Is your Rask family Swedish? My gr-gr-grandmother is Christine Rask. She came to the US in August 1869 and ended up in Wisconsin. Surnames of her descendants are Blouson (spelling varies), Hegge, and Dahl.

Her parents are Jan Erik Rask and Helena Larsdotter Rask. The whole family came over at once. Children are: Lars Erik, Christina Catharina, Emma Charlotta, Carl August, and Ida Augusta. I have birthdates for all plus another generation back on the parents plus Helena's siblings if anyone wants to know those. This Rask family was from Fellingsbro Parrish, near the town of Finnakers, in the county of Orebro, Sweden (a friend in Sweden found them for me).

Anything familiar here? There are Rasks from Norway, Denmark, and Germany too. I have a suspicion that these Swedish Rasks from Orebro are actually of German ancestry back to the 1200s when Germans came into Orebro, to Finnakers, to start the foundry industry there. "Rask" just doesn't fit the naming conventions of the rest of the families in that area and the name seems most prevalent in Germany.

Deb