It was prime harvest time in central Illinois when I was there. Corn and soybeans are the primary crops.

For my three sisters and me, detassling corn for DeKalb Ag was our first job. The icon, the winged ear - which we've always called the "flying cob" - is still everywhere along the fields in Illinois.

The light on the corn across the road from my sister's was amazing my first night there.

Imagine how much fabric could be stored in these bins on my sister's farm! She and her husband rent them out for grain storage.



The expansive farm has a lovely orchard, reminiscent of the one we had on our farm growing up.



The white birch is one of my favorite trees.

Proud Soddies

I take great pride in the fact that my ancestors were early settlers in the west. I cannot imagine the difficult life they endured on the plains. This tribute to Soddies stands in Gothenburg NE.

Click on any image for a closer view.

A sod house much like the ones in which my great-grandparents and their children lived. This one is at the Sod House Museum, Gothenburg, NE.

Detail of sod house.

Sod House Memories, copyright 1972 - Frances Jacobs Alberts This book was invaluable to us in our research.

The portion written by my father's cousin, Ava Speese Day, is used by Dr. Quintard Taylor in his History 313 class at the University of Washington. See his website: blackpast.org

Discovering Who We Really Are

My father was just 13 when his Mother died; still a teen when his father died four years later in 1931. Information on the family was scarce; photographs few. I don’t remember seeing pictures of his parents until I was an adult. There were no pictures of my father and his siblings growing up, and not one emerged of his grandparents.

For the last 25 years of his life, my father spoke of one day finding his Mother’s family. He spoke fondly of Aunt Rose and Aunt Gertie, remembering that one had married a Mr. Speese and the other a Mr. Brown, and that one had moved to South Dakota. The only other clues were his Mother’s maiden name – Meehan – and her birthplace: Rondeau, Ontario, Canada.

Research attempts were made over the years. I did manage to obtain my Grandmother’s birth record from Canada and with it, the name of her mother: Hester Catherine Freeman.

It wasn’t until my sister Sue and her husband moved to the country, with the pre-move sorting, that the key to everything was unearthed. In rereading the obituary for our father’s brother, she noted his birthplace of Overton NE, not Omaha as we had always thought. Such a tiny thing, and yet without it, we might still be looking. A Google search of Overton resulted in information on our great-grandfather – Charles Meehan, a white, red-haired Irishman – and the important role he played in the settling of the Great Plains.

My great-grandfather, who grew up in Detroit and Rondeau Ontario led a group of black Canadians to form a black colony in Overton in 1885, one of the first of its kind in Nebraska through the Homestead Act. My great-grandparents were very courageous, being one of the few mixed-race couples at that time.

Much information on our great-grandparents and their children was found in
the Ava Speese Day Story, Part Three of Sod House Memories, a Treasury of Soddy Stories, edited by Frances Jacobs Alberts in 1972. Family photos shown below also appear in the now out-of-print book.

We are a proud and strong FAMILY!

First cousins in front of Great-grandpa Meehan's sod house in Nebraska, 1915. My father is the baby being held by his brother - third from the left. Photo furnished by Catherine.

Part of the family we never knew we had.

This group photo from 1915, furnished by 2nd cousin Catherine, was the first we'd ever seen of our great-grandparents.

Blog Action Day

Bloggers everywhere are participating in Blog Action Day by writing about the environment. The condition of Mother Earth is critical and getting worse. The drought in NC has reached an extremely serious stage with river and lake levels dropping rapidly. Each of us has a responsibility to think green and to act green. Every effort counts! Here's what we do at our house:

1. Compost. We reap the rewards of composting each spring when the rich loam is plowed into our garden.

2. Conserve water by catching it in a bucket instead of letting it run down the drain until it gets hot. Pour the saved water onto shrubs and trees. Don't let the water run while you brush your teeth or rinse the dishes. Use as little as possible.

3. Recycle everything - papers, cans, glass.

4. Reuse, reuse, reuse.

5. Pass it on. Keep unwanted items out of the landfill by donating them to a worthy cause. Shelters are always in need of clothing and household items. It really does hurt my heart to throw something useable away!

6. Grow a garden using environmentally friendly products. It's good for the soul.

Thanks for thinking green today and every day!