When Mom, Dad and I went to Pocahontas in May we met a very nice distant cousin named Barry File who told us that a gentleman named Gerald Jenner had written a book about the history of Bond County, specifically Henry Oliver File, b. July 4, 1776, who helped settle Bond County and eventually had ten children. Henry Oliver File now has over 5000 descendants, including all of us.
Well yesterday we went back to Pokey to meet Mr Jenner (whose wife is a File), explore the File Cemetery some more, and have dinner with more File cousins and the restaurant where they meet every single Sunday night at 6pm. It was a hoot. To paraphrase Scott, "you can't swing a dead cat in Bond County without hitting a File."
Mr and Mr Jenner were so sweet. Yesterday was their 57th wedding anniversary (he said "Well, it would have been our 62nd if she'd said 'yes' the first time I asked her.") and he also told us about his experiences in Europe during WW2. (He is on the waiting list for an Honor Flight.)
We were also able to take rubbings of the tombstones of Norm's great-grandparents (Jacob and Elizabeth File, whose daughter Almira married Nils Peter) and his great-great-grandparents Henry Oliver File and his wife Mary (parents of Jacob). The stones are so worn but if you take paper and rub a crayon over it, the letters become visible.
Anyway, wish I had taken more pictures but here are Norm and me at Jacob and Elizabeth's stones and then a photo of Mr and Mrs Jenner at the entrance to File Cemetery.
You know....when I think about Grandma Hentz or Grandpa and Grandpa Nilsson, I really don't have any interest in their tombstones. I prefer to think of them as they were --- alive. But finding the headstones of these ancestors helps me realize that they really existed. They're not just faded names in an old family bible...They really lived in Pocahontas. They cleared the fields, farmed the land, buried their kids there.....maybe rested under some of those trees for shade.
Tom: there's a book in Henry Oliver File's story. I just know it. Starting with his birthdate.....and if you spend some time around those gorgeous rolling green hills of Pocahontas, it will come to you!
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