Looking to your past

I have often found that when researching my ancestors it pays to look everywhere. Even the places that you might not readily think of. Consider for a moment the paper trail that an average person today leaves in just one day. Stop for some gas and charge it, grab a Starbucks on your debit card, out for dinner with your crazy girlfriends and BAM! there’s an Instagram photo. See what I mean? It is damn near impossible to be on the down low these days. And there is no doubt that some ancestors truly did ride off into the sunset….but just keep at it and you might just find a nugget, maybe even two because even though they weren’t putting Starbuck’s on their debit card, they were busy doing other things.

I consider myself fairly fortunate as far as family research goes. I have lots of info about 4 generations back (from me) on my mother’s side. Dad…meh, not so much. But that is a tale of woe for another day. Stick with me here, I am going to make a point.

Even though I would like to think I know nearly all there is to know about my forebears in this particular circle, there is ALWAYS more to learn and see and find. Sometimes you just have to open your mind (and your eyes) to realize this. Case in point: My mom lives in a small town in Western Iowa. Say it with me. EYE-OH-WA. That is not Ohio or Idaho. It is Iowa and a very kewl place if you ask me. My family’s history is all around me in this particular place, because this line of forebears have been here since the 1870’s.

Hidden Gem

Dear mum lives just up the street from a nifty little museum that was once a church and next to it the parsonage. They are known as the McLean museum and the Dougal House. I bet I have driven past these two places over a hundred times and never taken the time to stop. This trip to mum’s I arranged to meet the curator so that I could finally get a look-see. The original focus of my search was a high school graduation photo of my grandfather (circa 1907) and his sister Hortense (circa 1910). I know what my grandfather looks like even though I never met him. Sadly he passed in 1949 some 16ish years before I even became a twinkle in someone’s eye. But his sister, I have never seen a photo of her. So, I thought it worth a shot.

Not what I planned

I did not find a photo of Fred nor one of Hortense but I did find some other things. Wonderful things! This tiny museum has an odd collection of papers, photos, bric-a-brac of days past and wonderful pride in the history of this small town. They had plat books that I could look through and the mister readily found the land holdings of both of my gggrandfathers….side by side.

Not that I didn’t know this already but to see it in black in white in the original plat book was inspiring to me. It was very kewl to see the original bound in a leather book that was over 100 years old. Bet he never even imagined that his gggranddaughter would be viewing his landholdings.

I also found a group of photos taken by a local photographer around the turn of the century (that is 1900) that is related through marriage.  Unfortunately, none of the faces in the photos were familiar. While I didn’t find what I came after, there is much more to discover here.

There are so many books, photos and ephemera that have been donated to this lovely little place I have to appreciate that it isn’t any bigger!

Implements, signage, old typewriters, scale and horseshoes. It is like taking a step into the past.

I knew that Dunlap, like most towns of the time, had an opera house. I also knew that it burned. But I didn’t know that the piano had survived and here it sits among other treasures of a time gone by.

So the average Joe, or Joanne for that matter, might be disappointed that they didn’t locate the item that initiated the search. But I don’t feel that way at all. Certainly I would have liked to have found those graduating class photos; and I think I found every year but theirs, but I am just as happy with what I did find. Records to verify where my forebears owned property and how much. Even how much tax they paid on those lands. Better yet, next time I visit I can go back for another look!