9,000 people

 My tree has crossed the 9,000 person mark!

And how many of those people have I checked off as completely researched: 17!

17 out of 9000: only 99.8% left to complete and only 30 years in to this project. 

Another 30 and maybe  I'll hit the top 50. Yikes! But by then, 50 out of 15,000 isn't going to help my %.

Are Untiedts Danes or Germans?

The answer is "It Depends".

In 1847, when Paul Untiedt Sr's father, Henry Untiedt, was born, Schleswig-Holstein was part of the Prussian Empire.

The following year, 1848, Denmark tried to formally annex the area, which began the First Schleswig War.

In 1858, Henry's father, Hinrich, was serving as a Prussian soldier.

In 1867, Prussia took the territory back as victory for the Second Schleswig War.

Our last "German" Untiedt ancestor, Paul Sr., was then born 3 years later in 1870.

It is no wonder that both Paul & Henry (+ wife Magretha Peterson) left for America in 1882.

But this is why some ancestory tests will say we are "Germanic" while others refer to us as "Danish" or "Scandanavian".

So, why the fight?

They were arguing over whether they should be Danish or German. Back then, the question was whether to be part of the duchies of Holstein or Schleswig, and in many records you will see all of above referenced.

One album done!

Summer 2023 I was fortunate enough to scan the archives of my uncle, Don Untiedt. I have finally completed the processing of the first album. Posting, labeling and organizing all the pictures.  Woohoo! Only took about 14 months!

1920 Southern picnic

 I found this great article about a July 1920 picnic in southern Louisiana attended by my mother-in-law's, Linda Wells, mother, Kate Fremin. Also in attendance were several of Kate Fremin's siblings: Delta, Tolver, Paul, Joseph, Lloyd, and Olga Fremin.

[Tip: select the image to zoom in; or right click on the image below and "Save image as" to save the article to your device and allow easier zoom.] 

Little brown box

 For more than thirty years, I've moved from home to home this little brown box.

It's ugly. But well formed. It's survived 30 years fulfilling it's purpose, moving from Florida to New Mexico to Texas and now Virginia. It's sturdy, and doesn't take up much space, and has sat for years in a closet or a box completely ignored. 

And so what treasure lies within these unassuming pieces of assembled wood: our history. At least the beginning of how I started our family tree. Back in the day, before wifi, or even dialup, I made an index card for every person in our tree.

Each card was laid out the same. The front listed name and sex; date and place of birth, marriage, and death; burial location.

The back listed that person's direct relations: father, mother, spouse, children, siblings. One card for each person. Written in pencil.

Now imagine that I learned that I misspelled a name, or a new sibling came along. The filing box was organized alphabetically, by family, but  would require lots of updates for one small correction or bit of new information. 

And then eventually, sometime around 1992 or so, we got the Family Tree Maker software. I could finally data entry all my cards and start to have my first electronic family tree. Sadly, the software is still pretty close to how it was implemented back then, though the software names have changed  many times over the years. 

While I always have many family history research goals, one of my 2024 goals is to finally toss the box. I feel the need to check each card against my current database so it's a time consuming mindless task; and frankly, I'm in a mundance mindless frame of mind, so alas, let's see how empty the box becomes between now and December 31, 2024. 

Wish me luck!

UPDATE: October 2024: finished. 30 years of holding on, but set a goal and got it done!

Facebook Groups

 While I'd love to believe that every descendant of my ancestors will find this blog and be able to access all of the fabulous family history I've archived, I know that is not likely. So last year, I started testing out using Facebook Groups to share. It's been fairly successful, and definitely has a broader audience then this blog.

And so, in the event that someone comes across this blog but not the Facebook groups, I wanted to list the groups here. All family are welcome to join.

Untiedt Family History

Schwager Family History

Krabbenhoft Family History

Mann & Ahrendt Family History

Kaski Family History

Morud/Maurud & Anderson Family History

Untiedt General Store

 My great-great grandfather, Paul C.S. Untiedt, Sr. owned a general store in Kanaranzi, Minnesota. I posted on our Untiedt Family History Facebook group a picture of the store that I had digitized as part of the Don Untiedt archives.

I was incredibly surprised by the reply that came from one of the Untiedt cousins, Pam Levey. 

What an amazing story, and I'm so glad that the cousins were able to share it with us.