Stephen Kangas Genealogy

Descendant of "Kangaskokko"...

I am a descendant of the Kangaskokko family of Finland. When my ancestors immigrated to the USA, their surname was shorted to "Kangas" by judges presiding over naturalization matters. It is very typical for nearly all Kangas people in the USA to have had their ancestral surname shortened, either voluntarily or involuntarily, upon immigrating to the USA decades ago. Today, many Kangas people in Finland choose to use their shortened surname, even though nearly all have had longer surnames in their ancestral genealogy (see information on Kangas Name at this web site).

My earliest known paternal Kangas ancestor is "Erik Kangaskokko", born 22 April 1768 in Piippola, Finland (located in today's Oulu Province). Records of his ancestors unfortunately were destroyed in a church fire sometime before his birth, so it has so far not been possible for me to research my genealogy back past that point in time. Since I have confirmed that several of my ancestors also lived in the nearby communities of Kärsämäki and Pulkkila, I suspect that there are a large number of Kangas descendants from those areas, as well as other communities in Oulu Province, who may be related to me. Simply having a Kangas surname and having descendants from this area of Finland is no guarantee of genetic relationship, however, as the "Farm Name" system was commonly practiced for hundreds of years in Finland (see information on Kangas Name).

USA Immigration...

Most of my Kangas relations immigrated to Mass City, Michigan (located in the Upper Peninsula, "UP", of MI). However, some soon moved on to other locations in the USA, including New Mexico, Arizona, and California, and nearly all of the descendants of those original immigrants scattered across the USA to nearly every state. There are many known ancestors of mine also in Florida, Massachusetts, Georgia, Alaska, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Oregon, etc. I suspect that most of my relations are still concentrated in Michigan (both upper and lower).

The first of my known Kangas ancestors to immigrate to the USA is Johan ("John") Eerik Kangas, born 12 Mar 1873; he entered the USA via the port of Galveston, Texas, in 1899. He almost immediately was set upon by the famous 1899 hurricane that is perhaps one of the largest, most intense hurricanes on record. This compelled frightened John to leave Texas as soon as possible, and for whatever unknown reason he headed for the UP of Michigan into "Copper Country". He worked in the copper pits for a short time and sent for his parents and siblings, who began arriving 22 Aug 1899 into the USA.

One of John's brothers, Samuel Samulinpoika Kangas, born 15 April 1881, was my grandfather. Samuel was 18 years old when he arrived in the USA. Finnish families were typically very large by today's Western standards, and John & Sam's family of only 5 brothers and 2 sisters was rather small, considering the age of their parents (Samuel Larson and Anna Kaisa).

Ancestral Photographs...

I am fortunate to have many Kangas relations in the USA who were dilligent in making photographs or their family members, and where copies of those photos survived. For the benefit of many of my relations, I'm gradually posting these photos to this web site; I'm just getting started, so keep checking back for more in the future.

Samuel Samulinpoika II (my grandfather), born 15 April 1881 in Piippola, Finland

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