The House that Emily (or at least her husband) Built

This morning, at shortly after 9 am , I found myself standing in the 150+ year old house where my diarist Emily Hawley Gillespie lived with her family until her death in 1888. Her family continued to live there until 1954 when her daughter Sarah (who died in 1955 at the age of 90) sold it to a high school junior named Wilbur Kehrli. This amazing and generous gentleman allowed my sister and I to descend on him for the day, and not only showed us around the house and barn where Emily lived and worked, but then took us on a sightseeing tour of northeast Iowa--all the way to the Mississippi River.

Wilbur, who claims to be retired (but really isn't), answered so many of my questions about Emily's family (especially her son Henry who Wilbur had known since he was a boy), told us about the changes he had made to the house since he bought it and what it had looked like when Emily lived there. He talked about farming, raising cattle and pigs, community dynamics, and even helped us find Emily's grave in a very large cemetery. I told him things I had learned about the Gillespie's and other families, and even information about his own farm (gained from Em's diary) that he hadn't known. He even took us out to lunch at his favorite spot--Breitbachs', built in 1852, it is the oldest eating establishment in Iowa--and everywhere we went he told people about my book. (I've promised him both an autographed copy of the completed manuscript and the chance to name "his" character in the book. So if you read it, and come across a neighbor named Alex, it will be Wilbur!). I'll be processing this trip for a long time, I know--and I've come up with so many interesting things that will never make their way into this book that I have enough information for several other research projects

Tomorrow we wind up our trip with a drive back to Omaha, and hopefully a chance to visit with our second cousin from Bellevue, NE. Because of my sister's  day-late arrival, we didn't get to see her, but we are hoping to remedy that tomorrow night.

There is a prediction of thunderstorms tomorrow, but our weather has been so beautiful this week, so I am convinced it will continue--at least, I hope so! This trip has been well nigh perfect, but I must admit I am anxious to get home and get to work while everything is still fresh in my mind.

But I will miss this beautiful place and the lovely people that we've met here. Maybe when the book is  done (and published), I can do a book tour in Iowa--after all, it's as much their story as mine!