Using the Puzzle Solving Approach to Research Your Family History

Joan Bennett, author of The Mills of Iowa County, will discuss how she discovered the history of these mills using a “puzzle solving” approach. Discover the 20 methods she used to tell the story of some of the more intriguing mill stories and how to apply these methods to your family genealogy research. Joan Bennett grew up on a farm in Clyde, Wisconsin, where she attended the one room Spring Valley School on her family’s farm. After attending River Valley High School in Spring she went to UW-Platteville and became a biology teacher. For the next 33 years she taught at Washington Park High School In Racine where she was the science department chair and instructor in Advanced Placement Biology. In 2004 Joan retired and returned to her roots in Iowa County to do genealogy research and became deeply involved in the Iowa County Historical Society. A team of researchers, including Joan, put out the book Where Have All the Cheese Factories Gone? in 2009. For the next nine years Joan researched and wrote The Mills of Iowa County which covers the history of 45 flour mills, 60 feed mills, and 20 sorghum mills.