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The descendants of the Pyrrö family from Ruskeala have lived in the annexed Karelia region as follows: Heikki Pyrrö's (1802) descendants at Kerisyrjä and Pitkäranta, Impilahti. Heikki Henrik Pyrrö's (1778) descendants remained in Ruskeala while those of Pekka Pyrrö (1756) moved to the Sortavala region. When the Winter War began, the inhabitants of the Impilahti and Ruskeala regions were transferred to the Savo region and the inhabitants of Sortavala to Central Finland.

Pekka pyrrö 1640 - 1645 family tree

The Pyrrös of North Ostrobothnia.

The Pyrrö houses of North Ostrobothnia may also be the place of origin of the Pyrrö family. What makes this a difficult subject of study is that population registers in the 17th century only contained the master of the house, and no other occupants of houses were listed. Moreover, in Karelia, the region of origin, the taxpayer lists were missing from the early 1650s to the early 1680s.

At least in 1653, the population registers contain a mention of Niilo's son, Heikki Niilonpoika Pyrrö, who became a master of the house from 1661 onwards. As Niilo seems to be a typical name for the Pyrrös of Oulainen, there is a good chance that, at least from the 1670s onwards, Pekka Pyrrö, who lived at Soanlahti, would be the youngest son of Niilo Ollinpoika Pyrrö (b. around 1587).

Of Pekka Pyrrö's sons, one was Niilo (b. around 1685), from whom the Pyrrö family of Soanlahti descends. The same first names were often passed on in the family, and since Pyrrös do not show up in many places before showing up on the history pages of the Pyrrös of Soanlahti, there is a good chance that Piipsjärvi at Oulainen can be considered as a place of origin of the Pyrrö family.

Although Pekka Pyrrö does not appear in the tax rolls at Piipsjärvi, this cannot be deemed a factor ruling out that he could have been born at Piipsjärvi. Lists of taxpayers were still quite simple, and all the members of the house were not included. Furthermore, having been a younger son than Heikki, in any case Pekka would have had to leave his parents' farm to search for livelihood elsewhere.

SOURCE: Genetic and documentary study of the Pyrrö family branches 2021, Ari Kolehmainen, MA, Menneen jäljet.