Visit to Jay County special (03/13/2009)

To the editor:

In searching for family history on my grandfather, Arlet E. Brooks, I visited Portland last Thursday (March 5). It was an incredible day for me, thanks to the people at the courthouse, the clerk's office, the health department and the genealogical society.

All five people in the clerk's office, the custodians, Peggy at the health department, Frances at the genealogical society, as well as people on the street, were the most friendly, pleasant, helpful folks (all of them complete strangers) that I have met in at least 20 years.

Your city and your people are very special.

What a treat and a privilege to visit Portland. I'll be back with my wife of 46 years to show her the city, the beautiful courthouse, to study more genealogy and to say hi to everyone who helped.

The best developments were learning that our grandchildren have great-grandparents five generations back to John Brooks, who is the subject of a beautiful painting in the courthouse.

He was Arlet's great-grandfather.

Most of our relatives were Brooks and Smiths living in Jay County from the mid-1800s until the 1960s around Portland, Richland, Redkey, Dunkirk, Hartford City and Bryant.

Seeing my ancestors' gravesites at Claycomb Cemetery was moving.

I volunteer at the Studebaker National Museum, so the reference to Peter Studebaker and the fact he lived in Goshen where we live and where he met James Oliver are stories I can tell also to the Northern Indiana Center for History.

This is kind of long, but my appreciation and gratitude are worth every letter.

Thanks all of you Jay County folks.

Sincerely,

Roger F. Bayak

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