I retired in 2013 from a career in sales. I live in West Central Minnesota. My wife, Teresa, and I have two married sons, two married daughters, and 8 grandchildren.

After walking three cemeteries in Livingston county Illinois in the summer of 2014, I decided to get serious about my search for my ancestors.

When the miniseries "Roots" was aired in 1977, it made me want to find MY ROOTS. Finding answers back then was much more difficult than it is now, and I dropped the project. Now that I am retired, the bug has struck BIG TIME! The internet and tools like ancestry.com and familysearch.org have been a TREMENDOUS help. Several historical societies and library archives have helped me greatly in my searches.

So far I have just focused on my Goddard ancestors and some of their in-laws. In the mid 1800's, some of my Goddard ancestors came from Burlington PA to Livingston and LaSalle counties in Illinois. My grandpa moved from Livingston county, Illinois to Palo Alto county, Iowa in 1904, so many ancestors are buried in Iowa.

Families of interest: Goddard, McBride, Steil, Lundy, Smith, Dunn, Law

I retired in 2013 from a career in sales. I live in West Central Minnesota. My wife, Teresa, and I have two married sons, two married daughters, and 8 grandchildren.

After walking three cemeteries in Livingston county Illinois in the summer of 2014, I decided to get serious about my search for my ancestors.

When the miniseries "Roots" was aired in 1977, it made me want to find MY ROOTS. Finding answers back then was much more difficult than it is now, and I dropped the project. Now that I am retired, the bug has struck BIG TIME! The internet and tools like ancestry.com and familysearch.org have been a TREMENDOUS help. Several historical societies and library archives have helped me greatly in my searches.

So far I have just focused on my Goddard ancestors and some of their in-laws. In the mid 1800's, some of my Goddard ancestors came from Burlington PA to Livingston and LaSalle counties in Illinois. My grandpa moved from Livingston county, Illinois to Palo Alto county, Iowa in 1904, so many ancestors are buried in Iowa.

Families of interest: Goddard, McBride, Steil, Lundy, Smith, Dunn, Law