Jessica Nemitz, 19, has plenty of motherly advice to tap as she raises her 9-month-old daughter, Lexi.

The single mom lives with her grandmother, Darlene Okey, 55, in Cassville, Wis. Her mother, Lori Nemitz, 36, and great-grandmother, Etola Johansen, 74, each live only blocks away.

"Oh yes, they give lots of advice," Jessica Nemitz said as she patted her daughter during a recent family gathering.

"Mine is, 'Don't have children before you're 21,'" her mother said dryly.

The women were visiting Bena Turner, 94, Lexi's great-great-great-great-grandmother at Ennoble Manor, a Dubuque nursing home. Turner lived on her own in Cassville until a stroke incapacitated her two years ago.

Her eyes light up when she recognizes a visitor and especially when she watches Lexi, who crawls and smiles a lot.

The women are proud of the connection of five generations living in the same town. Turner would still be there, too, if Cassville had its own nursing home. The family chose Ennoble because Turner also has a daughter and son who live in Dubuque.

Part of the family history that Lexi will learn some day is that her great-great-great-great-grandfather, Ben Hurst, was a Civil War veteran who worked for Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and once shook Lincoln's hand.

"He was an aid to Grant, polished his brass buckles and so on." Johansen said. "And back in 1850, he went out West in a covered wagon to look for gold."

Like the characters in the novel, "The Oldest Living Confederate War Widow Tells All," Hurst was an old man when he married a teenage bride. Johansen said Turner's father was 75 when she was born; her mother, Edith was 19. Two more children followed.

"In those days, a man with 40 acres was considered a rich man and a good match for your daughter," Johansen said.

Turner has four children, 13 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, 23 great-greats and Lexi. At least, that's what her offspring recollect with some debate and without a family tree or a calculator handy.

Among these direct descendants, Johansen has four children, Okey has five and Lori Nemitz has three.

All five women are or have been mothers who worked outside the home.

Turner worked at the former Dubuque Packing Co until she was forced to retire at age 65. Johansen worked there, too, and now cleans at a motel in Cassville. Okey works at Rapid Die and Molding, Lori Nemitz at Okey's Store and Jessica Nemitz at the IOCO station, all in Cassville.

The women expected to celebrate Mother's Day as they usually do. They'll go to Okey's house "and make her cook".