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Monday, May 11, 2009

Ready, Set

This is the countdown. There are five days left before take off.
We've been dreaming for years of taking a trip to the Midwest "sometime." The longer we dreamed and talked, the longer the list became of places and people we want to see. The trigger that finally got us to set a time to go was an invitation from Meredith Mauck to spend Memorial Day weekend with them in Kansas. We have flown over and driven all around Kansas but never set foot on the soil. My original idea was to go to the Little House in Coffeyville, Kansas, just so I could say I was in Kansas, and then head back east. But the invitation from Meredith has extended the time in Kansas a few days and will take us a little further west to the Mennonite area around Newton and Peabody.
One of the high priorities for me on this trip was to find Levina (Good-Powell) Griffith's death date and burial place. The last trace I had of her was in the 1880 Census in Terre Haute, Indiana. I was planning to allow three days to look for clues in a library and the couthouse. Leroy doesn't mind helping to look for gravestones in cemeteries but he was groaning about waiting a couple days while I dig through old books. Now he doesn't have to. About a month ago I got a tip that led me back to her former residence in Paris, Illinois. After years of searching, I now know she is buried in the Edgar Cemetery and we can go directly there.
Here is the itinerary I have planned. (Some things could change as we go.)
May 16-17--Spend the weekend with our daughter, Cheryl, and family in Antrim, Ohio
Monday, 18th--Stop at a cemetery south of Lancaster, Ohio; go on to Bainbridge, Ohio, to visit a couple of Leroy's cousins; spend the night in Erlanger, Kentucky
Tuesday, 19th--Spend the day at the Creation Museum and the night at Louisville, Kentucky
Wednesday, 20th--Drive to Leroy's cousin at Latham, Missouri, and spend the night there
Thursday, 21st--Drive to Coffeyville, Kansas and see the Little House on the Prairie; drive to Newton, Kansas and check into our Kansas "home" with Ed and Marge Harms
May 22-25---Sightseeing in Kansas and visiting with our friends; spend the night of 25th somewhere in Missouri
Tuesday, May 26--Drive to Carbondale, Illinois, and visit the Oakwood Cemetery where Joanna (Good-Powell) Coughanour and some of her descendants are buried; spend the night with my cousin in Bluford, Illinois
Wednesday, May 27--Visit the Edgar County Genealogy Library in Paris, Illinois, and then the Edgar Cemetery where Levina (Good-Powell) Griffith and her descendants are buried
Thursday, May 28--Drive back to Ohio and spend the night with Cheryl again
Friday, May 29--Drive home

3 comments:

Meredith said...

You have a good trip. I hope that all your travels go well. Maybe sometime I could take you to the cemetery where Edith and I will be buried. You could do an advance visit and take pictures of us at our burial site!

Scribbler said...

In Pa. or Canada? Standing or lying on the ground?

Meredith said...

That would be in Pennsylvania. It could be either standing or lying down.