8/9/08 Nancy Drew, the Crissman Historic Trail, and a reunion with dead relatives

We had a regular Nancy Drew mystery solving adventure today. We tried to find the home my dad was born in and spent his very early years. We had no address but did have some directions from my dad. We had no street names, my dad’s recollections were based on 20-some years ago (things can change in that time!), and to top it off, there was major road construction blocking the only roads he remembered. Too make a long story short, with some prayer, a good bit of driving and turning around, lots of map studying, and some creative thinking, we found it!!

After that adventure we went to St. Mark’s Lutheran Church which was founded by my ancestors in 1834. The attached cemetery was full of Crissmans. It was wild to see so many dead relatives in one place! We saw the graves of my grandma and grandpa and 2 aunts who died before I was born. We even saw Crissman Rd. Imagine that – a street named after my family. To think…we are famous (ha! ha!) We enjoyed all the various stops we made along the “Crissman Historic Trail” (even if some of them were challenging to find).