Monroe County Local History Room

Hannah Scholze is always willing to talk about the basics of DNA and genealogy. She was the speaker at a workshop at the Tomah Area Historical Museum. Herald photo Bob Kliebenstein.

Ancestry remains hot button hobby

Thursday, October 3, 2019 - 10:18am

Is there royalty in your family? A tiny percent that just might justify displaying some lofty family crest or a photo of some king or queen that you can boast about being a distant, distant..., distant relative. That mystery continues to spur interest in genealogy and DNA research. Hannah Scholze...

Leon State Graded School, ciorca 1938. Many of the students pictured here would participate in a school district census a couple of years later.

The Leon Census of 1941

Thursday, September 26, 2019 - 9:44am

[Author’s note: Since 2020 is a census year, we thought it would be interesting to share a story from our county’s past about a special census taken nearly 80 years ago which revealed some interesting facts about Monroe County’s standard of living] In April 1940, residents of Monroe County were...

Detail of 1877 Greenfield Township plat map showing the location of the Tarr Valley School in Section 22.

Agnes Sawyer goes to school

Monday, August 12, 2019 - 9:58am

[In the summer of 1936, an 86-year-old widow in Missouri named Agnes Julia Ferguson sat down to write her memoir. The result was a document just over ten pages long, though it contained a multitude of incredible stories and memories. Even more incredible was the reason for her writing: 70 years...

Visitors of all ages at the Monroe County Local History Room & Museum enjoy the “Monroe County A to Z” exhibit, winner of the 2019 American Association for State and Local History Award of Excellence. Contributed photo

Monroe County Local History Room wins national award

Monday, June 24, 2019 - 10:08am

The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) recently named the Monroe County Local History Room & Museum in Sparta as the recipient of an Award of Excellence for the “Monroe County A to Z” exhibit. The AASLH Leadership in History Awards, now in its 74th year, is the most...

Cranberry harvesters pictured near Valley Junction, c. 1900, from left, are Ron Thayer, Arthur Crawford, George Hancock and Loyal Parker. Contributed photo.

Cranberry history program at local history room April 4

Monday, April 1, 2019 - 9:30am

Monroe County is “Cranberry Country,” boasting the largest concentration of cranberry marshes in the state. The Village of Warrens, located in northeast Monroe County, is even the official “Cranberry Capital of Wisconsin.” The red, bouncy cranberry is native to Monroe County, which has the acidic...

Those who have taken DNA tests receive their results in the form of charts, like this one from 23andMe, providing an ethnicity estimate and ancestral map, but are left wondering what those results actually mean.

DNA, genealogy program at Local History Room March 7

Thursday, February 28, 2019 - 9:26am

Genetic genealogy has become one of the most popular recent advances for family history researchers and those just curious about their ethnicity. Between various companies like AncestryDNA, 23andMe, Family Tree DNA, and MyHeritage DNA, it seems like there is always a sale going for a genealogy DNA...