Out and About

Recently, my husband and I went in search of information about his 2ggf, John Newton Gibler, who lived part of his life in Council Bluffs, Iowa. We already knew quite a bit about him, so we thought it would be fun to find where his home was. We went to the Council Bluffs Public Library. They have great genealogy resources in the Reference Department on the second floor. We discovered some obituaries and newspaper articles about other family members. We also found, in city directories which had been filmed, the address of John's home in Council Bluffs - 1410 Avenue H. Armed with a GPS, leming-like, we began following the monotone voice toward our destination.

Very shortly, we were going in circles around what used to be where John Gibler's home was. The house is gone. We aren't sure when it was razed, but the CHARLES E. LAKIN HUMAN SERVICES CAMPUS is there, now. From the air, it looks like this. 

 I took a couple of pictures, we lamented and moved on. Ah! progress.

 

Now, I will contact my mother-in-law for more information. Does she have a picture of John Newton Gibler? Does she have pictures of where he lived? Thank goodness I still have someone to ask. Why didn't I think to ask sooner? 

This is one of the big lessons of family history research: Ask questions! Listen to stories. And, when you think of a question you didn't ask the last time, or the time before that, ask it right away!