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Volunteers devoted to digging up Rock County history

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Photo by Bill Olmsted

RCHS volunteer Gene Durkee has been toiling for months in a windowless, congested room in the basement of the RCHS archives, creating a database of important information. The database will eventually replace a physical card catalog.

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

RCHS volunteer Ruth Anderson does genealogical research at the RCHS Archives. Last year, Anderson put in nearly 700 hours helping out where a total of around 3000 hours of volunteer effort was put in.

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

Ruth Anderson (l) and David Fellows share a table but work on different projects at the RCHS Archives. Anderson was doing genealogical research, while Fellows was gathering information on a fountain that was removed from Lower Courthouse park around 1929.

JANESVILLE — When four Los Angeles private detectives contacted the Rock County Archives & Research Center, archives manager Ruth Anderson knew there had to be a sizable estate involved.

"We had to locate a daughter of a daughter of a daughter of an ancestor who came to Beloit early on," Anderson said.

Two research center volunteers in January traced the family history through various indexes, including obituaries.

"Because we had indexed marriage license applications for Rock County from 1918-88, we were able to get information off one application to identify the current generation and with a couple phone calls she was found in Texas," Anderson said.

Adrenaline fueled the "chase" that Rock County Historical Society Volunteer Coordinator Tina Love likened to a treasure hunt.

It's one example of many requests to the archives and research center. In 2008, nine center volunteers donated nearly 3,000 hours researching requests from walk-ins, phone calls, e-mails, letters and appointments.

Those erecting a memorial marker of a noted mathematician in Ireland recently contacted the center trying to trace descendants.

"They wanted to contact family to let them know what was going on in the back country. Unfortunately, the great-grandson never married, so there were no living descendants," Anderson said.

Research requests have come from Europe, Colorado, Illinois, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oregon, Texas and Washington and four Wisconsin counties.

Work is underway for a Norwegian question regarding the first name of the Frances Willard School. The 1842-72 record book for the Rock Township school is being searched to identify the date the district was established. It appears the Frances Willard Schoolhouse at the Rock County 4-H Fairgrounds is the second of four school buildings built for Rock Township District 3, Anderson said.

With news of the impending closure of the local General Motors plant came a bombardment of media requests late last year for information and images of General Motors.

"Even the New York Times ran a front-page, above-the-fold, color photo of the closing," which now can be found in the center's archives collection, Anderson said.

About 75 percent of requests for information focus on genealogy. The rest center on house, business or school histories or the history of local products.

It's not uncommon for people to walk in and donate items to the center, Anderson said.

Recently, a woman asked if she could donate memorabilia from a local farm family who had adopted her. If none of the blood relatives want them, she will donate the farm's original land grant plus a railroad timetable.

"It thrills me when someone comes in and we have the exact information they're looking for," Anderson said.

Love agreed: "It's gratifying."