Lynden - Another Twig on the Branch

Larry and I took a drive to Lynden today to visit the Pioneer Museum and the Cemetery, where my great-great-grandfather, Nicholas Vance Sheffer is buried. I had been wanting to make the journey there ever since we arrived in Washington, and today just seemed like a good time to do it.

We started off with coffee at High Mark Espresso - a vanilla latte for Larry and a peppermint mocha for me. Larry loves this place, especially since they always have treats for Duchess, but I'm sorry, the peppermint mocha was OK, but it just didn't measure up to Starbucks, which is closer and easier to get into what with the morning traffic being what it is on Hwy 9. To each his own!

Next stop - Angel of the Winds Casino...

 Larry hadn't been back to the casino since it had been our home-away-from-home before settling in here in Clearview. We had really missed those cheap, tasty breakfasts....

 and Duchess had a hankering for a nice piece of bacon!

You never know what flavor of jam will show up for the toast, but Larry got strawberry jam this time - 

his favorite! 

And we couldn't leave without spending a little time with the Piggies. 

 

I finally got a bonus!

They weren't very nice to us, though. I figure if I can leave the casino without hitting the ATM machine for more cash, it's been a good visit!

But all was not lost...gas was really cheap. In fact, with our membership card, it came to $2.96 a gallon. I never thought I'd see it get below $3.00. Will wonders never cease????

The trees with their changing colors were beautiful...

Our destination - the Lynden Museum.  We signed the guest book and as the lady behind the counter went off to locate someone who knew how to do a debit card transaction for the entrance fee, I noticed a basket of free CDs on the counter. Larry said, "Is that Nick on the cover?"

I picked one up, turned it over, and said, "No, but this is!" There he was on the back - I was pretty excited!
(The gentleman in the photo is Chief Yelkanum Seclamatan.)

I had seen the photo before. In fact, I had it stored on my computer...

 I've always liked this one of Nicholas with Ezra Meeker, as well as the one below. When I opened the CD case up later, I discovered that this photo, along with the one of the entire family, was reproduced on the page inside.

Nicholas Vance Sheffer's daughter was married to Robert Emmett Hawley, whose family arrived in Lynden in the early fall of 1872.  Robert and Lydia were married in 1884. 

 

The museum was interesting, although I didn't find any pictures of Nicholas displayed anywhere. There was this scary baby, though!

The museum was laid out as if the visitors were walking through the old town of Lynden.

In case you were wondering, Phoebe Judson, along with her husband, Holden Judson,  founded the city of Lynden,established in 1874, near the site of the Nooksack Indian village Squahalish (Nooksack: Sqwehálich). It was named by Phoebe Judson after the riverside town in Hohenlinden, a poem by Thomas Campbell, stating:

“

On Linden, when the sun was low, All bloodless lay the untrodden snow; And dark as winter was the flow Of Iser rolling rapidly.

”

According to her book, A Pioneer's Search for an Ideal Home, she changed the spelling of "Linden"  to Lynden to be more visually appealing.

The Barber Shop

 

"Let me out!"

 

Looking down from above into the "Methodist Church", complete with a coffin. 

Larry peeked inside, but it was empty! 

This was kind of creepy. I'm not sure if it's a woman sleeping in a "regular" hotel room, or if she's waiting for a customer in a brothel, but in any case, it was quite bizarre. But the door was open, so I just had to go inside...

She was quite welcoming!

Larry relaxing on the balcony.

The sign on this little organ  reads, "This portable organ was used each week for a service at the local jail led by Egbert Maas." Larry wondered if he could be related, even though Egbert had one less "S" in his last name.

There was a large buggy and wagon display in the basement of the museum. This buggy belonged to the Berthusen family - Lida Hawley Berthusen was Robert Emmett Hawley's sister.

I found a photo of Robert Emmett Hawley and his second wife hanging in one of the bedrooms,

 but no Nicholas!

The rain had let up just a bit, so we headed down the road to the cemetery. There was an office with a car in front, so Larry went inside and found a very helpful young woman who found Nicholas in the computerized records. Larry called me in to see the description written about him - basically that he had roamed around from Canada to California before settling in Lynden. So true! As we spoke to the young woman, she told us that her husband is the curator of the museum and is fascinated by the Hawley family. I wish I had known that when we were there - he might have been star-struck by meeting me, an actual shirt-tail member of their family! We headed out to the "A" section and found Nicholas right alongside the road - It's a little hard to read his name, but here he lies!

  I found my great-aunt Lydia just a few feet away...

with Emmett right beside her.

The Hawleys had quite a large marker over the whole clan!

If the day hadn't been so damp, we would have done some more cemetery exploring. We often do that even when we don't know anyone buried there!

 

We stopped at BevMo in Bellingham for some wine and beer, made a quick visit to the Everett Public Library for more books for Larry, and were back home by 3:00.

 Altogether a very pleasant day of  new discoveries of things long past.