Monday in Iowa

Monday, June 21
NOTE: Most of this post is about Gillespie genealogy. If that interests you, read on. Otherwise you can just get the idea that I took a side trip through Iowa,

Left Omaha early, heading north. Heavy rain all the way to Sioux City. One whole side of the interstate was closed for repaving, the old pavement having been torn up, but with no new pavement having been laid yet, it was just a river of mud, miles and miles. All the fields around the highway were nearly lakes. One begins to understand how the midwest comes to be flooded.

Turned northeast from Sioux City and made good time to Hartley, Iowa by 10 a.m. The rain started to let up although the dark clouds of the storm seemed to be hovering around in nearly every direction. I finally found the cemetery I was looking for: Pleasant View. Luckily I saw a truck parked near one of the maintenance buildings and it was the caretaker there to pick up downed branches from the storms. He helped me locate the Husted family in no time. Next to a fairly sizable bush there is a Husted monument with what I think is the symbol of the Masonic Order engraved at the top. In front are three headstones that appear connected by concrete between them. Only one of them is readable: Sarah Husted born Jan 23 1837, died May 7 1916. This would be our Sarah, born in Ireland (or Scotland?), third child of our Robert and Elizabeth, herself a mother of 8 children, dying at the age of 79 having lived much of her life in the rolling hills of Iowa.

The other two stones to the right of Sarah are very nearly completely smooth and I find myself wishing there was some way to restore the engravings. But by feeling the stone next to Sarah, I could make out the shape of the numbers 1901 at the bottom, which would be the year Alfred died. On the stone next Alfred, I could 'feel' the numbers 1870 and 1871 - which would be the infant daughter of Alfred and Sarah whose name was Susan. I asked the caretaker if he had records, and he did: a plot map that merely confirms the names Sarah, A.B., and Susan.

To the left of this family group is a single headstone that says: Sarah Husted, born May 9 1876, died June 8, 1904. At first I thought this was our Sarah, but clearly not when I remembered our Sarah had to be born much earlier. So who was this? Sarah and Alfred did not have a daughter named Sarah. The clue was in the other two stones to the right of the Husted monument: Ernest Husted, born Feb 8 1863, died jan 25 1945, and Vernie M. Husted born Oct 2, 1887, died June 22, 1957. The marker for Vernie also has an additional marker that reads: American Legion Auxiliary. So Ernest is the son of Alfred and Sarah. Vernie is Ernest's second wife, Verna Mae. Ernest's FIRST wife was named Sarah, and so I conclude that the extra Sarah Husted gravestone belongs to Ernest's first wife.

The Hartley library was not open until late in the afternoon and so because I had many miles to cover I did not wait around Hartley more than another hour. But I drove around the town, had lunch at Red's Cafe in town and watched all the locals coming and going (all full of mud from being in their fields no doubt) and imagined our relations doing the same in their day. I wanted to stay and find somebody to talk to, but I could see the rain clouds moving in again, so decided I should be on my way.

It was a long drive to Mpls - pretty much all in the rain. The traffic coming into the city was a jolt after two days of wide open spaces. I do love the midwest.