My Start

My last blog was back in 2010.  I had a great start back then, so I may revisit some of those ideas, so if you followed that blog, I apologize in advance, but the articles will be changed to update them!

My father Roy, Me as a baby, Great Grandpa Niilo (Kaappola) Altonen, and Grandpa Wilhart Altonen in 1967.

"The APPLE Doesn't Fall Far From The TREE" is my blog title because 1- its about Family Tree's and 2- the APPLE part is a play on my mother's maiden name Appleby.  I will talk about the Appleby tree in the future, but I thought I would start with how I got started being interested in family research.  I had to do a project in 5th grade about genealogy, and I picked my Grandpa Altonen side because his father - my Great Grandpa Niilo.  Grandpa Altonen's parents emigrated from Finland. He always talked about the "Old Country"! I'm sorry that my Grandpa never went to Finland to see where his father and mother lived, but I hope to some day if I can!   He would just tell me little stories here and there, but I  remember them.  He would show me the different farms and introduce me to the many cousins that lived in Upper Michigan where they moved too.  At first I always found it funny because we would run into someone at the store and  and he would always introduce them as Cousin so-in-so.  I always thought, boy you have a lot of cousins and must be related to the whole Upper Peninsula!  Years later, when i started to write it down and stared taking names down, I soon discovered that they all were his cousins!  They started towns, businesses and churches - but that is a story for another blog!

When I finally decided to get serious about my family ancestry, I wanted to find the name of my Great Great Grandpa and Grandma in Finland.  Grandpa Altonen had some names of relatives in Finland, some wrote English and some just in Finnish; which I don't read or speak unfortunately.  But now with Google Translate, it does make it easier!  I tried to research on my own, but was at a dead end.  I remembered one time that my Grandpa said that his father changed his name when came to America, and by the list of names he gave me I was able to figure out what it was before.  It was Kaappola, then he changed it to Aaltonen, then to Altonen.  So this was  start!  Before computers, you had to do a lot of paper research or microfilm research. I use to go to the  LDS church and did researched that way.  I mean, when I started we still had large floppy disks!  I did most stuff on paper.

Unfortunately, my Grandpa Altonen passed away in 1998.  It was a very sad time. I loved his stories and still miss those moments with him very much.  So if you have someone like this in your family, don't put it off, talk to them and get as much information you possibly can before its too late.  Record them or video tape them!  So now your could say where is this story going? Did I contact Finland? 

I had a huge event happen during the time I was in Michigan for his funeral.  When we came back to his house, I found one of his newspapers he subscribed to - the "Finnish Reporter".  I started to flip through the paper and read some of the articles and such.  Then I came across an area where people put ads in the paper if they are looking for someone or something. I read an entry that was looking for people in America whose family came from Karvia, Finland.  Well, I knew that was where my Great Grandpa Niilo (Kaappola - Altonen) and my Great Grandma Hulda Niemi Altonen came from.  So I e-mailed the person. Her name is Sirpa and I soon found a life long friend!  I wrote her and she got back to me immediately! I soon discovered that she was related and she knew people in  town that were related to both sides of my family in America.  She looked up information for me in Finland and I would fill in the gaps for her from America.  I started to get photos of relatives too! It was so amazing!  With the internet now a days, and with Facebook, we all keep up with each others lives!  If it wasn't for that little ad, I would not have contact with relatives like I do now!  

I am thankful to everyone in Finland and Sweden that keep in touch with me. I enjoy seeing their photos of their families and the area.  I hope to someday be able to afford to go visit there or they come for a visit here!  That ad got me obsessed with genealogy!!  I know my youngest son had to do a project like I did, and I believe he will follow in the steps I do with genealogy. He finds the stories very cool about Presidents and Kings in the family lines! So hence the Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree.... Genealogy is about passing it on to other generations!