Going Home

As I was growing up I heard stories about Indianapolis, home to the Kingery and Vinson side of my family. I'd never been there but had always thought about visiting. Since I was going to attend my niece Lauren's wedding in Washington at the end of August and also wanted to visit my Aunt Babs in Minnesota, I combined those trips along with a trip to Indianapolis.

While in Indianapolis I wanted to do some genealogical research at various libraries and records offices. I also wanted to visit some of the areas I'd heard about as a child. I spent time in Valley Mills (luckily still a quaint little enclave that's just off Kentucky Ave), tried to find my great grandmother and grandfather Kingery's house on S. Sheffield (wasn't successful), visited the unmarked graves of my Kingery and Vinson ancestors (Floral Park, New Crown, and West Newton cemeteries), and even went to Sunday service at the Valley Mills Friends (Quaker) Church where it seems my great great grandparents worshipped:

I did some research at the Indiana Historical Society (http://www.indianahistory.org/), the Indiana State Library in their separate Genealogy library (http://www.in.gov/library/genealogy.htm), and at the Indiana State Archives (http://www.in.gov/icpr/2358.htm). While I found a few things, I basically just tried to find my way around how Indiana handles its records, discovering that most of what I was trying to find was likely in various Marion County records facilities. Of course by that time my stay in Indiana was coming to a close. Armed with this new understanding, I'll contact the appropriate agencies to continue the search, and hopefully make it back to the area next year to do more on-site research...and to visit the Howell family graves where I was oh-so-close but didn't know they were buried there (another downside of lacking full preparation).

One of the highlights of this trip was meeting my 83-year old aunt Anna...yes, I did say "meet." Anna is my grandfather Albert's daughter from his first marriage. While I had always known about Anna (and her brother "Sonny"), I didn't realize that my Aunt Babs had been in touch with Anna since 1973, the year of my grandfather's death. I had the happy occasion to speak with Anna during my visit to Babs earlier this year, and so arranged to visit Anna during my Indiana trip. My newly-found Aunt Anna was very sweet and welcoming, fixed lunch for the both of us, and we just talked and talked for hours. I was so glad to have made this connection after so many years. Here's my lovely Aunt Anna just before I had to leave for the day:

So, although I'd never been to Indiana, this really did feel like a bit of a homecoming. The stories I was told of this place and our family came alive for me. I felt at home. I plan to visit again next year...perhaps I can get cousin Genna from Texas to join me. Now that would be fun!