|
When our family first began the
research project on our ancestors, we didn't really understand where our Great
Great Grandfather Johann came from. My Grandfather Arnold Heuer had often
said, "Your great great Grandfather is from Germany, from Treptow on the Rega"
Of course, to a young Wisconsin farm boy that could have been Mars for all I
knew. It should also be noted, that in 1857 when Johann Friederich Heuer
immigrated to Wisconsin there was no Germany as Germany did not exist until
1871.
Being brought up on a Wisconsin
dairy farm located north of Algoma in Kewaunee County, you worked closely with
your parents and grandparents which provided many hours to communicate and
understand family history. Combine that with the fact that virtually all
friends, church acquaintances, relatives and neighbors were of German descent
there was a desire to learn more about our ancestors.
There were seven children in our family
and in 1994 we all got together and each of us agreed to take on certain
assignments regarding the research effort. At that time, our brother David
had already been diagnosed with Lou Gehrigs disease and the prognosis was not
good. That didn't hinder him from pushing and cajoling the rest of us to
get going. However as it ended up, there are three people who took on the
direct responsibility for the entire book production effort, our Mother,
Gertrude M. Heuer, (Trudy), Diane Heuer Piette, oldest sister and Martin F.
Heuer (Marty), oldest brother.
I took on the challenge of building
and maintaining the website. My name is Ronald H. Heuer, (Ron) and I was the
youngest of the seven children. At the time I knew, not a thing about what
I was getting into. Building the website was one thing, but keeping it up
and fresh was a whole other challenge.
The rest of the family contributed now
and then or whenever or however they could. Trudy a former librarian,
instantly became the "old world" researcher, Martin got on with writing,
editing, rewriting and book layout along with the "new world" research.
Diane focused on writing, editing and researching, collating and encouraging.
|