Words underlined in blue are
tapped to open a text box.

A second tap will close it.

Lu comes from my dad’s name,
Lumir.

Mar comes from my Mom’s name,
Margaret.

Being their first child, my parents added Lee and liked the sound. 

During my school years, I had the nickname of Louie.

AKA Little Louie, Louie the Lip, and other names people used behind my back. 

After graduating from high school, I decided Lee had a better sound.

Like the song Mr Lee that came out in 1957.

I started using LuMarLee as my nom de plume (AKA pen name) when I began publishing stories online.

I found a copy of his obituary online in The Winona Republican-Herald, published in the Thursday evening edition, on April 3, 1947.

He was born September 13, 1848, in Scott County, IA, where he passed away, a few months before reaching 100. 

He passed eight months after I was born. He never knew me, but I know him now, by searching for his name online. 

Here is what I know.

__________________

His parents moved from Ohio to Iowa before he was born.

When he was old enough, John left for California. He got as far as Texas and decided that he liked Iowa better.

Upon returning to Iowa, he got a job as a stagecoach driver. The job did not last.

When the riverboats provided faster service than the stagecoaches traveling along the upper Mississippi River, stagecoach jobs became scarce, and he switched jobs.

He started working on riverboats that brought logs from Wisconsin to Le Claire, Iowa.

Even back then, jobs did not last forever. The old was replaced by better, cheaper, and faster. 

You always had to be willing to switch careers or move out west for better opportunities.

Trying to picture the life he led, I wondered if he drank green tea during those quiet times as he was rolling down the river, or was he a Mud drinker?

Mud was dark and bitter coffee with coffee grounds that lingered in the bottom of an empty cup, like the dark mud along the banks of the Mississippi River, moist and earthy.

I also wondered if he had a collection of Beadle's Dime Novels in his home library, ones that told the story of the glory, living in the frontier days of the old American West.

If you visit the Buffalo Bill Museum in Le Clair, Iowa, you can read his story and the stories of many others who worked on the upper Mississippi River.

If you ever get a chance to visit, look around and check out the memorabilia and pictures to see if anything looks familiar.

I got to experience a moment of his life, rollin' on the "Ol' Man River." 

And yes, it just keeps rolling along, supporting jobs up and down the river.

In the Summer of 2024, we rolled upstream on the Riverboat Twilight to Davenport, Iowa, and rolled back down again to Le Claire.

__________________

In Le Claire, there is a restaurant called "The Crane & Pelican Cafe"  which opened in 2009 at the Dawley House, built in 1851.

• The link will take you to a video on KWQC, a TV station in Le Claire, Iowa.

It sits on a hill, overlooking the Mississippi River.

The restaurant started life as a mansion built for a riverboat pilot. 

We went there for Supper, and I  ordered the meatloaf dinner, a signature item on their menu

Sitting at the table waiting for Supper, I looked out the window and looked down to the river as the Sun was going down. 

I wondered, "Did John ever work for Mr. Dawley, and did he ever invite John over for Supper?" 

My imagination took me back to their time, watching them sitting by the window, telling the grandest of stories, waiting for Supper to be served. 

__________________

Do you have family stories that were handed down from generation to generation?

__________________

__________________

t