52 Ancestors-catching up

Another cactus-They have gone crazy!
 I love that they are blooming when so much of my world is white.

So, 52 Ancestors.

I'm behind.

Partly, because I was in Tennessee,

Partly, because I didn't know what to do with the last prompt of January.

"At the Library"

Most everything I have on my Ancestors was found at one Library or another!

I live near one of the top Genealogical libraries in the US.

Midwest Genealogy Center.

I go often.

I use books,

Microfilm,

online databases,

and pick the minds of the staff.

So,

I'm combining two weeks.

The first week in February the prompt was

"Surprise"

So this blog is

"Surprise at the Library"

I first heard the name Peter Colin from my Grandmother.

Which is interesting since he was my Grandfather's 

Great-Grandfather!

Or maybe not.

The families were in the same county after all.

My Granna was adamant that his last name was pronounced

Colley.

Peter was born Pierre Colin in France around 1800.

Both the cities of Lyon and Paris are given for more exact place of birth.

That said those two places are Not especially close together!

Some have said that his parents are: 

Jean Michel Colin

and Elizabeth Martin.

Both of France.

I don't have proof for that though.

Peter/Pierre is mentioned in several county histories.

(The History of Cass and Bates So, The History of Vernon Co.)

All those say that he was born in France and came to St Louis, MO  

"at an early age" (whatever that means)

and that he was located on the banks of the Osage River 

At the Gireau Trading Post

about 3 miles downriver of Papinsville.

At the Rapids de Kaw or Collen's ford. 

You won't find that on any map, 

but I have been there!

They also said he was at that location as early as 1836.

Like many Frenchmen,

 he was an associate of the American Fur Trading Co. 

He became a well established Indian trader.

(I assume, with mostly, the Osage as that was Osage territory.)

On 20 May 1834 he married

Maria Rosa Cottnoir in St Clair County, IL.

(Surprise! I found their marriage date at the Library!)

Again, my grandmother said her name was Cottey.

Maria was born in Canada,

but I imagine she was of French-Canadian origins.

(There were many French folks in the St Louis area.  

The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers were first explored by French Fur traders.

Many coming here from either Canada or New Orleans.

All part of the Louisiana Purchase.)

They had six children, 2 boys and 4 girls.

First born was Augustine about 1836.

The family left the area during the Civil War

( Remember General Order No 11? They had to leave.)

 Augustine did not return with them.

Still trying to figure out what happened to him.

Then came Victor, born 9 September 1840 in Bates County, MO.  He married twice, 

First to Nanny Warson/Wasson and Second to Rachael Swafford.

Then came the girls:

Marie born 19 March 1843  and married Richard A Wasson

Josephine born in 1844

Sophia born 1850 married Leon Lote

I don't know the name of the 4th girl,

to discover that would be a lovely surprise.

Pierre/Peter died 26 November 1875 

at their home,

 The Gireau Trading Post on the Osage River.

And is buried at Papinsville-

I've looked but found no marker.

Maria/Marie died in 1876

Also at their home.

My lineage:  Gail Sue Hickam.>James Robert Hickam> Charles Lloyd Hickam>Cora Colin>Victor Colin>Pierre/Peter Colin and Maria Rosa Cottnoir.

Granny Finished!

I tried like crazy to get a decent picture of this!  

It is quite windy so this was captured on the downswing.

At any rate,

you saw it under construction,

It didn't change!

I even tried putting it on my bed.

It didn't do much better as far as photos go,

but it is nearly big enough for my queen size bed.

Took the last stitches on the binding last night,

then spent what seemed like HOURS

clipping threads.

Still, there were more after I washed it, sigh.

I did something this week,

I gave up lists.

To Do lists

Checklists

Planning lists

Well, mostly I gave them up.

I still track my weight and finances.

I still have the massive TO DO list 

for getting the house ready to sell.

I finally figured out that all these lists were really 

bringing me down.

Funny thing is~

I'm getting just as many things done!

No expectations.

No angst.

Love it!

Cold, Ice and laziness

Lots of Cactus blooms here in my office.

They almost make up for the dismal weather.

I have only been out of the house once since I got home from Tennessee.

Then only because Quinn was running out of food!

We've had ice- about 1/4" on my drive-then snow on the top.

Followed by freezing cold.

I may have missed the polar vortex while in Tennessee 

but

the past week the High temperature hasn't gotten above freezing!

So, again school was out for weather.

I think the kids will still be going to school well into summer

before they get in the required days.

I'd like to say I've been productive this week 

but, NO.

I've mostly sat in front of the fire with coffee and a book.

I did some work in the studio-

Granny is quilted, 

and the binding is made.

Hope to sew it on today,

then I can sit under it while I sew it down!

The blue and white quilt top is nearly together,

should be finished soon.

I've worked the most on Ethan's stocking.

It seems that once I get started on that I don't want to put it down!

I've tidied and sorted by color the strip drawers-

what a mess.

Also working on the squares,

sorting and storing by color.

Cut a few Hash tag parts but still haven't sewn any together.

I've begun moving photos over to an external hard drive to free up space on the laptop,

it isn't taking as long as I thought it would.

Or maybe I've just gotten the process down!

Anyway, 

I'm going to do that next and then hit the studio.

or nap.

Who knows?

On the Way Home

Another Christmas cactus gone wild!  Just because we need flowers in the winter!

 I left Nashville about 9am

waiting until the morning rush was over.

It's enough to navigate all the lane changes and road changes without massive traffic.

This time of the year it's a pretty boring drive.

I think it will be very pretty in the Spring.

There was a pit stop in Clarksville.

Needed fuel both for the truck and for me.

Between Clarksville and Paducah there was a long line of stopped vehicles.

No idea why.

Anyway, on we drove.

Stopping occasionally for a walk etc.

Through Kentucky,

Illinois,

St Louis 

and Eastern Missouri

into Columbia where I'm spending the night with Scott.

I haven't seen Isabel for several weeks now, 

She's grown and is so alert.

She loves to be held and hates to be cold.

She started Day Care part time this week,

I wonder how that's going?

On Saturday, 

I went along to watch Ryan's swim class-

cause he wanted me to!

He likes class, especially jumping off the side.

Then,

Scott and I went off to Larry's Boots.

I wanted to buy Ryan a pair of cowboy boots as his birthday gift.

(He was born on Christmas-I like to spread it out.)

He loves boots.

Snow boots,

Rain boots,

whatever.

So I thought it would make a good present.

(I've bought them for the other boot lover, Ethan, for the past couple of years.)

It's an adventure taking a 4 year old boot shopping!

In the end,

After Granna and Dad finally got the right size and we agreed with

the fit he choose Flag boots.

He likes them!

After lunch I headed home.

the last two hours of the trip.

I was glad to stop moving but I kinda miss the variety of the trip!

My life has gotten so BORING the past two years and

I'm ready for that to end!

Nashville Part 2

Tuesday morning.

Donuts for breakfast.

Un-packing begins.

I unpack boxes that don't require decisions:

Dvds, Games, Food, and the hall closet!

They un-pack other stuff and hunt for stuff!

We all went to bed exhausted!

Wednesday.

We woke to snow.

About 1/2 inch total.

Nashville gets about 3 inches of snow annually.

They haven't snow removal equipment,

or road treatment chemicals 

So

They just shut down.

No school.

We laughed.

We unpacked more boxes.

Books, etc

Then had a major headache searching for their files.

Rob looked on the inventory and thought they might be in box 304.

A Dish pack.

(very distinctive and easy to look for-we thought)

Panic nearly ensued!

Then I notice that Rob's desktop box was labeled 304!

In it's original box from the factory-

not a dish pack!

Then we found the files in the bottom of a big box.

Panic subsided.

In the afternoon,

 there were no more boxes that I could unload. 

The snow was all melted and it was 23 degrees.

Kansas City at the time was like -7 

with - double digits oh my goodness hell has frozen over wind chills.

I went out to visit quilt shops!

Bought a few fat quarters in one,

the other was so disorganized I left empty handed.

I'm sure they had nice stuff

but I didn't have a week to look at it!

While out I says two very interesting signs.

All activities cancelled due to inclement weather!

(that in front of a church)

And over the highway:

Extremely dangerous cold-please limit trips.

Seriously? It was 23!

Rob had the TV up and working so we watched a little

and went to bed exhausted.

Thursday.

As I was leaving the next day,

 it was decided that we would see a bit of Nashville.

So off we went to The Hermitage.

the Mansion

The Tomb of Jackson and his wife.

Home of President Andrew Jackson.

It's a lovely well done museum, 

the home is open and has guided tours

and the grounds are huge and well kept.

We enjoyed the visit very much.

More tomorrow!

Nashville!

Having loaded the truck and packed the day before

 I was on the road early Monday morning.

It's a bit over 600 miles from my house to Rob's

and that's a full days drive.

Quinn and I stop to walk about, eat, etc

pretty often.

It's winter and the polar vortex everyone has heard of was due to hit Kansas City soon.

The temperature was taking a dive but the big thing was the wind.

60-70 mile an hour gusts are no fun when you're driving!

I do have to say that this time they rather acted as a tail wind!

Not being blown all over the road-

NICE.

There are 5 Interstate highway changes between here and there

and two cities to go through -St Louis and Nashville.

Google Maps is a great help!

Of course, it is winter so it gets dark early, 

plus just at dark it began raining lightly.

Somewhere in the last two or three hours my phone went dead!

No more Google maps.

As if loosing Google maps wasn't enough

I only had Rob's new address entered in my phone!

(I carry an address book with all the phone numbers, addresses etc for just such cases but I had neglected to change the addy in it .)

Normally, a dead phone would be no problem as I keep a car charger in the truck.

BUT

my truck is loaded and I CAN"T FIND IT!

Once in Nashville, where I have never been before,

 I remembered that the new house was in or near Brentwood.

Out came the old fashioned way of navigating-a map! 

Which helped me find my way some and

when I came upon an exit for Brentwood, I took it!

Then I stopped and purchased a new car charger,

 and sat in the parking lot with the truck on

waiting for enough of a charge that I could turn the phone on.

Then Apple Maps took me the rest of the way in.

Whew.

What.

A.

Day!

Arrived about 8 pm tired and happy to have made it!

Their new house is very nice.

Tanya had been very stressed over the house,

as she had had only two days to look at houses in Nashville!

They had made an offer on it without Rob ever having seen it!

I have to say she did a great job!

It's big enough for them to be quite comfortable, 

has a large yard for Lola,

And, best of all, there is a public use area directly behind their house!

They get to look at trees and green Grass instead of more houses!

More on my visit tomorrow!

This is getting quite long!