kunttu family association

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Kunttu family

Kunttu family originates from South-Eastern part of Finland, from Southern Karelia. First written records of the name Kunttu are found from Savitaipale, Southern Karelia, from the mid-16th century, although there are oral traditions that suggest the name Kunttu was in use already in the 15th century. The original meaning of the word has been lost in time.

There are four main branches of Kunttu family. They have been named after the main locations of their forefathers. These are Savitaipale branch, Säkkijärvi branch, Yläsommee branch and Merijoki branch, all from Southern Karelia.

In the 19th century Finland was part of Russia and many sons of Kunttu family migrated to russian territories. Most of them settled in the greater St. Petersburg area. Most of them came from the Savitaipale branch, although some came from other branches too.

In the beginning of the 20th century many sons of Kunttu family became sailors and many migrated to North America. Most of them came from the Säkkijärvi and Savitaipale branches.

After the Second World War a big part of Kunttu family had to migrate out from the Southern Karelia region that was lost to the Soviet Union. The ancestral lands of Säkkijärvi, Yläsommee and Merijoki were among the surrendered areas. Descendants of these Kunttu family branches live nowadays in different parts of Finland. Savitaipale area is still part of Finland.

In old manuscripts the family name was written sometimes in the form Kuntu.

16th Kunttu family meeting, August 2021, Kouvola, Finland.

Medieval legend of the golden treasure of Kunttu

In Finland, in the nowadays Kouvola area there is a small rural village Kinansaari. In Kinansaari there has survived an old oral story which originates possibly from the late 15th century. It is a story about the first man who lived in the area, a rich man with the name Kunttu. According to the oral tradition the man lived on the mainland, in the village area nowadays called Kauppila, where there still exists place names such as Kuntunvuori (Kunttu mountain) and Kuntunaho (Kunttu forest). The nearby lake, Vuohijärvi, was the ancient border between the lands of two finnish tribes, karelians and tavastians, the man being on the karelian side of the lake. In the lake was an island called Kinansaari. The name means "quarrel island". It is said that karelians and tavastians used to fight over the island, to whom it belongs. The legend tells that the rich man Kunttu had a son. The son took a wife from the other side of the lake, from tavastian side. As a wedding gift tavastians gave over the entire disputed island, Kinansaari. From this moment on the island was considered to belong to the karelians. It is said that once married, the son of the rich Kunttu and his new tavastian wife moved to the Kinansaari island. Later the entire village got it's name from the island.

In the late 15th century Finland was part of the kingdom of Sweden. In the year 1495 Sweden's neighbour Novgorod (nowadays Russia) tried to invade Sweden due to swedish expansion to the east and border disputes. The invasion failed, but as a revenge Novgorod sent an army to terrorize and burn down finnish settlements in Karelia. The enemy forces reached the village Kinansaari in the winter 1495-1496. The legend says that the rich man Kunttu had to flee from his home, and as he fled he hid all his gold and silver into the nearby lake, called Repovesi. There is an ancient song with words: "Under the mount Repo, there lies the gold and silver of Kunttu". Mount Repo, or Repovuori, is near the lake Repovesi and close to the place where the gold was supposedly buried. It is unknown what happened to the rich Kunttu and his son after this tragedy. According to the legend the treasure was never found.

Army of Novgorod in Finland, charging on an icy lake in winter 1495-1496. Image is From Olaus Magnus' history book "A Description of the Northern peoples", published in 1555.

Some statistics

In 2020 there were 566 people in Finland with the family name Kunttu. In the list of most common family names in Finland, the name Kunttu has the place 1535. In the year 2010 in the town of Lohja lived 101 people with the family name Kunttu, and in Savitaipale 36 people. In these two areas the name Kunttu is among the 30 most common family names.

Kunttu Family Association

Kunttu Family Association was established on 14th September 1991 in Savitaipale, Finland. Savitaipale is also the registered domicile of the family association. Into the Register of Associations the Kunttu Family Association was entered on March 25th 1993.

Objectives of the Kunttu Family Association are to collect, preserve, connect and publish information on the family, to instill a feeling of belonging and a sense of heritage in all Kunttu descendants.

The family association arranges family meetings, gathers information about the family and publishes the results of family research to its members.

Information requests

You can always ask questions from us, the Kunttu Family Association board, for free. Email address is kuntunsukuseura [at] gmail.com. We will do the best we can to help you. There might be a few days delay before you receive an answer.

If you don't speak Finnish or English, use Google translate to translate your message into English. Please, don't translate into Finnish, because that usually does not work so well. Finnish is a complicated language and machine translations usually mix up the grammar. English works better. You can include your original language text in the end of your message.

Membership

If you want to join Kunttu Family Association as a member, you are warmly welcome.

To join the Kunttu Family Association please contact the Membership register manager (jäsenrekisteri- ja postitusvastaava) via email. You will find the current manager's contact information on Yhteystiedot-page.

Once we have received your contact information, a payment form will be sent to you via email or mail.

Members will receive annually the Kunttu Family Association newsletter and the family magazine (in Finnish) via mail.

Changes in membership information of current members

In order to keep the Membership Register up-to-date and ensure smooth flow of membership mail we kindly ask you to send the current contact information (address, email etc.) to our Membership register manager (jäsenrekisteri- ja postitusvastaava) via email. You will find the contact information on Yhteystiedot-page.

Membership fees

The membership fee of Kunttu Family Association is at present 15 euros per year. That is 30 euros per each two year activity period.

Publications

Kunttu Family Association has published a book in 2016 about the history of the Kunttu family. It details the known ancestry of all the four Kunttu family branches in Finland. It also includes some records of the early history of some of our american cousins. The book is in Finnish.

Kunttu Family Association has a family magazine called Kuntun Suku. It is published annually and it includes additional information about the origins and current affairs of the four family branches. The language is Finnish.

© 2021 Kuntun Sukuseura ry