A Day of Research

The day dawned without rain but with plenty of fog. So much fog in fact, that schools were delayed by 2 hours. That is the first time I have ever known schools to open late due to fog. It was true, you couldn’t see your hand before your face. But by midmorning, it was a glorious fall with a big blue sky.

View out my window as I work

It was a great day to be outdoors, but I stayed focused on the family history with my nose in the computer until late in the day. I was able to plug in a few more names in the Ashcraft history then I got a big break about noon and found on the Genealogy.com Ashcraft forum a reference to a book on the family in the Genealogy Room at the Licking County Public Library. That got moved to the top of my list for tomorrow. That was a real morale booster and it got my blood flowing and my brain working again. I also went back to photos that I have already on CD. I found one of Shelda taken at a cemetery. I had always assumed that any photos of Ashcrafts at a cemetery would be at Frazeysburg. However, it was obviously a tombstone we had not seen on Monday and one that couldn’t have been missed. Saturday we will go out searching for the missing cemetery.

I was not so lucky with the Reid research. That always comes up a dead end. I just don’t have enough names in that family to go on. Gene has a cousin who is several years older than both he and Doug. We, with old photos in hand, are descending on her tomorrow afternoon. Maybe she will be able to put a few names with the faces in the pictures as well as give me a few more clues about the Reid’s. She is my last hope among the living relatives.

View of the Y-shaped bridge

Traffic light in the middle of the bridge

Late this afternoon we took a break and drove downtown Zanesville. One of the area attractions is the Y-shaped bridge. This unusual bridge crosses the confluence of the Muskingum and Licking Rivers. Zanesville is the county seat for Muskingum County and the courthouse is rather impressive for a small rural town in central Ohio. St. Nicholas Catholic Church may not be the largest congregation in town, but they have the most impressive building.

St Nicholas Catholic Church

Zanesville Courthouse

Tomorrow it is off to the library and then back to Newark to visit with cousin Wanda. It’ll be another busy day.