Still on the Road...

I had a great time at the Joslin Reunion. A nice little group of 26 devoured a catered traditional Thanksgiving dinner the Friday after Thanksgiving. They came from Virginia, Alabama, Indiana, Louisiana, New Mexico and, of course, Missouri. We all stayed at the same motel in Springfield which had a poolside atrium where we gathered most of the time. Kudos to Linda and Kathy for all their time and effort in making the arrangements.

A Joslin Reunion wouldn't be complete without an excursion to some historic family site. One of the places we visited was the area where Virgil Newton Joslin was born on February 21, 1891 “in a tent on the Carry farm in Polk County, Missouri, 12 miles from Bolivar, 4 miles from Dunnegan Springs, 6 miles from Fair Play, while his folks were making a trip by covered wagon.” Virgil is a son of Luther Marion Joslin who is a brother to my 2nd Great Grandmother Malissa Mariah Joslin Brubaker Bower.

George and Jim Joslin, sons of Virgil, were able to determine the approximate location of Virgil's birth from discussions with former and current owners of the property who stated that a small community was established in the area in the late 1800s. Apparently there was a wagon trail through the area. The current owner also told them that the trail was still visible but was not easy to find. Jim said he couldn't find the trail the last time he visited the site. Saturday was a cold, blustery day so we didn't take the time to try to find it then.

George scraped away the moss in an attempt to decipher the name and year engraved on the header stone over what used to be the doorway of the spring house. The name appears to be “C M Racksy” and the year may be 1879. If so, then the spring house may have been built about 12 years prior to Virgil's birth.



Other historic family sites we visited on Saturday were the White Chapel Cemetery, where Virgil and his wife Mary (Hutcheson) are buried, and the house where they lived in Springfield.

The majority of the people left Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning. George and his wife Lorene invited me to their house Saturday, so I stayed with them until this morning. We spent yesterday looking over their Joslin family files. It was a very good day!

It was raining when I left Springfield this morning but by the time I got to Joplin, the rain had stopped and the sky was starting to clear. After a brief stop for gasoline, it was on into Kansas. The sun came out and the clouds disappeared leaving blue skies behind. It even warmed up with the temperature getting up to 50 or so. A nice day for a drive in the country...