Visit Before They Disappear

I found Isaac B. Werner's journal in February of 2010 and began this blog in September of 2011.  One of my favorite posts is "Disappearing Traces of the Past" published 12-23-2011.  Since starting this blog I have written about many subjects that reflect the disappearance of places and people that gave us a glimpse of the past.  This week is a reminder of how rapidly historic icons are slipping away, leaving future generations less able to picture the past with anything other than old photographs and printed texts.  Not all relics can be saved, but perhaps we should be reminded to take a long look before they disappear completely, and maybe even set aside an afternoon to tour our communities  with our children and grandchildren, sharing stories of some of those relics before they are gone.  

So many old barns have disappeared in the past decade since I began this blog, and "Disappearing Old Barns" was the subject of my 1-15-2015 blog.  The grand old barn that had stood on a small rise just north of the Kansas Forestry, Fish & Game headquarters east of Pratt was featured in that blog, and now it is gone.  With few farms keeping a family milk cow, the need for the grand old wooden barns has disappeared, replaced by the practical but less picturesque metal sheds that house equipment.

Original St. John Opera House

The Repurposed Opera House as the City Hall

My series of blogs about early opera houses was deferred so long that when I finally posted "Stafford (KS) Opera House" on 8-7-2014 I learned that the Weide Opera House had been demolished between the time I took photographs and finally posted the blog.  The "St. John (KS) Convention Hall & Opera House" 6-26-2014 blog shares an example of old buildings being saved by repurposing.  However, unless young people living today are told about the building's history, they may never know its original use.

Emerson Shields with  me

Keepers of our history are also people, and my blog "Interviewing Relatives of Isaac's Neighbors," 6-16-2016 shared my conversation with Milton John, which I am grateful to have had before his death soon after.  One of Stafford County's best known history keepers of W.W. II made an appearance in my blog "Veterans Then and Now" 11-22-16.  Although Emerson Shields did not speak at the Macksville High School ceremony on Veteran's Day 2016 he was there at age 92 in uniform, and an overflow crowd at the Stafford auditorium that day may have been the last group to have benefited from hearing Emerson's firsthand account as a W.W. II pilot, for he passed away only a short time later.

Still Standing

Sometimes these reminders of the past disappear almost before our eyes.  Because I am always on the lookout for historical subjects for this blog, we paused along Highway 281 to photograph an old homestead a few months ago.  The photograph at right shows what is no more, for a strong windstorm collapsed the aging house with all of its memories.  We paused again to photograph its collapse.

After the collapse

So in this New Year, look around you.  Observe the century old cottonwoods that are rapidly falling.  Pause to remember the empty churches that will soon be demolished.  Share stories of Saturday nights when soldiers from the Pratt Airbase crowded into the Barron Theater which has been repurposed as a youth center.  Find your own places to visit before they disappear, and make time to talk with a living history keeper.  And if you can, take someone younger along with you to carry this disappearing history into another generation.

You may click on images to enlarge them, and by using the Blog Archive top right on this page you can access by year and date all of the past blogs mentioned in this week's blog.

Interviewing Relatives of Isaac's Neighbors

Isaac's "Dream Home" glued in his journal

I found Isaac Werner's journal in 2010 because I stayed in Kansas after my Mother's death to handle her estate.  To fill the days while waiting for estate matters needing my attention, I did some research about my family, and in that way I stumbled upon the journal.

Immediately I recognized the historic value of Isaac's journal, and I laid my family research aside to begin what has consumed--off and on--six years of research.  I realized that a few "old timers" remained in Stafford County who might help me collect information about early settlers, and I also realized that many with family connections going back that far were already gone or had memories less clear than they once were.

Now, six years later, I wish I had been more successful in reaching out to some of those people.  However, one gentleman that I did interview was Milton Mason John, Jr.  I was particularly delighted to talk with him because of his connection to Isaac's neighbor, G.G. John.  According to the probate records of Isaac's estate, G. G. John checked on Isaac daily for five months until it became necessary for Isaac to leave his home to obtain round-the-clock nursing care.  G.G. made Isaac an invalid chair and ran occasional errands in town for Isaac.  The request he made against Isaac's estate for his services was minimal, unlike another neighbor who bled Isaac's estate for an outrageous amount, given the wages being paid in the community at that time.

Southern home from 1800s

I came to admire G.G. John for his barely compensated attention to his declining neighbor, and I was eager to learn whatever Milton could share.

G.G. John was a brother to Milton's grandfather, and all of the boys in that family were given double initial first and middle names--Eleazer E., Milton Mason, Olin Olo, George G., and even John J. John.  G.G. John lived just to the west of Isaac Werner's timber claim, and Milton remembered G.G.'s home as quite large, with porches nearly all the way around.  Perhaps because the Johns had come from Virginia, G.G.'s house was built in the Southern style.  It no longer exists.  The information Milton gave me allowed my research on ancestry.com to provide more details that I might not otherwise have learned.

The image at the top of this blog was a clipping Isaac had glued in his journal--perhaps Isaac's dream home he hoped to build one day.  Milton described G.G.'s home as having been built in the "Southern style," so perhaps the photograph above might be similar, or perhaps the clipping Isaac saved with its porches might have resembled what G.G. built.

Milton Mason John, Jr. died this past March 27, 2016.  As a past St. John Postmaster (1955-1959), followed by his service as a rural mail carrier until his retirement in 1989, Milton was known and loved by many people.  I am sorry that he did not get to see my book about Isaac Werner published, but I am so grateful that I had a lovely interview with him that has become part of my research for the manuscript.