Where does the surname "Jarvisto" come from?

Question

I think it's German. My second guess in Australia.

Answer 1

I checked the records on Ancestry.com and it appears that the name may be Finnish. There are ships lists listing Nationality as Finnish. Also, if you check the free site www.ellisisland.org you will see that there are two Jarvistos from Tarun, Finland on their ships manifests. There is one Jarvisto that pulls up on the free site www.familysearch.org and that one is from Finland. too. You might want to go to

http://genforum.genealogy.com/finland/

and post a query asking if anyone has heard of the Jarvisto surname. Genforum is a very popular genealogy board and your chances are great that someone from Finland can answer your query. Good luck. This genealogy stuff is lots of fun and a true journey. Blessings.

Answer 2

VERY interesting! No one has submitted a family file to rootsweb including the name. Social security death index has ONE person, Frank, born in 1888 (where?); got social security issued in Minnesota... then winds up dying in Europe somewhere. Maybe on vacation?
Are you related to Frank? With his social security number, you can send for the file, and see what it shows. It isn't clear if he was an immigrant who was naturalized, or born in Minn. If born there, he should be available in some census.
ANYTIME I see a really rare name, my first inclination is that it is not the original spelling. Kicks me back into the standing that to really know your heritage, you need to do research on your specific ancestor, not the name itself.