I can’t imagine it’s because people have a little extra time on their hands around the holidays (although 2020 might be an exception in that regard too), but most of my bolts from the blue pertaining to Lovewell history tend to arrive around Christmas. Perhaps it’s just a season that makes us think of our relatives, and wonder if it might be time to shake a few branches of the family tree.
A few weeks before the start of the holiday season I can also count on getting my renewal notice for the website, so there’s always a decision to be made. Have I written almost everything I have to say about the Lovewell family and the little town in north-central Kansas some of them called “home"? Is there anything new to be discovered that’s even tangentially related to the subject? Then a piece of email arrives that made the decision for me. I re-upped for another year.
A family researcher named Mary Kirkey (whose maiden name was Lovewell) wrote to ask whether I knew of a connection between the Lovewells of Michigan and the Lovewells who migrated from New Hampshire to settle in the West. Such a simple question, yet one that made my pulse race. Was her father by any chance related to the Rev. Mr. Lyman Lovewell of New Hudson, Michigan? Yes, he was a direct descendant. After I steered Mary to a page about him on this, site she got back to me with amusing and hopeful news.
Mary reports that her brother’s name is Lucien, she has a cousin named Laura, and that there was also a Lloyd Lovewell living in Michigan. While I was pleased to learn that the art of alliteration continues to thrive among Lyman’s descendants, Mary's most intriguing revelation involves the Witch’s Hat, a converted railway depot which houses the South Lyon Area Historical Society.
According to Mary, “They have quite a lot of Lovewell memorabilia - photos, newspaper articles, belongings.” In other words, it’s a place I’ll have to get around to visiting when that sort of activity is more convenient.
If not for a global pandemic, 2020 might have been a fruitful year for research. Phil Thornton had offered to ferry Rhoda Lovewell and me to the site of the old Lovewell claims in Wyoming last spring. Not only was the trip sidelined, but Phil reported in October that “the gold mining area of Wyoming was taken by the forest fire and it is gone. But I still plan to go up there when the virus has run its course.”
My only journey last summer was to meet up with Rhoda at a Cracker Barrel parking lot in Clay County, Missouri, where she transferred cartons of precious notes and assorted research materials to my care. Obviously, I’ve also revitalized my old semi-defunct iMac well enough to transfer my programs and web files to a zippy new Mac Mini, so I’m back in the blogging business.
Now we’ll see if there’s anything new to say.