When volunteers staff the Greene County Historical Museum each Wednesday and Saturday they never know what a interesting day they may have. That was certainly the case on July 1. The volunteers were selecting quilts to be taken to the August quilt show when two visitors arrived at the museum, Curtis and Sue Turrill of Huntington Beach, CA. Curtis and Sue had been in Nebraska researching the maternal side of his family and they came to Jefferson to see if they could learn more about the paternal side of his family. Mr. Turrill is related to both the Lovejoy and Turrill families which have ties to Jefferson and Greene County. They arrived with many pictures and much family history. One of the pictures that he brought was of “The Souvenir” the first newspaper in Jefferson founded by the Lovejoy family. Rick Morain was called and came to the museum to visit with them about The Souvenir and the buildings location which was destroyed by fire. A call was made to Jim Andrews to confirm the location of the newspaper building. Another picture was of a home that his great-great grandfather had owned. Rick recognized that home and gave them directions to the home located at 506 South Wilson and now owned by Sue and Nick Richardson. The Turrills were taking pictures of the house and were spotted by visiting relatives of the Richardson’s. They inquired about their interest in the house and after hearing their story, the Turrills were delighted to have a guided tour of the home by Sue and Nick. By the time the Turrills had returned to the museum the volunteers had made copies of some of their pictures to keep for the museum and made copies for the Turrills of family histories from reference books at the museum. They were given directions to the Old Rippey Cemetery where Lovejoy ancestors are buried. Needless to say, the Turrills were very happy with their visit to Jefferson. The next day Jim Andrews visited Ferrol’s Barber Shop where Ferrol confirmed that the newspaper building was located south of his shop and burned on December 20, 1976. The reason that he could remember the date was because it was his birthday and he served coffee to the fire department!
Friends of Rippey
