DOOR COUNTY (NBC 26) — A local museum, honoring its creator on Wednesday with his distant relative explaining his unique family ties, to the Door peninsula.
- Dan Weber the great, great nephew of museum founder Harry Dankoler during Wednesday's event
- The Door County History Museum's event honoring Dankoler on Wednesday afternoon
- Historic artifacts that Dankoler left, and pieces the family has donated to the museum
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Dan Weber's family history in Door county stretches back generations.
His great-great uncle Harry Dankoler is the founder of the Door County Historical Museum which was built in 1939.
"It may sound a little corny but there's such a deep, my roots are so deep here that when I come back here, it's almost like coming back home" Weber said.
Dankoler passed away in 1955 when Weber was just three years old so he didn't know his great, great uncle personally.
He spent a lot of time at the home of Harry's niece, his great-grandmother Agnes.
"She lived to be 98 years-old and was a wealth of information about family history" Weber said.
"You realize that your family is a intricate part of the development and settlement of this area" Weber said.
Even during the event, Weber was still learning and exploring Dankoler's life.
"I did not know that he was in an orphanage learned about that and the reasons for it, I knew a lot more about when he was a baby" Weber said.
Weber says family history no matter how far back, can impact future generations. Especially in a tight-knit community, like Door County.
"There's things that my grandparents and great grandparents had did over the years that effect me today and I think that young people can learn from that and I try to impart that to my grand kids" Weber said.
Inside the museum a quote from Dankoler reads "the past, the present, and the future cannot be separated." Amessage his great, great nephew has taken to heart.
