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| Photo credit Lyn Fenwick |
As it turned out, there was a lot to see, and this blog is not only about our visit from Isaac's cousins but is really about the things around us that we no longer give our attention--that we fail to share with our children and grandchildren. While the things available to share are not exactly like they were when our ancestors lived, there are still things to see and stories to share. That is what this week's blog is about.
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| Photo credit Larry Fenwick |
The picture above of David Werner, Isaac's 1st cousin 3 times removed, having slipped back to take one more picture of Isaac's grave, particularly touched me. As did the light touch on the corners of Isaac's stone by each of the cousins--LaRita, David, and Cynthia--as the group gathered around for a photograph. (Also in the picture is Deann Werner.) The emotions for this once forgotten bachelor cousin were real.
I walked them around the quiet country cemetery, pointing out the graves of friends of Isaac, many of whom are mentioned in Prairie Bachelor, and I directed their attention to the number of settlers whose stones displayed their military service in the Civil War. Particularly emotional were the many stones of infants and young children.
We drove around Isaac's timber claim and homestead, although both are changed by cultivation for more than a century. The second day we returned, first for a farewell to Isaac and then for a tour of his community. As we drove through the community, I read brief excerpts from Prairie Bachelor, connected with the particular locations where we paused, such as the land where Isaac stayed with neighbors in his final days, the locations of the country post offices, the location of the home of the young man who visited Isaac every day until Isaac could no longer remain in his home--sharing details at each pause related to each of his neighbors in some way. They couldn't believe how far he walked in his community for visits, jobs, and other reasons.
They discovered their own surprises--how sandy the soil was, how pretty the wild flowers were, how many animals they saw on the country roads, how the cottonwood trees had looked like a snowfall had covered the bark, and because of the blackened trees from a recent fire in our community that burned many acres, how frightening prairie fires must have been in Isaac's time.
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| Lyn, Dave & LaRita: Photo credit Larry Fenwick |
Although I had worried that there would be too little to show them, that was never the case. Of course, I have written this blog to share their visit with you, but I hope that it may encourage you to consider your own family tour, whether to see sights specifically relevant to your family or just to explore the community that we sometimes take for granted.
I will close with a final photograph that perhaps best displays the joy of connection with roots from the past. I had covered the dining room table with examples of my research, and added to the display was an incredible research collection compiled by Cynthia McClanahan Cruz, tracing the Direct Descendants of Henry and Magdalena Meyer Werner, (Isaac's grandparents), genealogy that stretched back to the generation that connected all of the guests to one another. Among these items placed on the table to be explored was Isaac's Journal. I will close with the picture that seems to say it all.
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Photo credit Larry Fenwick |
Without Isaac Werner's daily entries in this 480 page oversized journal, there would never have been a Prairie Bachelor, The Story of a Kansas Homesteader and the Populist Movement. Many of you who had never heard of the Populist Movement in which Kansas and other states played such a significant role, might never have known about it, its influence today, and the roots of Populism and Progressivism. For many readers of the book, they now understand the challenges their own ancestors faced during that time. Today, Kansas is sometimes referred to as a "flyover state," but those who know its full history know better!
