Our family is an interesting blend of ancestry and culture with family roots from Germany, England, Ireland, Canada, and Norway. The family is spread from East to West, North to South.
Jeff's family is largely from Iowa and descends paternally from the Knight and Keefe families of Iowa, who immigrated from England and Ireland. Maternally, Jeff's family descends from the Digranes and Osterson families of Norway. Other family names on Jeff's side we are researching include Costello, Keefe, and Toohey - his Irish ancestors who immigrated from Ireland to Canada to Iowa. Jeff's family shares a strong Catholic and Lutheran heritage.
Kathy's paternal family is the Kauffman line with Alexander immigrating to Pennsylvania from Germany, then his family migrating further west to MO and then OK. Our grandfather, Russell, married Inez Augenstein, whose family immigrated to Ohio from Ellmingden, Germany. Other family names include the Miller, Olds, and Lehr families. My maternal family is a mixture of Webbs from OK, MO, and TN, the Endicotts who immigrated from England to MA and finally MO, Hood, Branch, and the Lenhardt/Sixel line from Germany.
Our research into our family history began with an eighth-grade genealogy project of our youngest daughter, Mallory, that has since expanded into a never-ending search for needles in a haystack! She frequently reminds us that she's already turned in the project, but that doesn't stop us from trying to complete the puzzle. Through this all, we have found new family relations and have met many, many helpful researchers who have cared enough to share their information with us via the web.
This website and the information contained therein should be considered a work in progress. Much of the information has not yet been verified, other than through internet files, though some of it has been confirmed via birth, death, marriage, and census records.
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- Endicott - Lenhardt Family (63 KB)
Endicott Family Top (L to R) Lena, Peter, Anna, Bill, Minnie Bottom( L to R) Mary, Peter, Mary, Jacob
- Lenhart Family Home (136 KB)
This is a painting of the Lenhart family home in Germany. Date on painting indicates 1780.
- James R Knight (33 KB)
Jeff's great great grandfather, James Knight, died during the Civil War. This is a photo of him taken prior to his death in 1865.
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