Now that the holidays are over and the cold winter weather continues to bear down on us, it is time to sit back and relax and pursue indoor leisure activities. I have been looking over old photographs and uncovering my roots.

My parents lived in an old stone house on Woods Road, south of Belvidere when I was born. There was no electricity, no indoor plumbing, no telephone----I can't believe I survived!

I have gone through a lot of photos, but I couldn't find a good photo of that old house. There are lots of pictures of me and others on the front stoop, but none of the house. Here's a couple: the one on the left I believe is my cousin Margie Vowles Martin with the dog; the one on the right is me standing on the front stoop with the dog.

This is an aerial view of the Frank Meyers farm on Genoa Road. We moved here in the spring of 1947. This farmstead no longer exists. The house burned, and I think the other buildings were torn down.


I started first grade at Reeds Crossing School, a one-room country school where there were grades 1-4. It was several miles from home, and I rode a school bus.

Our teacher Mrs. Telford and students posed next to the school for this photo in 1951.

The school building was sold after the rural schools were closed in 1956. That school became a home which later burned. Here is a photo of the home which is currently on that site.

For 5th and 6th grade I went to Davis School, less than a mile from our house; but I still rode a school bus. Miss Hayes taught grades 5 - 8. This picture was taken by the RRStar in the spring of 1956 for a story on rural school closings and consolidation.

Davis School was also sold and became a home. Later, as a teenager, I babysat for the young family that lived there. I was amazed at all the changes on the inside--from one-room school to a home.

On the front porch of Davis School an earlier group of students poses in approximately 1951. Miss Hayes was still the teacher, though.