Estonian-American
Encyclopedia
The Estonian Americans are citizens or residents of the United States
who are of Estonian
ancestry, mainly descendants of people who left Estonia before and especially during World War II
. According to the 2000 US census, there were over 25,000 Americans of full or partial Estonian descent, down from 26,762 in 1990
.
Estonians first started coming to the United States in the late 19th century, and continued until the mid-20th century. The beginnings of industrialization and commercial agriculture in the Russian Empire
transformed Estonian farmers into migrants. The pressures of industrialization drove numerous Estonian peasants to emigrate to the United States continuing until the outbreak of World War I
. In 1944, in the face of the country being re-occupied by the Red Army, 80,000 people fled from Estonia by sea to Germany and Sweden, becoming war refugees and later, expatriate
s. Some thousand of them moved on from there and settled in the United States. After the war's end, these displaced persons were allowed to immigrate to the United States and to apply for American citizenship. Some of these refugees and their descendants started returning to Estonia at the end of the 1980s.
was the music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
, as well as the international Gothenburg Symphony, and Het Residentie Orkest of The Hague
. His three children, conductors Paavo Järvi
and Kristjan Järvi
, and flautist Maarika Järvi, are prominent American musicians in their own right. Paavo Järvi is the chief conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Chemist Lauri Vaska
emigrated to United States in 1949. He is distinguished for his research in organometallic chemistry
, winning the prestigious Boris Pregel Award. Hillar Rootare
, a materials scientist, is best known for his work in the development of mercury porosimetry
, high pressure liquid chromatography
, and the formulation of the Rootare-Prenzlow Equation
.
In journalism, Edmund S. Valtman
, a successful editorial cartoonist, won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning
.
Alar Toomre
is an astronomer recognized for his research on the dynamics of galaxies. The Toomre sequence and Toomre Instability are named in honor of him.
In entertainment, singer and actress Miliza Korjus
was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in the 1938 film The Great Waltz
.
Hollywood actor Johann Urb
(born January 24, 1977) is an Estonian living and working in the United States.
Kerli Kõiv
(born February 7, 1987), better known mononymously as Kerli, is an Estonian pop singer residing in the United States since 2005.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
who are of Estonian
Estonians
Estonians are a Finnic people closely related to the Finns and inhabiting, primarily, the country of Estonia. They speak a Finnic language known as Estonian...
ancestry, mainly descendants of people who left Estonia before and especially during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. According to the 2000 US census, there were over 25,000 Americans of full or partial Estonian descent, down from 26,762 in 1990
United States Census, 1990
The Twenty-first United States Census, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 248,709,873, an increase of 9.8 percent over the 226,545,805 persons enumerated during the 1980 Census....
.
History
| Estonian-American population as of the 2000 U.S. census |
|
|---|---|
| California California California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area... |
3,465 |
| New York New York New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east... |
2,892 |
| New Jersey New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware... |
2,331 |
| Washington | 1,401 |
| Florida Florida Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it... |
1,393 |
Estonians first started coming to the United States in the late 19th century, and continued until the mid-20th century. The beginnings of industrialization and commercial agriculture in the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
transformed Estonian farmers into migrants. The pressures of industrialization drove numerous Estonian peasants to emigrate to the United States continuing until the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. In 1944, in the face of the country being re-occupied by the Red Army, 80,000 people fled from Estonia by sea to Germany and Sweden, becoming war refugees and later, expatriate
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
s. Some thousand of them moved on from there and settled in the United States. After the war's end, these displaced persons were allowed to immigrate to the United States and to apply for American citizenship. Some of these refugees and their descendants started returning to Estonia at the end of the 1980s.
Famous Estonian Americans
Conductor Neeme JärviNeeme Järvi
Neeme Järvi is an Estonian-born conductor.-Early life:Järvi studied music first in Tallinn, and later in Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevgeny Mravinsky, and Nikolai Rabinovich, among others...
was the music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its main performance center is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood...
, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra is a symphony orchestra located in the state of New Jersey, United States. Philip James founded the orchestra in 1922. The orchestra is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. Neeme Järvi, the NJSO's music director from 2005 to 2009, is currently the orchestra's...
, as well as the international Gothenburg Symphony, and Het Residentie Orkest of The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
. His three children, conductors Paavo Järvi
Paavo Järvi
Paavo Järvi is an Estonian-American conductor, and current Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris.Järvi was born in Tallinn, Estonia, to conductor Neeme Järvi and Liilia Järvi. His siblings, Kristjan Järvi and Maarika Järvi, are also musicians...
and Kristjan Järvi
Kristjan Järvi
Kristjan Järvi is an Estonian-American conductor. Järvi is the younger son of Neeme Järvi, and the brother of conductor Paavo Järvi and flutist Maarika Järvi....
, and flautist Maarika Järvi, are prominent American musicians in their own right. Paavo Järvi is the chief conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
As the fifth oldest orchestra in the United States, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has a legacy of fine music making as reflected in its performances in historic Music Hall, recordings, and international tours...
Chemist Lauri Vaska
Lauri Vaska
Lauri Vaska is an Estonian-born chemist who has made noteworthy contributions to organometallic chemistry....
emigrated to United States in 1949. He is distinguished for his research in organometallic chemistry
Organometallic chemistry
Organometallic chemistry is the study of chemical compounds containing bonds between carbon and a metal. Since many compounds without such bonds are chemically similar, an alternative may be compounds containing metal-element bonds of a largely covalent character...
, winning the prestigious Boris Pregel Award. Hillar Rootare
Hillar Rootare
Hillar M. Rootare , was a physical chemist and materials scientist best known for his work in the development of mercury porosimetry, high pressure liquid chromatography, and formulation of the Rootare-Prenzlow Equation.- Biography :...
, a materials scientist, is best known for his work in the development of mercury porosimetry
Porosimetry
Porosimetry is an analytical technique used to determine various quantifiable aspects of a material's porous nature, such as pore diameter, total pore volume, surface area, and bulk and absolute densities....
, high pressure liquid chromatography
Chromatography
Chromatography is the collective term for a set of laboratory techniques for the separation of mixtures....
, and the formulation of the Rootare-Prenzlow Equation
Rootare-Prenzlow Equation
The Rootare-Prenzlow Equation is named for Estonian-American scientist Hillar Rootare and American scientist Carl Prenzlow, first published in their 1967 paper, "Surface Areas from Mercury Porosimetry Measurements," Rootare, H.M. , and Prenzlow, C.F., 71 J. Phys. Chem. p. 2733...
.
In journalism, Edmund S. Valtman
Edmund S. Valtman
Edmund S. Valtman was an Estonian-American editorial cartoonist and winner of the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning....
, a successful editorial cartoonist, won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning
Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning
The Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning has been awarded since 1922 for a distinguished cartoon or portfolio of cartoons published during the year, characterized by originality, editorial effectiveness, quality of drawing, and pictorial effect...
.
Alar Toomre
Alar Toomre
Alar Toomre is an Estonian-born astronomer and mathematician who immigrated to the United States in 1949. He is a professor of applied mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
is an astronomer recognized for his research on the dynamics of galaxies. The Toomre sequence and Toomre Instability are named in honor of him.
In entertainment, singer and actress Miliza Korjus
Miliza Korjus
Miliza Elizabeth Korjus was an Estonian coloratura soprano opera singer, who later appeared in Hollywood films.-Early life:...
was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in the 1938 film The Great Waltz
The Great Waltz
The Great Waltz is a musical conceived by Hassard Short with a book by Moss Hart and lyrics by Desmond Carter, using themes by Johann Strauss I and Johann Strauss II. It is based on a pasticcio by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Julius Bittner called Walzer aus Wien, first performed in Vienna in 1930...
.
Hollywood actor Johann Urb
Johann Urb
Johann Urb is an Estonian-American actor and former model.-Biography:Johann was born in Tallinn as a son of a musician Tarmo Urb. At the age of ten Johann moved to live in Finland with his mother and her new Finnish husband. Mostly they stayed in Tampere. When Johann turned 17, he moved to the ...
(born January 24, 1977) is an Estonian living and working in the United States.
Kerli Kõiv
Kerli Kõiv
Kerli Kõiv , better known mononymously as Kerli, is an Estonian recording artist.She was signed to Island Def Jam Music Group in 2006 by LA Reid and in 2008, she released her debut album, Love Is Dead which charted at 126 on the Billboard 200 in July 2008 and at 2 on the Billboard Heatseekers...
(born February 7, 1987), better known mononymously as Kerli, is an Estonian pop singer residing in the United States since 2005.
See also
- European AmericanEuropean AmericanA European American is a citizen or resident of the United States who has origins in any of the original peoples of Europe...
- Hyphenated AmericanHyphenated AmericanIn the United States, the term hyphenated American is an epithet commonly used from 1890 to 1920 to disparage Americans who were of foreign birth or origin, and who displayed an allegiance to a foreign country. It was most commonly used to disparage German Americans or Irish Americans who called...
- New York Estonian HouseNew York Estonian HouseThe New York Estonian House is a 3-story Beaux-Arts building located at 243 East 34th Street in the Kips Bay neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The building was designated as a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1978.The house was originally...
External links
- Estonian Americans at Countries and Their Cultures