Greetings from... Kansas

Wednesday, May 4th - - Today was a traveling day, 260 miles through southern Iowa. Leaving Fairfield, U.S. 34 took me through mostly small towns and farming country. Ottumwa, the largest town I went through, is home of Radar O'Reilly of M*A*S*H fame. Ottumwa is also known as the 'city of bridges' and it lives up to its moniker, nestled alongside the Des Moines River.

At Red Oak I turned south through Shenandoah and Sidney, spending the night at Waubonsie State Park, just a few miles from Nebraska and Missouri.

Thursday, May 5th - - Heading west from the campground at Waubonsie the terrain changed dramatically in just a few miles. From the heavily forested hill country around Waubonsie back to rolling hills and farmland. The route took me to Nebraska City, Nebraska where I picked up U.S. 75 south to Topeka.

I mentioned in a previous post that I had been doing some research for a very, very distant Joslin cousin while I was back in Indiana. I had an open invitation to visit him (JJ) if I ever got near Topeka so I took him up on his generous offer! It is so neat to actually meet the people that you correspond with and who just happen to be related! We had a wonderful visit. Thank you so much for your hospitality!

JJ and I took the short drive (about 40 miles) to Lyndon to visit the gravesite of Lysander and Lydia Joslin, my 3rd great-grandparents. I didn't get any pictures because my camera was back in Topeka in the van! But I have visited their graves several times, most recently in September 2009 and posted photos from my visit in November 2007.

JJ and me. Our common ancestor is the 1635 immigrant Thomas Joslin who is my 10th great-grandfather.

Friday, May 6th - - Greeted by blue skies and sunshine, I headed northeast to Leavenworth, Kansas. Another distant cousin, though not nearly as distant as JJ, is buried at the National Cemetery in Leavenworth. So, since I was “in the area” I figured I might as well go visit the gravesite of Charley S. Joslin, my 1st cousin 3 times removed. He is a bit of an enigma and I'll have a post about him sometime soon. But as close as we've been able to determine he is probably the son of Ida (Joslin) Dressler Lewis, daughter of Lysander and Lydia Joslin. She would have been 15 years old when he was born on March 4, 1879. However, in several of his records in the Leavenworth Old Soldiers Home (available on ancestry.com) he lists Ida Lewis as his nearest relative, giving her relationship as sister.

From online searches I knew which section Charley was buried in but I didn't know where that section was located within the cemetery. Thankfully, they have a computer kiosk in the main office building that provides that information along with a printed map. Very nice.

The grave of Charley S. Joslin is located in Section 37, Row 6, Site 6. It is the sixth stone to the left in the first row pictured above.

Charley S. / Joslin / Missouri / Pvt 17 Inf / April 25, 1934

Then I went to the Mount Muncie cemetery, which adjoins the National Cemetery on its south side and located the gravesite of JJ's ancestor George Washington Joslin (after a stop at the main office to get the location and directions). And yes, I'll be having a post, more like a small series, on the issues we had with researching George's parents, and some rather interesting connections to me (at least I thought they were interesting)!

George W. Joslin / Aug. 24, 1837 / June 16, 1921

Matilda His Wife / Sept. 20, 1837 / July 30, 1920

Mount Muncie Cemetery, Leavenworth/Lansing, Kansas

Section 9 Stone 163

After leaving Leavenworth, I headed north toward Atchison and picked up US 36 West. I hadn't planned on going that far north but missed a turn-off just south of Atchison and didn't realize it until later. Except for the wind, which was very strong and a crosswind to boot, it was a pleasant drive. It also got a little warm (85 degrees) and the air conditioning didn't seem to be working very well Will have to get that checked out soon with summer coming on!