Nearly all of my family history post 1880 has taken place in the Red River Valley area of NW Minnesota and NE North Dakota. More specifically my family has been located in the area around Grand Forks, ND and East Grand Forks, MN. Many elements of the included families remain in that area to this day.

I myself live in Madison, WI where my family moved when they left Grand Forks in 1961 when I was two. While all of these families eventually settled in the Grand Forks area they represent an international diversity when you examine their countries of origin.

My grandfather Peter Voiss grew up in a small town about ten miles east of the Rhine River in Germany. He left there in 1902 to avoid service in the armed forces of Kaiser Wilhelm. His wife, Elsie Styrlund was from a family that originated in NE Sweden and left their in 1879, 12 years before her birth.

On my mothers side The Enrights and O'Connors came from Ireland while the Bushees and Genereaus were of French descent. All four of these families originally went to Ontario, Canada before moving to East Grand Forks.

None of these families came to America prior to the end of the Civil war. The Genereaus were the first to arrive. They moved from Canada to Michigan in 1866 before moving on to EGF in 1882. Peter Voiss arrived in 1902 while the remaining families all arrived in the period of 1878 - 1886.

This site will show, in great detail, how each of these families has lived over the last century and a half. You can navigate by using the link bar on the left.