Miami-Erie Canal Ventures
More stories about the Miami-Erie canal were promised in last week’s blog, so here goes. My dad would always talk about his grandfather, (my great-grandfather), Heinrich, pictured below, who was born in 1844 and died in 1910. He lived through the construction, peak use and eventual demise of the canal system connecting the Ohio River and Lake Erie that passed right through mid-western Ohio and his hometown of Ft. Loramie.
Heinrich was a farmer who loved to build things. For example, from 1878-81, he served on the parish construction committee in charge of building St. Michael’s church pictured below. The construction materials and many of the craftsmen arrived via canal boat, some directly from Germany. Without the efficient transportation system provide by the canal, access to most of these materials and skilled workers would not have been possible. Dad would tell the story about the arrival by canal boat of the 4 large bells that were to be lifted into the belfry, the largest of which weighed 3600 pounds. My great grandfather made arrangements to have one of the smaller bells set up on the deck of the canal boat so it could be rung as it approached the community from the south. By the time the boat arrived with the bell a clanging, the entire town had congregated to meet the boat, cheering its arrival.
Concurrent with the construction of the church, my great grandfather was planning his next project for the homestead farm west of town. He wanted to replaced all the log buildings that had originally been built by his dad, my great great grandfather, Christof. So he made arrangements during the church construction to procure additional materials that he could use to erect new farm buildings with the more modern brick, sandstone and hewn lumber construction materials used to build the church. And great grandfather, as well as my dad, always made it clear that the materials were purchased separately, but at the same bulk prices the church was charged, which saved Heinrich quite a bit of money. So by the following year, 1882, he had built the massive red barn and Victorian brick home shown in the aerial photo below. The brick and sandstone trim on the home matches the church’s. Just a few years later, his son, my grandfather, Frank, bought the farm across the road and ole’ Heinrich commenced to rebuilt all those buildings as well.
Another story dad would tell was how Ft. Loramie’s Green Back Road came to be. During the Civil War, my great-great grandfather Christof and other local farmers petitioned village officials for a new road running south of town connecting SR 705 to SR 66 past where the high school is currently located. The request was denied because several of the village officials, who happened to also be local business owners, were fearful that travelers would use this new route to bypass downtown where their shops were located. Plus likely the war was a factor in the decision. But my great great grandfather wouldn’t take no for an answer, so he convinced his brother, who owned most of the land where the proposed road was to be located, to donate the right-of-way for the route. He then persuaded all the local farmers south of town to contribute funds to construct the road. When ole’ Christof and his brother went to Sidney to register the right-of-way with the County Clerk, they had to post a bond for the road construction, so they handed over the cash contributed by the neighbors, all in Green Back currency prevalent during the Civil War. But the Clerk forgot to ask the brothers what they wanted to name the road, so it was recorded as Green Back Road in light of how it was funded.
Perhaps these stories while growing up about my ancestors building things inspired me to become an engineer and eventually, while working for Ford Motor Company, become involved with the construction of 11 plants in the US, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Malasia, Thailand, India, and China, plus building our current lakefront home in Michigan. Thanks, ancestors Heinrich and Christof!
No comments:
Post a Comment