Johan (Janne, “Jean”) Sibelius was born in Loviisa on November 28, 1818. He was a captain of a merchant ship. From a young age, he sailed on Loviisa ships, working as a ship boy, sailor, mate, and merchant captain.

He took over his father Johan’s estate after his death in 1844. He was one of the founders of the Loviisa Savings Bank and a member of its board of trustees in 1851 and an alternate board member in 1858. He was the captain of the barque Fidentia from 1850 to 1854.

He owned the Sibelius house in Loviisa, which, miraculously, survived the town fire during the Crimean War in 1855, as did the half-finished barque Ukko at the nearby Siksala shipyard. He became the captain of the barque Ukko in 1856 and owned a quarter of it in 1860.

He died unmarried under unclear circumstances on June 17 (?), 1864, either from yellow fever in Havana or at sea while returning to England. According to a letter from his sister Evelina, he was still alive in the port of Falmouth after Ukko returned from Cuba. His burial place is currently unknown.

He left behind his French-language business cards: “Jean Sibelius,” which his nephew, music student Janne Sibelius, adopted in the mid-1880s, as well as an estate valued at approximately 52,000 euros in today’s money. The quarter ownership of the barque Ukko continued to support the family for another ten years.

Pehr Sibelius was born in Loviisa on December 17, 1819. He was a merchant. He worked as an assistant in his father’s business until his father’s death in 1844, after which he moved to Turku to work for the Kingelin trading house. He served as an accountant and head of accountants until the business closed in 1859. Pehr was a member of the Turku Volunteer Fire Brigade from 1846 and served as its treasurer from 1858 to 1886. He became an independent merchant in 1859, selling, for example, seeds. According to letters, in the 1860s, he sold wines brought from Cadiz by his brother, the merchant ship captain “Jean” Sibelius, on Christmas Eve until 5 o’clock, and “business was brisk.”

He was an amateur composer who was interested in natural sciences, especially astronomy. He played and owned several instruments, particularly the violin. He was a selfless supporter of Sibelius and a father figure throughout his studies. He died unmarried in Turku on January 4, 1890, leaving his sister Evelina an estate valued at over 50,000 euros in today’s money.

Christian (Kristian) Sibelius, the composer’s father, 1821-68.

Edvard Sibelius was born in Loviisa on June 15, 1823. He was a deputy land surveyor. He graduated from Porvoo Gymnasium on October 2, 1847. He became a surveying student on November 30, 1848, and a surveying clerk on December 15, 1852. He was appointed deputy land surveyor in Uusimaa Province on February 22, 1858. He was a sickly and peculiar personality who died unmarried in Loviisa, just shy of 40 years old, on April 11, 1863.

Evelina Sibelius was born in Loviisa on June 13, 1832. Evelina, an idealistic, positively religious, and musical aunt, had unwavering faith in her nephew Janne’s great talent throughout her life. Sibelius performed his composition Tant Evelinas lif i toner (Aunt Evelina’s Life in Music) for her by her 50th birthday in 1882 at the latest. Evelina passed away on August 20, 1893.

The Sibelius house in Loviisa was sold the following spring. With the inheritance money he received, Sibelius traveled to the Bayreuth Wagner Festival (see Sibelius’s travels).

Christian (Kristian) Gustaf (Gustav) Sibelius was born in Loviisa on December 10, 1821. He was a physician. He graduated from Porvoo Gymnasium on June 21, 1841, with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree on June 7, 1847, and a Master of Philosophy degree on June 22, 1847. He earned his Bachelor of Medicine on December 15, 1851, Licentiate of Medicine on May 10, 1856, and the degree of Doctor of Medicine and Surgery on May 31, 1860.

He served as the Assistant Doctor on the line ship Finland from May 13, 1853, to March 16, 1854, a doctor at the Mikkeli Castle and Hospital in 1854, and as an Ordinator at the Helsinki General Hospital on March 25, 1855, as well as an additional doctor at the same hospital on July 14, 1855.

He was the Senior Physician of the Instructional Sharpshooter Battalion on July 9, 1856, the physician of the Turku Sharpshooter Battalion from October 25, 1856, to June 4, 1857, and the city doctor in 1856. He also served as the Tampere City and Hospital Physician from August 31, 1858, to April 1, 1859, physician of the Hämeenlinna Sharpshooter School on June 3, 1859, and Chief Physician of the Hämeenlinna Sharpshooter Battalion and city doctor from January 1, 1861. He died of typhoid fever in Hämeenlinna at the age of 47 on July 31, 1868.

• Spouse: Maria Charlotta Borg, married in Hämeenlinna on March 7, 1862.

Children of Christian and Maria:

• Linda Maria 1863-1932
• Johan (Janne, Jean) Christian Julius 1865-1957
• Christian 1869-1922

Maria Sibelius and her two eldest children.

The future composer sits in his mother’s lap.

Sibelius’s father knew how to enjoy his student life in Helsinki. He actively participated in social life and was a pleasant entertainer at long evening gatherings with his guitar and Bellman songs. Christian Gustaf’s studies progressed so slowly that before graduating, he managed to spend all his future inheritance from Loviisa.

Graduating as a doctor at the age of 35 was not a great achievement, but Christian Gustaf’s 81-page licentiate thesis was apparently quite adequate. The study was titled “Anteckningar om hafvandeskapet utom lifmodren jemte beskrifning öfver ett dithörande fall” (Notes on Ectopic Pregnancy Along with a Description of a Related Case), and according to legend, it later provided assistance to some specialists in the field. Christian Gustaf did not need his research findings much while serving as a military doctor.

In the winter of 1860, Christian Gustaf spent a long time in Helsinki. Although social life took much of his time, he also acted as an opponent for licentiate theses. His statements from that time can be found in the minutes of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Alexander. They are signed with “Kristian [!] G. Sibelius, docent.” This work paid off, as the university had earlier asked the emperor for an exemption “to grant deserving licentiates the degree of doctor in the faculties of law and medicine without the usual dissertation and examination.” Alexander II agreed to the request on May 7, 1860, and Christian Gustaf received his doctorate in medicine and surgery at the end of May 1860.

In the 1860s, Christian Gustaf’s life was dominated by a happy marriage and an increasingly concerning debt burden. As a convivial socialite, the doctor was too eager to guarantee others’ loans and ended up having to pay for his friends’ bankruptcies. The financial situation was still under control in the early part of the decade. In addition to his city and battalion doctor positions, a flourishing private practice brought in money. Christian Gustaf realistically expected to be debt-free by the age of 50 in 1871.

Things turned out differently. The famine years in Finland in the mid-1860s toppled Sibelius’s father’s plans and eventually cost him his life. The private practice withered amid widespread distress, the debt burden grew, and typhoid fever, which became prevalent during the famine years, led to Christian Gustaf’s death. The composer lost his father when he was less than three years old. All he had as memories of his father were a few fleeting images and a slight scent of cigars.