Janet Stevens
Janet Stevens has been a Rotarian for 25 years and is a part of the Northfield Rotary club
Firm believer in the Rotaract and Rotary youth exchange program, Janet has a 4th daughter from Senegal because of the exchange program.
Janet spoke to the group about the journey that her family took thru history. After taking a DNA ancestry test due to health reasons, a spark started for researching where her family has been since they came to America.
We learned a term “Melungeon,” which is a “tri-racial isolate” group from the early stages of the Southern United states. The United States Census is a great place to find information about where people were and how they moved around the country.
She recommends two books for reading, American nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard and Albion Seed: Four British Folkways in America by David Hackett Fischer.
Janet urged us to be proud of the history of Faribault and use the great resources we have including the Rice County Historical Society.