I can help you to bring your ancestor to life.

Was your ancestor born on the day of the biggest snow storm in memory? Were they married during the warmest January on record? I will not only help you find that ll important date, but I can also help you to re-create what life was like during that time period.

I began my journey into the historical past of Outagamie County in 1998 as I put together a Christmas present for my father-in-law. With is encouragement and questions, I began to research his grandfather, Peter Joseph Hubert Fassbender. As the facts started to come together, it didn’t seem enough to just give him dates, I wanted to give him the story of his grandfather’s life. What resulted is what I call a “living” book that is put together as a scrapbook form called: The Fassbenders in Wisconsin. A Genealogical Biography of Peter Fassbender, His Descendants, Ancestors, and the World in Which They Lived. This book has now been consolidated into a self published volume titled: A Snapshot: Peter Joseph Hubert Fassbender, His Ancestors and Descendants.

As I scan through newspapers, and search through county and state histories for biographical mentions, I find myself collecting tidbits of what was happening in Outagamie County, the state of Wisconsin, and the country in general. I am as excited to find a marriage date of January 17, 1906, as I am to learn that January 1906 was the warmest January recorded to that point.

What was happening here in Wisconsin when your ancestors were living?