Wordless Wednesday - Driving Along in My Automobile

Al and Terry Search for the Covered Bridges of Vinton County

At the risk of making you want to stick your finger down your throat as I continue to rhapsodize over my brand new love for all things Vinton County, I’m posting the remaining pictures of the county’s covered bridges 

While I was feverishly working my arm and back muscles, hefting around those large probate ledgers, my spouse was becoming buds with the very nice lady at the Vinton County Convention and Visitors Bureau. I swear I could drop that man in the middle of the Gobi Desert and he would come out with a newfound friend and directions to nearest watering hole! 

We had made a half hearted stab at trying to locate the Ponn Bridge the day before with less than stellar results. 

Me: “I think we should turn around.” 

Hubby: “What was your first clue – the dirt road or the sounds of Deliverance?” 

My Kentucky friend Linda, had given us superb directions to Curry Cemetery (Linda, we would still be driving in circles without those directions – THANK YOU), and at the bottom of the map she had included the covered bridge. Proving that Al and I would be the nice, always get along couple that you either hate to love or love to hate on the Amazing Race, we nonetheless failed our map-reading test. 

Al was trying to explain to the nice lady at the VCC&VB about our unsuccessful attempt when she too made, I kid you not, her own reference to “Deliverance.” Isn’t Ohio humor great? 

So, when my husband met up with me in the lobby of Vinton County’s courthouse, he was loaded down with all kinds of goodies to help us navigate the back roads of Vinton County. With all those maps and guidebooks, not to mention a pamphlet entitled, “Covered Bridges of Vinton County,” we decided to go for it and spend the afternoon looking not just for Ponn Bridge, but all five covered bridges in the county. 

Understand that the county apparently does not think it sporting to put up any signs indicating that you are in the vicinity of a covered bridge. Nor are they big on little conveniences like road signs – so while they might tell you in their pamphlet to turn onto Cox Road, you have no idea if the road you turned onto is indeed, Cox Road. Oh and Road 43 B intersects Route 32, three (maybe four) times and should not be confused with Road 43 A or 43C. (I know you think I’m exaggerating but trust me, I’m not.) 

In any case, Al and I found all five of the bridges and we actually had a great time doing it. The hunt took us all over the county, led us to some beautiful sights, and was just difficult enough to make us feel like we had accomplished something each time we found one of the bridges. Only one of the bridges, the oldest, Arbaugh Bridge, is open to traffic. Built in 1871 it was closed to traffic for 30 years before money was obtained through a federal grant to allow needed improvements. I don’t know what the price tag was for the improvements but it was worth every penny. It was so nice, we went through it twice!

 

If covered bridge hunting sounds like the kind of “sport” you might be interested in trying yourself, ODOT maintains a webpage with a map and directions to Ohio’s historic covered bridges that you can check out yourself. Going on a trip or live in another state? No problem. A website entitled “Ohio Barns” has covered bridge listings for 42 states as well as directions for unique barns such as Mail Pouch Barns, Ohio’s Bicentennial Barns, Quilt Barns, Round Barns and just about any kind of special barn you can think of to enjoy. 

Proving that once you start looking for covered bridges you just gravitate to them, we found, by accident, Byers Covered Bridge in Jackson County, and Helmick Bridge in Coshocton County. 

Until Next Time!

© 27 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder

Walking on Humpback Bridge

Last week, my husband and I traveled to Southern Ohio. My father’s paternal lines, former Virginians and Pennsylvanians, for a time made their homes in Ohio’s Appalachian region during the nineteenth century. Within that region lies the least populated of Ohio’s 88 counties, Vinton County. Vinton County is made up of forests, rolling hills, country roads, and small villages. In the spring it is a beautiful place to visit. Its southern most township is Wilkesville, which is home to a small village of the same name. It is here, in this township and village of the same name, that my Smathers, Cope, Thacker and Marcum families made the connections needed that would eventually produce me. The township is also the location of an unexpected treasure, a covered bridge. 

Vinton County boasts five covered bridges within its borders. One of these, nestled on a forgotten stretch of township road in Wilkesville Township is the Ponn Bridge. The bridge, which crosses Raccoon Creek, was built in 1874 by Martin E. McGrath and Lyman Wells. It has three spans, and is a combination of Burr Arch, King Post and Whipple truss designs. It is believed to be the only bridge of this kind still in existence in North America. The Ponn Bridge, or the Humpback Bridge as it is also known, replaced another bridge that had been built in 1870. The older bridge, The Barnes Mill Bridge, caught fire a month after it had been completed. The Humpback was not completed until four years later at a cost of $1898. The bridge, no longer open to local traffic, is unfortunately a magnet for graffiti artists, as you can see clearly in the photos below.

 

I tell you, there is something magical about walking through an old covered bridge that you know your great grandparents, as well as their parents and their grandparents would have also walked upon. I know – totally sentimental and sappy. But I loved every step taken, and my trip was all the more rewarding because of it.

 

Until Next Time – Happy Ancestral Digging!

© 25 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Ancestry Offering Military Databases Free – For a Limited Time

Just in time for the long Memorial Day Weekend – Juliana at 24/7 Family History Circle is reporting that Ancestry is offering free access to its military database until May 31. If you don’t subscribe to Ancestry but are in the mood to do a little research from home, here’s your chance. Click on this link and get started! 

Maybe my mind is a little fried but I don’t remember seeing Michigan databases available on the FamilySearch Labs website, so if you already are aware of this – just excuse my tardiness on reporting this item. Below is a list of Michigan databases currently offered: 

Michigan Births 1867 – 1902 

Michigan Deaths 1867- 1897

Michigan Marriages 1868 – 1897 

These databases have linked images – no relying on another’s abstracting abilities. You can see the pages for yourself! 

I was surprised to find some of my Bettsville family members listed in the marriage index. It actually created one of those “ah ha moments” when I found my great grandmother’s brother, Ross Feasel, marrying his former wife. There had been a huge gap between their first child and their remaining children – now I know why. 

The databases do not indicate how complete they are, which leads me to suspect that FamilySearch is merely at the beginning stages of adding to these databases, so you will want to keep that possibility in mind. Seriously, if you have not checked out the FamilySearch Labs website lately, you may be pleasantly surprised at the number of databases that have been added. 

Until Next Time – Have a Safe Weekend!

© 24 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Wordless Wednesday - From Ohio's Appalachian Country

What's better than a carnival coming to town - two carnivals!

The Carnival of Genealogy has been posted by Jasia at Creative Gene . This edition's topic was, "Mom, how'd you get so smart?" A pretty fitting topic considering last week's special holiday. 

Jasia, bless her heart (does using that phrase make me an honorary Southerner?), let people know that I now have an RSS feed. Thanks, lady! 

A carnival that posted last week on Mother's Day was my friend Footnote Maven's Smile For The Camera - A Carnival of Images on her new blog, Shades of the Departed. The blog was inspired by FM's own collection of vintage photographs. For those of us who love old photograph's this blog is a special treat. Mosey on over, and check it out! 

Until Next Time - Happy Ancestral Digging!

© 18 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Because I Can

So, I'm writing this at 1:00 AM Saturday morning, mostly because I CAN. Not only can I write this post, but I can actually post it - to the Web - on my blog - on the weekend. Now, that might not seem like much to you, but since I started blogging online for the News-Messenger, I've had to wait patiently (okay, not so patiently) for the editor to have the time to post to my blog. This was a definite buzzkill, especially when I had three or four posts stacked up, circling out there in email land, waiting to land on my blog. 

However, the system did have its pluses, like attitude-drenched missives from a certain editor and the fact that I'm pretty sure he knew how to spell the word, "gardener" whereas, obviously, I do not. (Okay, I finally saw the error, but something like 24 hours later. I'm now using my Merriam-Webster to check the spelling of about every third word. But the good news - I can edit my own blog and fix the sucker.) 

I also now have RSS Feed. For those of you who don't know what RSS Feed is, don't worry, neither do I, or at least I don't understand what it is when it comes to the technology behind it. But what it means is that people, like you, can subscribe to any blog and if you have a reader, like say the Google Reader, anytime a new post is added to that blog, it will be shown in your reader.

Right now, this very instant, I subscribe to 49 different sites - most of them blogs. It sounds like a lot. Well, it is a lot, but the reader helps keep me on top of things. It's kind of like the secretary I've always wanted, but I don't have to buy it a Christmas present or give it a yearly bonus.

If you already have a Google account for Blogger or Gmail, you already have access to the Google Reader, it's just a matter of setting it up. If you don't have a Google account, and want to set one up along with the Google Reader, I have found a blog that covers the topic in a step-by-step manner with pictures! Just click on the hyperlink found on the phrase "a blog" and it will take you straight to the website where Meg of "Dipping Into The Blogpond" lays out all the details. 

Meg's an Aussie, but I don't think you'll mind crossing this international line. My suggestion, print out the blog post so you can follow it step-by-step. I subscribe to The News-Messenger's local news which is a handy, quick way for me to keep abreast of what's going on locally. I can easily pick and choose which articles interest me at a glance. 

Until Next Time ...

© 17 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder