I became interested in genealogy in about 1981. I took an evening class at UWEC called History 101. It was an evening class open to the public. For college students it cost whatever for 1 credit. For the public it was $6.00, which I could afford. The first evening the instructor warned us that once bitten by the genealogy bug there was no known cure. He was correct. I have tried to quit doing research several times and something always happens to bring me back! Most recently I found the findagrave site by googling my grandma's name and her face popped up on this site! I use the Family Tree Maker for Windows program (database) and have not kept up with all the information that I receive from family, but I keep going. I have done two books, one for my dad's family (Woodmansee/Gunning) and one for my mom's family (Thompson/Clifford). In 1982 I made a genealogy trip, with my mom and aunt, to Iowa. We walked cemeteries, we met a family member who was doing research. She shared photos and was able to direct us to cemeteries where we did rubbings of tombstones, took photos, etc. The instructor of the class had given us tips on getting better photos of gravestones. On shiny stones some talcum powder dusted on and wiped clean on the shiny part will make the letters and numbers stand out. On some stones we used an eyebrow pencil to darken the letters. Both worked great. We also visited my grandpa's sister who could remember dates even though she was 98 and blind. A wealth of info. My kids gave me the Ancestry DNA kit for Christmas and it is truly the gift that keeps on giving. I had no intentions of doing that test and wasn't sure I wanted my DNA out there but, well, since it was a gift I decided to do it. I had to buy a notebook to keep track of all the new family members and information. Life is good and I don't have time to be bored during this corona virus.

Note: My mom had kept a scrapbook of photos, articles, wedding and birth announcement, of family reunions from back in 1937 to 1989 when she died. I took over that scrapbook and the reunions have gone on for 80 years. Seven generations. I guess I inherited some of my interest in genealogy.

I became interested in genealogy in about 1981. I took an evening class at UWEC called History 101. It was an evening class open to the public. For college students it cost whatever for 1 credit. For the public it was $6.00, which I could afford. The first evening the instructor warned us that once bitten by the genealogy bug there was no known cure. He was correct. I have tried to quit doing research several times and something always happens to bring me back! Most recently I found the findagrave site by googling my grandma's name and her face popped up on this site! I use the Family Tree Maker for Windows program (database) and have not kept up with all the information that I receive from family, but I keep going. I have done two books, one for my dad's family (Woodmansee/Gunning) and one for my mom's family (Thompson/Clifford). In 1982 I made a genealogy trip, with my mom and aunt, to Iowa. We walked cemeteries, we met a family member who was doing research. She shared photos and was able to direct us to cemeteries where we did rubbings of tombstones, took photos, etc. The instructor of the class had given us tips on getting better photos of gravestones. On shiny stones some talcum powder dusted on and wiped clean on the shiny part will make the letters and numbers stand out. On some stones we used an eyebrow pencil to darken the letters. Both worked great. We also visited my grandpa's sister who could remember dates even though she was 98 and blind. A wealth of info. My kids gave me the Ancestry DNA kit for Christmas and it is truly the gift that keeps on giving. I had no intentions of doing that test and wasn't sure I wanted my DNA out there but, well, since it was a gift I decided to do it. I had to buy a notebook to keep track of all the new family members and information. Life is good and I don't have time to be bored during this corona virus.

Note: My mom had kept a scrapbook of photos, articles, wedding and birth announcement, of family reunions from back in 1937 to 1989 when she died. I took over that scrapbook and the reunions have gone on for 80 years. Seven generations. I guess I inherited some of my interest in genealogy.