Posted in The Saga of Sonnystone Acres

Sonnystone Saga – Part 4

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

 We are now on Part 4 of The Sonnystone Saga, the genealogy of our Old House. Here are the links to Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3 in case you missed them. The Reed Family lived here for 60 years and require four separate posts to tell their story. It’s a real page-turner, so I hope that you will watch for the next installments to be posted on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Reedmont 1870-1888

When the enumerators returned to Reedmont, aka Sonnystone Acres, in 1870, John, now 54 years old, and Mary, 47, still had four of their children living with them:  Sarah Childs, 27; George Childs, 23; Minnie, 14; Ada, 12.

By the time of the 1870 census, Jack Reed was 28 years old and married to Jane Sutton.  His occupation is listed as “laborer” and he owns his own home in Evansville valued at $1100 with personal property $200.  Living with him are his father-in-law, William Sutton, a laborer, and his brother-in-law, Joseph Sutton, an insurance clerk.  Mr. Sutton and his family had arrived from England in 1853 when Jane was 11 years old.

John’s ex-wife, Sarah Inwood  Green, 50,  was living with her sons, William, 15, and Benjamin, 13, in downtown Evansville near the home of her brother, William.  She says she is a widow, keeping house.

Regarding the rest of the Inwood siblings, John had retired from farming and was also living in downtown Evansville.  John evidently thought a lot of the Reeds, as he named one of his sons Thomas Reed Inwood…very confusing because he and Thomas Reed are nearly the same age.  Uncle George Inwood is still living on the farm nearby Reedmont and has a servant by the name of Anna Davidson living with him and his wife,

The decade of the 70’s brought many changes, particularly weddings…

Thomas got the ball rolling in 1873 when he married — get this– his cousin, Amelia Inwood, one of his Uncle John Inwood’s daughters!  So Thomas Reed and Thomas Reed Inwood were cousin/brothers-in-law…weird…

In 1874, George Childs, 27, married Anna Georgianna Davidson, 22.  Anna is the same servant who had been living with Uncle George Inwood, but she is subsequently listed as a schoolteacher.

Early in 1878, Uncle John Inwood died and was buried in the McCutchanville cemetery next to his wife, Harriett.

1878 saw the wedding of the youngest Reed, Ada, who was also called Belle.  She was 18 when she married Louis Van Dusen, 22.  Louis was the son of Martin Van Dusen, a wealthy farmer who lived in nearby Kratzville.  His mother was Abby Olmsted, daughter of Judge William Olmsted, one of Vanderburgh County’s first magistrates.  Judge Olmsted, who had come to Evansville in 1818 from Ridgefield, Connecticut, was not “learned in the law”, but he was scrupulously honest, unlike many judges at that time.  He was also County Commissioner and a well-respected public servant.

In 1879, Minnie Faye Reed married Charles Goodrich Olmsted, Jr., a cousin of Louis VanDusen,  and another grandson of Judge Olmsted.  His grandfather wasn’t his only claim to fame, though.  His father, Charles,Sr. was 37 years old with four children when he joined the Union Army in 1861.  He was captain of the 42nd Indiana Volunteers, and by all accounts an excellent leader.  He died at the head of his command at the Battle of Perryville, KY.  He was a Hero to the residents of Vanderburgh County.  His widow kept his farms in Mechanicsville near Reedmont and raised the children there.  Charles, Jr. went by the name “Goodrich”…

The Reed-Olmsted nuptials were held right here at Sonnystone…

From the Evansville Journal

In 1880 John Reed’s property was a compound of four families.  John and Mary Reed lived in Sonnystone house with George and Anna Childs and their son, John Reis Childs; next door were the Van Dusens, Ada and Louis, and their daughter, Mary Irene; next door to them were Goodrich and Minnie Olmstead who were newly-weds.  All the men were farmers and Anna is a schoolteacher.

Thomas and Amelia Reed, living on Goodsell Street in Evansville, had two sons by 1880, Harry, 4, and Benjamin, 11 months.   Thom’s sister-in-law/cousin, Mary Inwood, (daughter of the late John Inwood) was also living with them, working as a schoolteacher.

Where’s Jack?  In 1880 Jack was living with his cousin, James Inwood, son of the late Uncle John.  He was not listed as a cousin, however.  Instead, his relationship to James was “servant” and his occupation was listed as “servant/farm laborer.  Jack is divorced.  His ex-wife, Jane Sutton Reed, and his daughters, Alice and Mary, were living with her brother, Joseph, and his family.

Jack seems a little troubled, doesn’t he?  He probably blamed it on the divorce…  I have reason to believe that he didn’t get along well with his half-siblings…

Jack’s mother, Sarah Inwood Green,  ex-wife /sister-in-law of of John E. Reed,  died in 1884 and was buried in the Inwood family plot at McCutchanville Cemetery.  I continue to look for her sons, the Green boys, to no avail.

In 1886, George Inwood, Mary’s last surviving brother, sold his farm adjacent to Reedmont and moved with his family to Kansas.

John E. Reed died on January 14, 1888 at the age of 72.  He left a Last Will and Testament that is a doozey…  It sits prominently at the front of the Abstract of Sonnystone, so it caught my eye immediately as I started my research.  Anytime you end a Will with the warning that anyone who objects to it should be disinherited you figure you’ve got a Feuding Family…

Stay Tuned…

 

Posted in Sunday Report, The Saga of Sonnystone Acres

Wee Sunday Report & Part 3 of the Saga

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

My favorite plant store opened yesterday and I was first one there! I’ve bought tomatoes and sweet peppers to baby until it’s time to put them in the ground. I’m going back today to get more tomatoes, as I am going to do some experimenting this year with partial shade…

You’ll learn all about it in a couple of weeks when I start the garden blog, Growing Every Season.

We are now on Part 3 of The Sonnystone Saga, the genealogy of our Old House. Here are the links to Part 1 and Part 2 in case you missed them. The Reed Family lived here for 60 years and require four separate posts to tell their story. It’s a real page-turner, so I hope that you will watch for the next installments to be posted on Wednesdays and Sundays. I could have worked it into longer posts, but I’m too busy right now to do much more than a cursory edit.

I hope you enjoy the tale and that you’re also enjoying Spring as much as I am! If you need me, I’ll be out in the garden!!!

Meet the Reeds

After twenty years living here on Stringtown Road, Jacob and Maria Miller sold their property to one Mr. John L. Reed and his wife. Mr. Reed was born in England in 1815, but Try as I might, I find no record of his parents or when he arrived in the area. In those days, the village of McCutchanville, just three miles northeast of the Miller farm, was referred to as the British Community, so it seems logical a Brit arriving in the area would gravitate there.

I know much more about the background of his wife, as her parents were among the earliest settlers in Southern Indiana. William and Hanna Inwood were from Godalming, Surrey, England. When they arrived in the USA in 1821, they already had three children: Harriett, b. 1815; John, b. 1817; and Sarah, b. 1820; and three more were born after their move to Indiana:  Mary, b. 1823; George, b. 1826; and William, Jr. b. 1828.  The Inwood family settled land between Stringtown and McCutchanville along the state road, now Petersburg Road and became prominent citizens of the village community.

So it happened that in 1841, John Reed married Sarah Inwood, the daughter of William, Sr. and Hannah.  John and Sarah had three children together:  John “Jack”, b. 1842; Thomas, b. 1846; and Mary J., b. 1849.  The 1850 census shows that the family lives in Kratzville, a small community near Stringtown.  John was working for a trucking service as a drayman (driver of a beer truck). He owns real estate valued at $1100.  The kids were ages 7, 4, and 1.

Something very unexpected occurred between 1850 and 1860…John and Sarah Inwood Reed divorced.

Divorced?! you say, Divorced in the 1850’s?!  Unheard of.  I don’t have record of the actual divorce as those are hard to come by, but I discovered — to my amazement — that divorce was not as uncommon as I thought in those years.  In fact, Indiana had such lax divorce laws in the 1850s that coming to the state was a popular quick way to shed your spouse.

From “The Indiana Magazine of History” : [From 1852 ] until 1873, Indiana used to have one of the most liberal divorce laws in the country, and unhappily married individuals flocked to the Hoosier state in order to bring their unions to a quick—and relatively painless—end. According to Garber, in those days judges were inclined to grant a divorce decree “as a matter of course in every case where the defendant did not appear and oppose it.” The applicant had only to provide “proof of residence” and swear under oath that there was “statutory cause” for their petition.

Still, Divorce was considered quite scandalous in polite society… It appears that Sarah Inwood Reed was the first to stray which was even more sordid.   Sarah gave birth in 1856 to a son named William Green and in 1858 had another son, Benjamin Green.  I have no clue who their Daddy was, though I’ve looked everywhere for him.  The only candidate I’ve found would be a married man!  I’ve not ruled it out…

As if that weren’t scandalous enough, guess who John took up with and married? Sarah’s younger sister, Mary Inwood Childs! Mary had married Stephen Childs in 1842 and they had two children:  Sarah, (ironic that she named her daughter after her sister…) b. 1843; and George, b. 1847.. I do not see a record of Stephen Childs’ death — or his life, for that matter, other than the record of his marriage to Mary, but let’s just assume that he died since the children were always with Mary.

The situation caused great family dissension as well as scandal, so John and his new wife, Mary, moved to Richmond, Indiana around 1855 or 56 and lived there for the next four years. While there, they had two children, Minnie in 1857, and Ada Belle, born 1859. Mary’s children, Sarah and George were living with them, as well as John’s sons, Jack and Thomas, but their daughter disappears during that decade.

So it was that in 1860, John and Mary Inwood Reed returned to Center Township, Vanderburgh County. Post office of McCutchanville, and moved back into the bosom of Mary’s family.  They named their estate Reedmont.  Mary’s brother, John Inwood, and his family lived on the farm just south of them.  Her brother, George, lived two farms north.  Welcomed back into the fold?  By some, perhaps, but the Inwood family reunions must have been a bit awkward…

The family had moved in by the June, 1860 census and it shows that the property is valued at $2700, personal property $120.  They had a full house:  Sarah Childs, 17; George Childs, 13; Thomas Reed, 14; Minnie, 3; and Ada (Belle), 7 months.  Jack., 18, is also counted as living with them, working as a farmhand.

John’s ex-wife, Sarah Inwood Green. and her two sons, ages 5 and 3, were living with her youngest brother, William, a grocer who lived in downtown Evansville.  Guess who else is counted as living there in the 1860 census?  Her son with John Reed, Jack, is listed as a drayman. It would seem Jack went back and forth between his parents, a sign of things to come.

I can’t find a record of Jack serving in the Civil War, though he was just the “right” age for it.  Thomas Reed was only 15 in 1861 when the War started, but he managed to get in at the very end, joining the Indiana 42nd Regiment, Company A in February of 1864.  The 42nd met up with Sherman to fight the Battle of Jonesboro and were part of the March to the Sea and the Siege of Savannah.

By the end of the war, all were back home and the decade of the 1870’s was a bright one for most of the Family of Reedmont.

Stay Tuned…

 

 

 

Posted in The Saga of Sonnystone Acres

Part 2 – First Family: The Millers

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

As noted in Part 1 of this series, Jacob and Maria/Mary Miller were the first folks to build a home here on the land we’ve named Sonnystone Acres.

Jacob Miller was born 1812 in the Electorate of Hessia.  It’s unclear when he came over from Germany and finding a Jacob Miller/Muller/Mueller in the plethora of German immigrants who swarmed into Vanderburgh County in those days is like finding a needle in a haystack.

What’s certain is this particular Jacob Miller was 26-years-old when he married Maria Klein in 1838.  He bought his first 20 acres of land in Center Township in 1840 and opened a blacksmith shop, one of many in Mechanicsville,  on the north corner of Sonnystone, near the State Road (now Stringtown Road).  Just up the hill, they built the original Sonnystone house, and the hand hewn logs that Jacob placed as a foundation are still there.

All five of the Miller Children were born here, every two years from 1840 until 1848. Henry was the oldest, followed by Conrad, John, Jacob Jr. and Mary. The children grew up helping on the farm, and enjoying the close community. They attended church and were educated in the schools of the time, likely down the road at Old North Chapel (built in 1832). None of the children followed their father into blacksmithing, however.

During the 20 years that the children grew up here, Mechanicsburg was a close community, but the population was dwindling and many businesses were relocating. After their son, John, died in 1860, the family sold their farm and Jacob, Sr. moved his blacksmith shop south of Pigeon Creek (in the area where Cedar Hall School sits today) closer to downtown Evansville, where his sons were working.

Oldest son Henry was working as a Post Office clerk in 1860, living down near the Ohio River. Conrad and Jacob, Jr. were working as sales clerks at a downtown dry goods establishment

When the Civil War started, Henry found work on the steamboats and was a  Union Army Captain by the end of the war.  I have record of Jacob, Jr. serving in the 136th Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry, but none of Conrad’s service. The family actually prospered during the War years, as Evansville was a busy port, and Conrad and Jacob,Jr. were learning the business of dry goods. Sadly, Henry died in 1868, leaving behind a wife and three daughters.

By 1870 Jacob,Sr. had retired from the smithy and the couple were living with Conrad and Jacob Jr., all of them rather wealthy according to the census. 

In 1871, the two surviving Miller sons, who had grown up here on the farm, established a business together: Miller Brothers Dry Goods. Maria and Jacob must have been very proud of their sons! While I’m not certain, I believe their daughter married well and was living nearby when Maria passed in 1879, and Jacob, Sr. died in 1883.

In 1885 the Miller Brothers erected a building on Main Street that was the Largest dry goods store in the state at the time and for many years thereafter.

In 1886, Conrad withdrew from the business and moved to Boston and engaged in the same sort of business, becoming a successful merchant there. After Conrad left Miller Bros. Jacob joined in with W.S. Gilbert and the name of the business became Gilbert-Miller Dry Goods.

Jacob, Jr. never married, but has a lengthy biography in the aforementioned “History of Vanderburgh County” (1889) that gushes over his character and accomplishments. He served for a year in the Civil War, and was also a city councilman for several years.

In the meantime (1887), Conrad, age 45 and now living in Boston, MA,  married Anna “Annie” Jenness who is a famous lady that I’d  never heard of.  She was a “dress reformer” and I find her a fascinating figure, though only tangentially related to Sonnystone…

From Wikipedia:  Anna “Annie” Jenness Miller (January 28, 1859—August 1935) was a pioneering clothing designer and an advocate for dress reform, as well as an author and lecturer.  She basically loosened the corsets and invented “leglets” for women, making it easier for them to ride bicycles.  I think we call them pants today.    She was really cool, a member of the Massachusetts Women of Letters alongside the likes of Louisa May Alcott, Julia Ward Howe, Lucy Stone — and all of that was before she married Conrad (17 years her senior) at age 28.  You can read more about here here.

 

During the 20 years that the Millers lived at Sonnystone the area had faltered commercially.  Evansville’s population, which had declined between 1840 and 1850 to only 3,235, surged to 11,484 in 1860 and businesses there were growing strong.  The areas around Sonnystone –Stringtown, Mechanicsville, Kratzville, and McCutchanville — were mostly farms.

John Reed bought the estate from the Millers in 1860 and he and his family farmed here for 63 years.

The Reeds have a convoluted, rather scandalous, story to tell…

Stay Tuned…

 

Posted in The Saga of Sonnystone Acres

Introducing a New/Old Series

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

We weathered the windy weather well, but it was as scary as any I’ve witnessed. Now we’re on Day 4 of thunderstorms and interminable rain. I am not Inspired…

In order to spare you a report of the monotony of my life, I’m starting up a new/old series!  If you’re a long-time reader, you may have read my stories of the families who lived here on Sonnystone Acres.  It’s a 12-part collection, spanning 179 years, and includes biographies of several local founders.  I hope you will enjoy reading it…

The Sonnystone Saga:  Introduction

In 2003 we bought a falling-down old house on 4 acres of property.  We were new empty-nesters and had been looking for a fixer-upper with some land for a while. This one fit the bill and was less than a mile from the neighborhood where we’d lived and raised our children for 18 years.

We bought the house from a couple of 80-somethings who had lived here for 30 years. The lady was ill and he was old and it fell into disrepair.  They had no children and when the gentleman died a nephew moved her to St. Louis.  About a year after we moved in, we received a package from the nephew that contained the property’s original paper abstract, a collection of legal documents that chronicles transactions associated with the land, including references to deeds, mortgages, wills, probate records, etc.

The abstract is only about the property, and though its owners are named, it gives me no clue as to what was built here, e.g. homes, barns, businesses.  It’s full of measurements using chains and rods and stones that interest my husband, but I was more intrigued by the presence of a Last Will and Testament and a couple of court records, and recognized the surnames of some of the former owners who have streets around here named after them.

I had already been curious about the “S” on the chimney outside…what did it originally stand for?  (Smith)  There is a name carved in a stone step (with a boot-scraper embedded) that sits at our front door.  Who was that? (John E. Reed) The answers in the Abstract only led to more questions, and nearly 20 years ago I collected some info at our Historical Society. The venture was sidelined for years until I subscribed to ancestrydotcom, where I started a Sonnystone Acres Family Tree and uncovered all new info about the first three families, stretching from 1846 to 1957.

We’ll start, though, with the original land patent.  On March 26, 1821, the northwest quarter of Section 5. Town 7 south, Range 10 west, containing 169.2 acres according to Government survey was entered at the U.S. Land Office at Vincennes, Indiana, by William Hampton.

This land is located in Vanderburgh County, Center Township, specifically in an area once known as Mechanicsville.

From “A History of Vanderburgh County, from the Earliest Times to the Present”, published in 1889:

{referencing Center Township}: The principal village in the township is Mechanicsville, commonly called Stringtown, because its houses are strung along the road.  At a very early date, the point where the Petersburgh road left the State road was selected as a good place for a smithy and wagon shop. It was a busy place in early times…

Mr. Ira Fairchild, who came with his family from New York to Indiana in 1818, thus pictures the early days of this village : “In 1829 my father removed’to Mechanicsville and opened a blacksmith’s shop …  which was a famous institution in its day. This house was built of heavy hewed logs, 30×40 feet square, had five forges and worked a force of seven or eight hands. All the livery horses of Evansville were brought there to be shod, and all sorts of iron work was done. At this time Mechanicsville seemed in a fair way to outstrip Evansville in the race for position. Thomas Smith had built a saw-mill on Pigeon creek, and on the hill where he afterward kept tavern he carried on a cabinet shop, … and supplied the demand for furniture for miles around. The village also boasted of a well-kept hotel, a’ wagon shop, and country store, and was withal a place of very considerable local importance.”

In 1839, William Hampton and wife conveyed to John H. Craig 89.2 acres.  The next year, 1840, John H. Craig sold 20 of those acres to Jacob Miller and another 20 acres to Jacob Winkleman.  Mr. Winkleman sold his 20 acres to John Hardy in 1845.  In 1847, Hardy and his wife sold those acres to Jacob Miller.  Miller now owned about 40 acres of the original William Hampton land patent.

Jacob Miller and his wife Maria (Mary) were Sonnystone’s first residents.

Stay Tuned…

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report

ketchup time

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

I missed you last week, but our projects were in full throttle forward. After spending Saturday moving everything off of the shelves and most of the furniture, Michael came by Sunday and helped his dad with the heavier stuff and Casey started pulling up the embarrassingly filthy carpet. He also had to put back the quarter-round trim and paint that and the baseboard. Then I cleaned and polished the wood – which still is not great if you look closely. Finally, we moved the furniture back in, cleaning it all as we went. I feel so much lighter!

We have to do the same back in our “family” room, which will entail removing the door to get the couch outside and to the heavy trash. That’s high on the list to be done this month because I need to move out of the house and into the garden.

I planted peas and potatoes on St. Patrick’s Day, which just whetted my appetite for digging.

I can move around some of the perennials in the Peace/Bird Garden this month, but planting warm-weather crops has to wait, sometimes until mid-May. I will begin posting at my garden blog Growing Every Season 2 in the next couple of weeks, as we buy seeds and shop for plants

I completed almost everything on my March Dopamine menu. Thanks to RSV, I didn’t have any lunch dates, but we’ll make up for that in April. I have been to Central and North Park Libraries and last week I visited my beloved Willard.

I must confess that I prefer reading on the Kindle, but I have enjoyed being at the libraries so much that I want to visit at least once a month.

After 22 years of service, Casey finally quit fixing his Husky lawn tractor and bought a new Troy-bilt. It is bigger and perkier, so he’s been flying around the meadows and into the woods every chance he gets. (Naming the tractor “Troy” would be too obvious, but would anybody get it if we called her Helen?)

The weatherman says storms today. Don’t let the wind blow away your blooms!

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report

Feelin’ Alright

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

The coughing has stopped! I’m not taking any medicine! I feel normal again!

Yesterday Nova and I went out to JoAnn’s, then for lunch at Fazoli’s and I forgot to take pictures. I assure you my face is still old, but my #2 grandie is getting prettier every day. Here’s a picture of her after a recent speech meet.

This week is full of St. Paddy’s and Equinox celebrations with appropriate food and drink. I’ve got my Medicare Wellness appointment on Tuesday – always a treat! What problem will they find this year? The monthly market auction in New Harmony is this Saturday, and I’m hoping Lana and Charley can meet us for lunch at the Friday preview.

I’ve got my taters chitting, my peas are soaking, and the ceremonial Planting of the Green will be tomorrow. This year’s garden is going to be better than ever, thanks to my obsessively watching Youtube gardeners. Intensive planting is my theme.

Even though Ostara/Spring Equinox is a time of New Beginnings, it does seem to me to be the same old story every year – corned beef and cabbage on the 17th, quiche on the 20th – and a long wait for Spring to warm us up. As the storms blow across the country, I hope you stay safe!

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report

Evening Edition

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

The week started out Great! I went to the library and checked out some good books and CDs, then took a walk around downtown, soaking up the almost-spring sun.

Unfortunately, Casey was at home, feeling like crap, coughing, and blowing his nose. All of Eville seems to be covered with the Big Winter Viruses: Covid, Flu, and RSV. I guess the the poor old common cold has been overwhelmed by those guys. I felt kind of smug that I was feeling fine, but took good care of him with comfort food and medicine. He was still sick for Mardi Gras, so the festivities were curtailed (there’s a lot of leftover jambalaya in the freezer).

By Wednesday, he was a little better, but I was starting to weaken, and by Thursday I was the sicker of us. Since he’d gotten better in three days, I expected the same, but this morning (the fourth day) I was still wheezing and feeling increasingly short of breath, so off I went to the Urgent Care. It was as pleasant an experience as you can have at the doctors’ office – short wait, friendly nurses, smart doctor, and effective breathing treatment. It seems I have RSV. Huh. That’s the vaccine I didn’t get this year. Huh. I meant to go back for it after I got the first two, but didn’t make it. I bet I will next year. I picked up my prescriptions on the way home – Steroid, inhaler, antibiotic – and now I feel slightly worse, but hopeful.

So that’s it. I’m just lying around reading and blowing streams of snot from my nose between fits of productive coughing.

I’m going to feel better tomorrow, by golly! I’ll also be wearing a mask if I see you next week, ’cause I really don’t want to spread this around. It’s quite miserable. I hope I have more to report next week. Take care of yourself, dear Reader.

Peace

Posted in Monthly Dopamine Menu, Sunday Report

March Dopamine Menu

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

March has marched in quietly and the weeks ahead look mild, so I’m suspicious. You know the old saying “In like a lion, out like a lamb”? It’s my observation that March is just as often “In like a lamb, out like a lion”. I’ve been fooled before by the early Spring-like weather, only to face Wintry Weeks as we exit into April. I’d just as soon get the winter all over with, but my requests are obviously falling on deaf ears in the heavens.

The Church year finally rolls around to the Lenten Season with a late Ash Wednesday on the 5th. Having spent 25 years playing the organ for the local Lutherans, I like to use this season for a little fasting and Lord knows I need to curtail my appetite. The six weeks are also marked in the High Churches with extra Wednesday services and I like that. I guess I’ll have to see what sort of extra contemplation I can do.

You can’t have Ash Wednesday without Mardi Gras, now, so I’m gearing up with fixins for Jambalaya, King Cake, and Hurricanes. Since this will be my last night of reveling until Easter, I’m doing it up with All the Calories. My Ash Wednesday fast may be because my stomach hurts, but at least it will be humbling.

It is not at all fair that the Church gave us a Drinking Holiday in the middle of Lent, but they did, March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day, the most Irish of American Celebrations. I’ve heard that the Irish don’t actually eat corned beef on the Saint’s Day, but I do and look forward to it with a side of cabbage. Jameson and Ginger is okay with the Irish, I hope, as that will be my drink of choice…

The Pagans celebrate a Big Event this month = The Spring Equinox, aka Ostara, is happening March 20-21st. 12 hours of Sun! We’ve come a long way, haven’t we? I hope we get to see the sun on those days, but we’ll celebrate through whatever Mother Nature sends us.

I’ve always been a voracious reader and have used an e-reader since whenever it was they put out the first Nooks. These days, I read daily with my Kindle, mostly non-fiction with a smattering of mysteries. My old eyes do better with the back-lighting, but I miss reading actual books – holding them in my hands, turning the pages- and I have always loved going to the Library, so March is going to be Library Month. Our neighborhood branch of the public library just got a major remodeling, so I’m excited to see how it turned out. Willard Library is in a league of its own, housing our local genealogy groups as well as a fine collection of books; if they don’t have a title, they will order it for you. The historic building, smelling of Murphy’s wood soap, is a treat to just sit in, soaking up the sun in front of the 150-year-old windows, but I’ll be sure to check out some tomes.

The remainder of the Menu looks like this:

Thrift Shop shopping – Look out Goodwill, here I come!

Old Crow Medicine Show is in town 3/13/25 and we’ll be there!

The Auction House in New Harmony is always a pleasant way to spend time. This month previews are 3/21. I hope Lana and Charley can meet up with us there!

I am planning at least three Lunches with the Ladies, but there’s room for more!

Angel Mounds is presenting “Astronomy at the Mounds” on 3/22 and I hope the skies are clear that evening.

I’m still staying away from engagement with media, but I am fully aware of what’s going on. We all need to take care of our mental health, and these kinds of Plans are helpful for me as I strive to keep Peace and Love in my heart and mind.

Fat Tuesday will be here before you know it! My stereo will be pumping out Dr. John, Neville Brothers, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, North Mississippi All-Stars, and Buckwheat Zydeco. Let the Good Times Roll!

Peace

Posted in Birthdays, Special Edition

Farewell to February

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

What a Super Birthday Month I’ve had this year! Sure, there was some snow…

Between flurries, I had five lunch dates! Thanks to Dee, Hannah, Donna, Samantha and Casey…

On my birthday-proper, I had a lovely luncheon with the Jrs…

… I took Flat Ronna to Haley’s wedding Party and she was the Belle of the Ball…

Flat Ronna is a Dancing Queen

We finished up the bathroom and are almost finished with the stairs and landing…

I finally got to the Zoo, renewed my membership, and wandered through a lovely Orchid Show to say hello to the leopard…

Teased by this Spring-like weather, I’m longing to get outside and start gardening. Since it’s too soon, I keep myself busy with my houseplants…

And now it’s onward to March… We might as well…

Peace

Posted in Birthdays, Special Edition

Happy Birthday #10 to my #4

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

You’ve met my youngest grandie, Samantha Lynn Mayne Casey, many times on this blog. I’ve been chronicling our adventures for ten years now and we’ve watched her grow. She is the youngest of my four grandies, born the year I retired, and we’ve had so many wonderful adventures together — watching “toodles”, playing with Paw Patrol, riding our Magic Carpets to DisneyWorld, weekly sleep-overs, drawing lots of pictures, learning to play the piano — and we look forward to making many more memories to cherish. She has always been a happy little girl and a joy to her Jojo and Grandpa.

Birth!
1 year

She’s busy today at an Archery tournament, so we celebrated together last Monday at Eastland Mall. Build-a-Bear has a birthday bear that costs a dollar per year of your existence, so our mission was to add all the bells and whistles and clothes to make a great new stuffie. Mission Accomplished…

Then we were off to the food court for some ice cream rolls from DinoIce. She chose a concoction of strawberries and banana in her ice cream rolls, topped with cotton candy, made right there with special strawberry flavoring, that was to die for.

I had a freebie coupon from Bath & Body, so we also picked up an Ariel hangy thing for her backpack. We were happy.

There are no words that adequately express the Love we feel for our children and grandchildren, but we try…

Happiest of Birthdays, dear Samantha! I wish you Love and Happiness for all of your days.

Peace