Family Story Finder

The sweep of family history across the generations

Arnaud Clerc

Joe Liebman’s son made his own name in the Parisian jewelry trade—and carried on the Rue de Saussaye tradition

Bilingual blogging—my French collaborator

Historical blogging makes strange bedfellows. A French jewelry critic and I were both interested in the history of the Clerc jewelry business during the Nazi era

Ed Eilertsen tribute puzzle

Ed loved crosswords, so Dan Ruby created a tribute puzzle for his memorial. Kate and Twyla were the clue crew.

Eilertsen roots in Farsund, Norway

Farmers and seafarers from the south Norway coast

Eilertsens at sea

Members of a farming family took to the sea both as an occupational calling and a means of emigration

Eilertsens by the lake

Ed was the rector at Saint Martin's By the Lake in Minnetonka Beach, Minn. The family was raised in towns around the lake region west of Minneapolis, including in the church rectory

Filming of "The Heartbreak Kid"

Ed officiates at a movie wedding

First grandchild

Twyla Ariel Eilertsen Ruby was born on August 7, 1985

Fourth Generation Rubys

Just a bit about Twyla, Gene, Zach and Lani.

Hilda's fabulous lifestyle with Joe Liebman

January 1943 - February 1978

After the war, Joe Liebman came back to Paris with a glamorous new wife. Oh, what a life they led

If walls could talk—75 years in a Parisian villa

1918 - 1992

Insider dealings in the French jewelry trade. Swank cocktail parties for the Nazi elite. A rough-cut Jewish jeweler and his ebullient new wife. Where Henry Kissinger met Le Duc Tho.

Janis Brenner—a Ratner in motion

An innovator in modern dance and choreography since breaking in with the Murray Lewis Dance Company in the 1980s. The Ratners moved geographically. Janis moves artistically.