FAST…Fearless, Adventuresome, Self Confident, Thirsty…Uncle Jack comes to my mind. Never knew him, never interviewed anyone who knew much about him. He remained a mystery until I found him softly mentioned in a weekly newspaper. The mentions were dribs and drabs until I put them all together to paint a picture.

Fearless…Jack was ready to take on any challenge directed his way. He left Osborne County, Kansas, at the age of 24. He learned the love of hunting and fishing from his father. There was nothing to keep him interested in his small town. He needed action. He had been to France during World War I, where he had been a supply wagoner. He had found that thrilling. He needed to move on.

Adventuresome…Jack left Kansas. He headed to Natrona County, Wyoming, where there were oil fields. He chose to be a roustabout, a laborer to get supplies and equipment for the oil drilling teams. During the offtimes, he worked on a ranch. He loved to handle horses. When the time was right, he could hunt and fish. He married and had a daughter. Jack was impatient and thoughtless so the marriage did not work out.

Self Confident…Jack knew he could handle any job that involved animals, rifles, nature. He left Wyoming and headed to Nebraska. There he became the manager of a wildlife preserve. He enjoyed being his own boss. He loved taking care of wild animals. He remarried and planned on settling in.

Thirsty…Jack longed for an even greater challenge. Through the years, he had become an expert on Remington Rifles. World War II demanded that the American Army have topnotch rifles. Jack was recruited by Remington to come aboard their design team in Denver, Colorado. Under the veil of governmental secrecy, he worked. During the middle of the war, Jack developed brain cancer. When he was hospitalized during his final days, his room was guarded. Officials were afraid that the painkillers given to him would make him delirious…he might reveal secrets.

Jack was my great uncle. His full name was Edward Ralph Boultinghouse (1896-1943). I became interested in his story when I was given his World War I dog tags. And so…

Born during the Civil War…died after World War II. When she entered the world, Abraham Lincoln was the president of a divided nation. When she left the world, Dwight Eisenhower was the president during the time of the Cold War. At the end, she would be the last one standing of her parents and siblings.

A child of the Illinois prairies, Helen Boultinghouse was born while her father had recently left for war. He would return when she was a toddler. Her babyhood was spent with her French mother on the family farm along with seven siblings. She knew the security of family bonding together for the sake of survival. What character traits would be gifted to her at this impressionable time of development?

At the tender age of nine years old, her parents felt a call to move the family to Kansas. Gathering up family and possessions, they went by wagon train to make their new home in Osborne County, Kansas. What experiences in being a child pioneer were felt most by her?

At the tender age of 18, Helen married 35 year old Willard Comer originally from Canada. They married in June, 1880, in Russell County, Kansas, where they remained for the rest of their lives. How did they met, and was this a love match or marriage of convenience?

During their marriage, Willard was a real estate agent…Helen’s background was farming so town life was new to her. Two daughters, Pearle and Brownie, completed their family. They lived ordinary lives until Willard became ill. He suffered for three years and was bedridden for the last year. Not only a wife and mother, Helen was a devoted caregiver. He passed in 1916. How did it feel to be a widow at age 54 in a small Kansas town?

For the next 34 years, Helen was alone except for her daughters who remained at home and never married. The world around her was constantly changing, not only nationally but also for her personally. Her parents and siblings were now gone…last one standing. What did she tell herself to make these losses lessen and the grief bearable?

Helen Boultinghouse was my great grandaunt. I never heard anyone speak of her. I could not find much written about her. Today I discovered her and brought a part of her story to light. So, Aunt Helen, what else would you like me to write to bring your memory alive?

And God made a promise to Abraham: He said, “ I will give you this land for your descendants. I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.” And so it was.

And through time and generations, this became true for others. A girl born in New York in 1833 would see this promise fulfilled in her and her descendants. Her name was Mary Etta Soule.

Mary Etta, like Abraham, would travel far from her birthplace to her final destination. After the death of her father when she was 14 years old, she went with her remaining family down the Erie Canal, across Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan and then to the newly formed state of Wisconsin. They caught a grain wagon to Watertown, Wisconsin. What drew them there? Destiny…fate…God’s plan? For awhile, her mother Jane was the only adult female in the area. Native Americans camped near them but left them in peace. From her mother, Mary learned to be resilient and strong willed.

At the age of 19, she worked for Andrew Storer who managed a brickyard. Her brothers were also in his employ. Andrew was a widower originally from Maine. He, too, set out to find himself far from home. They wed in 1852 in Wisconsin. Wanderlust would take hold of them and lead them on to their final home in Osborne County, Kansas, twenty years later.

A home at last…settled…established…part of a community…matriarch of a family. Mary Etta spent her days in relative domestic happiness. Under the prairie skies and stars, the promise to her of many descendants was unfolding. When she went to meet her God in 1887, she could tell Him, “Yes, as many as the stars.”

Mary Etta Soule and Andrew Storer are my second great grandparents…I am counted among their stars.

Note: This is my 175th blog about my family and their history.