The Kaski & Untiedt Family Trees

Even though we each get DNA from our ancestors, we don't all get the same DNA.  Sometimes, it's not my DNA that is going to provide the answers, but yours could. Check out the below example regarding 5 DNA kits that I manage and how each compared to a shared DNA match.

Color-coding helps visualize the Top Ancestor DNA Supports (TADs). Quick visual Orange = DNA Match              Blue =  Top Ancestor DNA Supports (TADs)            Pink =  DNA path The visual above quickly tells me the following: Orange  (Maynard) is a DNA match to at least one of the DNA kits that I manage. Blue  shows the Top Ancestor DNA Supports (which ancestors are genetically confirmed as related to the Orange person). On the paternal branch, there are DNA matches that prove all of Maynard's great-grandparents (i.e., Hans Olsen). On the maternal branch, I have confirmed that John Henry Anderson is genetically Maynard's grandparent, but haven't been able to confirm Hans & Kari, his great-grandparents (no color coding). Pink  demonstrates the DNA path that supports the Top Ancestor DNA Supports (TADs). On the maternal branch, I have been able to genetically confirm beyond his great-g...

If you were born in Minnesota prior to 2002, your birth data is publicly available, along with the other 3,000 Minnesota-born persons in our family tree. For a family researcher, like myself, this data is gold. Very useful as it provides your full legal name, date and place of birth, and your parents' full names. But, from the perspective of a hacker, or identity thief,  you might be a more vulnerable candidate. For example, if you have a password reset hint using your mother's maiden name, that account has likely already been hacked, because it's very easy (and free) to find that data about you. Check out the link below for more details. https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Minnesota,_Birth_Index_-_FamilySearch_Historical_Records

Update: April 2026 I've been using the Genealogy Assistant for more than a year now, and it's definitely a Win. Provides insightful information Improves my hobby process Easy to use Cheap A true test was when I turned off the extension for a few days, and felt the pain of not having it. I'm always interested in a faster way to do what I'm already doing. Thanks to the recent RootsTech Conference, one attendee highlighted the "Genealogy Assistant for Google Chrome", which is an extension to add to your Chrome browser. It promises to help highlight data you might be most interested in, such as Paternal vs. Maternal, as well as helping in extracting data as csv files from the various genealogy sites. With a 7-day free trial, and then a monthly fee of $1.99, if it works as advertised, this could be a nice efficiency boost for my little hobby. As someone who is also dealing with disability challenges, some of the features look like nice accessability tools that will...

Despite decades of work building out our family tree from stories, records and pictures, there was always a risk that something was wrong. I’m glad to report that tonight looking at the list of my 8 great-grandparents that I have confirmed DNA matches to everyone of them. This confirms that my paperwork and my genetics are in-sync. No midwestern cold nights of hanky panky!

Each person has 2 biological parents and 4 biological grandparents. If we assume that the average age of becoming a parent is 25 years old, over 100 years 4 generations would be born and a total of 16 great-grandparents (2 times). For Christimas this year, my husband framed a beautiful copy of my family tree showing the last 5 generations. 32 great-grandparents. There's still some holes, but 32 family surnames is a lot to track and master. But if I set my goal to understand the last 500 years of my families' histories I would need to document 1,048,576 great-grandparents (17 times). Well, that feels overwhelming! Makes my 10,000 persons accomplishment seem so miniculse.

 The tree has grown to 10,000 people!!! Crazy.  There's so much data out there now, and it just grows and grows.

Grrr....software applications for genealogy are such a nightmare right now. There aren't really great solutions. Here's some of the Pros and Cons of what's on the market. Ancestry.com Pros Excellent for finding source documentation and ancestry records Great matching of records so that you actually find your "John Doe" and not an unrelated "John Doe". Intuitive and easy to get started. Media is stored on their site, not locally on your PC. Easy to share records and media with others. Has DNA matches. Syncs with Ancestry and Family Search. Cons Isn't really a good Family Tree application: inadequate reporting; inconsistent data management (same city can be listed multiple ways); lack of searching within your tree; hard to identify errors and manage database integrity. DNA Matches relate to living people, but living people are hidden in other person's trees. These privacy restrictions make true collaboration very difficult. Does not encourage regis...

 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 %.

 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, ...

 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 & Ecklund Family History Morud/Maurud & Anderson Family History

 My family history database crossed the 8,000 person mark today!

There are some good genes out there, letting some of our ancestors achieve the epic age of 100. Cheers to these centenarians! Maternal line 102 years : L illian (Krabbenhoft) Johnson  of Hickson, North Dakota is the first 100+ member on my Krabbenhoft line! On June 26, 2026, she will turn 103. The child of  Alfred and Ella Krabbenhoft she currently lives in a nursing home in Fargo, North Dakota. Her daughter, Debbie Fowler, reports that she is doing remarkably well. 105 years : L illian (Ahrendt) Galbreath lived to the age of 105. Lillian is a double first cousin 3 times removed who died in June 2004. A "double cousin" means she shares more than one set of grandparents; in her case, Lillian's grandparents were my 3x-great grandparents from both my Ahrendt & Weinreben and my Stroh & Mohr family lines. My software program doesn't display the above visual for both sets of grandparents when there is a double cousin, so below, I'm showing how Lillian's mo...

 I love my grandbabies! Only have 3 right now, but I'd love 100.  This post is dedicated to those in our family tree who actually achieved the 100 grandchild mark during their life.   Here's the first two, both originating through our Ecklund branch. Rudolph Tapani. Rudy's obituary of July 2002 notes 102 grandchildren, 201 great-grandchildren, and 20 great great-grandchildren. That's about one grandchild (including greats) born for every day each calendar year. Do you think he knew all their names?  Living to the age of 97, Rudy and his wife, Esther Levanen, parented 16 children. The Tapani families of Battle Ground, Washington weave their ways in, out and all around our family branches, and more connections are sure to be found. However, the most direct Tapani DNA connection is through the marriage of Rudy's daughter, Helen Tapani to Roger Tikka; Roger is a second cousin, once removed through our Ecklund ancestors. One of the Tapani branch mysteries I'm st...

Draft registration cards are a very valuable family history research record. They usually provide the legal name, address, next of kin, employment record, and description of the registrant. Currently, my family history database has more than 300 registration cards as evidence for these types of facts. Despite having read through hundreds of these records, in my reading tonight, I learned that I really had a deep lack of understanding of how the draft process worked. Excerpted below are some of the very interesting bits I discovered thanks to Ancestry! Source: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3172/ "Men who registered were given bluish green certificates to prove they had registered. The certificate was embossed with an eagle at the top and merely stated who had registered where on what date. This certificate was signed by a registrar. In Utah, the Salt Lake Tribune stated that law officers could demand to see this registration certificate at any time, and a man without...

After about 35 years of working on this Family Tree project, I hit 7,000 people in my Database today!

Today, I officially attached my 3,000th record to my family tree database. That's a lot of research over the years, especially the last two years where I've been working on the database almost nightly. It's quite a work of diligence and investigation. Each record is thoroughly compared to the information I already know; when it's correct, I take each fact (name, birthplace, etc.) and add them one-by-one, attaching citations and notes to ensure I can trace back to exactly where the data came from. It's been a labour of history and one that I truly hope someone in the future will appreciate.

I’ve found that my family history journey seems like it will never have an end especially in this world of digital data, the records and connections just endlessly pour in. Anyone who has done a genetic DNA test and seen the long list of 4th and 5th cousins with completely new names knows it gets complicated quickly.  Someone posted today in a genealogy forum that you need to keep in mind that each person has 128 5th great grandparents! 128!  Despite being a number’s person, I never did the math. No wonder this adventure and research seems endless. 128! I know all 8 of my great grandparents and all 16 of my 2nd great grandparents. But some of my maternal 3rd greats still allude me. My oldest known ancestor is my 7th great grandfather Peter Untiedt who lived in the 1600s, but now I know I’ll likely never know all 512 of my 7th great grandparents.  Guess I need to think about what I really want to know: what’s the question I’m seeking the answer to?

 I haven't posted here or in the Facebook family tree groups for a little while, but, no, I haven't stopped researching. I spend at least one hour every night sitting on the couch in the living room, scrolling through the archives of what I already have and making sure I've squeezed all the juice out of these lemons (ok, they aren't lemons in a negative).  Finally finished piles of electronic records that were tagged to my tree when I was researching haphazardly on the Ancestry app. I've really got to stop doing that.   Starting last night, I started working through the 800 records that I've attached to my RootsMagic family tree, but haven't checked off my list as having squeezed all their juice. Arrghh, always best to do it right the first time. All these to say, a few weeks of some fairly mundane researching and organizing, which just helps in the long term to make sure I've got more facts to try and connect to new records.

The below image shows when each of my ancestors immigrated to the United States.  3 generations ago, 4 of my great-grandparents made the journey across the sea coming from Finland (1903), Norway (1916), and Germany (1882 and 1895). One from each branch of my tree. 4 generations prior was the mass migration that formed my American family tree branches. On my paternal line, ancestors came from Scandinavia (1874 Sweden, 1872 Finland, and 1866 & 1889 Norway). From my maternal line, they all came from Germany (1867, 1875 and 1884). My earliest US ancestors came 5 generations before me and were my Ahrendt 2x great-grandparents, who traveled to New York together in 1855 from Germany.