Home Sweet Home

I made it home this afternoon without much ado. The drive from Gallup was uneventful, other than the ever-present road work, and multiple lane closures! ARGH!!! I was glad to finally be off the road, and everyone here was glad to see me home. The kids had big hugs for Nana, and many "I missed you"s were said with feeling. That's always nice, and I really missed all of my family, but especially the little ones!

My next plans for my genealogy journey is to sort through all that I learned while I was gone, and then go check out the Family History Library in Mesa, which is about an hour away. I would love to plan a weekly trip over there for a while to research the lines that I have started working on. I also need to work on documentation for DAR membership, as I have two lines of ancestors that have Revolutionary War soldiers.  So those are my goals for now.

To begin with, I will continue to work on CB Keller, and find his and Ella Nora's marriage information from Nebraska. I also am anxiously awaiting the information I ordered on August Winter to see if he is my August Winter. So I definitely have some leads to follow up on.

Thanks for following along on this journey, and I hope you come back and check on my progress form time to time. As I said the other day, I will keep up with the blog, updating finds that I make, and trying to put in something at least weekly. So, it is on to the next chapter!

This morning Tucumcari, this afternoon Gallup

The neon lights at the Blue Swallow Motel do indeed work!

The swallow flashes on and off at a slow pace - very cool! They also have lights along the roof line of all the rooms and a swallow above every garage. Truly a lovely spot. Kevin and Nancy are great people, and I sat with them over coffee this morning and chatted about Tucumcari, the Motel and life in general. They also have a golden retriever, Bessie, who claimed me as we sat outside. I stopped petting her at one point, and she turned to look at me with baleful eyes, and plopped her head on my lap saying "please don't stop!" Too cute.

I hit the road about 10:30 and had a relatively easy drive to Gallup. Of course the road work followed me, even though it is Sunday! (I forgot to say it was with me yesterday, as well) Stuff on the side of the road is OK, but when they shut down a lane, or both lanes and put you on the shoulder, then I object!

That was about it, though, and it was over in about 10 minutes, so I guess I can't complain. I'm sure those guys are getting overtime for working Sunday!

I arrived at the El Rancho Hotel about 3:00, got checked in and went to see the room. This is an old hangout of "the stars" apparently. I would say the 30's and 40's mostly. The lobby is very full of heavy wood furniture in the old western feel, with a lot of Native American accents thrown in. Reminds me of John Wayne, who is one of the people who stayed here a lot. Bette Davis, Lauren Bacall, Lucille Ball are others. My room is the Gregory Peck room. It has a very "lodgy" feel to it, with a great fireplace at one end, and deer heads on the beams. I can feel how elite it may have been once, but now all it feels is dingy and sad. Which is too bad. The rooms are OK, but small and cramped, and you can literally have one foot in the shower and the other out the door in the room, with one hand on the sink and the other on the toilet. Interesting gymnastics await the morning shower!

Oh yes - you can only use the wi-fi connection in the lobby, and the password is FF928F6DFFC959F4E4BF37B988 if that gives you any idea about the place! Plus, there is only one outlet in the room - uh-oh - all of my things need recharging! Plus it has a phone, but no cord to the jack! The guy at the desk tells me they're having problems with the phone lines. Duh! But, still, it is kind of cool, and they have awesome Indian jewelry, which I am going to go take a look at on the way to dinner. And it is only for one night, and then I am on the final leg home.

Tomorrow - Goodyear, AZ and my family!!!

Erick OK to Tucumcari NM

I really didn't have much to say about Erick - the town is basically non-existent. I think there are two gas stations and a Subway, two motels and a burger/steak joint. That's about it. But, the motel where I stayed, while your usual run of the mill place, was run by an extremely nice East Indian family. The husband is on duty in the evenings, and was genuinely nice when checking me in. He said he thought the storm that had been hovering all day was about to hit, and if I wanted to get dinner, the place across the street was very basic but good (the burger/steak joint), but that I should go soon and get back so that I didn't get caught in the thunder and lightning. Then he said breakfast was from 6 to 9 in the lobby area, and that bacon and eggs were cooked fresh for everyone. Yeah, right I say to myself. That means a big warming tray with stuff in it and you serve yourself. Then I went to the room, and was pleasantly surprised to find it very clean, new mattress, a very comfortable big, sink-in chair to sit and read (which is exactly what I did), clean bathroom, and good TV set. So all the boxes are checked! So I settled in for the night, and actually slept like a log for the first time in 2 or 3 nights.

When I woke up this morning, to a large clap of thunder, and looked out the window, the parking lot was flooded and the downspouts were gushing! The rain was so intense that I could hear it pounding on the roof, and I was on the first floor of two floors!

I took my shower, got dressed and headed down to the lobby for my breakfast. I was greeted by the wife, who manages check-outs and breakfast, and asked how I liked my eggs, and how many pieces of bacon did I want. I said "scrambled, and two, please", and she said "go get your plate, and serve yourself toast, or coffee cake or a waffle and I'll bring you your eggs and bacon." Wow! So I did, and she did. Great breakfast! There were four other people seated when I came in and by the time I left there were another 6, and she was still cooking and serving as I went back to my room. Very nicely done, Premier Inn of Erick, OK! I hung around for about another hour and a half, to let the worst of the storm go by (I hoped), and then loaded up quickly and headed on my way. It poured and lightninged and thundered for about an hour and a half, and then stopped. I could see the line way ahead in the distance where the clouds stopped and the sunshine began, so I knew the worst was over.

Oh yes - the road work followed me here, as well. I forgot to say that yesterday was pretty good - lots of shoulder work, but no lane closures. No so today!

I arrived safely in Tucumcari after about 4 hours of driving - not too bad, considering the storm. I also gained an hour with the time change - woohooo! Tucumcari is interesting. It is a major spot on the Route, according to many of the guidebooks, and the main strip - Tucumcari Ave, or Historical Route 66 - is pretty cool, with a great many of the original neon signs still up and supposedly functioning. I'll check it out tonight. The Blue Swallow Motel, where I am staying, is considered by many to be the "Jewel of the Route". The couple who own it now just bought it this summer, and moved from Michigan, and are restoring it quite nicely. As a matter of fact, as I arrived today, they were moving all of the furniture in the office/lobby so that it was in the place that it used to be when the original owner - Lillian Redman - had it. They moved the counter first, in the corner, with the shelves behind, just like they had seen in pictures! Then the chairs got moved to flank the fireplace, and the other stuff just kind of fell into place. It does look good, I must say, although I have no idea what the old pictures look like. It was too early to check in, so I ran around town for a bit, when to the local BBQ place they had recommended, had an awesome pulled pork sandwich for lunch (and, I think, dinner!), drove around to see some of the murals that are painted everywhere, went to the Dinosaur Museum, then back to check in. By then they had the lobby complete, and I checked into my charming room. This place is very cool! Check out the garage...

Pretty cool, eh?!

So now I am going to post this, them go sit outside, where it is a lovely 78 degrees, with a cold drink and read my book. Tomorrow is off to Gallup, and the grand El Rancho Hotel where apparently all the movie stars used to stay.

O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A OKLAHOMA!

As I left Baxter Springs this morning, I gassed up and hit good old 66, determined to follow it for a while. Well - I did pretty well. I managed to follow the signs, and read the map, for about 2 hours, with only 3 or 4 wrong turns!

I followed a trailer of cows for a while...thank God they didn't drop anything!

I drove through lovely old, well-worn towns, with signal lights that hang in the middle of the intersections!

Then I had the option of taking the "original" Route 66, with some of the "first generation pavement", or the updated 1950's road. I opted for the original. So, for 9 miles, I drove this...

The original, 9 feet wide, one-lane pavement, with gravel now adorning it's surface. Top speed - 15 mph. It took a while to go those 9 miles, but it was really cool!

Then I remembered about Oklahoma's red earth, and fell in love with it all over again.

Tomorrow, the crazy lady in the blue Santa Fe with the California plates, one hand on the wheel and the other holding the camera, treks across Texas and into Tucumcari, NM!

Starting the day off with Frozen Custard!

I showed up at Ted Drewes right at 11 AM when they opened, and there were already 4 or 5 other people there! Amazing on a weekday morning, and it was only 75 degrees! I ordered a "Terramizzou", which is a sundae with vanilla custard, pistachio nuts and hot fudge sauce. YUM!!! The custard is really amazing. I was reading about it last night, about how much butterfat and egg yolk it must contain, and most importantly about the amount of air, or overrun. Ice cream has 100% overrun, which causes ice crystals to form, but custard can have no more that 20%, so it is very creamy and smooth, with no "hard edges". It really was delicious. Thanks, RJ!

So, after that yummy breakfast, I started out towards Baxter Springs, Kansas. I stuck to the Interstate today until Joplin, then switched to Route 66. I wound through the country outside of Joplin, then into Kansas, and into Galena. I found 4 Women on the Route, and went in. Melba was there, one of the 4, and she was incredible! She talks a mile a minute, and assumes you know all about both CARS movies. She took out a Route 66 Oklahoma booklet, circled things on the map, signed the back and handed it to me. Then she launches into a tale about the day "they" came to film her for the special that will be added to the CARS 2 DVD, and how they filmed for 2 hours, and were so impressed by her attitude, etc, etc, etc! All this in about 2 minutes! What a hoot. The place is small, with some souvenirs (she said there are a lot more at the beginning of the "season"), and an old fashioned diner with red Formica counter tops and black, twirling seat stools that are fixed to the floor. Black and white check floor completes that room - awesome! Outside is the truck that inspired Tow-Mater, and now they have added an old firetruck, supposedly Red's inspiration. Pretty cool, all in all. I'd love to see it at the beginning of the "season" and not at 4:45 in the afternoon, and see if it is busy. There was nobody else there when I stopped in.

4 Women on the Route used to be a Kan-O-Tex gas station

The original Tow-Mater

After that stop, I went on to Riverton, and found Eisler Bros. Grocery and store. What a let down. It was built up so highly in the books I read, but it is a dreary little store, with a room off to the side that has some t-shirts and coffee mugs, and a floor that feels like it will cave in at every step. The angle of the sun was wrong to take any pictures, so I will run back in the morning when I leave to take a few.

Then back on the Route, towards Baxter Springs. I went over the rainbow bridge again, and drove on into town. I have a suite this time at The Little Brick Inn - woohoo! My sitting room...

My bedroom...

It'll work! So that's it for tonight. Tomorrow it is off through Oklahoma, stopping at Erick tomorrow night. Nothing really exciting planned for tomorrow...we'll see what happens.

Leaving Lincoln

I headed out about 10 this morning, just in time to stop by the quilt shop in town that has been calling my name. If I were to move here, this is where I would want to spend a lot of time - and probably a lot of money, too!

...and some other favorite spots in Lincoln...

my daily 7 am date

the house my heart wants to buy

all dressed up for Halloween

the Library

Those are some of my favorite sights in Lincoln, and I will miss them all. I know it is time to go home, but I am very sad to leave. This place definitely has a magic to it, and all of the people are so very and truly nice, it amazes me. This is absolutely a place to which I will return.

Today is on to St. Charles, MO, a place my son-in-law says I could live. Well, the historic area anyway! He is absolutely correct!! This actually seems to have a New England feel to me, rather than a Mid-West feel. Nothing wrong with that! Just surprising - I wasn't expecting that.

I got there about 2:30 and walked the whole length of Main Street, then back down the other side.  I window shopped (and really shopped a little) until the shops closed at 5, then I stopped at Little Hills Winery and Restaurant for dinner. My mother used to have a collection of glass bird Christmas ornaments that clipped on to the ends of the tree branches, which I have now, only they are very old and mostly dilapidated. There is a Holiday Shoppe here that has some that are almost the same! I bought six of them for this Christmas, so I have a start to replacing the collection. Unfortunately, the Popcorn Shoppe that used to be here and sold various flavors to shake on your popcorn, has closed. No-one in the stores on either side of where it was located seemed to know what had happened to them. So sad how many small business are losing their grasp on life...

Tomorrow I venture on to Baxter Springs, KS, and back to Cafe on the Route and The Little Brick Inn. I am bound and determined to find the two places on Route 66 that I wanted to stop at last time, and couldn't find. I have maps spread out now that I will study hard, and figure out where I went wrong! But before I leave the St. Louis area, I have to go to Ted Drewes for frozen custard. Hmm...since this place doesn't serve breakfast in the morning, and I very virtuously skipped ice cream tonight, I guess I'll make up for both with frozen custard for breakfast. Yum!!

One more time to Middletown!

I started this day figuring I would go to Peoria and do my last few things there, head back, grab some lunch and then pack. Then I started to think about CB Keller again, and decided to skip over to the library here in Lincoln first, and see if they had a microfilm of the Middletown Ledger for the date he died. They did! I found his obituary easily, and it was quite a bit more expansive than the one in the Lincoln Courier. It included the fact that he was buried in the Irish Grove Cemetery. So, of course, I had to go there. Unfortunately there was no-one there to help locate him, and although it is a small cemetery, it is still quite a project to walk through it all looking at every gravestone to see if it was him. I made it through most, leaving the obviously newer area alone, but did not find him. (I was very thankful for my "cemetery bag", which stays in the car and contains, among other things, bug spray, sunscreen, a hat and a whisk broom, all of which I used!) I have sent a couple of emails to people on one of the Menard County websites to see if there is a listing of where people were buried, and if so maybe I can find someone who would make a trip out there and photograph the grave for me. At least I know where he is.

So there went the morning! A little after noon, I pulled out of Middletown and headed to Peoria. I made it to the courthouse (for the third time!) and looked at the death registers to see if a name change from Gustav Winter to August Winter would make a difference in that search. It did - or at least there was an August Winter listed late in 1899, which is in the time range I have for his death. So I ordered it - should have it in 2-3 weeks. I'll let you know!

Then I drove around the city trying to locate the few addresses I had for the family. They were all such sad properties (and some I really don't think were correct) that I didn't have the heart to photograph them. So I drove by the river, and across a couple of bridges, said good-bye and headed back. By the time I got back, after a stop at Walgreen's for a case of water for the trip home, it was 3:30 and I was starving - no lunch! So I headed across the parking lot to Cracker Barrel, and had breakfast for dinner, or lunch, or whatever it was. It was yummy! If anyone is near a Cracker Barrel, try the Apple Streusel French Toast Breakfast. It rocks!!

So here I am, typing up the last entry for Illinois, doing laundry and packing up for the return trip. A couple of days ago I would have said I was ready to leave, but now as I am packing, I want to stay. Driving out in the country today I really felt a connection to this land, and I truly love the fields, barns, and farmhouses that make up most of the area. I will be sad to leave tomorrow. This has been a great experience, and I am glad I made the trip.

I have updated the cemetery page again with pictures of Irish Grove, if not CB's stone. It is a lovely cemetery, out in the middle of nowhere, tucked in next to a farm. I will continue to update the blog on the way home, and then will continue, probably weekly, after that, with much more focus just on genealogical finds, rather than travelogue. I hope that those of you who followed the blog to share the trip will continue to check it out once in a while to see what new finds have been made. If you have any friends/family interested in genealogy, please feel free to share the blog site.

Tomorrow - St. Charles, MO! Yes, I am going to try to find the Popcorn Shoppe!

Last Day in Jacksonville

I headed out to Jacksonville this morning planning to look for divorce documents for CB and Ella Nora Keller, then take some photos of places I haven't done yet, then head up to Peoria and do the same. I made it to Jacksonville about 10:15, and remembered that I wanted to get some deed information about Charles Howard as well, so went there first. I still had the book and page numbers written down from the day I was there last week, so that was easy. Then I went upstairs to check the divorce records. There was another woman there doing genealogy research and it turned out she had the register that I needed, so I sat and waited for it, and we chatted as she looked for her family. She said this particular family group - both the paternal and maternal lines - totally disappear after the 1850 census. She can't find any of them after that, so we talked about reasons why, etc. In other words, it took about 45 minutes before I had my chance to look at the register! When I got the book it only took about 3 minutes to look, and there they were - Nov 1905 - being granted a dissolution. So I asked for the record, which came back shortly, and I looked through it and asked for copies of everything. I decide I will read through it tonight, and just leave for the next thing. By the way, these divorce records, same as probate records, come with the original documents wrapped in a tri-fold cardstock envelope, tied with red string, or tape. (Now most of them have rubber bands holding them closed) This is where the phrase "cut through the red tape" came from! Who knew?!  Then the woman who was there with me asks about the person I am researching, so I tell her briefly about CB. She says I need to go to the State Archives office at the University of Illinois - UIS - in Springfield. (Now this was originally on my list, but I decided I really wanted the local color from the old courthouses.) She said she went there and they had records that she hadn't been able to find at the county level. So...I have to go home that way anyway, I might as well stop.

I take my copies, thank the staff, and head out to the car. As I get to the car, I remember that I also have to do some cemetery hopping, so mentally I cross off Peoria - I'll go tomorrow. I was not able to find the Hendersons at Jacksonville East when I went last, so off I go. Yay! There is a person there who has a computer with maps to show where everyone is. I ask about the Hendersons, then double check about the Howards and Kellers that I was not able to find the last visit. He finds the Hendersons easily and says he will take me out there, then finds all of the others, and says yes they are all together in that area. So, I really did find them and they really don't have headstones. He was not sure if they ever did have - they don't show that in the records. Bummer! But, he shows me to Smiley Hughes and Mary Elizabeth Henderson. Wow! What a monument. I knew they were fairly well-to-do, but gosh - this is something! On the back, sadly, is a list of five children - one 10-year-old, a one-year-old and three either stillborn, or infants who died soon after birth. So sad. There were a few other Hendersons around, but no names that I recognized.

Then I headed off to find the Henderson-McFadden Cemetery - somewhere out in the middle of the corn fields. Here we go again! I plugged the directions I had into Phoebe's computer (the navigation system in my car!), and off we went. It was a lovely drive past lots of farms, on county roads that are one lane wide, with big trucks coming FAST the other way, and of course the tractors and other farm equipment going two miles an hour - these guys, by the way,  are the tractors that I know on major steroids. These John Deere's are HUGE!

So I go a little further along, and Phoebe announces that I have reached my destination, but no, there is no cemetery here - just a cornfield. But as I look around, I see one up on a hill about 2 miles further, so I head to that. As I get closer I can see that it is too large to be the Henderson-McFadden place, but I look anyway. It turns out to be the Arcadia Cemetery, which I originally thought had some of our Henderson line, but turns out it didn't. So I sit there a minute, and try to think where it might be. The person who "discovered" it said it sat in a grove of trees, and I can see a small grove off in the distance, back the way I came, so off I go. As I approach, I see a little white sign that says Henderson Cemetery! No real road in, but hey, I'm an expert now, and just drive up the hill!

It is a very small cemetery and someone "found" it about 10 years ago. A lot of the stones where broken, or missing. They found some down in the creek below at the back. This person was a Henderson or McFadden descendent and had a list of who was buried here, so they pieced it together with what stones were still standing, and replaced the others. They cut out a lot of trees, put up a flag, and fenced it in around the back and sides. They still come by to keep it up. How wonderful! So - I found the Hendersons that I needed, but ended up taking pictures of everyone, because I think they are all related, and I have most of the information, so now I have photos to go with it.

Back into Jacksonville to take the pictures I need (it really is on the way to Springfield) and then on my way. I took a picture at the one address that I had for Ella Nora and Charles, but I'm not sure it is the house that stood there 100+ years ago - it looks too new. I also took pictures of the buildings at the NE corner of the Jacksonville Square, as our Smiley Hughes Henderson apparently built "the building on the NE corner of the square". My only problem is I don't know which building it is, and there is no identification on them. There really isn't just "a" corner - there are two roads that converge, and there are actually three buildings that could be "the one". Hopefully I can find out in the future, and then can label the correct building!

Now I come to Springfield, and the Archives Library. I am very hopeful that they will have CB's death certificate, that neither of the county courthouses had. I met Cheryl, another wonderfully helpful person, who spent an hour with me looking through microfilm rolls at death records, probate records, recorded wills (somehow different from probate - ?) and some other collection I can't remember, but no CB. She is really upset, but I tell her that this man really does not want to be located, or leave a paper trail behind. Again, no results.

On the way home, I remembered that I did not take a picture of the church at Middletown, which may be as close to a death certificate or cemetery picture that I can get, so I detoured slightly. Middletown is only about 20 minutes from Lincoln and another beautiful county road, so it is no hardship. The light is beautiful, and the fields are in the process now of being totally cut down, so I get to watch more buff John Deeres  running around the fields! So I drove around Middleton a little, took a couple of pictures, and said good-bye to CB Keller. I'm sorry I didn't find him this trip, but I haven't given up!

When I got back to the hotel, I looked at the divorce papers for CB and Ella Nora. Apparently he left December 31, 1899 and never came back. She said in the complaint that he had no permanent home, and because of that would be unable to care for the children (Homer was 12 and Ray was 6), so she was asking for sole custody. She also said that because he was a printer, and made good money, that he needed to pay child spousal support. The court agreed, but said it would set this up at a future date. At some point I may go look for those records, or I may just leave it at this. She didn't file until June 1905, and the divorce was granted November 1905, and it was soon after that when she and Roland Butcher were married. So that is the next search.

Tomorrow - Peoria's last visit!

Touring Woodford and Logan counties

I took yesterday off - from both the blog and the ancestor hunt. I drove to Springfield and played tourist for a while, which was fun. Then I came back "home" and read my book for the afternoon. Wonderful!

So today I got back on the CB Keller hunt, and cemetery search. I drove to Middletown and went to the Presbyterian church to see if they had any information. Services were over when I arrived, but there were a bunch of women in the kitchen preparing a pulled pork lunch to go along with their concert in the park across the street. At the end of my visit, I was invited to join them for both, but with the prospect of finding cemeteries, I politely turned down the invitation. Although it smelled delicious!

The woman I spoke with was very interested in my story, and called out to the whole room that I was visiting from Arizona, on the hunt for my great grandfather who once lived here. Everyone came over and started asking questions. It was great! They took me upstairs to the "office" and gave me a couple of ledger books to look through to see what I could find, although they doubted that I would find any record of a funeral. The ledgers dated back to 1905. The actual ledgers, without any protection. I was holding and reading what the clerk or Pastor, depending on the day, actually wrote with pencil or pen. I was shocked by the good condition of the papers, especially as apparently people just pick them up and read them.  Unfortunately, there was nothing recorded about any funerals, although the Pastor's name at the time was Reverend Rainey, who was the one named in the obituary, so that was good. I learned that the church was built in 1905, so it was definitely the one where CB's funeral was held. I went back down to the kitchen and told the women that I found nothing of any value. One said she had gone across the street and spoken with the pastor while I was upstairs, and he wanted my contact information. He is going to check his computer files when he goes in to the office tomorrow and will call or email me with whatever info he can find. They also suggested I look at the Menard county cemetery listings online, which, of course, I already have.  So hopefully the pastor will have something to offer. The other suggestion was to go to the library and ask for the microfilm of the Middletown Ledger for the date of the funeral. I had been told at the Lincoln library that the Ledger had not been microfilmed, but apparently it has. So I will follow that lead tomorrow.

I then headed out to Woodford County on the hunt for St. Mary of Lourdes Cemetery.  It was a beautiful drive through the country on a warm, sunny day.

 Buried there are Johann and Anna Mueller, parents of Mary Mueller, wife of Henry Schwinn. In other words, my great-great-great grandparents. Also there is George Schwinn, one of Henry and Mary Schwinn's children, brother to my great-grandmother Elizabeth. I knew they were listed in the index, but had no idea where in the cemetery they would be located. I found the cemetery very easily, and drove in and around one bend of the road and parked, Thankfully it is not a huge place, but still daunting not knowing where to look. I quickly eliminated one part as it looked far too new to bother with. So then I walked up and down rows, recognizing many family names that I have come across in various places during research. It was kind of fun to say "Oh, I recognize you - and there is your wife!" After about 30 minutes of wandering, I turned down the next row and there was Johann! WooHoooo! Not too bad. There was an empty space next to him that looked like a stone used to stand there, then next to that was George Schwinn! Down two more stones was Catherine Schwinn, another sibling of George and Elizabeth. Woot! What a find. I looked around quite a bit, but could not find Johann's wife, so I am assuming that she is the empty space next to his stone. I have uploaded pictures on the cemetery page.

Then I headed back to find Sand Ridge Cemetery again - the one I found last Sunday, but couldn't find a way in - and search for Henry Schwinn who is supposed to be buried there. I have studied the roads on the area, and know there is nothing that comes close to the cemetery, so i will, as my daughter said, hike in. So I find Spring Bay Rd. - actually only about 4 miles away, and I did it from memory without navigation aid! - and started driving down. Thankfully there are no cars behind me so I can putter along and see if there is an old turn in or something. Then I saw what once must have been a driveway up the hill, and just went for it. At the top was a fence with a gate that was not locked, so I stopped the car, got out and went in.  Obviously there used to be a road along the front, where the Name of the cemetery is raised above the fence, but now it is just overgrown bush and a straight drop off to the road below. It is a very small cemetery, and it didn't take long to see that there was not a stone for Henry, but I have a feeling that he is buried there. It is a beautiful setting, on top of a hill, with a view out to the Illinois River in the distance. So I said some words to Henry, and left it at that. I will pick up the hunt again at some future point, but for now this is good.

That is it for the day. This has now taken me almost 6 hours, and I did not bring a lunch with me, so I'm starving! Back to the hotel, food and blog. Hopefully there will be a few more tidbits tomorrow before I wind up my trip. I leave for home Wednesday morning.

Schwinns, Winters and Kellers

Well...where to start. Yesterday I did go to the Menard County courthouse, and looked for CB's death certificate, but no luck. This guy really doesn't want to have any solid, significant facts printed about him. On Sunday I will go to the Presbyterian Church in Middletown and see if I can find out any information from them. After that stop, I went on to Peoria to hunt out anyone else I could, and recheck the death records. Zero. Next stop - Woodford County, to research the Schwinns and Muellers.

I want to stop here for a moment and just say how beautiful most of these courthouses are. With the exception of Peoria's, which is an ugly cement square block building, all of them are the original old buildings, either brick or wood, with long graceful staircases and scrolled bannisters, doors that have etched glass insets in the top part, with the name of the department either painted on or etched in. The floors creak comfortably, and the air smells of old documents and excitement. Visiting these lovely old buildings of history has been one of the highlights of my trip.

So onto Woodford. I was greeted by a very nice woman in the county clerk's office, who was very helpful. While I was searching the huge register books, she was searching in their new computerized database. She actually came up with more than I did! I came up dead empty, and she found two death certificates of children from my Henry Schwinn's brother, Nick, and then a birth certificate of Henry Schwinn and Mary (Miller) Schwinn's eleventh child - a son. The only census I can find these guys in so far is the 1880 census, and this child was born in 1882, so I don't even have him listed. It lists their residence as Germantown, which is another thing I had been wondering about. Since they came from Germany, as had many in this area, why were they not living in Germantown? Not that they necessarily had to - I am not trying to pigeon-hole them - but it just made sense to me that they would be there. All of the other information I have says Worth Township. Well - Germantown is a Village in Worth Township, so they were actually living in both! Anyway, I get off topic easily. The birth certificate also lists him as a blacksmith, as does the 1880 census entry, so that seems pretty solid. As I was lamenting to this nice lady (I never did get her name, I'm sorry to say!) she suggested that I go to the Woodford Historical Society, which is across the street. But of course, they are only open on Wednesday and Friday afternoons, and this was Thursday, so that was that.

So this morning I went yet again to Peoria, but this time to the Library. They have a beautiful newly renovated library, with an entire floor devoted to genealogy and history. The two librarians there were very helpful, and I soon had a table full of books to look through. I searched through cemetery listings, marriages, births, deaths, tax rolls and probates for any hint of Muellers, Winters or Schwinns. (Kellers really didn't get there until the 1900's, and I have most of my direct line's info to that point, and what I don't have, I'd already searched for at the courthouse and come up blank). I even looked at the Coroners records for 1897-1904 to see if Gustav were there. He wasn't, but there were a lot of interesting deaths that occurred. A lot of Irish men in their mid-twenties, drunk and getting into brawls, or being run over by trains. Also a lot of children drowning in cisterns - ugh! Anyway, in all of those books, and my 2 1/2 hours of searching, I found an entry for Gustave Winters (Gustav and Elizabeth's son) in the St. Joseph's Cemetery, place of death Peoria State Hospital. So at least I found something.

Next it was back in the car and on to Eureka to go to the Woodford County Historical Society. The woman there - Barb - was terrific! She brought out book after book of marriages, births, deaths, cemetery indexes, and not just for Woodford County, but also Tazewell County, which is right "next door". She is the one who explained to me about Germantown being a village in Worth Township. She also had some very colorful language about a lot of things, and then would walk over to me and nudge my arm and say “ya know?” She was a hoot! So, we looked through all of these books, and did not find a single thing that I didn’t already have. Wait - not quite true. I now have the section, row and lot numbers for the people who I already knew were buried in the St. Mary of Lourdes Cemetery in Woodford County. So that will help.
So back to the car to call it quits for the day. But, then as I took out my cell and turned it back on and there was a voice mail from Peoria. It was the volunteer at the courthouse saying the records I had requested earlier in the week were ready for me to pick up. So back to Peoria I go.

I had requested copies of Elizabeth Schwinn and Gustav Winters marriage certificate (I hoped), Anna Mueller and Henry Schwinn’s marriage certificate (I hoped) and Louis Winter’s birth certificate. What I got was Anna Mueller to someone else – not my Anna Mueller – and a birth certificate for un-named baby boy Winter (turns out it is Louis) and a marriage certificate for Elizabeth Schwinn (the right one, with parents Henry and Mary Schwinn) marrying Adolphus Danner. Oops! Wrong groom. So now, it appears that Elizabeth was married once before Gustav. This marriage was dated 5 Jul 1887, and I have Elizabeth and Gustav as marrying around 1886 – so I guess my estimate was off!. Their first child that I know for certain was my grandmother in June of 1890, so there is still time in the timeline for Lizzie to get divorced, or widowed, and then marry Gustav.  The other interesting find was that on the birth certificate for Louis Winter, son and second child of Lizzie and Gustav, it lists the father’s name as August Winter. I have two entries from city directories that list him as Gustav A Winter, so I guess he used his middle name, August. Now I will search all over again using August Winter rather than Gustav.

All in all a successful day, I think. I met some great people, and at least made a little progress. If I have learned nothing else this week, I have learned to be at peace with this slow progression, and know that eventually I will find out a little more about these people, but probably not today!

Some thoughts on the Howard/Keller union

I came across a couple of interesting facts yesterday, which is helping piece together how and when Ella Nora Howard and Charles Byron Keller came to get married. First of all, when I got the marriage certificate for Juliet Keller, the oldest of their children, it states that her birthplace is Lincoln, Nebraska. She was born in July of 1879; Ella and CB were married in October of 1878. Those dates are close enough together that I began to think maybe they got married in Nebraska. Then, when I was checking the family tree last night, a new fact "leaf" (one of Family Tree Maker's ways of telling you there is information online for this person) popped up on Ella, and guess what it was? The Nebraska state census in 1878, showing the entire Howard family living in Midland, Lancaster County, Nebraska!  So there - I think - is the final piece pointing to the fact that Ella and CB were married in Nebraska, and that's why nothing shows up here in Morgan County records! So, I'll start working on that later tonight when I'm back from Peoria.

The other piece of information about these two has puzzled me for a while. The fact that at his death CB was living in Middletown suggests that he and Ella were at least separated, and I found it rather interesting that she didn't attend his funeral. Now I know that she remarried, for the 1910 census shows her married to Roland Butcher and living in Oklahoma City with Homer and Ray still at home, and Juliet and her husband and kids living with them. What I didn't look carefully at before was the column that asks for the number of years of present marriage. They had been married for 5 years in 1910, which means that she and CB were divorced, which led him to move to Middletown. Aha! I love solving puzzles!

Those were two of the items that kept bothering me yesterday, and now that I've had a chance to really look at them they are making sense. So I need to add divorce records to my list when I go back to Jacksonville. But, today it is on to Peoria (after a quick stop in Petersburg to check for CB's death certificate!) and continue the search for the elusive Gustav Winter, my dad's mother's father.

On the hunt for CB Keller - Wednesday 9/28/11

Well, after yesterday's find of the obituary for CB, I felt sure that I would find his death certificate today, and that would lead to other finds. Well, in the world of genealogy, of course it is never that easy. I went to the Logan County Courthouse this morning (it was open!) and searched for his death certificate. Nothing anywhere in any index for Charles B. Keller. OK. The very nice woman in the clerk's office said that the genealogy specialist, Tanya, would be in at about 3:30, and did I want to leave her a message and have her call me. Of course I said yes, and wrote out a short note with all the information.

After that I hightailed it to Jacksonville, to do some searching in that courthouse. I was greeted with great enthusiasm when I said I had a number of birth, death and marriage dates to look up, and was let in to the room with all of the old registers, and told to search for the marriage information I wanted. When I was done, I was to go down to the next counter and ask about the birth and death records. I started with Charles and Ella, since he was on my mind, and guess what? Neither of their names are in the date-appropriate register. Go Figure! So I guess they weren't married in Morgan County after all. Am I ever going to find this man?! So I went on through my list, and found 2 couples' information, two of the Keller daughters - the two that actually had shown up for CB's funeral, according to the obituary. So I requested those. Then on to the birth/death desk, and more searching. The records start at 1878, so not many of the births I was looking for were even going to have a record, so I started with death records. I found 3 death records including - again - 2 of the Keller children, who died in infancy. So I was able to piece together some missing information there.

About this time, a woman comes up to me and asks if I am doing genealogy research. I say, yes I am, and she starts talking a mile a minute about deed records and probate records, and did she hear the name Keller, and she was a Keller, too...!! Well, somewhere in her line are Kellers, and she thinks they may be related, since they were in Pennsylvania at one pint, and that's where (according to census records) CB's father was born. So she grabs me and hauls me back into the room with all the old registers and gives me an hour long lesson on the benefits of land deed research, and we find Ella's father, Charles Henry Howard, making a ton of land transactions in a span of 10-15 years. I have to go back to the courthouse end of the week or Monday to get those copies. Then she drags me upstairs to the probate department, and we search for probate records. OMG I am so tired and my feet hurt from standing for hours, but I hang in there. I ended up finding Belle Howard's probate information (Ella Nora Howard's sister), administered by her nephew Homer M. Keller (my grandfather's brother), and there was some interesting stuff there, so I got some copies. I thank her effusively, and we exchange email and snail-mail addresses, and I race back to my car that I parked at 10:45 in a 2 hour parking zone, praying there is no ticket, as it is now 2:45. Yay! No ticket.

Next I go to the Jacksonville Genealogy Society to ask them some questions and hopefully get some more direction. Well, the lovely 90 year old woman with her Life Alert pendant dangling from her neck, can't hear me well enough to understand what I'm asking, so I finally just ask about the Jacksonville East Cemetery. She pulls out a book with the map that I have - only this one has different names for the "roads" within the cemetery, and they are ringing bells. So I write down the correct directions, and head on my way. I get to the Cemetery, and find the place where everyone is supposed to be, and lo and behold there is a large, broken stone marking the Howard family area. Excitement builds and I rush back to the car to get the camera. As I walk around and look, I see that the broken family monument, and a couple of other broken or sunken stones, then two that are legible (one for Essie Belle Howard - Ella Nora's sister - and one for M E Howard - Ella Nora's mother) is all that is there. That's it. Ella Nora, her sons William and Lawrence, and a few others are recorded as being buried there, but nothing to show for them. There is an obvious family area, with what was once probably corner posts with a chain surrounding the graves, but now has become broken and sunken, and the land in-between has become hilly and broken itself. I will have to go back one more time and find someone at the cemetery to help me - if that is possible! (I have loaded pictures on the cemetery page.)


So at that point - 5:30 - I head back to Lincoln. As I get into the car, I realize I never turned my cell back on after leaving the courthouse. I do so now, and there is a message from Tanya at the Logan County courthouse. She nicely explains that she has done some additional searching, and cannot find any reference to Charles B. Keller anywhere, but did I know that half of Middletown is in Menard County? So I should contact them for a death certificate, because by 1909 there really should be one. Hooray I say, there is yet another lead! No, I didn't know that Middletown, with it's grand population of 324, was split into two different counties. So, tomorrow, I will start with the Menard County courthouse and see what they say. Everyone cross your fingers!

There are more clues to other parts of the Howard and Keller lives that I have gleaned from today's finds, but I am too tired, and this post is already waaaaay to long, to add them in tonight. I will think more about them and let you all know tomorrow.

Tuesday - Logan County

Originally I did not have this county on my list of areas to research, but after more thinking, I decided that since my great-grandfather, C.B. Keller, was buried here, it might be a good idea to see what information there was here. Since I wasn't sure what I was looking for, and figured the courthouse wouldn't help as he died in Morgan county, I went to the library. The librarian set me up with some of the cemetery registers, then interrupted me to ask if I had his death date. When I said that I did, she set me up with the microfilm machine and the roll of film from the Lincoln Courier in the date range that included his death. I started looking at the day he died, Oct 18, 1909, and went forward. I figured it would be in the paper a day or two after the fact, as he was only buried here, had not died here. I was on the page for Friday of that week (he had died on Monday), about to give up when I saw "Death Record - Charles B. Keller who worked for about three years in the Ledger office, died last Monday in Middletown, at 4:30 pm after an illness of several months." I just about stood up and cheered, but remembered in time that I was in a library! The rest of the article said that the funeral was held at the Presbyterian Church of Middletown, under the charge of the Middletown lodge of the Knights of Pythias (shades of my father's memorial service past in front of my eyes - sorry, inside joke, unless you were there), and Rev. Rainey had "charge of the service".  The only family that attended were his son Homer Keller, and daughters Juliette and Edna, and their families.

That takes me down a new road. Obviously he and Ella Nora, his wife, are separated at this point (divorced?), and he has been living in Middleton, working at the newspaper office. I do have reference from one of the city directories that lists him as a printer, so I guess that is what he did at the Ledger. So then, my brain says, now go to the courthouse and get a death certificate. He did die in Logan county, after all. The courthouse was closed. So then, my brain says, go find the Presbyterian church in Middleton and see if they still have any records. I do, and the church is there, but closed.

So, since it was then 3:30, and too late to get to either Jacksonville or Peoria, I went back to the hotel, and began chronicling my day. Tomorrow I will go to the Logan County Courthouse (open M, W, F), then on into Jacksonville to work on the Morgan county folks, and find someone who can get me more information about the Jacksonville East Cemetery. Hopefully I will have more information tomorrow.

Monday - Peoria

Obviously I didn't post on Monday, so I will post now for Monday, then later for today. I started out yesterday heading to Peoria to the courthouse. I spent 2 hours looking through old, dusty birth, death and marriage registers. I was looking for information on the Schwinn line, the Mueller line and the Winter line. My most "slippery" people are Henry Schwinn (father to Elizabeth Schwinn, who is my father's maternal grandmother), Gustav Winter (my father's maternal grandfather) who are both German-born, and on my dad's father's side Charles B. Keller (his grandfather) and Charles Henry Howard (his father's maternal grandfather). Hmm...all men...go figure!

The Schwinn's and Winter's were no where to be found in any of the registers, until the last book. I found our (I think) Louis Schwinn in the birth register, and ordered his birth certificate. I then found Anna Mueller (mother to Elizabeth Schwinn) in the last death register, and ordered her copy. Then I found Elizabeth Schwinn in the last marriage register, in the bride's section of course, when I had not found Gustav Winter (her husband) in the same register in the groom's section. So of course I ordered a copy of that record as well. I guess it really wasn't too bad a result for 2 hours. Plus, I didn't get a ticket  from my expired parking meter!

Then off I went to the Springdale Cemetery to find the family plot containing my grandmother (Louise Keller), my great-grandmother (Elizabeth Schwinn Winter) and her 3 brothers and cousin. I stopped at the office and spoke with the woman I had communicated with via email, and got a map as to their locations. I drove down the hill, parked, retrieved my "cemetery bag" from the back seat and went off to photograph, record and do rubbings. Only to find that Louis, John and William Schwinn are there, along with Marie Kraker (the cousin), but no Louise Keller nor Elizabeth Schwinn. Long story short (after multiple backs and forths with me and cemetery staff) - both are buried there, and neither has a headstone. So I am really batting zero with cemeteries this trip! Then of course there is the question of do I now foot the bill to get them both headstones? I'll have to ponder that one.

After that, I decided to try one more time. Since I was already in the Peoria area, why shouldn't I check out the Sand Ridge Cemetery, where (supposedly) Henry Schwinn is buried? So I figured out how to get there, and off I went. As I was driving down Spring Bay Rd, I had the same eerie feeling of driving through the cornfields on Sunday. But, as I turned a corner I could see the cemetery on top of the rise of the road. Only problem - no driveway or road to turn into. I pulled over and re-checked the map - no other roads going into it, no other road parallel to the one I am on that has an entrance to the ***** cemetery! I went back and forth on that section of road probably 5 or 6 times, but to no avail. There really is no way into the cemetery. So...I gave up for the day. I went back to the hotel and did laundry.

I did add Springdale Cemetery to the cemetery page, and posted pictures of the Schwinn bothers' headstones.

Cemetery Day

My goal today was to find the Evans Cemetery in Middletown, and hopefully find the resting place of Charles B. Keller, my great grandfather. Well, I had a lovely drive along some beautiful county roads, through miles upon miles of corn fields, but no cemetery. I double checked directions from Google, my iPhone and Phoebe - my navigation system on the car - and tried from 2 different directions, but still came up at the same corn field. This cemetery supposedly sits at 470 County Rd. 1100 N, but I sure can't find it. I'll need further help tomorrow - the county courthouse for this county is just down the road from me.

My next goal was to get groceries, which I didn't do yesterday (I drove around town instead, ogling houses and admiring kids riding bikes all over everywhere). That was relatively easy, and I even managed a bag of non-perishables for the food drive that the high school was doing.
Next was to take a test drive to Jacksonville, which I was figuring would be about 90 minutes. Well, it took an hour, so I was really happy! Then I though I might as well take a look at Jacksonville East Cemetery, since it was Sunday and everything else I needed was closed. So - I found it! Not bad being 1 for 2 on the cemetery search. So I went in and took out my Jacksonville East folder, clipboard and camera and went in search of all the Hendersons, Howards and Kellers that are buried there. Couldn't find a one! I have a very old copy of the cemetery plan, and it really doesn't match up to the roads that are there, so I couldn't tell what was what. After an hour of wandering and reading headstones I decided that I need to come back after I have had some help finding section N303 on the map. So I will find someone somewhere that can point me in the right direction. Unfortunately, there is no office building on site, so I'll start at the courthouse.

 
So that was my day. It was productive to a point, but not that satisfying. Now I am going through all my lists and making a game-plan for the week. Hopefully I will have better news as the days go by.

Day 6 of Illinois Journey

I reached Lincoln IL today about 1:30 pm. Thank goodness - I am in a place to stay for a while! I have unloaded the car, unpacked my things and settled into my suite quite happily. I am now on a mission to find a grocery store to stock up on lunch and dinner items (hot breakfast served each day by the hotel) then hoof it across the parking lot to Cracker Barrel for dinner tonight. I really quite like my room - it will do nicely as a home away from home!
Sitting room area...

Kitchen area...

and Bedroom space...

So I think I'll do OK!

Now that I'm here and settled, it is on to the meat of the trip. I will review all of my files - which are many - and figure out my plan of attack for the week. I will probably go visit some cemeteries tomorrow, as it may rain Monday and Tuesday. If I do that, and get some information as to death dates, etc., then I can move on to county records' offices and start finding some documents for these people. I am planning at least one day in Springfield at the state archives for some information, but much of the stuff I need pre-dates the state recording years, so will have to be found at the county level. Plus I need to find where C.B. Keller (my dad's father's father) and Gustav Winter (my dad's mother's father) are buried so that I can begin their searches. I need a place to start and work backward! I'll post as I gather information. So...here I go!

Day 5 Illinois Journey

Day 5 finds me in St. Clair, MO, just outside St. Louis. It is a nice little town, has a very small town feel in the area where I am staying. Kids walking along the railroad tracks on the way home from school, wide front porches on most homes, a Main Street with local businesses open, and people standing on the boardwalks outside chatting - mostly about the satellite that is falling! "Do we treat it like a tornado? Should we go to the cellar? I'm not doing anything unless it hits me on the head!" are some of the comments I heard. I went to the little cafe in town called Lewis Cafe. Built in 1937, it has been owned and run by three generations of the same family the whole time. They raise their own Angus cattle for their beef, and butcher it themselves as needed, so the meat is always fresh. Very old-style, with stools at the counter and booths against the wall. I got a salad, hamburger and piece of pie for $9! It was excellent! Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me when I went, or I would have snapped some pictures. I want to go back down Main Street in the morning, so I'll get a shot of Lewis Cafe.

Yesterday I said that this morning I would drive over the rainbow bridge outside of Baxter Springs, and I did. It was really cool to think of the traffic going over it one direction at a time, and the other direction having to sit there and wait their turn.

Pretty cool, eh?

I drove quite a bit of Route 66 today, wanting to stop at two places especially, but couldn't find them! Trying to drive this road by yourself is very difficult as it turns out. You definitely need a navigator! For example, at one point this morning I was trying to drive while reading this: "Stay with Rangeline (which becomes Madison), through the light at McArthur, turn right immediately onto 4th, go left at Jefferson, then right on Broadway (at school). At Webb, jog left, then right to stay with Broadway, which curves and merges with Main. Continue into Carterville, turn left on Pine, bear right at the cemetery, then after 2 1/2 miles (now on Leggett Rd.) turn right to cross over..." You get the point. ARGH! I need someone to be reading this to me as I drive. So, on the way back, I will find 4 Women on the Route and the Eisler Bros store in Riverton, Kansas. I finally made it to Joplin - though I'm really not quite sure what road I was on - and then found I-44, and went the rest of the way on that. As I came into Joplin, I was braced to see the devastation left from the tornado, but I guess I was on the wrong side. There was, however, a large relief center set up in a vacant parking lot. It was put together using circus-style tents, and some of the flaps were open so that you could see thousands of crates stacked up in one tent (I'm assuming with food and other supplies) and, in another, rows and rows of cots with blankets and pillows on them. There were large signs on the sides of the tents saying "Disaster Relief". How horrible to be in the position to need that type of help, but on the flip side thank goodness they are there.

Very nice day, all in all. This has been a fun trek, but I will be glad to arrive in Lincoln, IL tomorrow and stay in one place for a while. "Til then, Happy Fall, Y'All!!

Day 4 Illinois Journey

Hello from Baxter Springs, Kansas! This morning I was in Oklahoma City in pouring rain, and tonight I am in Baxter Springs with a lovely cool, clear evening sky. How marvelous! The drive here was relatively easy, especially once it stopped raining. The countryside was full of trees, farms and fields of cows and horses. The sky was beautiful as well, with changing clouds, and the sun peeking out every now and then. Lots of fun silters - that's sun rays filtering through the clouds, for those of you who don't know Caz-speak!

I drove more of Route 66 today, and found some lovely two lane country roads winding through fields, and found the rainbow bridge outside of Baxter Springs:

Isn't it lovely? I missed the turn to go the direction that lets you drive over it, so Just had to drive past and get photos. Tomorrow I will turn at the right point and drive over it!

I am staying at a little bed and breakfast in Baxter Springs - The Little Brick Inn - which is situated above the restaurant Cafe on the Route. The building that they are in used to be the bank, and it was once robbed by Jesse James. Imagine that! The Cafe has been on Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, and is really good! I had dinner there this evening, and I get breakfast in the morning. Can hardly wait!

 Nothing else earth shattering. Very nice, quiet day. I drove around this charming little community, stopped in at the museum where they have a wonderful collection of Civil War stuff - uniforms, weapons, documents - it was amazing. There also is a log cabin out in the back, and a tank from WW II.  An interesting mix, sort of like the community! I also went to the Route 66 information center, across the street from the Inn, and signed my name on their wall. They have thousands of names on their wall, some from Europe but most from the US - all people who wanted to "travel the Route".  Now my name is added for posterity!

Well - that's it for tonight. Tomorrow it is on to St. Clair, MO, the last stop before Illinois. Getting closer!

Day 3 of Illinois Journey

Today I drove along some of the old Route 66 from Amarillo eastward!

Sad to say, it was nothing special! after about an hour of ruts in the road, dead gas stations and stores, I gave up and went back to I-40! I know there are more interesting parts yet to come, and will hop on and off tomorrow on the way to Kansas. I have three or four places earmarked to check out.

The change from Texas to Oklahoma was almost as dramatic as from New Mexico to Texas. This amazes me - the geology of the land does not know where one state stops and the next begins! However, there really is a difference. Oklahoma has rich, red earth, which contrasts with the green of fields and trees. There are a lot of farms, houses and small ranches on the road, which is new. The area has small hills to break up the landscape - gone is the flat go-on-for-ever land!

I stopped at a rest stop for a stretch break after about 2 hours, then headed on the way - total trip took about 4 1/2 hours. Much better today! Today's motel is nothing special - a nice, clean room, but without any personality, so no pictures of it. There are, however, some incredible homes in the area:

Of course I had to drive around and drool!!

The Webinar on Illinois that I spoke about yesterday was actually really good. Packed with information - so much that I couldn't take notes, or I missed what the guy was saying. They are emailing out a PDF and copy of the video to everyone tomorrow, so I'll have all of the resources that were mentioned. Most of it was a review for me, as far as internet sources and county/state repositories and information. However the section on Illinois history was great, as was the review of the different regions, and where most of the population came from for each region. There also were a few new internet sources I didn't know about, so I am eager to get the PDF and explore!

So that's it for tonight. I am off to watch some TV, then sleep! Tomorrow - Baxter Springs, Kansas!