Contact and Guest Book

Thank you . . . .

To all who helped in any way to further this family's dream of finding every possible ancestor, their descendants, off-shoot and "shirt-tail" relatives, random persons of interest, and histories of farms, schools, buildings, and towns. Whether you shared research, photos, stories, and information, entered data, typed transcriptions, gave a ride or two or three+, provided a meal or brownies, helped with computer technology, snapped pictures, challenged the data therein, or inspired and encouraged further research, it all helped to tell the story at this website, updated data in our RootsMagic genealogy database, and aided in several publications.

In 2002, I emailed several Ruskauff researchers to share information and suggested a Ruskauff message board be started. That didn't happen, so instead, I started the now defunct Ruskauff and Freker website. So many researchers were duplicating their research, so I thought, "Why not share what I've got with everyone?" Information for the original Ruskauff and Freker website was obtained by many sources including personal contact (in person, by letter, by email, by phone) with Patricia Braun Frydenlund, Katherine "Claire" Ruskauff Hield (photos and info), Irene Duren Soltwedel (photos and info), Dianne Soltwedel Dieter (photos and info), Joanne Duren, Russell Ruskauff (photos and info), Daniel Ruskauff (gedcom), Jodi Sweere (photos and info), Kathleen Freker Garland (diocese research at $15 per hour), Sandy Freker McLaws, Shannon Anderson Futta (gedcom), Werner Vuijk (Netherland research), Mike Hamrock (photos and info), Patricia Hughes Rumanio (photos and info), Patricia Conyers Ruskauff, group sheets of the Herman A. Ruskauff branch from Arianna Ruskauff Carey, Vogel-Kleinmann info from John Kleinmann, and many more people whose names I may have failed to note. Let me know if I missed your name here and it will be promptly added.

The website eventually expanded into the Mohelnitzky and Fastner families, Ringelstetter and Lehner families, and much much more. So, there are even more people to be thankful for their sharing of info and talents. . . Beatrice Ringelstetter Blau, Dean Blau, Brenda Gardener, Bernice Ringelstetter, Irene Ringelstetter Durst, Erna Liegel and Leo Ringelstetter, other Ringelstetter families, other Blau families, Ostermeyer families, Ken Stillinger, Gertrude Siewi, Maresli (Maria-Theresia) Saiko, Wilderich von Droste zu Hülshoff, Erna Fastner Dittrich, Marianne Fastner, Leonard Ringelstetter (historian of Bristol Township), Lisa Canterberry, Tom Sachse, Georg Ederer, Celeste Hayes, Merrill Wegner, Blanka Lednicka, Linda Parks, Marian Ruhland Burmester, Michael "Scott" Johnson, Kay Pfaff Ringelstetter, Clara Fastner Pecher, Doris Hetzel Danelski, Werner Zoglauer, Professor Kenneth Kraemer, Evelyn Pecher Borgen, Patricia Alt Pulvermacher, Father Frank Brickl, Hansjoerg Schneider, Edith Alt Hochstetter, Karen Ruhland Beth, Howard Baer, family of Virginia Bestel Geib, Rose Ann Blau, archivists Bruno Servi and Richard Bierl in Tiefenbach, Kathy Ring, Mary Schopf, Gary Haas (Plain History Genealogy Group leader and geek), Prem families including Susie Prem McDonald and sisters, Old Franklin Township Historical Society and Museum (OFTHS) in Plain, WI; Herve Menga, Christa and Willi Senft, family of Helen Mohelnitzky Peters, Waltraut Senninger, Pauline Baer Kircher, family of Evelyn Mohelnitzky Whalen, Johann Haimerl, Peter Klein, many residents of Plain and Spring Green, aunts and uncles, great-aunts and great-uncles, cousins, sisters, brothers, 2nd cousins first removed and all variations, Lehner families, Phyllis Liegel Dearborn, Lins families, Irene Peters Nachreiner, Google help forum volunteers, Dorothy Mohelnitzky Brehmer, Imperial Garden East, Mark J. Mohelnitzky, Wermers families, Paul Polansky, other Mohelnitzky families, creators of helpful paid and free programs, Mohr family, Bruder Markus Pillat, Douglas Reckmann, Floppy impersonators, Eric Troost, Reedsburg Area Pioneer Log Village Historical Society, Mary Mura, Sharon Purdie Schopf, Cynthia Hoffman, Stefan and Rudolf Rettinger, Frank families in Saskatchewan, Yahoo Transcribe Group volunteers, Mercedes Seefeld Wienke, Heinrich Stegmann, RootsMagic help forum volunteers, Phyllis Hensen Fritschen, Lannoy's Piggly Wiggly, Joe Chase, Diana Setzke, anyone who has ever helped at any library or archive or historical society, and many more. If you helped and I forgot your name here, let me know!

For over 44 years (since at least 1977), my family and I have personally researched ancestors, at first by using the old-fashioned way (before the Internet):

• Taping interviews and transcribing them

• Visiting people and asking questions

• Using hand-crank microfilm readers (before they were automated) at the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) where MANY hours were spent to find newspaper articles, obits, marriages, deaths, births, census records, ship passenger lists, city directories, and more.

• Driving to courthouses to do research and purchase copies of vital statistics and land records

• Traveling out of the county and out of the state to do research

• Researching at the 4th floor archive room of WHS to find citizenship records and other goodies

• Contacting churches for copies of Sacramental records and histories of their church

• Writing to the orphanage in Milwaukee for orphan records

• Tromping hundreds of cemeteries for hours on end, both near and far

• Manually typing group sheets and transcribing newspaper articles

• Writing letters, affixing stamps, and mailing the letters in postal boxes; patiently waiting days or weeks for replies

• Looking at family Bibles for family names and dates

• Going to libraries and historical societies to read local and family histories

• Taking photos of ancestor homes, towns, work places

• Preserving photos by taking pictures of old portraits, later paying big bucks to make "pictrostat" copies

• Making several copies of each exciting new "woo hoo!" discovery

Once the Internet was invented and computers came into the home, researching became more handy, and besides the above, we personally did (and still do) the following:

• Enter data into RootsMagic genealogy program and include sources (none of our data includes randomly connected families from online trees with no sources)

• Search databases at Ancestry.com (purchased subscriptions), FamilySearch.org, HeritageQuest, BadgerLink, Findagrave.com, Newspapers.com and more

• Preserve older photos using current technology (scanning, captioning, descriptive file naming, sourcing, organizing, uploading, sharing)

• Keep updated on genealogy news by membership in societies, subscribing to newsletters, attending genealogy meetings and events

• Share data with others

• Give advice to newbies

• Add information to the world tree at FamilySearch

Thank you to Georg J. Blau for researching in the "Old Country" - spending many many hours in archives in Germany including Niedersachsen (Ruskauff and Freker relatives) and in Bavarian archives (Regensburg, Amberg), the Bukovina archive in Augsburg, city Rathaus offices, county offices, churches, and libraries (including but not limited to places such as Amberg, Regensburg, Osnabrück, Wuerzburg, Oberviechtach, Teunz, Ast, Tiefenbach, Dingolfing, Augsburg). Georg researched on microfiche, microfilm, in books, and online. He looked for emigration lists, land records, and other records. He spent many hours tromping cemeteries. He researched and interpreted Bavarian history. He stood for hours in front of a copy machine making copies of documents. He made many phone calls to find information. The most tedious part of his research was transcribing documents written in the "old" German style and language (including Latin) and translating that into "new" German, then to English - using the 2-finger typing method on a non-electric typewriter, then later on a computer (still 2-fingers!). He created several handwritten kekule Ahnentafel (specially numbered pedigrees) on huge pieces of paper. Always willing to help fulfill the dream, he's driven many miles to find every ancestor village in Germany and in Czech Republic (Bohemia).

For those interested in any of the families on this website, or pictures of the area where these people lived, please drop me a line as I am willing to share.

If you wish to use any of the research or photos found on this website to post to other websites or publications, let me know. Upon request, I may be able to provide you with higher resolution photos.

~Debbie Blau

Donations welcome!

Much of our research has taken place in church archives, libraries, and museums in Germany such as in Osnabrück, Amberg, Augsburg, Regensburg, Diözesanarchiv Würzburg, Staatsarchiv Nuernberg at the Aussenstelle Lichtenau archive, Studien Bibliothek Dillingen/Donau, Bukowina Institut in Augsburg. Bohemian research took place in Czech Republic at Statni Oblastni Archiv Trebon, Statni Okresni Archiv Pribram, and the Matrika office at Klentsch (Klenci pod Cerchovem) and in Vienna, Austria. Going to these places required hours of driving, hotel costs, and archive fees, as well as fees for photocopies. For any reader who appreciates this work and would care to donate something for expenses, please contact me. Contact

https://sites.google.com/site/auswanderer20/Home

Page created: 31 Aug 2009 / Page updated: 09 Sep 2022