I'm responding to the post of 6/22 regarding making donations to a churches when looking up old records. Please let me share my successful story. During a recent trip (June 15-16) to rural New Holstein area of Wisconsin (Calumet County), I had the opportunity to visit two rural churches. The Bethel United Methodist Church on Meggers Road in rural New Holstein is very lovely with an adjoining cemetery containing 2 civil war vets (Friedrick WIETING and Joachim WIETING) who were brothers to my great-great-grandmother, Sofe WIETING AWE. Pastor Deana Hamel was very gracious and spent quite a bit of time with me and my cousin, Amy WIETING, showing us old photos and sharing some of the history of the church. While none was requested, I did make a cash donation to the church as a thank you for her kindness. I also visited Trinity Lutheran Church in Rantoul Township (near Potter), where my great-grandparents, Johann and Johanna (nee: BORMAN) AWE were married in 1880. Pastor Kurt Taylor was most gracious and showed me the wonderful records the church had kept since its founding. He made a copy for me of the record of Johann and Johanna's marriage, plus the marriage of Johann's sister Caroline AWE to Fred GISCH in 1878. He did not "charge" me for anything, but I did send him a thank-you note and a check a few days later because I truly appreciated his assistance. I have had other wonderful experiences and met other wonderful people in my adventures searching for Wisconsin ancestors. I haven't found them all yet, so my journey continues, looking for the following surnames in Calumet County: AWE, BORMAN, WIETING, GISCH, CALBAUM, ERBACH, GLASHOF, and THIESEN. And in Clark County: AWE, BORMAN, GISCH, and CALBAUM. I have been very successful in personal contacts, somewhat successful in writing letters, and occasionally successful in Internet connections. I felt that I had hit the jackpot with "finding" some of my AWE, BORMAN and WIETING ancestors in the New Holstein area. When gathering information from these 2 churches, I felt that it was appropriate to make a donation, although none was requested...it's just a "feel good" thing to do...that one kindness follows another. I wish everyone "happy hunting" in the search for our Wisconsin ancestors.