Week 14: Water (and the ancestors)
All of my European ancestors came here over the water. The Dutch ones crossed the Atlantic three times before they ended up in New York in the mid-17th century. But, I'd like to talk for a moment about the ancestors who ended up next to the Ohio River.
Zachariah Hole and his wife, Hannah Delay Hole, settled in southern Ohio, on the site of the future parking lot of the Cincinati Reds in 1789. When I first came across this story, I was particularly taken with the enthusiam of the story teller because this is a matter of pride: not that Zachariah was a veteran of the Revolutionary War or that it took some gumption to settle in what was then a pretty hostile wilderness, but that he had the foresight to settle in what would become a parking lot for a baseball stadium! The ballpark is on the Ohio River and in the picture I've seen, the mouth of the Licking River is visible across the Ohio in Kentucky. Water was important as a means of transportation and commerce in those days, maybe a source of food as well.
Fort Washington was established nearby (perhaps a quarter of a mile away) so there was some protection from (justifiably) hostile Indians. Eventually treaties brought some peace to the area, but apparently the Holes were not interested in remaining, and by 1797 had moved up the Miami River to establish Hole's Station, the future site of Miamisburg.
Zachariah and Hannah are my fifth great grandparents. Their daughter Effa Banta became my 4th great grandmother, then her daughter Christina married Isaac Roberts, their daughter Anna Katherine married James McDuff (a total mystery), their son Albert married Metta May Case, and their daughter Grace McDuff married Melvin Belknap. Grace and Melvin are my maternal grandparents. Anna Katherine was born in Ohio but died in Olympia Washington in 1906.
I'm currently living (see what I did there?) about four blocks away from a channel that leads out to the northern end of Puget Sound or the Salish Sea as it is more properly called. We never seem to go too far from the water.
Zachariah Hole and his wife, Hannah Delay Hole, settled in southern Ohio, on the site of the future parking lot of the Cincinati Reds in 1789. When I first came across this story, I was particularly taken with the enthusiam of the story teller because this is a matter of pride: not that Zachariah was a veteran of the Revolutionary War or that it took some gumption to settle in what was then a pretty hostile wilderness, but that he had the foresight to settle in what would become a parking lot for a baseball stadium! The ballpark is on the Ohio River and in the picture I've seen, the mouth of the Licking River is visible across the Ohio in Kentucky. Water was important as a means of transportation and commerce in those days, maybe a source of food as well.
Fort Washington was established nearby (perhaps a quarter of a mile away) so there was some protection from (justifiably) hostile Indians. Eventually treaties brought some peace to the area, but apparently the Holes were not interested in remaining, and by 1797 had moved up the Miami River to establish Hole's Station, the future site of Miamisburg.
Zachariah and Hannah are my fifth great grandparents. Their daughter Effa Banta became my 4th great grandmother, then her daughter Christina married Isaac Roberts, their daughter Anna Katherine married James McDuff (a total mystery), their son Albert married Metta May Case, and their daughter Grace McDuff married Melvin Belknap. Grace and Melvin are my maternal grandparents. Anna Katherine was born in Ohio but died in Olympia Washington in 1906.
I'm currently living (see what I did there?) about four blocks away from a channel that leads out to the northern end of Puget Sound or the Salish Sea as it is more properly called. We never seem to go too far from the water.
Comments
Post a Comment