Quotidian Genealogy

2010 August Trip - Tooling around the countryside
Since I was getting to Minnesota on a Sunday when there are no courthouses, libraries, museums, etc., open; I came prepared to visit properties I knew the Van Hoesens owned because of the records on the Bureau of Land Management site. Since finding the records there, I have obtained the homestead files from the National Archives.

I could show some photos of the countryside, but I'll probably save that for a photo album later. Robert C. Van Hoesen (my 3X-great grandfather) had taken out a homestead claim in Pipestone County, MN. His son Byron Wells Van Hoesen (not my ancestor) had taken the adjoining property for his homestead claim. They both proved up after their five years were up by 1885 or 6 or so. They moved to Rock County very near the Iowa border although right now my only evidence for that is that Byron Wells did get property there through GLO and my 3X great grandmother died in that township in 1889.

Here is the house that is on the property that was homesteaded by Robert C. Van Hoesen:

No one was home or answered the door. I was going to ask if they knew anything about the history of the house. Usually it's been obvious that the house was not original, or the property (for my other ancestors) has become a subdivision or an interstate. This was the first time I wondered if this might be the original house. I do have measurements from the homestead file, but not so that I could lay my hands on it while on the road. I doubted that this might be a house from the 1880s until later today I went to the Pioneer Village in Worthington. Those behind the Pioneer Village have collected many buildings and artifacts related to pioneer life. It is truly fascinating. Since Worthington was where the land office was located that my ancestors had to visit to put in their homestead claims, it seemed worth the trip to the neighboring Nobels County. They had a land office building. Some buildings are truly the buildings they claim to be (a town hall, a church, etc.), but the land office building is just an old building housing land office and surveyor artifacts.

There are lots of other very interesting buildings including three different house types. One house was that of James Green a pioneer in the area who homesteaded in the 1880s. Just at the same time as my ancestor. I thought the house very similar in style to the house on my ancestor's property.

There are a few little differences. When I went back to my ancestor's property later in the day hoping to catch the owners, I looked at the foundation more carefully. it was mostly covered with a foam board, but in one corner of the building, you could see the rotted wood that was very close to the ground and some bricks under it. The bricks had been added later, I'm sure. I left a note with contact information explaining why I wanted to talk to them.
2010 August Road Trip- Scrapbook
Emma Lou called this a "scrapbook" and so shall I. This is the cover:

The following photos of my ancestors were inside.
2010 August Road Trip - Cousins
One purpose of this trip was to meet my Van Hoesen cousin Emma Lou who lives in western Iowa just a few miles off I-29. I've told how I first got in contact with Emma Lou and how she helped me HERE. It was such a pleasure to finally meet her. She is an incredibly bright woman and would be considered such at any age. It's inspiring to see someone of her age use her brain the way she does.

Emma Lou let me comb through her genealogical files and took me over to the historical society museum where a scrapbook kept by one of her ancestors is kept. This ancestor was a collateral line for me, but one never knows what will be found by following the collaterals.

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“If we mean to have heroes, statesmen and philosophers, we should have learned women.”

Abigail Adams

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Books Read

Written by Patti Hobbs

Wednesday, 26 November 2008 09:05

Books read :

2008

Have a few missing here ---
Resarching Your Colonial New England Ancestors by Patricia Law Hatcher 11 February 2009
The Sea Captain's Wife by Martha Hodes 8 February 2009
Mr. & Mrs. Prince by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina January 2009
The War that Made American by Fred Anderson 29 November 2008
The Iliad by Homer (Lattimore translation) 3rd time 13 November 2008
The Problem of Pain by CS Lewis 27 May 2008
The Four Loves by CS Lewis 26 May 2008
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy May 2008
Bleak House by Charles Dickens April 2008
Hard Times by Charles Dickens March 2008
The Sleuth Book for Genealogists: Strategies for more successful family history research by Emily Anne Croom 2-17-2008
No Nest for the Wicket by Donna Andrews 2-17-2008
The Death of the Grown-up by Diana West 2-9-2008
Persuasion by Jane Austen 2-4-2008
The Giver by Lois Lowry 2-1-2008
The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity by Jill Lepore 1-17-2008
Digitizing Your Family History: Easy methods for preserving your heirloom documents, photos, home movies, and more in a digital format by Rhonda R. McClure 1-6-2008
The Organized Family Historian: How to File, Manage, and Protect Your Genealogical Research and Heirlooms by Ann carter Fleming 1-5-2008
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke 1-5-2008

2007

Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences by Edward Tenner 12-23-2007
Rhode Island: A History by William G. McLoughlin 12-19-2007
The Culture We Deserve by Jacques Barzun 12-8-2007
New England White by Stephen L. Carter 12-3-2007
Wallenberg by Kati Marton 11--22-2007
Hard Times by Charles Dickens 11-14-2007
The Genuine Article-Edmund Morgan 11-08-2007
Only a Few Bones: A True Account of the Rolling Fork Tragedy and Its Aftermath by John Philip Colletta 11-02-2007
Genealogical Proof Standard: Building a Solid Case by Christine Rose 10-6-2007
The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America by Daniel Boorstin 10-5-2007
Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination by Vigen Guroian 9-30-2007
The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter 9-16-2007
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy 9-2-2007
A Student's Guide to Liberal Learning by James V. Schall, S.J. 8-24-2007
Poetic Knowledge by James Taylor 6-28-2007
Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis 6-26-2007 Blog post
Your Swedish Roots by Per Clemensson & Kjell Andersson 6-17-2007
The Art of Teaching by Gilbert Highet 6-9-2007 Blog post
Wisdom and Eloquence: A Christian Paradigm for Classical Learning by Robert Littlejohn and Charles T. Evans 6-13-2007
Dead Men Don't Ski by Patricia Moyes 5-30-2007
The Subversion of Christianity by Jacques Ellul 5-27-2007
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 5-11-2007
Murder Fantastical by Patricia Moyes 5-2007
America and Vietnam: The Elephant and the Tiger by Albert Marrin 4-2007
Paradise Lost by Milton 4-13-2007
Teacher in America by Jacques Barzun 3-22-2007
The Tefft Family & The Narragansett Controversy by A. Craig Anthony 3-2007
Stalin by Albert Marrin 2-2007
Hitler by Albert Marrin 2-2007
The Chosen by Chaim Potok 1-2007
Victory in the Pacific by Albert Marrin 3-2007

2006

The Twilight of American Culture by Morris Berman 12-2006
The Faerie Queen by Spenser Fall 2006
The Odyssey by Homer (Fagles Translation) 11-11-2006
The Virginian by Owen Wister 10-2006
Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough (my third reading of this book) 11-2006
Sgt. York His Life, Legend & Legacy by John Perry 12-2006 (the first part of this book is good, but the majority dealing with all the wranglings he had with bureaucracies made the book less than scintillating.)
The 39 Steps by John Buchan 12-2006
Propaganda by Jacques Ellul
The Technological Society by Jacques Ellul blog post
Ideas Have Consequences by Richard Weaver blog post
Education's Smoking Gun by Reginald G. Damerell
Accountability in American Education by Martin, Overholt, and Urban
The Leipzig Connection by Paolo Lionni
The Metaphysical Club by Menand (in progress)
The Most Real Being by Jack Crabtree
Study is Hard Work by William H. Armstrong 9-10-2006 blog post
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry blog post
The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto (in progress)
Rallying the Really Human Things by Vigen Guroian (in progress)
The Warden by Anthony Trollope
Saving Science by Charley Dewberry 8-10-2006
Iliad by Homer (Lattimore translation) 10-2006
Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington 9-2006
Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis 1-30-2006 blog post
The Cherokee Trail of Tears by Ehle 2-28-2006
Arguing About Slavery by William Miller 3-31-2006
The Peculiar Institution by Kenneth Stampp 4-30-2006
Crisis in American History by Allen Guelzo 5-31-2006