1887 Newspaper Article
Early Clark County, Ohio
Early Clark County, Ohio
by Joanna Smith Miller
Joanna Smith Miller (1806-1891), the daughter of Samuel Smith and Elizabeth McCleave, was married to John Miller. John Miller was the brother of Mary Miller Leffel, our 3rd great-grandmother, and son of Frederick Miller, our 4th great-grandfather. When Joanna was 80 years old, her son Samuel Smith Miller interviewed her for a newspaper article, which was published in the Springfield Daily Republic on 17 January 1887. The article was titled "Clark County's Infancy," with a subtitle: "An Intensely Interesting Chapter of Early History - The Ways of Our Forefathers Charmingly Described."
In order to enlarge the newspaper article to a size big enough to be easily read, please go to Chronicling America. The above newspaper article can be found on the Library of Congress website, Chronicling America.
Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]), 17 Jan. 1887. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87076917/1887-01-17/ed-1/seq-2
Joanna's history includes information about the Smith, Miller, and Leffel families, as well as many others. At the bottom of the second column is an excerpt about Joanna's father-in-law, Frederick Miller, and brother-in-law, Anthony Leffel.
I love the part about the Indians living in their wigwams near Anthony Leffel's cabin --
"While Mr. Leffel lived there the Indians had a dozen or so of wigwams, built of bark, a short distance west of their cabin, and Samuel, Mr. Leffel’s son, who is yet living and not very old, used to play with the Indian children. When a tall, good looking Leffel of eighteen years would go to see the Indians, a comely young squaw always came out and sat on a log as if to court the young man into an attachment."
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| Birch-Bark Indian Wigwams loc.gov |