A New Minister at Kingston Methodist Church, 1906

Kingston_1906_MethodistChurch_front — A postcard of the Kingston Methodist Church, mailed in 1906.

I recently came across this postcard on eBay from 1906, showing the Kingston Methodist Church. It is a wonderful piece of local history! The Real Photo Postcard (RPPC) shows the parsonage on the right, and the church on the left. The Methodist Church is in its present-day location on First Street in Kingston. The building was originally built in 1861 near Pleasant Hill Farm, along Baseline Road on the southern edge of Kingston Township. It was moved to this location in 1875. The parsonage was built in 1878. Notice the dirt road, hitching posts, and narrow sidewalk! Today, the church has a basement and a new entrance, and the trees and hitching post has been replaced by paved street parking! The parsonage has also lost part of its covered porch, but otherwise looks very similar!

Continue reading “A New Minister at Kingston Methodist Church, 1906” →

In the Navy: a WWII story

I recently had the opportunity to record the story of my grandmother in WWII for a storytelling class. It tells the story of how my Nana, Mildred Kaiser, joined the WAVES and served in the Navy during WWII. It follows the timeline of that part of her life. Click here or click the video below to view the digital story!

Thank you to Prof. Kate McDowell and my UIUC Storytelling classmates who inspired me to share this story in a new way! I had previously written about her time in the WAVES in a three-part series.

Sources:

Personal interviews with Mildred (Kaiser) Drake by EvaAnne Weil and Emily (Drake) Weil, 1998-2015.
Photos from private collection, Mildred (Kaiser) Drake’s WAVES photo album, 1944-1946.
Wurlitzer photos from NIU Digital Archives:
- Wurlitzer Building, http://digital.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/rhcrc%3A1312
- Women working at Wurlitzer, http://libguides.niu.edu/c.php?g=113086&p=735627
Newspaper clipping from Sycamore Tribune, 27 April 1945, digitized at http://idnc.library.illinois.edu/.
Music from Glenn Miller, In the Mood, from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/USAD201609InTheMood.

The History of Pleasant Hill School

1871_Mayfield_IraDouglas — The small schoolhouse shown on the Ira Douglas / Pleasant Hill property in 1871. *(Image Source: 1871 Plat Map, DeKalb Co., IL, HistoricMapWorks.com)*

On Pleasant Hill Road, in Mayfield Township, DeKalb County, Illinois, there once was a small white schoolhouse, with a small farm cemetery next to it. It was diagonally across the road from Pleasant Hill Farm, first owned by Ira Douglass, and later owned by Gustaf Medine, and then by Charles W. Drake.

The little “crude log” one-room schoolhouse was built on land owned by Ira Douglass in the early 1840’s. Its first teachers in the 1840’s were Lucy Stuart, Fanny Clark and Harriet Russell. The earliest religious services in Mayfield were also conducted in the schoolhouse. Coincidentally, Ira Douglass was also a leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church of Mayfield. It is unknown what happened to the original schoolhouse, and how long classes were conducted there. Services for the Mayfield church were held there through at least the 1860’s, and the old schoolhouse appears on an 1871 map. In 1870, the county superintendent of the schools deemed the schoolhouse to be “too small, and is so near the road that a person sitting in his carriage can almost take hold of the door handle. There is no black-board worthy of the name.” Twenty-five students attended Pleasant Hill School that year. Continue reading “The History of Pleasant Hill School” →

In memoriam: Ronald L. Kaiser

Ronald L. Kaiser, 87

Kaiser_GlendoraRonnieMillieMary — The four Kaiser siblings, about 1945. Glendora, Ron, Mildred and Mary Kaiser. *(Image Source: Kaiser family photos, privately owned.)*

Ronald “Ron” LeRoy Kaiser was born 18 May 1930 in DeKalb, IL, and passed away 30 December 2017 in Normal, IL. He was the son of Glenn and Mildred (Lawrence) Kaiser, the younger brother of Mildred, Mary, and Glendora, and the loving husband of Arlene. Continue reading “In memoriam: Ronald L. Kaiser” →

In memoriam: Ted C. Jordan

1989_Jordan_Ted_Trudy_Xmas copy 2 My great-uncle, Ted Jordan, passed away unexpectedly last week. I last saw Ted when I was five years old, when he came to Christmas in Illinois. I don’t remember much about our encounters that year, but I remember him as jolly and friendly, and had a genuine smile. Although I didn’t know him well, I’ve gotten to know him through talking to those who worked with him, cared about him, and were his family. Below is my memorial to him.

Ted C. Jordan
Ted Clarence Jordan was born July 28, 1939 in Chicago, IL, and died February 15, 2018 in Portland, OR at the age of 78 after being struck by a vehicle while crossing the street. He was the son of Erwin and Dorothy (née Mueller) Wischmeyer.