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.