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In Search of Leo
1 August 2005 16:39My Faternal Grandfather came from a large family. A photo of the family always hung in an old frame in his bedroom. Through my aunts account, Grandfather had a brother, Leo, who died in childhood from burns sustained in a brush fire. However, there was no "concrete" evidence that a Leo ever existed. No photos, no record, zero.
Once my Aunt passed on, tales of Leo were all hearsay. Although there was some evidence of a "body" existing in the early cencus records, nothing was "solid" evidence. Then the pieces started to unravel....
An article in a newspaper surfaced in a pile of papers and sent to my father. It told of a Leo Mergen being killed in a fire. Per the article, the father of the boy was burning brush, and thought the fire was out. The children were playng in the yard, and the 3 year old Leo played with the hot coals, caught his clothes on fire, and died. Burial was at the cemetary. A light started. With more research, and determination, letters were written to find a death certificate, birth certificate, any record. All failed.
Today, my father and I went out to seach for Leo. Went to the cemetary in a town that is in the middle of an iowa cornfield. There is one church, and 2 houses, and a feed mill. Walked along the cemetary, and looked at the gravestones. Some were burried in the grass, others were worn by the weather. Did make out one Mergen tombstone, but not Leo's. A lady showed up to put flowers on the grave, and mentioned us to talk to the man who was mowing grass in the filed next by. He directed us to the church rectory. There, I met up with a miss P, whose father's father, incidently was a pallbearer of Leo Mergen's (the pall bearers were mentioned in the article). Although no map plotting where everyone was burried existed, she did have a record of the baptisms... and low and behold... LEO Mergen was in the record. She suggested a historical society in a town near by... After copying some info from the tombstones... off we went...
The historical society was small, but a frienly lady there was quite helpfull. She bourght down a box of newspapers from 1906, and father and I were able to see the original article on Leo's Death. There also was a thank you from my great grandfather thanking people for thier condolances.
Although no gravestone was found, the day was filed with a wonderful visit with my father and i... in search of leo....we found his babtism date, and from the newspaper his birth and death dates... he did exist, and by some hard serching... was found....
Once my Aunt passed on, tales of Leo were all hearsay. Although there was some evidence of a "body" existing in the early cencus records, nothing was "solid" evidence. Then the pieces started to unravel....
An article in a newspaper surfaced in a pile of papers and sent to my father. It told of a Leo Mergen being killed in a fire. Per the article, the father of the boy was burning brush, and thought the fire was out. The children were playng in the yard, and the 3 year old Leo played with the hot coals, caught his clothes on fire, and died. Burial was at the cemetary. A light started. With more research, and determination, letters were written to find a death certificate, birth certificate, any record. All failed.
Today, my father and I went out to seach for Leo. Went to the cemetary in a town that is in the middle of an iowa cornfield. There is one church, and 2 houses, and a feed mill. Walked along the cemetary, and looked at the gravestones. Some were burried in the grass, others were worn by the weather. Did make out one Mergen tombstone, but not Leo's. A lady showed up to put flowers on the grave, and mentioned us to talk to the man who was mowing grass in the filed next by. He directed us to the church rectory. There, I met up with a miss P, whose father's father, incidently was a pallbearer of Leo Mergen's (the pall bearers were mentioned in the article). Although no map plotting where everyone was burried existed, she did have a record of the baptisms... and low and behold... LEO Mergen was in the record. She suggested a historical society in a town near by... After copying some info from the tombstones... off we went...
The historical society was small, but a frienly lady there was quite helpfull. She bourght down a box of newspapers from 1906, and father and I were able to see the original article on Leo's Death. There also was a thank you from my great grandfather thanking people for thier condolances.
Although no gravestone was found, the day was filed with a wonderful visit with my father and i... in search of leo....we found his babtism date, and from the newspaper his birth and death dates... he did exist, and by some hard serching... was found....
