Family members of Charles and Lydia Sigourney visit 175 Celebration

SIGOURNEY- The Sigourney 175^th celebration was a time of marking an important milestone, fellowshipping with many different current and former residents, and reflecting on the community’s past. However, one particular couple at the celebration was able to tell an unique story about their family heritage.

Lisa Kadwell Sigourney, and her husband Steve, visited Sigourney’s 175^th celebration this past week. Her last name of Sigourney is not simply a coincidence; it comes directly from the woman who Sigourney is named after.

“We are in direct lineage to Lydia. She was married to Charles Sigourney,” Kadwell said.

Lydia Sigourney was a popular American poet and writer in the 1800s. In 1844, when Sigourney was founded, the community derived its’ name directly from Lydia. Kadwell said that her family came to this realization around the time of the 125^th Anniversary celebration in 1969. At that time, the family found Sigourney on a map and made the long drive from Michigan to Iowa to take part in the community’s celebration.

“I was a year-and-a-half old,” Lisa recalls. “It was just that they had found Sigourney Iowa on the map and decided to come visit,” she also said.

While Lisa was too young at that time to remember, she has many pictures and other memorabilia to remember the celebration. She and her family were also featured in the Sigourney News-Review shortly after the 125^th celebration, in a picture outside of the time vault that was laid during that celebration. Since that time, Lisa has been back to the community a couple of times, including for this year’s 175^th celebration. The only other time Lisa was back was in 2008, when her father, George, wanted to come back to Sigourney as a dying wish. Driving 12 hours from Michigan with her husband, mother, and son, Lisa and her family made that wish a reality.

For more information on this story and others, catch the July 10 edition of the News-Review.