262 Sentimental journey

A Sentimental Journey

I recently pulled out an old T-shirt to wear around the house and it took me on a sentimental journey.

More than 20 years ago, I took a trip with my Dad to investigate his (and my) family history. We flew to Wichita, Kansas, and then rented a car to take us to Sedan (see pronunciation below), which is located in south-central Kansas.

Our ultimate destination was Peru, Kansas (also has pronunciation below). 

The folks at the Chautauqua County Historical Society informed us that there were no motels or other lodgings available in Peru and that the motels in Sedan were not recommended either.  They referred us to a local family who had an apartment attached to their house that they rented by the week. I knew then that this was going to be an experience!

It turned out that the apartment was nice and the people in Sedan were even nicer! Sedan is the county seat but its population as of the last census was at 1,124.  The town's claim to fame is the Emmett Kelly Museum, located in the historic Sedan Opera House. Kelly grew up in Sedan. 

Sedan also has yellow brick road sidewalks. Dorothy, of course, was from Kansas, and Sedan isn't the only Kansas town to have a yellow brick road. The bricks are not a vibrant yellow anymore, but you can still buy a brick to have it placed on the 11,786 brick "road." The surrounding natural areas also draw tourists to Sedan that has some wonderful old storefronts with cute shops within.

So much for my chamber-of-commerce description of Sedan. We enjoyed it but ran out of restaurants and shops to try long before our week was over.

Peru in 1905 during the boom days

Peru is smaller (139 people in the 2010 census) although it was once a booming oil town. When we visited, it had not achieved its claim to fame: Madelyn Dunham, 1922-2008, the maternal grandmother of Barack Obama was born in Peru. She died shortly before he was elected.

My father being held his great-

grandfather, Samuel Druley.

The main thing we saw in Peru was the Peru Cemetery, where my father's mother, Esther Blanche Moore--the picture at the top--is buried. She died in 1928 when Dad was six years old. Also in the cemetery are his maternal grandparents and his paternal great-grandparents. Samuel Druley, his great-grandfather,  fought for Indiana in the Civil War. We had no one to ask to locate the graves but wanders around and eventually discovered the family area.

We visited the Peru church that my dad's grandparents had attended, and then we drove around town to see if we could locate his grandparents' house, but nothing seemed familiar to him. Funny thing, ten years later he and I drove around the Charlestown neighborhood where we had lived in the 1960s and could not locate the house!

Here is a picture of my dad, Fred
Moore, and me from a much earlier time!

We did find much good information back in Sedan in the county courthouse records and at the historical society offices--they had microfilm but no microfilm printers (that was tedious). It was a step back in time in more ways than one and I am so glad my Dad and I could share it!   Trish