Couldn’t help, but name this post with words from a Damien Jurado song–I often think of it when I think of Ohio.
In a previous post, I mentioned that a genealogy of my family was done in the fifties and sixties and added to the Library of Congress. From that genealogy, I learned a lot about the family migrating to Ohio between 1828 and 1830 after years in Virginia. One of my great-grandfathers, Jerome Drais, went to Fayette County, Ohio with his parents and married a girl from Ohio. Together they farmed in Washington Court House, Ohio where they lived in a log house until 1848 when a larger house was built.
That larger house is where my 3rd great grandfather, the Civil War vet, was born. He and his 5 brothers left from this house to serve in the Union Army during the war. While my great grandfather ended up in Gettysburg, PA, much of the family stayed in Washington Court House. I learned from this genealogy that his sister stayed on the farm and raised her family there and when this genealogy was researched, her grandson was still on the farm.
Since the farm stayed in the family from the 1830s until the 1960s, I wondered if perhaps it was still in the family. Thanks to the names from the genealogy and the Fayette County Assessor’s database, I’ve learned that the same grandson is living on the farm. Amazing.
So now what? I’m considering writing them a letter just to find out what’s up with the house that Jerome built and if any of the farm is still functioning as such. I think I’d regret it if I didn’t. It’s kind of amazing to find out your family is living in the same house after 180ish years. There is no other branch of my family where this is true