Ohio Trip, part 4

Thursday, the 28^th:

It was dry that morning - and stayed so all day.  I travelled Ohio Highway 7 along the Ohio River.  It was scenic - water everywhere, flooding fields; tugs on the river transporting coal.


Gallipolis is a pretty town along the Ohio River.  I sat for a while in this seat facing the river and walked through parking lots half under water.

I came across these signs -  

Wow! What a surprise.  The marker states:  "On April 1, 1818, six families from the Cilcennin area of Mid-Wales sailed from Aberaeron, Wales, to Baltimore.  The group of 36 people was led by John Jones Tirbach.  From Baltimore they traveled to Pittsburgh and then by flatboats down the Ohio River toward their destination -Paddy's Run in Butler County in the southwest corner of Ohio.  They stopped in Gallipolis for provisions where their boats were cut loose by either travel-weary women or citizens of Gallipolis who wanted them to stay.  The men found work on the Gallipolis to Chillicothe road that was under construction.  The terrain reminded them of Mid-Wales, so they purchased land near Centerville, and remained.  These Welsh prospered and wrote home to Wales with news of their success, prompting others to come."

What a hoot!  I'm betting on the women calling a halt to their travels.

Side two continues with the note that in the 1830s and 1840s several hundred families followed the first group to Gallia and Jackson counties.  

I did look at the map described for the Welsh church trail and any other time would have taken a day out to follow it.  But with the weather still deciding my route, I wanted to get on to Woodsfield.

Back on the narrow, twisting road that ran alongside the river, I sometimes wondered if the river was going to be over the road, or if I would get through dry all the way. 

Marietta was to be my stopping point for the night, before I crossed the “mountains” to Woodsfield, Monroe Co, Ohio.  Marietta was also the historic land office for that part of Ohio when settlers began to arrive.  I wanted to see what the terrain was like when our ancestors travelled there and back to make their land claims.  They probably went by water, but I imagine some of them must have ridden or walked as well.

I spent the night at a Hampton in Marietta, difficult to get to and expensive, and I didn’t make any remarks about the room or service, so each must have been unremarkable. 

Friday, the 29^th:

The next morning, with dry weather again, I left upon the most yearned-for days of my adventure. 

The stretch of road between Marietta and Woodsfield, Highway 26, let my imagination run loose.  I saw few houses and only one or two vehicles.  It was a quiet, lonesome road, with beautiful scenery.  Most of Monroe Co is one of the sections of Wayne National Forest, so my imagination didn’t have to work very hard to picture it as it may have been in the early 1800s.

Highway 26 from Marietta to Woodsfield - wonder if it was the original road for land registration?  It took a long time to get to Woodsfield.  The road was 2-lane, no shoulder, twisting and turning, climbing and dropping.  What a wonderful, if slow, drive.

Later in my visit an older fella asked me how I had come to Woodsfield.  When I told him over Hwy 26, he wanted to know why in the world I had come That Way!  He thought I had lost my mind.

I went straight to the Monroe county courthouse since it was already almost noon.  Sheila, the Recorder, was very helpful.  More than helpful, in fact.  She directed me to things I wouldn’t have thought to look for.  She seemed to know every piece of information that was available.  What a good introduction to Monroe County she was!  I made a lot of photocopies. 

It was time to find a room for the next few days.  I checked into the Olive Tree Inn, 8 rooms near the courthouse.  Actually, everything in Woodsfield is near everything else - it’s a small town.  Monroe county is as sparsely settled as it was 150 years ago.  Bill is the manager of the Olive Tree and Kathie the housekeeper.  The room was the cleanest I’ve ever stayed in.  It was comfortable and I’m glad to have had the chance to stay there. 

April 30^th, a Saturday:

The Library was open from 10 until 2.  I spent the morning touring the town and taking photos until time to visit the library.  

Now doesn't this look like a wonderful town to you?!

The Library, as had been at the Courthouse, was a treasure chest of materials about my families.

When I began working on our family history, I had not much information.  It was all paper and pencil and charts I would make to keep track of things.  I still have one chart I made from the time - tracking census records.  I remember how amazed I was that Steve’s family and mine had lived in the Same County in Ohio 150 years before the time of my discovery.  His Adamsons were in Monroe county by the 1830 census and my Dailey line was there by the 1820 census.  His family came from Ohio to Iowa and Missouri to Kansas to Oklahoma; mine from Ohio to Indiana to Iowa to Kansas to Oklahoma.  And there we were born, met, married. Will wonders never cease!

After the library closed on Saturday, I made my trip to Calais, pronounced ‘Kayliss’. (I sure was learning alternate pronunciations on this trip.)  I had trouble finding the town and was nearly  in Belmont county before I turned around to search again.  There wasn’t much left of the town other than the houses - and not many of those in the cluster near the remaining church.  Since I had so much trouble finding the town it was getting late in the day.  I decided against searching for the cemetery.  Next time!

Sightseeing northwest of Woodsfield:

And then there was this covered bridge.  

I walked across it and took too many pictures.  Here are some of them.