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http://patsdailyrant.blogspot.com/

Thanks again for stopping by, and look for new "Houseworth Family" material as I continue my research.

prh

Back to Waldo{Ohio}

I know, it's been over 13 months since I posted on my Genealogy Blog...but I'm still working on the Houseworth Line...just not a lot to add in the recent months. However, I am heading back to the Great-Great Grandparents homestead area of Waldo tomorrow{Novermber 19th}...and I may be adding some new photos, if not new information...stay tuned:

Or feel free to drop by my "regular" blog at:

http://patsdailyrant.blogspot.com/

to see what is up! Or if you are new here, start at the beginning back in 2007 and work your way forward to see and read up on my Houseworth line.

New Photos on the way.....

Waldo, Ohio

Waldo, Ohio, a small town of 320 is located about 25 miles north of the Columbus outlying north bergs of the Capital City. The sprawl has taken almost all of Delaware County on the north...Waldo, once located in Delaware County, is now just over the line in extreme southern Marion County, and has been spared from the blight of overgrowth from yuppies trying to get out of the city.

Waldo's claim to fame is the G&R Tavern and it's world famous Bologna Sandwiches. Other than that, Waldo has a few stores, a Village Hall, and a couple of gas stations. US 23, now a 4 lane from Columbus to Marion, sets just off the east side of the town, but no longer passes through Waldo itself.

The Houseworth Clan, led by Solomon, Frederick, and George, the 3 sons of Israel moved there about 1850...Israel lived with Solomon until he passed away around 1863. Houseworths continued to live in Waldo until 1944 when 98 year old Civil War Veteran Maish Houseworth(son of George and Lizzy) died. For more on Waldo, go back to the early posts on this blog...the interesting lives of the Houseworth clan, living in Waldo, can be found there.

This past Tuesday I stopped at the cemetery for a few minutes, then headed to Millwood....I then caught more of Waldo with a stop at G&R on the way back. I had my usual fried baloney with sweet pickle and pepper jack cheese, top with mustard. They will fix em' anyway you like them however.

Here are a few of the photos from the day trip through and around Waldo:







Top to Bottom: The grave of Ursula Schribner Houseworth(1820-1882). View #1 of my Baloney Sandwich. The graves, top to bottom of Andrew, Ursual, John Presley, and Ben C Houseworth...Andrew who died at 19 from an accidental fall, and John were Ursual's son, Ben was her grandson and son of John P. More food at G&R and a beer to top it off. Main Street(Ohio 47) looking north in Waldo. G&R Tavern, famous since 1962. The Waldo Village and Town Hall. And a small church on Highway 47 somewhere in Union County, somewhere between Bellefontaine, and Waldo. Small rural churches and small abandon rural school houses are 2 of my favorite photo subjects.

Early Fall in Millwood, Ohio

Millwood, Ohio, located in eastern Knox County, is northeast of Columbus in the rolling hills of central Ohio....it was to become the 4th known stop in the life of Israel Houseworth. Census records show that Israel, his wife Catherine, the 3 sons and at least 4 daughters, were in Wayne, County in northeast Ohio, in the 1820 census records....they were in Millwood, buying lots #15 and #16 from town founder John Hawn(or Haun) in 1828. History of Knox County shows Israel building the second log cabin in town.

Marriage records of the time show that Israel and Catherine were in Knox County as early as 1824....daughters married in the county early on...Hetty in 1824, Susanna in 1825, Polly 1826, and Elizabeth in 1827. By 1831 the Houseworths had sold their lots and moved on to Delaware County, the next county to the east....Israel and sons Solomon, George, and Fred, were listed in the 1835 census of Delaware County, as Hasworth.

Back to Millwood...on Tuesday I made my annual trek to Waldo, stopped at the cemetery, and moved on down the back roads to Millwood. The town has not changed since my first visit in the fall of 2000...this time the colors were not yet in full mode. I stuck around for 90 minutes and took photos around the town and Kokosing River...as I said, not much has changed, but here is some of what I got.

Photos-top to bottom(1) Highway 36 heading east into Millwood.(2) The Bridge Street Bridge south out of Millwood, taken from the river bed(3)The River wandering west from the Bridge(4) A Woolly Worm getting ready for weather to come(5)A horse grazes on a farm west of Millwood located along the river(6)A sepia photo of a dead tred resting in the Kokosing(7)The Highway 62 Bridge across the river(8)The Millwood town Cemetery, no Houseworth found here(9) "Downtown Millwood" now consisting of a Marathon Gas Station, a Restaurant, and the local Antique Store(10)The Kokosing wandering between the towns of Millwood and Howard, and through Knox County.

Tomorrow we head back to Waldo.....more photos then.

Update etc

Just to let you and the internet gnats on the cyber space wall know.....this blog lives on. Yes much of the material has been dispersed, and nary a post since February, but I tell you the research does contine.

I have plans, waylaid by back issues last fall, to head back to the haunts and ghosts of Houseworth's past...Waldo and Millwood, Ohio. Fall is usually the best time for those trips...the colors are pretty nice about October 1st.

Back in March, my buddy Rick and I went to the Allen County Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This library has one of the top Genealogy resource centers in the US. Added to the fact that my Granddad and several of his brother and sisters lived, died, and are buried in Fort Wayne, make it a "must go" for me on occasion....the trip is about 60 miles each way from Celina, so once the weather turns wet and cooler, I will take another day, hook up with Pearson(who lives just north of FW), and spend another day digging up the family history that remains hidden from me so far.

In March I came up with a few items I thought were new, but they may be somewhere in the several thousand pages of information I have in desk and drawers.....putting all that stuff to computer just isn't in the cards.....I'm not inclined to do that much "computer sitting" to get the job done....sometimes the paper trail is best....at least that's what I tell myself.

I'll check back when I get some photos or other information that might be of interest to some or all.

back later>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>In the meantime I plan on posting historic photos from my and Houseworth's long gone....well at least historic photos to me. Look for new photos, documents, post cards, and letters at least once a week.

Today's collection are as follows.....(1) A drummer from the Ohio 26th OVI...the very same Civil War Regiment that Gilman Houseworth and his brother Henry served with.(2) Prokops Pups...my August 1968 Air Force Basic Sq, at Amarillo, AFB, Texas.(3) My first of many Soccer Coaching gigs....I had coached baseball since my post Air Force days, but the boys were interested in Soccer...so, that's me, top row left, Sam 2nd row, second from left, and Hal, front row 3rd from left, back in September 1990....the boys were 8 and 6 respectively.(4) A letter from Stan(my Dad) Houseworth to his sister Cecil from shortly after he arrived at Lowry Field in Denver for his Aircraft Mechanic training, in 1941, shortly before Pearl Harbor.

Enoch Young-The Final Chapter

I've been dragging my feet for the past month, trying to figure out how to end this installment of the Enoch Young Story....so let's wrap it up.

Enoch Young was not a blood relative of mine, however, he was by marriage. Enoch was the son-in-law of Frederick and Ursula Houseworth, and brother-in-law of my Great Grandmother Mary Ann Houseworth....married to her younger sister Maria Houseworth, until he was shipped off to the Ohio State Pen in Columbus, for the murder of Israel Bensley in Waldo, Ohio. For the first several years of my research, I had been informed(can't even remember by whom or when) that Enoch died in Prison in 1893, and that he and Maria had 2 Children, Perry and Daisy, together. It turns out the story was much more interesting than that....Enoch's daughters(2 of them) were instrumental in working to get Enoch freed, and even the newspapers that had him convicted before the trial, were petitioning Governor McKinley for his pardon.

I want to thank Enoch descendant Michael Sibbersen of Bowling Green, Ohio, for much of the material related to Enoch and his eventual pardon.

Enoch Young, Prison and beyond_______________

Apparently the good folks of Waldo and Marion County had a change of heart about Enoch Young after he was sent off to prison.....remember, the majority of the jury was in favor of hanging him....and the town folks had put the sheriff of alert of a possible lynching. 12 years alter a Chaplin one, J.A. Sutton began circulating a petition to free Young, The Marion Star(the main paper who had Young and Gilman Houseworth tried and convicted before the trial began in the late winter of 1880), the Marion Independent, the Morrow Independent, the Kenton Times, and others joined in the call....12 years was enough, they chimed in, for a murder committed while under the influence.

Daughter's Ida and Daisy were aged 15 and 12 when the push for Enoch's pardon began....Ida in particular waged a campaign upon the Board of Pardons and Governor McKinley(yes, this was William McKinley who would become President of the United States within a few years). Lawyers, Judge Beer, who presided over the original trial, and ordinary town folks went to Columbus, in person, and via letters and mass mailings to ask for the State of Ohio to free Enoch Young....Young himself sent several letters to the state to ask for forgiveness for his crime.

Finally, 2 years after the push began, with the nod of McKinley, the State Board of Pardons issued the following:

THE MURDERER OF ISRAEL BENSLEY RECEIVES EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY

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His pardon is based upon the condition that he abstain from intoxicating drinks--Through the clemency of Governor McKinley, Enoch H. Young, the murderer of Israel Bensley at Waldo in 1880 was permitted to leave the penitentiary and join his relatives Monday, with the condition from intoxicating liquors.

Young owes his release chiefly to the devotion of his two daughters, who have been untiring during the past two years in their efforts with the Board of Pardons. It was through their lengthy petitions were circulated and numerously signed, asking that their father, broken down with his fourteen years of confinement, be recommended for executive clemency. These daughters, when their father committed the crime for which he was sent to the penitentiary for life, were aged 5 and 2 years. Their mother afterwords married and is now living with her husband at Westerville.

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So on February 26, 1894(one hundred and fourteen years ago this very day), Enoch Young was set a free man.....thanks to a change of heart and his two young daughters.

However, freedom for Enoch was not to last. Young moved back to his native Pennsylvania shortly after gaining his freedom....going to work back in the oil fields of Washington County and the town of Thomas Station. I don't have privy to exactly how Enoch met his demise on February 8, 1897, just under 3 years after his release. The quote is...."Enoch Young was killed in accident involving an oil rig" His body was returned to Waldo, Ohio, and today he rests along with many of my Houseworth ancestors in the Waldo Town Cemetery.

The daughters married and went on with their lives, son Perry, who was born just after Enoch went to prison, married, had two daughters, lived in Kenton, and was killed when he walked in front of a locomotive in 1918, at the age of 38. His former wife, Maria Houseworth Young Anderson, married Al Anderson, had a couple of more children, and died in Kenton is 1912, and is buried there, at the Wolf Creek Cemetery.

There you have it....more or less, the story of Gilman Houseworth and Enoch Young, brothers-in-law, who got drunk one February afternoon in Waldo, Ohio, and another man died......

It is fitting that I finish this story in February. Enoch was born in February 1853, the murder occurred in February 1880, he was pardoned in February 1894, and died in February 1897.

{top-Enoch's request for a pardon...there are about 30 others from daughters, lawyers, politicans, pastors, and others in my possesion}

That ends this story, however, hardly the history of the family....MORE STILL TO COME.

prh

Still working

Sorry for getting sidetracked by other things.....but am still in the process of putting the material together for Enoch and his time in prison....several hard to read documents I am going through trying to put as much in the story as possible.

Stay Tuned, will e-mail when it's ready!

Thanks

pat