While at the Hollow Horn Bear sundance, I met a woman, Karen Poremski, who teaches at Ohio Wesleyan in Delaware OH, the same college my mom worked at for room and board as an assistant to the Dean of Woman during the Great Depression. So I found some of the connections again that my family has to this area. This is one of the oldest photos I found in the collection of my grandparents, Harry and Inez Glessner's possessions. My mom, Peg Glessner Weaver (1910 - 2007) reviewed the family archives with me over the last 20 years of her life as she was writing and sharing stories of her life adventures. . This looks like a legal book. According to my research, Leonard Hamlet Cowles married Nancy "Lucy" Bixby b Dec 4 1788 Washington MA, d Aug 21, 1829 in Delaware OH, on May 27, 1816. Her father, Moses was the founder of Delaware OH is 1809 after founding the Berkshire Settlement on Little Walnut Creek in 1801. The story has it, he accumulated a lot of warrants for land in Indian Country at inns he ran in WashingtonMass and the Lenox Mass. Having been a a member of the Colony Militia in 1775-77 he had a lot of connections to revolutionary times military who likewise received warrants to gather a group to go west into Ohio. I remember going to Delaware in May of 2005 and being acknowledged as a "Delaware County Pioneer" for having completed the research documenting,
Leonard Hamlet Cowles, b 16 Jan 1784 Southington CT, was the first attorney in Delaware Co OH arrived in Delaware in the new state of Ohio, in 1804, Moses Byxbe (also Bixby) in 1805. Leonard Cowles married Nancy Bixby, Moses' daughter in May of 1816 in Deleware and their duaghter, Georgiana Cowles was born on Feb 18, 1820. I visited the Oak Grove Cemetery there as well and found the Bixby and Cowles plots. Leonard Hamlet Cowles attended Yale College Law School and was a classmate of John C Calhoun of S Carolina. He was also a banking partner with Moses Bixby as a cashier and a member in 1822 of the 21st and 22nd Ohio General Assembly. His daughter Georgiana Cowles, b Feb 18, 1820 Delaware OH, d Sept 30 1907 Findlay OH, married Lewis Glessner, Sept April 8, 1838 in Delaware. Lewis, my greatgrandfather, was a farmer in Delaware CO in 1850 and sold his land in 1860 before purchasing the Hancock Co Courier in Findlay in 1861.
Tom, it was good to meet you! Imagine our surprise when you told us you'd not only *heard* of Delaware, Ohio, but that you were a direct descendant of Moses Bixby! (Most people kind of look at us funny when we say we're from Delaware, Ohio--sounds like we're from two places. :) )
ReplyDeleteYes, that looks rather like a law book in that photo. I love that his middle name was Hamlet, though--perhaps a romantic touch?
Glad your travels brought you home safe and sound.
Hi Karen - Wonder if this will get to you. I just sent Jeff from our camp, from San Jose CA a piece of pipestone and he is going to look at my family genealogy there in the Bay area. Great to see you, Dexter and Patrick at HHB again. Perhaps we will see each other on a visit to the Twin Cities and the American Indian Center with your project. Take care. Tom
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