My brother David's research into the Kanouse family roots has unearthed a possible connection right here in McLean County, Illinois. It seems that another David Kanouse (1830-1878) and his wife Elizabeth Ann Flesher Kanouse (1831-1871) lived in the nearby town of Lexington, and are said to be buried there at Indian Field Cemetery. We're not sure how (or even whether) this 19th century David connects to our own family tree, and why Elizabeth and her children are listed in the 1860 census without David - so today my daughter and stepson joined me on a genealogical field trip in search of answers.
The Bloomington library had a book on the cemeteries of McLean county, and warned that Indian Field Cemetery was "overgrown" and not easy to find - "...at next right, turn north, park near corner, walk west through field toward grove of trees..." - and they were right. The back road meandered through farm country, taking numerous turns sharp enough to qualify as "next right," so we drove into the town, hoping to find someone who could give us directions.
Lexington is one of those quaint Midwestern towns that has you feeling like you've entered a time warp: Rod Serling about to step out from behind a tree and say "case in point: Kent Kanouse, for whom a casual excursion in search of connections became a journey into the Twilight Zone." But as luck would have it we spotted a brick building that said "Genealogy Library," and surprisingly enough for 4:30 on a Saturday afternoon, it was open.
A little old lady named Verda Gerwick met us at the door, and stepped out to talk with us (explaining that there was a reunion of some sorts going on inside). She'd been doing local genealogy research for 35 years, and when I explained that we were looking for information on David and Elizabeth Kanouse, she immediately recognized the name and went inside to retrieve a notebook. Elizabeth (nee Flesher) Kanouse, was indeed buried in Indian Field Cemetery - but her husband David was not, she said; he had gone "back" to Iowa a short time after their marriage in December 1848. Elizabeth was David's second wife - and Verda's take was that David had blown into town, married Elizabeth, and flown the coop, leaving her with his kids from the previous marriage.
Verda gave us detailed instructions on finding the cemetery, and we set back out, eventually coming to a spot that seemed to match her description. Parking off the road, we trudged a good half-mile along a grass pathway that petered off into a corn field, then forged ahead through corn stalks six feet high, towards a stand of trees that just had to be the place.
It was the cemetery all right, but it was so overgrown and neglected that only a couple of dozen tombstones remained upright amidst the clump of forest. Most of the markers were fallen over and/or buried beneath the soil, and as we kept Verda's directions in mind (the grave is near the east fence at the south end), we were mindful of her warning to watch out - "there's a rattlesnake den in there."
After fifteen or twenty minutes I was about to call it quits when Cynthia called out "found it!" Elizabeth Flesher Kanouse's grave was amidst others of the Flesher family, and I took pictures of the headstone and several surrounding ones. It was an obscure connection, but it was still moving to see the name "Kanouse" on an old stone in the middle nowhere, and the adventure of finding it was a reward in itself - a great example of how genealogy (or family history, as I like to say) can be so gratifying.
