Three Weeks with Brittany

We were so happy to make it to Brittany's and be with their family - so sweet, fun, and crazy.

Precious hugs

The next days were just filled with helping them in their yard and house projects.  I did some mending, and Rob put in metal edging around their plants in their yard.  We visited the Library and the Discovery Center. We read books, sang songs, and played games.

Clara had another week of school, so we went one day to 

her science class as they were dissecting frogs.

 And played lots with the kids, including several park visits.  

Robbie had a darling graduation program from preschool.  He has had the best teacher

They had the cutest t-shirts as you can see.

There was a fun photo spot there where we took this cute picture. 

A special photo with us.  

We visited Michael's new office afterwards.  He designed 

and made this wall in his reception area.

And an incredible ceiling in his operatory.

Hugs from Clara

Baby Benjy

Bapa at the school playground with the boys.  Then went up to the track above 

and the boys each ran a mile - they were incredible.

This week was more of the same, culminating in our leaving for Corolla, NC, and the Outer Banks on Friday.  They had rented a wonderful beach house.  The beach was so great and the weather was perfect the whole time.

Henry celebrated his third birthday while we were there.

Brittany helped Henry fly a kite way up in the air. 

Hugs from her Dad.

Good down time for Michael

Clara and Henry enjoying the shade

Michael wanted us to have a Low Country Boil.  He ordered all the ingredients from a local supplier, including the bucket, etc. 

This is how everything looked after cooking.  And it was so good!

A shell pamphlet that we found there to help Robbie and Henry identify their shells.

A stuffed bear at a local wildlife museum - so many interesting facts about the wildlife at the beach.

We just had such a good time with them, and they were so kind to include us in this outing.  We were so glad to be able to spend so much time with them...

Beaver Family History with a Visit to a Cousin and Family Cemetery

Monday, we joined a fifth cousin Janice Patterson and her husband who I “met” on Ancestry who live just west of Cleveland.  They had us for lunch, and we had such a great visit. She has shared a number of pictures and other materials about the Beaver family with me.

Then we traveled to Licking County, Ohio, to the cemetery of the Licking Primitive Baptist Church started by my fourth great grandfather.  We found David’s gravestone and others of the family.  Again, it made me feel so happy to be where my ancestors had lived. 

   

This is a church on the site now,but not the 
original one built by David.

David Beaver's Gravestone

The land that belonged to David across from the Church.

Afterward, decided to just drive on to Brittany’s.  The GPS took us through the Allegheny Mountains on Highway 33.  The only problem was that it was night time, with rain and fog and a windy road.  

Rob did such a good job, but it took forever! I could never have done that.  We arrived at Brittany’s around 1 am! 

Midland, Michigan, and a Stay with John and Pam

We then went on to Midland, Michigan, to see John and Pam, arriving around 10 or so.  The next day, we drove around the area, including the Dow Botanical Gardens.  It was so fun to see where we had lived 48 years ago.  

The Midland Hospital where Heather, Clay, and Adam were born.

The Midland Ward building

The Dow Fine Arts building

The Midland Library

The lovely Dow Gardens - see images below...

We then went on to Frankenmuth that night for a dinner at Zenders, including the plastic animals on the ice cream, and a visit to Bronners, the enormous Christmas store.  I bought a cute memory ornament there.

The Zenders plastic animals

Saturday night, we went to their stake conference and were able to sit next to Carlos Bowman and see the Goodyears, the Rogers, and David Kitchen.  Elder Costa was the visiting authority and spoke about ministering, including training videos. 

Sunday, we enjoyed their Stake Conference and then saw Marilyn and Claude Price who came to dinner that night for a great visit.  They were our first friends when we arrived in Midland.  Marilyn has had MS for 30 years and Claude has been Stake Patriarch that long as well.  It was such a sweet visit.

Aurora, Illinois, Home to the Peoples and the Loves

We drove on up to Aurora, Illinois, arriving in the evening.  Aurora is the city where both the Loves and the Peoples families finally settled after immigrating from different parts of Ireland.  There is nearly nothing about the Peoples, but there is quite a bit about the Love family because Robert Love and two brothers who started the Love Brothers Foundry, a successful iron foundry of its time.   Most of the ornate metal work in the area was done by this company.  

The next morning, we drove around Aurora, passing several sites that had been locations of the foundry at different times..  Then we went to the public library where we were able to find many newspaper clippings about the family.  I didn’t find anything about the People’s family, but it was still special to be where my ancestors had lived. 

The city today.

The Peoples first home was on Pierce St.

A main street.

Where the original foundry was located.

This cannon has Love Brothers Foundry inscribed on the lower right corner

A memorial to those who fought in the Civil War, including both Robert Love and Robert Peoples.  The Foundry did all the iron work on the building.

They did this plaque which gives more detail about the memorial's purpose.

One of the Love brother's homes.

Although they did not do this manhole cover, this is the kind of thing that they would have done.

Jeff Smith; Liberty and Independence, Missouri: and Pleasant Gap

On Monday, we took off early for Liberty, Missouri, and a stay with Jeff and Tina Smith from our Michigan days.  It turned out that Tina was helping a son and his family in California.  Jeff showed us a number of sites including

the Liberty Jail

Here we are at the temple site in Independence, We also did 

an initiatory session at the Missouri Independence Temple.  

the Tabernacle of The Community of Christ Church

 (the former Reorganized Church) who owns the temple site.

Wednesday, we went to the site of Pleasant Gap, in Bates County where the Beaver’s and the Cockrill’s lived before heading to California in the 1850’s.  Because of a Union order in the Civil War, all the people living in Bates and other counties were ordered to leave and everything was burned in order to keep them from harboring any Confederate sympathizers.  That is so terrible.  As a result, there was really nothing left there from the 1850’s or earlier. 

The basement of a demolished building that might have been there then.

A local Church that has been built there.

I just took pictures in two directions to capture the countryside as it might have been in the 1850's (minus the telephone poles, of course)