The Kaski & Untiedt Family Trees

As a continuation of the prior post on sharing Bernice's Birthday Book , explore below the March & April birthdays captured half a century ago. March 2 & 3, friend & Mann: Mildred Goede & John Mann Mildred Goede, I believe, was a friend of Bernice. The March 3 reference "Dad" was Bernice's father, John Mann, who was born in 1892. March 4, Untiedt: Carolee Untiedt Carolee was a niece of Bernice's husband, Paul Untiedt. Paul's eldest brother, Henry Untiedt, was Carolee's father. Carolee was born in 1939. March 12, Krabbenhoft: Freda Mann & Mrs. Geo. Woodrich "Mother" refers to Bernice's mother, Freda (Krabbenhoft) Mann. She shared a birth date with her sister, Martha (Krabbenhoft) Woodrich. The sisters were three years apart in age, born in 1892 and 1895. In 1917, Martha married George Woodrich. March 13, Untiedt: Lloyd Untiedt & Mrs. Clarence Untiedt Lloyd Untiedt was Bernice's brother-in-law and the best man at Ber...

Overview The little, palm-sized, blue-bound Auld Lang Syne Birthday Book was a keepsake of my grandmother, Bernice (Mann) Untiedt. Recently loaned to me by my Uncle Don Untiedt, inside each of its pages is a unique look into someone that was important to Bernice. As it will take several posts to share all of the written pages, I am posting January & February birthdays first and then the remaining months throughout 2025. I invite you to scroll the pages, look for your ancestors, and explore this treasure through this blog. Bernice (Mann) Untiedt First, a little about my maternal grandmother: Bernice was the daughter of Freda (Krabbenhoft) & John Mann. She was born in Mound Township, Rock County, Minnesota on August 19, 1923. At the age of 20, she married Paul Valentine Untiedt, son of Emma (Schwager) & Paul Christian Sophius Untiedt. Growing up in Rock County, Minnesota, amongst many cousins, the pages are filled with the names of relatives joined to our tree through birth, ...

Amongst my collection are many letters I've gathered over the years; these letters often tell in short brief sentences stories and hints that guide and document this research journey. This post about a 1999 letter from Vanette Mitchell relays part of the story of what happened to the archives of a childless Untiedt who passed more than 50 years ago. Vanette (Untiedt) Mitchell was the daughter of Johanna (Rosenberg) and Henry Jurgen Untiedt; and granddaughter of Emma (Schwager) and Paul C.S. Untiedt. Vanette was one of the creators of the Untiedt Family Fare Cookbook , which in the mid-1980s documented our Untiedt family tree and recipes. The letter from Vanette begins by referencing "Keith [Untiedt's] yearbook, pictures and letters" (the "archives"). Keith was the son of Beatrice (Trunnell) and Clarence Untiedt and grandson of Emma (Schwager) and Paul C.S. Untiedt. Keith had one sibling, Lawrence (Larry). While Keith married, he and his wife, Celeste (Schaef...

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 enhance or replace other tools I've been working with. Come back to this post in a few weeks for an update on how this test run went or check it out yourself using their YouTube channel link pasted below. https://www.youtube.com/@GenealogyAsst

George John Wilhelm Mann was a grandchild of Louise Ahrendt & Wilhelm Mann, and first cousin to my grandmother, Bernice (Mann) Untiedt. He married Gladys Salzman. As part of my early, family history research, I would write letters to try and capture the content I was seeking. Below is an October 2000 letter Gladys wrote to me.  Here are some of the highlights: "I came to Luverne after attending MN School of Business in Mpls - to work in the Rock Co. Bank + then met George and that is how I got "into" the Mann family. My home town is Lake Benton, MN - an hours drive north of Luverne - at that time Bernice + a bunch of us gals were all working jobs in town + had to have fun times in the evening." "We remember going to [Paul & Bernice Untiedt's] home in Kanaranzi to play cards. Their home was always open to all the kids in Kanaranzi. Mann picnics each summer was always a highlight especially for the aunts + uncles (Bernice's parents, George's p...

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.