Wow, it was cold this morning! It was my quest to have blood drawn to appease the doctor and faithfully I got out in the very cold to drive to the lab. I think the car started to warm as I pulled into the parking lot of the lab. Once in side the nurse searched and searched first the left arm and then the right arm and all of my veins had gone deeper to get away from the cold. Finally the nurse asked if drawing from my hand would be acceptable. I have to say this was not the most pleasant draw, but it did beat getting stuck multiply times trying to find a good vein.



Enough yucky talk, night time once again and it is snowing. Watching the snow fall is a pleasurable experience but it is difficult to watch and enjoy at night. My wife wonders why not during the daytime so that she can sit and watch. The dog certainly has been enjoying the snow. She wants to go out multiple times each night to roll on the ground, chase smells around the yard looking for creatures of the dark. At night we often have critters like possums, raccoons and stray cats that find their way into the yard. She must smell them as often she goes crazy wanting to get outside to chase our critters.

Our cat is called Spook and the name certainly fits her. She always wants to go out but changes her mind frequently. Really annoying to go to the door to only haver her sniff the cold air and retreat a few steps from the open door, then minutes later she starts her meowing all over only to retreat once again. She was just at the door and I ignored her and now she is distracted playing with a toy, she will return. I like to think I am trying to out smart her, but not sure I really am.

One of our Dark Eyed Juncos chowing down on the thistle seed.



Can you hear this squirrel saying "Burr its cold out here!"



For a Downy Woodpecker eating upside down is really no challenge.




Now for a squirrel, this is a feat! How long do you think he can last?

There is a mouse in the house!

"Jessica! Please come out here!" screamed my wife. "There is something in this computer desk. Could you find it and get rid of it?" Jessica not knowing what she would find went to the back of the desk to see if she could scare what ever was banging on the front door of the desk. You see this desk was designed for computers and has a back door for the CPU and cords to slide in and out and for the user to insert disks and etc via the front door. While Jessica couldn't see anything from the back the cat and dog were both growing more agitate, so of course she suspected to find something hiding. Slowly, Jessica when to the front side and slowly opened the door. What she found was a disk drive that was trying to eject the CD but was banging into the closed front door, and it did this repeatedly.

The wife had already made a hasty retreat to the other end of the house. So quick thinking Jessica placed the CD into a waste basket and took it to my wife. Being very careful to shake the waste basket, she Jessica asked my wife if she would like to see the mouse she had found. The wife clearly said "No! TAKE IT OUTSIDE AND GET RID OF IT!" Problem solved, but Jessica decided to replace the CD and reset the scene to see if it could happen again.

My wife did venture out to the computer again and sure enough the thing started banging again. Jessica to the rescue again, what should we do. The wife quite shaken that not one but maybe multiple mice were in her house suggested that they call the police. Once again the wife headed elsewhere for safety and Jessica retrieved the CD in the basket and took it back to a fearful old woman. "NO! I DO NOT WANT TO SEE IT!" This time it wasn't up to my wife to choose so gently Jessica pulled the mouse (CD) out of the basket and explained how calling the police would not have been a good idea.

The pesky squirrel was back at it again today. Below are a few pictures of him at various suet and bird feeders. It is only one smart or plain pesky squirrel as the rest are content to feed off of the ground.

Ramblings of Uncle Paul about family History

You will find five different characters or stories. Comfort Carr, George Row I, Smith Family Burial Ground , and the Ohio Valley History and William Henry Shickel. You can click on my favorite links "Photo Gallery of Dan Shickle" to get to the pictures relating to these stories.

Comfort Carr

This is the grave of one of my 2-great grandmothers.
Comfort Carr b. 15 Nov 1824 Harrison Co, IN, d. 20 Nov 1895 Harrison
Co, IN buried Musselman Cemetery near New Middleton, Harrison Co, IN.

Comfort was the daughter of Caleb Carr and Rachel Lemmon. Comfort Carr was the second wife of William Wright(son of Robert and Ginnet Cathcart Wright) William and Comfort married 6 Oct 1844 Harrison Co . William had first married Mary Biggs 15 June 1831 Harrison County, Indiana. Mary is buried on William's right and Comfort, on his left. These three open the doorway to another example of how we intermarried

Mary Biggs Wright was the daughter of Robert Biggs and Rececca Sands. Rebecca Sands and Caleb Carr were step-siblings. Rebecca Sands was the daughter of William Sands and his first wife Mary Elizabeth Albin. Mary Elizabeth Albin was a sister to our ancestor George Henry Albin who married Margaret Bruce. After Mary Elizabeth died William Sands married second the widow Elizabeth Bowman Carr( Caleb's mother).
Rachel Lemmon Carr was the daughter of of John Lemmon,Jr. and Millison Foster.
Rachel's brother Elias Clay Lemmon,Sr. married Mary Sands(sister to Rebecca Sands Biggs and step-sibling to Caleb Carr). Isaac Lemmon, brother to Elias and Rachel m. Lavina Biggs, sister to Mary Biggs Wright; another Lemmon brother Wilson Lemmon m. Julia Ann Gwartney, da of Robert Gwartney and Malinda Albin( da of George Henry Albin and Margaret Bruce and like wise a sister to Sarah Albin Smith)
Mary Biggs Wright and Lavina Biggs Lemmon's sister Matilda Biggs married Charles I. Smith(brother to Henry Smith, the husband of Sarah Albin)

This is of course just the tip of the iceberg. e.g. the Biggs sisters had another sister, Lucinda Biggs m. Henry Davis. Lucinda married Henry Davis and their daughter Emily Catherine Davis m. David Cotner. son of Robert Davis Cotner and Elizabeth Jane Keller and grandson of David Cotner who married Rachel Denbo. I DO BELIEVE THAT THIS INCLUDES RELATIVES OF ALMOST EVERYONE GETTING THESE PICTURES.
O Caleb Carr's Aunt Sarah Carr, who took him after her brother died, married James Lemmon(no known relative to my set of Lemmon's above) Sarah and James are ancestors of Samuel Pfrimmer Hays

George Row, I

George Row, I is one of my first ancestors to come to the colonies.
The family name may be found spelled Rau; Row; Rowe but should always be pronounced to rhyme with how now brown cow NOT to rhyme with what you do to navigate a boat on a body of water, though many with the name do so. The English pronunciation in England rhymes with how now brown cow. This information was given to me by one of my former colleagues who was born and bred in England and has been an English teacher for many years.

George Row above came to the Pennsylvania colony from Baden, Baden. This we know from the ship passenger list.
It does not say that he and his wife Mary Magdalene were born there. People who lived near the Rhine River moved up and down, back and forth, not unlike the American colonists did along our seaboard or our closer ancestors did along the Ohio River. When George I set out they had one son and when they stepped off the boat they had two. It may seem strange that the couple would start out on that long ocean voyage when expecting a child. It is not all that strange in that particular family. Down my line my great grandfather John Wesley Rowe decided he want to spend Christmas in Posey County, Indiana so they went Sarah was pregnant with her sixth child. They went and my great uncle George was born in Posey County. Uncle George was premature and so small they put him in a shoe box. They weren't sure he was going to live, but live he did, had three wives and eight children. On top of that they named him George Washington Benjamin Harrison Hays Rowe. Some essay in the family said his name alone was long enough to kill him.

You see the son born on the ocean was the one we descend from - George Row II. The information of George II's birth comes from Daughter of the American Revolution papers.
Our cousin Ellen Rowe Zschau did much search on the family and she told me that there are errors in the papers confusing the Revolutionary War service of George I and his son George II.

The grave is in the Salem Chapel Church Cemetery in what is now Snyder County, Pennsylvania. The original name of the church was Row's Chapel since he built the church. You will notice that he was killed by Indians who were loyal to the English.
I do not have at this time a list of the rest of his children. George II Row married Margaret Weaver and they produced 16 children from Pennsylvania through Kentucky. I am aware of only two who came to Harrison County - Daniel and Samuel.
When George Row II hit Logan County, Kentucky, his son Daniel met a young girl whom he had known back in Pennsylvania - Mary Appel Server. They married 14 Nov 1805 in Logan County, Kentucky and had 12 children. My nieces, nephews and I come down from their third child Jesse Server Rowe. Dave Reed comes down from their oldest child Rosanna Rowe Lopp through his great grandmother Ardelia Elliot Reed. (Dave's grandfather Herman Reed and grandmother Agnes Bean Reed were each blood kin to both of my parents) Daniel Rowe and his wife Mary Appel Server came up the river to HC to manage her uncle's mill. Mary's uncle Christopher Shuck was the husband of Mary's aunt Mary Catherine Appel Shuck sister to Dorothea Appel Server.

This picture was taken and sent to me by either Tom Stonecipher or Ellen Rowe Zschau, both of whom attended an anniversery celebration at the church. It was here that Ellen met a lady down one of the other lines - the kind with a hot temper who knows everything. She insisted that George II and his wife were buried in an unmarked grave in Salem Cemetery. By that time Ellen had been to their grave on a farm in Posey County, Indiana plus all governmental show records show that they are buried in Posey County. In fact, Ellen wanted to find enough of us who would bear the expense of exhuming their bodies and reburying them in Salem Chapel Cemetery. I have a whole other set of comments to make about the possible origins in Europe of the Row family, but this is too long for both you all and me. I now have TB.



Smith Family Burial Grounds

Eureka!!!!!
This picture was taken by Creston Eckart just a week or so ago. This is the site of the Smith burying ground. Creston had the help of his brother Bob Eckart in locating this. Otto Smith ran a store at Iris. I heard by mother as well as her aunts and uncles speak of Iris. There is not longer a town there. When I was at the cemetery many years ago there were a few monuments standing - Charles I. Smith and his wife Matilda Biggs and one of their daughters. These have been toppled and only the bases appear to be intact. There is one marker standing(I'll send you a picture,Creston took later.) The marker reads Sarah J. Albin b. 1818 died 1859.
There are countless graves all over HC that have vanished. As I said recently, you have to understand what life was like in those days and not judge the people for burying in these plots on their farms, I personally think opprobrium should be directed to more recent inhabitants of HC who have no care or concern for the dead. The first I heard about this type of disrespect was in 1945 when I visites my great uncle Obe Reed at Central who told me that he was using some big old tombstones in the field he was planting as a prop for some machinery.

The Kentuckians are even worse that HC. If they need to run a road and the best way for it to go was by running it over a cemetery - no problem it was done. This was done many years ago in the cemetery where my ancestors.
Johannes Martin Shuck was buried September 1804 in a cemetery in Washington County, Kentucky that was destroyed by road construction.
(This information was received from Sharon Welch at welch@sginet.com) John Martin shuck arrived in Philadelphia, PA. on 9/2/1749 on board the ship "Albany", Robert Brown, Master, from Rotterdam, last of Cowes, England. John was one of 285 passengers, all Wirtenbergers from Erbach, Germany. He settled in Pennsylvania and he and two sons served in the Revolutionary War from Northumberland County, PA.. Around 1792 he sold his land in PA and moved with his family to near Springfield, KY, the county seat of Washington County. His wife Mary Margaret Wagner, died a few years later and John died in 1804. Both were buried in a cemetery that was destroyed by road building. (This information was taken from the record of "The Lopps of Harrison County, Indiana by Walter and Florence Beanblossom)
In my own lifetime the city of Louisville did that to a cemetery in the West End. This was not a small cemetery. Yes the person has gone to a better life,but I have enough Native American blood to resent this.
Creston - give Bob our thanks. Several of us are deeply in debt to him and also to you for making this available to us.


Ohio Valley History

When we take an interest in the broader family, there four areas that should be considered.
We first collect data-births, deaths, marriage where and when. Then we come up with a data base. This is satisfying to a point. I like to compare this with working a jigsaw puzzle.
Secondly we wish we had visuals. What did or do these people look like. Do I look like any of them? etc.
We next long to have anecdotes or legends passed down in the family.
The fourth and a very important aspect of knowing a little more about the people is the understanding of the culture in which they lived. In my opinion one of the greatest errors is to judge them by our times. It is true that certain basic human characteristics have been much the same over a period of time. But if we each look at ourselves we can see that over the period of our lives we have changed. Examine yourselves. Why did I arrive where I am today, what influenced me? Then you have a better understanding of the development of our ancestors.
Decades ago the Filson Club was founded in Louisville, Kentucky to preserve the story of the people of the area on both sides of the river. It was the Filson Club when I joined but today it is the Filson Historical Society.
It is a good place to do research, you don't have to have a college degree, just brains. I shall not try to go into all that they have. Just a couple of things that happened to me.
While working there one time, I met a lady descended from Margaret Bruce and her husband David Cox. Margaret was a sister to my five greats grandfather James Bruce,II who was my first Bruce ancestor in Harrison County, Indiana. I was sent a short family on my Rhodes family of Nelson County, Kentucky. This Rhodes family was a Roman Catholic family who came in that group of Catholics from Maryland and parts of Virginia. The charts had been made by the Sisters of Loretto because the two founding Mothers Superior were first cousins to my three greats grandmother Eleanor(Ellen Ely) Rhodes who married Abraham Watson. The Adams family of Harrison County was a family who came into Nelson County

A few years ago The Filson joined with the Cincinnati Museum Center and the University of Cincinnati to publish jointly this new quarterly periodical Ohio Valley History. Like most magazines not every article may interest you, but many will give you a much deeper understanding of our people. The current issue vol 5 #2 Summer 2005 has an article that will interest you all, especially if you have a drop of McKim blood.
"Scared from Their Sins for a Season" The Religion Ramifications of the New Madrid Earthquakes, 1811-1812 - auther Tom Kanon
Our McKim ancestor and family were among the settlers at New Madrid(Missouri) during this time. William had land on a bluff over the Mississippi. His farm fell into the river.
This earthquake was felt all the way to the Atlantic coast. We have just experienced the hurricanes along the Gulf and one can not help comparing and contrasting the two natural calamities. All of you are interested in religion and that is the thrust of the article. You should be able to find this quarterly in a library near you live in a state bordering the Ohio River. All the libraries along the Ohio River counties should have a copy. I highly recommend it.
There was an article in a prior issue which dealt with the land speculator. Since we know that our Stephen Smith was one of them, the article adds a dimension to a motive in his life.


William Henry Shickel

William Henry Shickel b. 1 Jan 1867 Harrison County d. 7 Feb 1931 St. Joseph Hospital Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois buried Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Lexington, McLean County, Illinois. His name and date of birth are on the marker for his first wife Lucinda Reed in Bethel Cemetery. He is buried her with his second wife Minerva Brown b. Harrison County

Nerva was the daughter of James Brown and his second wife Nancy Getz (Gates). Nancy's mother was a Wiseman. I have among my papers those who were closely related, sent to me by one of the top Wiseman researchers. James and Nancy Getz Brown had the following children: John Brown, Addie Brown, Minerva Brown Shickel, Edward Brown, Preston Brown, Martha Brown Dean
Edward Brown married Adda Mae Shickel, his brother-in-law's daughter; Preston Brown was the first husband of Ella Gertrude McKim, daughter of Jim and Minnie McKim - Ella Mae Brown Walker was their only child. Marriage ended in divorce.
Martha married Obed Lee Dean son of Mason Dean(son of Dennis P. Dean and Nancy Watson - sister to Laura Jane Watson Reed and to Marshall Watson)
Nerva and William Henry Shickel ,Sr. had six children: Floyd Shickel -2 children by first wife; Monzell Shickel - never married;Ray Shickel m. Donna Morrison - had three children; Lewis Shickel m. Goldie Probus - had six children; baby boy who died; William Henry Shickel,Junior - never married
Since the above picture was taken Monzell and Junior are buried here. Ray's ashes are buried on his mother's grave.
This following story took a lot of sleuthing and help from many people. When Neva was young she worked on the farm of Christopher Columbus H. Kerns aka "Cub Kerns( husband of Elizabeth Huffman, daughter of Isabella Reed and Henry Huffmam. Isabella Reed's brother John Reed was the grandfather of Lucinda Reed, William Henry Shickel's first wife. This comes from the research of Roberta Reed) Nerva had a child by Cub. I had always heard my father and his sisters talk about this boy. My father told me who his natural father was. Beulah Watson pointed out to me the farm in Boone Township. Jerry
Brown sent me an old school picture of a Central School . he was there in a class picture with my uncle Floyd Shickel. Checked the 1910 census and found him live with Nancy Brown and listed as grandson with the name Kerns. In the household were also Nancy Brown's sons Edward and Preston. My mother told me from time to time he would visit his mother Nerva. My parents and my aunts always used the name Brown when they talked about him

Paul Shickle

William Wright Family History

This posting is for family to view the detail information from my Uncle Paul Shickle who sent an email with picture of William Wright. The information below is far too long to post as a caption on the Picas Photo Gallery. You can access the Gallery by going my favorite links.

William Wright b. 12 Dec 1812 Horseshoe Bend (East) Tennessee d. 10 Jul 1888
New Middletown, Harrison County, Indiana

buried Musselman Cemetery New Middletown, Harrison County, Indiana
son of Robert Wright and Ginnet Cathcart
m. 1st 15 Jun 1931 Harrison County, Indiana

Mary Biggs b. abt 1811 d. 18 Aug 1842
Harrison County, Indiana, buried Musselman Cemetery on William's right daughter of Robert Biggs and Rebecca Sands
William and Mary had six children:

1. infant girl d. 7 Feb 1832 buried Musselman Cemetery on her mother's right.
2. John Wright b. 8 Feb 1833 d. 1924
m. Annabelle_____ had offspring
3. Thomas Wright b. 9 Feb 1835 d. 17 Aug 1854 killed by a grain cradle

4. Rebecca Wright b. 1837 married John Toops - had offspring
5. Robert B. Wright b. 1839 NFI
6. Mary Wright b. 1842
murdered - placed in barrel with her head cut off and placed on her lap and barrel pushed into a swollen Buck Creek to be carried out to the Ohio. Did not work -it washed ashore.

William Wright married 2nd 6 Oct 1844 Comfort Carr, b. 15 Nov 1824 Harrison County, Indiana d. 20 Nov 1895, buried Musselman Cemetery on William's left daughter of Caleb Carr and Rachel Lemmon
William and Comfort had 9 children

1. James Q. Wright b. 1846 d. 1918 m. Elbertina Blackman - had issue
2. Rachel J. Wright b.24 Apr 1847 d.2 Dec 1848 buried Musselman Cemetery
3. Matilda B. Wright b. 1849 m. George F. Shuck, son of George D. Shuck and Mary Ann Kitterman - had issue
4. Sarah Ann Wright b.10 Jun 1851 d. 14 Oct 1931 m. John Wesley Rowe - 12 children
5. Martha Ellen Wright b. 1854 d. 1937
m 1st John Weaver 20 Dec 1876 had one daughter died young

m 2nd William Stieglitz - no children
Martha did have one son William Wright born prior to her first marriage
6. Margaret Wright b. 1856 d. 1937

m. James Timberlake had issue
7. Caleb Franklin Wright b. 1859 m. Mary Margaret Albin - had issue
8. Charles Henry Wright b. 19 Sep 1862 d. 23
Dec 1901
9. Infant daughter Wright b. 9 Oct 1864 - lived only 12 hours

William and Comfort were my 2 greats grandparents

Reports of Squirrel Attack

I received a report from my wife that a sole attack squirrel has braved the bird feeder milk jugs to reach the bird feeder at the top! Quickly the attack dog, Ninja, was disbursed to the site to chase away the squirrel. All of the squirrel involved or watching this feat hightailed it to safer grounds and began their chattering at the dog while the dog reciprocated with barking. Thus far it has been a stand off. Later with the dog restricted to the indoors the attack squirrel once again attempted to climb the structure only to have the milk jugs twist and turn and then he plummets to the ground. This is a persistent squirrel as he has made about a dozen attempts to once again reach the top. My wife is trying to get pictures, but the squirrel is not cooperating.

More news will be forth coming.

Sunday was a busy day for the birds and squirrels in our Normal Back Yard. At least six squirrels were spotted, none as daring as todays. Among the birds spotted were Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals, both male and female, House Sparrows, White Breasted Nut Hatch, Doves a plenty, Starlings, Crows, Downey Wood Peckers, Dark Eyed Juncos, a Carolina Wren and three Gold Finches.

The Back Yard Funny Farm

Squirrels can be pests, but they can also be ingenious as they find ways to get to food. I like to tease them and provide challenges to test their ability and ingenuity. I find them also humorous to watch as they attempt to discover methods of obtaining their goals.

Todays pictures show not only a squirrel's quest for food but a Starling. As I look at the picture of the starling I wonder about its foot, where is it? Is it missing a foot or does the picture just not show the leg and foot? It really must have wanted into the suet to hover like this.

Winter here but Winter in California?

Jessica our future daughter-in-law visited California in November, above are a few pictures to take your mind off of the winterly weather outside.

Winter has finally arrived? Kind of looks like it.

Well the temperature has finally gone below freezing and we have a dusting of snow on the ground. In spite of the appearances of "The Hawk" the birds are once again finding the feed in our back yard. This morning I spotted a Black Capped Chickadee, Carolina Wren, Downey Woodpecker, Blue Jay, several Mourning Doves, many House Sparrows and of course the pesky squirrels enjoying the corn. Absent are the Darked Eyed Juncos and the Northern Cardinals which frequent the feeder. I haven't seen our friendly Gold Finch for a few days either. Hope their absences are merely to avoid the hawk and not that they have given their all for the benefit of the hawk.

Our neighborhood wren was hungry today and the feeder met it's needs this morning.




I wonder if this guy is saying "What happened to the warm weather? Brrr its cold!!"



Even a Starling found the Safflower Seeds this morning.

DA Bears

Watching the Bears Win or Lose, so far both teams have done everything in their power to lose the game. Overtime and we will see what happens. While the pictures were loading the Bears actually won the game with a 50 yard field goal!

The Hawk is back and the camera was ready this time. Here are a few pictures taken yesterday and today.

This appears to be a Sharp-shinned Hawk much like the Cooper's Hawk. The squared tail is the Sharp-shinned.



This is just one of the squirrels doing tricks to get to the suet that the Downy's love.



Two Downey Woodpeckers at the suet. The lower right is the male, you probably can't see the red spot on the back of his head, but it is there.

Beginning of a Long Week End

I have been reviewing all of the pictures on our computer and ran across a few that I would like to share. One of these was my faithful Blue Healer Molly that walked many of miles with me and seemed to know when I should rest as she would just plop down in the grass. Molly loved to find squirrels, she loved to chase them, but as we walked upon the Wesleyan Campus she would go to each tree and sniff, if a squirrel was in the tree she didn't want to leave until I acknowledged that she was right. Seldom did I find her wrong, often I doubted her but then after staring into the tree I saw the rascal. Molly developed cancer and was in complete misery when we finally had her put to sleep. Tears came to my eyes as I looked at the pictures we took after she had numerous spots shaved all over her body to let us try and treat the drainage, I will not share these.

These pictures are taken at the sight of her birth with her godmother Gaye. It was Gaye and Randy's dog Big Blue and a female from Gridley that Gaye had bred in the shed. The other dog is Gaye's new blue healer. Molly is the more colorful dog with brown patches and is on your right hand side as you view the photos.

This is more like Winter1

The weather today is more like what it should be. There is a nip in the air and your hands freeze just from being outside. Today I refilled the bird feeder as it was completely empty and screwed on four more ears of corn for the squirrels. Yesterday I noticed that we had four gold finches instead of the usual one. Maybe the birds will be returning after the hawk scare. Our Downy woodpecker has had another one join her as they go up and down the trees and occasionally stop at the suet feeder.

Above is one of our Blue Jays sitting in a tree. Not very creative, but another picture to view.


I see that the Snowy Owl is still putting on appearances near Flanagan and a Peregrine Hawk has supposed been sighted near ISU, maybe this hawk will venture over to my back yard for a sight.


As much as I hate the snow, the snow does seem to attract friends to my back yard and then I can have fun taking pictures! I guess that is what getting old is all about. Spending you day looking out the back window to be able to take a pictures of birds.

Happy New Year!

As you can see I don't always post every day. Some days I am just to busy and others just to lazy or maybe don't have anything to say. I have tried not to be controversial on this Blog, although there are days I would love to "git up on my soapbox".

Today I decided that maybe I should pick out a few more pictures from the history files. I hope you enjoy them.

"Three Resting" is the title of a picture my youngest son Peter took in California during the 2003 fires near Santa Clarita. After fighting the forest fires for many days there comes a time in which rest is all you can do.




Same fire and firemen this entitled "Tired"




"Smoke on a Clear Day" depicts the same series of fires that kept these firemen busy for days. Here you can see the smoke from the fire in the hills overlooking the valley.



Finally a reminder of Summer. Outside our back door at work we have a blooming flower that I snapped just to demonstrate the new camera.