Ancestry Research Day
This morning we, once again, went to Perkins for breakfast. Then, with our survival needs met, we headed for Letcher.
Our first stop in Letcher was the church where my grandparents (Carrie and Roy) were married. We had gotten a picture of the church from the history book, and it looked nearly the same. They had expended the width, moved the door to the street front, and replaced the steeple. But, the windows were the same windows--huge clue that we had found the correct church.
Then, we drove to the town. I think there are all of 6 buildings in downtown. The streets are not paved.
There is no comparison between then and now, except for the dirt streets. There are approximately 700 residents in Letcher now. I later learned that the town had burnt down sometime in the past. But, right now, I don't have a date.
We decided to stop at the post office to see if the postmaster might know where the Jacobus' used to live. The postmaster didn't know about any Jacobus or Van Metre residents as she'd only been there for 7 months. But, as we were talking a man came in and overheard us. He said his father had lived there all his life. So, he called his dad to see if he knew my grandparents or my father and his siblings. He said he knew the name and invited us over to talk. Off we went. And, guess who the man was! It was the man that Norma had said we could go and see. His name is Donnie Moe. His son's are Robert and Roger. Robert is the one we met at the post office. Roger is a truck driver and on the road, but Roger is actually the one that lives in Lu Jacobus' home (seen in this picture). Donnie confirmed that Roy and Lu (real name: Luman) were brothers. But, I need documentation.
Donnie called two other long-time residents of Letcher. Homer Parce and his sister, Marie Parce. Homer didn't remember anyone, but Marie did. She remembered my father's two older sisters. So, it was fun to briefly talk with her about them. She is 92 and sharp as a tack.
Then, Donnie called the woman who cares for the records at the church where my grandparents were married. And, guess who that was--Janice, Norma's sister-in-law who brought the book to us at the RV. We made an appointment with Janice to go to the church at 1 PM.
In the meantime, we drove to the farm that was Erastus Jacobus' and took pictures of the school plot and farm plot. There is nothing really there now but farm land and a few newer barn buildings.
We headed back to the church to meet with Janice. She was able to find some very old church records. Jackpot! We found all kinds of papers, of which I took pictures. The family names appeared in the membership roles, meeting minutes, baptism listings, etc. But, again, the records stopped in 1930. What happened in 1930?
Our next stop was the graveyard. Dave and I started at the back and weaved back and forth through the headstones trying to find Jacobus names. Dave found all three nestled in one corner near the front.
We now had dates for Erastus.
One of the headstones was my father's brother (first born of Carrie and Roy) who only lived for 28 days (Elvin Boyd Jacobus).
Also, there was an Elsie. I have no idea who she yet. Another mystery to be solved.
It's now 3:30 PM, so we rushed back to the courthouse as knew they'd be closing soon. We gave Lynn the location of the Erastus Jacobus farm. She looked up any and all documents pertaining to him or that land. And, wow, what a load of documents she produced!
Lynn found probate settlements for Erastus, Marie (his wife), and Henry (his son). These papers answered a lot of questions that had come up during the search. Henry's wife died in the childbirth of Paul (he's the guy on the marriage license). The papers listed that Roy had 5 brothers and 1 sister. And, yup, Uncle Lu was one of Roy's brothers.
Other documents showed that Roy purchased the land from Henry. And, we have a bill of sale where Roy sold the farm in 1930 to a woman for $1. We assume this was because of back taxes in the depression years. So, part of the answers to where everyone went in 1930 was that they sold the farm and moved somewhere. But, where?
An interesting side note: The woman who bought the farm kept it until 1950s when she sold it for $52,000 to a wealthy land owner in the county. He still owns it.
Our busy and productive day was done. My head was really aching from information overload. I am excited about all I found. But, oh, to put it all together is a huge undertaking. I now have a lineage back to my great-great grandfather. That's really cool!
I am now convinced that dad's family moved to Mitchell. So, our plan for tomorrow is to tackle the Davison County courthouse in Mitchell. At least we don't have to drive very far!
I made spaghetti for dinner. We slurped that down and headed to bed a few hours later. Again, I can't sleep soundly for all I have learned. How to put it all together? I still have so many unanswered questions. But, tomorrow is another day!
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