The Kaski & Untiedt Family Trees

I consider myself to be a family history archivist, not a digital content creator. As an archivist, I've been pretty hesitant to edit historical pictures beyond the basics: cropping, rotating, or an occassional straightening. This is despite owning Lightroom and using it for own personal photography projects. I try hard to find the original picture if available. When I can't, I try and start with the best copy that I can locate. Then, I very carefully scan with the highest settings and save initially as high-quality TIFFs comparing carefully the digitial and print versions. I tell myself "if this photo was destroyed tomorrow, did I get the best reproduction possible?" Properly archived, I can then start sharing the best possible jpeg version, keeping the character as is (sun-damaged, wrinkled, torn, or finger-printed).  But, I had an important photo of my great-grandparent Mann's wedding. The best print had some oily fingerprints. After the initially scans showed ...

I am always fascinated when I see that two people in my family tree end up in essentially the same place at the same time when there is no logical shared connection to that location. I'm not talking about someone from South Dakota bumping in to someone from Iowa; things a little more off the beaten path. It is as though there is more that might draw us to a place than what we instinctively process. Like the way the North American monarch butterfly can find its way to its ancesteral nesting ground.  What innate abilities might we possess that draw us towards each other, or to the same places? I've come across many such instances in my research. I'll use this single post to start documenting them. So if this also interests you, bookmark this link and come back in a few months, and see what other cousins you could have walked right by and never knew. Same Place, Case #1, Stroh descendants (Part I) Added: June 16, 2025 Jurgen Stroh was born in Germany in the early 1800s. In 185...

I've gone off the deep end on a side project. My eldest daughter, Carmen, has a close work friend who was adopted during infancy. Work friend, let's call her "L", recently took an Ancestry DNA test and asked for my assistance to see if I could help her find her birth sister. I said "I'll give it a try" and have now built her a family tree of 1,897 persons, biologically connected to her, but none can be confirmed as her birth parents or birth sibling. Yikes! It's been quite an adventure and stalled all my work, research and scanning related to my own family tree lines. First, she has no close DNA matches. Her closest match is listed as "LastName" and has no tree, no information, and no other close matches. One of her parent's appears to have come from a family of 9 siblings, none who have DNA tested and all who have been pretty good at locking down their data. I've loaded L's DNA to other genealogy sites (with her permission, of ...

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...

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...