It's a Blog!

 The Society staff and area researchers are cordially invited to visit my family genealogy website at www.purfeerst.com which reflects ancestors and descendants for a vast majority of the families contained within the Rice County Historical Society's 1981 family history publication. As a great-grandson of a county pioneer family, Charles and Mary Jane Brown Purfeerst, my interest in genealogy began over 25 years ago in preparation for the 1983 family reunion which was held on the Rice County original homestead.  I am currently nearing completion of what has thus far been an 18 month effort during which I extracted from your 1981 publication, family information on those surnames that connected to the information I had already gathered in conjunction with my own family research. Of course, because of intermarriages, the more families I extracted the more to whom I could eventually connect. For each family unit extracted, I simultaneously researched and expanded upon the family's ancestors and descendants. I did so by use of all resources available to me, with significant credit going to John Dalby and his data base.  I was not able to connect to every family in the book. Primarily I miss those who lacked early ties to the area or whose submission lacked sufficient detail to determine a connection to another area family. For the most part I carried my research forward in time only to the point where a surviving descendant could find a recognizable name.  Of the 103, 000 people on my website, the research effort associated with expanding upon your book has resulted in the identication of over 51,000 people who have a direction connection to Rice County and its surrounding environs.  Enjoy my labor of love. Of course comments as to errors and/or omissions are welcome. Regards,  Donald Lee Purfeerst6121 East Sonoran Trail Scottsdale, Arizona USA 85266donald@purfeerst.comwww.purfeerst.com

Susan - nice visiting with you Sat.!

• The site for current info on the subject project, as well as registering to participate, is:  http://www.familysearchindexing.org/home.jsf
• Completed indexes are free online to the public, see link toward bottom of that page.
• It is my understanding the indexed LDS films'images will, at some point,  be made available at the LDS Library Catalog site: http://www.familysearch.org
• Indexing volunteers can accelerate that process.

I'm sure a representative of Faribault's LDS Family History Center volunteer staff would be happy to work with you on informing the public of what their relatively new facility is able to provide.  Users are well to do their homework online before visiting the Center.

• There are many research resources free online, archive holdings U.S. and OUS, listserv (message boards) as well as MN research resources available to Rice County residents for Pommern/Pommerania, Germany and other ethnicities.  There were 3 emigration waves from Germany (1683-1914), but many arrived until WW II and after.  The east coast was their first early stop, but farm lands of the midwest were like their homeland. In the mid-1800s, the 160 acre government public purchase land was soon exhausted in WI, sending folks west to support their families from unsettled land (and states!).  Those first farms stayed in family ownership for many generations, now centuries.

• The Alt Lutheraner (Old Lutherans) religious persecution is famous for settling Freistadt, WI, but thousands more came to southern MN. Good site for that story: http://www.genealoger.com/german/pommern/pommern__old_lutherans.htm

• A good starting site is the Pommern Regional Group (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mnprgm/PRG.html) Their historical data and maps are user friendly, covering the many reasons for emigration, but most importantly, how to research Germany and Poland today.

• I don't know of any formal research identifying specific numbers of Pommeranians settling in Rice County.  You probably have the German numbers.  They are certain to include many born in Pommern, or before that, Prussia, or Kingdom of Prussia (as many Intent to Naturalize forms read).  The time frame makes all the difference.

• Locally you have many researchers well versed in this area.  But please don't hesitate to advise any further question you may have of me as well. 

re Bishop Whipple Indian artifacts collection, please contact me privately. Sincerely, Sandra, Maplewood, MN

Super new site, Susan!  Look forward to hearing about my picture order project too.  Is there a way to subscribe to receive new content to this site via email notifications? I use it for parkbooks.com, a real help.  Especially like the event calendar!See you this summer,Sandra Van Erp,Maplewood, MN