Road Trip!

My sister Susan and I, along with her dog Blackberry, took a road trip last week, our first stop being Clear Lake, Iowa, the town where my grandfather Claire Hoyt was born and raised. I was hoping to find photographs and information at the local library about his life there, along with his mother Sophie, his grandfather Alec Nelson, and his half sister, Viola Thayer, who died back in 1910 at the age of 17. Sadly, they had virtually no records before 1920, and so my quest for information goes on. Afterwards, we toured the town, which has lots of beautiful 19th century homes like the one in the photo on the left.

Clear Lake is a wonderful place, with a park along the lake, as seen in the photograph on the right, and lots of friendly people. My grandfather's mother, Sophie Nelson, and her father Alec, originally from Prince Edward Island, in Canada, moved there in 1879. Sophie married my great grandfather Nelson Sillick Hoyt in 1883, and who tragically died just 3 years later. She later married Albert Thayer, and they had two children - Gladdis and Viola - before they divorced. Sophie continued to live in Clear Lake before moving to Long Beach, California, to live with Gladdis, and later with my Grandfather and Grandmother Hoyt at their house in the Southside Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago. My sister Susan knew her as that nice old lady who lived in the room in the back.

I found a lot of references to the family in the Clear Lake Mirror, the local newspaper, which reported on everyone's travels, celebrations, and if they had been able, what everyone had for lunch that day. One paragraph said that Alec Nelson and Sophie Thayer were selling their house on 2nd Street, and moving to another. However, I have no idea if those houses still exist. I have Viola Thayer's photo and postcard album, but all the postcards are addressed only to a person, and Clear Lake, Iowa. Evidently, no street numbers were needed back then. There are a lot of modest cottages near the lake, such as the ones in the photograph on the left, and I am still trying to figure out how to find the houses that they lived in.

Both Susan and I (and for that matter, Blackberry) enjoyed visiting Clear Lake. It was like visiting a bygone era in America, one where everyone is laid back and friendly, and so much of the town is just like it was back when our family lived there. If I can ever figure out how to access more information about where everyone lived, and where they are buried, I will definitely go back, and possibly even take the drastic step of getting a room and staying in the town for a few days, instead of just a few hours. After all, I am retired, footloose, and fancy free.