"JOURNEY OF REMEMBRANCE" This summer and fall, Mr. Ronald Drake, an attorney from Washington DC, has had a flatboat built on the old home place of the Jeremiah Thompson family (which he owns), in Indiana. He has worked hard to plan a "Journey of Remembrance" in honor of the flatboat trip his ancestors, the Thompsons, made in December 1810, from the Little Miami river, near Cincinnati, continuing down the Ohio river, now the southern border of Indiana and Illinois, to the confluence with the Mississippi river, and then by keelboat and wagon to Cape Girardeau, Mo. The flatboat is now being taken to the site near Cincinnati, where the two-to-three-week journey will begin on Thanksgiving Day. This has been done at Mr. Drake's own expense, with no fundraisers, contributions, etc. Even though it is to honor his ancestors who were Primitive Baptists (Daniel Boone signed as a witness on the marriage certificate of Jeremiah Thompson's grandparents), Mr. Drake has made it very clear that this journey is not in any way to proselyte or push his religion. Various people who are interested will be aboard for parts of the trip, including a Catholic nun (a group of nuns made a similar flatboat trip and kindly shared their experiences). Flatboats were used by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of early pioneer travelers, on this same route, in the early years of the 19th century. Ron Drake, a former legislator in Indiana, chose this means of honoring his ancestors' courage and bravery, one of whom (Wilson Thompson) left an autobiography which described their journey in 1810. Many people usually gather at docking points, but since this will be in late November and December there may not be as many. I have a copy of the tentative schedule where the flatboat will dock at the end of each travel day. I hope to be on board between Old Shawneetown, Illinois, and Elizabethtown, Illinois, on December 4th. John O'Dell, of Harrisburg, and myself, with perhaps a dozen others, met in Indiana to learn more about the trip earlier this week. Other people will be involved in letting the public know about it, but I thought I would let a few of the genweb forums know about it. More about the trip, and photos of the flatboat, can be seen by going to our website below, and clicking on the link at the top of the page: http://www.carthage.lib.il.us/community/churches/primbap/pbl.html Sincerely, Robert Webb