Family road trips usually concluded at a relative’s house. Collegiate road trips often had no destination at all other than, uh, the open road.

Road trips came back to me as I read an open letter my great-great-grandfather had written to the local newspaper in 1901. He and his lovely wife had just returned to Iowa after visiting relatives in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Reflecting on my elementary school history lessons, I realized that 1901 was the very year Henry Ford built his first car. Knowing my g-g-grandfather most certainly wasn’t Ford’s first customer and local roads were barely fit for horses, I deduced that my g-g-granparents must’ve traveled by rail.

And so it was that I went off on another tangent and set out to see if I could determine which railroads they might’ve patronized. It turned out to be far easier than I would’ve thought. I found my answers in the handy-dandy Railroad Maps Collection at the Library of Congress. Go ahead. Click it. I’ll wait.

Back already? Very well, then, I can conclude by telling you my g-g-grandparents more than likely took the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy line from Corning, Iowa to Chicago. From there, they could’ve caught the CCC&StL (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis) train to Marion, Ohio and from there taken the Wheeling & Pittsburgh branch of the famous B&O (Baltimore & Ohio) Railroad to Washington County, Pennsylvania. Fascinating, no?

No more fascinating than the letter my g-g-grandfather wrote when he got back, but I’ve spent too much time explaining how my train of thought left its tracks to actually share the letter. Tune in again next week for the nitty-gritty of turn-of-the-century travel.

Cheers y’all!
Rick

But that’s what happened. Who knew?

To the best of our knowledge, that’s Isaac Leonard… the very man I was trying to locate… over there on the left! (Go ahead. Mouse-over the picture to see larger versions of the front and back.) But there’s more! Pictures of long-lost Joseph Leonard, who married an Indian maiden and dropped out of white society… his brother William… and the two-story Leonard log cabin where they all grew up!

All of these photos will appear here in the coming days/weeks, but I’ve got to tell you where and how these photos were found!

Our newest cousin was taking care of a relative’s affairs after a death in the family. As part of those duties, he was cleaning out a shed in the back yard of a south Florida home. In the shed, he found a cabinet and in that cabinet were two boxes. In the boxes… dozens of photos and some old letters! I don’t know about you, but this is my genealogical fantasy!

He knows exactly who owned the photos and how they were most likely handed down through the generations. Hint: They are descendants of the only Edmund Leonard on the books, thus no confusion about the sixteen gazillion Williams, Isaacs, and Lots. And best of all, most of the photographs are labeled. My ancestors should’ve been so considerate.

Now. Consider this. Those photos and letters have survived, some of them for a century-and-a-half, despite a few decades’ exposure to south Florida humidity, rodents, bugs, and last but not least… hurricanes. Shouldn’t we all be digging around in sheds and basements and attics… before it’s too late?

Just a thought. Who knew?!

Cheers!
Rick