the 40 miles between Iowa City and Keota |
Downtown Keota |
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Vintage photos of my Grandmother's house |
the present day lot |
The big find was at the cemetery. I didn’t know if my ancestors were buried
there at all, let alone in the Catholic vs. Protestant sides of the
cemetery. Susan drove past the schoolhouse
right onto the cemetery road and we parked a little off the grass. We heard
children laughing and playing in the distance as we each walked a row of gravestones. The stones were situated, some facing east
some west some north some south, some
flat facing heaven-ward, all in the same row so you literally had to walk in
circles or weave in and out to see a family name on each stone. One could easily miss the one family name you
were seeking. I followed Susan across
the road to one plot up on the hill overlooking more dried up cornfields. I went back across a different road while
Susan moved the car. About 4/5ths done
with the looking, I found a large stone marked PAGE and beckoned Susan to join
me with the papers and crayons she had pre- packed. In front of the PAGE marker, I found a marker
for my grandmother Eva, married to both August Schmitt (father of her 4
children) and later in life to Robert Kerndt. There were two flat stones for
Eva’s two children, deceased in childhood, Donald – died in an airplane
accident and Marilyn who died at 3 years old of pneumonia. Geraldine (my mother) and her sister Greta were her two
surviving children, though now, both deceased. A separate marker named my
Grandmother Eva’s first husband, August Schmitt. Susan and I rubbed
gravestones, took pictures, and Instagrams and posted to Facebook. I really couldn’t believe it.
Some questions remain: of all the Page family
names on the genealogy paper** I have, were these the last Pages in the area?
Had none of those Keota Pages my grandmother’s age had children? Why were there markers for Pages who had
married into other families? (i.e. the matriarchs NOT the patriarchs of the
clan?)
Susan, combing the cemetery for Pages |
Why was there no place-saver for Grandmother
Eva’s other two children (my mother and my aunt Greta) AND, I’m pretty sure Grandmother Eva was
cremated in San Diego as I attended her memorial (pretty in purple, pregnant
with Kelcy—I can find THAT picture)
so, had my mother mailed Eva’s urn to Keota?
Or was this just a nice stone marker with the correct date?
**When looking in my cellar for my
Grandmother Eva’s birthday book, I found an old letter from a William C. Page.
I had mailed him back in 1978 about my genealogy. I had no recollection of
this. He said I’d do better to look to my father’s genealogy if I was looking
for DAR(Daughters of the American Revolution) membership. Anyway, he included a
family tree dating back to 1765 from the cover of a family Bible from
Brattleboro, Vermont. I’ll include it
next when I figure out how to format a family tree.
It was a happy sad feeling to find my roots,
albeit so late in life. I think it would
have made my mother and Aunt Greta very happy to know I’d made this
effort. I can still share with my living
relatives: my brother Brent in Los
Angeles, my five cousins Donna, Tracy, Monier, Kim and Kristie (Greta’s
daughters) in Chicago and my surrogate grandmother, Ruth Morrison, who knew Eva
when I was still growing up in San Diego.
What a journey! Your mother would have been very pleased!!
ReplyDeleteNicely done love
ReplyDelete