Visiting the Mahowalds

After seeing St. John's and St. Ben's, we headed to St. Cloud to see the Mahowalds. While dad has seen them over the years, this was my first time meeting them. It was a perfect way to end our trip (we headed to Chicago the next morning).

Dad with John and Marty:

Marty and me sipping out of weird port glasses after Maryann and Betsy's delicious dinner:

St. John's & St. Ben's

On our way from Watertown to St. Cloud, we stopped in Collegeville, MN, to check out where my grandma and grandpa went to college and fell in love!

We saw the main hall at St. John's, as well as their chapel and beautiful lake where grandma and grandpa would go on walks (as grandma pointed out it was cheap!).

Then we headed to St. Ben's, specifically to look at the grotto where my grandpa proposed to my grandma.

 

Here's me in shock over a fake proposal...

We also got to see the inside of their beautiful church:

Watertown

We arrived in Watertown last night (Thursday) and woke up early today to do some exploring. We started at the cemetery, where I got to see my great grandparents, great aunt and uncle, and great great grandparents.

Me next to Andrew, Alice, and Brian Lynch's graves:

Dad next to Brian Lynch's grave:

Dad next to Andrew, Alice, and Brian's graves:

 Next to the Mahowalds' graves:

The Alworths: 

Then we went to the other cemetery where the Haights (Matura's parents, my great great great grandparents) are buried. They were some combination of Quakers and Mennonites, which explains why they were buried elsewhere.

We also got to look around at the Courthouse where Grandpa Andrew was sheriff: 

Then we tried to find the place where Matura and her sister had a hatmaking business. We narrowed it down to these two buildings:

After that, we visited the house on Kemp that the family lived in before (Great) Grandpa Andrew was sheriff:

Then it was on to Lake Kampeska and the Mahowald's place out there:

Our last stop in Watertown was the old farm. We were able to find the location by looking at maps in the county museum, which is located in the old Carnegie library next to the courthouse.

Driving through Eastern Montana and South Dakota - Day 3

Not much to say, other than that we say Little Big Horn one hour into our long drive and after than, there wasn't much to see.

Broadus, MT, was a highlight, and the people there are using the back of a pizza parlor as a theatre and the stage of said theatre as a gym. We were asked if we'd like to enjoy our meal while watching the "show," which was an older lady using the weights and elliptical machine.

A Prelude to the Trip: Visiting with Aunt Jane

Before we left, we talked to Aunt Jane to get the 4-1-1 on Watertown, 

particularly the houses they lived in and the locations of family businesses, etc. 

She had great stories to tell and we're excited to see everything she described.

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