The Rhode family in Duluth, Minnesota about July 1898. From left, Sigurd Angel Rhode, 18, Storm Christopher Rhode, 11, Rolf Viking Rhode, 5 1/2 (on a stool), Captain Severin Andreas Elias Rhode, 46 (1852-1925), wife Laura Stokke Rhode, 45 (1853-1908), Alfild Rhode, 8 (center), and Blackie the dog. Sigurd married Agnes Berg and had two sons, Robert and Richard. Storm married Mary Catherine Tague and had two sons, Thomas and Storm Charles. Rolf was killed in France in World War I. Alfild married Floyd T. Logan and had a son, Floyd T. Logan Jr. They divorced and she married Jack A. Kraker.
The "Rovde Saga" states Severin Rhode "vigde i Strømøe Kirke Dramen. Severin reiste til sjøss som 17 åring i 1869. Seilte ute i 11 år før han utvandra i 1880 åra og var då skipper og medeigar i båten. Han reiste med kone og to barn frå Norge men var heime i 1901-1902. Buset Minnesota, Duluth" which translates "married in Strømøe Church, Drammen. Severin went to sea when he was 17 in 1869. He sailed for 11 years before he emigrated in the 1880s, and was the captain and co-owner of a ship. Then he left Norway with his wife and two children. He came home in 1901-1902. Settled in Duluth, Minnesota."
The "Søga om Sande og Rovde" states "Reiste til sjos 1869, g Kaspara Enoksen, Drammen, vart skipper og medeigar i ei skute, reiste med kone og 2 born til Amerika i 1880-ara, busett Minnesota, arbeidde i fabrikk, var heim ein tur 1901-1902" which translates "went to sea [in] 1869. Married Kaspara Enoksen [of] Drammen. He was a captain and co-owner in a vessel; traveled with his wife and two children to America in the 1880s; settled in Minnesota; worked in a factory; was home [on] a trip [in] 1901-1902."
Severin Andreas Elias Rhode was the second of ten children. His original name was Rovde (from the town of Rovde in Norway); he changed his name to Rhode upon entry to the United States of America. The Rovde name is pronounced "Rove-duh" with a long "o." The Rhode name is pronounced to rhyme with "road" so the Rovde and Rhode names sound similar, at least in the first syllable.
My Rhode Family Tree is housed on Rootsweb.com at: http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=ricrhode. It includes the surnames Bailey, Bell, Berg, Bergan, Bridges, Cassioppi, David, Church, Fillenwarth, Fransvog, Green, Greene, Haaden, Hånes, Harvey, Hayward, Heacox, Higdon, Johnson, Kessler, Lambert, Livermore, Luick, McGlochlin, Newark, Pettis, Rehder, Reibsamen, Rhode, Rovde, Ruckdaschel, Schuster, Spicer, Stokke, Stoolfire, Stratton, Tennant, Tinseth, Widner, Wolford, and many others. There are currently about 5,090 individuals in my family tree, but please note that the tree on Rootsweb.com does not list living persons, to protect their privacy. Please send me email if you have questions, additions or corrections about my family tree.
This page is by Richard H. Rhode. My home is in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA, and my family originated in Norway in Rovde, a small farming community on the Rovdefjord in the Møre og Romdal fylke (county), which faces the Atlantic Ocean, and is located north of Bergen. Rovde is 75 kilometres (46.5 miles) from Ålesund and about 145 kilometres (90 miles) from Geiranger. My second cousin once removed, Rolf Sigurdson Rovde, farmed "Store Rovde," the family farm, and passed it to his son Sigurd (my third cousin). Rolf retired in 1990 with a farmer's pension from the Norwegian government, and died in the fall of 2003. Severin Andreas Elias Rovde [Rhode], my great grandfather, emigrated from Norway with his family in 1885 and ended up in Duluth, Minnesota, where members of my family still reside. I am descended from Severin via Sigurd Rhode and via his son Robert Rhode (my father).
This page was begun on February 12, 2001 and last updated May 15, 2010. You may email me at
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I am happy to share and receive information about persons in this family tree.
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I have attached a list of all names in my Rhode Family Tree. Please click on this link to view the list: all names.
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Minnesota state flag
Norwegian flag
Rovdestranda
by the poet J. Nordhagen (1928)
Sailor go from the city towards the north
on a brilliant sunny day,
steer with courage from the ocean into the fjord,
how calm becomes the sea.
Then seen are fields — you laugh inside
and steer with hand better to see
the skyhigh mountain under heaven,
and under them all lies Rovdestranden.
From Søvdsnes to Kleiven along the brave way north
are tended farms, where the people live.
Yes, a finer place you can hardly find
than nature's own Rovdestranda.
Rovdestranda (in Norwegian)
Seiler du leden fra Stadt imot nord
en strålende solskinsdag,
styer fra havet mot indre fjord,
hvor sjøen får mindre drag.
da sees fra baugen — du stirrer i le
og skygger med hånden for bedre å se
de skyfrie fjell under himmelranden,
og under dem lunt ligger Rovdestranden.
Fra Søvdsnes til Kleiven langs veien mot nord
er velstelte gårder, hvor folket bor.
Ja, skjønnere sted du knapt finne kan
enn denne naturskjønne Rovdestrand.