LINCOLN LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

The library would be a treasure trove of Civil War genealogy if you had a soldier from Illinois. We talked to the historian, but he couldn't find my great-grandfather, probably because he was regular army.

Across the street is the museum.

Inside, you're able to follow Lincoln's life from the log cabin-

to the White House, The family is there to greet you.

There are many interesting things for children including the attic, where they can dress up like Civil War soldiers or the Lincoln family, play with their toys, etc.

You're unable to take pictures in the rest of the museum. This is the newest museum and is done extremely well. It's hard to describe how they use real people in the middle of their "films" with ghosts involved etc. It's amazing and very impressive!

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S TOMB

We've moved on to Springfield, Illinois for another stop in our desire to see all the President's homes, libraries, museums, etc. Several years ago, we visited the area where Lincoln lived as a boy in a log cabin, toured his home in Springfield, his law office downtown, and his tomb. Yesterday, we went to the cemetery and visited the tomb again.

Out in front is a bust of Lincoln and people rub his nose for good luck.

Gee, he rubbed it pretty hard!

Inside it's done very well, with a lot of marble and statues, including a small version of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.

Lincoln is buried in cement 30 inches back and ten feet deep behind the stone. His wife and 3 of his 4 sons are in the wall behind where I'm standing. His other son is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington.

CAMP WASHINGTON CHILI

In order to get the flavor of Cincinnati, you have to eat chili. We looked in the Roadfood book for a suggestion, and followed their advice and ate at Camp Washington Chili. It seemed to be a local favorite also.

The walls were full of newspaper and magazine articles about them, along with the many awards they've won since 1940.

The kitchen is visible so you can watch them dish it up if you want.

We ordered chili 4 ways-that's spaghetti with chili on top, with onions and cheese. 5 way includes beans. I was amazed that many people also had hot dogs with the same toppings-along with the chili.

It was good and it had a little kick. Another fun experience!

OLD ST. MARY'S CHURCH

We were lucky to get in Old St. Mary's where my family went to church. It was built in 1842, is the oldest church still standing, and was built with the help of the parishioners. Some of them baked the bricks in their kitchen ovens. On Sundays, they not only have English masses, but also Latin and German. The neighborhood has deteriorated but is being rehabbed. There were some bad riots in 2001, where one young black man was killed, after being chased by the police. The church had been restored in 1996, and the priest stood on the front steps and prayed the rosary, to protect it from the throngs. They did 13.7 million dollars worth of damage, but they left the church alone.

Even the back is beautiful.

One of the many stained glass windows.

When I saw the baptismal font, and realized my great-grandfather was probably baptized in it, I had that same feeling as I did in the family churches in Europe. I'm sure glad we were able to get inside!

SPRING GROVE CEMETERY & ARBORATUM

We spent quite a bit of time at the Spring Grove Cemetery which is one of the five top cemeteries in the nation. It's mammoth and has over 300.,000 people buried there including several Civil War Generals, the author of "The Joy of Cooking", Kroger , of the grocery chain, and many other rich and famous people. The staff in the office were extremely helpful and proud of where they work. A lady named Grace Spencer found records for us and told us about all the beautiful things to see. We did find my great grandfathers sister, husband and family. They were on the side of a hill and their monument was hard to read,but the individual stones were easier.

Here's a quaint bridge over one of the streets.

Procter and Gamble are both buried there-here's Procter's monument.

Here's an interesting vault.

This is one of fourteen lakes.

It's a peaceful, pretty place.

CINCINNATI

We just spent two days in Cincinnati, doing research on my great-great grandfather's family. We started at the public library.


We drove around and found where they lived downtown-now it's a parking lot. We also found the houses on the hill for my great grandfather's sister and her son. We even got in the middle of the traffic for a Cincinnati Reds game.

We saw a paddleboat on the Ohio River.

The rest of our time was spent at three cemeteries. We weren't able to find graves for the old folks. My great-great grandfather died in the cholera epidemic of 1849, in July, which was the worst month for mortalities. There were 18 buried in his church cemetery the day he died. It was a downtown cemetery and eventually was moved and records were lost in the shuffle. The courthouse had a fire so those records were lost. I did find some gruesome newspaper articles about the epidemic-enough to cause me to pray that the swine flu doesn't get that bad!

FITZGERALD'S CORN

Today we moved on to Rising Sun, Indiana, about as close as we can get to Cincinnati. After dinner, I looked at Fitzgerald's blog, and there it was-another picture of their corn that they planted this year. Now, we've watched the progress without saying anything. But-how long can we remain silent? We couldn't find a fancy ruler like they use, but we're PROUD to show you that our corn is over ten feet tall-and WE HAVE EARS!!!!




I'll bet even Kathy and Jerry, our farmer relatives are impressed!!!