Tag: Rude
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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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Bertha Thorpe Veum and her family from Nes
As I mentioned in a prior post, my biological great-great grandfather, Erik Veum (1864-1942), made a journey back to Norway in 1921 with two of his daughters. Erik’s wife Bertha (1864-1937) did not accompany them. Perhaps she had less reason to travel. Unlike Erik, who had left many family members behind when he emigrated, Bertha…
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A journey down a genealogical mineshaft
A few years before my grandma Barbara Jean (Kaufman) Rude died, I started asking her questions about her childhood, her parents, and what she could remember of her grandparents. Although my grandma’s mind was sharp, the details were murky when she spoke about her mother’s parents, John and Margaret Clark. There are a few good…
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In search of the Lehmanns
I drove out into the German countryside today to get a sense of where my grandma’s grandma came from. The grandma in question is Louise Lehmann Kaufman, the mother of my paternal grandma’s father, Edward Carl Kaufman. My great-grandpa Ed Kaufman is the man on the right in the photo above. His mother Louise is…
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Who was Oscar Veum? The search for a biological ancestor.
There’s a word in the Dano-Norwegian language used by 19th century Norwegian priests that sounds just as ugly as it does in English: uægte. It means “illegitimate”. And if you scroll through as many old Norwegian church records as I do, you’ll notice how often it comes up. In the old record books, whether a…
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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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The Rudes – an origin story
My dad’s paternal grandfather, John Rude (1900-1997), was born in the U.S. – but only barely. He was actually conceived in Norway and born in Wisconsin five months after his parents and older sister Anna arrived in Wisconsin from Olso by way of Liverpool, England and New York City. Grandpa John’s parents were Ole Johannesen…
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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 