Tag: Helgestad
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Notes from the heartland (Part 3: Texas)
Happy Rudesgiving! I can’t remember when Rudesgiving originated, but with such a geographically dispersed family — and with each of my brothers having their own families and in-laws — we needed to come up with our own convenient time to gather. So, for several years we’ve been finding an off-peak weekend to meet up. This…
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Glimmers from a golden age
Norway is one of those countries – like Macedonia or Mongolia – that has a modest footprint today but once settled and ruled distant lands. This is not to say that Norway’s best days are behind it. But it does have a storied, almost mythic past. Unlike the Greeks and Romans, the Old Kingdom of…
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The Hansons and Helgestads of Østre Toten
My dad’s paternal grandparents were Borghild Helgestad Rude (1904-1975) and John Rude (1900-1997). The photo below was taken in May of 1975 shortly after I was born and shortly before my great-grandma Borghild died. Grandma Borghild was so weakened by illness at the time this photo was taken that she asked Grandpa John to hold…
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Mjøsa
Ancestors on both my mother and father’s sides have lived around Mjøsa – Norway’s largest lake – for hundreds (if not thousands) of years. Mjøsa is massive – from end to end 73 miles (117 km). And at its deepest point, it’s nearly 1,500 feet (450 m). The lake is the dividing line between two…
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The greats
During my formative years (i.e., the early 1980s), I recall a flurry of genealogical interest on multiple sides of the family. My paternal grandpa’s sister Carol (Rude) Luiso had been interviewing her father John Rude and other older relatives about the family’s early years in the US. She and her cousin Judi collected a wealth…
Deep Roots 