On a knoll in the rolling countryside west of Rogersville, Missouri sits an old family cemetery with stones dating back to early last century. The old Smith burial ground is not a bad place to sit under a sweeping shade tree in the breeze and reflect on a warm August afternoon. I found myself there this afternoon after a crowded visit to Silver Dollar City near Branson. Klep had called a distant cousin and was here to see where his Great-great Uncle Robert Mallory Klepper was buried next to his wife Sarah.
Robert, a brother of Klep's great grandfather, rode in a covered wagon from Rogersville, Tennessee when he was probably in his early twenties. Looking around at the acres of rolling farmland that surrounds the graveyard tells us that he found easier farming here than he had grown up with in the hills and hollows of Hawkins County. When he arrived in Missouri, he found a bride whose father had come from Tennessee earlier and owned all of the land that surrounded this site. In fact, it was Sterling Smith who deeded this land for a family burial place. Robert and Sarah had twelve children. One of those children was the grandfather of Art Klepper whom we were here to meet.
We had never met Cousin Art before, but he had taken his father to Rogersville years ago when he did meet some of the extended family. It didn't take long before we felt we had known him for a long time. It is always that way with family whether you've known them all your life or not.
As we sat and chatted, the fluffy white clouds drifting through the blue Missouri sky gave way slowly to the grey of an approaching thunder storm. We left our idyllic spot, drove through Rogersville and started our search for the evening's motel.
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