WELCOME
Welcome to the Pioneers Project page of the Rock County Genealogy Society web site. The Society offers a printable blank Pioneer Submission form to allow descendants of early residents of Rock County, Wisconsin to submit evidence of their ancestors' presence here in or before 1870. Participation is free. The Society then archives, indexes and publishes these Pioneer submissions. A searchable online index has been assembled from these Rock County Pioneer submissions to assist family historians find ancestors and contact other researchers who share their ancestors. High quality framable Rock County Pioneer Certificates are also available for a fee for Pioneers whose submissions meet Society requirements.
NAVIGATION
Project Objectives
Opportunities to Participate
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Can I get help filling out my pioneer ancestor’s submission?
Why must I include my contact information?
What are the requirements to document residency?
May I enclose original documents with my Pioneer Submission?
What are sources and how do I cite them?
May I send a pedigree chart instead of a completed Pioneer Submission Form?
May I submit my pioneer ancestor online or by email?
May I purchase a Pioneer Certificate for a pioneer I did not submit?
How reliable is the information found in the Pioneers Index?
What are my Rights and Responsibilities as a Pioneer Contributor?
The Pioneers Project exists to encourage descendants of early Rock County pioneers to help the Society build an online Pioneers Index through 1870 by submitting evidence of their ancestors’ residence in Rock County, Wisconsin. Because official Rock County records before 1870 are so few, this project strives to build a reliable Pioneer database proving residency of our earliest settlers.
We also created the Pioneers Project to archive, index and publish the submissions of Rock County, WI Pioneers through 1870. The original submission forms will be archived and available to researchers at the Society Library in Janesville, WI. From these Pioneer Submission Forms, the Society will build a basic Pioneers Index by abstracting key information from Pioneer submissions. The Society will also publish the online Pioneers Index to make information available free on the internet.
Early pioneers often left scant trace of their lives in Rock County. During its earliest years, Rock County served as a migratory stopping point. Recording and preserving an early pioneer’s brief presence in Rock County may be a link to a migratory path which began in the East and ultimately ended further west.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR PARTICIPATION
The Pioneers Project offers several different ways for family researchers and descendants of early Rock County pioneers to participate:
PIONEERS PROJECT SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS - The Pioneer Submission Form can be viewed online and printed. Your Pioneer Submission form must be printed from your home computer and then filled out by hand. Please print legibly in block letters. A completed
PIONEER FAQs (FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS)
Q: Can I get help filling out my pioneer ancestor’s submission?
A: The Pioneer Submission Form is designed to be user friendly. Still, some terminology may be new to submitters and the documentation requirements may be unfamiliar. For these reasons, a sample of a completed Sample Pioneer Submission Form has been posted online to provide examples for submitters to use as a model. Also read the FAQs to see if your question is answered below.
Q: Why must I include my contact information on my Pioneer Submission Form?
A: The objectives of the Pioneers Project include promoting sharing of family history information, so submission forms must include your mailing address. When someone contacts you, you may decide on a case-by-case basis whether to answer.
Q: What are the requirements to document (prove) Rock Co. residency of my pioneer?
A: To participate, you are required to provide photocopies of original records proving your ancestor’s residence in Rock County in 1870 or earlier. Send these photocopies of original records by US Mail along with your completed Pioneer Submission form. Acceptable examples of original records are: government records such as federal and state census, birth, marriage and death certificates, land and tax records, civil court cases, other court records like divorce, guardianship and probate records. Other sources include: obituaries, funeral memorial cards, tombstones, family Bibles, family letters, church records, school records, newspaper articles and historical and biographical books. Note: An index or a transcribed (retyped) record is NOT acceptable documentation. Because indexes and transcriptions are not faithful copies of original documents, they are subject to errors and omissions that can only be avoided by using photcopies of original documents.
Q: May I send original documents with my Rock County Pioneer Submission Form?
A: No. Send photocopies only. Your originals documents are valuable and we cannot promise that they will be returned.
Q: What are sources and how do I cite them?
A: Whole books are written on this topic, but in general, a source is a piece of evidence that provides proof of a particular fact or life event. For example, a birth certificate can provide evidence of a child’s full legal name, their parents’ full names and the child’s date and location of birth. Some sources are more reliable and provide the more solid evidence for facts. For instance, a Rock County death certificate is more reliable than a newspaper obituary or Aunt Emma’s recollections. “Citing sources” is the process of directly connecting a detailed source to each fact or life event. For instance, Marriage Certificate #22391 of the Rock Co., WI Register of Deeds Office can be used as a source to cite the marriage of Barbie Dahl and Ken Smith on May 3, 1863 in the bride’s father’s home in Milton, Rock Co., WI.
Q: Can I send a pedigree chart, family group sheet or computer report instead of completing a Rock County Pioneer Submission Form?
A: No. Many questions in the Pioneer Submission form will not be answered by standard software reports, but you are encouraged to send your pedigree report or family group sheets along with your Pioneer Submission Form.
Q: May I submit my pioneer ancestor online or by email?
A: Sorry, we're not equipped to handle electronic submissions, so you must currently print and fill out your ancestor’s submission form by hand, and then send the paper copy along with supporting documents (sources, photocopies of original records, pedigree charts and other helpful information) by US Postal mail to the Rock County Genealogical Society (address shown above).
Q: May I purchase a Pioneer Certificate for a Rock County Pioneer I didn’t submit?
A: Yes. You do not need to submit an ancestor to purchase a Pioneer Certificate, so long as someone else has submitted them previously and the ancestor is already included in the Pioneer Index.
Q: How reliable is the information found in the Pioneers Index?
A: Virtually all indexes, research summaries and online databases contain some errors; likewise some Rock Co. pioneer submissions will be faulty. By requiring photocopies of original records with each pioneer submission, the RCGS believes that each of its indexed Pioneers is reasonably certain to meet our basic definition: the Pioneer resided in Rock Co. in 1870 or earlier. All submitters have been strongly encouraged to include well cited sources, and all users of the index are warned that index information is not independently validated or certified and should be treated as a useful clue – not a proven fact.
Q: What are my Rights and Responsibilities as a Contributor of Family Information to the Pioneers Index?
A: By submitting a Rock County Pioneer Family you are:
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