Hello David.
Your g..Gparents may well be finnish because of our history. Right spelling is Forsström. Finnish translation is Koskivirta (am. approx. "rapids stream")
The official languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish, the latter spoken as a mother tongue by about 6 % of the people. The official status of Swedish has historical roots in the period when Finland was a part of the Swedish realm, a period that lasted from the beginning of the 13th century until 1809.
The Swedish reign:
Until the middle of the 12th century, the geographical area that is now Finland was a political vacuum, and interesting to both its western neighbour Sweden and the Catholic Church there, and its eastern neighbour
Novgorod ( Russia) and its
Greek Orthodox Church. Sweden came out on top, as the peace treaty of 1323 between Sweden and
Novgorod assigned only eastern Finland to
Novgorod. The western and southern parts of Finland were tied to Sweden and the Western European cultural sphere, while eastern Finland, i.e. Karelia, became part of the Russo-Byzantine world.
As a consequence of Swedish domination, the Swedish legal and social systems took root in Finland. Feudalism was not part of this system and the Finnish peasants were never serfs; they always retained their personal freedom. Finland's most important centre was the town of Turku, founded in the middle of the 13th century. It was also the Bishop's seat. In 1362, Finns were given the right to send representatives to the election of the king in Sweden, and in the 16th century this right was extended to include representation in the Swedish Diet.
