- 115_1573_IMG
Iatan, MO. We liked these nifty street signs. - DSC01100
We went to the Atchison museum in search of John Reisner's hotel. Instead, we found this interesting exhibit of corn husk memorabilia. "Between 1895 and 1912 Atchison hosted seven large harvest festivals known as the Corn Carnivals. These huge celebrations lasted from one to three days and drew visitors from across the nation. This event soon gained Atchison an international reputation." - Headstone: Solomon Gardner (2/15/1821 to 12-6-1908)
I wonder which cemetery this is in. Most likely in the Grovespring area. - 115_1570_IMG
Iatan, MO. November of 2004, Jerry and I visited Chris and Brian in Kansas City. We had decided to try to find some of the towns mentioned by Nerva Duff Moore in her family history. They were all just a few hours outside of KC. I wrote up a synopsis of Nerva's text organized by town and Jerry laid out a course on his GPS. The following descriptions are taken from my text. The first town was Iatan, a little town sandwiched behind the river on the west, followed by the rail road, with the town on the east. The rich bottomland stretched from the highway to the river. - DSC00241
Wally's model of the White Queen. - DSC01103
Atchison, KS. We were looking for John Reisner's three story log hotel on the river. A guy at the museum thought this one was log, but the owner showed us around and it clearly was not John's. Nevertheless, this hotel was right on the Missouri River and had a great view. - Pillow Case: Crochet by Ollie George Bohannon
The circle on these is a simple spiral. Often on pieces like this, once the pillowcase started to rot, the hand work was cut out and reused on a new piece. So it is not necessary to throw out this fine work just because the surrounding material has deteriorated. - DSC01095
Boh and Chris head out to explore while they try to keep track of Yogi and Priscilla. - DSC01096
A corn husk hat made for the occasion! When we were in Muscotah, the couple we spoke to had a photo of a woman in a corn husk dress. - 115_1567_IMG
Map showing the rich bottomland of the Platte Territory that drew the Duffs to the area. You can see how settlement just followed the river. - DSC01097
Hat with corn husk dove, plus a separate doll. - 115_1569_IMG
Bean Lake, MO. The second location was Bean Lake, a horseshoe of the Missouri River that flooded often enough that families were relocated in the late 20th century. We walked along just to get a sense of the place. - Bettie Gardener George
Ollie's black suitcase. This image was in a folding case usually associated with tintypes. Bettie is opposite another photo of her with Joey and Mollie. Box notes in Kathy's hand say "Grandma Bettie on right." - The David and Betty George family
David and Betty Gardener George with children, except Ollie who was the youngest. Joey died at age 3, so Mollie is the oldest and so should be behind David. I'm not sure of the boys' birth orders. There was Robert (Uncle Rob who lived in a nursing home in Plainview) who was just a few years older than Ollie, and Jeff and Sal who were older than Rob. I need to learn birth order so I can identify the boys individually. - Sol Gardener (Betty's dad), 1821-1908
Ollie's black suitcase. We also have a collection of Sol's glasses and his cobbler tools.