By Lyn Fenwick Macksville author and columnist

When we received the message from David Werner explaining that he and his wife were hoping to drive from Wernersville, PA to South Central Kansas to visit Isaac Werner’s grave and to see the Journal, as well as anything else of interest in relation to Isaac, I was pleased…and then worried. The two things he mentioned were certainly available, but what else was there to show them? Nearly all of the structures from Isaac’s time are gone, and even the land Isaac claimed has changed. What is there to see?

As it turned out, there was a lot to see, and this column is not only about our visit from Isaac’s cousins but is really about the things around us that we no longer give our attention–that we fail to share with our children and grandchildren. While the things available to share are not exactly like they were when our ancestors lived, there are still things to see and stories to share.

I walked them around the quiet country cemetery, pointing out the graves of friends of Isaac, many of whom are mentioned in Prairie Bachelor, and I directed their attention to the number of settlers whose stones displayed their military service in the Civil War. Particularly emotional were the many stones of infants and young children.

We drove around Isaac’s timber claim and homestead, although both are changed by cultivation for more than a century. The second day we returned, first for a farewell to Isaac and then for a tour of his community. As we drove through the community, I read brief excerpts from Prairie Bachelor, connected with the particular locations where we paused, such as the land where Isaac stayed with neighbors in his final days, the locations of the country post offices, the location…