This history started life here in the United States back in the 40s. It was nothing more than some mimeograph papers folded into a pamphlet. Who started this I am not sure but for many years I had the dog-eared copy of my dads ( Donald Lee Helle 15th generation )
I guess I had a few cousins that also was aware of the written family history, about 1982 I first heard that Alice I Riley, had undertaken the job of putting together the bits and pieces of what was to become a 294 page hard bound book.Alice had many helpers, Ava (Helle) Boyce, Bob Helley, Alice Krauser, and many others. Plus she had a very strong person egging her on (Joe Helle 15th generation) who also had the deep pockets to finance the project.Somewhere in the above time period, it was discovered that we still had members of the family tree in Germany, and more important they had a record of the family going almost as far back as the flood. :-) This brings me to the present 2000, three years ago I made a small web page for my grandkids. Its only purpose was to let my offspring share photo's with each other, and of course for gramps to spread the bull just a little. This web page while not a outstanding site by any means did contain some information that took some time to acquire. (In the year 2000 Homestead lost the complete page. Most of this site has been rebuilt from scratch. However a small part of the original has been recovered, to see this site click here)Then I found a cousin on the Internet, and then another, and yet another, nieces, and nephews soon joined the mob. All this time pictures were coming from all direction from this lovable group of shirt-tailed relations of mine.My little webpage was busting at the seams! Anyone remember Fibber McGee's closet? That closet was organized in comparison.Then along came a new found 1st Cousin ( Sharon Bearce ) what a flood of information she brought with her. Redoing the family web site had been in my mind for quite some time, then Sharon came along. She was the catalyst that I needed.Some of the information on this site is derived from the book that Alice Riley put together. If you have any questions about this book Alice has
kindly granted permission for any interested party to contact her.
Lee Helle Alice Riley
26471 N 11th Ave
Canton, IL
61520 Phone # 309 647 3138
News Flash;
Dec 2001
Alice has had paperback copies made of the Helle book, the cost is $15.00 plus $4.00
for shipping. These books are the same size as the original and like gas for 50 cents a gal. are a great buy.
May 2003
Sharon has spent the last three years gathering and researching information about our grandmothers side of the family Ida Kaler. Sharon was lucky enough to find that
many Kaler family records had been preserved by a niece of our grandmother. With leads from these records Sharon has uncovered a until now unknown part of our family heritage. A heritage that you can take with a pocket full of money into any restaurant and buy a good meal, don't try to leave the heritage as a tip though. So for what its worth here is just part of what Sharon has discovered click here
Cousins reunion picture September 2005 below
