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View Full Version : Visit to the old family Homestead.



hunter63
10-25-2010, 06:18 PM
Not real pic heavy, was raining, so camera use was limited.

My Aunt passed away around Labor Day, was 98 years old.
She left the remains of the old family homestead, to a cousin.
Only about 65 acres left, parts had been sold off over the years and now being developed, sadly.

Looked at the spot that had been the house, over looking a "lake" (more of a bog) that was the main reason my GF/GM bought this spot, so as to water the stock.
They bought it after immigrating from the old country, from the lumber company that had clear cut it. Joke was that there wasn't any birds except prairie chickens, because the was no trees.
This was the big American dream......a hard life.

Parts of it are for sale, but the house site is where the realtor has his house now.

One pic was taken riding down a trail that had been the "ice tote road", now like a 4 wheeler trail.

Another was taken showing your tax dollars in action a sign in a swamp that said "Wet land", like no joke? as we were standing in 6" of water.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y139/hunter63/DSCF0450.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y139/hunter63/DSCF0449.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y139/hunter63/DSCF0448.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y139/hunter63/DSCF0447.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y139/hunter63/DSCF0446.jpg

Kinda made me take stock of how well I/we have it, now
Thanks Grandpa and Grandma

Rick
10-25-2010, 07:14 PM
Thanks for sharing. I'm the same way. The houses are gone now but I know where the old homesteads stood. Every time I'm home I drive by them and I drive by the old family cemetery. I give them all a silent thanks. But for them, I wouldn't be here. It's kind of cool to know that a percentage of my DNA comes from each and every one of them. Sort of like a piece of them living on.

crashdive123
10-25-2010, 07:49 PM
Great pics. Sounds like there are some fond memories there.

hunter63
10-25-2010, 08:21 PM
Oops, I didn't paste the "wetland pic", so here ya go:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y139/hunter63/DSCF0451.jpg

As my father was the youngest of nine children, married later in life, WWII sorta delayed it, I have no remembrances of GF/GM as they had passed years before I was born.

As most of the siblings ventured out into the world, and as the old guard passed on, my aunt being the last, there wasn't anyone around much to visit when I was a child.

Being there on a rainy day was kinda traditional, as my father worked for the DNR as a forest ranger, and the only days off he had in the spring, summer and fall, were rainy days. This was also noticed by MB, as he experienced the same.

I am waiting for a pic of the shotgun shack, house/homestead, that burned.
I do remember seeing it one rainy day when I was about 8-9 years old. Cousin is going thru MA belongings, and remembers a couple of pic's.

Also found was a birth certificate for an aunt that had passed 20 some years ago, with the original spelling of our last name. Seems the one we use is an "Americanized" version.

rebel
10-25-2010, 08:39 PM
I also stopped by my families home place on the way to the jamboree. I went to the cemetery and saw my great-great grandfathers marker. It told about his civil war unit. One of my two uncles passed away the next day. I used to hunt with him when we lived closer.

Camp10
10-25-2010, 08:56 PM
I enjoyed the pics!

I've run into those same wetlands markers in northwestern Maine before. The property that I saw them on had just been surveyed to mark boundries between paper company lands and power company lands. I laughed when I found it...I had just crossed a beaver dam on the low side of a swamp and was standing in ankle deep water.