Independence to Mexico

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Monday, May 31st and Tuesday, June 1st.

We head for Independence, Missouri, on the outskirts of Kansas City, where the Harry Truman Presidential Library is located. Great film and exhibit of how Truman became President and the decisions he faced while in office. We enjoy the replica of the Oval Office and the murals by Thomas Hart Benton.

We travel east through the Missouri countryside toward Paris, where Laurie’s ancestors (the McGees) settled in 1826. We camp at nearby Mark Twain Lake Campground located near the birthplace of Mark Twain. The next morning we head into the town of Paris, first stopping at Pleasant Hill Cemetery where we locate the grave of Mary McCoun McGee, who lead the overland trek with her family and other pioneers to Paris from Kentucky when she was 75.

We visit the Monroe County Historical Society where we meet Nancy Stone, an expert in the McGee family, which apparently left many descendants in the area. Nancy fills us in on some history of the family during the early years.

The next day we visit Mexico, Missouri, about 20 miles south of Paris, where Sarah Dawson McGee (Molly McGee’s granddaughter) and her husband Jackson Thomas moved in 1838. The local historical society provides a copy of an 1877 plat map which we use to locate the properties of Jackson and Sarah Thomas and their son James S. Thomas, from whom Laurie’s family is descended. The area around their land (about 240 acres) is still rural, but the Thomas farmhouse we have seen in old family photographs is no longer there.

Having completed our genealogical sleuthing for now, we plan to follow the Missouri River to Saint Louis, where the river meets the Mississippi.

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Photos

Replica of the Oval Office
exact replica of the office as it was during Truman's term of office. ("The buck stops here".)

Thomas Hart Benton murals
Murals in the Harry Truman Presidential Library

Rocks and Wildflowers
Terrain near Pleasant Hill

Pleasant Hill Cemetery
Mary McGee and her family helped found Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church. Although the church is now gone, the cemetery remains.

Mary McCoun's grave
Mary and many other early settlers are buried in this cemetery. We were very pleased to find her grave and to see that it was well-tended.

Monroe County Historical Society
Located in Paris, about six miles from the old Pleasant Hill community. The Society maintains histories of many of the original settlers.

Thomas farm land
This property was purchased by the Thomas family in the 1830's and owned by them for about a hundred years. The area around it is still rural farmland.

Threatening sky
View from our motel in Mexico

Union Chapel Cemetery
Location of James S. Thomas' grave. Photo taken from the car during a downpour. We decided to drive on rather than brave the rain.