How Research Leads to More Stories

 A story can begin from something that pops into your mind. It can happen while reading. While watching TV or a movie. A certain smell that brings back a memory. It can happen while overhearing a conversation. There's a million and one ways stories are triggered.

One story that I'm working on right now for Kindle Vella, began from a conversation with a woman who was like a second mother to me. She was helping me with my research on the "Unsung Heroes" book. But, there was something that she said that triggered a story. In the course of the conversation, she said she'd lived in a house that was part of the underground railroad. The first blog posts back in May all deal with the house.

Next thing I knew, I was creating characters for a new historical fiction of sorts book, and contacting the kid who designed the cover for my book, "The Ghosts of Springhollow" to see if she wanted to do another cover design.

I began doing side research on the house, and came across a book I mentioned in the last blog post about quilts and coded messages. I knew I had to call Dorothy and ask her if she knew anything about them. But I kept putting it off and diving into other areas of the book. The next thing I knew - her son Mike posted that she died suddenly. 

I was gutted, and still am. I lost someone I loved like a second mom. I lost a good friend. She was a very special woman who was loved by so many. She and my mom were the last of the parents in our neighbourhood. Mom is now the last one standing. It must be a weird feeling. 

There's a couple lessons learned from this moment - stop putting off calling people who come to mind. It may be your last chance to talk to them. 

The second, is this - talk to your elders and record what they say. Some day, you'll wish you had. Once the older generation is gone, their wisdom and the history they've known go with them. It's lost forever. Record it now while you have the chance.

The Real Captain of the 7th Ohio Battery

 In doing research for "Unsung Heroes", I've had to read a lot of local history. Thankfully, I've been quite skeptical about a lot of stuff I've read, which lead me to  research things I found either questionable or wanted to learn more about.

For instance, as I've mentioned in an earlier post, one local Union soldier in the Civil War claimed he spent 19 months in the Andersonville Prison. An impossibility since the prison was only open 14 months.

Today, I was reading, "The Pioneer History of Meigs County." The book claimed a guy named McNaughton was captain of the 7th Ohio Battery. No, he wasn't. The captain was Silas Burnap. When I did a search through the book on Burnap, it said he was a "captain of an Ohio battery."

Interesting! Burnap was a "respected" lawyer. The first to enlist when the war broke out, and had returned to Meigs to recruit for the 7th Ohio Battery. Yet, the author of the book somehow forgot where he served. 

Now, I'm no big fan of Burnap. Actually, I'm pretty close to hating him. As a captain? He was a putz. Perhaps that's why the author intentionally forgot he was captain of the 7th. He despised him as well. 

Anyway, I'll get to him being a putz in a minute. When Burnap came back to Meigs to enlist more soldiers, those here wrote to the Governor and insisted Burnap be made their captain. The Gov agreed to their demand. So! Burnap became captain of the 7th Ohio Battery. 

As for Burnap being a putz! My great, great, great grandfather, Henry Wehrung, was a Sergeant in the 7th. He was made sergeant because he had just a few months under 10 years military experience in the French army, and had been a sergeant in a battery there.

Grandpa was used to discipline. But, the guys under him were just a bunch of yahoo's who didn't believe in discipline and believed he had no right to try and inflict it on them. A lot of generals felt the same way my grandfather did. They also got the same response.

Anywho! Grandpa went to Burnap and explained the situation. Burnap demoted him to Private. Yeah. Instead of standing by him - he turned his back on him and demoted him. Therefore, Silas Burnap is a putz. 

Burnap must have known how hated he was because he didn't return to Meigs. Instead, he went to California. Perhaps that's why he isn't credited in the book as being captain of the 7th. We'll never know. But, when you're recording history, whether you like the person or not - you have to give proper credit.  

Jobs in the 1800's

1860 Census Ohio

 

Researching through census records lets you know just how boring today's jobs are. Most people today work in plants or some sort of fast food or box store. In other words, you're indoors with little chance of fresh air.

In rural Ohio, 1800's, some of your options of indoor/outdoor jobs were:

1. wagon maker
2. peddler
3. tanner
4. chairmaker
5. farm worker
6. reed peddler
7. saddler
8. cotton spinner
9. wheel right

Some of these jobs were done indoors, but the difference was - they had the doors and windows open - big doors, in the case of the wagon and wheel maker.

Cotton spinner? You can put the spinning wheel on a porch and have at it, or they may have also used a drop spindle, which again can be used indoors or out. 

Thanks to my love of knitting and crochet - I think I would have enjoyed being a cotton spinner.  

Research Means Connecting with Old Friends and Strangers

 

Snipped from mapsquest

One thing I never expected in doing all this research, was that I'd be connecting with the neighbourhood kids I grew up.

Yesterday, I shared memories with Paul. He used to play in the house next door that was used in the underground railroad. I learned the house was also a place for bands to come and the locals would dance. He's pretty certain his grandfather played his banjo there. 

Paul said there was a player piano. He could never get it to work. He also found an old black drumstick. He searched for its mate, but never found it. There were places you avoided in the house because of copperheads.

This morning, I called his sister, Rosemary. She and I shared memories and laughed. From her, I learned she knew how to make the piano work, and at one point - stole some of the music. LOL

Her mother had told her that a picket fence ran along the road before you get to the dip. The abolitionists who owned the house next door, would hang quilts on it. It was a signal to the runaways that this was a safe house.

In the kitchen, under the table, was a trap door to the cellar. That's where the runaways were kept till it was time to move on. A question that has plagued me is about the tunnel. She's pretty good idea where it comes out on the hill. There are two choices: 1. To the right of where the current residents have built a pond. 2. The mine. From there, she said they could see what was going on and know what to do.

She called me a short bit later with more info. She had contacted her son and told him what I was up to. He wants me to write a book, when I'm done, about his grandfather, Harold. I'm looking forward to seeing what info he has.

Rosemary gave me excellent referrals who should know a good bit about the area. I'm looking forward to making more calls come Monday.

Oh! And another surprise happened at Walmart today. I finally came across Anita. Anita is a descendent of Jane Lee. Sadly, she had no stories to relay about Jane. But! I did learn that a book had been written that contained Meigs history and stories of the underground. And sadly, it burned in a fire. Perhaps somewhere out there is a copy of that book!

Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to a day off from research tomorrow. It really helps taking a full day away. When you go back to look at notes, some things become clear and more questions come to light.

Questions, Questions, and More Questions

 This afternoon, I took a walk up the road to where Dorothy used to live. The other day I posted an aerial shot. Here's a ground shot of the previous post. The block wall is rectangular in shape and I have no idea what part of the house it belonged to. But, somewhere under there is a number of tunnels that I still have questions about.

Anyway, I stared a long time at the hillside wondering where the tunnels came out at. Is there still access? Can you see where they once were? What did it feel like to run up those tunnels fleeing from bounty hunters or slave owners?

Were there houses on either side? Did any of the tunnels lead to them? Did they flood during the harsh rains? Did the tunnels lead to the barn or some other out-building making it easy for an escape regardless of where you may be?

Long shot of where the safe house was.

The woods lead to even more questions. The hillsides are thick with vegetation during the summer. The runaways, or freedom seekers, had to deal with every non-human hazard you can imagine! There were copperheads, Timber Rattlesnakes, poison ivy, mosquitoes, coyote, and wolves, to name a few.

If they were barefoot, they had to contend with all the briars and stickers, which abound in these woods. What was it like? How often did they just want to give up and go back? From what my research has lead me to, quite often some did want to return to slavery, or at least had second thoughts.

As close to the rectangular wall as I could zoom to. 

As I walked back to the farm, I focused on my surroundings. As the freedom seekers left in a false bottom wagon, bouncing down a dirt road, with food shoved in their pockets for the journey, were their any other houses on this section of New Lima? Was that safe house the only one for several miles? 

Were their trees that lined the dirt road? Or, had the fields been cleared for planting? When the wagon went past someone's home, did their dog(s) start barking? If they did, I'm sure that sent fear through everyone. 

This adventure in uncovering the unsung heroes keeps my head filled with questions. My biggest at the moment? Does Dorothy have a picture of the old house?  hmmm....

Tunnels and Hidden Passageways

Thanks to Marlene and her brother, Bob, I learned today where the house was located that Dorothy lived in as a child. It was in the empty spot just below the top house in the pic. Yesterday, Dorothy told me that her father said the basement of their house had false walls with rooms behind them to hold runaway slaves. 

Today, I learned from Marlene that when the house was still standing, Bob and his friends used to play in the tunnels. He said they went everywhere including up the hill. Talk about a super home as a safe house! The runaways could move around in the basement, and then when the signal was given they could slip behind the fake wall and be safe. If all else failed, they could escape up the tunnels to the hill and no one would be the wiser and catch them.

It's amazing the effort this family went to to ensure the runaways safety. Imagine the amount of time it took to dig these tunnels! They didn't have machinery that would do the digging for them. This was all done by hand with a shovel. 

Then, there's engineering the false walls that would fool bounty hunters, slave owners, and the local constable! That as well took time and skill. I'd love to know who all was involved in making this the safe house it was.

I hope to talk to Bob myself. I have a lot of questions about what the tunnels were like. I've tried to find the phone number for Paul R., another kid who played in the tunnels. He's unlisted. So, I'll have to try where he works.

Thursday, when the museum is open, I'm heading in to work my way through the census records from 1940 or '50, back to 1850. I want to know everyone who lived there during the time of the underground railroad, and see if I can learn their story.

Every abolitionists story is important. They risked everything to help runaway slaves, and their story should be told. Hopefully, I'll be able to do that for as many as I can.