Fans of the “Leora stories” have already been traveling to see where some of the stories took place, or to find places connected with the Clabe and Leora Wilson and their family. Here’s some help with places in Guthrie County, Iowa. (I wish I could capture better maps for you!)
Rural Guthrie County
Frog Pond School
Windy Gap
Guthrie Center
The Guthrie Center Christian Church
The Guthrie Center Christian Church, where Laura Goff “learned to vote,” now houses the bell from the Monteith Church. Both Laura and daughter Leora worshiped there for decades. Address: 105 N 4th Street, Guthrie Center 50115
Home of Leora (Goff) Wilson and her mother Laura (Jordan) Goff
Address: 515 N. Fourth Street, Guthrie Center, 50115. It’s been remodeled and enlarged so it’s no longer recognizable as the little two-bedroom home of the widowed ladies.
Guthrie Center Cemetery
Leora’s folks, Sherd and Laura Goff, are buried there, as are Leora’s sister Georgia and brothers Rolla and Perry. Leora’s sister-in-law, who died of mumps when her baby boy was four days old (see page ) is buried there, as are the three Wilson infants who died at Dexter between 1929 and 1931. There is a stone there for Leora’s youngest brother, Virgil Cleon, but he is actually buried at Audubon.
The cemetery is east of the downtown area, on the north side of Highway 44. The Goff burial plot is at the east end of the cemetery, partway into the cemetery.
Panora
The house where Georgia Wilson lived with Fonnie and Verna before WWII still stands at 105 W. Lane, Panora, IA 50216. The house is in the 1914 photo of Clabe and Leora with their horse and wagon on the cover of Leora’s Early Years: Guthrie County Roots.
Morrisburg Church
Georgia Wilson attended church there. Address: 2676 Wagon Rd, Stuart, IA 50250
P28 (or Wagon Road) runs south from Panora to Stuart.
Morrisburg Cemetery
The cemetery is along the Highway P28 (Wagon Road) south of the church. Clabe Wilson’s mother, Georgia, is buried here, as well as her folks, two sisters, grandparents, and many more Williams relatives. Her grandparents’ stone is located on the left as you drive in from the entrance.
Monteith
Cemetery
Located just west of the town, Leora’s Jordan, Moore, and Branson ancestors are buried in the area north of the road.
Stuart
Depot
Please check local libraries for copies of Leora’s Early Years: Guthrie County Roots. I hope high school students will enjoy the short chapters in this book!