Heading Further South

I wish I could say that I feel wonderful but I would be lying.  I still have that awful feeling when I eat that everything is about to return using the same route that I just used to input it.  Tums isn't helping much.  It does seem to subside after a couple of hours of terror while I wait.  Meals are small in comparison to normal.

Last night we had dinner with our cousin's at the Jenkins Living Center here in Watertown, where my soon to be 95 year old cousin Vi resides.  The family visited and we had a nice dinner.  We got a lot of catching up but we missed one whole day with my illness.  All of these folks, except Vi, work and were very tired.  Here in the Midwest folks toil hard for what some would consider meager wages.  But they have family and they make it work.  One thing is painfully obvious, despite differences, family is first and foremost to the extent that a lot of local business do not remain open late nor will you find many of them open on Sunday.  Kind of surprising to one who is used to working in a profit driven society.

This is the house that the fellow in Dunn Center, North Dakota told us my great Aunt Fern lived in.  I have no proof that it is because no one in the family can put her in town at any time.  I discovered that I did make a mistake in my process of finding the old homestead that Clarence Pennock had.  I mistakenly thought that the sections given to the girls in 1914 were sections of his land.  I don't believe that is the case after further study.  I overlooked the township, range and section numbers on his original site, issued in 1890, which was located in Stark county, not Dunn county.  My bad, and I am a little too far south to go back for another look.  So, next year, when we head back to Wisconsin to find the Scarbourogh valley, we will take another look at the area around Stark and Dunn counties.

We are off to Omaha this morning.  A fairly short drive for us.  We are looking forward to visiting with my cousin Dorothy sometime late this week in Falcon, Missouri.

Hope all is well.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Theodore Roosevelt first arrived in the Dakota Territory in 1883 to hunt bison.  He came back to Dakota a year later after the devastating loss of his wife and mother on the same day, only hours apart.  Roosevelt lost himself in the vastness of the countryside and became a cattle rancher.  Though his ranch failed, he credited the Dakota experiences for his long time conservation efforts.

The park was established in 1947 nearly thirty years after his death to honor him and the area of the Badlands that he loved.  Divided into three seperate divisions the park covers a good portion of western North Dakota.  The North unit was too far away to for us to travel and the Elkhorn Ranch Unit is located between the North and South units.  We decided the South unit was close enough to spend a few hours wandering through a loop that the park ranger said would take an hour and a half if we didn't stop along the way.  Of course, you soon discover bison.  And if you have been around them, they go pretty much where they want, when they want.  Including just stopping in the middle of  street.

The painted hills where fantastic.

Thanks for dropping by.

Family History

We traveled through the countryside on our way to Dunn Center, North Dakota.  Most prevalent as we traveled, was the number of oil rigs, energy based trucks and equipment we saw.  It seems as though there are very few sections that do not have some kind of petroleum machinery running.  These seem to be the normal pumps left after drilling the initial hole.  I don’t believe we have come upon a fracking site yet.

Dunn Center is a very small community.  There is a bar, a café, a church and a lot of housing built for the oil production companies.  In fact, we were looking for the court house only to find the address lined with mobile housing.  There is a grain elevator that was probably there when great granddad had his farm.

We stopped at the Dunn Center Cemetery and after a few minutes of walking among the 462 residents, Mia discovered the Pennock plot.  It was actually more than I had expected.  Both Clarence and Kitty were interred with concrete covers.  While we didn’t find great Aunt Fern’s plot we kind of assume she was laid to rest next to Kitty with no marker.  Kind of sad but by all accounts, Fern’s life was not that good.

Born in Ontario, Canada my great grandfather moved to the United States in 1881 or 1882.  How he met my great grandmother I do not know since she was born in Waupaca County, Wisconsin in 1859.  Unless he was traveling through Wisconsin on his way to Stark County, North Dakota.  He was naturalized April 2, 1890 in North Dakota.  At this point he had three daughters, Belle, Beulah and Fern.  My grandmother, Vera was born in 1891.  I am hoping for more information from the Historical Society in Dunn Center since the community is very small and there are still residents that remember the girls.

Bureau of Land Management records show that my great granddad received patents on two quarter sections of 160 acres each in the northwest corner of Stark County, North Dakota, 11/29/1890.

PENNOCK CLARENCE J             05        140 N   095 W   008          160   251101  PA         1696    11/29/1890

PENNOCK CLARENCE J             05        140 N   095 W   008          160   251105  PA         1241    10/18/1898

In 1914, it appears that Belle, Beulah and Fern were given homestead patents on three quarter sections of land in Dunn County.

PENNOCK BELLE L                  05        144 N  095 W     012      160   251101   PA        423149   07/22/1914

PENNOCK BEULAH JOSEPHINE         05        144 N  095 W     024      160   251101   PA        435927   10/15/1914

PENNOCK FERN K                   05        144 N  095 W     022      160   251101   PA        435011   10/10/1914

My grandmother, Vera, is not listed among those getting a patent because she had already left North Dakota since records show she was married June 16, 1913 in King County, Washington.

Belle nearly lost her patent from what appears to be a failure to provide proof of cultivation and residence.  From "The Decisions of the Department of the Interior in case relating to Public Lands,

Volume 47, January 1, 1919 to January 31, 1921. 

In the case of Belle L. Pennock (42 L. D., 315), the Department
under date of August 9, 1913, instructed the Commissioner of the
General Land Office as follows:


Where final proof submitted under the act of June 6, 1912, upon a home-
stead entry made prior to that act, is rejected because f insufficient show-
ing as to cultivation, e parte affidavits as to subsequent cultivation will not be    

accepted; but in such case new final proof should be submitted.


The invitation to the claimant, above referred to, permitting him
to make a supplemental showing, clearly contemplated action on the
case, without requiring new, publication of notice and in contra
vention of instructions above cited. It is observed that many cases,
are coming before the Department wherein the defect with refer-
ence to cultivation or residence is slight, and which has been cured
since the offering of the proof under the published notice. It seems
an undue hardship and expense to delay action and require new
publication and new proot in such cases. No good reason is seen
why such requirement should be made. The Department is there-
fore disposed to accept additional or supplemental affidavits to cure
such proofs, without requiring new publication. In such cases the
purpose of publication has been substantially met by publication
as required by law, and the submission of proof thereunder in the
formal way required, and where only some additional explanation
or supplemental showing with reference to acts already performed
or as to. further residence or cultivation after submission of the
formal proof is needed, such showing may be made by supplemental
affidavit without new publication. However, this privilege will be
extended only in cases where the Government is fully satisfied of
entryman's good faith, and the right is reserved to require new
proof in any such case where there is doubt., Accordingly, the in-
structions of August 9, 1913, supra, are hereby recalled and vacated.


As the record now shows sufficient residence and cultivation to
meet the requirements of the act of June 6, 1912, and the instruc-
tions thereunder, the Commissioner's decision is vacated and the
proof will be accepted in the absence of other objections.





 



Here are pictures of what the girls sections would have looked like. We found a 

"red dirt road" like the one Brooks and Dunn sing about but it ended up going otherplaces than those 

they sang about.  And, yes, it is frigin' cold here and that is a patch of unmelted snow you see.































While taking pictures of the Dunn Center church we noticed an older gentleman 

walking out to his paper box.  Dressed like a cowboy with a western hat, jeans and a big belt buckle  and using a cane to slow move about.  We stopped him to ask him where the county court house was.  He told us they moved it to Manning several years before.  During our discussion, we told him we were looking for information about Pennock.  He said he knew two Pennock girls that lived in a small house down the block.  Said they used to run down to the railroad tracks to collect coal that the railroad engineers used to drop off as they passed by.









After a day of wandering all over the country side around Dickinson, Dunn Center

Manning we went to Theodore Roosevelt National Park and New Lepzig in Saturday.

More on that tomorrow.

Sadly, I ended up sick Saturday night and only now, Tuesday, feel better.  I 

believe it was lettuce that my wife wisely chose not to eat that made me sick.

It was not a fun time for anyone.

Hope all is well and thanks for dropping by.

Longer Day

We knew we were in for it the moment we realized it was 540 miles from Butte, Montana to Dickinson, North Dakota but we managed to make it.  Some cramped type aches and pains but all in all it was a pretty simple trip.  Of course, 80 miles per hour speed limit does tend to make the barren roads slip by.  We barely had any traffic the whole route.

We are in the Heartland and there are already areas of patchwork quilts in the fields as farmers prepare ground for the coming planting season.  Across the landscape different shades of green, golden, dark rich soil and some that are a lighter shade.  Then there are the fields that the farmers have burned off to get rid of the excess straw and stubble from the previous year crop.

There are amazing rock formations in the eastern part of Montana.  Somehow we always manage to find them.

Tomorrow we head for Dunn Center where my grandmother on my father's side had their family homestead.  I hope to locate the old Township and the original 160 sections that Charles Pennock purchased.  So I will be visiting the Stark County Courthouse as well as the Historical Society to see what I can find out.  Can't wait to get started.

Hope all is well and thanks for dropping by.

Funtimes

The first day out was uneventful.  We cruised to Lewiston, Idaho and had a wonderful dinner with our cousins so many removed I have lost count.  We caught up on families and things we are doing.  Had a decent night sleep for the first night out.  We are using Comfort Inns for our first few stops and so far we are pleased with the accommodations.  We left Lewiston this morning en route to Butte, Montana via Missoula, Montana.

For the most part, Idaho seems to have a decent highway system, until you travel 12E.  This highway rises over five thousand feet to Lolo Pass just before you enter Montana and the road bed is one of the worst we have encountered in our travels.  It winds up the mountain, and I mean winds.  In fact, Honey, sitting in the backseat managed to leave the contents of her stomach over a good portion of the backseat.  As a caveat, I will add that this road and the many potholes it has, is probably closed for the whole winter most years.  The road bed doesn't do well under extreme conditions.  The views of the river were spectacular and the snow and icicles were pretty at Lolo pass.

We ran into a couple from Wasilla, Alaska who, according to their business card, "Alaska=Spring & Summer, Montana=Fall & Winter".  They were heading the opposite direction as us but they had a house on wheels that was like nothing I had seen before.  I guess I kind of imposed on them when I walked over to ask about it.

They gladly showed it to us and I wish I had a picture of this thing in the open position.  If you go online to Alto by Safari Condo, you can see the great little trailer.  The one-piece roof panel rises up from the rear to give headroom plenty tall enough for me.  Super light, but built in Canada with a year and a half wait to get one.  It runs in the neighborhood of  35-40K US.

We drove on to Butte and have another super long drive tomorrow as we make our way to Dickinson, North Dakota.

Hope all is well.

That's it

The Gonzaga Bulldogs lost to North Carolina last night.  The Mariners lost their open day game to Houston.  The President is messing with privacy laws, EPA regulations, and just about anything else that has previous President's names attached to it.  Local government plans to tax the hell out of us all in the name of helping the homeless.

Me, I've had enough.  I am taking a trip.  Two years ago I was in Winslow, Arizona.  Today I start a trip the will take us to the midwest, down south to the gulf and back through some pretty hot country. Turn up the radio, put on Willy Nelson and "I can't wait to get on the road again".

Last Minute

Last minute preparations are underway as we ready ourselves to hit the road this coming Tuesday.  So looking forward to making the trip to the midwest and then down south to New Orleans and back home via Texas and Arizona.
I will get the car serviced tomorrow, finish all the laundry and get to packing up as much of our closets as we can.  Not really, we'll usually travel pretty lite when we are on the road.  We, I, will be blogging and sending links to Facebook as we make our way back to the place where some of our relatives came from.  We'll visit cousins and friends along the way.  So ready to leave.

Two years ago today, Camp Verde, AZ