This is a Blog site created by Bob Reed (in Florida) for folks who live--or used to live--in Marcus, Iowa. Its purpose is to exchange notes, news, remembrances, and thoughts about life in and about Marcus, or news about one's family, friends or acquaintances.
Yes, what about that truck stop? And an update on the Holy Name Reunion during the Fair? How is that going? Any tally for the get-together yet? Also, interesting story on the cover of the Marcus News ... is there any movement on the idea of Dutch farm families to Iowa? Any discussion on these topics around town?
From what I hear - the "Marcus Junction" truck stop will start construction this spring. Possiblility that the tanks will be burried soon. Also read application of Valley Bank out of Cherokee to build a bank somewhere on highway 143.
For anyone and everyone wanting to get in touch with Gary Sanow you can email him at garysanow@comcast.net
Gary was amazing to watch run for Marcus High.........man that dude could flat out fly!!! Gary, when you read this thanks for the memories. That class of your's was loaded with some real athletes!!!
Can Jack Clarkson or anyone else in the know give us an update re the Catholic All-School Reunion that has been talked about for this coming summer....i.e. When will it be held and such?
Hey Kurt Dorr (or any of the Dorr boys): How about an update on your mother (Margaret Dorr)? She's been gone for two or three weeks, now, hasn't she? Max Reed
Update on Holy Name School Reunion. Scheduled for August 11th & 12th the weekend of the Marcus Fair. We have sent out about 300 invites. Hope we did not miss anyone but probably did. We started from the class of 1964 and back then we had some response from some classes that were in High School when H.N. High closed so we went back to Jr. High. We asked someone in these classes to contact people in their class and see if there was some interest and contact us. So if you did not get contacted let us know. We do not know how many we will have but the Community center will hold about 300. Maybe we won't have that many but we should know by April 1.
Registration is in H.N. Church hall on Friday pm. and Sat am. We will have a get-together at the Marcus Golf Course on Friday evening at 5:00. This is a come and go and anyone is welcome. Then of course the Parade at 4:00 on Saturday then our Reunion Dinner will Saturday night at the Community Center following 5:30 Mass. Sunday the Lions Club may have an omlet breakfast at the Community Center. This is not definite yet. But with no place for breakfast in Marcus this is a possibility.
Any questions let us know.
Jack Clarkson Box 543 Marcus Email: jfclark@midlands.net
Max: Our mother (Margaret) had shoulder replacement surgery at the Mayo Clinic the week of January 23rd. Everything went very well. She's now the bionic woman on the left side. After three days at Methodist Hospital in Rochester she went into Charter House for a couple of weeks of skilled care. She's now moving (today) into an assisted living facility there - Madonna Meadows - until at least March 15th when she'll have her followup appointment with her surgeon. The current plan is for her to return home to Marcus after that.
I was with her yesterday. A couple of things she passed on after visiting with lots of people who were rehabbing at Charter House:
1. She wants to exercise more, so that she can put off for as long as possible, and maybe avoid completely, the prospect of hip replacement surgery. (She saw too many cases of complications from that procedure.)
2. Nurses don't "care" for their patients like they used to. She and her older sister sister say they've "lived too long". People have become so "coarse" as they would put it. They both place many of the young nurses in that category. (I told her I didn't think it was limited to the nursing profession. It's invaded the culture.)
As an example, on her second day at Methodist, after surgery, a young nurse came in and handed her one of thoses small receptacles patients have at their bedside for use if they get sick. The nurse breezed in and told my mom (the almost 85-year old ex-school teacher), "Here's your puke bucket." She's fortunate that my mom was still under the influence of drugs and couldn't chase her down to chastise her. As she says, and I agree, "People didn't use to talk like that."
3. Many people have no one to care for them as they age.
4. The docs and nurses used to be the same age as her kids. Now many are the same age as her grandchildren.
5. And her final words of wisdom to me yesterday as I left - "Take care of yourself, eat responsibly, exercise and watch out for the same conditions that show up often in our family history". All good advice.
Sounds like she'll have lots of material for "Gray Matter" columns on her return.
Any chance of posting an address for your mother? I emailed her a few weeks ago to see how she was doing and now I realize why I didn't hear back ... and shocked and saddened by her experience with that young nurse ... you can bet I will pass that story on to my daughter who is in her fourth year in nursing program.
If you don't want to post the address here, would you send it to me at ...
Maybe you all think I am really lame, but it might be interesting to have marcusiowa.blogspot.com bumper stickers to pass around at the Marcus Fair or the Holy Name reunion in August. Anyone in advertising or graphic design who could design something?
I just read the Marcus News that came today. I was touched by Rose Brady's letter of thanks to the community after her children's accident. I can't imagine how horrible that day must have been for her family, but again I am amazed by what a town like Marcus does so well, so instinctively, when something like that happens. It is something, thankfully, that her children will always hold in their hearts now too. You have passed on those ideals to another generation.
Just bumping up the comment tally here to get everyone excited ... or trying to go for the record for the most comments in a row ... or the most annoying blogger ... or maybe I'm just procrastinating because I have so many papers to correct! Something more constructive? A February discussion starter???
I noticed that Colleen Whealon Duddleston is moving back to Spirit Lake ... and that reminds me of fishing ... which I was never very good at, but I know there are some a-fish-ianados out there (it's late). Where were/are your favorite fishing spots around Marcus? Any good (and true) fishing tales out there to share?
Margaret Dorr Madonna Meadows 3035 Salem Meadows Drive SW Rochester, Minnesota 55902
I know she thinks the world of you, so I'm sure would love to hear from you.
I never thought I'd see the day, but she misses access to her computer. (She resisted getting one for quite a while. My brother, Kurt, the "techie" in our family finally got her online. Now she loves it.)
She always asks -"What's going on back in Iowa or on the Marcusblog?"
Fred
p.s. Hope I didn't offend you or your family with my "nurse comment". There are lots of good ones out there, of course, as well. Very much in demand. But it seems as though language is rougher, generally.
A quick aside: Her favorite nurse was one from Ethiopia who left her family behind to come to this country to practice her profession. She could make so much more money here to support them. My mom loved her thrifty and caring ways. She would come into her room, take out only the one or two dead flowers from those in a vase, refresh the water and leave the rest. My mother's comment: "Anymore, when one or two start to go they throw out the whole bunch. Not her." And most important, she expressed care for her. I know that many don't have time for that, given the press of their jobs, but this nurse would, on occasion, come in and wash my mother's feet. Rather biblical almost, isn't it? A little thing, but it meant so much to her otherwise just prone in her hospital bed. Those are the kind of people we all respect and admire.
So there are still good and caring ones out there, and given your background, I suspect your daughter will be one as well. Good for her in choosing such an honorable profession.
I tried to talk my daughters into considering the same. They wanted to duck too many science courses, though, in high school, so are now going the teaching route.
Fred, Thanks for the address. Mallory already has many nursing stories of her own much like your own. Lots of good and bad in every profession ... and until we are exposed to it, we have no clue.
You might be interested to know that Gayle's daughter, Anna, just graduated with her nursing degree from Louisiana University at Monroe in December, 2005. She is working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Schumpert Hospital in Shreveport and loves it.
You may have noticed a new format-template for this blog. The site was "down" for a day or so and since this is a freebe blog, human tech support from the blog site folk is hard to get to fix the problem. Son Bob (Baritone Bob) fiddled with it, changed the template and we are back in business. Bob Reed
That's great. Mallory is also interested in neonatal nursing, and one of her rotations is at Women and Infants in Providence this semester. She was schocked at how small the premies are. I am even knitting tiny baby caps for their little noggins ... with our first real blizzard of the season that's what I spent the afternoon doing.
Actually, my youngest daughter went to her job at Panera Bread this morning and when the storm got worse they closed early. She came home with bags of freshly baked bread, soup, sandwiches, and bakery items that would have been thrown away so everyone got to take some home. So I ate, watched the Olympics, and watched the snow come down today ... wonderful.
Say hi to Gayle for me.
P.S. My English students have a blog at shsbooklovers.blogspot.com if anyone is interested in what high school kids are reading on their own these days ... some still do read...
Thanks for your comments and I will tell Gayle, hi. I don't envy you your snow, though. Too many cold recess duties during the years. The Panera Bread meal sounded good. We first ate there in Wilmette, IL, with Steve's family and they now have one in Sioux City. We are in Mesa, AZ enjoying 70 degree weather but it rained the day we arrived, on Oct. 17, and it has not rained since. The forest fire season has started here already. Every area has it's problems. I'll check our your student's blog site.
This was in today's Chicago Tribune. Thought it was a neat story. History is all around us. La Harpe is close to the Iowa border. My mother's family came from around Lincoln, IL. My mother had an Uncle that knew Abe Lincoln and told stories about the day he received the news President Lincoln had been shot. The story brought history alive for me and showed it wasn't that long ago Lincoln had been killed.
History grows on farmland Volunteer caretaker finds Lincoln family graves after cleanup of forgotten fields
By Maura Possley Tribune staff reporter
February 13, 2006
LA HARPE, Ill. -- The weathered gravestones were overgrown with brush and covered with filth, but it took only a little Comet and some scrubbing in a long-forgotten cemetery to uncover a historic family name: Lincoln.
Amid the rambling farm fields of western Illinois, as many as 12 members of President Abraham Lincoln's extended family are buried in the cemetery, which is marked only by a handmade sign and doesn't even have an access road.
A few people around La Harpe knew that several of Lincoln's first cousins were buried at the site, but it took a local resident with some spare time one winter to uncover the actual evidence.
"It was amazing," said Jeff Thompson, the volunteer caretaker who uncovered the headstones 10 years ago. "No one had paid much attention to it."
The cemetery had been forgotten by its owners until 2 1/2 years ago, when Catholic Church officials found burial records in some old files. Along with members of the Mordecai Lincoln family, about 50 people were buried at that location, which is named St. Simon the Apostle Cemetery, after the church that used to stand next to it.
Over the years, local historians have talked about ways to preserve the historic graveyard and make it accessible to visitors, perhaps by carving a dirt road into the fields.
But Thompson is still the only caretaker, and the single modern improvement has been a hand-painted sign added in 2004.
Local historians don't have much money to work with, and the parish priest is worried about disturbing the grounds.
It's an unusual amount of restraint for a community in the Land of Lincoln, which commemorates the president's birthday with a state holiday Monday. Some towns have put up commemorative markers for little more than a local overnight stay by Lincoln.
In La Harpe, though, a noteworthy branch of the Lincoln family rests in almost complete solitude. The family's rich story is known only by a few parishioners and historians, despite the patriarch's significance in the life of the Great Emancipator.
Lincoln might never have been born if not for the heroic actions of his uncle, Mordecai Lincoln.
When Mordecai Lincoln was a young man in Kentucky, Indians killed his father and captured his younger brother, Thomas, according to Bryon Andreasen, research historian at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.
According to the personal writings of Dennis Hanks, a first cousin of Abraham Lincoln's, Thomas Lincoln asked the Indian holding him captive to spare his life. Hanks, who some say was known to exaggerate his tales, wrote that just as the man looked down at Thomas and smiled, Thomas heard the crack of a rifle. The Indian fell to the ground dead.
According to Hanks, Mordecai Lincoln had shot the Indian from the loft of the family home by aiming at a silver half-moon ornament that hung on the Indian's chest.
Historians agree that whatever the details of the encounter, Thomas Lincoln survived to grow up and marry Nancy Hanks. They became the parents of the future president.
Today, St. Simon's cemetery is the most significant remnant of the Mordecai Lincoln family. Headstones for possibly a dozen family members were placed on the plot, with a handful of headstones still intact.
But historians don't think Mordecai Lincoln himself is buried in St. Simon's cemetery.
The details of his death are not recorded, Andreasen said. But according to family lore, Mordecai Lincoln was riding his horse during a blizzard and never returned. According to the story, he was found by his family in a field, frozen to death, and was buried on the spot.
For years no one tended St. Simon's cemetery, and the small graveyard became overgrown to the point that walking through it was impossible, according to Thompson.
That was the case until Thompson, 52, a seasonal laborer from nearby Webster, was without a job one winter and had nothing else to do.
For two months, he cut back brush with a chainsaw and mowed the plot.
To bring the remaining headstones back to their original white, Thompson scrubbed a few of them with Comet and a wire brush.
The historical society is now compiling information and working with a state program that helps small towns create historic sites.
But for now, Thompson is the only one tending the graves.
"I wouldn't mind being buried back here," Thompson said. "It's nice. You wouldn't be bothered at all."
We didn't come close to NYC's total, so it was just about 10 inches ... enough for a 1 1/2 hour delay today ... not even a full day out of school. Still pretty though. It will be in the 50s by Thursday and it will be gone.
I love how weather reports have become such "news events" in themselves ... all the preparing ... the 24/7 updates, all the high-tech, super-duper dopplar effects, blah, blah, blah ... but in the end Mother Nature still dumps on whom she chooses... And then there's all the post-weather explanation of why it happened the way it did. It's all rather "1984"-ish in a way. Any weather men/women out there reading this?
Cut and paste the above link into your browser to read about Wilbur Glen Kirchoff from Marcus who was killed in Vietnam. The parachute story is amazing.
Hey Bob -- I just finished reading your book 'The Choir That Couldn't Sing.' Good stuff!!! Funny how so many character's names were familiar somehow...
Next time you're up Iowa-way, I'll have to ask you to autograph it for me.
As is typical in many small towns across the nation in rural areas, the housing stock seems to continue to decline in Marcus. What are the chances that all the churches in Marcus could band together and start a Habitat for Humanity chapter and start rebuilding new housing in Marcus for the needy?
Maybe it wouldn't work but I thought I'd throw the idea out there. I just hate seeing the homes in Marcus continue to decline, then torn down and an empty lot left.
Hey June---glad you enjoyed the book! We are hosting a family reunion at Okiboji the last week in July of this year---with a trip/tour to Marcus. Hope to see you then! Bob Reed
Bob: We're celebrating my mom's 85th birthday at Village West Resort - Okoboji - the same week in July this summer. Where is your family function being held? I probably will only get up to my mom's party for Friday-Saturday (7/28th and 29th). Any chance I could meet you then and say hi? Love to finally say hello face-to-face after all these email transmissions. We've got Dorrs coming in from all over for my mom's event. It should be quite the mess! Fred
Hey Fred---We'll be at Village West during the week of July 23rd to 30th with a side trip to Marcus--probably on Wed the 26th. Let's get together. I hope Okiboji is ready for all those Doors. For as my brother noted in 1940 in his column "Paper Wads Thrown By I. B. Told" in the Marcus News---- "Marcus is the only town in the country with more Doors than windows" Bob Reed
Friday afternoon about 4:00 our new Fire Truck arrived. I believe the town in Nebraska where the factory is located is Snyder. Anyway some of us 'oldtimers' talked thru the day on when will it be here?? Fred Wilkens thought maybe about 3:00 or maybe by 4:00. We listened for the siren because we knew they would sound it when they came into Marcus. Sure enough about 4:00 here they came siren on!! So several fireman were there including some of us retired old timers to greet them. What a great addition to our Fire Department. This unit replaces the Fire Truck the community purchased in Tipton, Indiana January 1975. I know the guys were very excited to get this 'baby' home. Paul Wilkens at Sand Seed kept me updated on the progress of the truck the last few months and I know how excited they were. As a former fireman and I know I can speak for all of the Marcus fireman past and present "Thanks to our Community for all of your support through the years".
Don't know if they had as much fun on their trip to get the truck as we did in 1975............
Ok, I will say something but Jack Clarkson isn't going to like it! Jack I should have bet you another Coke on the Baylor vs. ISU men's basketball game yesterday! Sorry I couldn't resist. I know it's a tough day for ISU fans, but you will get another shot at us next year in Ames and I will most likely be there!
41 comments:
So what's new around Marcus? Is the new truck stop going up yet? When will it open?
Yes, what about that truck stop?
And an update on the Holy Name Reunion during the Fair? How is that going? Any tally for the get-together yet?
Also, interesting story on the cover of the Marcus News ... is there any movement on the idea of Dutch farm families to Iowa? Any discussion on these topics around town?
From what I hear - the "Marcus Junction" truck stop will start construction this spring. Possiblility that the tanks will be burried soon. Also read application of Valley Bank out of Cherokee to build a bank somewhere on highway 143.
For anyone and everyone wanting to get in touch with Gary Sanow you can email him at garysanow@comcast.net
Gary was amazing to watch run for Marcus High.........man that dude could flat out fly!!! Gary, when you read this thanks for the memories. That class of your's was loaded with some real athletes!!!
Phil Dorr
Jon:
Nice to hear from you!
How on earth did you find The Marcus Blog?
To the webmaster:
Where did the Feb. 4th post by Jon Gottesleben go?
Can Jack Clarkson or anyone else in the know give us an update re the Catholic All-School Reunion that has been talked about for this coming summer....i.e. When will it be held and such?
Hey Kurt Dorr (or any of the Dorr boys):
How about an update on your mother (Margaret Dorr)? She's been gone for two or three weeks, now, hasn't she? Max Reed
Update on Holy Name School Reunion. Scheduled for August 11th & 12th the weekend of the Marcus Fair. We have sent out about 300 invites. Hope we did not miss anyone but probably did. We started from the class of 1964 and back then we had some response from some classes that were in High School when H.N. High closed so we went back to Jr. High. We asked someone in these classes to contact people in their class and see if there was some interest and contact us. So if you did not get contacted let us know. We do not know how many we will have but the Community center will hold about 300. Maybe we won't have that many but we should know by April 1.
Registration is in H.N. Church hall on Friday pm. and Sat am. We will have a get-together at the Marcus Golf Course on Friday evening at 5:00. This is a come and go and anyone is welcome. Then of course the Parade at 4:00 on Saturday then our Reunion Dinner will Saturday night at the Community Center following 5:30 Mass. Sunday the Lions Club may have an omlet breakfast at the Community Center. This is not definite yet. But with no place for breakfast in Marcus this is a possibility.
Any questions let us know.
Jack Clarkson Box 543 Marcus
Email: jfclark@midlands.net
Marcia Drefke Box 268 Marcus
Max: Our mother (Margaret) had shoulder replacement surgery at the Mayo Clinic the week of January 23rd. Everything went very well. She's now the bionic woman on the left side. After three days at Methodist Hospital in Rochester she went into Charter House for a couple of weeks of skilled care. She's now moving (today) into an assisted living facility there - Madonna Meadows - until at least March 15th when she'll have her followup appointment with her surgeon. The current plan is for her to return home to Marcus after that.
I was with her yesterday. A couple of things she passed on after visiting with lots of people who were rehabbing at Charter House:
1. She wants to exercise more, so that she can put off for as long as possible, and maybe avoid completely, the prospect of hip replacement surgery. (She saw too many cases of complications from that procedure.)
2. Nurses don't "care" for their patients like they used to. She and her older sister sister say they've "lived too long". People have become so "coarse" as they would put it. They both place many of the young nurses in that category. (I told her I didn't think it was limited to the nursing profession. It's invaded the culture.)
As an example, on her second day at Methodist, after surgery, a young nurse came in and handed her one of thoses small receptacles patients have at their bedside for use if they get sick. The nurse breezed in and told my mom (the almost 85-year old ex-school teacher), "Here's your puke bucket." She's fortunate that my mom was still under the influence of drugs and couldn't chase her down to chastise her. As she says, and I agree, "People didn't use to talk like that."
3. Many people have no one to care for them as they age.
4. The docs and nurses used to be the same age as her kids. Now many are the same age as her grandchildren.
5. And her final words of wisdom to me yesterday as I left - "Take care of yourself, eat responsibly, exercise and watch out for the same conditions that show up often in our family history". All good advice.
Sounds like she'll have lots of material for "Gray Matter" columns on her return.
Thanks for asking, Max. Fred
Fred,
Any chance of posting an address for your mother? I emailed her a few weeks ago to see how she was doing and now I realize why I didn't hear back ... and shocked and saddened by her experience with that young nurse ... you can bet I will pass that story on to my daughter who is in her fourth year in nursing program.
If you don't want to post the address here, would you send it to me at ...
jmsimpson@cox.net
Thanks so much.
Maybe you all think I am really lame, but it might be interesting to have marcusiowa.blogspot.com bumper stickers to pass around at the Marcus Fair or the Holy Name reunion in August. Anyone in advertising or graphic design who could design something?
This is to June ...
Any bites yet?
I just read the Marcus News that came today. I was touched by Rose Brady's letter of thanks to the community after her children's accident. I can't imagine how horrible that day must have been for her family, but again I am amazed by what a town like Marcus does so well, so instinctively, when something like that happens.
It is something, thankfully, that her children will always hold in their hearts now too. You have passed on those ideals to another generation.
Just bumping up the comment tally here to get everyone excited ... or trying to go for the record for the most comments in a row ... or the most annoying blogger ... or maybe I'm just procrastinating because I have so many papers to correct!
Something more constructive? A February discussion starter???
I noticed that Colleen Whealon Duddleston is moving back to Spirit Lake ... and that reminds me of fishing ... which I was never very good at, but I know there are some a-fish-ianados out there (it's late). Where were/are your favorite fishing spots around Marcus? Any good (and true) fishing tales out there to share?
Julia: My mom's address in Rochester is -
Margaret Dorr
Madonna Meadows
3035 Salem Meadows Drive SW
Rochester, Minnesota 55902
I know she thinks the world of you, so I'm sure would love to hear from you.
I never thought I'd see the day, but she misses access to her computer. (She resisted getting one for quite a while. My brother, Kurt, the "techie" in our family finally got her online. Now she loves it.)
She always asks -"What's going on back in Iowa or on the Marcusblog?"
Fred
p.s. Hope I didn't offend you or your family with my "nurse comment". There are lots of good ones out there, of course, as well. Very much in demand. But it seems as though language is rougher, generally.
A quick aside: Her favorite nurse was one from Ethiopia who left her family behind to come to this country to practice her profession. She could make so much more money here to support them. My mom loved her thrifty and caring ways. She would come into her room, take out only the one or two dead flowers from those in a vase, refresh the water and leave the rest. My mother's comment: "Anymore, when one or two start to go they throw out the whole bunch. Not her." And most important, she expressed care for her. I know that many don't have time for that, given the press of their jobs, but this nurse would, on occasion, come in and wash my mother's feet. Rather biblical almost, isn't it? A little thing, but it meant so much to her otherwise just prone in her hospital bed. Those are the kind of people we all respect and admire.
So there are still good and caring ones out there, and given your background, I suspect your daughter will be one as well. Good for her in choosing such an honorable profession.
I tried to talk my daughters into considering the same. They wanted to duck too many science courses, though, in high school, so are now going the teaching route.
Fred
Colleen, I was told about the blog by one of your other cousins in the Treinen family. Jon
Colleen, How are your sisters doing? Jon
Fred,
Thanks for the address.
Mallory already has many nursing stories of her own much like your own. Lots of good and bad in every profession ... and until we are exposed to it, we have no clue.
Julia,
You might be interested to know that Gayle's daughter, Anna, just graduated with her nursing degree from Louisiana University at Monroe in December, 2005. She is working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Schumpert Hospital in Shreveport and loves it.
Pat Ducommun
You may have noticed a new format-template for this blog. The site was "down" for a day or so and since this is a freebe blog, human tech support from the blog site folk is hard to get to fix the problem. Son Bob (Baritone Bob) fiddled with it, changed the template and we are back in business.
Bob Reed
Hi Mrs. Ducommun,
That's great. Mallory is also interested in neonatal nursing, and one of her rotations is at Women and Infants in Providence this semester. She was schocked at how small the premies are. I am even knitting tiny baby caps for their little noggins ... with our first real blizzard of the season that's what I spent the afternoon doing.
Actually, my youngest daughter went to her job at Panera Bread this morning and when the storm got worse they closed early. She came home with bags of freshly baked bread, soup, sandwiches, and bakery items that would have been thrown away so everyone got to take some home. So I ate, watched the Olympics, and watched the snow come down today ... wonderful.
Say hi to Gayle for me.
P.S. My English students have a blog at shsbooklovers.blogspot.com if anyone is interested in what high school kids are reading on their own these days ... some still do read...
Julie,
Thanks for your comments and I will tell Gayle, hi. I don't envy you your snow, though. Too many cold recess duties during the years. The Panera Bread meal sounded good. We first ate there in Wilmette, IL, with Steve's family and they now have one in Sioux City. We are in Mesa, AZ enjoying 70 degree weather but it rained the day we arrived, on Oct. 17, and it has not rained since. The forest fire season has started here already. Every area has it's problems. I'll check our your student's blog site.
Pat Ducommun
Bob, thanks for the update on the blog, I was about to throw my computer out the window since it wouldn't logon to the blog. Now I won't have to.
Julia, how much snow did you get? Looks like it was a big one.
This was in today's Chicago Tribune. Thought it was a neat story. History is all around us. La Harpe is close to the Iowa border. My mother's family came from around Lincoln, IL. My mother had an Uncle that knew Abe Lincoln and told stories about the day he received the news President Lincoln had been shot. The story brought history alive for me and showed it wasn't that long ago Lincoln had been killed.
History grows on farmland
Volunteer caretaker finds Lincoln family graves after cleanup of forgotten fields
By Maura Possley
Tribune staff reporter
February 13, 2006
LA HARPE, Ill. -- The weathered gravestones were overgrown with brush and covered with filth, but it took only a little Comet and some scrubbing in a long-forgotten cemetery to uncover a historic family name: Lincoln.
Amid the rambling farm fields of western Illinois, as many as 12 members of President Abraham Lincoln's extended family are buried in the cemetery, which is marked only by a handmade sign and doesn't even have an access road.
A few people around La Harpe knew that several of Lincoln's first cousins were buried at the site, but it took a local resident with some spare time one winter to uncover the actual evidence.
"It was amazing," said Jeff Thompson, the volunteer caretaker who uncovered the headstones 10 years ago. "No one had paid much attention to it."
The cemetery had been forgotten by its owners until 2 1/2 years ago, when Catholic Church officials found burial records in some old files. Along with members of the Mordecai Lincoln family, about 50 people were buried at that location, which is named St. Simon the Apostle Cemetery, after the church that used to stand next to it.
Over the years, local historians have talked about ways to preserve the historic graveyard and make it accessible to visitors, perhaps by carving a dirt road into the fields.
But Thompson is still the only caretaker, and the single modern improvement has been a hand-painted sign added in 2004.
Local historians don't have much money to work with, and the parish priest is worried about disturbing the grounds.
It's an unusual amount of restraint for a community in the Land of Lincoln, which commemorates the president's birthday with a state holiday Monday. Some towns have put up commemorative markers for little more than a local overnight stay by Lincoln.
In La Harpe, though, a noteworthy branch of the Lincoln family rests in almost complete solitude. The family's rich story is known only by a few parishioners and historians, despite the patriarch's significance in the life of the Great Emancipator.
Lincoln might never have been born if not for the heroic actions of his uncle, Mordecai Lincoln.
When Mordecai Lincoln was a young man in Kentucky, Indians killed his father and captured his younger brother, Thomas, according to Bryon Andreasen, research historian at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.
According to the personal writings of Dennis Hanks, a first cousin of Abraham Lincoln's, Thomas Lincoln asked the Indian holding him captive to spare his life. Hanks, who some say was known to exaggerate his tales, wrote that just as the man looked down at Thomas and smiled, Thomas heard the crack of a rifle. The Indian fell to the ground dead.
According to Hanks, Mordecai Lincoln had shot the Indian from the loft of the family home by aiming at a silver half-moon ornament that hung on the Indian's chest.
Historians agree that whatever the details of the encounter, Thomas Lincoln survived to grow up and marry Nancy Hanks. They became the parents of the future president.
Today, St. Simon's cemetery is the most significant remnant of the Mordecai Lincoln family. Headstones for possibly a dozen family members were placed on the plot, with a handful of headstones still intact.
But historians don't think Mordecai Lincoln himself is buried in St. Simon's cemetery.
The details of his death are not recorded, Andreasen said. But according to family lore, Mordecai Lincoln was riding his horse during a blizzard and never returned. According to the story, he was found by his family in a field, frozen to death, and was buried on the spot.
For years no one tended St. Simon's cemetery, and the small graveyard became overgrown to the point that walking through it was impossible, according to Thompson.
That was the case until Thompson, 52, a seasonal laborer from nearby Webster, was without a job one winter and had nothing else to do.
For two months, he cut back brush with a chainsaw and mowed the plot.
To bring the remaining headstones back to their original white, Thompson scrubbed a few of them with Comet and a wire brush.
The historical society is now compiling information and working with a state program that helps small towns create historic sites.
But for now, Thompson is the only one tending the graves.
"I wouldn't mind being buried back here," Thompson said. "It's nice. You wouldn't be bothered at all."
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mmpossley@tribune.com
We didn't come close to NYC's total, so it was just about 10 inches ... enough for a 1 1/2 hour delay today ... not even a full day out of school. Still pretty though. It will be in the 50s by Thursday and it will be gone.
I love how weather reports have become such "news events" in themselves ... all the preparing ... the 24/7 updates, all the high-tech, super-duper dopplar effects, blah, blah, blah ... but in the end Mother Nature still dumps on whom she chooses...
And then there's all the post-weather explanation of why it happened the way it did. It's all rather "1984"-ish in a way.
Any weather men/women out there reading this?
Jon G.
How can I contact you?
Are you listed in MSP?
http://www.virtualwall.org/dk/KirchoffWG01a.htm
Cut and paste the above link into your browser to read about Wilbur Glen Kirchoff from Marcus who was killed in Vietnam. The parachute story is amazing.
Answer to Julia: Yah, a couple. :0D
Hey Bob -- I just finished reading your book 'The Choir That Couldn't Sing.' Good stuff!!! Funny how so many character's names were familiar somehow...
Next time you're up Iowa-way, I'll have to ask you to autograph it for me.
As is typical in many small towns across the nation in rural areas, the housing stock seems to continue to decline in Marcus. What are the chances that all the churches in Marcus could band together and start a Habitat for Humanity chapter and start rebuilding new housing in Marcus for the needy?
Maybe it wouldn't work but I thought I'd throw the idea out there. I just hate seeing the homes in Marcus continue to decline, then torn down and an empty lot left.
Hey June---glad you enjoyed the book! We are hosting a family reunion at Okiboji the last week in July of this year---with a trip/tour to Marcus. Hope to see you then!
Bob Reed
Bob: We're celebrating my mom's 85th birthday at Village West Resort - Okoboji - the same week in July this summer. Where is your family function being held? I probably will only get up to my mom's party for Friday-Saturday (7/28th and 29th). Any chance I could meet you then and say hi? Love to finally say hello face-to-face after all these email transmissions. We've got Dorrs coming in from all over for my mom's event. It should be quite the mess! Fred
Hey Fred---We'll be at Village West during the week of July 23rd to 30th with a side trip to Marcus--probably on Wed the 26th. Let's get together. I hope Okiboji is ready for all those Doors. For as my brother noted in 1940 in his column "Paper Wads Thrown By I. B. Told" in the Marcus News----
"Marcus is the only town in the country with more Doors than windows"
Bob Reed
Bob: Sounds great. Look forward to it. Fred
Somebody say sometning.
Ok I will say something......
Friday afternoon about 4:00 our new Fire Truck arrived. I believe the town in Nebraska where the factory is located is Snyder.
Anyway some of us 'oldtimers' talked thru the day on when will it be here?? Fred Wilkens thought maybe about 3:00 or maybe by 4:00. We listened for the siren because we knew they would sound it when they came into Marcus. Sure enough about 4:00 here they came siren on!! So several fireman were there including some of us retired old timers to greet them.
What a great addition to our Fire Department. This unit replaces the Fire Truck the community purchased in Tipton, Indiana January 1975.
I know the guys were very excited to get this 'baby' home. Paul Wilkens at Sand Seed kept me updated on the progress of the truck the last few months and I know how excited they were. As a former fireman and I know I can speak for all of the Marcus fireman past and present "Thanks to our Community for all of your support through the years".
Don't know if they had as much fun on their trip to get the truck as we did in 1975............
Jack Clarkson
Ok, I will say something but Jack Clarkson isn't going to like it! Jack I should have bet you another Coke on the Baylor vs. ISU men's basketball game yesterday! Sorry I couldn't resist. I know it's a tough day for ISU fans, but you will get another shot at us next year in Ames and I will most likely be there!
Kurt,
Ok Kurt.... But I am an 'Old Brooklyn Dodger Fan' and in those years there was a saying at the end of the baseball season.
"Dem Bum's.....But Wait Til Next Year" so I am use to that.
By the way Kurt the coke I owe you from the football bet....the ice cubes are melting.
Jack
Iowa is my favorite state,(besides Florida!)and i look forward to visiting there this coming summer!
-Regina Reed
(Bob and Max Reed's grand-daughter)
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