8/10 & 8/11/05 - When I planned this trip it seemed I had more time to spend in Lancaster, Ohio (my birthplace) but somehow I just didn't have time to do all the things I wanted. My friend was off on her way to Musikfest and I decided I wanted to go back east to Zanesville to go to the Zane Grey Museum - he is (was) my 3rd cousin twice removed, or my 2nd cousin three times removed, depending on which side of the family tree you shinny up. I had been there years ago but wanted to return. To explain that cousin reference, Zane Grey's mother was a Zane and the Zane's and the Martin's married a couple of times. I am even my own 6th cousin. Which explains a lot, I am sure.

Growing up out in the country in Northern California we used to sit around the kitchen table and Dad would reminisce. about the old days. He had lots of stories and lots of old pictures to look at. He and I made up a table and put a code on the back of all the pictures so in the future we (the kids and grandkids) would know who all the people were. Amazingly, I still recognize most of them without the cheat sheet, which is a Good Thing as I lost it. During those sessions with my dad I developed a huge connection to my ancestors. In later years I started researching and made a couple of trips to Ohio for that purpose. I became the family genealogist and historian and have most of those old pictures we used to look at. While all genealogies include current generations I find I am most fascinated by the past and the history of the times my ancestors lived through. For example, my dad's grandfather on his mother's side was born in Ohio in 1833 and died in 1929... just think of the changes and events he saw during that period of time.

Anyway, after Zanesville (and I drove my RV carefully across the "Y" Bridge, LOL)





I headed for Lancaster via the backroads and driving through town wondered what my life would have been like had we stayed and not moved to California. The decision to move to California was a huge turning point in our family.

My great-grandparents originally moved to Lancaster in 1903. He was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio and she across the river in Wheeling. My GGF was one of the founders of the Fostoria Glass Company, which was originally located in Fostoria, Ohio but later moved to Moundsville, WV. He retired from that firm in 1901 and he and his wife, Mary, moved to Pittsburgh where he worked for the National Glass Company while he and Mary looked for a place to settle. They found the house in Lancaster, "Concord Hall" (yes, I was born in a house with a "name" - LOL) and in 1903 moved there and started a small glass factory called "The Hocking Glass Company". This company would later be sold to a large conglomerate known as the Anchor Corporation and thus we have "Anchor Hocking". Now, do I have any glass from the Fostoria or the Hocking? Nada, except for one little glass bulldog that my GGparents bought in Switzerland to use as a mold.

My grandfather and grandmother met in Lancaster, married in 1903 and my father was born in 1904. I drove by the house on Mulberry St where my father lived until the 1920's when both grandparents and his father died within a three year period and Dad inherited Concord Hall. My Dad was an only child, but my Mom - who was also born in Lancaster, was the 11th child of 12 in a farming family. Do we have oil and water here, yes indeedy. As I drove around town I saw lots of names on signs and shopfronts that I identified with family in some way....An insurance company that bears the name of my dad's childhood friend. A laundry that was started by an obscure relative in my mom's family. I may be the only one who knows these facts and I certainly am the only one who cares!! Lancaster, Ohio is as familiar to me as the little town I actually DID grow up in. It is a strange feeling.

I didn't do much more than drive around. I really only had one full day after my little excursion to Zanesville. I have 26 years of my great grandmother's diaries (the wife of the glassman) and I have transcribed a half dozen of them and had them bound. They include pictures from my dad's collection and I am quite proud of them. It was my intention to donate copies to the Historical Society but I didn't do it this trip as I just ran out of time. Next time I will spend a week here at the minimum. I might even be lucky enough to get a tour through Concord Hall as it is now on the Historical House Tour Circuit. My folks sold it for peanuts in the late 40's - almost the same price my GGM paid for the place in 1903!!

I only have a few old pics scanned on this computer, here is one of Concord Hall. The two boys on bikes are my brothers, my sister is leaning against the pillar, the older ladies are my grandmother and her sister and I'm the little blondie on the tricycle.






In the morning I pick up my friend at the Columbus Airport and we are off to Michigan. Woo Hoo. Back in the Clay groove.