That last name that appears to be so uncommon in rural Iowa where your family settled may be extremely common in the little German village where the family originated.It may be common enough that one-third of the baptismal entries on every page contains a reference to that surname--either as the father's last name or the mother's maiden name.
What is rare in one place may be extremely common in another.
That probably came about because when they invented last names, a lot of people just put some land feature ( Ostlund, Rattray), their father (Johnson, MacNeil , their job (Baker, Boucher) the town where they lived (Lincoln.) If you did a check on the translation of the name then you might find that it fits one of first ones of these categories.
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