A couple of weeks ago, I was talking with one of my cousins from Florida. She and her husband have been doing research into our family and her husband's family. They are retired and have spent a lot of time traveling and research family history. Her dad and my dad were brothers.
Most of my dad's family is buried in and around Meeker, Oklahoma and I had just recently asked my sister if she knew where our great grandmother was buried. It was my dad's grandmother from his maternal side. She didn't know where she was buried and I was wanting to visit her grave. So when my cousin called, I found out where she was buried and a lot more information about her.
My great grandmother's name was Johanna Cahill and she was from Ireland. I haven't found out the town she is from yet. She arrived in the United States from Ireland in the midst of the Civil War. My cousin told me a conversation she had with our grandmother and she said, "that all our great grandmother had to eat the last two weeks on the boat was molded cheese." My great grandfather was already in the US and waiting for my great grandmother to get here. They settled in Illinois. Their children were born in Illinois. After the death of my great grandfather, my great grandmother moved to Oklahoma with a son Will and lived by my grandmother until her death. She was taken back to Illinois and buried next to her husband. She had seven children and they are all buried with her and her husband except my grandmother and one son who is buried in Texas.
Now for my great grandmother on my dad's faternal side was English and Welsh. They settled in Kentucky. When the railroad put land up for sale that it wasn't going to use, my great grandfather traveled to Illinois and bought land for $1.25 an acre. He went back to get his wife and 9 children and became ill on the return trip and died. My grandmother got two covered wagons and brought all the children and their belongings and moved to Illinois alone and started their farm. My dad's father was one of these nine children.
My grandfather and grandmother met and married in Illinois and then moved to Oklahoma where my grandfather secured land for them in the Oklahoma Land Run.
I really have not been into researching family history but after talking to my cousin and finding out this information. I felt a sense of deep gratitude for my ancestors and their pioneering spirit. I have thought a lot about them lately and what they must have endured and sacrificed It made me want to leave more detailed information about my life for my decedents.
Sometimes life gets tough and tries to beat you to the ground but with ancestors like that, how can I ever give up!
