As I do my morning exercise routine, I get exposed to strange people. This morning it was Leon. He is tracing his "family tree". He makes trips to courthouses all over Wisconsin and even to the Historical Society of Wisconsin in Madison. Leon has printed out 14,000 pages of supporting documents and clues.
I found out that some of Leon's earliest relatives coming to this country homesteaded around Fond du lac. Why Fond du lac? The railroad ended there. There are members of your Mom's family (Stegers) that settled in Fond du lac. Small world.
Leon grew up in Wausau on the tundra. He mentioned near-by community names like Edgar and Marathon. When I mentioned my wayward Son-in-Law grew up in Wausau, he wanted to know the name. Upon mentioning Warosh, his eyes lit up and he said there were Waroshs in his family tree. So maybe I walked with a relative this morning. I guess when you think about the human race, we are all brothers and sisters.
Your Mom has persisted in scrapbooking which logically leads to our family tree. People make tracing the family tree a full time job. I know the detective work can be very challenging. There are many software programs to help discipline your efforts.
The big question is "does anybody care". A person can spend decades doing chronological studies of family history. The real value of the effort is if younger offspring continue updating the family tree. It doesn't happen often. The real reward comes to the person doing the research.
My great-grandfather Elmer is rumored to have strayed into Canada in the late 1800's and fathered twin boys out of wedlock. Try tracing that sometime. The story would make a "juicy" addition to our family tree. No, I'm not going to try.
If you are bored with life, you could tackle tracing our family tree. Knock yourself out!
Love,
Dad