I recently traveled to the home of Bob Dulaney, a widower to Paula (“Polly”) McCracken, in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. Polly was the granddaughter of Birtie May Claybourn and quite proud of her Claybourn roots. Polly died in July of 2008 and, left with a large empty house, her husband Bob has decided to move to smaller living quarters. Therefore Bob and his two sons – Rick and Mike – were cleaning out the home and preparing for an auction to sell quite a number of items.

The family wanted certain historic documents and heirlooms with Claybourn ties to be given to the Claybourn Genealogical Society for preservation and safe keeping. Among other things, there were numerous genealogical records, historic books, old photographs, and even a relatively lengthy diary. Of particular interest was some of the original research of Harriette Pinnell Threlkeld, one of the first and most significant family historians.

Over the next several months and years we will be working to digitize the documents and provide accounts of everything on the CGS website. The additions will be a great asset to the family history and I have no doubt that future generations will be thankful for their preservation.

Although not related to the Claybourn family, I was intrigued by an antique hand push cultivator that was in great condition, pictured to the right. It’s precise age is unknown but I would suspect it to be at least 100 years old, and most likely even older.