Related by Marriage: The Cousins up Nort'

Mr Irene's maternal grandfather, Stanley, had a cousin who had emigrated with his wife to farming life in northern Wisconsin, near the town of Goodman. Cousin O was widowed when his only child was a little girl. Cousin O had a crop farm; the family does not recall that there were dairy cows on the property. Northern Wisconsin was also an active place during prohibition, and Mr. Irene's Mom recalls quite a bit of early-morning traffic around Cousin O's barn.

Near Goodman, Wisconsin, about 1938. Mr. Irene's Mom tests the plow on Cousin O's farm.

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Cousin O married a second time in the town of Goodman, in the company of other Lithuanian first-waver, immigrant farmers. Their stout good looks and well tailored clothes spoke to their success in their new country:

Goodman, Wisconsin, about 1933. The new "Mrs. Cousin O" sports a big ring.

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Mr. Irene's maternal Grandparents, Stanley and Anna, Mr Irene's young Mom, and Mom's sister, Aunt Martha, were frequent summer visitors to Cousin O's farm in the 1930s and early 1940s. The drive from Bridgeport, Chicago, to Goodman, Wisconsin, took over nine hours in the days before interstate highways. US Highway 41 was the key artery north out of Chicago, starting along Lake Michigan with Lake Shore Drive and Sheridan Road, before turning northwest towards Green Bay. There were other relatives nearby to visit as well. The godparents to Mr Irene's Mom, whom you've met here before, ran a tavern in Carter, Wisconsin. They, too, would join the visits to Goodman.

After Cousin O died in the late 1950s, Grandfather Stanley remembered something Cousin O had promised him. Money would be hidden in specific locations within Cousin O's farmhouse, and it was for Stanley to take after Cousin O's passing. Stanley dreamed one night very vividly that Cousin O came to tell him exactly where to find the cash.

Stanley convinced his older daughter, Mr. Irene's Aunt Martha, to drive up to Goodman with him. The dream was a sign, Stanley insisted, that the promise was real. Stanley and Martha found the old farmhouse, boarded and neglected. Somehow the two made their way into the abandoned house to hunt for the hidden treasure, but they returned empty handed that same day to Chicago.