Filpus Family Genealogy
The Filpus family descends from Finnish and Lithuanian immigrants
who came to the United States around the turn of the 20th century.
Here are bits and pieces of their story.
Historic Leaves
When I started genealogy, I felt it was like any collecting hobby,
like stamp collecting. It was the enumeration of names and dates.
But then I discovered people in my family tree who participated in
important historic events. It changed my view of the hobby from just
collecting to writing a true family story. Some of these people and
events on my family tree are documented on the Historic Leaves page.
The Filpus Name in the United States
As far as I can determine, there are two Finnish families named
Filpus in the United States. Both immigrated to northern Michigan
around the turn of the twentieth century. One family settled in
Baraga Michigan and currently has descendants in northern Michigan
and Indiana. My Filpus family are the descendants of Olaf and
Brita Filpus in Simo Finland.
Olaf and Brita had eleven children. Of those, seven immigrated to
the United States. Of those, five were daughters, Ida, Maria,
Brita, Henricka, Anna and Alma. They married Finns in the United
States and have spread the Filpus genes through the county but not
the name. The sons, Uno Konstant and Nils, married and had
families in the United States. However, Nils Filpus emigrated to
the Soviet Union and disappeared in a Stalinist purge. This leaves
the Uno Konstant line as the only son to carry on the Filpus name.
Uno Konstant had two sons, Uno Waldmar and Waino and one daughter,
Lillian. Lillian married and raised a family. Waino had no
children, leaving Uno Waldemar to carry on the Filpus name.
Uno Waldemar had one son, Uno Wallace and two daughters. Both
daughters married and raised families. Uno Wallace had four sons.
Of the four sons, only one had sons to carry on the family name.
Olaf Filpus has many descendants in the United States. There are
thirty-three great-great-grandchildren, thirty-one
great-great-great-grandchildren and eight GGGG grand children,
according to my latest data. Only two can carry on the Filpus
name. There have been several generations where there was only one
carrying on the Filpus name. It could die out easily, but has
survived so far.
Family Artifacts
Kaleva Scenes
Bethany Lutheran Church - Kaleva Michigan
This is the family church. For three generations, all baptisms,
marriages and funerals were performed here.
Why Genealogists Do What They Do (Author Unknown)
We are the
chosen. My feelings are, in each family, there is one who
seems called to find the ancestors.
To put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to
tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and
approve.
To me, doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but,
instead, breathing life into all who have gone before.
We are the Story Tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one.
We have been called as if it were in our genes.
Those who have gone before cry out to us. " Tell our story.
" So, we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How
many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost
count. How many times have I told the ancestors you have a
wonderful family you would be proud of us? How many times
have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love
there for me? I cannot say.
It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who am I
and why do I do the things I do. It goes to seeing a
cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference
and saying I can't let this happen. The bones here are bones
of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something
about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able
to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today.
It goes to respecting their hardships, their losses and
building a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that
they fought to make and keep us a Nation.
It goes to a deep and immense never giving in or giving up,
their resoluteness to go on understanding that they were
doing it for us.
That we might be born who we are. That we might remember
them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact
of their existence, because we are them and they are us. So,
as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family.
It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer
the call and take their place in the long line of family
storytellers.
That is why I do my family genealogy and that is what calls
those young and old to step up and put flesh on the bones.