Day 8:
Our final day in Athens/Nelsonville

Today we are a little weary from our many days of travel but anxious to visit "Martha's Hosue.  As you recall, when Christopher died Martha married Silas Bingham.  Silas had been a successful military man and well known in the area. Their home, now called "The Silas Bingham House" , has been restored and placed on the Ohio University campus.

Because the house is used as a welcome center, we were able to walk in and walk around. They had a book about Silas Bingham from the Bingham family. We put a copy of Martha 's ancestry page and a copy of a story about her marriage to Silas in the book.  Although the furniture and items were not original family pieces, many were of the period.

We decided not to visit the Culter Building on the University campus because it wasn't the original. The original building was built in the 1800's and was the first building on the campus. Our 3 times great-grandfather, Martha's husband Christopher, provided the lumber for the building. 

So instead we went to the Registrar 's office to investigate about land contracts. We know that Christopher J. (our great grandfather), sold his land adjacent to William C. and moved to Nelsonville to work the Poston farm. The plan was to eventually get a better farm of his own.  Grandpa's writing shares memories of life as a kid on the Poston farm.  At the Registrar we found records of Christopher (3 times grandfather) buying and selling land.  We have to contact Hocking county and Nelsonville Library to search for properties of Christopher J. Herrold.


Next we stopped at the White 's Mill. This mill was originally owned by Christopher Herrold who passed it to his son, Joseph Herrold (William C.'s older brother).  i believe that our stories state that William C. helped out at his brother's mill growing up.
The store keeper at the mill was very nice and showed us around, telling us about the equipment they had on display that was originally the Herrolds.

This is a picture of the original Herrold Mill. It did not have a wheel, but used a system similar to a lock (with doors that opened for the flow of water). Mr. White owned the mill when it burned (accident from the grain dust). The items below were saved.

Mill (the mill stone is inside) 

We believe Christopher and Martha brought this with them on their Pioneer journey.

Grinder (for refining the flour)

From the mill, we headed north on Plains Rd. to Porter Ln.  At this intersection the land forms a triangle. This land was owned by William C Herrold. Christopher inherited one acre of this land. Our grandfather was born in the new house soon after it was built.  We did not see any remnants.

At some point, William C. moved to Amesville and had his own mill.

After a few hours of rest at the 1850 house, we decided to take a ride through Union Furnace and over to HideAway Hills. (Bill & Lorrie's parents had an A-Frame cottage in HideAway Hills when we were all growing up).  Union Furnace is a depressed township much like Haydenville.  Nothing that look like houses or farmland which matched our pictures.
The drive to HideAway Hills was full of reminiscing about our childhood experiences.  Many stories and many laughs!!  The HideAway Hills security guy wouldn't let us drive up by the house.....disappointing.

Reflection: We all agree that this has been an amazing adventure!!!.
We have grown closer to our ancestors, recognized their strengths & qualities.....including those we have in common with them and learned more about each other.  We are blessed to have had this time together.

Tag Acht.          William and Mabel Herrold
                                      Our Grandparents
                                            Thank you

                                          Newlyweds
Writing about Grandpa and Grandma is a challenge for me because the Grandparents I knew, the very large white haired man who was a bit scarey and who commanded repect and the small, kind white haired lady who made me tapioca when I was ill (with a marchino cherry), were part of their little house on Thames Drive. I never knew them as my older cousins did.

I don't have the stories like Bill and Carol do: The rides to picnics or to the farms where Grandpa grew up or being doctored by a veterinarian and 1909 pharmacist (ask Bill about the upholstry needle).

Preserving and documenting memories are why we started this adventure but it turned into so much more as we found how remarkable and strong (though they probably wouldn't think of themselves as such) our ancestors were.

Reading 'The Ups and Downs of One Very Ordinary Earth Being' really touches my heart. Though Grandpa only covered 9 years, the essence of this family is on those pages. Grandpa grew up exceptionally poor. Bill said Grandpa used to say his family went from Dirt Poor to Poor, yet no whiners in this bunch. The older I get, the more I recognize how truly exceptional Grandpa and Grandma were. No whiners in this bunch. They only expected of others what they expected of themselves.  Bill said they were giving. They and Aunt Donna took care of Bill when mom was working two jobs and Bill says he knew love and family because of them. They were good people.

William Clyde was born 1881 and died 1973, older brother was Charles Hoyt and younger sister Grace May. Though unable to complete school themselves, Christopher and Louise placed high value on education. Grace (Lazalear) became a teacher and the veterinarians, Will and Charles, alternated working and studying to put themselves through Veterinary school. Bill said they cut ice from a lake and sold it to fraternities to make money. Aunt Donna said all Grace wanted was the same opportunities her brothers had at education.
When Grandpa become a government meat inspector he was sent to Omaha where the locals aparently didn't take kindly to the Feds checking their meat packing.  He stayed in a home that happened to be Mabel Frances Inghram's home. The way Bill tells it is that as a meat inspector, Grandpa was not well liked but apoarently Mabel felt differently. They eloped. The above photo is taken in a rooming-house the day after they married.

Grandma was exceptional. Mabel graduated from Creighton College with a degree in pharmacy, a rarity.

  Bill and I have been talking about Grandma and he said she was strong in personality, what I consider the hub, the center anchor of the family. I never got to know her, share my gardens or my canning recipes. I remember her talking about pansies purple and white.
Mabel Frances, one of 5 Inghram kids, b. 1891 d.1973., raised four beautiful daughters, The Herrold Girls, which I consider a challenging for any mother.

Bill described their lives as God fearing and giving. They tithed. They helped establish three churches with Grandpa paying the ministers saleries. They established a charity to assist people with physical disabilities. Along they way Bill told me about Grandpa and Grandma giving room and board to help students, often people of color, make it through college. I remember Mom describing Grandma feeding people during the Depression, people had marked the sidewalk in front of the house.

Grandpa passed away after developing gangrene in his leg due to diabetes. Grandpa refused to lose his legs as his diabetic brother had previously,  and died in a Columbus hospital. As a kid, I remember seeing him there. Grandma died almost to the day, three months later. They are buried together at Greenlawn Cemetary in Nelsonville near Granpa's parents, Christopher and Louisa Herrold, over by the Mausoleum where Charles lay.

                   Greenlawn Cemetary, Nelsonville, Ohio

Tag Sieben part two: Christopher Jefferson Herrold
                                       Lousia Katzenbach
                                       Our Great Grandparents
                              "Poor financially but rich in pride"

Seventh child of WC and Sarah, raised on a farm.  Bill's recollection of his Great grandparents is at the Katzenbach reunion among lots of people when he was 5 or 6 and only focused on the food.

Louisa's parents Jakob

Information about life with this couple comes from Grandpa's autobiography: The Ups and Downs of One Very Ordinary Earth Being. He is hard to write about because they are simply a mystery.
Christopher, born 1855 d. 1942, had health problems and he was just not a successful farmer. He could not get ahead in farming, things just didn't go his way and yet he raised and made sure his three children were educated.
Grandpa Herrold said his parents were poor financially but rich in personal and family pride and ambition to better their childrens lives. "His father was unlettered but not incompetent" and his mother only had a third grade education because she had to work. Louisa was born 1818, died 1935. They had three hard working and successful children: Charles Hoyt, William Clyde and Gracie May.
After working for his father for 21 years for no pay Christopher inherited one acre in the NW corner of his Dad's farm which he sold to buy his own land. To save, he worked sharecropping the neighboring Poston farm by the Union Canal lock.

              Bill and Teri looking at Poston land by lock 19
Lock 19 is now a park and Bill Deck remembers driving from Columbus to Nelsonville for a picnic with Grandpa and Grandma Mabel where Grandpa showed Bill how to open the wooden lock doors. Bill said Grandpa told him he lived nearby. Christopher finally bought some farmland of his own. Went to records however we could not find any of Christopher and Louisa's houses.
After Louisa's death in 1935, his obituary states Christopher went to live with Grace Lazalear in Athens.

Day 7:

Today was a cemetery day. We went to 4 cemeteries.  I'm not going to talk about them in the order that we went but rather in the order of generations.....So we can keep all the information linear(ish). The 4th cemetery was a surprise.

As mentioned on day 3, when we got to (our 6 times great grandfather) Georg Christoph Horoldt's grave we did a libation ceremony to honor him. We have continued this practice at each cemetery. Here is the description of libation:

 "We gather to celebrate the unbroken chain between the past,

the present and the future; our ancesters, ourselves and those

unborn. Libation is as old as religious ritual itself, and in fact

was practiced in both the New Testament and the Hebrew Bible.

As the person leading the libation calls the name of an ancestor,

those present affirm that name by saying "Ase" (I-Shay)

and at that time, a little water is poured out either in a living plant

or on the ground. Libation is created to thank our God for those

ANCESTORS who have blessed hu-manity. 

Death alone does not make one an ancestor. You must have

lived life in such a way that you blessed and impacted those

you met in a positive way. Libation honors those who left 

humanity better than they found it. (because of theirs lives we 

have better lives and/or qualities of character)

Hocking  Cemetery also known as The Plains Cemetery:
All the records state that Christopher and Martha are buried here.  We walked all over, determined that the oldest graves were on the lower section. Many graves were unreadable and/or fallen over.  We found a few graves in the bushes basically sliding down the hill into the creek. They too were unreadable. Steve found one Herrold stone but that person died at 29.  We decided to believe they were there somewhere and said our blessing. (I will be following up with the Plains Cemetery people to get a better sense of where the plot is located).  Note: Bill thought he might have been here as a kid but something didn't seem right.

Union Cemetery sometimes known as West Union Cemetery in Athens, Ohio
This is the site for William C. Herrold, Martha & Christopher 's youngest child. William was 3 years old when his father died. Soon after, Martha married Silas Bigham.  Silas was influential in William's life as well as William's older brother Joseph Herrold. Martha and Silas had one son together, Hiram Bigham.  William's tombstone is the slanted one that is close. Notice that it is missing a flag and veteran marker. William served in the civil war.  (More follow up work......I will have to FIND the person in charge so that William can have recognition).

Character Qualities of William C.

• Resilience
• Determination
• Supportive

Greenland Cemetery, Athen ,Ohio

Next we visited Great-grandpa and Great-grandma (Christopher & Louisa Herrold) AND grandpa (William Clyde Herrold) and grandma (Mable Ingrham Herrold) burial sites. They are buried by each other. Finally an easy one to find!!

Bill remembers coming here....maybe when Charles died (grandpa's brother) and then when grandma died.  Bill escorted grandma's casket at the service. I only remember these tombstones from pictures my parents took when they visited.

Christopher Herrold and Louisa Katzenbach Herrold

Character qualities:

• Persistence
• Hardy
• Believers in education

Sorry that these are upside down, just can't fix on my pad.

William Clyde Herrold

Mable Francis Ingrham Herrold

.

Qualities of William and Mabel that they imparted to us:

• Love
• Generosity
• Responsibility
• Faith ( "God fearing)
• Role models
• Education and learning

After tramping around through lots of wet grass, we had brunch at Gigi's Diner then worked our way to the train station. The train was a two hour ride. It traveled from Nelsonville to Haydenville.  It was amazing to see the vast farmland and sad to see the poverty. (This is Appalachia).

This is a picture looking down the open car. Bill was following his uncle David's pattern of "chatting it up" with everyone. 😊

We walked across the bridge from the locks to where we suspect that Christopher and Louisa worked the Poston farm.  

This is a picture of a very old farmhouse far in the distance......might be similar to the Poston farmhouse.

Bill remembered going to the locks with grandpa and grandma. Grandpa use to take him there on the way to Nelsonville and talked about how he worked the lock as a kid. They used mules to pull the boat.  

This is the tree where grandpa and grandma had picnics with Bill. They ate ham sandwiches with mutard, deviled eggs and lemonade in the plaid thermos.

It's the end of a long day and we needed a cidar, so we headed to Athen to the West End Cider House.  This house was owned by Thomas Jefferson Herrold, Christopher Jefferson Herrold's first cousin. The building is on the Historical register.

Bill had a beer, Lorrie had the cider sampler, Steve had fresh squeezed lemonade and I had a cider mimosa with fresh squeezed o.j.

So.....you are wondering about the 4th cemetery......

Well, remember when I said the Bill thought he had been to the Plains Cemetery but something wasn't right?  As we were driving down Union St. in Athens, Bill yells "THAT'S THE CEMETERY!" .  This Union Cemetery is the one grandpa had brought him to as a kid.

We found lots of Herrolds (mostly cousins of great-grandpa Christopher). We all found Hiram Bingham.  We thought maybe we would find Christopher and Martha......maybe someone had the wrong cemetery written down or had moved them. But after consulting with the groundskeepers, and seeing the plot cards with decided that they were not there.

Maybe the Herrold family will have to get a plaque for Christopher and Martha Herrold for their cemetery to commemorate their incredible journey to Ohio and the legacy they left future generations.

Tag Sieben          William C. (No one knows what C stands                                       for but we are 97 percent sure it is                                                 Christopher. Just a guess) Herrold
                                  Sarah Blackwood
                                 Our second Great Grandparents
                                 
Eleventh child of Martha and Christopher. I can't imagine what having 23 brothers and sisters is like.  Born 1820 and raised by Silas and considered him a good stepfather. He married Sarah Blackwood, farmed and had ten kids they raised in Athens as good Methodists. He died in 1895 and buried in Union Cemetary. We had a paper showing WC was in the Civil War but with no war honor at his grave. Bill is planning on fixing this omission...

Day 6:
Boat ride on the Ohio River.

Today we took a paddleboat ride down the Ohio River. The owner's son gave a history of river travel and life on the Ohio around Marrietta.  I thought the river would be rougher and faster than it was.  River travel for Christopher and Martha would have been much better than overland travel.  I bet they were filled with awe and excitement at the view of the wilderness potential.

This is the landing where the pioneers pulled into Marrietta after their long trip down the Ohio River.  Imagine their flatboat tied up by those trees. They had to unload all of their belongings, animals, two small children.....etc.  Often the flatboats were taken apart and used for other needs.  At this point in the journey Christopher and his friend George Wolf put supplies in the canoes along with one child.  Martha and George 's wife load supplies and animals for the long walk to Athens.......strong of will, strength and persistence.

After the boat ride, we drove to Nelsonville.  This is where our grandfather, William Clyde Herrold lived as a young boy.  The above picture is the downtown. 

If you read grandpa's book, he tells about getting in the wagon on a Sunday to go to Athens to HIS grandpa's farm. (I think grandpa was about 8 years old). His dad would drive the wagon through downtown and they would stop at the bakery for a "store bought" cookie. This was a real treat because they didn't have much money.  SO, we stopped at the Sunflower Bakery in downtown Nelsonville for a cookie. The owner was just closing up shop but when she heard our story she graciously brought out cookies and sold us some.  We ate them in honor of our grandpa, William and his parents.  

Then we went to our 1850 house (an airbnb) to unload and regroup. 

One thing I have not talk about much......but we always seem to find really great places to eat.!!!!

Tag Sechs            Martha, Her Decendants
                  and Headstones Found and Not Found

We are still trying to find Martha Magdalena and Christopher.  Martha and Christopher were married 26 years when Christopher passed. It is written they are buried in Wolf Plains which is now Plains Hocking Cemetary.

 It is a very small cemetary and we feel we covered it pretty good on foot. Steve and Teri did find three small worn stones in an overgrown thicket. So many headstones have become smooth since 1823...We were so disappointed not to find them but we figured Martha would say, " Stop this nonsense and wandering around and get back to work."
Today we did stop at her home after marrying her next husband Silas Bingham soon after Christopher's death November 3, 1823.

Called the Silas Bingham House, it is now the visitors center for Athens University. Two stories, giant poplar logs built in 1803. Silas was a Revolutionary vet, first sheriff and started many businesses. Martha was mother to her 11 kids, his 12 kids adoptd two other children in need and for good measure added their own child little Hiram Bingham. Info at the loghouse stated she was called Magdalena.
After Silas died in 1832, Martha Magdalena Cable Bingham Jackson married for the last time to John Jackson and finally passed June 16, 1867 and is supposed to be near Christopher at Wolf Plains. Martha tell us where you are......we want to say a blessing.

Day 5:

We spent the night at the Grand Lafayette Riverboat Hotel.  This hotel is on the Historical register. It is 110 years old. We had breakfast in the "gun room" which displayed antique long rifles.

The early pioneers arrived at Marrietta which was the first settlement in the Ohio area. The Ohio Company founded Marrietta with the intent to sell land to the military servicemen and other pioneers.

Our first stop of the day was at Campus Martius Museum. This museum focuses on the early settlers and early life of Marrietta.

This is the original house of General Putnum, one of the founding fathers of Marrietta.  Putnum's house was part of the first stockade.

In the museum is the original land office where the pioneers came to purchase their land from the Ohio Company.  

We were able to walk into the land office and stand in the place where Christopher Herrold payed $250 for 200 acres.  

Here is the table where the paperwork was sign and payment made.  SO COOL to be in the same space imagining the interactions and the collective energy of the moment. 

After visiting the land office we decide to see if we could find the paperwork.  So we went to the courthouse.

This is us at the Court House. You have to look in a book of lists by name and date. Then it tells you to the number of another book and which page number. We found two contracts showing what Christopher bought. (Interestingly Christopher was going by the nickname "Stophel" during the time of the  purchase. We made copies of the land contracts.

Our last adventure of the day was to the Ohio River museum. Here we learned about the early settlers means of transportation and tools the would have had. We have learned talking with our Herrold cousin that Christopher and Martha started out on a raft down the river to Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh). At Pittsburgh, they changed to a flatboat and floated down the Ohio River to Marrietta. In the stories about Christopher and Martha's travels, it talks about the two men loading the canoe. Through discussion and knowing that John Herrold was a miller, we believe Christopher could have had mill tools. We had trouble envisioning putting all that in a canoe. We thought maybe it really was a keel boat. Then we saw the canoe. It was HUGE!!

Qualities we love about Christopher and Martha:

• Courageous
• Tenacity
• Hungry for a better life
• Hard working partners