Would anyone on this Forum know anything about a town called Tankka, Finland? It is a place where my brother-in-law's father was born. He was born in 1914. Can't really find anything on it.

I am from Finland and I can assur you that there is no place called Tankka in Finland. I did search a map and yes, there are few obvious ones that come up: Tankavaara and Tankapirtti.

If you would like me to help you, reply to this thread.

helsinkiflyer is right, no such place in Finland. And the places s/he mentioned are the ones that come nearest.

I just got an idea that is more likely than Tankavaara and Tankapirtti (which are both in Lapland, in fact it is very likely. Emigration from Finland to America was most usual from area named Pohjanmaa (central/western coastline). There is a town named Kokkola (it also has a Swedish name which is Karleby), and just outside Kokkola is a lighthouse island that has a Swedish name, Tankar. This is an adress to Kokkola's pages:

http://www.webtourist.net/dest/kokko...ormation.phtml

And to add why you have heard the name as Tankka: it is written with one k but pronounced as if there were two. And an English-speaker would be very likely to drop the final r away because in Finnish and Swedish r is pronounced differently than in English.

That adress I gave is not the best possible. This is Kokkola's official adress:

http://www.kokkola.fi/indexuk.htm

If you write Tankar to the search you will get some info. Click also the non-English ones, and you will see a couple of interesting pictures from the times when your brother-in-law's father left the island.

Äh, those pictures I mentioned are not from the time he left, they are from around 1900.

"Tankar, the lighthouse island outside Kokkola invites you to an unforgetable adventure in the Gulf of Bothnia. This islet, risen from the sea, has worked as a base for fishermen and sealhunters for centuries. Even today there are some old cottages left from the very old, idyllic settlement."

Looks like I am getting carried away by this. This is for you:

http://tourism.kokkola.fi/index_uk.a...122&main=3

Isn't this just an amazing group.

Great work, Elina!

Is this what you were looking for, Princess?

Yes, this is quite an amazing group of people, Ira. Thank you all so much for your help. I've given this information to my nephew so that when he asks his father about the town's name again, he can look over these suggested names. I've asked him to reply as soon as possible for I'm about to wrap up a Family Tree Album that I want to give to my children and nieces and nephews. So, again, thank you very much, and I'll post the outcome, when I find out.