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author
Dean Wheaton
Letters from Bruce County is Deans second family genealogy book. He researched, authored and published (1998) The Wheatons of Northern Michigan: The Descendants of Melville Wheaton (1800-1875). Thi...view moreLetters from Bruce County is Deans second family genealogy book. He researched, authored and published (1998) The Wheatons of Northern Michigan: The Descendants of Melville Wheaton (1800-1875). This is a 435 page book documenting his Wheaton family from Vermont in 1790 through New York, Ontario, Michigan and beyond.
Dean was born at Petoskey, Michigan and grew up on a dairy farm nearby. Following high school graduation, he earned a BS degree in physics from Michigan State University and joined an Akron, Ohio aerospace company as an engineer. While employed full-time there he earned a MS degree, also in physics. As an engineer, he was required to write reports which he actually enjoyed. The rapidly expanding use of computers caught his fancy resulting in a career shift to first using and then managing computer systems for both engineering and management applications. Much writing was required in these endeavors, tasks he continued to enjoy. The economic wars of the closing years of the 20th century presented early retirement incentives about the same time that the first family genealogy computer programs became available. Retirement at age fifty-one made available extra hours which quickly were taken up by things genealogical.
Deans knowledge and experience with computers was soon coupled with genealogical skills to make him a popular speaker at many northeastern Ohio genealogical society meetings on topics related to using computers in genealogy, especially encouraging the writing of family histories.
He has several more projects in progress which will result in additional books, a website or two and even a CD or DVD.view less