About

This blog emerged in the spring of 2022 out of a desire to share some of my genealogical research with my family.

Since there are many sides to a family, I’ve created a way for different family members to find posts that relate to the family we have in common. To find information about the family we share, search for one of the surnames of my four grandparents: Reiner, Smith, Kaufman or Rude — or one of the four surnames that were my great-grandmothers’ maiden names: Johnson, Anderson, Clark and Helgestad. All posts about family history are tagged with at least one of these surnames.

I have included the pedigree charts below to help guide you.

My immediate ancestors

My maternal grandmother’s mother’s ancestors

My maternal grandmother’s father’s ancestors

My maternal grandfather’s mother’s ancestors

My maternal grandfather’s father’s ancestors

My paternal grandmother’s mother’s ancestors

My paternal grandmother’s father’s ancestors

My paternal grandfather’s mother’s ancestors

My paternal grandfather’s adoptive father’s ancestors

My paternal grandfather’s biological father’s ancestors

Family names are confusing, and each branch listed above has name irregularities that make research complicated. For example, my great-grandmother Jessie Johnson’s paternal grandfather used the last names Hauge and Jensen before he adopted Johnson. My great-grandma Elvina Anderson’s father Anton was not in fact a son of Anders but a son of Andreas. My great-grandpa Frank Smith started life as Franz Schmidt. The Clarks — my paternal grandma’s mother’s family — lost their “e” (Clarke), while the Kaufmans — my paternal grandma’s father’s family — lost a second “f” (Kauffman). And my dad’s paternal grandparents, the Rudes, were temporarily called Rud or Ruud and originally Roterud (although they only had that name for a generation). Farm-based Norwegian last names are particularly tricky as they used to change with each move to a new farm, common practice among the tenant farmers who make up my ancestry. And the patronymic names (e.g., Andersen, Hansdatter) changed with each generation prior to the early 20th century.

My other issue with last names is that they are inherently patriarchal. Everyone is named after their father, unless they are a married woman, in which case they typically adopt their husband’s name.

Bottom line: family names are an unreliable and arguably sexist way to keep track of the various branches of a family tree, but there aren’t easy alternatives.

Have questions? Interested in contributing to this blog?

Get in touch!

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