A deVivaldi Timeline

Ok, sure, it's possible we've gone just a little overboard in our pursuit of the story of this one man.  On the other hand, good research is good research, and you can just skip this post, ya know?  But don't--it gets even more interesting!
Larry and I think of  Carlos Francisco Alberto Julio Lorenzo de Vivaldi as the Forest Gump of his day--with amazing and unlikely connections to Fr Pierz, Bishop Cretin, Abraham Lincoln, Lewis & Clark, Long Prairie, St Cloud, Rome, Santos, Brazil and Patagonia.
  
Maybe it's cuz he was so different than the Heschs?

We started assembling a timeline two weeks ago when Larry found a recent book online about Francis deVivaldi's life (Author Juan Jose Kopp, who we thank immensely!)  It was published this year, in Portuguese, and thanks to google translates we were able to fill in facts about a very interesting character.
  This is so COOL! 

Birth of Francis DeVivaldi July 12, 1824 Italy

Schooling                                            1829-1847?                            Italy & France

Ordination as a Canon (a priest connected with a certain cathedral) Turin, Italy

Revolutionary agitator                          1948 Italy

Exile                                                     1849                         France

Sailed for America                              July-August, 1851  (age 27)    St Paul, Minnesota
                      
Arrived in Long Prairie, Mn                  1851?                                     Winnebago Indian mission

Fr Pierz meets Vivaldi                          1852                                     Long Prairie, Mn

Letters between Cretin & Blanc          1856                                     (Bishops of St Paul and    
                                                                                                             New Orleans)                                                                                                                                                                           

Vivaldi moves to Green Bay, Wisc.      1857                                    Meets Mary Lowe Meade  

Marriage to Mary Meade                       July 15, 1858                        Green Bay, Wisconsin

Starts newspaper                               1859                                      Manhattan, Kansas

Vivaldi naturalized                               c  1859                                 Manhattan, Ks

Birth of Corinna Alberta Vivaldi           April 18, 1859                        Wyandotte, Kansas

Possible meeting with
Joseph Whitehouse/journal                 c 1860                                  *Left journal with NYHS               

Appointed consul August, 1861                    Santos, Brazil

Angry Kansas editorials**                   Oct & Nov, 1862              Kansas newspaper

Association with Howe Sommers       1865                                    New York and Rio

Consulate term ends                          1867                                      Moves to Rio

Corinna wins a scholastic medal        1875                                      Rio de Janero, Brazil

Vivaldi leaves marriage                        May 1882

Year of repentance ***                            Jan 1883-March 1884          Casa San Carlos

Resumes priesthood                          March, 1884                          Chubut,  Patagonia mission

Birth of Vivaldo Couracy (grandson)     1882                                     Brazil

Mary deVivaldi dies                                1885                                      Rio

Appointed honorary canon                   August 1888                         Cathedral of Buenos Aires

Corinna and her dad 
begin corresponding          1888                                    Rio/Patagonia

Vivaldi goes to Rome                           August 1891                         steamship Santander

Corinna goes to USA                            1891                                   Wisc and St Cloud, Mn

Corinna dies                                         1892                                   Near New Orleans, La

Vivaldi decides not to return to SA        1892                                   Rome, Italy

Vivaldi shows up in Mn                          1892                                  St Cloud, Mn

Vivaldi travels to California                      1893                                 *Whitehouse journal sold to                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                        Gertrude Haley, supposedly

Death in Paris                                      Jan 22, 1902                       (age 78)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Joseph Whitehouse was a barely literate Kentuckian who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their expedition across the continent of North America.  While on the trip, he kept a diary of daily activities.  Larry found references to deVivaldi’s recieving a journal volumn  from him while being his “confessor” (in a book published in 1904), but that would have been when Francis was a newspaper man in Kansas, definitely NOT when he was a priest.  Still, we believe  Francis (Charles) deVivaldi was in those places at those times.  
Little is known of Joseph Whitehouse except http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/inside/jwhit.html

** The 'Angry Kansas Editorials' were two wordy newspaper diatribes Larry found at the Library of Congress website.  They were signed with initials only, but contemporary readers would have known.  We assume the writers were people who lent money to Francis, now Charles deVivaldi.

***Evidently, Francis didn't resume the priesthood lightly or effortlessly.  The Salesian priests at Casa San Carlos wondered later if the year was more a trial for them or for Vivaldi.

OK, this might actually be all we have to say on the subject...

you never know ☺ !

Remember Francis DeVivaldi?

We're always on the lookout for the rest of  any of the stories we've investigated here, right?  So, when we talked again today of the errant priest DeVivaldi, Larry did another search, and found this, from May, 1893.  I wonder if he was ever able to regain ANY of the land his daughter claimed...  
PRIEST LOSES HIS LAND.
---------------
Another Chapter in the Life of Father 
Devivaldi.
St Cloud, Minn.,May 16.--The noted case of Francis Devivaldi against Senator H.C. Waite and others, involving title to a large tract of land on the outskirts of St Cloud, has been settled by the supreme court by a decision reaffirming the order of the lower court, refusing the plaintiff an opportunity to file an answer.  Devivaldi was a priest who buried his identity in the wilds of Brazil for twenty years, and whose daughter was the wife of Avery, a prominent officer in the army of the king of that country.  Devivaldi, after having been pronounced dead for many years, unexpectedly made his appearance here and created considerable of a sensation.

Well, yes, but....

Remember how I said we'd told the de Vivaldi story, as much as we knew?  There was definitely a caveat about new old info showing up, because neither one of us can actually let something go, permanently.  Besides, once you're on the lookout for certain names and towns...well, hell, I'll just check all the names while I'm here....  

So, yes, as a matter of fact, the Master Researcher found another COOL newspaper article from February  1875  (YAY, LARRY!):

A MANHATTAN GIRL WINS A GOLD MEDAL.

The St Louis Republican has the following, under the caption of "A Kansas Girl's Success:"
"At the pre-holiday examination of students of the College of Brazil at Rio de Janerio, Miss Corrina de Vivaldi, an American girl, who claims the state of Kansas as her native heath, entered the list to compete for the gold medal which is every yeat awarded to such as have distinguished themselves during the course of studies prescribed.  She was successful; now that the school days are over, she bears the well won treasure as a souvenir of the days of her triumph.  Miss Vivaldi is the daughter of the publisher of the South American Mail, from which journal we get the above information.
Many of our citizens will remember Miss Corrina, who was born in Manhattan. Her father, Mr Vivaldi, started the Western Kansas Express in this place, the first paper published west of Topeka.  Its name was afterward changed to the Independent, then the Standard, and now the Nationalist.
Mr. Vivaldi was an educated whole souled Italian gentleman, who is kindly remembered by all the old residents, as is also his estimable wife.  In 1861, he was appointed consul to Santos, Brazil, we believe, by President Lincoln, and has resided in that country ever since.
He now publishes the South American Mail, and sometime since received the thanks of our government for his course in some matter in which the United States was interested. --Manhattan Nationalist
(From the Saline County Journal, 11 February, 1875, when Corinne was 16)

Fr Guido Sarducci

Now, of course a discussion took place about what actors we'd cast for each of the main parts of the de Vivaldi story when it's made into a movie.  (Charles) Francis has to be portrayed by a handsome charmer...someone who's able to snow Bishop Cretin, manage to get people to send him gobs of cash, romance a rich widow AND convince the world that giving up the priesthood for love is truly torture.

Mature Robert de Niro

No, the most obvious candidates aren't always the best.  (On the other hand, this is our movie, so we can nominate any actor at any age).  

BTW, Larry thinks a cameo by Anthony Hopkins as cranky Archbishop Blanc of New Orleans would be cool, and maybe Peter Lorre as Bishop Cretin?  I'd cast Robert de Niro, I think, for Francis partly because he was in the Godfather, so he's already got Italian street cred...lol

We're taking suggestions for all the parts, ok?

de Vivaldi-The REST of the Story

It's interesting that we get all worked up, here in 2011, about fact-checking before an  article or story is published.  In 1892, 'close' was good enough.  Names might not be spelled consistently even in the very same article...like this, from the Milwaukee Sentinel (found on the Wisconsin Historical Society website. They have a fantastic collection!).
These two articles► appeared in May 1892. The first column there is basically the original one Larry found from the St Cloud Times, only fleshed out a little.  The second part is what I transcribed so it's easier to read, and so it's translatable:

(Milwaukee Sentinel May 30, 1892)

MME. DE COURCY'S SUIT

 __________________

Claim on Property Once Owned by Father De Vivaldi.

 _________________

ROMANTIC STORY ATTACHED TO A MILWAUKEE CASE.

 __________________

Interest in an Action Against A.W. Patton of Appleton Begun in the in the United States Circuit Court Here, Revived by the Return of Father De Vivaldi to This Country--Mme. De Courcy, his Daughter, Has Believed the Missionary-Diplomat Dead.

 __________________

The return of Father de Vivaldi to the United States, which was noted in the dispatch to the Sentinel some days ago may have an important bearing in a case which is now pending in the United States Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.  It is the suit of Corinne De Vivaldini de Courcy against A.W. Patton of Appleton, in which she claims the ownership of valuable land near that city, including a tract on which a paper mill is located.  Her claim is based on the descent of the property to her from Mrs. Meade of Green Bay.  The latter was Mme. de Courcy's mother, and according to the complaint was the original owner of the property claimed in the suit.
THEIR ROMANTIC MARRIAGE.
Mrs. Meade was the widow of a pioneer resident of Green Bay.  Some time about 1849, Father De Vivaldi, a Benedictine missionary, came to that city.  He fell in love with Mrs. Meade and his attachment was reciprocated.  In 1850 he renounced the priesthood and married the widow.  Mrs. Meade was a wealthy woman and she and her second husband acquired the title to a great deal of real estate in various parts of the country.  One child was born to the strangely-matched couple--a girl they named Corinne, and it is this daughter who is now the plaintiff in the lawsuits.The ex-priest prospered and soon after his marriage, he and his family removed to Nebraska.  He was appointed by President Lincoln minister to Brazil.  His wife and child accompanied him to South America and after the expiration of De Vivaldini's term of office the family made their home in Rio Janeiro.  Soon after the close of his term as minister, De Vivaldini separated from his wife and retired to a monastery.  Afterwards he was reinstated as a missionary.  For nearly twenty-five years the family was not heard of.  The name of De Vivaldini had nearly been forgotten, when about two years ago "the little girl Corinne," as she was known to the early settlers of Wisconsin, returned to the United States a woman and declared herself the heir to the estate of Father De Vivaldidi and his wife.  She had been married in Brazil to the Marquis de Courcy.  Much of the property claimed by Mme. de Courcy has passed into other hands and suits were brought to recover the land.  It was one of these actions which was begun against Mr. Patton.  Legal steps were also taken to recover property in Minneapolis and from the fact that she had his estates probated it is believed that Mme. de Courcy believed her father dead.  But little can be learned in regard to Father De Vivaldini's career after he left his wife, but a dispatch states that he has been acting as a missionary to the Indians of Patagonia.  The fact of his reappearance, however, gives an additional interest to the suits.  A motion in the case against Mr. Patton will be argued in the United States court here shortly, and it is possible Father De Vivaldini may visit Milwaukee at that time.

LOL...lots of mistakes beyond misspelled names and wrong dates.  "The little girl Corinne" would have been known to only 2-3 'early settlers' of Wisconsin since she was born in Kansas, not Wisconsin, or Nebraska. 

Still, the amazing re-appearance of Francis de Vivaldi had to be stunning.  

Reading the articles Larry's found, we think Corinne never actually showed up in Minnesota or Wisconsin.  An "enterprising lawyer" from St Cloud tracked her down and convinced her to bring suit, thru him.  

How do we know she wasn't here?  Because her bio published in a Brazilian "Who's Who" of the time says

Corina Coaracy " was brilliant student and graduated with gold medal in 1874. To complete the education she received in college, she studied languages, literature, painting, music and song. Corina was endowed with a beautiful mezzo-soprano voice and for this reason was  frequently invited to participate in benefit concerts, many performed in promote the abolitionist campaign".   "In 1891 she returned to the United States, to address family concerns.....She was taken ill in New York and the medical advice she moved to southern country, where he died of cerebral embolism on March 23, 1892, in a village near New Orleans".

Mysteries still outstanding are whatever came of the lawsuits, and how and where did Father de Vivaldi die.

Wasn't this whole investigation COOL?

We're nearly done with de Vivaldi....

Yup, you could say we here at Hesch History Headquarters are absolutely delighted by our ability to follow a story all OVER the internet.  From an obscure article reprint, two middle-aged OCD historians have brought a whole family back to life.  Even worse, Larry and I just KNOW you're as interested as we are!

These days, leaving the priesthood is probably pretty complicated, but in 1858, I assume you could pretty much write your own script, especially if you were as much of a "loose canon" (sorry! ☺) as Francis was).

(Canon: a member of the clergy who is on the staff of a cathedral, esp. one who is a member of the chapter. The position is frequently conferred as an honorary one. [I suspect it was also used when "Father" was uncertain.  We really don't know if de Vivaldi was part of an order.  In any event, Canon de Vivaldi sounds classier].)

And, if you were already on a less-than-spiritual path, just taking the collar off would do it, while putting it back on would reinstate you later.  Anyway,  true love with an heiress was sweet for Francis, who bought even more land in Wisconsin in his own name, not for Piopolis.

These are only some of the land records we found on Ancestry since he also registered purchases as Chas. F. de Vivaldi and as Signor de Vivaldi, tho that was more in Kansas and Missouri.

OK, it probably wasn't too comfortable being an ex-priest married to the most eligible widow in town, so they moved.  We find them next in Manhattan, Kansas, of all places, where Charles de Vivaldi starts the first newspaper in town in 1859.  Yay, Charles! 

 He and his family show up in the 1860 census in Riley Co, Kansas, town of Manhattan.  By November of 1862, however, a two + column editorial was posted under these 8 inches of snotty  highlights about de Vivaldi, and how angry this citizen was about being fleeced by him.   He'd been begging for money from friends and investors, saying he was destitute.  They raised money to keep the paper going, and watched Vivaldi loose that too.  Evidently, it was always due to circumstances beyond his control.

In an effort to leave Kansas with dignity, after "single handedly" raising thousands of votes for Abraham Lincoln's platform, Charles F de Vivaldi wanted the President  to appoint him ambassador to Genoa, Italy.  It would have been a triumphant homecoming, for sure, but that position was taken.  Remember, the Civil War was raging at this time, and still de Vivaldi went to Washington 2 or 3 times to lobby for a consular position.  Perhaps in an effort to get rid of him, he was awarded the position of consul to Santos, Brazil, for a term ending in 1867.

He, Mary and Corinne moved to Rio de Jainero, Brazil, along with Mary's brother, who was appointed vice-consul.

We assume Chuck only wanted the position in Italy, and Rio wasn't even a consolation prize.  It wasn't long before he was planning another re-invention of himself.  

He decided somehow that he truly wanted to be a missionary after all.  He left his wife and daughter (no divorce) and landed in a monastery in Patagonia, which is the southern tip of the South American continent.  He stayed there, incredibly, for 25 years, from about 1868 to when he re-surfaced as a priest/missionary in 1892.  And even MORE incredible, Larry found this photo for sale on Canadian ebay:

Ok, only ONE MORE post about this, but someday someone will be really EXCITED to find the history of their family here...honest!

The OTHER Vivaldi

As a break, here's Summer from Vivaldi's Four Seasons.  It's a sort of prelude to the rest of de Vivaldi's story.

Who was Francis de Vivaldi? Chapter secundo

Larry found that Carlos Francisco Alberto Julio Lorenzo de Vivaldi was born 12 July 1824 in Sardinia, Italy.  By the time he started causing trouble in Minnesota 30 years later, America was on the cusp of Civil War.  At the time, there was a political faction called the Know Nothings:

The Know Nothing movement was a nativist American political movement of the 1840s and 1850s. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by [Italian,] German and Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to Anglo-Saxon Protestant values and controlled by the Pope in Rome. Mainly active from 1854 to 1856, it strove to curb immigration and naturalization, though its efforts met with little success. Membership was limited to Protestant males of British lineage over the age of twenty-one.....
The origin of the "Know Nothing" term was in the semi-secret organization of the party. When a member was asked about its activities, he was supposed to reply, "I know nothing."

 Turns out that as Canon de Vivaldi was laboring among the Indians in Long Prairie, he was asked by Italian Americans around Lexington, Kentucky to find and purchase land they could move to.  The Know Nothings were being particularly obnoxious and de Vivaldi's countrymen just wanted to live in peace.  Their mistake was sending money to de Vivaldi.  He realized they would send more if he encouraged them, of course.  He even named the town-site he said he bought for them--Piopolis, a sure winner of a name.

◄These three excerpts about the failure of Father de Vivaldi's  Piopolis are from a 1939 book called Catholic Immigrant Colonization Projects in the United States, 1815-1860 .  Click each section to enlarge...they're interesting, and this is where Green Bay is mentioned....

Amazingly, there's a Notre Dame website online with explanations of historic letters that were sent between Bishops and clergy back then.  

Here's just some of what Bishop Cretin had to say about Francis de Vivaldi, in the spring of 1856, in a letter to Archbishop Anthony Blanc in New Orleans:

...............

Cretin is surprised that his letter had not reached Vivaldi by the date of (Blanc)'s last letter. Cretin does not doubt that (Blanc)'s charity has enabled him to see in Vivaldi only his good qualities. But it is impossible to talk with him for a few days without exposing his vanity, his eccentric ideas, his falseness under a veil of piety. Vivaldi has compromised forever, by his imprudent conduct, Catholic missions among Indians. It is certain that they can no longer expect the support of the government. Cretin's last efforts at Washington have failed. The Minnesota representative whom de Vivaldi openly opposed in spite of Cretin's forbidding it, will always bear a grudge against him because of his ingratitude; he can no longer appear in those regions. His pompous announcements about Piopolis has made many enemies because of the deceits of which they are the victims. The young lawyer who lived on the lands had to flee for fear of being beaten(?) by the people who came 2 or 300 miles to settle at Piopolis and found only a hut, woods, and swamps. He ceded all his rights to Cretin, who did not accept. Every day reveals new debts. He borrowed $800 secretly from one of their neighbors who now is demanding it of Cretin. As soon as he has gathered together everything needed to pay his debts of around $5000 he will have to turn over to Cretin his letters of credit or Cretin will report him in the newspapers as a man unworthy of confidence. Cretin has just learned from Archbishop (Louis) Franzoni, of Turin, who ordained him[ de Vivaldi], that the canon is unworthy of esteem.

................

Whew.  de Vivaldi understood by now that missionary work would pretty much keep him nickel-dimeing in obscurity, which he obviously didn't want.  In Wisconsin, he found a rich heiress who happened to be a widow, and suddenly, LOVE tore him away from his vocation laboring in God's vineyard. 

 He had other things to pick, now.... 

(More tomorrow, ok?)

Who was Francis de Vivaldi?

On Thursday, Larry found an intriguing article from the St Cloud Times, reprinted in the Topeka, Kansas newspaper in May, 1892:

The Globe-Republican

Dodge City, Kansas

13 June 1892 p. 2

_________________

Topeka Capital: A St Cloud (Minn.) dispatch of the 24th ult. contains an account of Francis De Vivaldi, a missionary priest, who abandoned his profession more than 30 years ago, married, went west, disappeared for twenty-five years, and recently appeared in Minnesota, again a priest.  This person was undoubtedly our Kansas Charles F. De Vivaldi, who in May, 1859, established the Western Kansas Express, the first newspaper published at Manhattan.  De Vivaldi became active in free state politics in Kansas, and in 1861, having secured the endorsement of our leading public men, obtained the appointment of United States consul at Santos, Brazil.  He gave up his Manhattan newspaper to Hon. James Humphrey, who continued the publication.  De Vivaldi's name appears on the United Stated official register as holding the position of consul up to the year of 1867, and as having been appointed from Kansas.

Well!  Who wouldn't follow up on something like that?  Someone in Kansas remembered the name when they saw it come across the wire, since it IS a fairly unusual name.  As we traced de Vivaldi online, it's startling that through all his long and interesting life, he didn't use an alias that we know of. (On the other hand, if he did use an alias, HOW would we know?) I suppose he needed to hold onto the "noble Italian birth" story, and it wouldn't work without the name:  

Princeton newspaper 26 May 1892

__________________________

HE WAS NOT DEAD

------------------

Francis de Vivaldi, Believed to Be Dead, Suddenly Returns to St Cloud

-----------------

Was Formerly a Catholic Priest and His Career is Tinted With Romance.

-----------------

St Cloud, Minn, Special, May 24-- There is a name on the register of the West hotel in this city to-day that hides a romance.  Francis de Vivaldi is a younger son of a noble Italian family who wandered years ago to the American frontier as a Catholic priest and was stationed in this county for a time.  Later he went to Wisconsin, married and renounced the priesthood, and then went to South America.  He had one daughter by his marriage, and after going to Brazil he suddenly disappeared.  Years passed and he was supposed to be dead, and his widow married again, her husband becoming secretary of war of Brazil under the emperor Dom Pedro.  Later the wife died leaving the child known as Corinne de Vivaldi Coaracy and so the family history might have closed but for a forty-acre tract of land which is now in the eastern limits of the city of St Cloud and which was once owned by de Vivaldi.  He was supposed to have deeded it to Father Pierz of the Benedictine order and the Hon. H.C.Waite of this city bought it in 1880 from the order for $500.  The deed, however, was never put on record; it was lost and Father Pierz was dead, and an enterprising lawyer, the land having become quite valuable, hunted up the daughter and a suit was brought in her name to recover the land.  It has been in litigation for two years now and tried in the courts always under the supposition that de Vivaldi, who disappeared so many years ago, was dead.  Absolutely nothing had been heard of him until to-day he reappears in the flesh and registers at the West.  Old friends here remember him, and it is said that he has been all these years in a monastery in Patagonia.  What his action in the case will be no one knows.

Ok, so he showed up in St Cloud.  What connection besides the land did he have in this area?  It's a fascinating story that Larry and I think has probably never been pulled together before.  Each community who dealt with de Vivaldi was just happy to see him leave, it seems, starting with Bishop Cretin, the first Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of St Paul, Minnesota.

Evidently, Cretin and de Vivaldi arrived on the same immigrant ship from Europe in 1851.  Cretin was heading to his assignment to be Bishop, and de Vivaldi was a young priest who impressed Cretin with his devotion and charm.

Still, wouldn't the name Vivaldi have had more currency in Europe than in America?  Years earlier, yes, but this was after the 1848 revolution that changed laws and hierarchy in most of Europe, and with revolution, 'nobility' became a liability.

So Cretin assigned his young friend to a position as a missionary to the Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) Indians in Long Prairie, west of Little Falls, Minnesota.

Benign, right?  But evidently, Francis began running up bills locally and charging them to Bishop Cretin, who was not happy about it.  $5000 was $5000, ya know?

  (BTW, de Vivaldi couldn't have started an order of nuns before he arrived here in 1851.  1847 is wrong, but could very well be information he provided!)

OK, that's the first part of the story...to be continued.

August 2014---a little more background:

1846!
  Paul HESCH was born in Oberschlagles, Bohemia that year.  Here in Minnesota, the Long Prairie Reservation already existed, tho Charles deVivaldi wouldn't arrive for another five years.  Minnesota itself wasn't a state till 1858. There was no Morrison county yet, or very few towns we'd recognize either.  But see the lowest corner of the reservation on the map?  That would become Sartell, eventually, where Peter SAND settled. 

 I tried to find another corresponding map that was also marked with the series of rapids on the Mississippi so I could tell where the future town of 
Little Falls would be.  
They weren't as particular then, evidently, but you get the idea.

Quite a difference in ten years, huh?

Here's this whole map on the Davis Rumsey Historical Map Collection website.

"You're still not skeptical enough"

Wow, do we ever have a great historical story for you!  It involves Ho-Chunk Indians, central Minnesota, Patagonia, the Civil War era Know Nothing party, Italians, newspapers, and Brazil, among other things.  There's deceit, the government and a married priest, and MYSTERY.
Woohoo.

First, lets begin with Patagonia. No, not the outdoor gear company, but the area of South America called Patagonia.

That would be Patagonia ►
☺ 

And ◄ Long Prairie, Minnesota--also integral to this story.  Not to mention St Cloud, in 1892.  

And since we're posting maps, the Green Bay area of Wisconsin is involved, as well as the eastern portion of Kansas.  

( Green Bay was the romantic high point of our story, and Menasha, Wisconsin (see it there?) was also mentioned in our research, so it's cool to realize where those towns are...)


Now KANSAS on the other hand--the town of Manhattan--is a big part of the story, and it gets even MORE exciting, promise!

Oh, and even THIS is part of the story...

...to be posted tomorrow!