Recollection of Eda (Matiisen) McClung (From Estonian Pioneer research) Re understanding of land promoted by Cdn Government (Dec 2021)
Without going to original sources i.e. my father's research, I recall info about reasons why Kingsep/Kinna/Posti came to Sylvan Lake area in 1899. Apparently Hendrick had been in correspondence with Finns while still in Estonia. They told him about settlement lands available in the Sylvan Lake area so they chose to come there. A community of Finns had already settled there about 10 years earlier and had a community e.g. Kuusamo Cemetery, etc. However as more settlers arrived, they (including Finns) ran out of homestead land so kept moving west, hence the departure for Eckville area/Medicine Valley for both groups (and others). My understanding was that the original land claims of the Finns was for land around Sylvan Lake. Hence any historical documents about their settlement history would be in a SL archive. Didn't they have a major historical celebration last year?
Many Finns arrived earlier to northern Ontario to work in mines, there still is is a sizeable Finnish community there. I don't know the relationship of those Finns with the groups that came to the prairies. For sure, they were not the earliest Finns to settle in Canada, whereas, K/K/P clans were the first Estos.
