Monday, September 12, 2011

Journey to Missouri 2011 ~ Part One

I remember someone said, “How do you know where you’re going unless you know where you’ve been?”

I have always been interested in history, especially my family history.
In 1986, I decided to start a journey into my family’s past, preparing
myself for things that would excite me, disappoint me, thrill me and frustrate me.  Little did I know that twenty-five years later I would 
find more than I ever thought possible.

After saving $1500.00 since March of 2011, I finally had the time and money set aside to go back to Missouri, where my father was born and most of the Long family had lived. I asked my daughter and son, Hannah and Jesse, if they wanted to come too. Hannah will be taking over the family history adventures when I am no longer able, so I know all of my hard earned research won’t just sit on a shelf collecting dust in the corner of a family history center.

We started out on Saturday, August 6th in a nice 2011 Ford Fusion. A rental car was a must after all, we intended to do a lot of driving. Arriving about 1:30am in Macon, Missouri, I thought we did well driving the 700 plus miles straight through, only stopping for gas and the occasional bathroom break . We would have a day to recuperate from the long drive and get used to the 100 degree temperatures with extreme humidity.

Among the many cemeteries we were going to be visiting to take pictures of family headstones, which included going over into Quincy, Illinois, we were also going to be looking for two burial sites for the Long’s; in the Adair County Cemeteries book at the Adair County Historical Society, listed is two burial sites, both on private property. One was for my great grandmother, Elizabeth Jane Anderson Long and one of the daughters (Sarah or Emily), and the other was the Reuben Long Family Cemetery. Descriptions and directions to the cemeteries were from 1979:
These burials are on John Filkins place about 8 miles northwest of Kirksville on B. According to
John Filkins, there is a lone cedar tree within 50 feet of the graves which are north of his home and west
in a pasture. Mussel shells mark the graves. At one time, site was enclosed by a rail fence. Information
furnished by Mrs. Cleve (Juanita Sevits) Adams.
Long, Mother and Child (girl) Both were killed when horses hitched to wagon ran away. Mr. Long later married Nancy Ledford Allen.”

 Next: 

“Location: This cemetery is located by going west from Brashear on J. As J curves north there is a road
that goes south to a farm house, about 1/8 of a mile. The cemetery is about a half mile beyond the
farmhouse, in a wooded area about ¼ acre in size. There are remnants of a fence and the graves are
overgrown. All of the stones found were down and most covered with dirt. It is believed that there are
slaves buried here also as Reuben Long owned slaves.
Long, Rebekah April 29, 1806 Feb. 1, 1861 or 81 - wife of Reuben
Long, Reuben Dec. 1865 aged 74 years
J.H.L.
M.F.L. & J.L.
Long, Judah Dec. 27, 1845 Oct. 17, 1853 daughter of Reuben & Rebecca
Long, Mary F. Dec. 10, 1836 Oct. 17, 1853 daughter of Reuben & Rebecca
Long, Reuben, Oct. 20, 1843 Oct. 19, 1853 son of Reuben
R.R.L.
Long, James H. June 27, 1834 Nov. 19, 1853”

I had made contact with Amanda Langendoerfer, the Head of Special Collections and Archives in the Pickler Memorial  Library at Truman State University. She was more than willing to try and find out who owned the properties now and make a first contact with them for me before we visited. She did make contact with the folks that own the Filkins property. John Filkins passed away in 2002, but the property is still owned by his daughter, Wanda Riley, and granddaughter, Jayne Sherman. I called Mrs. Sherman and we agreed to meet. I was excited beyond belief! What I had read in print was actually coming to life. To connect with your ancestors, the people you only heard stories about(if you were lucky!)was a dream come true for me.

We all met at the Filkins property and our exploration started the morning of August 13. I expected Mrs. Riley to point out the direction we should go, but to my surprise, the 81 year old came out into the field with us! I had never seen a cedar tree before, but Mrs. Riley showed me several and now it’s one I can identify easily. We wandered around the property in several areas where she thought the burial site might be….we found beautiful butterflies and a huge yellow and black spider, but no gravesite. There was so much green foliage still on the ground it was impossible to see mussel shells, if there were even any left to be found.
I had prepared myself for the likelihood that we wouldn’t find anything, after all, 153 years have passed….

Part Two coming soon!






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