Re: Kimito and Sveaborg
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In reply to:
Kimito and Sveaborg
Fred Ostrom 12/02/11
Kimito and Sveaborg are certainly in Finland. Sveaborg was the fortress that protected Helsinki (Swedish Helsingfors); it's called Suomenlinna in Finnish (thie is really a joke - "Sveaborg" is Swedish for "the Swedish castle/fortress" while "Suomenlinna" is Finnish for "Finnish castle/fortress").
Helsinki wasn't the capital of Finland until the Russians took over (war of 1808-09). Until 1812 Åbo (Turku) was the main city of Finland.
The fortress Sveaborg was given to the Russians by a pusillanimous commander. In 1848 one of Finland's most important authors (Johan Ludvig Runeberg, who wrote the lyrics of the Finnish National Anthem) wrote a most terrible poem about the commander:
"Tag allt vad mörker finns i grav,
Och allt vad kval i liv,
Och bilda dig ett namn därav
Och det åt honom giv;
Det skall dock väcka mindre sorg
Än det, han bar på Sveaborg."
"Take all that is darkness in a grave
And all that is terror in life
And fashion out of this a name
And give to him this name
It shall however cause less sorrow
Than the one he bore at Sveaborg"
The commander's family, Cronstedt, rose to prominence under the Russians.
Kimito is on the coast, about midway between Turku and Helsinki. It's a bi-lingual community, where the majority speaks Swedish. The church is from 1325.
Russia never changed the way Finland was administered, so "Swedish" record-keeping continued also under Russian rule (1809-1917).
Neither Kimito nor Sveaborg have records accessible from Swedish service providers. Records are intead available through the Finnish genealogical society: http://www.genealogia.fi/indexgb.htmlhttp://www.genealogia.fi/indexgb.html
Ingela
PS Never doubt that Finland was an integral part of Sweden until 1809; it was "the eastern half of the realm".
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Re: Kimito and Sveaborg
Fred Ostrom 12/02/11