My cache named Final Leap took you to St. Mary’s Cemetery and the VanDeDrink family plot. Up till now that is all you knew about them. Fact is, they were not always dead. My Great Great Grandfather John VanDeDrink was born in Europe. He was 45 when he, his wife Hendricka, and their 4 year old son Harry arrived in Galena in 1881.
2 of my Great Aunts went on a trip to find their roots in the 1980s. Our family always thought the VanDeDrinks came from Holland. So that is where they went. It didn’t take long for them to find the truth. Next stop Belgium. In Belgium they learned that the last record for John was a report of the police looking for him. They couldn’t find him and had no idea where he had gone to. We know the answer to that question.
If you look across Summit Street you will notice a stone house with brick additions on each end. John VanDeDrink was a stone mason and he built that house for his family. He also built other homes nearby. I found it strange that John only owned enough land on this side of Highway 20 to build the house. His land across the highway went all the way up the hill to Gear Street.