The Bonaparte guitarist and a friend

This is one of my favorite family photographs. Unfortunately, I have no idea who the two young men are, or for that matter if one or the other actually is family. It belongs with the Boswell family photo collection, but there's not a trace of identification on it. The only clue --- it was taken at Cummings studio in Bonaparte, one of my favorite places in the whole wide world down there along the Des Moines River in Van Buren County.

My great-great-grandparents, Peachy Gilmer and Caroline (McDaniel) Boswell, arrived in Van Buren County in 1850. Other family members had come earlier and when the 1850 arrivals had settled in, two entire generations of the Boswells (save one married daughter) had relocated to southern Iowa from Point Pleasant in Mason County, (West) Virginia.

Most of the Boswells, however, settled briefly in the Douds-Leando area, rather than near Bonaparte, then promptly packed up and headed a little west again. The branch of the family that still insists on spelling its name Bozwell stopped in Appanoose County; Peachy, Caroline and the rest of the clan were in Wayne County by 1854.

So I suppose one or the othere or both of these guys could be part of the Boswell (or Prentiss) family remnant in Van Buren County --- or might have no relationship at all. I'd sure like to know who they are, however, and why they were photographed in this companionable fashion. If you've got a clue, let me know!

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Wonderful colors in the eastern sky here this morning as the sun inched up toward the horizon --- and a high of 60 predicted. Looks like a great day. But where did the week go?

A tsunami is another of those things we don't have to worry about out here in the middle of things, and we can be grateful for that --- but mindful of those now dead or threatened by the 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan and its after effects. No guarantees so far as nature and other stuff is concerned. Live it while you've got it, I guess.