Tomorrow morning at 10:30, I'll be on a flight to Omaha. Nine months ago when I first came across Emily Gillespie's diary, I never thought it would lead me nearly halfway across the country in an effort to discover the woman who wrote it--yet here I go!
Just this week, I've managed to get in contact with the gentleman who lives in the house Emily and her husband built about 150 years ago--and he's offered to show me around. I've gotten a list of the contents of 10 boxes of documents left behind by Emily and her daughter, now in the possession of the Iowa State Archives, and have made arrangements to have the first two of those boxes waiting for me in the library bright and early Tuesday morning. Those documents include not only Emily's diary (in various versions), but also letters written both to her and by her to family and friends. What a treasure trove awaits me!
Just this morning I spoke with a woman I've never met, but who shares a genealogy with me. She is my maternal grandmother's youngest sister's daughter (whew!), and my second cousin (at least I think that's what she is to me. I've never figured out how that second cousin vs. first cousin-once-removed thing works...). I met her mother--my great Aunt Pat--when I was about 10, but she and I have never met. What a gift to be able to reconnect with a side of our family who stayed behind in the Midwest when my grandparents moved to California! I can't wait!
Over the next 10 days, I'll be covering a lot of ground in a discovery of a past left behind by many-- my grandparents, Emily and her family--and I am SO excited to begin! If you'd like to join me on this journey, stay tuned; I'll be posting my discoveries right here!
I'm off to the Heartland!
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