Keeping up with the Kisers: A Piece of Family History

A lot has happened since my last blog post and I know I'm getting behind. I've got parts of a lot of posts together, but a lot of them aren't ready. In the meantime, I thought I'd share some family history. This won't be any stellar piece of genealogy or accuracy as far as time lines go, but it makes a good story. I think.

First off, this is about my dad's side of the family (so obviously, the Lentzes). His family comes from the Oklahoma/southwest Missouri part of the country, at least the last couple of generations. Many years ago, in the mid 1800s, my grandpa's grandparents moved to Missouri on a wagon train. Yes, in a covered wagon. They stopped with their traveling companions on a small river and founded what is now the town of Stella, Missouri, named for the granddaughter of the first mayor of the town. These early days are depicted in a large mural in the Newton County courthouse.

There were a lot of natives in the area at the time, many of them Cherokee.

Together with the Carter family, the Lentzes opened a general store, the only one in the county at the time.

Being such a tiny community, all the families were important. In addition to the general store, the Lentzes also ran the mill that you can see in the far right of the top picture. Once the town began to modernize, streets were built and named after families that played a role in building the town.

My grandpa's mother's side of the family was also involved with Stella. They were the Cullers family.

Of course, as time moves on, towns begin to age along with their buildings. Many of these pictures were taken in 2006 when I was in Missouri for my grandpa's funeral. At that time, the old general store was a run-down shell of its former self.

I didn't really expect the building to last much longer, but when I was back in Missouri this summer for my grandma's funeral I heard it had been renovated and a restaurant was operating successfully there. I was pleasantly surprised.