From the Prairies to the Mountains

Some days you find a treasure in unexpected places. Several weeks ago, I did while "weeding" books at my workplace. We recently removed numerous biographies from our library. Most of these books had NEVER been checked out and were not going to be missed. While flipping through one book to see who it was about, I spotted the following inscription:

For some reason, the name "Inez Humphrey" rang a bell. I flipped to the next page where I saw this information:

I about fell out of my chair as Palmyra is my home church! All of a sudden the year of the inscription and the Palmyra connection made me think that my grandmother probably knew this lady. As soon as I could, I ran back to my desk and to my computer where I promptly did a search for Inez Humphrey. I discovered that yes, she was from Palymra. As I continued to do some research, I discovered she had been a distinguished professor at Moorehead State University in Kentucky where her papers are archived, had received an honored alumni award at Eureka College, AND had written a book. So, I promptly did what any self-respecting librarian would do and requested a copy via InterLibrary Loan. The second thing I did was to call my parents that evening to see if they could shed any light on the subject. They recollected familiarity with the name but not much more.

When Humphrey's book, From the Prairies to the Mountains; Memories, Especially of Illinois and Eastern Kentucky, arrived a few short days later, I promptly proceeded to devour it. What made this particular book so interesting was the frequent appearance of names and locations that were familiar to me. Miss Humphrey would describe a location and I would think "I know where that is!" or she would mention some family name and I'd exclaim "I know that family!" or "A person with that name was in m class." As I continued to read, I kept a look out for my own family names to appear. I experienced some brief sadness that no names from my family tree were listed. However, as I read I almost found myself keeping a "family tree" of the names that were mentioned. I often found myself googling different people mentioned so I could locate obituaries and see how people in the book were related to people I knew.

As I read of Miss Humphrey's adventures, I was amazed that someone from my little bitty town and my little bitty church had gone on to achieve such heights of success, particularly as a woman in the early 20th century. I was particularly excited when I realized that her niece was a lady, Frieda Shinpaugh, whom I knew and that our youth group had often visited. Of particular note, Miss Humphrey shared near the beginning of the book that family legend stated her father's family had been baptized by Alexander Campbell or Barton Stone while they lived in Kentucky prior to moving to Illinois. While it is most likely legend, it was exciting to think that the ancestors of individuals I knew may have been baptized by noted historical religious figures and particularly so as I am a librarian at a Stone-Campbell institution.

I'm very thankful to have stumbled upon Miss Humphrey's book. Reading it felt like sitting down to chat with my grandmother and having her share stories about growing up in Palmyra. It was also a walk down memory lane as I recalled my own fond memories, particularly of my home church. I also found that I want to do more research on the Stone-Campbell churches in Illinois and particularly as congregations like my home church moved from being affiliated with the Disciples of Christ to Independent Christian Churches. I would encourage any hometown friends and anyone else who is interested in history to locate a copy.