Last week I did the proxy sealing of a child born in 1610. The birth place was Salem, Massachusetts. Salem was settled in 1626. It's possible that the birth year was a typographical error. However, I have seen instances where researchers have pushed their ancestral history back with questionable results. For example, listing only the first name ("Elizabeth") with a qualified birth year ("about 1576"). Such inconclusive information casts doubt in my mind that these individuals have been properly identified. Our downstairs neighbor believes he has one of his ancestral lines back to Adam.

About 10 miles north of Nauvoo is a toll bridge over the Mississippi. It's free when crossing from Illinois to Iowa; the toll is $2.00 when crossing in the opposite direction. We use it for shopping trips and when we go to church on Sunday. Its design is known as a "swinging truss bridge," and opens by pivoting on its axis. Last week we had to wait about 15 minutes for a towboat to push a barge upstream. Below is a picture of a Mississippi towboat with its barges, and a picture of the Ft. Madison swinging truss bridge.