For Rippey and Orson Campers

It seems our Rippey and Orson ancestors lived in an area that's now attractive to campers and wildlife enthusiasts. Here's a map of the area with links and here's an overview. The Holtwood Dam is lower on the Susquehanna, and it backs water up to this area. The power company bought land in the area in connection with the dam which is now preserved from development.

As I posted yesterday, George Orson (Mary's brother) may have operated the Shenk's Ferry, presumably from the Orson land on the west bank. Googling "Shenk's Ferry" gave some interesting results. The Shenk's Ferry Wildflower Preserve is on the east side of the Susquehanna. The Urey overlook on the west side of the Susquehanna is near, and possibly on, the Orson land. The Otter Creek area possibly contains old growth forest (i.e., never logged). Follow this link. Finally, "Shenks Ferry" designates a culture of the Woodland Indians, based excavations done in Conestoga Township (east bank).

I've added a line indicating the probable Shenks Ferry route to this
View Chanceford (Rippey/Orson/Stewart) Map in a larger map

Chanceford Township

Bought "A History of Chanceford Township, York County, Pennsylvania, 1747-1997, issued by the Brogue Community Lions Club, November 1997, June R. Grove and Richard Konkel, Esq., editors.

It's well done, with lots of information, but Capt. Rippey doesn't star. There is a mention of an "Orson Mill" and a ferry which George Orson operated in 1783. Captain Reed operated after the Revolution. Doing an Internet search finds a reference to Captain Reed's operating the Orson Mill and having "river rights" and operating a ferry which became known as "Shenk's Ferry".

At the rear there's a section of local genealogies. The one for the Stewarts adds some information for them, including the fact Ernest Stewart wrote a "Stewart Genealogy".

An Update

I've been remiss in working on this blog. Maybe I'll do better, but here's a brief update.

Cousin Marjorie has been to Ireland, delivered her talk on John Martin, MP, renewed old friendships, done further research on Martin, found the Newry exhibit on Martin is now scheduled for 2011, and successfully returned home.

I've done little research, but thanks to a cousin who contacted another cousin I now have the 1900 census data for my Hoeppner family in NYC. The index had read "Hoeffner" instead of "Hoeppner". The census data overturns a family story that grandfather had planned a trip with a groupto Alaska as part of the Alaskan gold rush, which plan was disrupted by my grandmother's pregnancy with my mother. As a result, grandfather supposedly swapped his place in the expedition for the farm in Broome County. But 2 years after mom was born they were still living in New York City.

A Rippey To Get to Know

According to this article, Dennis Rippey is planning to produce 3 million gallons of wine a year. No, I can't connect Dennis to Captain John.

John Martin's Brother in Law

John Martin is the subject of Marjorie's first book (at least one-third) and she's working on the second. The link below is to the Google Books search for his brother-in-law, Maxwell Simpson, who was in Paris in the 1850's,. The search found Simpson's obituary. (Google makes it easy to select a portion of a page and post it to your blog, but not so easy when there are multiple pages. To read the whole obituary, you'll have to scroll back the pages (and tolerate a lot of discussion of chemistry).


Proceedings of the Royal Society of London By Royal Society (Great Britain):
""

Michael Harshaw's Labors

I stumbled across this while wasting time doing Google searches. And what it mean, I wonder:

A document dated January 10, 1848, in the pos-
session of Miss Clara Mathews of Marissa, is of inter-
est. It reads as follows:

"We. the undersigners promise to pay the sums
next to our names for the ministerial labors of the Rev.
Mr. Harshaw at the Salem Meeting House on Mud
Creek: John R. Lyons $5.00; Henry L. McGuire $8.00;
Thomas Gillespie $5.00: a man named East. $3.00;
Arch McFie $3.00; James Mclntire $5.00; Anny Mc-
Guire $1.50: John Craig $2.00; William McKee $2.00,
H. L. McGuire for 1849, $5.50."

Washington county is north of Perry County, so my guess is Michael was acting as a temporary pastor for a congregation. (Marissa is a town in ST. Clair county, just north of Randolph and west of Washington, about 24 miles by road from Cutler. Mud Creek is close to the Perry/Washington boundary but I don't see the church location in Google maps.) William in "A Romance..." mentions his father's labors in establishing churches in southern Illinois, so this may be a bit of evidence of it.

What Could Michael Buy

Ran across this interesting page describing the wares of a country store in Illinois in 1846. Probably a good representation of what Michael Harshaw could have bought from a store in Sparta. Among the wares:

coffee and tea
whiskey
candy
ginseng (an aphrodisiac)
cloth
dye

William Harshaw's Second Church

From the Jefferson County Ohio Genealogical Site:

First United Presbyterian Church – Steubenville, Ohio – The church was organized in 1810 as a Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church. On March 7, 1811, a call was extended to Mr. George Buchanan to serve a three-point charge of Yellow Creek, Steubenville, and Harman’s Creek. He was installed June 4, 1811. About 1817 the first building was erected on the site of the present building. In 1837 the second was erected. In 1838 Rev. Buchanan served only in Steubenville. In January of 1857, Rev. J.K. Andrews became pastor. Mr. Andrews became chaplain of the 136th Ohio Regiment in the Civil War. By September of 1864, Mr. J.W. Clokey was installed. His family was very important in the history of the United Presbyterian Church in North America. His wife raised millions of dollars for missionary causes. His daughter, Mary Clokey Porter was the secretary of the Women’s Missionary Society. Rev. T.J. Kennedy was pastor form 1869-1873. In late 1873, Rev.S.J.Stewart became pastor. He resigned in 1877 and later practiced law. Rev. William S. Owens became pastor in 1877 and the old building was razed and a new building was erected. It was dedicated on January 1, 1884. Rev. William Harshaw served from 1887 to 1889. He was followed by Rev. E.M. Milligan who served until 1895...

And from this on Muskingum College:

The alumni of this college comprise men who are prominent to-day in the ministry, in the field of letters, and among the professions and business men in various sections of the Union. The following are the members of the present board of trustees: Term expires 1891--Rev. W. H. McFarland. Cambridge, Ohio; Rev. J. T. Campbell, Kimbolton, Ohio; Rev. J. J. Madge, Dalton, Ohio; Rev. J. W. Martin, Mt. Perry, Ohio; Rev. W. H. Vincent, Mansfield, Ohio; Rev. J. G. Kennedy, Wellsville, Ohio; Henry McCreary, M. D., New Concord, Ohio. Term expires in 1892--Rev. J. P. Lytle, D. D., Sago, Ohio; D. E. Ralston, Esq., New Concord, Ohio; Rev. C. E. White, Galligher, Ohio; Rev. W. R. Harshaw, Steubenville, Ohio; Samuel Harper, Esq., New Concord, Ohio; Samuel Smiley, Esq., Sago, Ohio; John E. Sankey, Esq., Cambridge, Ohio.

Trip, Day 12 and 13 [Updated]

Days 12 and 13, DC

We missed the Harshaw cousin Thursday night, but had a fine day for touring DC on Friday, including several war memorials. Met a cousin of Marjorie's late husband for lunch at the American Indian museum's cafeteria and heard fascinating talk on his genealogical researches (an incredible number of people in his database) and the issue of reunions, both of families and of military vets. After a short time touring the museum on to an Irish pub to meet with a McCauley cousin. He's more conscious of privacy concerns on the Internet than I am so I'll try to restrain my impulses to put everything on the net :-), when it comes to him and his branch of the family. We shared results--he's a very good photographer and has better pictures of the Number 9 new cemetery gravestones than I did. Talked of having summertimes in Canandaigua and the large number of cousins he had.

Then home to Reston for supper, taking Marjorie back to her hotel from whence she will leave Saturday for home.

[Updated--see post in Faceless.]

To and From York, PA

June Lloyd at Universal York has a post on the railroad age in York, which permitted people and goods easy access to many places.

One little appreciated vehicle of transportation for the York area was the Susquehanna River. I bought, skimmed, and almost immediately misplaced a book on working lives in the Broome County, NY area. Apparently for many years lumbering was the big industry there, beginning in the 1790's and going on until about the 1850's. Men would fell the trees, particularly during the winter, skid them to the river(s), and in the spring float them down the Susquehanna to market. Then the raftmen would travel back to Broome county.

My guess is the river path was probably the way the Rippeys, McCauley's, Blacks, and McIntyres traveled from York and Lancaster Counties to Ontario County, NY

John Harshaw of Bangor

Marjorie and I were discussing our early ancestors--there's a John Harshaw of Bangor (not Maine, Ulster) recorded in the 1630's or so--and when they might have entered Ireland. Glancing at the wikipedia.com entry for the Ulster Plantation corrected some of my misimpressions, and suggested John might have been part of the Hamilton settlement.

Googling brings us to this interesting website on Hamilton/Montgomery. The website even includes a map with "Bangor" at the top (on the Belfast Lough). Unfortunately, the website apparently was put up in connection with the 400th anniversary of the settlement (in 1606) and hasn't been added to since.

Trip, Day 4 [Updated]

Was yesterday, Wednesday, but I was too pooped to post. Briefly we drove from outside Lexington directly to Cutler, changing our plans so we could catch Jackie Carrothers in the Cutler Library. (This was after realizing we gained an hour by moving to the CDT zone.) We ended with Erjuanna Hartman (cemetery) and her husband, Robert, Jackie's husband Melvin, Jim Richmond (descended from one of the original families of the area), and Pat, the treasurer. We shared information and good feelings, learned a bunch of things which we'll try to assimilate and disseminate, toured the Presbyterian church with Jim, ate lunch with Jim, then visited the cemetery and saw the family graves (and also the work Jim and Melvin are doing in fixing problems with the gravestones). Drove to Du Quoin to pick up information on data in the library for planning today's trip. Went on to Sparta for a 2-night stay.

Trip, Day 3 [Updated]

An all-driving day--leaving Breezewood in the morning (I'm sure someone has written extensively on Breezewood as a phenomena, I may return to it later), driving through Columbus, Cincinnati, and past Louisville, missing some turns (through failure to plan and organize sufficiently and senior lapses :-).

This is all McCain-Palin territory, as is most of the American landscape. A good reminder to us Eastern liberals of the extent of the country and its sentiments. "Hell is Real" as one sign read. And everyone said "hello", including the guy who noticed my VA plates and asked--which county--he was from Prince William.

We ended up just northwest of Louisville, KY where Marjorie had a long conversation with a woman who told her her life story.

(Since my photos for today ended up in the same slide show as tomorrow, see Day 4 for photos.)

DNA and Ancestry

Have I said I had my DNA tested, through Ancestry.com? (Not necessarily a plug for ancestry, by the way.) Anyhow, I did and the results came through just before Marjorie and I left for our trip.

Of course, the paternal DNA test would work to identify Harshaw males--the son, of a son of a son, etc. The maternal works the mother's side, so that's a Hoeppner. I'm still struggling with the Ancestry software on the DNA side, but I've made connections with a (third???) cousin in England, trying to figure out the intermediate linkages.

If any one is interested, here's the link for the discussion group on ancestry which contains our back and forth. Right now it's public, and hopefully can remain so.