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Northern West Virginia, day 20
Yesterday, as we drove and gawked, I spied some of the old family
locations, but I figured the best I could do was take pictures
from a distance. Today, we stopped and I walked down the road and
climbed a little bank to take these pictures. It wasn't enough,
so we go back in the car and headed down Arches Fork where we
parked and walked. We hiked through the grasses, waded across the
creek, then trekked up the hill to the old family cemetery. I
know it will probably be the last time for me. It's a long way to
travel, and as we're remind this birthday week for us, we're not
getting younger.
Grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins are buried
here. The last of the line to live here died a couple years ago.
The last time I was here and climbed the hill, Rupert was sitting
on one of the tombstones. This time, the cemetery was empty of
the living. You can tell Rupert hasn't been here because the
grasses are high. I don't think it's been mowed since he died.
We didn't go up to the Lowe house, but gazed at it from a
distance. I think, like many of the old homes, it sits silently
these days. Some of the other members of our large extended
family own it and, as seems to be the custom, it will sit
unattended until it collapses.
We passed the house where my mother was born, but my uncle and
his wife, who currently occupy it, didn't seem to be around.
Later, I saw him on the porch and we stopped and chatted a little
bit. We were fortunate to be there as the short-line train passed
below us and blew the horn as Everett waved. We didn't know it
still ran, but Everett says it comes by a couple times a day.
We visited a few other cemeteries and I shared my memories of
these people with Lauren. These people were a huge part of my youth.
The Alley and Hawkins homes have long been in the hands of other
people, so we only looked. Although we drove in and through
Jacksonburg, we didn't stop to spy out the house where I was
born. It's ok. I've been here. I don't need much else but to know
and to have these memories.
Bill and Barbara, cousins whose families branched off four or
five generations ago, were our destination for today. We had a
lovely time visiting. Bill runs the Wetzel County genealogy web
site. He has a large room full of genealogy information and his
computer set up. He has made a serious hobby of capturing this
area's history and helping others find their roots in this area.
Like us, Bill and Barbara are busy career people. They have
traveled the world and ended up back here. Unlike us, they came
back to take care of family. As we traveled, we brought family to
us.
Bill allowed me to "check in" my web pages and to pick up email.
At his encouragement, I also sought out the Norton site and
updated my anti-virus software. Hopefully the ILOVEYOU virus has
no chance on my computer now. I was shocked with pages of
ILOVEYOU when I checked email at work on Friday morning. I didn't
open any and was afraid to do any upload/download until I either
see notification from the network administrator that it's safe or
until some time has passed and I know we're business as usual.
Tomorrow, we will stop by the courthouse at New Martinsville and
leaf through a few records and then visit with Aunt Edna in Paden
City for a little while. The family research I've planned to do
has been nearly done for a number of years, so I have little or
no need to search old records. However, to see these records all
the way back to the middle or earlier years of the 1800s is an
interesting thing to do, and I wanted to show Lauren. Drawers of
old wills and deeds and other legal paper. A serious researcher's
dream and nightmare.
Tuesday, we'll leave for Harrisburg where we'll spend a few days,
then head off to Canada and, hopefully, Thunder Bay, before we
travel down to Minnesota and begin our westward descent back
home.
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