East Coast Visits

I left Westminster in the morning headed to Wheaton with the idea that I would swing through Sykesville to visit A Likely Story, a book store recommended to my by friends at the Historical Society. I picked up several novels by Louise Penny and two Michael Connelly novels, then continued my journey to Wheaton to visit old friends Peggy Podolak and Jock Jerrett.

I arrived at their home in Wheaton and knocked on the door a couple of times, but no response, so I sat on their porch swing until the door opened. A nurse exited and I entered; they hadn’t heard the knock because a nurse was attending to Jock, who suffers from MS. He was recently hospitalized and his confinement has caused some problems to which the nurse attended. While Jock is dependent on others for nearly everything, he is still lively and his mind is as sharp as ever. It is always a joy to spend time with them both. Peggy and I have known each other since I moved back to DC in 1987 to spend a year working at the Department of Energy. She was the best contractor I ever dealt with at DOE.

After a night with Peggy and Jock, I drove over to Herndon to visit with my brother John and his wife, Marcia. Brood X 17-year cicadas are out this year and in Herndon were even louder than in Wheaton. We ate dinner outside, under their umbrella and were constantly interrupted by cicadas landing on us or crawling up our clothes. While cicadas look fearsome, they are harmless. Because of a kidney transplant, my brother is severely immune-system suppressed. Understandably, Marcia is concerned that exposure to Covids-19 would be devastating to John, so insists on social distancing and masks indoors. We mostly complied, but it is sometimes difficult to talk through a mask. While watching the Nats play, a thunder storm came through, ending the game for the night. The next morning, after breakfast, I headed into Arlington to visit with Bob and Gail Knetl.

We’ve known each other since our (now over 50) daughters were in second grade. So we had a lot of catching up to do. When I got there I decided I needed a shower before we went out to dinner, so took one; should have jumped into the shower after I took off my hearing aids, but caught that mishap immediately and took them out. When I put them back on, after drying off and dressing, the left one didn’t work. I asked Bob where the nearest Costco was (he also purchased his hearing aids there), but he discouraged me from trying to go to the one in Chrystal City, the closest. He said it was really difficult to get an appointment, and that the appointment was needed. So that night and the next day, I managed with one. Then we went out to dinner at a Thai place, and their daughter Anna joined us. So I got to see her as well. They are, like me, retired, but very active. Bob’s family is from Croatia, via Chicago, and they frequently make trips to that part of Europe. We could spend days together and not get fully caught up. The second night we ate steak at home, then watched a movie about Axis Sally before bed. The next morning after breakfast, I headed off to Charlottesville.

My nephew, John Tordoff, lives in Charlottesville, and his parents, Dani and Michael were visiting there as part of our plan to get together while on this trip. For those who don’t know, Dani is my sister-in-law and spent some of her growing-up in our house. We agreed to meet at Burton’s, a restaurant on the main drag, but I had difficulty finding it. Finally pulled out my phone and figured out how to get there for a late lunch. Afterwards, Dani and I went to the Costco nearby and the service was exceptionally: they cleaned both my hearing aids and got the left one to work again, and showed me how to fix things myself, if it happened again. They did this despite not being able to find me in their data base. After, we stopped at Trader Joe’s and I picked up a six-pack of beer to take to John’s condo where I stayed.

We all went out to breakfast the next morning, then returned to rest before out trip to Monticello to tour the house and grounds of our third president, Thomas Jefferson. I have been before, but years ago. The tour made me realized what a genius he was. After, we returned to our respective residences and rested before Dani and Mike showed up at John’s to fix us a nice chicken and salad for dinner.

I met John’s friend, McCall, who works for the UN and is currently assigned to a post in South Sudan as a lawyer. I learned a great deal from her about the situation in South Sudan while at the dinner table over two nights. Sorry I couldn’t hang out to for the Memorial picnic. Instead, on Monday, Memorial Day, I got up, had coffee, worked on this blog, ate, then hit the road.

Drove 654 miles, 600 of them planned, and will drive to Oskaloosa, IA, tomorrow.

RIP R. Gary Roop

I arrived in Westminster on Saturday, after spending the night in Frederick. I drove first to the Best Western to check on hotel arrangements. I didn’t have a reservation for Saturday night, but was fortunate because while standing at the desk someone cancelled for that night so a room was available. After making arrangements, I drove out to Good Friendship Farm (it is on the National Historic Registry) to say hello to Beckie, Nick, Stephen and Pepper. Nick and Beckie Herrick are friends met through the Roop/Royer association, initially at Roop/Royer reunions. I didn’t see either of the people when I first arrived, but Stephen, the German shepherd watched me from the front porch as a I approached. As I got near the house, Nick showed up on a 4-wheeler and we drove down to the pond, where Beckie was cleaning out algae. We walked up to the house together while she told me of all the things that had to be accomplished before her youngest daughter’s wedding next weekend. The three of us chatted for a while, then went indoors for lunch. I said hello to Pepper, their 14-year old black Lab. He acted like he recognized me, because he parked himself right under my feet while I had lunch. After lunch, I returned to the hotel and moved my stuff into my room. I called Gary but no answer, so I left a message. A second message as it turned out.

Roger Gary Roop was born in January, 1931, so he was more than a decade older than me, but we shared an interest in genealogy and talked a lot about the possible origins of the Roops in Germany and Switzerland. His companion, Joanne, lived in the same retirement facilities, Carroll Lutheran Village, just South of Westminster on state highway 31. While he was able, Gary would go to the original Rupp Cemetery in Lancaster and maintain it: cut the grass, prop up the fallen headstones, pull weeds, repair the wall and gate, etc. But he suffered from back pains so he had to quit doing that. Part of my reason for this trip was to return a disk that Gary had loaned me with videos of Julia Roop Cairns talking about the things she had learned about the Roop family in Carroll County. On Sunday I spent most of the day on the Pelican Brief, but was worried about not hearing back from Gary, so I drove to Carroll Lutheran Village and asked one of the residents about Gary. Then I learned that he had died just a few days before I arrived in Westminster. Grief. I have lost a good friend and I will miss him.

I returned to Good Friendship Farm to hand off the DVD to Beckie to give to Gary’s son, Roger Thor Roop, and told her about what I had learned. I didn’t stay around after that, I needed time alone and they had much to do.

On Monday I got up and drove to the Meadow Branch Brethren Church to visit the Cemetery and take pictures of gravestones, as part of my preparation for the third genealogy book, tentatively titled: The Roop-Royers of Carroll County. The first book has the descendants of Christian; the one in draft covers the descendants of Joseph and David; the last will feature the descendants of John, who married Catherine Royer, and Anna, who married Peter Royer. I found headstones for three of the four and photographed them, but I couldn’t be sure about Catherine’s headstone. Surely it would be next to John’s, but what was there was small and I couldn’t read the inscription. So I walked into the Meadow Branch Church and struck up a conversation with Amy Bell, the pastor, who just happened to be an IT instructor at the local college. While the church and cemetery are obviously related, there is a separate association for each, so she gave me the name of the person to call, Matt Black, and he sent me a link to Catherine’s grave on Find-A-Grave. I pulled it up on my computer, and sure enough, it was the little headstone right next to John’s. I learned, while talking to folks in the church, that Meadow Branch would celebrate its 200th anniversary in four years. Before there was a building, the congregation would meet in the homes of Christian Royer and David Roop, respectively, Peter and Anna’s oldest son and John and Catherine’s oldest son. Hope I’m able to get back to the celebration.

I spent the rest of the day between the Historical Society (which wasn’t officially open, but they checked on my membership and let me buy a couple of things from the store) and the library. Tomorrow I will drive down to see Peggy and Jock.

To Maryland

I left Dayton just a bit before 8 am, on I-70 headed east. I went around Columbus because I saw this strip of red on the google map just before 70 connects with 270, the circumferential freeway around the city. From there to Wheeling, WV was a fairly short trip, even with a brief rest stop just before Wheeling. Lot of construction there, so spent some time stop and go before the traffic started to clear up. I kept wondering when I would hit I-79, the route to Morgantown, but it was there, just not until Washington, PA.

Down to Morgantown on I-79, exited the freeway at the U WV exit and managed to get totally lost. I called up Harper, who talked me to his house. My relationship with Harper goes back to when we both worked at the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture, forty-something years ago. So I walked into his house, gave him a big hug, and started recalling things from years ago. After a few minutes his wife, Jeannie, joined us and the conversation eased into a discussion about genealogy, which is wont to happen when two people into genealogy start talking. After a while Jeannie, who had been through four airports the night before getting back to Morgantown, excused herself and Harper and I went off to get a bite to eat at the Boston Beanery and continue our reminiscence.

It says something powerful that two chums can meet after forty-something years and start into a conversation like the last time they talked was a month ago. And that happened twice on this trip. Harper mentioned that the crew that included the three of us use to meet after work at L’Enfant Plaza, pick up a six-pack of beer (or two) and shoot the breeze, often about work, but mostly just as a way of bonding. Those bonds turn out to be pretty strong.

After lunch Harper drove along the route I needed to take to get back to the freeway, then we went back to his house. We said our goodbyes and I headed off to Frederick. I sort of followed his instructions: I took a wrong turn, but got back on track with just a short detour. I took Harper’s instructions to drive south on I-79, pick up I-68 which goes through Hagerstown then reconnects with I-70 before Frederick. I got to Frederick about 6 pm, so Friday was the longest day I had spent on the road since the beginning of the trip.

The next morning, after I checked out of the hotel in Frederick, I drove directly to Westminster, and knowing it was too early to check into the motel, I went to Becky and Nick Herrick’s place; I had gotten in touch with Becky the night before. Becky and Nick are part of the group of folks I have gotten to know in Carroll County, all of which are related, though distantly. Nick and Becky are working feverishly to get ready for the marriage of their youngest daughter, Susanna, this coming weekend. The wedding is an all-weekend affair, that starts Friday evening and ends on Sunday, that reminded me of Escape to the Chateau, the PBS series. Bless them, they took time off from chores to talk with me for a while, then feed me a very nice lunch, then a tour of Nick’s garden. I also reacquainted myself with their old Lab and met Susanna’s German Shepherd, Stephen (and I’m not sure I have spelled the dog’s name right).

One of the reasons I’m here is to see Gary Roop, another distant cousin, that I’ve grown attached to; he has done a lot of work on genealogy and use to be the care-taker of the Rupp Cemetery in Lancaster County, PA, where Christian Rupp, the original immigrant is buried. Hope to catch up with him tomorrow.

South Ohio Wrap

Easy day. I got up this morning, showered, them drove to Brookville to deliver genealogy books to the Brethren Heritage Center, although they are not open because of the pandemic. But their mail slot would hold the books and I left a message that they will pick up tomorrow. I then returned to Dayton and drove downtown, parked, walked to the library and talked to one of their genealogy specialists. I gave them copies of both books as well. While at the library I looked at a history of the Brethren Church in South Ohio and collected a few notes on families that will show up in the final book in the series: The Roop-Royers of Carroll County. I will do a little more work in Westminster and plan a stop in Warrensburg and McPherson on the way home.

So tomorrow I will head toward Frederick, Maryland, with a stop in Morgantown, West Virginia to have lunch with an old friend.

A Day in Ashland then to Dayton

I arrived at the Ashland Historical Society when they opened, at 10:00 am and found a few things of interest: Joseph was one of the first of the sponsors of the Brethren Church in the Ashland area, holding meeting in his house on the eastern edge of Montgomery Township, which is where the Dickey Church of the Brethren would eventually be built. When Joseph decided to move to Iowa, he took a considerable entourage with him, including one daughter and even Jonas Engle, who became famous enough as a doctor to be included in the 1880 History of Ashland County, went along. When Joseph died in 1865, Jonas brought his father’s body back to Ohio and he is buried in the Bloom Grange Cemetery, just north of Bloomville in Seneca County, Ohio. Susannah, who also died in Iowa, is also buried there.

After visiting both the Historical Society and the genealogy and history section of the Ashland Library, I drove out to Bloomville to find the cemetery. From the library I had a map that suggested that it was on High Street, and I found a High Street in Bloomville, but no cemetery.

So driving through town, I stopped a guy on a 4-wheeler and asked if he knew where the old grange cemetery was, and he said that it was on OH-19 north of town about a mile and a quarter. (That was the road I just traveled, so I back-tracked, and sure enough, I found it.) The Old Grange Hall had been converted into apartments, but the cemetery was still there. I parked off the road and pulled out my good camera and took pictures. Joseph, Susannah and young Joseph Norman are all buried there. The cemetery has a tree grown up over Joseph Norman’s grave and the picture I have is partly of the truck of that tree and his grave stone. Joseph’s stone in now horizontal next to Joseph Norman’s.

After that visit, I returned to Ashland to gas up and head for Dayton. Two and a half hours later I exited on Main Street, got a motel for the night, had dinner and will spend two nights here before heading to DC on Saturday. Tomorrow, Brookville, the Dayton Library, and maybe, if time allows, Preble County, where my Grandfather, Alonzo Baile was born.

From Elgin to Ashland

I had an email waiting for me after I checked into my hotel in Elgin, explaining that the Brethren Historical Library and Archives were closed until later in the summer, but that the lobby was open beginning at 8 in the morning, and if I would, I could drop off the books there. So I drove over there after checking out of my hotel and dropped off the two books I had for that stop. Although I didn’t get a chance to talk to them, we did agree that I would set up a Zoom meeting when I got home.

After dropping off the books, I hopped back on I-90, drove straight through Chicago, and stopped for gas just inside the Indiana state line.Google maps told me it would be about six hours, and that was close. Got into town just about 4:00 pm and stopped to ask direction to a hotel. Turns out there are a few of them just off the I-71 interchange, which I will hop on to head for Dayton, tomorrow.

The historical society is my next stop after they open at 10:00 am.

From the Other Keokuk to Elgin

Got up early to review what I had on Joseph’s death in Iowa and it turns out the he was living in Jackson Township, Keokuk County, Iowa in 1860. Well, Keokuk County is about 100 miles west and north of Keokuk the town, where I spent the night. So after breakfast, I headed back up there to visit Sigourney, the county seat of Keokuk County. Got there about 9:30 and visited both the Recorder and the Auditor for information about land that Joseph Roop might have purchased. While we found a Joseph Root purchased land in 1857, there was nothing for a Joseph Roop. At the auditor’s office, we searched through all 36 boroughs of Jackson Township but still no Joseph Roop. From the courthouse I went to the Library to see if they had any information, but again, no genealogy files and very little useful in the way of county history. So I gave up and headed for Elgin.

I sent an email in the morning to the Brethren Historical Library and Archives in Elgin to see if I could talk to someone there the next day, but when I checked into my hotel in Elgin I picked up my email and they were not allowed to meet with folks, but would let me drop off books I had brought to give them. They would be happy to zoom with me, but I told them I would try to set that up after I returned. I hope that the Brethren Historical Center in Brookville, Ohio does not have the same restrictions.

So a bit of a frustrating day, but I’m closer to Ashland, Ohio, where I hope to learn more about Joseph and his family.

To Keokuk via West Branch

I left Cedar Falls about 10:30 this morning on Google maps instruction that it would take me about an hour and a half to get to West Branch; I had told Jack that I would be there around noon. I left a little late, but the route was easy and I made up time on the way. Found the home of John and Kathy Fuller in West Branch just about noon. Though I have talked to Jack once or twice since we were in graduate school together, we hadn’t seen each other for at least 55 years. And I had never met Kathy. So I really didn’t know what to expect. I expected to be an hour or so with them, then be on my way.

First about the John and Jack stuff. In graduate school, John was always Jack. At an interview Jack started his introduction (I learned this from Kathy) by saying, “My name is John Fuller, but all my friends call me Jack.” But before he could get past the “. . , but . . .”, folks stood up and said, “Nice to meet you, John.” So to most folks, he is John Fuller. Even Coke calls him John. I still remember him as Jack.

I got to his house in West Branch (a beautiful place, four acres, trees and gardens, mostly Jack’s doing), got out of the car and Jack was waiting there. He asked if I wanted to stretch my legs, so he showed me around the place. After a tour, we sat on the front porch and just talked about us, and what we had been up to over the last half century. Soon Kathy came out and joined the conversation. If charming is defined as being interested in other people, they are both charming. We chatted for an hour or so, then went and got some Mexican food to bring home to eat. While the food was being prepared, Jack and Kathy took me to Herbert Hoover’s park in West Branch, where he was born and where his presidential library is located. It was Sunday, so nothing was open, but we walked through the 2-room cabin where he was born and saw the blacksmith shop where his father worked. Then Kathy picked up the food, and we had a pleasant meal outside on their front porch.

We could have talked for hours. As I was getting ready to leave, Jack said, “You know, we probably could have carried on this conversation for several days.” And we could have.

For someone I haven’t seen for 55 years, it was like we hadn’t missed a beat. Jack and Kathy are wonderfully warm people and I wish I could have spent more time with them. But the quest calls. Thank you Jack and Kathy.

I left about 3 and drove to Keokuk, arriving a little after five. After checking into a motel, I searched for someone I could talk to tomorrow about Joseph Roop and the library seems the best bet. More on what I find out, tomorrow.

To Cedar Falls

Long day, 500+ miles, but mostly just boring. Left Murdo about nine, then drove for three hours before stopping just across the Minnesota state line at a rest stop for lunch (mostly leftovers). Gassed up just before Albert Lea, MN, then caught I-35 to highway 20 going East to Cedar Falls, just outside Waterloo. Pulled into a Holiday Inn Express just off the highway and had a decent meal and a couple of beers before coming up to my room to clear emails and blog.

Two things to say about the trip. South Dakota does a much better job of maintaining their section of I-90 than Minnesota does. There were a few places in Minnesota where the highway was great, but most of it was in really poor shape. Even the worst of SD’s I-90 was way better then most of MN’s I-90.

As soon as I got into Iowa, the sky turned black almost from horizon to horizon. I went through a few rain storms that made me want to pull off the road and just wait the storm out, and I really feel sorry for a motorcyclist that got caught in that deluge.

Tomorrow I will cruise to West Branch, only about an hour and a half from here, to visit with John Fuller for a while, then head down to Keokuk to find lodging and get things set up to hunt for information about Joseph Roop, who died in Keokuk in 1865. His son came to take his mother and his father’s body back to Ohio, where he is buried. That’s another stop on this trip.

Getting to White River

The road from Murdo to White River, Highway 83, is under construction. I saw a sign indicating that was the case about 50 miles before I arrived at Murdo, with the ominous warning, “Find Alternative Route”, so I decided to take a scenic route from Murdo to White River and see some of the country. First I drove about 40 miles East to Presho, then took Highway 183 south where it intersected with Highway 44, which runs East-West and goes through White River. So I drove this 110 miles to get to a town 20 miles South of Murdo, where I am staying. I was thinking I might drive West on my return to Highway 73, which goes to Kadoka, about 40 miles West of Murdo, maybe slightly less than 100 miles return, but that last 40 miles includes a stretch of about 10 miles where the freeway is only single lane. Roads get built this time of the year, so there is always construction going on, and that was the case for I-90 and highways 183 and 44.

I arrived in White River about 10 am to find a town of about 500 people, with only one or two paved roads and lots of potholes. I found a main street and drove its length. As you arrive at the “town” part of Main, there was a store on the West side of the street and several other commercial buildings, most of which are closed or boarded up. Towards the other end, i.e., in the next block, there was a museum in front of which I parked. It was closed, but while I was finding this out, a couple of young men, obviously of Native American descent, came over to look at my car. They liked it a lot. One of them asked if it would be OK to have his friend take a picture of him in front of it; and of course I said sure. I moved out of the way so it was just him and the car. They asked a lot of questions I couldn’t answer, like how long it took to go from 0 to 60. Then one of them said, “So let me drive it.” I told them no.

After that I found the Court House and I’ve told you about that experience in Vivian Found.

I talked to Cleon about taking the road to Kadoka rather then the short stretch to Murdo, but she convinced me that it wasn’t too bad. And I’m glad she did, because it saved me 100 miles and time and I got to talk to Vivian, but the trip I would not recommend to anyone except for those reasons. There is about 15 miles of paved road, but the rest of the trip required two waits for lead vehicles over one-way dirt construction, often with dust and large potholes that need to be avoided. Plus about a mile, just North of White River, that will some day be a paved road, but today is just dirt.

Still, my little car made it just fine. That is some sweet vehicle.