Are We Related?: Roudebush

July 25, 2024

This month we explore a family name with a common issue…multiple or changing spellings. My colleague, Lauren, is one of the first members of her direct line to leave the family stronghold in Pennsylvania. When she got here and started working with Indiana-related materials, she saw a name similar to another found in her family line, noted as Roudebush in the IHS collections and Roudabush in her own ancestry. Other variants that Lauren knew fell within this same line were Roudybush and, the ancestral, Raudenbusch. A unique enough name that a simple vowel change does not discount the potential for Lauren and the Indiana Roudebush family to be related.

Two bumper stickers from Roudebush election campaigns, ca. 1970s, IHS, SC3048.

The most prominent Roudebush found in the Indiana Historical Society collection is that of Republican U.S. Congressman, Richard L. Roudebush. He served in Congress from 1961-1971. He also served as the Administrator of Veterans Affairs under Gerald Ford from 1974-1977. Those living in central Indiana may recognize his name as that of the 10^th Street location of the local VA Medical Center, named after him in 1982, 30 years after the hospital first opened.

The newly opened Veterans Hospital in 1952. Thirty years later it was renamed for Richard L. Roudebush. Bass Photo Co. Collection, IHS.

Roudebush was born in Hamilton County, Indiana to Roy Lehr and Melissa Mae Roudebush. The family established themselves as farmers in Hamilton County, Indiana after moving from Ohio in the 1850s. When tracing back the family line, this branch had moved some having also lived in Virginia and Pennsylvania after the initial immigration from Germany by, an ancestor with yet another variant surname spelling, Hans Heinrich ‘Henry’ Raudenbusch.

Lauren’s Roudabush ancestors, including her 2x great grandfather, Augustus (top right) and her 3x great grandfather, John M. (front row center). Lauren’s Family Collection

In looking at my colleague Lauren’s Roudabush line, her most recent direct relative by that name was Helen Lucille Roudabush. Helen spent her lifetime in Pennsylvania. Following her family back through the generations, all her direct Roudabush family members lived from birth to death in the state of Pennsylvania after the family’s patriarch came to the Pennsylvania colony. The immigrant ancestor was Hans Heinrich ‘Henry’ Raudenbusch. Sound familiar?

Lauren’s Roudabush relatives, 3x great grandfather, John, 2x great grandfather, Augustus, great grandfather, Roy, in a side by side comparison with Richard L. Roudebush. Lauren’s Family Collection (cropped); IHS, M1098.

Lauren, 1996; Lauren’s family, including her grandmother Helen, Easter 1996, and a younger portrait of Helen Lucille Roudabush. Lauren’s Family Collection.

When Lauren thinks about her family, she immediately considers their contributions to education, literature, and music. A bit different than the Indiana Roudebush in the collection, a politician. Lauren’s Roudabushs and Richard’s Roudebushs were indeed related way back in their ancestry by their common immigrant ancestor Raudenbusch. The unique surname in this case, made looking back at these families a little simpler than if the name were converted to something more common as it evolved.

This helped me to trace them back and determine that Lauren and Richard are 5th cousins 4x removed. While not a close connection, and I do not see any real discernible family resemblance between Lauren and Richard, it is still interesting. I do see similarities in the side-by-side comparisons of Roy Roudabush, Lauren’s great-grandfather, and Richard L. Roudebush, mostly in the face shape, set of the brow, and nose. These features are not as noticeable to me in the images of Richard’s (closer) distant relatives, Lauren’s 2 and 3x great grandfathers, John and Augustus.

Check out earlier installments of Are We Related? and other Indiana Historical Society blogs at our blogsite.

Amy Vedra is the director of reference services. She is currently reading her way through the Great American Reads list.

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