Midwest meandering

Well, I'm home now, but here's some of the happenings from the road. We didn't have much internet access the last week of our trip, so I couldn't keep the blog updated. I found the Samuel and Sarah Cramblit's headstone in the Shaul Cemetery in Ottumwa, Iowa. It was a beautiful headstone, and a beautiful cemetery too. I was so moved by the experience of walking where the family walked, paying respects to the resting place of my ancestors, and standing where family that I've never met have also stood, paying their respects. We went right before Memorial Day, and there were flags, flowers and other momentos on many graves. We left flowers as well. Samuel and Sarah were the only Cramblit's in the whole cemetery, I don't know if anyone visits them or not, so I'm glad we could leave flowers there. We went to Des Moines that afternoon, and I obtained a copy of Richard H. Matthews death certificate, so I accomplished that goal too. I was so worn out by then, and it was raining, so we didn't look for the cemetery for him, but I felt I met my objective and was really ready to stop doing research.

We were all ready to move on, and took I-80 straight west to Omaha, Nebraska. That is an LDS church history site, where many pioneers stopped for the winter before making the last westward trek to Salt Lake. We camped right near the Missouri River in a city campground. The area was beautiful, and someone came around every night selling firewood. They sell walnut and oak, split and dried. We had a cozy, occasionally smokey, campfire that night. I decided not to sleep outside, and about 2:00 am I heard a terrific crack of thunder. It started on the right, and split the night all the way across the left side of us, for miles it seemed. Julie had been sleeping on a cot outside, and came busting through the door while that clap of thunder was still rolling across the countryside. There was a helacious storm that night, it really rocked the place. We were lucky, we just got rain, wind, lightening and thunder. A tornado touched down in Windsor, Colorado that wiped out miles of homes, killing one person, from the very same storm. Friday it was still raining, and we decided we'd had enough. We left Omaha, heading west, determined not to stop until we found the sun!

Speaking of storms, we were in the thick of some crazy weather the whole trip, but the Lord looked out for us throughout our journey. We were 60 miles north of tornadoes while in Ohio, just missed the flooding in Ohio, Iowa and Illinois. While we were traveling across Nebraska
there were tornadoes in Iowa, where we had recently left. We drove into Ft. Collins, which is just a few miles from Windsor, the day after that terrible tornado. It was a mile wide, and plowed through 35 miles of land and houses before it finally died. Throughout our trip we had a lot of rain and some wind, but amazingly nothing more serious than a little hail.

We spent Memorial Day in Albuquerque, NM. Julie's daughter lives there, so it was a good place to stop for a day. We were all ready for a break from the non-stop driving, and I didn't want to be on the road on the holiday. Monday Mom and I found a casino, and she played there for several hours. They had a great lunch buffet, and I took a luxurious nap. Julie, Laurie and I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie- pretty great day overall. We were up and gone at dawn, and arrived in Cottonwood safe and sound on Tuesday. It's been a wonderful experience! I love traveling with Mom, she is so much fun, and nothing really fazes her at all. Julie is always a blast to be around, our friendship has only strengthened over the many years. I have so much research to organize and document on my computer! Some will go onto my ancestry.com site, a lot of it will go into my notes until I can put the families together, a piece at a time.

Although my corral-on-motorhome idea didn't pan out, Arizona actually got rain in May too, not a common experience. I'm glad that the sun is shining, I've had quite enough rain for this spring! By July I'll be wishing there was just a little bit more, but right now the weather here is perfect- high 80's, 10% humidity and lots of sunshine. I'm a desert rat- Long live Arizona!!

Greetings from Iowa!

Wow, have I been busy the past few days! And, I haven't had internet service, that's awful! It's not as critical as, say, water... but please, my life has become so much better with internet. We have been in every county courthouse in the area. Today it is Wapello County, and we found some great family records. It's a beautiful old, turn-of-the-century stone building, so elegant. Mom spent the morning helping me, and Julie worked the afternoon shift. We found my great grandparents' wedding license and certificate. Turns out, they had to hurry, because my grandma was born 7 months after the wedding. I can almost see the shotgun in the wagon as the nuptuals commenced at the courthouse. All four parents had signed an affidavit confirming that they consented to the marriage, and the original affidavits are attached to the marriage license, darkened with age, but I can still read everyone's signatures and the printed form. Pretty cool!



Some people have asked who Julie is. She is one of my oldest and dearest friends, we met in high school when her folks moved from hustling LA area to backwater Prescott. It was a tough change for her, from surfer-girl to nowhere-ville. But we hit it off, and have been chums ever since. When she learned about our trip, she wanted to come along, so she flew into Columbus Ohio on the 12th, and came along for the adventure.



Ottumwa is a charming midwestern town, it's not quite a city, although it's a bustling place. We are staying in the Ottumwa Park, which has a lot of electric sites. Today we are visiting the Shaul Cemetery here, then off to Des Moines to find Mom's great-grandfather. He's hiding up there somewhere, and I'm determined to find him...

Carthage Jail to Nauvoo Illinois

This is a really hard place to visit. Several people, including Joseph and Hyrum Smith, died here when a mob broke into the jail in 1844. I've heard the story many times, how the Mormons were persecuted, not just because of their beliefs, but because they moved as a large group. When they moved into an area, they also brought an immediate change in the political and public landscape, because they were such a large group. They worked hard, and typically became successful fairly quickly, and that upset the balance of power for the county in which they lived. Whatever the reason, Joseph had been charged with some petty offense, and was taken to jail in Carthage, IL. I was there on Friday, and although the building had changed hands several times, the original structure was standing, a bullet hole is still in the original door, the bullet that killed Hyrum Smith as he pushed against the door to protect his brother from the mob. He was killed instantly, Joseph was killed shortly afterward, and fell out the upstairs window.

Please take a moment to look at the pictures above. The first pictures are of the Carthage jail, the last pictures are of the Nauvoo Temple. Joseph Smith had started the work on that temple, but it wasn't finished when he died. The LDS people worked hard to finish it before they left Nauvoo. It was only used a month or so before they were forced out of Illinois and started for Utah. After they left, the temple was burned by several men. Before it sold to another religious group, a tornado hit it and destroyed more of it, rendering the building unusable. Over the years locals used the large stones in building other structures in Nauvoo. The LDS church built another temple, completing it in 2001. We had the opportunity to visit the temple on Saturday, and it is so beautiful, inside and out. It is a very spiritual and peaceful place to be. The town has a lot of pioneer-oriented buildings and activities, I'm so glad we came! It literally sits on the Mississippi river, tomorrow we will get down by the river and I'll post some pictures of that soon.

Cramblit's, Dunkle's and me.

Today is Thursday, and we started the day with sunshine! I'm a desert rat, I like the sun. The rain is lovely, but after 3 weeks, I love seeing the sun! OK, OK, it was raining by evening, but we had some great hours this morning, Julie even took a snooze on the lawn at the Ohio Historical Society. It was warm, the grass was dry, and she was out. Mom and I went through the Museum, it was very interesting. Ohio was the first state into the Union after the Revolutionary war, so it's an old state with a lot of history, both Native American and new American.

I've spent days in libraries and courthouses, and I'm worn out. Julie helped me today, and we found more Cramblit's and Dunkle's. We were at the Ohio Historical Society Library, in Columbus, for several hours. In some ways I wish I had several days there, but I'm ready for a break. We left about 4:30 and started driving west, right into the rain. Actually we even saw snow! It didn't last very long, but it was definitely snow. We are in a KOA just east of Indianapolis tonight. Julie is deep into her new Mac laptop, working on her website and answering email. I'm doing the same thing, and Mom is asleep. We even have TV tonight! The Office is on, the wifi is working, life is good.

I'm like a genealogy junky, I know that. I try to say that I could quit anytime I wanted to, but we all know differently. When I'm in genealogy mode, I don't sleep, it's all I can think about, where did they come from, how did they get into this town, this state? How many times did they move before they stopped here? And-- Who's Your Daddy?? Really, that is so hard to find out sometimes! I've found so many names for these 2 families, and I don't know where they fit, it will take me months to sort them out, and figure out if they are in my direct line or not.

I talked to David this evening, and there is now a Best By Farr Plumbing business. They've been working on that for months, and the paperwork is finally done. Now there are 2 businesses to manage, but he is very good at that!

More Rain!

I have to make a note about all the Fredonia pictures in my slideshow. David was raised in Fredonia, AZ. Mom and I drove through Fredonia, NY, so I took a bunch of pictures. My favorite is the truck- St George, from Fredonia. St. George, UT, is the nearest 'city' to Fredonia, AZ. It just seemed so improbable to see a truck with a St. George and Fredonia sign on it 2000 miles away!

I know, I shouldn't complain about the rain, it's heaven sent and all. Still this morning there was a tornado warning along with the storm that swept through here. We were fortunate, nothing bad happened to us, but the radio said there were terrible storms and tornadoes just south of us. Our prayers are with those people.

We are in the hills of Ohio. We haven't found many RV parks, but lots of forrest campgrounds with electrical hookups, so we've been camping. It's unbelievably beautiful and green, I'm a little frustrated that it's been raining so much I can't go out exploring. I've spent the last 3 days in libraries and Court houses, and I've found more information about our family. We are driving to Logan, OH tomorrow, to visit the Hocking County Courthouse. Hopefully I'll find more birth, marriage and death records.

We finally stopped to eat lunch yesterday about 2:00, we walked to a restaurant down the block. Well, we thought it was a restaurant, turned out to be more of a biker bar. It's in an historic hotel in downtown McArthur, OH. Mom walked in, looking at all the momentos, but I stopped short at the doorway when I saw a line of bikers at the bar. How do you get Mom's attention without everyone else noticing? No frantic "Mom- stop!", or anything I could think of. They did have a couple tables set out...

Anyway, While we sat down, 'Pappy's Lady' knocking back a shot of whiskey, while 'Pappy' talked to the bartender. We know them because her leather jacket was emblazoned with "Pappy's Lady", so I assume the guy next to her was Pappy. He had a leather jacket on with all kinds of patches on it. They all were eating lunch too, though, not just talking and drinking. Here we are, 2 old ladies just out of the library, primly sitting at the table ordering tea, with a half-dozen bikers and their chicks sprawled across the bar, talking tough to the rough looking bartender. She was a blonde that had spent way too many years working nights and smoking cigarettes. We got more than a couple side-long looks, and I imagine they weren't much more impressed with us than we were with them. Lunch wasn't too bad, for bar food, and we out-lasted the bikers, so the end of our meal was peaceful. We found Lake Hope campground north of McArthur. The only lake we saw looked more like a marsh, I could almost see the mosquitoes breeding there among the cattails and sedge. Luckily the camping is quite a bit higher, and not many bugs. The birds are singing right now, and it's very peaceful and calm. Happy Mother's Day!