Genealogy Fun in Eastern Nebraska

Last week was a fun week for two cousins who had not been able to spend time together for years. I traveled east to Hastings, Nebraska to visit my cousin Joy for a week and to take in some fun and exciting activities near that area. After a fond greeting, our first plans of the week were made over dinner at one of her local restaurants...an awesome neighborhood restaurant the OK Cafe is full of antiques, displays to bring back childhood memories, gifts, and a unique large scale model train that travels the entire ceiling area of the restaurant on rails that criss-crossed the seating area and run along the walls. The atmosphere just makes you want to get busy writing your own family history! It was quite enjoyable and we had an awesome homemade meal while laughing and planning our week.

OK Cafe: Hastings, Nebraska-good food, fun establishment!

 Shopping, of course, was on our schedule and the very first day we ventured out to see what we could spend money on! Fresh flowers and garden plants filled the back of our vehicle as well as pots, dirt and garden spinners...mine all had to spend the week in her back yard waiting for the trip back home to western Nebraska. We bought genealogy books, history books, movies and just fun trinkets as we skipped from store to store and was it fun! By days end on the first day we were worn out but we tackled day two and survived more of the same with additional plants and more fun meals together. A trip to the Adams County court house gleaned an old marriage record for my husband's family and rounded out day two of fun. We were getting closer to Friday, the first day we were to head to Grand Island to attend the Nebraska State Genealogy Society 2012 Conference.

 My cousin was anxious to learn more about genealogy and getting her feet wet in the work of tracing some of her father's family history so off we headed to Grand Island on Friday. It is usually only about a 25 minute drive from Hastings to Grand Island but that Friday morning the fog was so bad that you could not see 20 feet, some of the thickest I have ever seen but we took it slowly and made it to the Conference in time to set up our vendor table and visit with friends before the opening activities. We really enjoyed meeting new people and seeing some old friends too. Day one featured  several presentations by Laura Prescott which were quite informative, she was a good presenter and injected some family humor which made her presentations very down to earth. My partner with the You Go Genealogy Girls, Ruby Coleman, received the Society award for Nebraska Genealogist of the Year over the noon luncheon so we took photos and handed out congrats to her for her nice award. The afternoon rounded out with a very interesting presentation by Catherine Renschler about a large glass plate photo collection, The Hines Collection that had been donated to the Adams County Historical Society...it was super interesting and very well presented. If you happen to have had ancestors from the Adams County or SE region of Nebraska, be sure to check out these photos as they are online and the Society needs help identifying many of them. By days close it was time to hurry home to tend the puppy dog again and make more plans!

Ruby Coleman- Nebraska Genealogist of the Year

Laura Prescott, our Keynote Presenter

 Saturday was the second day of the Genealogy Conference and we headed back to Grand Island, this time on a bright and beautiful morning's drive. We had a great time listening to more presentations by Laura Prescott, enjoyed lunch with friends at the conference and we went home with lots of reading material and books, some older publications and some new ones too. Hopefully all the newly acquired knowledge from the Conference and our new reading material will make us smarter as we move forward with our family ancestor quests. We concluded that we need all the help we can get. We left the Conference with new ideas and the hopes that we could spend more time together attending fun family history gatherings in the future.

In between all the shopping, learning and eating we also managed to get cousin Joy's new computer all set up and running so she will be in top form as she moves forward with her family research. It was quite a job for two cousins who are basically technologically challenged but we got the job done and it all worked. We managed to eat a whole triple berry pie between us while setting up her computer so I know the sustenance made us smarter and helped us along!

With the shopping and Conference over it was time to turn our thoughts to plans for the rest of the week. We had discussed beforehand what other things we wanted to possibly do. After a day of just staying home, resting, visiting, spending time with her lonesome old puppy...and counting our money to see if we could get on down the road (gals can spend lots of money on fun and frivolity), we finally decided on our ventures for the time I had left to visit.  Willa Cather's home and the historical sights of Red Cloud, Nebraska would be our first stop and then on to Beatrice, Nebraska to see the Homestead National Monument and view the original 4 pages of the Homestead Act which had just gone on display and then we would tour one of our mutual family cemeteries in Blue Springs, Nebraska.

Join me tomorrow with part 2 of "Genealogy Fun in Nebraska" as I tell of our fun trip and include pictures of the original Homestead Act and our journey back to visit several of our ancestors final resting places. I look forward to seeing you here soon!

Trails of My Imagination

Welcome to Richard Ellis as a new Blogger!

"Trails of My Imagination" is the title of a new genealogy blog by my friend Richard Ellis. I invite you to check out his new blog and join in as a follower!

Dick has been doing genealogy for about ten years and since his retirement he has had more time over the last five years to devote to his passion. He is a Nebraska native who was a physical therapist for 51 years while he looked forward to more free time to follow the trails of his ancestors. At the present he is mostly working on his ELLIS and ADKINS  direct lineage. Dick is a regular attendee at our local Heritage Seekers Genealogy and History society and is always eager to learn more about genealogy and history and now he has joined the world of genealogy blogging to share his family history and hopefully to meet new family members who would like to welcome another "cousin" to their ranks.

Please stop by his new blog "Trails of My Imagination"  and welcome Richard Ellis to our world of genealogy and historical story telling! Here is the link to his blog.

Poetess in the Family, Part Three.....Ruth Harvey Douglass

In this third installment of the stories and memories of Ruth Harvey Douglass you will read some more of the heartfelt poetry that Ruth wrote. Her "Canyons of Wyoming"   is particularly meaningful to all of us as most of our family has visited the old homestead areas near Albin and LaGrange, Wyoming and marveled at some of the beautiful scenic lands which Ruth recalled in her poetry.

She did such a good job of putting her memories down on paper and added many of the little details about her parents: James William Harvey and Fannie Lee Harvey that made them come to life from the pages. Her siblings: Elmer, Myrtle, James, Earl, and Mary all played important roles in her life and are fondly recalled in her memories. I hope everyone has enjoyed reading about a  little bit of the history of Wyoming as told through the recollections of Ruth.

Part three of  Ruth's memories and poetry:

‘Yesterday’

Could I but walk again the paths of yesterday

Would they be the same or would they have changed?

My childhood footsteps blown away or are they still there

Among the flowers as I ran along that day?

Would trail herds still come up the hill

From ranches near LaGrange or are these, too, dust?

Do saddles still hang on the old corral

And cowboys still sing in the bunkhouse there?

For these were the boys of the old frontier

Clayton and Henry and Sharkey, too.

A cowboy named Curley who was the best

At story telling…I see him yet.

Sixty years have passed since then, and things

Would not be the same for all are blown away

In the wind.

We had very few Christmases at our house but one year mother said we could get a tree, provided we got a pine tree as she didn’t like the smell of cedar.  So Earl and I went after a tree.  We then had nothing to trim it with, but Myrtle had sent a box and there were handkerchiefs for all, so we draped them over the bunches of needles.  For me she had made a sewing box out of cardboard covered with green flannel with needles and pins in the underside of the lid and a little pair of shears.  How pretty it was and very neatly made.  One other year she sent me a doll which I had until after I was married and the children broke it.  I don’t think our mother ever had time to make a gift with seven of us to look after.  One Christmas the folks gave me a sled.

I remember a time mother and I sat under a pine tree along the rim of the canyon and the wind sang in the tree tip.  My mother began to cry and I asked why and she told me she was sad…had to leave her home State of Iowa, her friends, her married daughter, and the grave in the cemetery in which our baby sister, Dora, had been placed.  She never did get to see that grave again.  She was so sad it’s no wonder I remember so well the sighing of the wind.

James William Harvey and Fannie Lee Harvey, the parents of Leila Ruth Harvey Douglass, our Poetess

Along about then, Elmer decided he wanted to buy a steam plow and do plowing for others to help pay for it.  He went to Denver and bought a large outfit which cost a lot of money.  He also had to hire extra help to run it.  Then the Andersons decided to buy their own as they had so much land under cultivation and they too, plowed for others so this cut the profit Elmer had counted on making.  He still owed quite a bit on it and soon came in danger of losing the whole thing so Ed came to the rescue and sold his place to finish paying for the steam plow.  That ended the time of the steam plow and last I knew, it was sitting in a field, a pile of rusted metal.

Once when the men were moving the big steam engine, John Adcock wouldn’t let them cross on any of his land, causing them to have to go along the edge of a deep canyon with danger to themselves as well as the machine.  When Mother found that out, she was mad and she said “you just wait.  He’ll want a favor some time”.  And sure enough, one day he came to get her to go help them with a new baby and sickness and my mother said “No”.  This was very unusual, for my mother went where ever she was needed and many babies were brought into this life by her and without any Doctor.

I don’t know if I have told of the wild flowers in the canyons.  There were harebells of blue, sego lilies, a sand cherry that was about the size of a man’s thumb.  They grew close to the ground and had blossoms like plums.  The cherries tasted like chokecherries, only sweeter.  Another flower grew about eighteen or twenty inches tall and had light green leaves which would stick onto your dress without a pin.  These flowers were white, a white poppy that you couldn’t pick due to the white milk that ran out of the stems and was very sticky.  One bank was covered with fern and we called it “Fern Bank”.  Mary and I used to sit there in the shade.  A turtledove had her nest close by. 
She never was there much only to lay an egg and hatch one bird, then that little bird hatched the rest of the eggs she had laid.  A modern day babysitter.  She never was afraid of us.  In draws where water would run after a rain, nearly always we could find yellow sweet peas.  There were ground cherries, too, but they always grew where you didn’t want them.  Once we had a very hard rain and hail, water ran deep in all the draws and into the canyons.  After several days I heard a loud noise and the edge of the canyon had caved off.  It was a good thing I wasn’t there looking over the edge.

‘The Canyons of Wyoming’

The incredible stillness in the canyon depths is only broken by

The soft songs of unseen birds or a few pebbles, falling from some

crevice to the floor below.

Beneath the protection of overhanging ledges the ancient ones who

lived here so long ago walk again through these canyons.  Near

the spring of soft, cooling water the smoke from cooking fires

rose upward to mingle with the white clouds that drifted

overhead, proof that this quiet and peaceful place was once

populated with dreamers such as me.

I Love you, canyons of Wyoming…….

Over yonder butte black clouds form with distant lightning and thunder.

Sheets of rain are falling and prairies are running deep with water.

The distant roar tells that it is dashing down through the canyons

in its race to the floor below, only to disappear into the sand. 

As suddenly as they came, the storm clouds vanish

and the sun emerges to guild every blade of grass,

every pine tree with fairy jewels.  Birds sing again,

white clouds float across the sky to fade away into the distance.

I Love you, canyons of Wyoming…….

In the coolness of the evening, soft winds blow and a million

stars blossom in the skies…seems we merely need reach up to

touch them.  The call of a night bird and sounds of coyotes in

the far distance breaks the stillness.  Where once I roamed there

is now lonely emptiness and the stillness is only broken by my

memories.

I Love You, Canyons of Wyoming

We had quite a few horses by now…some good ones and some not so good.  One big black that was Elmer’s never could be counted on for he might do anything.  Once he rose up in the air and almost hit me as he came down.  He did hit a little fluffy duck of mother’s and that big old hoof flattened the duck out as thin as paper.  Old Dan broke his leg going through a deep snow drift and had to be shot.  Ed had a beautiful brown mare he was keeping to raise colts and someone stole her and we never did find her.  Ed had a horse named Frank, too, that we could ride or drive.  He never could be trusted either!  Elmer bought a big black stallion named Rex and we liked to watch him run in circles around Elmer on a long chain.  Earl didn’t have much of these things and left home to take a homestead near Slater, Wyoming where he got his start.  Ed also left and located near Earl.  Ed had married Helen Douglass and Earl married Hilda Larson.  Elmer married Lou Edminston.

I have, no doubt, missed many of the things that should be written about.  We could still find buffalo skulls on the prairies, we could tell the difference by the shape and the short horns.  There were no antelope or deer around by 1904 and the men used to go over north of “Old 66” to hunt them.

Uncle Pete killed a deer with a single shot Winchester rifle, 44 caliber, and he was probably a hundred yards away.  He missed the first shot and the deer ran over to the canyons southwest of where we lived.  Pete, Ed Anderson and his brother, followed it and killed it about a mile west of John McMann’s house.  The second shot hit the horn and the deer turned around and came right back by Uncle Pete, which gave him time to reload that single shot rifle and the third shot he got him right through the heart.  That was the last deer that was ever seen in the country around Albin.

I remember my Grandpa Lee. (1)  He was well known to the early residents of the Pine Bluffs area as he was one of the very earliest settlers and endured all of the harsh privations and hardships that always come to new countries.  He saw this section develop from a land of buffalo grass and roaming herds of cattle to a modern farming community with rural mail routes, telephones, truck transportation and so forth.  He came to Wyoming in 1889 and settled on a homestead twenty miles north of Pine Bluffs.

Grandpa raised a lot of chickens and he wouldn’t let Granny kill one.  If she got to eat one she killed it when he went to town and she put the feathers in a pail back of the stove and buried the head in the manure pile.  If Pete and grandma wanted a hen to cook, Pete would take the gun and yell “an old hen crowed”, and would run out and shot one, as Grandad said it was bad luck for a hen to crow.  A pretty sneaky way to get a chicken, wasn’t it?

Granny had to use white pepper for if she used black pepper, Grandpa wouldn’t eat the food.  I many ways he was so unkind and so disagreeable but Granny was always so serene and happy…She never acted as though she heard what he said.  She had red hair and brown eyes.  She told me that in those early days the blizzards were so bad that they set posts on the way to the barn from the house and had a w ore on them so they could hold on to it to get from the house to the barn as they had to walk with their backs to the storm and couldn’t see where they were going.  The snow was so fine and the wind so fierce it would just take your breath.

The incident of the Grey wolf, as told to me by Granny Lee.  It was getting dark and there was a terrible blizzard outside.  Pete had gone to the barn t o feed the horses and on the way back to the house, a big grey wolf chased him clear to the door.*  As Pete dashed through the door, he slammed it shut on the wolf’s head.  In the excitement they never thought of the gun and Grandad was beating the wolf on the head with a stick of stove wood.  The wolf finally jerked loose and got away.  Considering this happened in the year 1889, it could have been possible and I have no reason to doubt Granny Lee’s word.  At that time they were living in a dugout on one of the Anderson places before they filed on the homestead.

*(Earl Harvey, Ruth’s brother, said the wolf chased the dog to the door, not Uncle Pete).

A trip to Aunt Mary Jackson’s house at Bayard, Nebraska.

As mother had not seen her sister for so long, the family decided to go visit them.  All of us were packed into Grandpa Lee’s covered wagon with Granny sitting right in the middle of the wagon bed.  Grandpa and Pete were on the seat, so mother, Mary and I were filling g in the rest of the spaces along with food and extra cots to sleep on.  It must haven been late in the fall…November or December, because it was cold.  Of course, Grandad had his usual nit so was feeling pretty spry.  We were warm in the wagon but cramped.

We drove all day and when we came to Pumpkin Creek it was frozen over and Grandad yelled, “Look Out, Old Maude is going to Jump”!  She did and when the wheels hit the ice they broke through and a cot fell over and hit Mary on the ear and she let out a blood curdling yell.  We stayed all night with some people and it was so cold that the telephone wires sang all night and I didn’t sleep much.  We all slept on the floor.

We went through a range of hills and a place called “Wright’s Gap.”  Only one wagon could go through at a time, so Pete walked through to see if the other side was clear before we started through.  Mary and I walked and the tracks through the sandstone were worn down until they were hub deep by so many wagons going through for so many years.

I can’t remember much more about the trip, although we did see frozen wild pumpkin vines along the creek and the prairie grass was the color of dead grass and clean as though it had been swept with a broom.  We spent Christmas with them and all of us went to the Church to hear the program and see the tree.   No gifts were on the tree but each got a mosquito-bar sock of treats, some were red and some were green.

Aunt Mary had quite a few children so we had a lot of fun.  Going at that time of the year was pretty risky but we got home without any trouble.  I can’t remember all of the Jackson children's names but there was J.D., Grace, Daphne, and Merle.  J.D. passed away many years ago and as far as I know, all live around Bayard except a baby, Helen, who was born after we were there and she lives in California.  Grace married a Robert Cleveland.  She also taught school for several years.  These children always loved us and all came that could, when Mother and Father passed away, showing a bond of relationship that can’t be equaled.  J.D. was only named J.D., so in later years he named himself John David.  He said he didn’t see why anyone would name a baby just two initials…J.D..

About 1906 Wad and Mary Robinson came from Iowa to homestead and they were friends of our Grandparents so they lived with them until they had a place.  Wad was a great hand to pretend he was sick so he could lie in bed.   He was always asking his wife to bake him a hot apple pie before he got up.  Wad and Mary had a parrot called “Teddy” and they left him with our Grandparents a lot.  He said a lot of things like ‘Teddy wants a strawberry” or a cracker.  Took a bath and washed his feed in his water cup.  Once when the men went to town and came home, Pete said, “Do you know what we forgot?  We forgot the tobacco.”  And Teddy started that silly laugh of his and repeated “They forgot the tobacco.”

Granny Lee used to tell me many things about their lives and the trip they made to the Jackson Hole Country from Iowa in a covered wagon in 1895. (1)  I was but one year old.  She spoke of Fort Laramie as ‘old’ then.  I have been to Fort Laramie several times and I even attended a dance there in “Old Bedlam.”  All of my poems seem to be around these things in the past and when I realize that Earl, who is 80, and I am now74, are all that are left in the the golden chain of our family, I am really sad and lonesome.  Many, many of my days are spent in quiet thinking and my love of letters to and from friends.  Also, I think of the many, many who should be living today, for they were not old when they went away.

Ruth Harvey Douglass

1969

 There will be one last chapter to "Poetess In the Family.....Ruth Harvey Douglass" to follow next week.

Poetess In the Family, Ruth Harvey Douglass- part one: here
Poetess In the Family, Ruth Harvey Douglass- part two: here

Poetess In the Family, Ruth Harvey Douglass- part four: here

(1) Hannah and Milton Lee's story is told in "Hannah Lee's Overland Journal"  , a three part article which may be found here: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

All stories, poetry and photographs in this series are owned and copyrighted© by the Harvey and Hopkins families and may not be reprinted without the permission of the family. Contact clchopkins[at]gmail[dot]com

Amanuensis Monday- Hannah Lee's Overland Journal, Part 2

Hannah Hyndman Lee

For the second time, Hannah Lee and her husband Milton had left Iowa and headed west toward Wyoming. On this trip they were headed for the Jackson Hole area near where Peter Lee had gone to settle when Milton and Hannah had returned to Iowa after their first trip to Wyoming. Arriving in the Jackson area they acquired a parcel of land and built a roadhouse to take in travelers who came to the area. They only stayed in the Jackson Hole area for a few years before returning to Iowa for a second time but it was long enough that an area Ranger Station was at one time named for Milton Lee. The old roadhouse building stood for years and operated as various businesses. The well known Heidelberg Bed and Breakfast, which is no longer in business, stood on the exact spot of the old Lee roadhouse according to Teton County records which our cousin found some years ago.

Below is the continuation of Hannah Lee’s Overland Journal as her group departed the Fort Laramie area to push on westward. It is transcribed with all the original spellings. You can find the family background information and the first part of this story and journal transcription on Those Old Memories, located here.

                   HANNAH LEE’S OVERLAND JOURNAL-   PART 2

In the morning we started for Douglass, we are going up the North Plat River & find good camping places.  There we see a rabbit & once in a while some antelope but they are hard to get as the distance is so far one has to practice a while before they can get one.  Nothing will hit them but a 38 Winchester.  Here we find lots of sage chickens.  They are about as big as our Plimeth Rock chickens and are about as good.  We are coming to some hills.  Some days we have traveled threw quite a sandy country but their was plenty of grass for the horses but wood was scarce.  Some times we had nothing but sage brush & other times weeds, but we seen so many curyosities  that made us forget that wood was scarse.   Well here is Douglass a good sised town on the north side of the river & we are on the south.  We see Ft. Fetterman.  Here we stay 2 days, & we go on our way to Casper Wyoming.  We travel a number of days & is in a country where we don’t see but 1 ranch that any body lives in.  In about 12 days we are in Casper a nice little town on the plat River.  Here we meet Jim Lock of Fairfield, Iowa.  Jim is looking well & glad to hear from Fairfield.  Here we stay all nite.  This is July the 3 and they are decorating the buildings for a grand selabration on the 4^th.  We see a thousand head of cattle the cow boys are bringing them a cross the river & taking them back in the hills.  The horses gets scared & Mr. Oleary’s team starts to run away but are caught & no harm done.  We go on for Lander one hundred & sixty miles on our way we find some of the lovliest flours.  We gather some nice ones & press them & send them to our Friends at home.   We meet lots of Freighters halling wool to Casper as that is the nearest shiping point.  I have seen lots of Freighters with as many as twelve nice mules with fine harness on a Big heavy Mountain Wagon loaded with wool & 2 trail wagons fastened behind the other wagon.  At night when they camp, they unharness every mule as he stands in his place the harness is laid behind each mule & the collars in front.  They are fed & turned out to graze.  One saddle horse is larieted to drive the mules in, when fed they are soon in their places.  Here we are at the foot of a Mountain.  Mrs. Barger & I walk.  On the top we find 3 freight teams campt for dinner.  They have six yoke of Cattle, the first ox teams I have seen for many years.  Later on we find a freighter with one wagon wheel broke down & has to go back to Lander.  We camp on deer Crick & stay over Sunday.  There is a nice spring we find some wild goosberies.  There is know one lives here & we find it very lonely.  At night we are serenaded by wolves, one of our horses thinks she had better start back to Iowa & the rest all follow, but after a long chace are brought back & we go on. 

 Five oclock in the evening we camp at Lander quite a nice place, situated in a valley.  Groceries are very high.  We leave Lander to pass threw the Indian Reservation, the Shushonies.  We travel up wind River a Rough & Rocky road.  The reservation is 80 miles square we see lots of Indians the women & men are very dark Colord & have their hair Braided while the old Indiam men have their hair long hanging down over their shoalders & ware their over Coats most of the time all summer as it is cold out their.  The roads are so rough, we camp 3 nights in the reservation.  Wind River is not very wide but pretty deep on one side & is full of big & little rock which makes it dangerous to cross as it runs so swift a horse can hardly keep his feet.  We leave the reservation & travel up wind river over 1 hundred miles.  We camp & find a little store in the mountains.  Here flour is five dollars a hundred, but we have a good suply & glad we didant need any but coffee we have to get which is 33 cents a lb.  That’s good enough as it has to be freighted a long way.  We camp at a squaw mans & stay all night.  In the morning we start on for Old man Clarks, he is an old gentleman a bout 75 years old & lives all a lone in the mountains.  We meet him on the road & ask if he could tell us where Mr. Clark lived, & he said if there were any more Clarks lived their he dident know of any but told us which way to go & said he would be back soon & meet us up the river but we did not see him & went on & campt by the river 4 days to a wait the arrival of an escort to take us over the wind river mountains.  The boys went up the river a bout a quarter of a mile to his house & had a talk with him.  He had lived their a long time & always went by the name of Old Man Clark.  This was in ninety five when the Indian trouble was in the Jackson hole Country in Uintah co. Wyoming.  Here came a man a horse back from over their 8 days travel threw a heavy timbered Country & unsettled, not a house to stay in over nite, one has to camp out .  He tells us that he seen Mr. Lee & Spencer & that they sent word for us to stay there till we hear further news from the Indian trouble.  Well we all talk it over & all are in favor of going on.  We are at the foot of a mountain, & the Indians were out in the hills hunting.  About 1 oclock we cross wind river for the last time & go about 8 miles & camp.  We are to have Elk Stake for supper.  We are where the game is plenty.  We stay all nite, after supper we hang our old Camp Kettle on the pole & boil some for dinner the next day.  We will soon be at the foot of the Big Mountain.  Well here is a cabin this is old man Clarks gold mine.  We all get down & go in & inspect the place.  None of us has ever seen any mining done we all go down in the mine.  Here are all the mining tools & the rocker, but no one at work but they said it would pan out $30 dolars to the ton.  We start up a pretty steep mountain about 4 miles long.  Here is the heavy  pine timber the tallest pines I ever seen.  My but it is nice.  A bout 2 oclock we are all on top of the Mountain and glad to eat a cold dinner as all walked but the drivers.  3 or 4 miles farther & we camp.  We are all getting short of meat & have a bout 10 days to travel before we get over to the Jackson hole Country.  There is a trail one can go a horseback a shorter distance.  There is no stores & we will all do the best we can & flour is getting scarce.  All at once our road comes to an end.  The men get down & at last finds a wagon track.  We go down a small valley & here is a young porcupine he thinks he is hid he sits on a limb with his head tuckt under a few leaves.  We leave him & camp.  Here is a large herd of Antelopes.  The Boys slip a around the pines & took a few shots but they were to far away.

In the morning we start & go on down the mountains to green river as we go we pass 3 places like Big Meadows a beautiful place.  It is getting dark.  Pete Lee sees an antelope & gets his forty five ninety Winchester & killed 2.  We were all glad as none of us had any meat since Morning & Williams is out of flour.  The game is drest & we all have a share.  Here we stay till noon.  The next day in the morning Mr. Burlingham came with a lot of Dudes from Boston on their way to the National Park all were a horseback & about 30.  We gave them a hind quarter of the antelope & they gave Mr. Williams some flour.  They had a big wagon loaded with grub.  3 more teams joins us from the Big Horn.  There is 7 covered wagons now.   We leave green river. 

To be continued next Monday with part 3…

Source: excerpts from the original journal of Hannah Lee, © and owned by Kathleen Hopkins

Amanuensis Monday is a popular ongoing series created by John Newmark at Transylvania Dutch Blog.

Part 1 of this story is here. 
Part 3 of this story is here. 

 

9/11...We Weep!

We Weep

On this day of not so long ago...
We lost the smiles of so many good Americans
to the senseless actions of a few.

On this day of not so long ago...
The whole of our country did weep at the sad
and fateful outcome of our day.

On this day of not so long ago...
All of our lives were forever changed by the
grievous loss brought about by the actions of a few.

On this day of not so long ago...
Our beloved America was struck hard and could
easily have failed under the onslaught of the day.

On this day of not so long ago...
We managed to rally and come together as
one to condemn the heinous actions of those few.

On this day of not so long ago...
Our country began to rise up and be stronger,
we were not beaten and this was not the end of our day.

On this day of not so long ago...
The souls of nearly three thousand showed to the
world that they were stronger than those of the few.

On this day of not so long ago...
The God and creator of our Country stepped in
again and offered to help save us and our day.

On this day of not so long ago...
Our memories were vivid, our hearts full of sorrow,
man had struck man with hatred in the hearts of but a few.

On this day of not so long ago...
Our people cried and prayed as we grieved those dead,
as this would forever be... their sacred day.

On this day of not so long ago...
Our President stood tall as his people turned to God,
they had not won... those lowly few.

On this day of not so long ago...
Slowly we began to heal, the strength of all our souls
combined and ensured; this would not be the end of our day.

Today we remember that day of not so long ago...
With help from our God, our America still stands, her people
yet steadfast as we again mourn... and condemn the few.


© Cheri Coleman Hopkins, 2010

WILLIS TROYER, "Cowboy and Early Settler"

Willis Troyer is a name that I have heard for all the years since my marriage into his family, nearly 40 years ago. Wyoming was made for cowboys and that is what he was...and much more.

All these past years of knowing the name and some dates but not many facts. Very recently I got to add some important facts and make a visit to his gravesite to honor the Man. Quite unexpectedly, my mother-in-law made connections with a man through Ancestry.com that helped to fill in some names, dates and places for several of our Troyer family ancestors, including that of Willis Troyer. I spent an evening of online searching to get more information about the Hillcrest Cemetery in Lagrange, Wyoming where many of the family were buried. My search yielded an index to the cemetery and to my surprise there were many Troyer and McComsey relatives who were buried there. A trip to the little cemetery was quickly planned and you can read more about it here.

Our Grandma Alda who was Willis' niece had often talked about him but typical of most younger people, we did not document her stories and as she and time passed, we lost the knowledge that we once had. All that were left were a couple photos which we have cherished.

Willis Troyer was an early settler to Lagrange, Goshen Co., Wyoming and was a cowboy and blacksmith for the L-D Ranch which was part of the famous Swan Land and Cattle Company. He worked for his father, Andrew Troyer, who was the ranch foreman and he also rode with Ben Smith, a fellow cowboy/ranch hand who became my husband's Great Grandfather. Ben Smith married Barbara Elizabeth Troyer "Lizzie", who was Willis Troyer's sister and through her was my husband's tie to Andrew and Willis by blood.

Our great- great uncle Willis was an all around ranch hand and according to John Rollinson in his book "PONY TRAILS IN WYOMING", Willis was the resident blacksmith for the L-D Ranch when Mr. Rollinson worked there as a young man. He stated that Willis was willing to teach others about his trade and that he was well liked by those he worked with. After the Swan Company, Willis Troyer owned/operated his own blacksmith shop in the town of Lagrange, Wyoming for many years. It was located on part of the land that is now The Frontier School of the Bible in Lagrange. Willis' granddaughter, Iris, still remembers the distinct smell of her Grandpa's blacksmith shop-recalled from her childhood. She also tells us that Willis worked on other ranches through the years around the Lagrange area and often he could be found at Hawk Springs, pole in hand, as he was an avid fisherman. He and his wife, Ida, also enjoyed and maintained a monsterous garden every year.

How great is genealogy? Our recent discovery of more Troyer and McComsey relatives in the Lagrange, Wyoming cemetery has also brought wonderful new acquaintances and "shirt tale" relatives into the light. Steve from Belen, NM and Iris from Cheyenne, WY are our newly found relatives. Iris has actually known my mother-in-law for some time but I just met her by phone and had a great visit, with anticipation to meet her soon. Both Steve and Iris have added precious pearls to our knowledge base and we have shared family ancestry and photos. Thanks to them both for adding new memories!

Willis Troyer and his family are still fondly remembered and honored by his grandchildren, great grandchildren and by us, his great- great nieces and nephews. We now have visited his final resting place and will visit often as we travel to Cheyenne often via the Lagrange, Wyoming route.

Links from the past,to the present,and back again to the past....how precious they are!


You can read more on The You Go Geneaology Girls blog "Have Bike, Will Travel" about my fun research trip to visit these family gravesites - with a light hearted tale of travel and discovery to the Hillcrest Cemetery in Lagrange, Wyoming.

COMFORT FOOD

As I have sat the last couple days and reflected on this very busy summer and it's memories, the one thing that always seemed to be in every thought was food! I got to thinking about it more and came to the realization that nearly every meaningful memory that I have seems to involve food in some way. Comfort food as I call it. Part of our lives and memories.

My own personal memories are scattered in their times and places but all those great meals when the family was all together seem to really stand out. My own wedding rehearsal dinner the night before I was married in 1971. The family gathered at an old hotel here in Alliance which is no longer here but the photos and the meal are vivid in my mind. Anniversaries which were many over the years and included special places that we went to eat a nice meal. Our family celebrated the 60th anniversary of my parents in 1996 with a large gathering and fancy meal at our local country club. That was one of the last times in our lives that all our large extended family was together. My parents were the anchor for us all and their passing has left a huge void in our lives but the many memories which I have gathered over the years with them keeps me going. It seems there was always food, meals, and cooking within all those memories.

Birthdays and cake-they just go with family. All those old memories and all the new memories of Grandchildren and their first birthdays. Cake abounds! Sometimes they were homemade and sometimes from the bakery but each one held a special place. A few years ago, I made an angel food cake for my husbands birthday as they are his favorite. I had made hundreds before but that year brought the manufacture of 3 of those cakes before I gave up. Each one fell as it cooled and finally I just filled in with frosting and we ate them all, lopsided and lumpy. We still laugh about those today. I once served what we affectionately call "squirrel cake" to company. I had sat out the cake to cool on my deck and forgot it and a friendly squirrel dug out a piece of the corner before he was caught. I was on a short time dilemma so I cut off one end of the cake and went ahead and frosted it. My company was told about the cake and we all ate it anyway. It was delicious and we all remember that meal often and laugh about us serving them "squirrel cake". Were it not for the cake incident, that ordinary gathering of friends would have been lost to memory!

As my children were growing up, we did a lot of camping out and participated in the old time mountain man "rendezvous". Cooking over open pit fires with old utensils was great fun and I hope gave my sons some great memories to carry through life with them. They learned the value of modern amenities and history along the way. Not to mention some great meals with wild game- even turtle and snake graced our table! Our dutch oven peach cobbler is great and even though we camp somewhat more modern now days, we still love that peach cobbler over an open fire pit. I wonder if son Jason has prepared that for his 8 children while out camping? He could probably fore-go the snake and just include that as one of his family memories !!!

Grandma Opal Coleman was the grandest of ladies, born before 1900, the oldest of 15 children and she was an awesome cook. I am the lucky owner of several of her recipes but my offerings never have compared to hers. I never really saw her use a recipe anyway and I loved to spend time with her while she cooked. She made the most wonderful, yet simple "fried potatoes". I stayed with her a lot and begged for them each time. To this day I have not been able to make mine taste like hers. I can still taste and smell them each time I think about it, the memory of them never goes away. They were definitely comfort food of the highest degree! Each Christmas she made two favorite kinds of cookies. She stored them in tins in the cool basement and of course all the Grandchildren loved them and they were the most special cookies ever. I make those almost every year too but they will never compare to the ones from Grandma's tins!

My Mom, Irene, was an awesome cook too and I guess it just came natural as her Mother was also a grand cook. As a child I would cook with her often but looking back, wish I had paid better attention at times. Many things my Mom made are things that I cook today. Our comfort foods are her homemade noodles, hamburger soup, kidney beans and meat balls and more. When I can't think of something to cook on a given day, I turn to Mom's comfort food. She never had cooking failures but for one which came later in life. She had nearly lost her eyesight and made meatloaf one day. She had some stewed tomatoes in the refrigerator to add but got hold of the left over strawberries instead. It was my son's girlfriend who was coming to dinner but they all had a good laugh and ate it anyway. We will never forget the strawberry meatloaf. My niece, Suzanne, also wrote about her Grandma Irene and some of her food memories in one of her blogs on "Growing Up Genealogy". Mom passed her legacy on to myself and all of her Grandchildren. Even though most of them did not cook with her, they certainly got her great cooking skills. My son, Daniel, loves to cook and grill. He cooks and smokes meat for all kinds of meals and celebrations and is becoming a master "brewer". My other son, Jason is also a wonderful cook. His char-grilled ribs are to die for and his own recipe for jalapeno/cheddar bread is wonderful and the envy of the farmers market in his city. I wish I could take credit but I really think they came by it naturally form their Grandma Irene. Her other Grandsons, Randy and Bill are also grand cooks. Randy makes pies that would turn most "Grandmas" green with envy and Bill is expert at cooking wild game and fish. As you can see, we will never starve with our wonderful legacy in hand. Food does invoke many of those wonderful old family memories.

Freddie, my Dad, was a lifelong railroader but he also liked to cook. We grew up camping a lot in the summer and Dad often was the chief cook while we were out. Fried fish which he and Mom prepared together that had been fresh caught and were great tasting! His camp food was simple but boy was it good--comfort food for the soul. Dad often cooked meals at home if he was in from a trip on the railroad and Mom was working all day. He was good at cleaning out the refrigerator. Mom always said that she had to be careful what she left in there as it might end up in tonight's dinner. Often those meals were kinda strange in their ingredients but they were always delicious. I only have one bad memory of food and that was something my Dad cooked: lamb. To this day, I won't eat it. I walked home from school each day for lunch and I could smell the lamb cooking a block away when he was preparing it! One vivid memory of his cooking was on one of Mom's working days and he decided to make homemade noodles to surprise her.(She made the world's best noodles). He used baking soda instead of baking powder and they turned black as spades while in the drying process. I don't remember if we ate them or not!


How many of us who consider ourselves to be family historians and genealogists have stopped to consider our family's food legacy? I have included many memories and recipes which have been handed down in my family in one of my Family Books: "REFLECTIONS", The Descendants of Willis and Effie Gardner. Some may just be simple scraps of paper like the one shown above from my Grandma Pearl Moore but they are all worthy heirlooms. My family now has comfort food at their finger tips anytime that they want to take a trip home! Just stop and think for a moment and I will bet that you too can conger up many family memories that have centered around food or the dinner table. Recipes as well as memories and ancestors are precious.

When we want to go "home" and can't, our comfort foods can take us there, if only for a brief moment in time.

" MACEY GIRL", All Creatures Great and Small

Very few photos of early family pets seem to be in my collection of old ancestral photos. The only conclusion I have come to is that raising dogs and other animals has all been passed down to me. I think I make up for all the generations before me. I am the lucky one who has filled my home with enough dogs to makeup for all the ones that my ancestors did not have or did not photograph. My camera shutter rarely stops. Life, scenery, grandchildren and animals, dogs in particular- all find their way into my photos!

Our beloved "Macey Girl" is one of many family pets through the years but she was also one of our most prized companions. She was a gorgeous, smooth coat, liver colored Border Collie. Macey came to us in a round about way but was just meant to be part of our family.

Our youngest son got her from someone he knew who didn't want her anymore and who never took very good care of her. She was about 2-3 years old at that time. Jason, our son, lived in the country and Macey fit right in his new family. She loved to herd the farm cats and anything else she could find. They had no cattle so she made do with what she could find! What a beautiful and obedient girl she was, she just seemed to be thankful that she was loved and adored. Her former owner did not treat her well and she came to Jason with a somewhat fearful and sad emotional condition. Her life showed through her eyes. All it took was loads of love to show her that people really could love and care for her. In time her timid and reserved ways subsided and she gave back to all of us a thousand times more love. The light came back into her eyes!

When our son moved his family to eastern Nebraska and couldn't take Macey along we agreed to care for her until he could find a place to live that would allow a dog. We already had two other loving animals in the house, a little black cocker spaniel and a big sharpei/chow mix dog. We really did not want another dog at the time. Macey moved in with us and we fell more in love with her and never gave her back. She became my husbands pride and his best friend.

Anyone who has ever lived with a Border Collie, knows that they want to rule the roost. She bossed the other dogs and often used her eyes to let everyone know that she thought they should be doing what she wanted them to do. Our Sharpei was not thrilled by it all. Macey was gorgeous and affectionate, especially to the little male cocker at times! She never forgot to let us all know that she was thankful to just be loved and have a good home. Her only goal in life, other than herding all the birds into one bush and the squirrels into one tree, was to please us-the rest of her pack.

For 6 1/2 years Macey, our" beautiful redhead" brought pleasure to us all. She was a big dog but that never kept her from being our constant travel companion. If we went, she went along. She rode for hours at a time and never made a peep or acted wrestless in the car, she loved to watch for other animals as we went along. She was a great camper and always made us feel safe, just by her presence. I used to camp alone occassionaly when my husband was working and she was my protector. We also owned a sporting goods business and she rode to work every day with one of us. People would remark that she scooted right up next to my husband in his old truck and proudly rode there, ears perked up, just like she was his "girlfriend"-driving down the street with him. They had quite a reputation in town! At work she greeted our customers and knew many as good friends, they stopped to see her and say hello, we were secondary.

Our Macey got cancer but she persiviered on for about 3 years and she never quit or complained in her daily life. She was ready to go along right up to her last day.

By the way, our Macey Girl could really sing too. Not your ordinary dog howling but she had her own unique singing voice. She loved music and kept in quite good tune. She could sing along when all the grandkids put on their music and they delighted in hearing her. The Annie Lennox song "Into The West" from The Lord of the Rings was her favorite.

What a great pleasure it was to have had her as part of our family. Life will never be the same without her, just as it is when we lose any loved one. Our family was so lucky and priviledged to call her one of us. We never owned her, she owned us - heart and soul!

Future generations of my family will have many photos of Macey Girl and all of our beloved pets to pass down, right along with the precious photos of their human ancestors.

"ABOVE AVERAGE" AMERICAN BOY... BRIG. GEN., MAURICE M. BEACH

Maurice M. Beach

Maury on his 80th birthday

Maurice M. Beach wrote his memories titled as "The Saga Of An Average American Boy" but to all his family there was nothing average about this wonderful and warm hearted man that we all loved and cherished. I am so proud that he was my uncle.

Maurice Milton Beach was born on April 1, 1903 in Caro, Michigan. He married my aunt, Stella Moore O'Brien on Nov 15, 1947 in Macon, Georgia. Uncle Maurice spent nearly all of his adult life in the service of his country. He never went further than the 10th grade in school, dropping out to pursue his own interests. He was a self taught master mechanic in addition to aspiring to grand heights as an Air Force Commanding officer. If any appliance, vehicle or motor needed an overhaul, he was the one who could do it, and do it right. Before and after his distinguished military career, he was a mechanic and owned/operated successful car garages. This knowledge also helped him several times as he moved up through the military ranks.

Ft. Wayne at Detroit, Michigan was where he began his military career in 1923. Over the course of the next 20 years he worked his way up through the ranks starting out by hauling gravel to build hangar floors. His sole early goal was to enter Flight Training which he was able to do in 1924. During his early years he was part of a light Bombardment Attack Unit in Texas and then the 19th Pursuit Fighter Squadron, stationed in Hawaii. By 1935 he was involved in Reconnaissance operations training back on the mainland of the United States. Next stop was the Air Corps Supply Depots, moving passengers and supplies throughout the country flying mostly DC-3 aircraft. In 1938 as First Lieutenant, "Maury" took over the Air Transport System that operated between Panama and Alaska. Shortly before December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked, some of his transports were released to start training with paratroops and gliders. By late 1941 he had been promoted to Major and was Commander of the 10th Transport Group with C-47s (DC-3s) and was continuing to train with the paratroopers and gliders in different areas of the country. Reserve officers who were commercial pilots were assigned and as the war was going in earnest by then, the men were "busy as hell" as Maurice later wrote. He was by then a Colonel. Soon after he was promoted to Colonel he became the Wing Commander of the 53rd Troop Carrier Wing. This was part of the 9th Troop Carrier Command. At that time he was rated as Command Pilot which was the top rating of the Army Air Corp.

The next several moves of the command included one to my hometown of Alliance, Nebraska. Here again his command was training with the gliders and paratroops. It was in Alliance that Maurice first met my aunt, Stella Moore O"Brien, who was the secretary to the base commander. Soon after their training ended in Alliance the troops of the 53rd were sent across to England and North Africa for final training before the D-Day invasion at Normandy, France.

Maurice Beach's Headquarters for the 53rd Troop Carrier Wing were set up at Greenham Common, England which was near London. It was from there that he commanded his troops in training for the upcoming invasion of Normandy, France on D-Day-June 6, 1944. One of his groups, the 438th under the command of Col. Donaldson, led the paratroop aircrafts. Approximately 350 loads of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions headed for France starting at 12:20 am. Maurice Beach left England at 4:00 am in the lead glider "tug" plane. He took the first group of gliders into France. General Eisenhower was at their headquarters in England to see them off.

During the invasion of Normandy and for many months after, the troops of the 53rd took part in many actions. These included Rome-Arno, Normandy, Northern France, Southern France, Rhineland, Ardennes, and Central Europe. The 53rd Wing under the command of Lt. Col. Beach carried over 206 million pounds of supplies, moved over 149 thousand airborne troops and evacuated 114 thousand casualties during WWII. Maurice and his boys delivered over 3 million pounds of gasoline to General Patton while he was stranded near Chartres, France. Maurice was promoted to Brig. General in early 1945.

While stationed at the Air Base in Alliance, Nebraska during 1943, Maurice had proven the ability to tow 2 gliders at once by towing them from Alliance on a flight to Fayetteville, N.C. and this tactic was used during the final operation of the 53rd Troop Carrier Wing when they flew across the Rhine River to Vessel, Germany.

After V-E Day in 1945, Maurice continued with the mission of occupation in Europe until his return to the states later that same year. He retired from active service in late 1945 but he continued to attend military meetings for many years. During his distinguished career he was awarded the following medals: American Defense, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, Bronze Star, French Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre, and the WWII Victory Medal. His great speaking voice and love for the military led him to spend most of his retirement years giving speeches and showing military movies to various groups, in particular at International Rotary Clubs. He loved to teach others about those important years from our history. Maurice passed away Jan 17, 1987 and was interred at Sun City, Arizona with full military honors.

Aunt Stella and Uncle Maurice had no children of their own but he loved all of his nieces and nephews as if we were his own. To me and the rest of the family he was our Uncle "Maury". Brig. General Maurice M. Beach was a great veteran but more importantly he was a loving and awesome Uncle. He loved people and treated everybody with respect. He really was one of the few who could truly be called an "OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN".


Thanks for stopping by my blog, come back soon-Cheri


Links to other great articles featured in this edition, titled ("Uncle, Uncle"), can be found within the 70th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy at Creative Gene. Uncles from all walks of life are spotlighted in this edition of the carnival. Pour a cup of coffee and settle in to read some great postings!

VISION IS NOT THE MEASURE OF A MAN---THOMAS MOORE BEAGLE

Having ones eyesight does not guarantee that we see the world around us. While most of us are lucky enough to have reasonably good eyesight, one special person in my life did not, but he excelled at living his life in spite of losing the use of his eyes.

Thomas Moore Beagle, "Tom" was born to Harry Frank Beagle and LaVaughn Elizabeth Moore on November 3, 1936 in Alliance, Box Butte Co., Nebraska. His maternal grandparents were Oswin Chester Moore and Pearl May (Zehrung). Grandparents on his father's side were Perce Beagle and Nelle(Telander). Tom was the oldest of four children, with two brothers and a sister. He grew up in the house that had been his great grandfathers from the early 1900's and was raised in a loving home with many cousins and other relatives living near by. He was a typical boy, delivering newspapers in his hometown of Alliance and he loved spending time with his brother, cousins and friends playing baseball. He participated in the Legion baseball games in Alliance throughout his adolescence.

Hunting, fishing and camping were some of the things that he loved the most. He spent many enjoyable times with his Uncle Freddie, Aunt Irene and cousins; Bill and Dick while growing up. His uncle Freddie was an avid fisherman and Tom accompanied him and his family on nearly every camping and fishing trip as he grew into his early teen years. It was during these young years while Tom was in about the 7th grade that he developed juvenile diabetes--the disease that would soon rob him of his eyesight and health. My mother told me of Tom's struggle with his disease as a child but also of his bravery and perseverance in dealing with his illness. Learning to give his own insulin shots, he strove to keep up with life and the other boys in a normal manner.

Hunting and being outdoors was something he loved and he took every after school or weekend occasion to get out in the fields with cousins and friends to hunt game. Cars and hot rods also held great interest for Tom, his brother-Jerry, and their cousins. If they weren't driving one, they were working on a car in their free time. Tom had great pride in his candy apple red and fully customized 1946 Chevy 2 door sedan. That was the day of the "real" classics!

After graduation Tom was employed in Alliance as an auto mechanic and in 1959 he moved to Scottsbluff, Nebraska to work for a dealership there. Tom met his future wife there and he was married in Scottsbluff on July 10, 1960. His wife already had a daughter and Tom soon adopted her. Their new little family soon had to deal with the onset of his sight loss.

The issue of diabetes combined with glaucoma came to the forefront in the early 1960's and Tom became totally blind by 1962 due to the effects of his diseases. The whole family, of course, was devastated but Tom did not give in and he looked for a way to move forward with his life and provide for his family.

The Lions Club in Alliance, Nebraska worked with them and offered great support for Tom and his family. They arranged for him to move to Omaha, Nebraska and begin training for a job opportunity. Tom became a sales representative for the Caravan Sales Program which was sponsored by the Services For The Visually Impaired-State of Nebraska. He and his family traveled throughout the state selling products that were made by the blind. These included brooms, mops, dishtowels and many other helpful household products.They would travel to a town and usually set up their display in the downtown area. He was an inspiration to
others and communities looked forward to his arrival. Speaking engagements, including at Lions Clubs throughout the state, also kept him busy.

Cars never lost their appeal for Tom even after his loss of sight. In about 1963, other family members and I (age11) accompanied him to the Nebraska State Fair to go to the "sprint" car races. He knew every car by the sound of the motor as it rounded the track and he kept perfect track of them as they raced. On another occasion his family joined ours on a camping trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota. We always fished at night for trout at our favorite lake there. "Coleman" camp lanterns were hung out over the boat edge to attract fish at night (yes, it was legal in SD). Fish could be caught hand-over-fist in this manner most of the time. Tom was baiting hooks and catching more fish than any of us that night as the fish were biting very lightly. He was pulling them in one after another and fish were "flying" all over the boat. The lantern glare was detrimental to the rest of us and he just laughed and laughed, saying that not being able to "see" the line move was his secret to success! His natural instincts were quite keen. As we sat around the campfire, revisiting times past, I never once ever heard him lament to the loss of his eyesight and we all had a wonderful time. Tom once was once quoted in a local newspaper as saying "A person that loses his sight has to have a positive attitude and continue to do the things he did before he became blind". He did just that and more.

Thomas and his family continued with his Caravan Sales Program until his health declined due to the ravages of diabetes. He passed away on February 2, 1966 in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was a very sad day for us all and a very special person had been taken home. He is buried in the Alliance Cemetery in Alliance, Nebraska beside his grandparents and a younger brother. Tom Beagle was only 29 years of age.

It did not matter how we were related to him, close or distant, he loved everybody and every one of us loved him- most importantly because of the "man" that he was. His nephew, who is named after him, has had very big shoes to fill!

A wonderful deep laugh would fill the room and his big smile showed his true soul. Self pity was never part of his vocabulary.

Thomas Moore Beagle was a son, husband, father, brother and nephew. He was my cousin....and my HERO because "vision" is not the measure of a man.

...AND PENNY MAKES EIGHT !

Sometimes miracles within a family come in ways that we least expect. The saga of this story began in the late 1990's.

This was a particularly hard time for all of our family. Relationships within our own little family were strained as we were confronted by some very hard facts of life involving our youngest son. At the same time my Mother and Dad were in declining health and other problems began to pile on. Our oldest son took himself out of the situation and moved in with his grandparents while he finished high school. I was glad that they had someone with them but missed him not being home with us. Our youngest son dropped out of school and was in with the wrong "crowd". There seemed to be little help because after age 16 the schools would not work to legally keep a child enrolled. The next few short years brought mostly sorrow and tragedy to our youngest son and our family. At the same time that his life was in turmoil, we lost both of my parents. All the years that my parents were here had been the best years for all of us. They were the binder that had kept our large and extended families so close. We had truly been blessed and had known little sorrow before those years of the late 90's.

In 2001, after a hard couple of years, things had begun to look up for us all. Our oldest son had settled in Wyoming, was working and happy. Our youngest son was striving to move forward in a positive way and had rekindled a relationship with his first love. They were married and to them were born beautiful twin girls in 2003. They were our first grandchildren and they brought such hope and joy for the future of our family. One of the babies became seriously ill a short time later and again we were all thrown into despair as we worried and prayed for her recovery. Thankfully, after several weeks she did recover which again gave us hope.

By 2004 our son's marriage had ended and his girls stayed with their mother. Again the family was torn apart and it seemed as though it would never be healed. The next year (2005)brought new light once again. Our son had met a wonderful new lady and brought her into our lives. She came not empty handed, but with four children of her own and before long we had yet another new grandchild added to the mix. They have struggled and worked hard to make their families become one and whole. All of these children have brought great new enjoyment to us. It is as if they have always been here and part of us. It is hard to look back without seeing them as a part of us and part of our history from the very start.

Time was moving fast now and by the end of 2006 our children had fought for and gained full custody of our son's twin daughters. The family was growing fast again and now had grown to seven children. We had become grandparents several times over in just a few short years! By the Grace of God and with a lot of hard work our family was getting back on track once more.


Both of our sons were moving onward and upward with their lives and we were so very proud of them both. Our youngest, who had fallen to near the bottom in his teen years had picked himself up, with the help of the Lord, and become Dad to seven children in the blink of an eye. It took a lot of work as one would imagine, but he has excelled beyond our dreams. He has a life partner to walk side-by-side down that path with. He goes to college, has a small family business on the side, and is a great "Mr. Mom". Our awesome and talented daughter-in-law teaches full time in an inter-city middle school. Most importantly, all of these children are happy and healthy with the love and support of two great parents.

I believe that our past in no small measure, leads us to our present. The road may indeed be rocky, but how and where we ultimately end up defines who we are.

One never knows what life may throw at us. A lot of it is exceptional and good, sometimes it puts us down into the pits of despair but one thing is for sure- we must never give up hope!

Our generations are growing close and now making their own memories, while NEVER leaving memories of their parents, grandparents, and loved ones far behind.This genealogy loving Grandma could not be happier. My family is whole again and just look at all the Grandchildren and step-Grandchildren who will need their history and ancestors to be uncovered! Who are we if we have no idea as to where we have been?

AND......, oh yes, how could I have forgotten? The year 2009 brought us all yet another miracle, a new bundle of joy. Our beautiful little " PENNY MAE" who was born on the 2nd day of January and named after her very own GGGGrandma----well,--- now, our Penny makes eight!