About the author
I grew up during the 1950s and '60s on a farm near Farley, Iowa, just 35 miles from Galena, Ill. and 20 miles West of the Mississippi River. I was aware of Galena and some of the other towns in Jo Daviess County, Ill. only to the extent that I memorized their names during a family trip to Chicago. Back then, Chicago's Riverview Amusement Park, Brookfield Zoo and Wrigley Field held much more interest for me.
I only began to get to know the area during the late 1970s, when my husband and I would poke around the antique stores in Galena and stop along a few roads to take pictures. I lost touch with the area for nearly 10 years, after we moved to St. Paul, Min. in the mid-1980s.
In 1993, I returned to the area, after the Telegraph Herald in Dubuque, Iowa hired me as a reporter. My beat was Jo Daviess County. I reported on everything from city council meetings, to court cases, to business start-ups. I also wrote personality features and stories about the local history. Often, on my days off, my husband and I explored the back roads of the county, purposely getting lost and finding ghost towns, cemeteries and abandoned farms.
Like most people who discover Galena and the surrounding area, I fell in love with it. Like others, I thrill to the natural beauty and history.
More important, I feel comfortable with the people. Because I had lived in both rural and urban settings, I almost immediately felt connected with them. Most people were born and raised in Jo Daviess County, but many moved there from the Chicago metropolitan area.
I also love and respect them. They are smart, friendly, industrious and sometimes contentious. Virtually to a person, they care deeply about their community. Although they sometimes disagree, they manage to pull together and make things happen.
This book is about just a few of these people, their histories and their contributions to what future generations will call "history."
I thank them for sharing their stories with me.