They Had a Dream : Immigration from Kemijarvi to America

At the turn of the 20th century hundreds of people left Kemijarvi to go to America in the hope of a better life.  Oskari Jaakkola and Alex Kyyhkynen became consuls there. The roots of the famous mussician brothers Eric and Kip Peltoniemi are in Kemijarvi.  Likewise, from Kemijarvi were also Aapram and Elizabeth Niemela, whose baby, just a few months old, was miraculously saved when the parents suffocated in the Calumet tragedy on Christmas Eve 1913.  In due course Henrik Poylio left and his house in Kemijarvi has been used as a filming site for the popular TV-series "Taivaan tulet".  This book presents these stories, along with many others, shedding light to the Finnish family roots of the immigrants as well as to their descendants across the ocean.