Day 37 - Who Do You Think You Are?

Wednesday, 28 September

Today we spent most of the day searching for clues to Deb's ancestors in Colfax Cemetery in Colfax Township, IA.  When we entered, it quickly became apparent that almost every headstone was connected to her in some way... I photographed over 450 headstones today!  Here are just a few of the 522 photos taken today:

 Deb is standing next to the headstone for her great-great-grandfather Abel... he is the one who came over from Germany in 1867 starting the entire (USA) Abel generations...

 Later, we went to the courthouse in Clarion, IA, the county seat for Wright County, to get a copy of Deb's fathers birth certificate... the certificate showed his middle name spelled differently than her father spelled it all of his life... hmmm.

 Across the street there was this restaurant... I have to say it was some of the best Chinese food I have had in a long time... why they are here in this very small town in middle America is a mystery?

 As we were taking a back road to our destination for the night (South St Paul, MN), we came across a place called Forest City, IA, where there was a place called Heritage Park.  Here there was a small community of preserved buildings that were originally built by Scandinavian immigrants...

 This is an art structure built from many, many old iron things...

 This weather vane was made from railroad ties by an immigrant man...

 I liked the home made furniture in many of the buildings...

 This the old school house with the Lutheran Church in the background...

 We thought the note on the board was interesting...

 Our daughter Joy, who is a second grade teacher would have liked this school... especially this old heat stove... (just kidding)

 Cool two-story house with a balcony and fire escape...

 This old service station was cool...

 Looking west up "Main Street USA"

 Beaver Lutheran Church is still used today...

 We entered Minnesota through Emmons...

We watched a beautiful sunset over one of the lakes we passed.

Tonight we are in South Saint Paul (my mother was born here)... tomorrow we are going to hop over a few miles into Wisconsin, then we will turn west and head to Lewistown, Montana where my dad was born and many of my ancestors are buried.