Welcome to the Hakanen Web site

This site is being developed through the patience and guidance of Wes and Mimi Hakanen's son, Eran and his wife, Peiyu.  The purpose of the site is to share information about Wes and Mimi's families with an emphasis on their genealogical roots.

Genealogical research is one of several interests Wes started to pursue after retiring in December of 1991.  As he began gathering information, it became apparent that very little documentation takes place as people go about their daily lives.  While this adds interest to the research process, it is a sad fact that much endearing information about our ancestry is lost forever and consequently future generations lack precious information about their heritage.

It was this realization that motivated the Hakanens to develop this site.  It consists of things remembered, researched information and recollections of others.  The site will continue to be a work in progress since information will be added as new things are learned, discovered and clarified.  It is hoped that the information will be of interest to our descendents and others someday.

Rather than focus on only one family or branch, the research follows the paternal and maternal linage of both Wes and Mimi's parents.  More information has been gathered for Wes's parents, since he started seriously gathering data in1992. The plan is to continue adding information regarding Mimi's family as she and Wes expand their research. Hopefully Mimi will increasingly become interested and contribute to this project accordingly. You can see the results of our efforts, to date, by going to Our Genealogy page.  There also is a Contact Info for Genealogists who want to explore possible connections with their research or for others who want to provide advice or comment on what they have found on this site.  And for those not familiar with genealogy, but thinking about possibly venturing into this area of interest, there is a page featuring some of our favorite genealogy linkages called Favorite Web Sites.

Surnames that have been found in our ancestry research, so far, are as follows:

From Wes's father's side: ALA-KORTESNIEMI; ALA-KORTESOJA; AHLROT; HAKANEN; HAVILA; HOISKA; KANGASNIEMI; KANNOSTO; KIVISTÖ; KURKIISO; LAHTI; LÅGSTRÖM; OPAS; PANULA; and VALKAMA.

From his mother's side: BUSH; McKISSON; NICELY; SALTSGIVER; SNEDDEN; STROHMYER; WHITSELL; and WHITESELL.

From both Mimi's parents' sides: CONRAD; COUP; FISCHER; GRIFFITH; GROSS; HENRICI; HARMON; HERMAN; KLINGENSMITH; LORCH; NEU; ROBERTS; SCHUNCK; SCHWARTZ; and SHUNK;