I left Indiana about 9:30 Tuesday morning with a clear map to Oskaloosa: I-74 to Galesburg, IL, then 34 to Ottumwa, IA, then IA-63 to Oskaloosa. Easy trip. I checked into the hotel in Oskaloosa at about 2:45, called the Keo-Mar genealogy library and found that they were open till 4, so zipped down there and met the curator, Don. We had talked over the phone, so he knew what I was looking for and had loads of stuff for me to look at, including all the national and Iowa censuses since 1856, the collected list of folks buried in Keokuk cemeteries collected by the Works Progress Administration during Roosevelt’s administration, and a history of Keokuk county. I did all that before we left, agreeing to resume the search in the morning. He recommended a place to eat, but it was closed for dinner on Wednesday.
The next morning I called about 8:30 and Don was in, so I told him I would be there in about 15 minutes (the flyer says that they open at 10), so I got an early start on things. The curator supplied me with information about grave sites in Keokuk County, and I learned where many of Joseph’s descendants were buried. I will check with Find a Grave when I get home to see if any of them are on that site. I also looked for obits in the local newspaper, but I only found one for John Roop, son of Joseph who died in 1865. Still, a very successful trip; I’ve got a lot to add both in terms of descendants and information about those that stayed in Iowa after leaving Ohio. About 11:30 I wrapped things up, and headed down to Warrensburg. Took me just about 4+ hours to get there, checked into the Holiday Inn Express (which has moved to across the street (i.e., US-50) so I could no longer walk to Players, the restaurant and bar that use to be next door to the old Holiday Inn Express, which is now a Best Western.
I ordered flowers for tomorrow and went by the UCM book store to buy new T-shirts and a polo shirt. The ones I have are about ready for the dumpster. Tomorrow I will put flowers on graves in the Roop Cemetery south of town, check in with the Alumni Foundation and go by the Historical Society to drop off books.