The Vaismaa family is a Southern Ostrobothnian peasant family, whose history has been researched until the 16th century. The houses and lands of the Vaismaa family and of the families linked to it through different marriages are in the Palonkylä village of the town of Isokyrö, on the shore of the Lehmäjoki River (Cow River), a tributary of the Kyröjoki River.

Other spellings of the Vaismaa family’s original house have also been Vaesmaa and Vahesmaa, based on which the name’s meaning can also be traced. Vahe, or vahes in the Isokyrö dialect, means for example a shady place, roof or shield and exchange, which can be considered as the most probable original source of the Vaismaa house’s name. The house is on two villages’ borderlands, and the farm has been created partly from changed lands.

The Vaismaa house’s oldest known master has been either Mr. Heikki Vaismaa at the start of the 16th century, or his son, Erkki Heikki’s son (Heikinpoika) Vaismaa, who served as the farmhouse’s master from 1546 to 1590. Mr. Antti Vaismaa, two generations younger than Erkki Heikki’s son, became the house’s master in 1606. He was known for example as a juror, and he served also in other positions of trust for the Kyrö people. The different versions of his “treemark signature” have created some basis for the logo of the Vaismaa Family Society, established in 2008.

Among the family names of the wide Vaismaa family have been, in addition to Vaismaa, for example the Kyrö names Vaissalo, Penttala, Knaapi and Kontsas. Many people use the spelling Waismaa.

This website is maintained by the Vaismaa Family Society, which is formed by the descendants of the nine children of Mr. Israel Isaac’s son (Iisakinpoika) Vaismaa (1836-1915) and Mrs. Susanne Carl’s daughter (Kaarlentytär) Vaismaa (formerly Sevón, 1839-1897).

Mr. Jaakko Laurila has researched the Vaismaa family in the 1950’s. This study can be examined in the Ostrobothnian Provincial Archives. In 2005, the magazine Southern Ostrobothnian Roots has published Mr. Matti Lehtiö’s articles on the Vaismaa family’s history. The two researchers’ personal histories of the early years are not totally compatible. Also for example Mr. Eino Kontsas and Ms. Tarja Laaksonen have researched the Vaismaa family.

THE OLD TREEMARK SIGNATURES AS ILLUSTRATIONS