Left Weatherford, Texas, in the morning, drove I-20 across Texas, through Abilene, Odessa, and Pecos (where I took some pics, and ate dinner at 4:30). Then on to El Paso, arriving there at 7:45 (Mountain Standard Time); took a room at the Quality Inn, had a couple of drinks at the Mine Shaft, next door. 592 miles for the day.
Wednesday, October 20, 1999
Tuesday, October 19, 1999
Day 3 of my drive to California
Left Benton, Arkansas in the morning, driving west on I-30 to Texarkana (1:30 PM). From there, I detoured south on 34 to Terrell, Texas, to check out the town where my Kanouse ancestors settled, moving from New Jersey, in the 1850s. Not sure what I was looking for, other than seeing the town, I walked into a used book store, and struck gold. The proprietor, on hearing my story, phoned an old codger who was the authority on everything about Terrell’s history – and knew exactly where my Kanouse and Laroe ancestors were buried, down to instructions of where to find them once I got to the graveyard. Amazing!
So I found the graves of my grandfather’s grandparents, Horace Barnum Kanouse and Lydia Ann Laroe, in a plot devoted to Kanouse and Laroe relatives. My middle name is Laroe, and I’d never felt much of a connection before.
I left Terrell at 6:40, and drove on to Weatherford, Texas, where I ate at a rib joint and checked in to a Super 8 Motel. Watched the Braves win the NLCS (4 games to 2 over the Mets). Phoned Robin, read Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil. 398 Miles for the day.
Monday, October 18, 1999
Sun Records
On my way to California. Left Pevely, Missouri at 10:30, driving south on I-55; breakfast at Dairy Queen, got a speeding ticket in mid-afternoon. After making it to Arkansas, I took a detour across the Mississippi into Memphis: saw the Sun Records studio, Beale Street, and Graceland (from the outside), and grabbed a bite to eat in Southhaven, Mississippi. Back on the road: I-40 to Little Rock, then southwest on I-30. Overnight at a Ramada Inn in Benton, Arkansas. Phoned Robin, then watched the Yankees take the ALCS against the Red Sox. 466 miles for the day.
Sunday, October 17, 1999
At a motel in Pevely, Missouri
On my way to California, in my '97 Hyundai, with all my computer equipment in the trunk. It's step one on our move back to L. A., where I have job interviews and prospects, Robin and Mike to follow when I find us a place. I've always loved cross-country drives, and I plan to take the time to enjoy it.
Saturday, October 16, 1999
Mom's condition
Spoke with David on the phone (he's in Urbana visiting Sarah and Sascha); Mom is still in the hospital, now being treated for three different infections, and is mostly unresponsive. After another two weeks in a nursing facility, she will likely recover -- but the doctor is raising the question of how long we should continue such aggressive treatment in the future, considering the quality of life she's enduring.
Depressing.
Depressing.
Tuesday, October 12, 1999
Fire next door!
What a day! I was preparing for a phone interview with Northrop, an aerospace company in Southern California, when I heard the sirens, and saw the fire trucks pull up to the apartment building next door to our house. I could see at a glance that this was no small deal - a threat to our own house - so I phoned Robin at her work, leaving a message for her to come ASAP. By the time my Northrop phone interview started - one of those calls where half a dozen people were on the line to take turns questioning me - there were firemen traipsing through my living room, telling me to gather up my valuables and pets. Talk about an interview from hell! Meanwhile, Robin had gotten my message, and had rushed home with such complete disregard for stop lights, stop signs, and speed limits, that several police cars arrived with her, flashing their own red lights. Aside from Robin's traffic tickets, things turned out okay for us - but the apartment building next door was a total loss, demolished a few months later.
Friday, October 1, 1999
A report from David
Nothing new on Mom. Her cognitive status fluctuates quite a bit, but she never seems to go very long without getting wires crossed regarding whom she's talking to, how old she is, who is still living and who isn't, etc. She's puzzled that Ed hasn't been around lately.
Saturday, June 19, 1999
A Father's Day surprise
For Father’s Day, Robin arranged for Darryl and Cynthia to make a surprise visit to Illinois, enlisting our friend Steve Winston in the scam: Steve told me he was coming out for a conference, and would be able to spend a weekend with me in the process. So this morning, I went to pick him up at the Peoria airport, and found Darryl and Cynthia there instead. What a wonderful mind-blower! This has to be Robin’s best surprise yet!
Thursday, June 17, 1999
Kris graduates from Malibu High!
Pictured with her mom and dad, June 17, 1999. Robin flew back to California for the occasion.
Saturday, October 4, 1997
Searching for roots in a country graveyard
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.
