We stayed at the Possum Creek campsite. We walked around the lake, did our best to avoid ticks and other bugs, and had a good dinner over the fire.
Happy to be out of the car and ready to be camping!
This kid loves his blue Gatorade.
The only downside was, like last year, we were pestered by a rascally raccoon. The guy was out digging in our trashcan all night long. Incredibly obnoxious and it made it very difficult to get decent sleep, but eventually I was able to pass out.
The next morning, we headed to Miamisburg. Before visiting our cousin Bill Napier, we stopped at the Miamisburg Mound.
Per OhioHistory.org [https://www.ohiohistory.org/visit/museum-and-site-locator/miamisburg-mound]:
"Miamisburg Mound is one of the two largest conical mounds in eastern North America. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the mound is 65 feet tall and 800 feet in circumference and contains 54,000 cubic yards of earth. The mound is visible from several miles away because it stands atop a 100 foot high ridge above the Great Miami River. ... Excavations conducted in 1869 revealed details of construction suggesting the Adena culture (800 B.C. to A.D. 100) built the mound in several stages. The excavators found a layer of flat stones overlapping like shingles on a roof at a depth of 24 feet below the surface."
Elliott was fascinated by the remains of a dead snake we saw. It must have gotten caught up in the wire and was unable to escape.
Next, we went to visit our cousin Bill Napier. His father was Morgan Napier, son of Patrick Carl Napier. Patrick was the youngest brother of Phoebe Napier, my 3rd great grandmother. They grew up in Breathitt County, Kentucky, the children of Patrick Napier and Rhoda Campbell. She left for Arkansas in the 1890s. Bill knows a lot of the old Napier stories, and he was the one that told me that Phoebe left her children with Napier relatives who never sent them to Arkansas at her request. He also helped me work out the mystery of a close Napier cousin who showed up in my greandfather's DNA matches. He has been a tremendous help to me.
Bill has been really into fossils and arrowheads for many years. He had huge displays of arrowheads he had found over the years, and boxes of fossils he had dug up. He used to give talks about fossils at the local schools, and he taught Elliott a lot. Elliott could not get enough of looking through all the boxes of rocks and fossils.
In addition to talking about fossils and arrowheads, we did, of course, get to discuss genealogy. We talked about a number of Napier connections, and he shared a lot of great stories and information with me. He also had some excelled pictures that I was glad to copy.
Brothers William, Morgan, and Robert Napier - Sons of Patrick Carl Napier
Home of Patrick Carl Napier
Sally, Emma, Mamie, and Malvina Brandenburg Napier. Daughters and 2nd wife of Patrick C. Napier, respectively.
William Napier (1861-1957), son of Patrick P. and Rhoda Campbell Napier, brother of Phoebe and Patrick C. Napier
Bill Napier & Elliott Marks, 2nd cousins 4 times removed
After teaching him a bunch about fossils and arrowheads, and spoiling him to death with his own small tub of fossils and an arrowhead to keep, Elliott and Bill had become good buddies. We really enjoyed talking with Bill and we hope to visit him again in the future.
Then we completely switched gears as far as families go. The Napiers were from my father's side, and now we were looking into ancestors on my mother's side. We had a drive of just under an hour to the Bethel Lane Cemetery due south of Wilmington, Ohio. Our Conner family and their allied Robinette family lived in this vicinity and other nearby locales for several generations starting around the 1830s when they arrived from Maryland. By the early 1900s, the last of our immediate aunts and uncles had died or moved from the area, but some cousins did remain in and around Clinton County.
The bulk of our information on my Conner-Robinette forebears comes from a biographical sketch published about them while they were still alive. They were interviewed along with some of the other oldest married couples in the county by the local newspaper in an apparent tribute to their longevity.
14 Nov 1867
“The ‘Old Folks’ of Clinton County.
JACOB CONNER and wife. The names of six pairs of married persons still living in Clinton county, each of whom is over the age of 80 years, and each man living with his first wife, and each woman having her first husband, were published in the last number of the Republican. That list, at the time, was believed to be complete. It was not so, however, for another such pair is Jacob Conner, Sen., and wife.
Mr. Conner, was born on the Shenandoah river, in York county, Pennsylvania, on September 18, 1778. He is now, therefore, in the ninetieth year of his age. When in his fifth year he was taken by his parents, Thomas Conner, and Elizabeth, his wife, (formerly Morton) to Hagerstown, Washington County, Maryland. He continued to live there until he was in his fifteenth year, when the family moved to Alleghany county, in the same State, taking him along. There he grew up to manhood. On the 29th of November, 1801, he was married in that county to Mary Robinett. In 1814 he returned to Washington county to reside, and continued to live there until 1833. On the 15th of September, of that year, he commenced his removal to the West, and on the 4th day of October following, landed in Clinton county. Soon after, he purchased a farm in Washington township, on the road from Wilmington to Martinsville. His purchase was made of Thomas Gibson, grandfather to Thomas Gibson Haws and James Haws, of the Starbuck neighborhood. Twenty-two years later he sold the farm, and relinquished the business of farming. He now resides with his married daughter Mary, wife of William Colvin, about two miles North-east of Antioch, in Green township.
MARY CONNER, his wife, daughter of George Robinett, and Sally, his wife, formerly Sally Dazier, was born near “Old Fort Cumberland”, now town of Cumberland, in Alleghany county in the state of Maryland, on the 22nd day of March, 1786. She is consequently in the 82nd year of her age. Since her marriage in 1801, as previously stated, her residence of course has been the same as her husband, and it need not therefore be again repeated here."
Mary's father, Captain George Robinette, is an interesting character himself, though he did not live in Ohio. A house he built still stands today, and I'd like to visit it one of these days; it is called the Messick Log House.
Per the Maryland Historical Trust Inventory Form for State Historic Sites Survey: "The Messick House was constructed in the late 18th century by Capt. George Robinette, an early settler of the Flintstone area. Although it has been covered with novelty siding, the house is a striking
example of a log mansion with a massive outside end chimney constructed of slate. The house is in good condition and is an excellent example of an early dwelling in Allegany County." [https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Allegany/AL-II-A-066.pdf]
Messick House - Early 1900s - Flintstone, Maryland
That house has nothing to do with my trip to Ohio, but I just think it's so cool and I really hope to get to visit one day.
We descend from Jacob and Mary's son, Moses Conner, who first married Margaret How(e). They had three children before Margaret died. Moses would remarry and move to Iowa in the 1850s, taking his daughter Mary Louise Conner with him. There she met my 3rd great grandfather William Thomas Jay, and the two of them would have a large family in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and eventually Guthrie, Oklahoma.
Bethel Lane Cemetery near Morrisville was the first of two cemeteries I wished to visit. The cemetery lies next to the spot where the Bethel Church once stood. Based on Clinton County history, there were apparently two churches by this name, this one in Washington Township, and another in Richland Township. I have not been able to find much on the one that used to sit next to the Bethel Lane Cemetery, but I did find enough to tell me I needed to visit the spot.
History of Clinton County, Ohio: Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families
B. F. Bowen, 1915
Page 615:
"JACOB NEWTON COLVIN - ...Jacob Newton Colvin was born on a farm in Green township, Clinton county, Ohio, April 22, 1854, son of William and Mary (Conner) Colvin ... daughter of Jacob and Mary (Robnett) [sic] Conner, both natives of Maryland, who came to this county at an early day and located in Washington township, being among the earliest settlers of that section of the county. Jacob Conner owned a farm of eighty acres, a corner of which he gave as a site for Bethel church, upon the organization of that church, the church still standing on the spot donated by him. Late in life Jacob Conner moved to the village of New Antioch, where his last days were spent."
So once I arrived at the cemetery, I knew I was standing on land previously owned by Jacob Conner, my 5th great grandfather. The church is gone, but the open space next to the cemetery shows clear signs of previously having a structure upon it.
The cemetery is pretty small; Find A Grave lists only 155 burials, but I'd say maybe only 3/4 of that are marked graves. Some names probably came from previous surveys or family records, and the stones have been lost. I found several were illegible, and pieces of others that indicate there were probably a good number more graves here at one point but they are gone now. Based on my family's connection and proximity to the cemetery, I figure there could be a number of family burials there we don't know about in addition to the ones we do.
We do not know where my 4th great grandmother, Margaret How(e) Conner, is buried. She died about 1843 (daughter Leah's obituary states her mother died when she was three years old) and the family was probably still in this vicinity at that time. They could have taken her over into Fayette County where the Howes and Moons are buried (that cemetery will be discussed later in this post), or buried her elsewhere depending on where exactly they were living, but I'd say smart money is on her being buried here at Bethel Lane. Unfortunately, I have no proof of this assumption. And while Jacob Conner reportedly had several children that died in infancy or as young children, they appear to have all died in Maryland before the family relocated to Clinton County.
We do know that another Jacob Conner, believed to be our Jacob's nephew, is buried here. This younger Jacob (1801-1874) was the son of Patrick Conner, and it is believed that Patrick was our Jacob's older brother that died during the War of 1812. Records show that was wounded in action at the Battle of Bridgewater (Lundy's Lane) in Canada on July 25, 1814. He reportedly died of his wounds while being transported back to the United States, possibly near Buffalo, New York.
Numerous Conners are buried at Bethel Lane, most of them connected to the younger Jacob. However, our uncle David Conner, son of the elder Jacob, is supposed to be buried here as well. He died in 1895, and according to a previous survey of the cemetery, there was a stone for him at one point. However, it has not been located, and I looked at every legible (and illegible) grave I could see and could not find David. There are marked graves for his son David, second wife Caroline, and daughter Samantha. There are supposed to be graves (but have not been found/photographed) for his daughter Angelic and son Peter, a Civil War soldier who we have military burial records for proving he was buried at Bethel.
The younger Jacob's mother, Mary Ann "Polly" Lanham Conner, wife of Patrick, is also supposed to be buried here, but no stone for her was found. I did find the younger Jacob's stone in bad condition. His wife's Susannah White Conner's stone was nearby and in good condition, but I neglected to photograph it. Another daughter of Patrick Conner, Elizabeth Conner Stotler, is also buried here.
Mary Robinette Conner's brother Joseph "Jose" Robinette and his wife, Mary Ann Conner Robinette. are also supposed to be buried here, but neither of their stones have been found. Mary Ann was another child of Patrick Conner, and therefore sister to the younger Jacob Conner. I did find Joseph's and Mary Ann's son Thomas's headstone, and there were stone remains nearby that may have once been the memorials for his parents.
The last grave I was looking for was for my uncle, William Haynie, husband of Sophia Conner. Find A Grave had him listed as a burial at Bethel, but I had an index of the New Antioch Cemetery indicating he was buried there. I scoured the cemetery for his grave, but did not find it. I did find other Haynies, but not him. So I assumed the index I had was correct, and since New Antioch Cemetery was my next stop, I knew I would need to look for him there.
As referenced in the above biographical sketch, Jacob Conner spent the last years of his life in New Antioch, a small village east of Wilmington.
Cool old house I spotted as we drove into town.
The New Antioch Cemetery was easy to find and a pleasant sight. Midwestern cemeteries are laid out differently than southern ones. I'm not sure how to describe it, but there's a different aesthetic to these cemeteries than the ones I've frequented in Oklahoma and Arkansas. This one sits outside the New Antioch church. It's designed to look like an older building than I imagine it truly is. I doubt it is the same building my Conners would have gone to church in back in the day, but it's well-kept and appears to be regularly attended.
The cemetery is quite large and divided into an old section and a newer section. The gate opening from the parking lot between the church and the cemetery opens up into the old section. I expected to have to hunt a while to find my folks, though having seen pictures of the Jacob and Mary Conner stones I had an idea of what it looked like. Fortunately for me, I had to take but just a few steps before I found them.
Almost directly in front of me after walking through the gate was the main stone were the main graves I'd come to pay my respects to.
Mary Robinette Conner
Jacob Conner
Even more fortunate for me--I found the graves of several other relatives in the same row and in the immediate vicinity of these stones. In fact, I saved so much time not hunting for all these stones, I ended up going around and taking 40-50 pictures of other stones to add to Find A Grave later on.
James H. Colvin, son of William and Mary Conner Colvin. Mary was a daughter of Jacob & Mary Robinette Conner.
William N. Haynie, husband of Sophia Conner Haynie, daughter of Jacob & Mary. This is the grave I had been looking for at Bethel, and his proves that he is in fact buried here rather than Bethel.
Sophia Conner Haynie, daughter of Jacob & Mary.
Immediately to the left of the Conners' stone is a non-relative, but then James's, William Haynie's, and Sophia's are all in a row.
William Colvin, husband of Mary Conner Colvin. His stone is in the row immediately behind the Conner row.
This shows how the family's stones are arranged. I believe the broken stone on the end, as labelled above, is the stone of Mary Conner Colvin, who was living in New Antioch when she died, but for whom a marked stone has not been discovered.
I believe this is what remains of what would have been Mary Conner Colvin's stone.
The only two stones I could not find that I was looking for were for two infant Colvin children: David and John. I found out later that they are in another part of the cemetery I never reached, in the far back end of the old section. I just never made it back that far and will have to find them next time I visit.
We next headed to Wilmington and the Clinton County Historical Museum. It was after hours, but we had pre-arranged for someone to let us in to look in the library, and there ended up being a number of volunteers there. It's a very nice museum and library, and I was able to find some great information I didn't have before, and some awesome pictures.
I didn't take a good enough picture of it myself, so this is from the museum website [https://clintoncountyhistory.org/]
While I did not find a stupendous quantity of new information I did not have, the quality of what I did find more than made my trip worth it. I found some loose family group sheets of of a related Conner family; there were two Jacob Conners in Clinton County at the same time that appear to almost certainly have been an uncle and nephew. My Jacob was the son of Thomas, and the other Jacob was the son of Patrick. Though there is not firm documentation, it appears highly likely that Patrick was the son of the aforementioned Thomas, meaning the two men had an uncle-nephew relationship. The nephew Jacob's daughter Mary Ann Conner also married Joseph Robinette, the brother of the uncle Jacob's wife, Mary.
By far the most amazing find was a home-made or at least self-published book on the Conner family. It started with Thomas Conner [who the author called Thomas O'Conner], and then Jacob, Moses, and a number of Moses's children.
I knew right away I would be wanting to contact the author of the book as soon as I could. There was no publishing information (like I said, pretty much a homemade book or folder) but her contact information was on the bottom of some of the pages.
Unfortunately, I was quickly disproved a lot of the information on Jacob's father, Thomas. Some of it--information we already knew from Jacob's own biographical sketch--was accurate, but she combined the information of our Thomas Conner with a Thomas O'Conner. Our Thomas was in York County, Pennsylvania during the Revolution and came to Maryland later. Thomas O'Conner served in the Continental Army out of Maryland and later moved to Nelson County, Kentucky. They are not the same person, so much of that information was not helpful.
For proof, look no further than Jacob's own biography. He states he was born in York County, PA to Thomas Conner and Elizabeth Morton in 1778. "When in his fifth year", they moved to Hagerstown, Washington County, Maryland. So that would be 1883, possibly 1884 if it fell closer to his 6th birthday. This account jives with two other pieces of documentation: Thomas Conner's membership in the York County Militia in 1781, and still paying township in 1782.
Thomas O'Conner, who Mrs. Hill asserted was the same as Thomas Conner, served in the war from Maryland starting in 1776. He later used that Maryland service to acquire land in Nelson County, Kentucky, where he died. An excellent blog post about Thomas O'Conner can be read here: https://msamaryland400.wordpress.com/2018/01/02/the-case-of-thomas-connor-who-didnt-die-in-battle/
The blog concerns disproving an account claiming that Thomas [O']Conner died in the Battle of Brooklyn. The author writes:
"Connor was a private in the Second Company, and his death was purportedly witnessed by Francis Osborn, another soldier in the company. Many years after the war, Osborn recalled that he saw his captain Patrick Sim “knocked down by the body of Thomas Connor whose head was shot off by a cannon.” ... As we continued to study the Second Company, however, we noticed that Connor (sometimes called O’Connor) seemed to not be dead. In fact, he seemed to reenlist in December 1776. Perhaps someone with the same name? That’s always a possibility, and there was at least one other Thomas Connor in the Maryland Line during the war.
Eventually, however, we determined that Connor survived the Battle of Brooklyn, despite what Osborn thought he remembered. In fact, Connor served in the army for four years, and later recalled that “he enlisted in the State of Maryland in March 1776 in the Company Commanded by Captain Patrick Simms of the first Maryland Regiment…[and] continued to serve…until the month of January 1780, when he was discharged.” [2]
After his four years in the army, Connor returned to Maryland, before eventually settling in Nelson County, Kentucky. Connor was awarded a Federal veteran’s pension in 1818, and received $80.00 per year for the rest of his life, helping him and his wife (her name is unknown) to survive. Connor died in Nelson County in early 1826, when he was about eighty years old."
These two separate timelines for Thomas Conner and Thomas Conner/Connor/O'Conner proves that they were different men.
Mrs. Hill's information on Jacob was excellent, however. She also provided a good deal of documentation on Moses Conner, some of which I did not have. She briefly explored each of Moses's children, but focused on Nathan H. and Harvey S. Conner. She shared photos of each of them, and best of all? A PHOTO OF MOSES CONNER AND HIS SECOND WIFE MARIAH MOBERLY!
I could not have been more thrilled. This photo alone made the ENTIRE trip completely worth it regardless of whatever else happened. She also had some really nice photos of the New Antioch Cemetery, and Jacob's and Mary's graves, from several years ago.
Here is where I would normally share the photos of Moses, Nathaniel, and Harvey. The one of Harvey I have seen previously; it can be found a newspaper article accessible on NewspaperArchive.com. The other two, and especially the one of Moses, are absent from the internet. And while I am usually happy to share ALL of my trip discoveries...I am a little wary about these. More and more I have been finding the pictures I have dug up on my trips on Ancestry, Find A Grave, and even personal private family websites. And only about 25% of the time do they credit me or my blog as the people who made these photos available, even ones I have the original photo of. This has happened many times over the years with Find A Grave photos as well.
And this irks me. I mean, it really rubs me the wrong way. I try really hard to credit the sources of my discoveries, and then I have enjoyed sharing them. But when I then find those same discoveries plastered elsewhere with no reference to me or the place I acquired them...well, I think it's wrong. So while I will still share pictures I find (I already did on this post) I will not be sharing all of them publicly anymore. If someone finds this blog post and would like me to send them the pictures of Moses, Nathaniel, and Harvey Conner, let me know and I will e-mail them to you directly. But if it doesn't mean enough to you for you to reach out to me, then it probably wouldn't mean enough for you to properly cite the source of what you found. At least that's how I will look at it from now on. So for now, just take my word that the photos are AWESOME and I am VERY happy with them, and if you are a family member, I guarantee you will be happy with them too if you want to e-mail me at the address in my "About Me".
Anyway, rant over! Back to my fun trip and exciting discoveries!
I was disheartened to learn after my trip that Mrs. Hill and her husband have both passed away since sharing this book. I did reach their sons however, and they are trying to locate the original photos for me so I can have the highest-possible resolution for them, though the ones I copied came our fairly nice. It's a bummer I won't be able to talk with Mrs. Hill and bounce ideas and theories off her.
The last neat find at the museum was a mysterious photo. It was sent to the museum by a woman in Arizona who apparently believed the picture was one of her relativesfrom Clinton County, but she did not know the woman was or exactly which family. The woman is still alive according to my subsequent research, so I do not want to violate her privacy by putting her name here. But she stated she believes the photo comes from one of four families: Halpin, Jenks, Conner, or Colvin. Here is the mystery woman in question:
Based on the woman's age and the age of the photo, I began tracing the submitter's tree. I think I have narrowed the potential suspect pool based on the families she believed could be associated with the picture. The picture appears to date to the 1880s or early 1890s. That is speculative and based purely on my own experience with antique family photos; the style of dress and type of photograph are most similar to photos from that time frame. I could be convinced of it being from the late 1870s, but not earlier than that and certainly no later than the very late 1890s.
So I know we have to be looking for a woman in her late 40s to early 60s during that time frame. The woman was born in 1937, so I believe we are looking at one of her 2nd great grandmothers or possibly 3rd great aunts based on their being this age range during this time frame. I was able to identify all but one set of great grandparents, and so therefore all but two sets of great grandparents. But that set does not appear to connect to the four possible surnames she gave (the surname of this branch being MURRAY).
Looking at her 2nd great grandmothers AND the surnames she gave, the most likely candidates for the identity of this woman are:
1. Sophia Haynie, nee CONNER (1826-1903) - Because to her maiden name CONNER
2. Sarah Rebecca JENKS, nee Byard (1828-1902) - Because her married name is JENKS
3. Sarah Deck, nee COLVIN (1817-after 1880) - Because her maiden name is COLVIN
The Halpin name is less likely because Zuella Slater Halpin would have only been in her late 20s to mid 30s during the time frame of this photo, and this woman seems too old for that age. And her mother-in-law Ann McCarty Halpin died before 1870.
It is also possible we are looking at an aunt, but there are too many candidates at that point for me to try and narrow them down. These three woman seem like the best bet, but unless another photo of one of them turns up, I don't know of any other way to narrow them down. One late note: Speaking of aunts, I do know of one aunt that could also fit the bill--one I know of without diving further into the trees of all these families: Sophia's sister, Mary Conner (1824-1892), married William Colvin. So she would be aunt the photo contributor, and is connected to both the Conner and Colvin surnames. It is probably not a picture of Mary, but I felt it worth mentioning.
After the museum, we headed into neighboring Fayette County, where another branch of my family lived and are buried. As mentioned earlier, we descend from Margaret How(e), the first wife of Moses Conner. It is her people who were from Fayette County, and a significant number of them are buried at Walnut Creek Cemetery. The closest town to this cemetery is New Martinsburg.
The Howes, Matlocks, and their related families were of the Society of Friends, or Quakers.
Margaret was the daughter of Jacob Howe (sometimes spelled with the 'e' on the end, and sometimes without, but since his headstone has an 'e', that's how I will spell it) and Sarah Matlock. Jacob died a relatively young man, likely in his early 30s. He was born about 1796 in Virginia, and died in or before 1827 based on probate records. He left three children: Margaret, Nancy, and James. When Margaret died, Nancy ended up raising the two youngest of Margaret's three children.
What became of Margaret's mother, Sarah, is unclear. She likely pre-deceased Jacob, as their last child was born in 1822, then Jacob dies in 1827, and from 1828-1832 the children are enumerated as "Jacob Howe's heirs", rather than enumerated as Sarah Howe. We know almost nothing about the lives of the Howe children between their father's death and their respective marriages. If their mother died, they were likely taken in by relatives, of which they had many in this area.
Sarah is believed to have been the daughter of Thomas Matlock and Martha Rees. The Rees family were a very prominent early family in this area, as can be inferred by the name of the town Reesville in Clinton County, which is very near the Fayette County border. In fact, Jacob and Sarah were cousins through the Rees family; Jacob's grandmother was Jane Rees, wife of John Moon. Jacob and Sarah were second cousins.
We know almost nothing about these Matlock grandparents, but we know two of Sarah's sisters lived in the area: Margaret, wife of George Bond, and Mary, wife of George Binegar. The suretors for both their marriages was Joel Rees, the brother of their mother, Martha. George Bond is also a cousin to our family; he was the son of Edward Bond and Sarah Robinette. Sarah was a sister of Mary Robinette Conner.
Jacob was the son of John Howe and Mary Moon. Census records don't indicate that the Howe children were taken in by John and his second wife, Elizabeth McVey, so they may have been cared for by one of Jacob's siblings or Moon relatives, of which there were many in their area. John did, however, will a dollar each to these grandchildren, so he likely played some role in their lives. The Moons, too, once had a town named after them; the present day town of Buena Vista was formerly called Moons, named after early settler William Moon, per History of Fayette County, Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions (1914).
Walnut Creek Cemetery was a Friends burial ground and is filled with quite a few Moons, Reeses, and Howes. It sets not far off the road, and up a hill.
The cemetery is good-sized, but fortunately I did not have to look far for my people. The Howe/Moon plot was the very first one I came to, the one closest to the road. Visually, I would also say it appears to be one of the oldest plots in the cemetery.
Nancy Moon, daughter of Simon Moon. Simon was a brother of Mary Moon Howe, my 6th great grandmother.
Hiram Moon, son of Simon Moon.
Thomas Moon, son of Thomas Moon. The elder Thomas Moon was another brother of Mary Moon Howe.
Rees Moon, son of Simon Moon.
Jacob Moon, son of Thomas Moon.
Nancy Howe, wife of John Howe (Jr./II). Sister-in-law of Jacob Howe.
Nancy, wife of Hiram Moon.
This is a bit of a mystery stone. A child named Isaac. I almost tripped over it because it had sunken into the ground. I cannot tell if he is a Moon, Howe, or someone else, and he is not listed on Find A Grave. I will have to do some more digging!
These stones are definitely among the oldest I have ever visited in person, and these relations are my the most distant family members I have ever visited. I have visited a good number of 4th and 5th great grandparents, but finally I found the stone I was looking for--that of my 6th great grandfather, John Howe.
John Howe
Elliott with the stone of his 7th great grandfather, John Howe, who died in 1852.
It is a very humbling and awesome experience to visit someone who directly contributed to your own existence almost 200 years before you were born (his son Jacob being born about 1796 and me in 1988). And I thought it was great for Elliott to experience visiting the most distant direct ancestor he has ever gotten to be near as well. Elliott thought the really old cemetery and stones were really cool. He checked some stones out and we enjoyed the scenery for a bit.
This was the last stop of the "genealogy" portion of our journey. We headed next for our last campsite of the trip before spending the following day in Columbus with one of my best friends from college.
Hit some really nasty storms on our way to the campground.
At Walnut Lake Campground outside of Jeffersonville, Ohio. We waited out the storm at a Denny's before getting set up at our damp campsite.
Capgun war!
Albino Squirrel in the park in Columbus
Albino Squirrel close-up
Big Fun in Columbus
Big Fun in Columbus was definitely the coolest retro toy store I've ever seen
Lego Store at the mall
Elliott's reward for putting up with all my genealogy stuff
Graeter's Ice Cream in Columbus
Graeter's has a play place!
Another year of awesome trips with my buddy. He makes these trips so much fun and I hope he gets as much out of them as I do.
