fortune. They left Onni in Finland with his grandparents intending to come back for him when they had made it. For a variety of reasons, including the disruption of WW2 they never did make it but did have another baby, David’s mother, Onerva.

So Onerva (who later changed to an English name) was born and raised in Canada not knowing her brother. In fact the family in Canada completely lost track of Omni until the mid 60’s when Onerva got a letter from him. She met her own brother for the first time when he was 40. The families now keep in regular contact and David’s parents have been out to Finland visiting a number of times since then.

Onni and his wife Hilkka both grew up in Orismala, attending the same school and subsequently marrying and having two children.

One of Onni and Hilkka’s children lives nearby with her 17 year old twins. The other lives in Helsinki and we will spend a couple of nights with them there.

We have some lovely family photos but to respect their concerns we will not blog them but just show them on our return.