THE GENIE BUG HITS OHIO AGAIN

SUMMER       2005

My daughter and son-in-law, Mike and Madonna, and one of my grandsons, Devon, Mike and Madonna and Devon, and I left for an excursion into the past Wednesday, June 28th and returned in the wee hours of the night Saturday, July 2nd. Madonna's kids decided they weren't up for this long trip to see cemeteries and libraries and court houses!! Lindsay stayed with her other Grandma and Derrick chose to stay home and have several days uninterrupted computer time … Grandma Wanda is just across the street.

We had a great time .. found lots of info .. have lots of bits and pieces floating around in this little brain of mine and have to get them all pulled together now and on the computer!!

Our first leg of the trip was to Fort Wayne, Indiana. The last "sighting" I had of Mom's grandmother, Dollie Vought McCurdy Bowen, was on the 1910 census for Fort Wayne with 2 of her children. The Genealogy library in Fort Wayne is huge and fantastic!! I would like to go back there some time and spend a couple of days. I didn't find a death certificate for Dollie but I did find her in the City Indexes. Dollie was in Fort Wayne from 1908 to 1912. Through these City Indexes I also discovered that Dollie is a nickname and her first name is actually Dorothy!! So this leads me to believe that the big family feud must have happened after Aunt Dot's birth or she wouldn't have named her Dorothy. Since I now had another first name for her, after I got home I was able to find Dorothy "Dollie" in Detroit, Michigan with her children in the 1920 and 1930 Census on Ancestry!! I also have a clue now as to who her parents were!!!!! Another "trail" to follow!

Then on to Toledo, Ohio where we were looking for info on Mom's brother, James Sylvester, who died when he was 3 years old. David Mason who is a third cousin once removed (descendant of Mom's grandfather, Joseph Donald McCurdy's brother, William Washington McCurdy) had found the cemetery in Toledo where James is buried.

We arrived in Toledo too late to do any "digging" so we found a motel and got settled in and Mike and Devon went to the movies to see "War of the Worlds" and Madonna and I just relaxed … about 9:30 when the families and kiddies left the pool we headed for the hot tub and spent a short while.

DAY TWO … THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2005 … TOLEDO, LUCAS COUNTY, OHIO

David and his daughter,Lisa, met us at our motel in Toledo, Ohio and spent a big part of the day showing us around and helping us.

They were so nice .. it was just like spending time with one of my siblings around here!!! His little girl is only 9 and she is a real sweetheart. David had even gone out to the cemetery where James Sylvester is buried and had someone out there help him find the grave and they had put a stake there so it would be easy to find. There was no headstone on James's grave, but many of the headstones in this area were broken off the bases. There were many small white flowers growing on it, which looked like miniature Morning Glories. We felt that the Good Lord was taking care of keeping flowers there. Forest Cemetery is huge .. 190 acres and the section James is in is one of the older sections of course, since he died in 1907. We of course took pictures and we made a video of the cemetery.

From the cemetery we went to the courthouse and library to find info. David had things he wanted to find at the library on his side of the family so David, Madonna, Lisa and I did a lot of searching. Lisa even ran one of the mircrofilm machines and helped search. Mike and Devon went off and did "guy things" and we kept in touch by cell phones .. oh the wonders of this modern day world!!

We were not able to find James Sylvester in the birth or death records at the courthouse .. that is another mystery I will have to dig into! However, we did find Levi Shrider in the 1907 Toledo City Index. Levi was listed as a Laborer and they lived at 423 Payne Street.

The Toledo Main Library is the most beautiful library I have ever seen and huge!! There was a restaurant, and a gift shop and trees with lights in them .. it looked more like a very nice shopping mall!!

Next stop on the trip, Bucyrus, Ohio. Bucyrus is where Mom's mother's McCurdy ancestors settled after coming to Ohio from Pennsylvania. Bucyrus is wonderful!!

Lots to see .. and the people were very friendly. We have lots of pics. Thanks to info and maps from Larry McCurdy we found the cemeteries and the McCurdy property easily. Actually we just kind of "stumbled across" Stewart Cemetery when we were looking for a sit-down restaurant with home-cooked food to eat! We ended up at "Al Smith's" restaurant and motel. Very good food .. friendly people. Ended up taking a room there for the night. Very quaint little place. We loved it. The outside of the motel looks great .. very quaint .. got inside the room .. nice big room .. that part was great .. BUT the bathroom door wouldn't lock .. Mike had to work on the stool shortly after we got there .. the AC kept quitting .. but Thank Goodness it was very nice weather .. we got lots of laughs out of all this .. loved the motel anyway!! Mike collects old postcards so we talked to the lady who owns it and found out what other names it has been ran under so he can look for postcards of it.

DAY THREE … FRIDAY, JULY 1, 2005 … BUCYRUS, CRAWFORD COUNTY, OHIO

After spending the night at AL's we headed the next morning for the cemeteries. Stewart Cemetery is very well cared for. Flags had been put on the graves of the veterans. William Matthews (William was the father of Mom's great grandmother, Zilpha Matthews McCurdy .. therefore he would be Mom's great great grandfather) headstone had a long verse on it but not completely readable .. we did a "rubbing" on it and after several tries by both Madonna and myself finally got one that was readable!!

"Blessed are the dead which

die in the Lord from henceforth

yea saith the spirit that

they may rest from their

labours and their works do

follow them"

William was a Presbyterian preacher and an old pioneer of the Presbyterian Church.  William and his wife, Mary, have headstones side by side.

** William Matthews was the father of Mom's great grandmother, Zilpha Matthews McCurdy .. therefore he would be Mom's great great grandfather.

Mom's great grandfather, William McCurdy, is buried in this cemetery but there is no stone. In the area where his stone should be there are many empty bases for headstones … I believe he had a stone but it is no longer there. William McCurdy was also a preacher, as were his sons, William Washington and Thomas James.

James and Elizabeth Taylor McCurdy (William McCurdy's parents ) are also buried there. Their daughter, Martha is buried with them .. her name and info are on their stone.

     

We took loootttttssss of pictures .. one of each headstone .. also took a video of the cemeteries and headstones. I put red roses on the headstones and in the area where William McCurdy is buried.           

Next on our agenda was Liberty Chapel (Crall) Cemetery.  This cemetery is located  behind what is a house now but was the "Liberty Chapel Church" when Larry McCurdy was growing up there and it is the church he and his family went to all through his growing up years. William McCurdy's wife, Zilpha Matthews McCurdy, is buried in this cemetery . Her stone also is no longer there. This cemetery was not very well cared for. It has been mowed sometime this Summer but not recently. The headstones in the row farthest from the house are being overtaken by the weeds in the field there by it. That was pretty sad. There was a new grave there so it looks like SOMEONE would take care of it!! Devon (our cameraman) was asleep in the van so I took the video here .. lots of grass and pavement … I did manage to get SOME of the headstone focused in though! And we do have pictures!

William and Lewis Vought are also buried here.  William Vought is the father of Dollie Vought McCurdy.  Dollie was my marternal greatgrandmother.   Lewis was Dollie's brother.  I have not yet found where Dollie's mother, Eliza, is buried.  

We went down McCurdy Road and got pictures of the area where the McCurdy's lived AND the McCurdy Road sign of course!!

At the court house we got copies of the will and estate papers for William McCurdy's (Mom's great grandfather) estate. Some have signatures!! I have Joseph Donald and Dollie A. McCurdy's signatures .. I was really thrilled with that! I wanted to get copies of the estate papers for James McCurdy (Mom's great great grandfather) but they are no longer in the box!! They let us go through the boxes before and after his number to see if they had gotten misplaced but we didn't find them. I did get a copy of William Matthews (father of William McCurdy's wife, Zilpha Matthews) will and some other papers on him and his estate. Estate papers are kept in narrow file boxes .. you look in these great big heavy books to find the name you want and it gives you the number of the box the papers are in. The dates and info in these books go wayyyyy back to the 1800s and further. As we are going through these old papers it is amazing to realize they have been sitting in these boxes for over a hundred years!!

In downtown Bucyrus there are two amazing murals .. I won't even try to describe them .. we got pictures and a video.

While Mike and Devon were doing their "guy things" they came across an ollllldddd Sinclair Station complete with the old gas pumps and two old cop cars and lots of other old vehicles. We had to go there before leaving town. There was also a large garage there where cars are worked on but it was also set up like a museum! Fifties memorabilia .. James Dean .. and Elvis room .. and lots more old cars, even an old tow truck. The guy who owns it does it as a hobby. The Sinclair station was never an operating one but was built as a hobby. Of course we have pictures!!

Next stop Lima, Ohio. There was so much to see and do in Bucyrus we didn't get to Lima until about 6 Friday evening .. library, museum and court house were closed so we went to the cemeteries there Friday evening. Woodlawn is a beautiful cemetery. I had been to Woodlawn Cemetery when Bill and I went to Lima last Summer but at that time I didn't know Chloe McCurdy (Helen McCurdy's mother) and Sylvia Shrider Roeder (Levi Shrider's sister) were buried there. We found their graves and also the graves of Chloe's parents and some of her siblings. And of course we visited the graves of Etta Blanche's brother's, Joseph E. and Arthur, and Arthur's daughter, Helen, and William and Phoebe Shrider also. I placed red roses on their headstones and we took pictures and a video here.

And then another visit to Fisher Cemetery to deliver Roses!!

Fisher Cemetery is a very small cemetery out in the country. Jacob and Catherine Fisher Shrider are buried there. Jacob and Catherine are the parents of William Shrider (they would be Mom's great grandparents). Frances Binkley Shrider is also buried there one grave away from them. Frances and George Shrider were Jacob's parents (they would be Mom's great great grandparents. George Shrider is listed in the book as being buried at Mt. Zion Lutheran Cemetery. In one book I saw Fisher Cemetery listed as Mt. Zion Lutheran Cemetery, so I believe he is buried here with his wife. This headstone is unreadable and "unrubbable". There are lots of other Shriders, Binkleys and Fishers buried there. I put a rose on Jacob and Catherine's headstone.

We also found the places where Levi Shrider had had groceries stores .. both stores are no longer there .. the lots are empty.

The neighbors across the street from where the store had been on West Kibby were sitting on their porch so we went over and talked to them. They had only lived there 5 years but they remembered when there had been a grocery store in the house across the street from there. The house there had burnt last year so the city tore it down. The lot was taken over by the city for unpaid taxes. In 1903, when Aunt Dot was born, Levi and Blanche lived at 339 East North Street .. that whole block is gone and replaced by the school and playground.

DAY FOUR .. SATURDAY, JULY 2, 2005 .. LIMA, ALLEN COUNTY, OHIO

Since the courthouse was closed, about all the information we got at Lima was info from City Indexes on Shriders. And a plat map showing where the McCurdy property is. In the city indexes we found that William and Pheobe Shrider had also ran a grocery store at one time in Lima! We also found another street address for Levi Shrider in 1941, 814 West Kibby, so before leaving Lima we went there. That house was still standing (white house on far right in picture) but there were several people out and about so we just took a quick picture from the inside of the van.

And of course we took in the Lima Museum and toured the McDonnell House … this is a three-story gorgeous house sitting on the same lot as the Lima Museum. This house was built by a gentleman with the last name of Banta, for $20,000.00 in 1890. The rooms on one side of the downstairs have woodwork made of Cherry with lots of spindles and scrolls and carvings .. the entry hall and rooms on the other side have woodwork made of Oak. The posts between the arched doorways and the hall are cherry on one side and oak on the other. The pocket doors are also cherry on one side and oak on the other. There is a Wooten desk in the receiving room. Today the Wooten desk would be valued at $50,000.00! Lots of things to marvel at in this house. There is one room filled with animals the last owner of the house had killed and had stuffed … a polar bear, a lion, two moose, every animal imaginable! Two of the light chaneliers are gas and electric .. there were electric fixtures around the outside and around the inside were gas candle fixtures! A huge chandelier hanging over the dining room table was found in the carriage shed out back .. glass and tassels in excellent shape. It weighed 200 pounds!! The last family living in the house left a few pieces of furniture .. the rest of the furniture and articles in the house had been donated by people.

                                               

There is a delightful Children's Garden on the same lot with the museum and McConnell house. When we needed a respite from digging through books we went there and relaxed for a while.

Duan, a long time friend of Mike's, traveled to Lima from Michigan to meet Mike. The two of them spent the day taking in Antiques and Collectables places. Devon got stuck running around with Aunt Madonna and Grandma for the day.

We had a rather unique experience while we were in the Lima Library! The library got robbed!! We were searching through the City Indexes and I heard the librarian hollering "hey .. hey .. they just took the money"!! And a policeman who was in the library and several patrons of the library took off out the revolving door. As told later .. the librarian had just taken the money drawer out of the register and it was on the counter and someone grabbed a bunch of the money and took off running. Some people said the money drawer .. some said a money bag. There is a McDonald's about two blocks away from the library and the thief was caught there by one of the library patrons who had took off after him, and arrested by the police. What excitement! I had just been outside and had a cigarette a few minutes before this and when I came back in two young men followed me in … I don't know if it was them who did it or not. But I was thankful I had been inside when it happened and not just in the middle of the revolving doors coming in when everyone took off outside through them!!

The Lima Museum also has a Genealogy Library in it . I was hoping to find, in the cemetery books there, where Joseph Donald McCurdy is buried but did not find it. They had 5 Van Wert cemetery books and he was in none of them. I also haven't found him in the Crawford County cemetery books. So this remains a mystery. They have many old High Shool year books on their shelves and I was hoping to find a high school picture of Helen McCurdy and her brother, Richard. Helen's obituary said she had gone to Central High School before she had taken ill and there were yearbooks for Central High, "The Mirror", for the years Helen and Richard would have been there but we did not find them. Helen did not make it to her Senior year and all the classes except Senior class were group pictures and they had not put the names of the people in the classes in the book!! Madonna DID find a rather unique picture tho .. Phyllis Diller had grown up in Lima and she found her Senior picture!! She would have been in school there the same time as Helen!! If you don't know who Helen McCurdy is .. check out the Leona Mae Shrider "HER" Story on the History button!!

Mike and Duane met us at the museum about 5:00 PM and we went to a fifties place named "Happy Daz" to eat a bite and visit before heading home.

We were all pretty pooped puppies on the way home .. but it was a terrific few days in Ohio .. and I can't wait to go again!!

As I think back over our trip in Mike and Madonna's new red van .. with the nice soft seats .. with drink holders even .. and the automatic "push-a-button and they open and close" doors and the A/C and the DVD player .. and the nice comfy Rest Stops along the way ("Little Blue Huts as Madonna called them because on the map they are symbolized by little blue huts) .. and cell phones for keeping in touch with the kids at home .. I can't help but think of the difference in the way we traveled and the way William Shrider and his family traveled when they came to Illinois with their horse drawn wagons and oil drilling equipment. Also the Nathan Winnett family (ancestors on my Dad's side) .. they came by horses and covered wagons from Guernsey County, Ohio which is many miles further .. with 8 kids and a pregnant woman in the wagon!!! Nathan's first wife, Elizabeth Phillips, died shortly after they made that long trip to Cumberland County, Illinois! A direct trip to Lima takes 5 HOURS today …. I wonder how many DAYS it took our ancestors to get here???

***  NOTE .. This page will be a work in progress .. the original story of this trip was created shortly after we took the trip in 2005 .. however, we have LOTS of pics that were not posted in the original story .. I will add more pics and more info as time allows.