The small town of Newaygo

(Lest anyone be confused, the Indians to whom I referred humorously yesterday are Native Americans, misnamed by Europeans who, upon landing in the New World, thought they had reached India, the Asian sub-continent.)

Big Gambling has informed me that they are investigating the possibility that I had sold my ancestral land at the end of the last century. I had inherited a city lot in an empty block on the outskirts of Newaygo, Michigan, from my father, who had bought it in the 60s, hoping for a housing boom. One house was eventually built, and my lot is now the owner's expanded back yard.

I do not know if Newaygo is an Indian name, or simply a description of a part of a new path that someone discovered to get from one place to another (or both). I do know that my lot was originally ceded to John Ball by the U.S. government. John Ball must have been a major entrepreneur, because he had land throughout Michigan, and, in fact, donated a large portion of it in Grand Rapids for the creation of John Ball Park and Zoo.

Speaking of Indians, it has been suggested that some of my mother's ancestors may have been Gypsies. Gypsies were nomadic tribes who migrated from northern India to eastern Europe, and eventually, to North America. Some of these people reputedly have engaged in illegal behavior, but not my relatives. No, not ever. Really.

Maybe that's my Indian connection.