Carl Alexander Eriksson Marainen

Fugelsøy in his book Skjervøy, the county history, wrote that Isak Carlsen who moved to Norway was the son of "Carl of Karesuando", and that later other members of the family joined him. Family legend has it that when Carl was born, two famous prices were visiting in the region, Prince Karl of Sweden and Prince Alexander of Russia, and that the child was named after these two princes. There was a Prince Karl of Sweden, the Bernadotte who took part in the French Revolution, was made a Prince of Ponte-Corvo by Napoleon, later became Crown Prince of Sweden, and in 1810 ascended the throne as King Karl Johan of Sweden/Norway. There was also a Prince Alexander of Russia who became Czar and Emperor in 1801. The princes did meet three times, once at the Czar's hunting lodge in Över Torneå, a border town a little further south from Carl's birthpalce on the Swedish/Finnish border. It is interesting to note that Olaus was named Olaus Aleksander after his grandfather and that his grandson Arden also has the same middle name, Alexander. Eva Raattamaa tells us that Carl was born in Kuttainen and became a settler in Sudjavaara.