In Memoriam - Edward Louis Gillen

Edward Louis Gillen passed away on 50 years ago today on Saturday, November 15, 1969 in Freeport, Nassau, New York.

Frank Hillenbrand...The Long Road to Citizenship

Frank Joseph Hillenbrand was born September 17, 1885 in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

In 1885, Ludwigshafen is located on the Rhine River.  To the east across the river was the city of Mannheim.  In 1865 the chemical company BASF made the move across the Rhine from Mannheim to Ludwigshafen.  As a result, Ludwigshafen went undergoing a period of rapid growth as other chemical companies began to make Ludwigshafen home.

Rachel Ann Biddle Miller

Happy Birthday Rachel!  

This week it is Rachel's 200th birthday!   I have not been able to locate a birth certificate for Rachel or any other document that states her birthdate, so using the information on her tombstone I calculated her birth date as October 27, 1819. 1819!

Memorial for Rachel Ann Biddle Miller, photo by  Janet Allen-Barnes, downloaded 2019.10.17 from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68326184

What was Ohio like in 1819?  Let's travel back in time...

The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, at the close of the Revolutionary War, and transferred what was known as the Old Northwest from Great Britain to the newly formed United States.  The first colony in the Old Northwest was settled soon after in 1787 and called Marietta in the part of the territory that would later become Ohio.  Many of the early settlements in Ohio, like Marietta, were the result of settlers setting off from Pittsburg, PA and traveling on the Ohio River as it flows towards the mighty Mississippi River.  The Hocking River branches off of the Ohio River just south of Marietta.  Pioneers followed this river inland to settle in the river's basin, forming many early communities in Ohio.