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Yes, it truly was the worst coffee I have ever had! It was the color of weak tea and when you are travelling alone in an unknown part of the country with absolutely no sense of direction-well, coffee is very important. This was followed by a 30 minute check out disaster and then directions from the hotel that sent me in exactly the OPPOSITE direction from where I needed to be. By now you know that I have a very underdeveloped sense of direction and an unreliable GPS, which culminated in a 100 mile detour to get back to Toulon. I was feeling incredible pressure because I wanted to check out my Great Great grandparents Carr who I had found were buried in the Toulon cemetery, and I wanted to say goodbye to the Intrepid Dixie and give her a big hug for helping me explore the house and "bring back a little piece of Toulon" in my suitcase. The genealogy society library closes at noon on Saturday and the GPS figured that I would get there at 11:45 and it was absolutely correct. Unfortunately the genealogy center had little to offer me except the suggestion that I go to
the town library and check out the films of the old copies of the Stark County News for obituaries.
I decided to stop at Connie's Country Kitchen for lunch- a ham salad sandwich (the old fashioned kind) with no frills, and a Pepsi for under$3.00. Just enough food and some great memories all wrapped up in one.
When I got to the library, the Intrepid Dixie drove by and pointed me down the street to the Historical Society's home. There I met Norman Black who gave me a tour of the house and its contents. He also taught me more about the art of embalming as it existed during the mid 1800's that I ever thought I wanted to know. But still faascinating. Did you know that embalming became very popular during the Civil War because families would want their children's remains to be brought home for burial? Embalmers would actually come to battlefields and work right there. He also showed me the mastedon tooth that had been donated by a local farmer who had plowed it up in a field. We got upstairs to a very nicely decorated bedroom and I asked who had donated all of
the furniture. Oh, the Wright family had, he said. Oh, I'm part of the Wright family, I said. Oh, well you'll want to take pictures of these ancestors he said. Up in the attic, I got to see more of the internal workings of a mid 1800's home, such as how every morning water had to be pumped up 2 or 3 stories to an indoor cistern for use in the house, No wonder these people could eat chicken and dumplings and still stay small!
Norman also showed me around the shed of farm imiplements and machinery, as well as the office of Dr. Thomas Hall. Now, my great grandfather's name is Thomas Hall Maxfield, so I am wondering if he wasn't named in honor of the town's only doctor. Just looking at some of those old medical implements just made various parts of my anatomy cringe. There is also a town legend that the implement used for pulling teeth was used on Abraham Lincoln when he spoke in Toulon as part of the Lincoln Douglas debates. Unfortunately, the the register for that year as well as the preceeding and following years are missing. Someone may have taken the
books because they knew that Lincoln's signature was in it.
I scurried over to the library and couldn't find an obituary for Sarah Jane Clements Carr- my GGgrandmother. By then the library was closing, I was on over-load and it was time to pick Cay up after her 65th high school reunion. We visited with some of her first cousins, ladies close to their 90's, and then met up with Cay's family for pizza.
By now we knew that our genealogical journey was almost over. I had not gotten a clear picture of one of the tombstones because the light was never right. Luckily, this time it was and although the tombstone is quite worn, I got a fairly clear image. Then Cay left me alone to say goodbye to this family that I had never known until this year. It was really hard; I had gotten quite used to coming over to see them this past week. The hardest part of today was yet to come-I had to say good-bye to Cay. I know that we will keep in touch, but it will be at least another year before I see her again. I will miss her
tremendously.
Tomorrow is a travel day and it's time to pack and re-pack so I can leave by 8:30 in the morning. I sure hope I can get out of Atlanta this time!
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caitlin
non-member comment
so sad
i'm sad that your trip is ending so soon. it's been so wonderful to read about your adventures. i can't wait for our next visit so i can see ALL the pictures. love you. fly safe, ok?