Aunt Bea kept a scrapbook of old newspaper articles, obituaries, etc. from the Mahaska items. This scrapbook was/is a wealth of information regarding the old Mahaska pioneers. I was told that my grandmother Ilene Waltman (who had borrowed it from Bea's son Harold for my history work), had later loaned it to a Mr. McAtee of Kansas. Mr. McAtee returned to Vera Lowe and after sending out my letter in April to all the Coonrod folks, we found that Evelyn Summers had it! Thanks Evelyn!

MAHASKA LEADER - 08 APR 1910
Harley Coonrod was Census Enumerator for Union Township and Lowe Townships in Washington County. (Note: in this paper...the comets tail failed to whisk the earth so the people can feel safe again...Halleys Comet)

ARTICLE - MAHASKA LEADER (23 JUN 1911)
A very pretty wedding occurred at the beautiful country home of Mr. and Mrs. W.T. Summers Wednesday evening June 21, when their daughter, Beulah C. was given in marriage to Harley C C Coonrod, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ch. H. Coonrod of Mahaska. Promptly at eight o'clock while the wedding march was being played by Mrs. I. W. Coonrod, the bridal couple entered the room accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Guy A. Speers, brother and sister of the bride. Rev. Jacobs officiated using the ring ceremony. The bride was attired in rich white silk and the groom wore a suit of navy blue.

Beulah is the second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Summers and is loved by all. Harley is a good, honest young man and is liked and respected by all who know him and is worthy of the prize which he has won. The rooms were prettily decorated in pink and white and the arch under which the happy couple stood ws draped with pink and white. After the ceremony a dainty two course luncheon was served. They were the recipients of many beautiful and useful presents, among which was a check for $50 from the grooms father and mother.

About 50 invited relatives and guests were present. Mr. and Mrs. Coonrod will reside in mahaska where the groom is in business with his father. They start life together with the best wisher of all, their friends. The Leader extends congratulations to the young folks and may prosperity and happiness attend them.

If you have come to my website via Ancestry: Several years ago the genealogy giant Ancestry absorbed the genealogy websites of Rootsweb along with personal databases posted at Rootsweb's WorldConnect Project that included a large database of my own family information. I started using Rootsweb in 2000 and they gave us the capability to add, remove, and update our information at anytime and I used these options frequently to post correct and current data. Presently (2006) I am told by Ancestry that we cannot maintain our own databases, we cannot even remove them. If you find information at Ancestry with my name attached please search my website for current information, the databases posted at Ancestry contain inaccurate information. - Karen Rowe.