722 miles

This has truly been the summer of family history travel. Last Friday I drove to far eastern Iowa and visited the small town of Preston, where I connected with a second cousin (twice removed) and explored the photos and history of the Gruver family. Upon returning home Friday afternoon I had completed 722 miles of driving for family history this summer - and summer isn't over yet!

It may seem like a lot, but to me the payoff is well worth the gas and wear and tear (I did have two flat tires this month, but ironically neither were directly connected to family history excursions). I always enjoy meeting new relations and forming new friendships. There are people around the state and the nation who once were only connected by a remote strand of DNA who now are regular email correspondents and even Facebook friends!

Friday's visit was valuable for many reasons, Curt, the distant cousin with whom I chatted, was quite interested in the history and eager to share. I was only to glad to reciprocate, and by the end of our three-hour chat I copied 167 files to his computer and left with about 100 new photos of the Gruver clan. Most were of the "younger" Gruvers - the first cousins of my great-grandmother and their descendants. Some, however, provided photos of family members who until now had been only a name on paper. It is always so valuable to finally see a face. It brings the history to life.

While looking through Curt's albums I noticed several photos I have at home. Neither of us know who are in them, but it's evident they belong to the Gruver family, so the quest continues.

Another positive outcome was the identification of several people previously labeled "unknown" in my collection. One photo, which includes three generations of the Gruver family, was positively identified as containing Curt's grandmother, standing directly next to my great-great-grandmother. Before my visit to Preston I had no photos of his grandmother, so there would have been no way to know who she was.

Inspired by these identifications, I sat down last night with an old photo album that came from the Gruver cousin in Washington State. I had scanned those images a year ago when I first received them, but many photos remained in the large "unidentified" category. After careful inspection and armed with new faces and names from recent visits with relatives, it wasn't hard for me to put names to the faces in at least half a dozen photos and narrow down the faces in dozens more.

I feel like I'm getting closer to understanding who these people are - the puzzle is slowly getting solved. Next: to schedule a trip to Elkader to visit anther Gruver cousin and hopefully answer more questions.

I have four new tires and summer is waning. Time to get moving!