My name is Bruce Kuennen. A lot has happened since I started researching my family history in 2003. This site originally focused on my ancestors and those of my first wife, Lynn Ann Hollenbeck. Her father was born Cletus Lawrence Hollerbach.
When our sons were married, I started working on the ancestry of their wives. Then in 2018, when our first grandchildren came along, I began to work on their families.
Lynn passed away on November 11, 2019. With this update (February 2023), I hope to complete her family's data.
Our family's ancestors can be found in the following reports:
Names in green are the paternal (my) ancestors of my children; names in blue are their maternal (Lynn's) ancestors. Finley's maternal ancestors are in brown (Manewitz) and lime (Ward). Frances's maternal ancestors are in purple (Looft) and aqua (Wildman). Red may be used to indicate the last known ancestor in a specific line.
This site is always a work in progress. Please tell me about additions or corrections by using the contact form to the left.
I previously reported that my siblings and I are 31/32nds German and 1/32d Dutch, but with the recent discovery of a number of new ancestors, it appears that we also have some Swiss ancestry.
My DNA analysis from Ancestry.com gives an "Ethnicity Estimate" of 65% from Germanic Europe, 26% from Sweden and Denmark, 5% from England and Northwestern Europe, and 4% from Eastern Europe and Russia..
Judging by my data, Lynn was 1/2 German and 1/2 Irish. Her DNA estimate was that she was 35% German, 25% Irish, 22% Scottish, and 12% from Denmark and Sweden.
The picture below was taken in September 2014 after my Mom's funeral., in front of DeSales School in Ossian, Iowa. Can you find me and my eight siblings?
The First Page contains the descendancy reports for the Kuennen, Hollerbach (Hollenbeck), Huinker, and Tobin families, honoring all four of their grandparents. The Second Page adds their great-grandparents, containing the descendancy reports for the Kuehner, Einck, Lang, and Ruddy Families. The remaining great-great grandparents' families - the Meyer, Balk, Braun, Mehs, Heck, Straub, Powell, and Lavelle families - can be found on the Third Page.
The New Family tab has files for the family history of my three daughters-in-law - Heather (Badgley) Kuennen, Lindsay Looft, and Laura (Manewitz) Kuennen.
Finally, there are new pages for possibly related folks, including a file for folks that I call the Michigan Kuennens. For a while, I was a member of the Guild of One-Name Studies, which encourages folks to gather all information relating to a single surname, and its variants, with the results at the One-Name Studies link above.
When our sons were married, I started working on the ancestry of their wives. Then in 2018, when our first grandchildren came along, I began to work on their families.
Lynn passed away on November 11, 2019. With this update (February 2023), I hope to complete her family's data.
Our family's ancestors can be found in the following reports:
- My Ancestors (February 2023)
- Lynn's Ancestors (February 2023)
- Ancestors of Heather Adelle (Badgley) Kuennen (February 2023) - Heather is descended from people who were born and/or died in very widely dispersed locations in Europe, and even more dispersed locations in the United States. See the "Fun" pages for a couple of nice maps showing just how wide this dispersion is.)
- Ancestors of Finley Joseph and Grace Ann Kuennen (February 2023)
- Ancestors of Frances Katherine and Patrick Christopher Kuennen (Uploaded 12/31/2022) - (Without sources because the sourced file is too big for this free website. I will provide the sourced file to friends and relatives upon request.)
Names in green are the paternal (my) ancestors of my children; names in blue are their maternal (Lynn's) ancestors. Finley's maternal ancestors are in brown (Manewitz) and lime (Ward). Frances's maternal ancestors are in purple (Looft) and aqua (Wildman). Red may be used to indicate the last known ancestor in a specific line.
This site is always a work in progress. Please tell me about additions or corrections by using the contact form to the left.
I previously reported that my siblings and I are 31/32nds German and 1/32d Dutch, but with the recent discovery of a number of new ancestors, it appears that we also have some Swiss ancestry.
My DNA analysis from Ancestry.com gives an "Ethnicity Estimate" of 65% from Germanic Europe, 26% from Sweden and Denmark, 5% from England and Northwestern Europe, and 4% from Eastern Europe and Russia..
Judging by my data, Lynn was 1/2 German and 1/2 Irish. Her DNA estimate was that she was 35% German, 25% Irish, 22% Scottish, and 12% from Denmark and Sweden.
The picture below was taken in September 2014 after my Mom's funeral., in front of DeSales School in Ossian, Iowa. Can you find me and my eight siblings?
The First Page contains the descendancy reports for the Kuennen, Hollerbach (Hollenbeck), Huinker, and Tobin families, honoring all four of their grandparents. The Second Page adds their great-grandparents, containing the descendancy reports for the Kuehner, Einck, Lang, and Ruddy Families. The remaining great-great grandparents' families - the Meyer, Balk, Braun, Mehs, Heck, Straub, Powell, and Lavelle families - can be found on the Third Page.
The New Family tab has files for the family history of my three daughters-in-law - Heather (Badgley) Kuennen, Lindsay Looft, and Laura (Manewitz) Kuennen.
Finally, there are new pages for possibly related folks, including a file for folks that I call the Michigan Kuennens. For a while, I was a member of the Guild of One-Name Studies, which encourages folks to gather all information relating to a single surname, and its variants, with the results at the One-Name Studies link above.