VISITORS AND QUERIES
BY KAREN HANSEN
Kathy Strittmatter Kay and Richard Kay of Urbandale, Iowa donated many record books from Lincoln Township School #6, Morton School, P.E.T. Club booklets and an 1885 Pottawattamie County Atlas. We are very appreciative of their generous donation.
Thanks to Bob Mesenbrink of Arvada, Colorado for the donation of the book, Martha Keldgord’s Journal, 1911-1930. Her parents were Danish immigrants, Jacob Keldgord (originally Kjeldgaard) and Martine Nelson (originally Nielsen). She lived about 8 miles north of Walnut and Walnut is listed many times in the place index. There is also a name index, which will be very helpful for research.
Our thanks also go out to Gladys Petersen of Walnut for her donations of family photo albums, cemetery indexes and scrapbooks. Janet Nystrom of Sioux Falls, South Dakota donated a photo album that belonged to Margaret STEFFEN, who lived north of Walnut.
We received a query from John HARTWIG of Ankeny seeking information about Robert and Mariah STANFORD FISHER. She was born June 9, 1839 in Henry County, Indiana and married Robert Fisher on February 24, 1861. The 1880 Census shows that they were living in Walnut. The children listed with them were Magga, Ellin, John, Emma and Charles. John had found that information and knew that Mariah died on September 17, 1881. We were able to find a short obituary for her. “Mrs. Fisher, who had been ill but a week or ten days, died Saturday and was buried Sunday.” (The Walnut Bureau, Sept. 23, 1881) There are no Fishers listed in our cemetery index and we could not find that Robert Fisher owned a cemetery plot here.
Gene, Jeanette, John and Kyle Clayton from Walnut visited our genealogy room wanting information on Eli CLAYTON. They received copies of township maps and of the information that we had previously found for a query from Beth Zaring.
KH