Past Presidents Volunteer

What do two retired WLIA Past Presidents do in their spare time? Give back to their community using their land records skills!

Jodi Helgeson and Kelly Felton, both past presidents of WLIA, are assisting the Adams County Historical Society in sorting approximately 10,000 abstracts using the public land survey system. Jodi, a retired Adams County Register of Deeds/Land Information Officer and Kelly, a retired Sauk County Cartographer/Land Information Officer volunteer several days a month sorting the abstracts so they can easily be referenced either by the current county tax records section, town and range identification, or by using old plat books.  This assists researchers in locating the historical record of the interested property.

The Adams County Historical Society purchased the historic building when the title company owner decided to retire. The abstracts had been sorted by a number system that worked for the title company, but not necessarily for the other volunteers of the historical society. According to Pat Kierstyn, Adams County Historical Society Past President, “The society here is unique, as most historical societies do not have the abstracts to use for research. Having them organized in a manner that will allow most anyone to be able to easily locate the land information they are seeking will be a real benefit”. Pat and volunteer member, Jan, have been assisting in the project.

Whether retired or not, you have skills that would benefit a local non-profit in your area!