Finnish American Archive and Museum

• Finding Aids
• Genealogy
  • Siirtokansan Kalenteri 1926-1978
  • Kansalliskirkon Kalenteri 1938-1962
  • Watia Funeral Home 1918-1970
  • Finnish American Historical Society of Hiawathaland
  • Finnish Settlement of Brown and Dickey Counties
  • Knights of Kaleva Membership Index
  • F.F.S.C.G.L.M.R. Oral History Collection
  • Hirvonen Index
  • Holmio History of Finns in Michigan
  • Holmio Biographical File
  • Ilmonen Amerikan Suomalaisten Historia Vol. II
  • Doelle School Newspaper Index
  • Thomson Township History index
  • Nikander Amerikan Suomalaisia
  • Petroskoi 1931 American Finns
  • Ruhonen Oskar History
  • Suomi College First 25 1896-1921
  • Name Index to Photographs-Old Topical File
  • 19th Century Laestadian Ministers in the U.S.
  • Elo Cemetery Records
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• Oral History Digitization Project
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19th Century Laestadian (Apostolic) Ministers in the United States

In the mid-1840's, Swedish-Saami preacher and botanist Lars-Levi Laestadius experienced a spiritual awakening while ministering in Northern Sweden.  Word began to spread about his sermons, and the Laestadian revival spread throughout Lapland and later to all parts of Scandinavia as well as Western Russia.  Because many of the early Finnish immigrants of the Copper and Iron Ranges of Michigan and Minnesota came from Finnish and Norwegian Lapland, Laestadianism also found a strong foothold in the United States.  Laestadian churches would later be founded in other Finnish population centers of the United States.  While, historically, the Laestadian movement often worked within the official Lutheran churches in Scandinavia, American adherents formed their own congregations which were not part of the larger Suomi Synod or LCA/ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) churches.

Today there are many different divisions of Laestadianism in Europe, which sometimes correspond with the many different factions of the revival movement in the United States, which includes Apostolic Lutheran, Old Apostolic Lutheran, First Apostolic Lutheran, independent churches, and the Laestadian Lutheran Church of America.

In 1967, the Suomen Kirkkohistoriallinen Seura (Historical Society of Finnish Churches) issued its publication No. 74: Lestadiolaisuuden matrikkeli ja bibliografia (Laestadian [Minister] Index and Bibliography), written and compiled by Pekka Raittila. The Matrikkeli index is titled 1800-luvun Lestadiolaisia saarnaajia, or 19th Century Laestadian Ministers/Preachers/Speakers and includes a seperate index for leaders of the movement titled Matrikkeli B: 1800-luvun Lestadiolaisia pappeja ja ei-saarnaajia.  The index includes 646 names, all meticulously researched and sourced.  When the information is available, the entries include birth, marriage, death, and moving dates, as well as the listing of spouses and their dates of birth and death.  Also included is an extensive 82 page bibliography and bibliography index of the writings of Lars-Levi Laestadius and others.

Only those individuals who preached in the United States or visited the United States are included in the index below.  Because Finns can have more than one surname as a result of moving to a different parish or farm, and because immigrants sometimes changed their names (or had it changed for them) upon arriving in America, many individuals have more than one surname.  In the index, the duplicate surnames are repeated and kept in alphabetical order.