My wife and I are making one of our genealogy trips to Dodge County in a couple of weeks. We have a Wink that we believe was born in Teresa Township in 1866. Can anyone give us some places to look while we are there. For example, vital records, obits deeds etc.
Thanks
Ken

Ken - the recorders office for Dodge Co. is in Juneau at the old courthouse in the square and located on the 3rd floor, south end. Having had some recent search experience there, first, there are no records before 1877 due to a courthouse fire, land records you will need to have a property description to be able to search and heaven help you if you are there when the people walk out the door at 4:29PM. Light's out!

The helpfulness of the staff is very poor and not very receptive to genealogical searchers. I was told chapter and verse at every question I had. So much for public records access! When I ran up against some missing filings, they had no suggestions for alternative search strategies. They even tossed me around between staff members, saying that's your question Sally! (real name witheld).

In general the staff was, curt, abrupt, couldn't be bothered, have little interest in helping you and very protective of their turf. You are on your own, don't ask/interupt our important business and don't violate our rules! There are few smiles here!

Irony of all ironies, the facility is a palace as record offices go! Incredible space with 18' high ceilings. Too bad they treat the public like you are in their way. Customer service is lacking, not a happy place at $7.00 a priveledged copy.

TIP: The survey office down the hall is very helpful and can give you large xeroxes of old plat maps for $3.00 each. Good luck, keep smiling :)

The Beaver Dam Community Library has some nice genealogy resources - card index of cemeteries, indexed newspapers. You can check out their website at: http://www.beaverdam.lib.wi.us/histgen.htm

WHEW! I thought they were just unfriendly because I tended to be there during the early business hours on Mondays usually!

I have done records look-ups in 8 Central Wisconsin counties in the past 12 months - Dodge is BY FAR the most unfriendly and least helpful! What is saddest, is that this is my "home" county. Little Marquette County, with all that info crammed into one little area and with 2 employees is one of the better counties in the 8 I have been to - the have even had time to "gossip" and chat with me a couple times which has shed light on what looked like a fruitless search that day! (THEY did not have the documentation, but knew of descendants of those I was looking for - and helped me find phone numbers a couple times!)

But back to Dodge County...I recently was married, and after nearly 6 months, they still gave me a run-around when I came in to do some look-ups and figured I would get a copy of my OWN marriage license (since we don't have an "official" one). What a headache! I told my husband that tomorrow I need to do look-ups, and HE is going to come with me to get the license since I told them to forget it - I really did not feel like listening to their snippy comments about how I wasn't following the rules about look-ups.....um......I did not NEED to look up the date - I WAS THERE!

Try in Washington County, Hartford. They have a history room there. From what I have been told. They are extremely friendly and helpful.Check the hours of operation. It's in the same building as the library.They are only open from 10:00 - 4:00 on certain days.Too bad Dodge County has to be so ungracious.
Hartford, has a lot of records etc. for Dodge County.Good luck.

Thanks for the tip. I wouldn't have thought to look in Washington Co.
We should really from a list of the 'most helpful sources' for Dodge Co.
Just wish more people liked their jobs helping the public.

I always wanted to go down to do research in Dodge Co. This was very disheartening to read about the research help,I want to give Sparta Monroe Co. History room credit for being very helpful, friendly and a vast houseful of research. If in the area check it out.
Michelle

My husband and I will be going to Dodge County in September to do research. How did your trip turn out? Do you know where we could access City Directories, County History biographies, etc.?

I went to Juneau two weeks ago, took a copy of the bad report on them along- just in case-thought maybe I would leave it laying on the table, if I had been treated bad.
But, it came along home with me. Everyone there was very helpful, friendly, even chatted with me. I must have really hit a GOOD DAY.
If you don't want to go to Juneau, you can always go to Oshkosh- Polk Library- they have all the records for Dodge Co, including "intent" papers.
Maybe one of you unhappy people could print out the "bad comments" and take them along- maybe then they would
change their attitude toward so many.

Kathy
We did not go to The county court house in Juneau as all their records prior to 1877 were distroyed in a fire and we needed information from the 1860's. We found some information for Dodge County at the area resource center in Oshkosh(at the univ of Wisc library). We also went to the Beaver Dam library where they had some good infromation including newspapers and a Dodge County Census.
Ken