I've been humbled. I need Finnish help!

brigittenicolepapa1

Back in November I met with a consultant and we searched long and hard for the parents of Johan Henrik Michelson. We tried finding his birthplace Honkajoki, Finland (which is where Family Search says is his birthplace). When we searched in the church files the closest place we found was Hongonjoki. The closest match was who we think is a sister of Johan (Albertina). We could not find Johan in these records. Is HonKAjoki and HonGONjoki the same place?

We found this record, which I believe are Johan's parents and sister living on the same farm, but it doesn't prove that they are. It does say that his birthplace is Hongonjoki, so I think it's safe to change the location of his birthplace (and all of his children).

I know there are other records out there that have Johan's parents with him but I'm not sure where to go and don't have access to some of them. Any help will be much appreciated! Thank you!

Here are all the places we visited https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/collaborate/9N6B-4BX

Norm Baker

Question #1: Hongonjoki is the old name for Honkajoki. See here for Hiski's description of Honkajoki: http://hiski.genealogia.fi/seurakunnat/srk?CMD=SRK&ID=97&TYPE=HTML&LANG=EN. I would use Honkajoki as the parish name in your place of birth, etc. That is the more modern name and is what would normally be used by others.

Question #2: I have been looking for Johan Henriks birth record for a couple of hours and it definitely is not in Honkajoki. I have found household records for the family and am certain that his father is Michel Michelsson (b. 30 August 1793) and his mother is Maria Andersdotter (born 2 March 1799). You can see the family in this household record: http://digihakemisto.appspot.com/edit?kuvanumero=125&kuid=7783131&amnimeke=Honkajoen+seurakunnan+arkisto&sarnimi=P%C3%A4%C3%A4-+ja+rippikirjat&aynimi=Rippikirja+1841-1847+%28I+Aa%3A3%29&ay=62975&sartun=59052.KA&atun=183155.KA&ay2=116470.

There is an earlier household record which also lists the family. It shows an additional son, Anders, who was born in 1830 and died in 1831. It also has one other son (Michel b. 11 July 1837) and a Johan Henric (who is not marked as a son!) born 19 June (no year is marked). The odd thing about this is there isn't any record of Ander's birth or burial in Honkajoki. The only thing I can even surmise is that the family left the parish for the period that Anders and Johan Henric were born and their birth records (and Ander's death record) are in another parish. That household record is here: http://digihakemisto.appspot.com/edit?kuvanumero=90&kuid=7782942&amnimeke=Honkajoen+seurakunnan+arkisto&sarnimi=P%C3%A4%C3%A4-+ja+rippikirjat&aynimi=Rippikirja+1834-1840+%28I+Aa%3A2%29&ay=62970&sartun=59052.KA&atun=183155.KA&ay2=116469.

A third household record shows Johan Henric (b. 27 December 1831) as a son along with Albertina, Michel and another son, Matts (b. 5 October 1843). That record is here: http://digihakemisto.appspot.com/edit?kuvanumero=125&kuid=7783131&amnimeke=Honkajoen+seurakunnan+arkisto&sarnimi=P%C3%A4%C3%A4-+ja+rippikirjat&aynimi=Rippikirja+1841-1847+%28I+Aa%3A3%29&ay=62975&sartun=59052.KA&atun=183155.KA&ay2=116470

Here are a couple of webinars that may be of use to you in your Finnish research. They were done at the Family History Library and available online:

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/lessons/finland-a-case-study-using-hiski-and-digitized-online-church-records

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/lessons/finland-an-introduction-to-finnish-church-record-online-resources

Norm Baker

I forgot to give you the link to the marriage of Mickel Mickelsson Kotomäki and Maria Andersdotter Myllyharju on 21 November 1824. That image is here: http://digihakemisto.appspot.com/edit?kuvanumero=303&kuid=7469857&amnimeke=Honkajoen+seurakunnan+arkisto&sarnimi=Syntyneiden+luettelot&aynimi=Syntyneiden+luettelot+1815-1854+%28I+C%3A2%29&ay=63137&sartun=59073.KA&atun=183155.KA&ay2=116474.

Norm Baker

The Anders I mentioned above who (according to the household record) was born in 1830 and died in 1831 may be this Andreas born 29 August 1827 to Michell Kotomäki and Maria: http://digihakemisto.appspot.com/edit?kuvanumero=53&kuid=7784268&amnimeke=Honkajoen+seurakunnan+arkisto&sarnimi=Syntyneiden+luettelot&aynimi=Syntyneiden+luettelot+1815-1854+%28I+C%3A2%29&ay=63137&sartun=59073.KA&atun=183155.KA&ay2=116474.

This household record showing the family in 1824-1832, gives his death year as 1830, but again, I can't find him in the death records (the family is about 2/3 down the page in "Kotomäki": http://digihakemisto.appspot.com/edit?kuvanumero=54&kuid=7782808&amnimeke=Honkajoen+seurakunnan+arkisto&sarnimi=P%C3%A4%C3%A4-+ja+rippikirjat&aynimi=Rippikirja+1824-1832+%28I+Aa%3A1%29&ay=62959&sartun=59052.KA&atun=183155.KA&ay2=116468

Remember that household records are "secondary sources" for births, marriages and deaths, so they shouldn't be relied on for those vital dates unless there are no other more reliable records available.

Edit:

I found his death on 4 August 1828 in Honkajoki but I am unable to give you a link at this time. For some reason, Digihakemisto won't open up the pages I need to look at so I had to look in SSHY (FFHA) for the records. The image is here but it is really poor quality: https://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/kirjat/Kirkonkirjat/honkajoki/kuolleet_1817-1884_jk502/9.htm

Finally, here it is in Digihakemisto: http://digihakemisto.appspot.com/edit?kuvanumero=5&kuid=7803294&amnimeke=Honkajoen+seurakunnan+arkisto&sarnimi=Kuolleiden+luettelot&aynimi=Kuolleiden+luettelot+1816-1891&ay=2593011&sartun=59087.KA&atun=183155.KA&ay2=116570

Heidi Kuosmanen

I looked all these sources, and I am sure that Johan Henrik Michelsson was born in Honkajoki (Hongonjoki) to the parents Michel Michelsson b. 30.8.1793 and Maria Andersdotter b. 2.3.1799 even birth record cannot be found. I have several cases where birth record is missing and all information is found from communion books and other sources. Johan Henrik Michelsson's birth date is not clear. I would use 27.12.1831 but add the note saying that birth records is missing and in the first communion book birth date is 19.6. but year is missing.

I looked his siblings, I found:

Albertina b. 14.7.1825

Andreas b. 29.8.1827 and died 4.8.1828

Matts no birth record, but he died at 29.11.1829 at age 1 year 3 moths 6 days -> birth date 23.8.1828

Johan Henric b. (19.6.) 27.12.1831

Mickel b. 11.7.1837

Matts b. 6.9.1843 and died at 22.8.1845

Father Michel Michelsson was also known as Michel Kotomäki or Michel Kotamäki or Mikel Kukkukallio and Johan Henrik Michelsson was also known as Johan Michelsson Kukkukallio.