I want to share with you how I decided to pursue genealogy as a profession. It all started with my career choice of Forestry twenty five years ago.

After attending Southeastern Illinois College in Harrisburg, Illinois and then finishing up my Bachelors Degree at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, I worked seasonally for the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

I lived in various places throughout the western states and had amazing experiences. I had the chance to work with some interesting and great people and especially enjoyed fire fighting. I will never forget taking my first helicopter ride in the window seat to the top of a mountain to battle a wildfire. Most of the time it was a long hike to get to the scene of a fire though.

It was fun while it lasted but I never found full time work with the Federal government. I decided to start my own landscaping business while living in Salt Lake City. I still operate this business in the western suburbs of Chicago during the growing season which this year cannot come soon enough. But while I was still living in Salt Lake City, I visited the large genealogy library operated by the Mormon Church.

I had limited experience with family history, most of it from having learned of my own maternal family history from my Mom who was and still is a member of the L.D.S. Church. My Aunt Joan was also an excellent family historian and I thank her today for getting me involved in our families history. Once I got started in genealogy I was hooked!

I began to pursue my own paternal family history and learned that our history here in America is quite illustrious. I found enough Civil War veterans to form our own company. Most of them were recent Irish and German immigrants.

I also discovered that we had a Revolutionary War hero in our family. He was Nicholaus Herkimer who fought and died at the battle of Oriskany in upstate New York. This battle was immediately before the battle of Saratoga which proved to be the turning point in the battle for our independence. Herkimer's parents were from the village of Sandhausen which is near Heidelberg, Germany. This is the place where my direct line of Kolb's comes from along with related families of Herzog, Breiter, Scheid, Schmitt, Schneider, Kletti, Zimmerman Kohler and Albrecht among others. I should emphasize that not all of our ancestors achieved the heights of being a Revolutionary War hero, but I have found that all of my ancestors had a story to tell from the beyond and from centuries distant.

I have always been interested in history and in particular American history and enjoyed placing my own ancestors in our American historical context. All of our families has had a place in this context and each one is unique. I have discovered my calling. It is helping connect the living with the past. It is a spiritual journey that is extremely rewarding. I am rewarded by helping my clients discover their roots. It is just as exciting for me to help others find their roots as it was to discover my own roots. I hope that your own research and discoveries can be as exciting as my own has been. Much luck to all and great success!

Ron Kolb