Riverbend Journal

  John Baker (left), Blanche McKee Baker (right) and their first three children John Baker was born with humble roots. His father died at age 37 for reasons unknown to me and his family was split up. John at age 11, disappears from the records for awhile, presumably working as a servant of some sort until he became an adult, while his younger siblings were farmed out to other relatives to raise. When the records pick up on John's life, he is working as a gate maker and would continue that profession for the rest of his life, which turned out to not be terribly long lived.  During his 61 years though, he had a total of 10 children from two different wives. I descend from his first wife Blanche, the one seen above and his first born son sitting on his lap in the picture above. Blanche bore him seven of those children before dying young, at age 37, of an infection that was a complication due to the birth of her last child. John would have three more children with his second wife....

I don't remember why but sometime while living in an apartment, the first one since graduating from college, I bought my first wood working tool, a skilsaw. I suspect that it had to do with sizing a chunk of basswood for hand carving which I used to do on those long weekend nights before I knew many people. But I can't guarantee that I didn't buy if for some other reason that I've since forgotten. When I was leaving my second job post college for the third one, I do remember buying a table saw, my first big purchase of my still developing woodworking hobby, simply because the company I was going to work for were paying for my move. I decided to get a washer, dryer and a table saw for them to move while they were at it. Eventually during those years of working at the third (and final) job, I got into remodeling more seriously and picked up other tools of the trade and started developing a love of more fine woodworking.  After I left that job for the stay-at-home-dad/reti...

On the morning of February 17, 1865, it was cloudy and snowing moderately in Ottumwa. The streets were wet and muddy. A military company from nearby Kirkville arrived and joined forces with two Ottumwa companies to act as guards for the expiation of the great crime. By 10 o'clock, there were a considerable number of strangers in town and some estimates were that some 2000 people were by noon there for the hanging. It was also noted that despite the crowd, people were still able to move freely around.  The city mayor, in an attend to keep things calm, had already ordered that all saloons be closed for the day and surprisingly, they had listened. Twelve respected individuals from around the community were called upon to witness the execution to ensure that it was duly carried out as prescribed by law. It was said that although McComb did not sleep well the night before his execution, he was in fair spirits when the morning arrived. The Catholic priest, Fr. Kreckle, the same one who g...

  While answering a question on my previous post, I realized I was wrong. Fortunately I said I was 99% certain the above picture was taken in the fancy house described in the newspaper article in my previous post. As it turned out, my 1% uncertainty should have been closer to 100%. The question I was answering was about who took the photograph. I didn't know and still don't know who since the entire family group was in the picture but I wondered if it could have been a timer. The internet assured me that external triggers were around as early as 1910 and built in timers came around in the 1950's. Since my grandfather, the blurry boy on the left, was born in 1929, I figure this picture was taken somewhere near the mid 1930's and in the external trigger era. My great great grandfather on the right appears to be clutching something in his hands, perhaps a remote trigger. That is when it hit me that this picture was taken in the mid 1930's, after my great great grandfat...

  Elizabeth Cogswell Kuck (third from left) and George Washington Kuck (far right) This is a treasured picture in my collection for several reasons. First, it is the only picture I have of George and Elizabeth Kuck in the same photo. I have many photos of them individually but only this one of them together. Second, it also has my great grandparents (fourth and fifth from the left), the ones who lived long enough that I have found memories of both and also my grandfather (blurry fellow on the left) and favorite great uncle (sitting next to blurry grandfather). It was taken during obviously a prosperous time in their lives.  My grandfather always told me a story about how he was born during the start of the great depression and that his father had been away on business and had frantically called my great grandmother (in the process of giving birth to my grandfather) directing her to sell all their stocks. She couldn't and didn't, the stock market crashed and my great grandfathe...