The Business Side of Things . . .
People Stories LLC is a specialty research-and-writing service for those who want to discover and memorialize loved ones and need help to do so. Stacy Lynne Lewellyn of Alma, Wisconsin, combines both with an emphasis on genealogy. Difficult, sensitive or confusing legacies often go untold but should be memorialized; the whimsical, comical, present-day and animal stories count, too. She made a career writing for the public as a reporter, editor and photographer. Now, she writes for private people.
“Howie”
Image courtesy of branch family
archive
“Earline”
Image courtesy of branch family
archive
My Parents
Howard and Earline
I worked alongside my father Howard “Howie” Charles Lee (1939-2020) on many family heritage projects, including complex, lengthy research and archival quests most of my life. In 2017, he suggested I start a business to meet the growing demand for research, timeline, image and document requests. “Yepper,” I said. Efforts to protect and archive family photographs, documents and heirlooms were achieved through proof-of-concept. I became certified in Genealogy Principles and Standards (Boston University) in 2018 and started People Stories®.
In 2025, this website peoplestoriesllc.com
My mother Mary Earline “Earl” Muggley (1942-2017) pretty much saved everything. During private times, she consistently scrap-booked what seemed like every creation, card, mom/dad gift I ever made, achievement certificates and recognitions earned from birth to adulthood. She passed them along to me in due time. She was united with family matriarchs and patriarchs who generously shared duplicate copies of original pictures, too.
Image by Stacy L Lewellyn
Selfie, 2020
2 responses to “People Stories®”
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Hey Stacy,
I just about threw your Christmas card away as I couldn’t figure it out. I thought maybe it was from a friend of someone I sold a heifer to last year…any how, to my genealogical point. My father, George W. Heller, assembled a genealogy of himself, his father and his grandfather that includes primary documents. When I asked our county genealogist (who used to spend time every year in Salt Lake City) what she thought of one of these binders — there’s six or seven — she said it was the most exquisitely documented personal history she had ever seen. I tried to stress the exceptional nature of these personal histories to my nephew Ben Heller who is now in possession of them.
While there is no ticket stub of Jacob Heller’s passage to America, there is the original copy of his deed to the house in an area of Cincinnati which was so well settled by Germans that it was referred to as “Over the Rhine”.
So I am intrigued by your enterprise, but as I had also asked the county genealogist, What do I do with this? To which there was no satisfactory answer except to preserve it. That I did. In fact I call the other stuff, not the binders themselves, “Hellerobilia”.
Enough for now,
Julia Heller Ford-
Hi Julia. Nice to hear from you. Not sure what to think of the heifer reference (was her name Stacy?), but, yes, I am aware of my Uncle George Heller’s tireless genealogy achievements. He shared them with my father Howard C Lee along with complex research and discovery goals related to past military servicemen. He was a generous man in many ways, and I enjoyed his regular visits to my parents’ home in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. I valued time spent with you there, as well. George is missed. Thank you for providing updates on his dedicated genealogy work. It is special that his binders are in the care of Ben Heller. I was able to meet with Ben last year to transfer a military helmet dedicated to him from George. My project, peoplestoriellc.com, is an extension of our ancestors’ genealogy efforts with the sole purpose of bringing descendants together by sharing information and photographic images from their private collections specific to family branch pages. A page specific to the Hellers can be included if descendants would appreciate it. Your county genealogist apparently assured you that you have done your duty. What is “Hellerobilia?” Also, I am sorry about the passing of your brother Fred. Our family accepted invitations to visit his home when I was a child. I remember our visits there well. Please call me anytime.
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