Michigan's governor Granholm

[syrene Registered Find all posts View Profile Close syrene]

Hi,
Does anyone know if Governor Jennifer Granholm's grandparents or greatgrandparents are from Swedish-speaking Finland? She was born in Vancouver, BC to mr. and mrs. Victor Granholm and was raised in California. Ingemar Ekman has researched "Familjer och Gårdar i
Lumparland" by Håkan Skogsjö and found only 3 Maria born 1887 and it is only
one of them that will be good to follow:

Extract of the family 310 on page 159 in Skogsjö's book:

Maria Karolina Mattsdotter Pettersson born 1 febr 1887 in Lumparby, Lumparland.
She was daughter to Mats Wilhelm
Pettersson b 15 May 1849 and he died 29 oct 1922 and Serafia Elisabet
Karlsdotter born 14 sep 1846 and she died 10 Apr 1925.

Maria Karolina emigrated 1909 to America but returned home and moved 1912 to
Mariehamn.

Maria had 4 siblings that emigrated and her older sister Vilhelmina Elisabet
Mattsdotter Pettersson born 22 dec 1875 emigrated 1903 to America and was
married 19 Nov 1904 in Vancouver, Brittish Colombia, Canada with Karl Anders
Lindqvist from Lemland and their residence were in Vancouver. Vilhelmina
Elisabeth died 27 July 1910.

Maria's youngest sister Rosa Susanna Mattsdotter Pettersson born 20 Sep 1890
emigrated 1913 to America but returned home 1921 and emigrated again 1925 to
Canada.

Maria also lived in Vancouver as Vilhelmina Elisabet and a sister in Canada.

Possible husband? Karl Toivo Ferdinand Granholm born 1886 in
Mariehamn on HISKI but no success.
Many thanks!
Syrene

[Alicia Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Alicia]

Hi Syrene,
I happened to see that Jennifer Granholms parents are :
Born on February 5, 1959, the daughter of Civtor Ivar, a banking consultant, and Shirley Alfreda (Dowden), a homemaker, Granholm is Canadian by birth. She immigrated with her family to the United States from her hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia, as a child of three in 1962. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area along with her brother, a member of the Mennonite clergy.
Civtor is an unusual first name. I could find nothing in the Canadian census for that name.
alicia

[syrene Registered Find all posts View Profile Close syrene]

Granholm

Hi Alicia!
The first name is Victor according to an Internet article I ran across. If you have access to Canadian census, that would be an enormous help! I can't make the link between Victor Granholm and his parents. If I can get his parents, then I think Finlanders can make the connection back to Finland.
Regards,
Syrene

[Alicia Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Alicia]

HI,
I think the article that I read, mispelled his name. Her own pr people can't even get it right on line.
All the Granholms that i found on the later Canadian immigrant site came from Finland. See list below. Of course, it is possilbe that they immigrated earlier. The Canadian census does not give much to go on.
Alicia

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Granholm Anselm 17 Fi 1925
2 Granholm Anshelm 17 Fi 1925
3 Granholm Arvid 23 Fi 1925
4 Granholm Edvard 27 Fi 1926
5 Granholm Ester 28 Fi 1926
6 Granholm Evert 27 Fi 1925
7 Granholm Hugo 23 Fi 1926
8 Granholm Ingrid 23 Fi 1925
9 Granholm Johan Jen. 22 Fi 1926
10 Granholm Rudolf 23 Fi 1926
11 Granholm Selim John 27 Fi 1926
12 Granholm Werner 17 Fi 1925
13 Granholm August 41 Fi 1927
14 Granholm Johannes 51 Fi 1927
15 Granholm Karl 18 Fi 1927
16 Granholm Otto 25 Fi 1928
17 Granholm Ruth 17 Fi 1928
18 Granholm Alice 20 Fi 1929
19 Granholm Anna 25 Fi 1929
20 Granholm Svea 17 Fi 19

[Ingemar Ekman Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Ingemar Ekman]

Hej Syrene,
I am now at the archive in Mariehamn and I have checked the communion books 1880 - 1915 for Mariehamn and I will send you copies as JPG-files when I will be home next week. Summary of the findings:
Maria Karolina Pettersson born 1 Feb 1887 in Lumparland was married in America to Toivo Ferdinand Granholm born 12 May 1886
(birth place stated Mariehamn but he is not recorded in the birth records for Mariehamn 1886)
However the communion book 1880-1890 states that the mother was Amanda Wilhelmina Nummelin born 10 Jan 1862 in Åbo. She was divorced when she was re-married 23 June 1887 to Målare Gust. Ferdinand Granholm born 21 Jun 1861 in Raumo.
Amanda Wilhelmina was moved 23 July 1887 from Kimito to Mariehamn and total 9 children are listed in the book 1891 - 1900.
Best Regards,
Ingemar

[Karen Douglas Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Karen Douglas]

Jennifer Granholm

Hi Syrene,

Have you checked with Elizabeth Boyd, the governor's press secretary?

She's a nice gal. I've known her a long time. I don't know if she would have any genealogical information on file, but I know she has been getting all kinds of questions about the governor, ever since she took office.

In fact, I would guess that Liz, as well as the governor, would really appreciate any genealogical information gleaned from members of the Finlander Forum.

I have Liz' email address, if you're interested.


Karen Douglas

[Ingemar Ekman Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Ingemar Ekman]

Hi Syrene,
I continue the research in Mariehamn and found 6 nephews to Toivo Ferdinand Granholm. The nephews moved to Sweden and some of them lived 1970 very close where I am living. I called one of them now and she told me that a cousin from Canada visited them previous year. She will try to find the address and call me back.
Best Regards,
Ingemar

[syrene Registered Find all posts View Profile Close syrene]

Granholm

Fantastic! I happily await your next message!
Syrene

[syrene Registered Find all posts View Profile Close syrene]

Granholm

Dear Karen,
Thanks so much for the offer. I would very much like to contact the Governor's secretary. I contacted the PR office through their website, and got the response that she wasn't Finnish, she was
SWEDISH. At that point I turned to Finlander, because we so often hear that response, when in fact there is a Swedish-speaking Finn in the family tree.
Waiting hopefully,
Syrene

[Ingemar Ekman Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Ingemar Ekman]

Hi Syrene,
Please find enclosed copy of the church record in Mariehamn of the Granholm family 1890 -1900. Two brothers Toivo Ferdinand and Usko Väinö Granholm emigrated to BC in Canada and later also their niece and her family and today I got Toivo Ferdinand and Usko Väinö's sister's granddaughter's address in Surrey, BC Canada. I am sending the address in a private email and I hope you will be able to contact her.
Ingemar

[granskare Registered Find all posts View Profile Close granskare]

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee

A great anthem!

OK, I went to pnw64, Vancover St Mark's Lutheran church to see if I could find a Grandholm listed in the marriage records. None found, I saw Grandberg, Grandlund, but no Grandholm
Not in lst Covenant either.
But I found out the British Columbia authorities put together a very nice certificate of registration of marriage so I copied one with 2 Finns getting married so people could see all of the good info that is there. It could have made local birth parish in addition to country but that's about the only drawback to it.
Chuck