ABOUT THE NAME OF VESTERINEN AND ANCIENT LIVING SITES

• The Latin word silva (sylva) or the name Sylvester is supposed to be the origin of the name Vesterinen. Silva means forest and Sylvester has been for example the name of some Popes (Sylvester First was ruling as early as in 314-335).
   
  

• In Finland the first land registers of the province of Savo were collected in 1541. They included the names and taxes of all landowners. At that time each parish was divided to quarters and the quarters furher to tithings. The number of quarters in each parish was normally four and the number of tithings in each quarter six. The names of the villages were not yet in use. Vesterinens were then living in Juva, Sääminki and Rantasalmi parishes.  Pekka Vesterinen, lived in Juva,  Antti Vesterinen and later his son Tahvo in Sääminki and another Pekka Vesterinen in Rantasalmi.
  
  

• In the oldest judgement books of Savo the Vesterinens are mentioned as follows: Matti and Pekka in 1563, Pekka, Olli and Perttu in 1564.
  
  

• In 1571 the silver tax register contains information about Antti in Pellosniemi, Pekka in Juva, another Pekka and Matti in Rantasalmi and finally Olli in Rautalampi,  in the province of Häme.
   

• The first written information of the Vesterinens on the Karelian Isthmus is found in the tax payers list of the year 1543. At that time Matti Vesterinen lived in Kanneljärvi parish. He had at least two sons, Pekka and Lauri. Also many other relatives have been living in Kanneljärvi during the years. Some Vesterinens have also lived in Muolaa in the 16^th century. 
   

• In old documents - all written in Swedish -  the name Vesterinen  has been written in several ways, among them Vesterin and Vesteren, mostly written with W, and the Finnish first names were written in Swedish forms.