LE MARS, Iowa (AP) - As a researcher for the Plymouth County and Northwest Iowa Genealogy Society for 42 years, Betty Winterringer has been part historian, part sociologist and part detective.
“I’ve done research for people from every state in the country as well as different parts of the world,” the 86-year-old Le Mars resident explained inside the records room at the Plymouth County Historical Museum. “If they had ancestors in Northwest Iowa, chances are we have records on them.”
Winterringer has now retired from her official genealogy duties. A special retirement party was held at the museum on March 15.
“I’m ready to pass the responsibilities on to other people,” she maintained, “but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped being interested in history.”
Indeed, Winterringer’s genealogy career actually began after her son Dennis was trying to discover his own roots, the Sioux City Journal (https://bit.ly/19mx5ib ) reports.
“Dennis was a graduate student at the University of Alabama in 1973 when he decided to do research on our family history,” Winterringer remembered. “He started looking in old phone books and couldn’t find any Winterringers listed in any of them.”
That’s when Dennis enlisted the help of his parents.
“My late husband John and I became curious,” Winterringer said. “We discovered John’s family landed in New York in the late 1800s, gradually moving west to Iowa.”
She also discovered her own family made a similar westward trek,
“Once John and I discovered how interesting genealogy was, we couldn’t stop,” Winterringer admitted.
In 1976, the couple helped to found the Northwest Iowa Genealogy Society. A few years later, they were designated researchers for Plymouth County.
“Our first big project was to catalog all the information we could get on the 39 cemeteries in Plymouth County,” Winterringer recalled. “Birth, death, marriage and probate records are extremely important when it comes to genealogy.”
So were old phone books, archival newspaper microfilm and school yearbooks from district that may or may not exist any longer.
“The Northwest Iowa Genealogy Society helped to compile all of this information,” Winterringer said. “Otherwise, it would have been lost to the age.”
Prior to the Internet, most genealogy searches required following a paper trail. This was when Winterringer was especially busy.
“Sometime, a person would only have a random photo they knew was taken somewhere in Plymouth County,” she said. “They wouldn’t know who was in the photo or when it was taken.”
That’s when Winterringer would consult her directory of photographers who worked in Plymouth County and began to ascertain the time frame by identifying things like clothing or local landmarks.
“Before the Internet, it took a lot more research and a lot more leg work,” she said. “But we still tried to do our best.”
Even with the introduction of genealogy websites, Winterringer would still receive requests from people wanting more concrete records and confirmation on many different topics.
“About five years ago, I heard from a Milwaukee, Wisc., man who had purchased a 1929 Chevy Coupe from a local car dealer on eBay,” she said. “The car had only 31,000 miles on it and the man wanted its back story.”
This was when when Winterringer discovered the name of the car’s original owner, got her obituary, uncovered where she lived and sent the man photos of the garage where the Chevy was most likely stored for 70 years.
“That was an unusual request,” she said, mysteriously, “I’ve had quite a few weird ones over the years, I guess.”
After her John died in 2007, Winterringer continued using her sleuthing skills.
“When I’m researching,” she said, “it sometimes feel like I know the person even when I don’t.”
Despite that, Winterringer is happy to devote more of her time to her friends as well as her sons Dennis and Mark, two grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
“I want to relax a little and take things easy,” she said. “I’m a pretty good Scrabble player and I’d like to do that more often.”
Still, Winterringer won’t rule out digging through a few more family trees.
“When you’re doing research, you’re not just looking at family,” she insisted. “You’re also researching a different time, place and society.”
“I find that fascinating,” Winterringer said with a smile.
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Information from: Sioux City Journal, https://www.siouxcityjournal.com
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