Caching Near The CG's and in Manor, TX 5/11/2010

Today was going to be a hot one so we decided just to do a few caches close to the campgrounds a little north of us. Our first cache was a virtual cache at the Decker Swedish Evangelical Cemetery. There was a historical marker that read: Among the Swedish immigrants who settled in Decker in the 1880s were many seeking freedom from the Swedish State Church. The immigrants held meetings in homes and schoolhouses, and organized the Decker Swedish Evangelical Free Church. Joseph Ek Johnson and his wife Charlotta (Mork) deeded land in 1892 on which a church building was erected and this cemetery was established. Charles Smith served as first Pastor of the church. As the congregation grew, a Sunday School and Ladies Society were added, and a parsonage built. Services were conducted in Swedish.
Drought and crop failure forced many members to leave the area and the churches in Decker and Elroy disbanded. The church building located here was later torn down. In 1923 the Swedish Evangelical Free Church was formed in Austin; it was renamed the First Evangelical Free Church of Austin in 1952.
The first recorded burial in the cemetery was that of Carl Oscar Swening in 1891. Many of the charter members of the church and their descendants are among those buried here. The church retains ownership of the site and maintains the cemetery, which continues to serve the area.
The Decker Free Church, like the nearby Decker Cemetery, illustrate the interesting pattern of immigration into the United States. Travelling from afar to a new land the immigrants sought comfort with other families from their homeland. In Texas this is evident with pockets of ethnicity that continue to leave their mark today. Germans, Czechs and Swedes are but a few examples of the many ingredients into the American mix. We got the needed information and were off to the next cache.
Next 5 caches were along the country roads in either trees or bushes or under rocks. Then there was a cache on a fence at a skeet shooting club, one on a fence at a propane distributor, 2 in a small park in Manor, TX, another one along side the road under a light skirt and the last one in a guardrail along the country road.

Then it was back to the coach to keep cool for the rest of the day. We are rethinking where we are headed next after we finish our week in Fort Worth, TX as we were headed to Oklahoma City but the recent outbreak of tornados and the nickname the city has of "tornado alley" has us a little concerned so we are kind of leery of heading that way. Well that's about it for today so until tomorrow we are thinking of everybody and we love and miss you all.