I started family research with a 1970s grade school report, then serious research in the 1990s in all the usual places, in all the local collections, and online.

I'm a 7th generation descendant Milwaukeean of 100% German working-class immigrants, all economic refugees, arriving in chain or caravan migration from 1842-1881.
In 2007, being stymied by a HUGE gap in ALL of Milwaukee's and wider Wisconsin collections, I vetted an original idea for a German-American resource among them. Then I began creating "Milwaukee's German Newspapers; an index of death notices and related items" (1844-1950).
In exchange for legal "Deed of Gift" protection, the work was cataloged and shelved at my public library. A computer database for public use was refused as an option, and from 2008 until 2012 my printed updates were added to binders, as I had planned and promised.

Sadly, it was the resentment of genealogy ladies, library staff (professionals & retirees), and local history "experts", that fueled an open antagonism by the Milwaukee Public Library toward my work they had first welcomed; as one brazen professional said to me: "We thought you'd leave."
So I ended my updates there in 2012, but still continued to make additions and edits to my data file, since the 'Troubles' fomented at the library.

Since 2022, I'm devoted to cleaning up simple mistakes and omissions, but mostly the crappy online research of relatives and extended family; Find-A-Grave, with its link to the online Boomer games called 'Ancestry', and 'FamilyHistory', and now 'Geneanet', is helpful in accomplishing that important goal.
It's all about accurate research, right?
Gary R. Rebholz
Milwaukee, WI USA

I started family research with a 1970s grade school report, then serious research in the 1990s in all the usual places, in all the local collections, and online.

I'm a 7th generation descendant Milwaukeean of 100% German working-class immigrants, all economic refugees, arriving in chain or caravan migration from 1842-1881.
In 2007, being stymied by a HUGE gap in ALL of Milwaukee's and wider Wisconsin collections, I vetted an original idea for a German-American resource among them. Then I began creating "Milwaukee's German Newspapers; an index of death notices and related items" (1844-1950).
In exchange for legal "Deed of Gift" protection, the work was cataloged and shelved at my public library. A computer database for public use was refused as an option, and from 2008 until 2012 my printed updates were added to binders, as I had planned and promised.

Sadly, it was the resentment of genealogy ladies, library staff (professionals & retirees), and local history "experts", that fueled an open antagonism by the Milwaukee Public Library toward my work they had first welcomed; as one brazen professional said to me: "We thought you'd leave."
So I ended my updates there in 2012, but still continued to make additions and edits to my data file, since the 'Troubles' fomented at the library.

Since 2022, I'm devoted to cleaning up simple mistakes and omissions, but mostly the crappy online research of relatives and extended family; Find-A-Grave, with its link to the online Boomer games called 'Ancestry', and 'FamilyHistory', and now 'Geneanet', is helpful in accomplishing that important goal.
It's all about accurate research, right?
Gary R. Rebholz
Milwaukee, WI USA