Leaving a Mark

•March 19, 2025•

by Janet Roney

My husband hates cockleburs, Canadian thistles, and his latest bane of existence, water hemp. His grandfather, who farmed before herbicides, left him clean fields. When he rented his farm to us, his only instructions were, “Just leave it better than you found it.”

Once in a while, a wilted weed, roots and all, appears on the office desktop awaiting identification. One recent specimen turned out to have a very sinister history. It was white snakeroot. If a cow eats snakeroot, it poisons her milk. Milk sickness killed many pioneers and their children, including three siblings of Roger’s great grandfather.  

Finding snakeroot made me think about one of the mysteries noted on Isaac Hill’s map. Who were the four men whose bones were found in an old house along Shoal Creek, and what killed them?

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