BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS

July 16, 2009

Family History Tour

On our recent trip to Illinois we went to a few houses that were significant to me. The first was actually in Iowa just over the Mississippi River from Illinois. It was the house that my great-great-great grandparents lived in and where my great Grandma Jo was born and lived until she was married. A favorite story that my grandma used to tell was that in her mother's family there were 5 children. Their names were Charlie, Georgie, Frankie, Jo, and Jack. Out of the 5 children only 2 were boys, Charles and John (Jack). The others were Jo (Josephine), Georgie (Georgia), and Frankie was Frankie. Apparently they liked the name Frank and this was the feminine version they thought of. My mom was supposed to be Frank, but when she turned out to be a girl her parents went with something else.

My mom and me in front of "The Shephard Place"
A side view of the house
The Denmark (Iowa) Academy where my great-grandma Jo met her husband. The original academy burned in 1924 but they have this plaque to honor the original academy.
The other significant house is the house where I was born and lived for the first 3 years of my life

4 comments:

Ann said...

That's so neat. So glad you had those moments and now memories. We'll see you when we get back from Cali.

Team Heaton said...

That is so cool that you got to see all those neat places. And I thought Nauvoo was significant enough! What an awesome trip!

Debra said...

This is great, Janell. Sure brings ancestors to life to see where they lived and worked. Pretty special stuff.

Dr Write said...

Denmark is not too far from Morning Sun, which is where my dad's family had a farm. Strange. Morning Sun is just on the other side of Burlington. We used to go into Burlington for pizza and movies.