UFFDA

June 9, 2006

After leaving TREK our plan was to go directly to Decorah, Iowa to visit some of Don's childhood memories of the year he lived there, and also to check out the Lutheran cemetery to see if we could find some Myrahs.

Of course, our plans quickly changed as we spotted a point of interest called Little Norway.  We stopped to visit there and found a cute little historic village nestled in a green valley.  Our guide was also of Norwegian descent and quite knowlegeable.  She gave us the history of the settlement and showed us around several buildings.  Each building was furnished with authentic items which were common in Scandanavian households in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Many old trunks decorated with rosemaling designs, pretty examples of tatting and lace, barrel chairs made out of the hollowed trunks of trees, traditional costumes, beautiful quilts, everyday cookware and fancy china were all on display in the various buildings. 

After leaving Little Norway we again set out for Decorah, but shortly I discovered that we were just 20 miles from Taliesen, the home of Frank Lloyd Wright.  We really wanted to see this house, so even though we didn't have reservations we decided to drive the short distance to see if we could get in.  When we arrived we found that we were too late for the last house tour, but there was an evening tour that included wine and hors d'oeuvres for $80 each.  We decided to save Taliesen for another trip and left to continue to Decorah.

By the time we finally did arrive in Decorah it was time to check into our hotel for the night, so we did and got a local map to plan our explorations for the next day.

We were up and away early the next day.  First we drove out of the town to where Don believes his family lived one year in an old, one-room school house.  It appears that there is a road where the house used to be.  We also looked for Don's childhood friend lived, but couldn't really identify that either. Then we drove around the campus of Luther College.   After awhile we went into the town of Decorah to explore around.  We stopped at the Norwegian-American Museum where we enjoyed displays of Norwegian artifacts, crafts, and daily life.  We looked up Myrahs on the interactive "Norwegians in the Civil War" computer and found two Myrahs.  One of the most interesting parts of the museum was the storage shelves where the part of the collection that is not currently on display is stored.  We could see all kinds of items--walking sticks, kids toys, fancy china sets, eyeglasses, irons, wooden boxes, guns, a beautiful vanity set with hairbrush, comb, etc.  As we looked at these items we thought that each of these things was something special to someone.  It made it quite personal and interesting.

After finishing in town we drove out to the Big Canoe Lutheran Church, where the Myrahs attended.  Don checked the listing in the church and found that there were five Myrahs buried in the church cemetery.  We wandered around the grounds and finally did find the Myrah plot.  There was the name of Jens Ericksen Ness, Don's ancestor, and the names of some of his brothers and sisters, too.  We tried to take a rubbing so we could read everything on the marker, but it was too rough.

Throughout the day Don was remembering childhood stories and family stories, and he shared them all with me as they came to mind.  One story he told was about how his grandfather had saved up his money and gone to Sears and Roebuck to buy a manure spreader--a big investment for him.  On the day it arrived Clarence had his sons, Lester and Arnold, clean out the barn and get everything ready for the grand arrival.  They hitched up the mules to the wagon and went into town and waited for the train to arrive.  They were so excited when they took possession of the equipment and carried it home on the mule-drawn wagon.  When they arrived home they hitched the team to the new manure spreader and prepared to demonstrate.  But, a rainstorm had been brewing and as the boys were getting ready to climb up into the seat there was a bright bolt of lightning and a loud clap of thunder.  The mules, spooked, reared up and bolted down the gully, smashing the new manure spreader into a tree.  The poor teenagers had to spread manure by hand for several more years!