In preparation for Holyrood’s 125th Jubilee, July 21 to 23, Carol and Don Siemsen have spent months collecting and organizing memorabilia, pictures and histories for a Holyrood history display.
Siemsen commented, “I went to the first Jubilee meeting and mentioned I thought a history display would be interesting. Someone said, go for it Don, and I was elected. People have been great bringing us histories of businesses, family histories, scrapbooks and pictures. Nothing pulls a community together like a project.”
The Siemsen name has been well known in the Holyrood area since Marcus Siemsen arrived in 1880. Marcus’s father Johnann Friedrich Siemsen arrive with his son Henry in 1882. All farmed in the Holyrood area.
Descendants of pioneers Patrick Phelan and Patrick Murray will preside as grand marshals of Holyrood’s 125th Jubilee parade on Saturday starting with a children’s parade at 9:30 a.m.
Patrick Phelan came from Holyrood, Ontario, Canada, to Kansas in 1872 building a dugout along Plum Creek northeast of present day Holyrood. His parents later joined him and both homesteaded land.
Patrick Murray was born in Ireland in 1853. He came to the United States as a youth and to Holyrood from Illinois in 1883.
The history display along with a display of quilts, made through the years by Holyrood women, will be on display in the grade school at the end of Main Street.
For times and locations of events see www.holyrood125thjubliee.com.