Dateline Albion, July 14, 2008

I had a great day in Albion a week ago, on Monday July 14th, at the home of Lois Goodson. I've mentioned before that Lois is related to our family. Her grandmother was our grandmother Della's aunt Myrtle. Lois is also the most knowledgeable historian of Albion, Illinois and an expert geneologist. She has three rooms of references and files full of information about geneology and Albion history.

I planned to spend some time talking with Lois and doing quite a bit of research in the archives at the Edwards County Historical Society. Lois was kind enough to invite a couple of our relatives from the Albion area and I planned to take the group to lunch.

By the time I arrived, I found that the group of relatives had grown to over a dozen people, including several cousins of my dad and several of the Albion baby boomer group. They all kept talking about Uncle George and Aunt Della! There were folks from both the Dixon and Fisher sides of the family. Most of them had met before, and they all got along swell and we had a 4 hour reunion with lunch at the Senior Citizen center across the street. They wouldn't even let me buy lunch.

Lois had also prepared copies of several newspaper articles and allowed me to copy from her massive family geneology notebook, which covers our entire family within the scope of her family. She has amazing detail regarding each ancestor, including township and county of birth and death, burial location, and cause of death.

I could not have had a better day, or a more productive one. I don't recall meeting any of the folks I met there previously, although I had heard some of their names and realize that some of them visited Anderson when I was a child. If I ever visited Albion, it was so early in life that I have no memories.

I was a little overwhelmed and forgot to do a few things, but for the 10 hours I spent in Albion, I sure learned a lot about our family. More than I could have learned in the historical society in a week of research. I forgot to locate the Dixon home (assuming it still exists) out in Dixon Precinct. I also forgot to have everyone present sign in so I could name everyone who was there and match pictures with names. I also missed snapping pictures of some of the relatives who attended. I can gradually fill in that information, with the help of Lois and others who left me their addresses and phone numbers.

And, of course, I failed to get a picture of Lois Goodson! Maybe she'll send me one.

I have a lot to share, and will try to post most of it in the next few weeks. I want to run some pictures by Lois Goodson and Uncle Don to make sure I am accurate.

Next time, we'll need to take a group over to Albion and have an old-fashioned family reunion. The Dixon and Fisher relatives in Albion would love it as much as we would.

Oh... and all of the Dixon and Fisher folks were very nice.... just like I've claimed before. And our deceased ancestors, other than you know who, were also as nice as they could be, according to those present!