The latest leg of my Virtual Hike was to Marengo, Iowa. This small town in Iowa was the end point of one of my family migrations from New England to Iowa. From here I will head East and stop along the way at some of the places where my ancestors lived.

The starting point for this leg was Ottumwa which is where the two branches of my family came together. See: Virtual Hike to Ottumwa, Iowa

In the map above you can see that I made a stop to the east of Ottumwa. But, first I had to make a small adjustment to my route as I left Ottumwa.

You can see that I headed west instead of east. I had to make a virtual stop at an iconic restaurant in Ottumwa.

The restaurant was so important to the culture of the town that when they built a new parking garage they built it right over the top of the restaurant instead of tearing it down.

This is Canteen Lunch in the Alley. Here you can get a wonderful Loose Meat Sandwich.

If I was actually making this hike I would definitely have stopped for a bite to eat on my way out of town.

Now for that stop to the east of Ottumwa. There were many places in the area that I could stop at on my way to Marengo. The many branches of my family converged in Iowa in the mid to late 1800’s and lived all over the southern part of the state.

For this leg of the virtual hike I chose to make my way through Abingdon as I have recently written about the branch of the family that settled near there.

In the 1856 Iowa Census Silas Calvin Ramsey had Competine as his address. You can see Competine on the map above. It is about five miles from Abingdon. Click on the link above to find out more places in the area where Silas lived.

My Ramsey family, along with the Sears, were early members of the Church of Christ in Abingdon.

My 4th great Grandmother, Susannah Kern Sears, was buried in the cemetery in Abingdon in 1859. In the 1856 Iowa Census they had an address of Locust Grove which is about 3 miles from Abingdon.

Here is the cemetery in Marengo where my 3rd Great Grandfather Jeremiah Rowe is buried.

You can find out more about Jeremiah in my post A Virtual Hike Idea. The post will also give you a preview about some of the places the Virtual Hike is headed to this year.

I am a bit behind on posting about the Virtual Hike. I actually arrived in Marengo on Christmas so I am already on my way to the next stop.

Now for the rain to stop so I can get some long walks in. However, it is supposed to rain for much of the week. Today was really stormy with high winds and blowing rain.

Steven