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Saturday, August 27, 2011

Visit to Maywood

Wednesday I got onboard the same train as the previous two days, but this time I got off at Maywood. It was once a rather prosperous area with mixed population, but is now a poor neighborhood with very few white people. I think I was the only one there that day. I walked over to the library and asked for old volumes of the Maywood Herald. It was the local newspaper, which started in 1894. I went through a few of the early volumes to look for information about the Swedes who once lived here. It was a very local paper. There were entries like: Mrs Tate entertained a circle of friends last Friday evening. One other: Miss Nellie Olson is currently visiting her sister in Dubuque, Alabama. Also found a note about a banquet held at the Swedish church, and several of my relatives were mentioned. Incredibly interesting, but it was very time consuming to search the pages. I had to continue on to Chicago in the afternoon (because of the train schedule), and spent a couple of hours downtown. It was very hot and humid, so I didn't do much. The high-rise fountains in Grant Park gave some cooling shade. Returned to Geneva in the evening. Jim's chili was very tasty, and so was the fudge ice-cream.

Thursday we went to a mall in the afternoon. It was almost deserted, there were very few stores left. Maybe eight or ten in a large two story building. I got two tops at C J Banks. Jeane found the best bargain, a top for three dollars. On the way back we went to Colonial, a restaurant founded by Swedish immigrants in 1901. It was Ice-cream Happy Hour, so we got our sundaes half price off. I got a huge glass filled with ice-cream, fudge, chocolate sauce, nuts, brownie pieces and whipped cream. Delicious!

Today (Friday), we went to the Kane county recorder to get copies of some death certificates. Sadly, these didn't shed any light on the background of the people we are researching, but at least we got causes of death. We then continued on to another mall area. I had both a gift certificate and a discount coupon at Kohl's, so I did some shopping there. Looked in two other stores, but didn't get much.

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