Thank you for stopping by neck of the wood's. My name is Shannon Sleeth and I maintain this web page. My genealogical itch started about 8 years ago when I had my first child, I thought Oh my, this beautiful Angel needs to know where she came from. I recall as a child asking my mom "what nationallity are we?" and was told English, Bohemian.. Indian.. your a mix". I'm a mix of WHAT? what does all of this mean? So my goal has been to find this, where I come from. I know somewhere, someone has struggled for me to be where and what I am today. This starts with my Parents, Grandparents, Great - Grandparents, and so on.
My quest since I have started my search has been to find anything I could on my Great- Grandmother Isadora Archer Miller, she died before I was born. I was told she was a strong, indepent, loving woman, who raised 10 children and had a Farm, all on her own. This was in the Depression Era in the rural country area of Michigan. She came from Ohio with her husband William Miller leaving her parents and family behind. I recall asking my Grandfather about her, he would tell me She was an Indian, and I remember as a child her relatives coming to visit. They would come dressed in buckskin, with long flowing hair and with beautiful headress that touched the ground, they would come right up to the house riding bareback on there horses. I know now as an adult this was a grandfather telling a grandchild a wonderful grand illision, oh but what a wonderful beautiful dream I still dream. When I think of my grandfather I thank him for this gift of a vision he left me.
I have not yet found any Native American in my Male Archer family line, I have traced back the family line to an Aaron Archer from West Virginia 1781. But I believe it came from somewhere, I am now tracing the women who married into the Archer's, starting with Isadora's Mother and Grandmother's.
My friend Anne knows of my Quest and shares her Ancestory and Family with me. Her Ancestors are Lakota Sioux. This past July I went with her to her family ground at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. I can not express to you enough of the grandour of the area, and the beautiful people who reside there. We stayed with Anne's cousin, Susan. She is a woman you want to know if you are a person searching for Native American Culture. She is a member of the council, and taught me quite a bit of the history of Pine Ridge and the ways of the people. She took us to the annual Pow Wow, It was breathtaking...the beat of there drum...there voices filling the air..people in traditional dress...dancing. We also visited the church Chief Red Cloud help started(the picture is of me at Chief Red Cloud's Burial Ground), and the site of Wounded Knee. I have learned of the history of the Lakota people and I thank Anne and Susan for sharing a part of there heritage with me.
I have also learned the history of my husband's family. His family came from New York, and settled in Waterford, Southren Dakota County, and Northfield, Rice County (these two area's are exactly 15 miles apart) in the 1870's. He at this time is the last male Sleeth from his blood line, and we have inherited the "Sleeth" Family Heritage, kept by his Mother, Grandmother and Great Grandmother (they also at the time, married the last Male Sleeth- although in time they each had a son... We have 3 daughters). So we are the keepers of this Family History, and in my search to find out more about how his family came to the area, I have fallen in love with the History and the people who once lived here.
I am a History Fanatic, and have accumilated a vast amount of Information on Rice County. This is my hobby and my buisness. I find when I talk to people, talking to them in the grocery store any place, just meeting them for the first time, I ask is "are you originally from here"? If they say yes I always ask, "what's your last name"? and then I tend to rattle on about there last name and what I know about there family. My husband always asks "how do you know that"? I just do, Names and information from the past retain in my head. (Although I have a bad habit of not remembering the persons first name I just met yesterday- This also does not mean I know about every person that ever lived in Rice County).
I started this web page to have some place to put all of the Family History my husband and I have accumilated, as you can see not much of my own personal genealogy is in here and I think in the future I am going to add it some place else. This has become the accumilation of some of my research for Rice County. It's incredible to me the responses I have recieved about this web page, and most of them have been wonderful and I thank you for the email's and when you take the time to sign my guestbook, it is nice to hear words of encouragement.
My latest addition to the web page has been adding every Civil War Soldier who mustered in Rice County. I am still adding, and hoping in the future to have something about each Person listed on my Civil War Page, I hope Bio's and Pictures. I also want to add Men who fought in the Civil War elsewhere, but sometime lived in Rice County. This has been an Interesting and Educational Search, also Time consuming, But I love it!
I also have been adding Rice County Cemeteries, Of course this is a MAJOR thank you to John and Jan Dalby, They are sweet, kind people. They brought me into their home and showed me there Data Base and thier system how they complie all of the information..Its ASSUME!! Everytime I talk to them and say, I am researching the Civil War, or Cemetries", they always ask, how can we help? what do you need?" and boom, it's at my door step. They are also involved in the restoration of Christdala Church in Millersburg. It's nice to meet people who also, eat, breath and sleep The History of Rice County Minnesota.
This is a beautiful area and am very proud to be apart of it. I hope you see that in this web page, thank you for taking a little time to find out more about me, and my Quest
