Day 101 - 4/27/14 McHenry, IL to South Bend, IN & Story

Carol and I went out for brunch this am.  It was a cold morning at 39 degrees with a steady 12 to 15 mph wind.  Darn it was cold for my southwestern acculamated body of thin blood when I stepped outside the camper to make my way into the house.  I contemplated how long it may take for my body to adjust while I rubbed my hands together inside the house.

We went to a diner downtown McHenry that was a short walk but neither Carol or I had any interest on being cold the whole way, so Carol drove.

It was 10:20 and all the tables were taken so we sat on the stools at the counter.  It was so interesting that other than me having orange juice and her water we ordered the same omelet on the menu with the same sides.  How interesting considering all the choices.

After brunch we went back to the house and we talked a bit and she showed me family pictures th frames and I could tell from her conversation a sense of sadness that she doesn't get to keep up with all the people in her life.

I brought up the use of social media again from last night, but with a twist considering she is very conservative.

My suggestion was when she goes to the library as she regularly does to set up a Facebook account and to get help from someone to do it and first request me as a friend so she can start following me.  If she likes it she can add people and if she likes it enough she can get DSL and get an IPad and Facebook, Skype, mail, etc from home.

She is more than capable of doing it and has friends that can help but it is a bit outside her current comfort level.

Well, it was time for me to leave as I wanted to put a few miles behind me today and not have to contend with Chicago Monday morning traffic.  My goal was easy in stopping at South Bend for the night.

For dinner I ate a salad at Applebee's in South Bend and I did some fruit shopping at Walmart, that will be my parking spot for tonight too.

It is very windy in front of the storms headed this way.

I am now in the eastern Timezone.  I found out today that Indiana is all eastern Timezone where it used to be split about Fort Wayne.

Story:

I will call her B as I don't want to use her actual name.  

B emailed me a number of years ago and  told me that she thought she was a MacAloney.  We conversed and eventually talked on the phone.  

She lived in Oklahoma and was about 10 years older than me and had found me from internet posts from other MacAloney's that were doing geniology research.  I welcomed her inquiry as I too was doing research about the MacAloney's and in particular one of my grandfathers brother's line that we were never close to.

She told me she had a mother and father but she didn't look like them or her siblings and felt she was also treated different in the family but never knew why.

She did her own investigation and in the end believed her mother who was in Texas had relations with a MacAloney and she married her father immediately after and she was the oldest of other children that her mother and father had.  She loved her mother and father but was tring to put her life's pieces together.

We conversed for awhile and as things like this go we didn't have contact after this.  I called her a few years but the line was disconnected.

On my way back through Oklahoma the other day I was going to do some investigation work to see if I could find her.  I was in NM at the casino the other night and I got a couple breaks.  I found a reference to B as she was mentioned in a recent obituary of her brother of this April and it had her living in the same town that I had for her with her husband.  

I worked the internet a bit more and I found the same last name as hers but with a different male first name.  I called it.  A young child say 3 years old answered and I could figure out that it was a grandchild and I couldn't get a positive response about B so I asked for the male and I got he was outside doing something.  I said I would call back.

I did call back 2 hours later and got the man.  I gave my name.  He immediately and with a sense if force wanted to know what I wanted with B.  I explained that I had conversed with a few years before when she was working at XYZ company. (Obviously not the real company name). I had this information as she would email me from the company's email address.  I went on to say that I had called the number I had and it was disconnected and found this one and tried it as B's brother's obituary has her living at this same town.

Well, I was lucky to have as much information as I did.  I convinced him that I was not a telemarketer, or some weirdo.

He then tells me that B is no longer able to converse with anyone as she has dementia and doesn't know anyone any more.  They moved to his fathers house and kept his fathers phone number and that accounted for the name difference & address change.

I gave my regrets about B as I have personal experience in my life as this is what happened to my dad. 

I then proceeded to tell him the story about his wife's communication with me and her findings.  I told him that I was following up as I had more information for her than I did before.

I concluded with an apology for disturbing him and wished him well.

As I stated, I have been trying to contact all great grandchildren of William Martin MacAloney.  I have made contact with most and some are interested in being in contact with me and some are not.  We didn't have much contact and in some cases any contact with each other growing up, although there were a good number of us cousins.  I have felt bad for years that I didn't know my cousins and they didn't know me.

There have been many times over the years I have been asked if I am related to this or that MacAloney and the answer was yes, but I was embarrassed not knowing them.

I am not interested in having relations with them unless they had the interest too and some do not and some do.  I am glad for the cousins I have become acquainted with.  They are wonderful people.  The sad part is it has taken me too long to do my research and some cousins have died and now B is gone too.  

I am one of the younger cousins and the keeper of the MacAloney pictures and Bible from back in Nova Scotia.  We were a family divided and now we are only partially divided so I guess I made some progress.  There are a couple more cousins that we don't know where they are or if they are alive.  I will keep working on it.

Tomorrow I move more to the east.  Nearly done with the trip with only a few days left.