Is it possible for me to find ancestor link for my mother, whose father's name is Kurt Nyland. My mother told me he was from Friesland, but I think the ancestry might come from Finland. She lost contact during World War 2 while they were in Asia, specifically in Indonesia.
Answer
Hi!
Your grandfather's family name "Nyland" refers in Finland to the most southern parish of Finland (in finnish Uusimaa, in swedish Nyland, in english New Land). As a family name it does not appear in the telephone catalog of Helsinki metropolitan area, wheras names Nylander ("one who lives in Nyland") and Nylund ("new grove") do. Thus it seems, the name Nyland is not the original form or it refers to the parish, where immigrants came from. If you would like to check the pages of "The Genealogical Society of Finland" you'll find them in web in address
http://www.genealogia.org/ where you can choose the english pages. Anyhow, if you would like to use finnish sources you'll end up to the fact that most documents are written in finnish or swedish. - You mentioned your mother's piece of information about the family's origin being Friesland. In that case the original name could be for instance "Nieländer". It would be a good idea to check the "FamilySearch Internet Genalogy Service" which is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints" in address http://www.familysearch.org/ . Search by the name "Nyland" brings 369 hits which will lead to different written forms of that name as well as other information, too. Also, don't forget search services in internet ( http://google.com and others). By using search words "family name" and "Nyland" you'll find many sources that might be helpful to you. Good look with you fascinating hunt!
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