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October 29, 2003
Most of the day today was spent driving back and forth from our cool digs (no pictures of digs yet) at a naval/army weapons station south of Bloomington, IN (home of Indiana University where I went to school) and Cincinnati, OH.
The purpose of the visit was to see my Aunt Emma Jane and her son Tom Dickman. They are my mom's late brother's wife and son.
Emma Jane is a very spry 92 years young. She has no problem climbing the stairs to her upstairs bedroom. They have lived in the same home since 1946.
She is truly a pleasure to be around and even wanted to climb up into the van to check it out.
Tom was good enough to treat us to a nice lunch at the Olive Garden.
Tomorrow, Colleen and I will take it easy, probably taking a trip into Bloomington where there is a Borders so we can send these emails.
October 28, 2003
Today was a rainy day.
We spent a little extra time this morning in our room in Vincennes.
We went out mid-morning and visited a couple of Purcell family spots....the West Salem cemetery where Jonathan Purcell is buried. He came to Vincennes in 1790, died in 1813 and fought in the revolution.
We also visited a home that was built in the late 1840's by Jonathan's grandson, John Purcell. The exterior of the house has been maintained in its' original form and it is reported to be nicely renovated inside.
We later toured the house of William Henry Harrison, the 9th President of the U.S., which he built and occupied from 1804 to 1812 while he was governor of the Indiana Territory. He was the grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President of the U.S.
As it happens, my great grandfather, Royal E. Purcell, held the mortgage to, and lived in the house much later with his second wife and her family (his first wife died young along with their baby during child birth).
The cemetery and John Purcell's house are located around 10 miles outside of Vincennes in different directions and are quite isolated. The Harrison house is downtown and on the campus of the University of Vincennes.
October 27, 2003
We have mentioned on more than one occasion what good hosts Tom and Lois have been. We really can't thank them enough.
On Friday they were thoughtful enough to make a "cat" birthday cake for Colleen. She will be ?7 years old on 11/6 as the candles indicate. (I'm also including a picture of a cherry pie that Tom made. Note the St. Louis arch.)
We tried to return the favor by hosting them to the "prologue room" at the St. Louis Boeing facility. It was a huge disappointment and another test of Tom and Lois' patience.
Today we left the comforts of St. Louis for the Midwestern leg of our journey.
We got to Vincennes, IN early this afternoon to visit my mom's grave and place a very nice swag that Colleen made at her headstone.
We also visited the George Rogers Clark memorial which was informative. His efforts were largely responsible for gaining much of what is now the Midwestern states, north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River, from the British during the revolutionary war.
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