(I just had a list of one liner's on paper to trigger my memory, so I will have to try to recreate my presentation as best as I can. I must have went through it 50 time in my mind laying in bed the night before.) Here goes:

About six years ago a group of volunteers caught a vision to preserve Clark County History on the Internet. We have transcribed obituaries and marriage notices from old Clark County newspapers dating back as far as 1873. We have transcribed hundreds of biographies of early settlers in the county. Many community and township histories have been recorded. Also, burial information for individuals in over 70 cemeteries have been documented.

A number of the volunteers, who refer to themselves as "Clark County History Buffs", are here today from places as far away as Maryland, Georgia, Florida, Western Minnesota, and throughout Wisconsin. Many of us are meeting face to face for the first time.

About two years ago we decided that we had enough valuable information preserved that we never wanted to see it get lost to the people of Clark County and those throughout the country with Clark County roots. Therefore, we worked with the Greenwood Public Library to come under the umbrella of the county's library system. The Wis. Valley Library Service, who provides computer support to virtually all the libraries in the county, set about changing their by-laws such that non-library non-profit organizations could be part of that service. About one year ago that happened and we moved most of the information to the WVLS server.

In the Thorp area we worked through Janet and Don Rogalski at the the Thorp Area Museum to collect important historical information about the area. They provided a ton of good information, as well as introduced us to a number of people who could add to our collection, including Bob and Dolores Zukowski.

Now, to discuss today's event - two things happened last fall that planted the seeds for the event. First, a group of relatives were trying to track down a great-great grandfather they believed had lived and possibly died in the area. Through the website, we were able to help them find that relative, Israel Clark, buried in the East Thorp Cemetery. He was likely the first person to be buried in that cemetery in 1877. One of the relatives will speak shortly more about that story. The second thing that happened was that one of the volunteers found a book at the Clark County Register of Deeds Office called "Veteran Burial Registrations". It was a book compiled by someone around 1937, and listed virtually all veteran burials in Clark County Cemeteries up to that point. When we compared those burials to our Thorp area cemetery burial indexes, which had been gathered by photographing virtually all the tombstones in the area, we discovered significant discrepancies. There were a number of Civil War vets who were buried in the Thorp area that apparently did not have tombstones or their stones were unreadable.

We wondered if the Thorp American Legion might like to get involved in a project to verify the need for and get stones from the VA for those who did not have them. The only Thorp American Legion person we knew was Bob Zukowski, so in January we met with he and his wife. We asked if he thought the Legion might be interested in this project. After looking at the information we had, it took him all of a minute to say yes. He agreed to take the lead on the project. The Legion and VFW verified the vets that needed markers, ordered them, ordered the bases to set them in, and placed them all when they came (the last ten being placed the day before this event). Bob agreed to be master of ceremonies for this event and put together a program. And that brings us to this ceremony.

One of the relatives, Harold Zander, did the research and produced a booklet of the unit history of all thirty Civil War Vets buried in the East Thorp Cemetery. That booklet is available here today for five dollars a copy, with all proceeds going to the Thorp Area Museum. (By the way, at the end of the day, all but about 7 of the 100 books had been sold, and the 7 were only left because they had been locked in the Thorp Area Museum and by the time they retrieved them, the crowds had dispersed. The Museum folks were real pleased with Harold's donation that will amount to $500.00 when the rest of the books are sold.)

Finally, a website volunteer Lani Bartelt, with the support a number of others supporting the site, researched and gathered individual biographies on 83 Civil War Vets that lived and or died in this area, including the 50 being honored here today. The publication took three two-inch hard copy binders to contain. Today, we are donating those to the Thorp Area Museum.

In conclusion, the Clark County History Buffs are proud to help sponsor this significant event today. We hope you can join us for lunch and we can all chat some more then.