Surname Saturday The Odle's and O'Dell's of Scioto County, Ohio

During the past week, I haven't written too many posts on my blog because I have spent just about every free moment I have had researching on my newly found resource of newspaperarchive.com.  Luckily for me, two of the newspaper they have available cover areas of the country where my husband had family living during the periods of time the source covers.  Last week, I shared both the story of my husband's great great uncle, August Hellmund and the account of the tragic drowning of  his great uncle Clyde O'Dell and his wife, Lillian.  In the past, I have told of some "offbeat" finds I have made such as some "moonshining" arrests and to my great delight, I have uncovered newspaper accounts of family weddings.  Yesterday, I was enjoying the search for "Odles" and "O'Dells" in the new database,  copying and saving articles in my history folders and updating my family tree with any newly found names and dates, when I came upon something new that shocked and saddened me.   It was an article published 4 April, 1937 in The Portsmouth Times.  The headline read, "BULLETS KILL MAN, WOUND MOTHER OF 8".  The article went on to describe how James Odle, in an apparent "jealous craze" had shot and wounded the wife of his cousin, John Odle.  He had been staying with his cousin,  John and his family and had  been very difficult to deal with.  Bessie, John's wife, had apparently had enough of  James living with them and she told him to move out of the house. James became angry, retrieved a gun and shot  Bessie.  Her son, William, had come to his mother's aid and stepped between her and the man attempting to kill her.  After shooting Bessie, James had put the gun to his head and killed himself.  Bessie had actually walked herself to the ambulance, but was now in serious condition with a gunshot wound to the abdomen.  What a terrible story.
I immediately wanted to see just how these individuals fit into my husband's family tree.  The first thing I did was open to my family tree files to look up James, but there are many James Odle's in the family and not knowing any more information than what I had, it was a little difficult to match exactly whose "James" he was.  My next step was the Ohio Death Certificates database at familysearch.org to see if I could connect him to his parents by looking at his death certificate.  Unfortunately, his record wasn't there, but my eyes fell upon the name of someone else.  It was Bessie O'Dell.  According to her death certificate, Bessie died two weeks after she was shot, on 18 April, 1937.  The cause of death was listed as endocarditis, contributory cause was a gunshot wound to the abdomen.   I felt an overwhelming feeling of sadness.  I had just "met" this incredibly strong woman who had walked from the scene of her attempted murder to the waiting ambulance, and now she was gone.  She was taken away from her husband and her eight children by a man who was angry that she didn't like his influence upon her household.   I knew there was now more to be told of this story.  I searched the archive database once more, concentrating specifically on her name and I  discovered another article.

At the time of this article, Bessie's condition seemed to be improving, but unfortunately, I knew now that it wasn't to be.

The next two articles I found were obituaries; both Bessie's and James'. 

My final steps in documenting this tragedy were to input the information that I had found into both my Ancestry.com family tree and my personal family tree database.  After that, I could tell my husband that the wife of his grandmother's first cousin, therefore, his first cousin, once removed, was shot and killed by the man, James Odle, his second cousin, twice removed. 

 We all have items that live in our family trees that don't make us proud, but they are still important components to who we are.   Now that I know Bessie, I won't forget her and I think that is what family history is all about.

Sentimental Sunday - In Memory of Clyde and Lillian Cole O'Dell

The above articles document the beginning of the story of the marriage between Delbert Clyde O'Dell, 22, farmer of Friendship, (Ohio) and  Miss Lillian May Cole, 19,  also of Friendship, whose marriage took place on 26 February, 1913  presided over by "Rev. Dillon". Afterwards they were serenaded by 75 persons, adult and youngsters, following their wedding on that Thursday evening, according to the Portsmouth Daily Herald.  A short time later, the same newspaper announced that Clyde and his bride had spent Wednesday evening at the Washington Hotel and were leaving on Thursday for a prospecting trip through the west. 

I can imagine their excitement and anticipation when, as newlyweds, they headed west in search of their fortune.  Two young people in love just starting their new life together.   What happened on their trip west is not now known, but Clyde and Lillian returned to Friendship and then lived for awhile in Dayton. On 31 October, 1913, Lillian gave birth to their daughter, Gwendolyn.  In early 1918, Clyde decided to relocate to Akron, Summit County, Ohio to work at the Firestone plant in that city.  It was on 26 June, 1918, that the love story of Clyde and Lillian took a tragic turn. 

After work that evening, Clyde, Lillian, and little Gwendolyn decided to go for a canoe ride on Summit Lake. According to some witnesses, the canoe was struck by a launch. This much is known, for some reason,  the boat capsized and all three occupants ended up in the water. There were some reports that their canoe was hit by a launch.  The Akron Press Journal of 27 June 1918 reported the story this way:   

Three Drown Here as Frail Boats Capsize
Mr. and Mrs. Delbert O'Dell Go to Their Death in Summit Lake
Little Girl is Saved
Rome Zimmerman, Tire Repairman, sinks in Turkeyfoot Lake
Three persons lost their lives here Wednesday night by drowning and three others had narrow escapes. One man is in People's Hospital in a serious condition. Two met their death in Summit Lake. One drowned in Turkeyfoot Lake. All were Akron residents.
The Dead:
Delbert O'Dell, 26 rubber worker, 1006 Snyder St.
Lillian O'Dell, 24 his wife, 1006 Snyder St.

Rome Zimmerman, 35, auto repairman, 325 W. Exchange St.

Mr. and Mrs. O'Dell went to their death in Summit Lake at 6 o'clock when the canoe in which they were riding capsized. Their little daughter, May, 4, was rescued by bathers who were a short distance away when the frail craft overturned. The accident happened 100 feet from the west shore of the lake.
O'Dell, who could not swim, sank immediately. Mrs. O'Dell, who was a good swimmer, struck out for shore as she came to the surface, but was hampered by her skirts and sank after swimming a short distance. The little girl suffered from shock and her plunge into the lake, but will recover.
D.V. Booth, in charge of one of the Summit Beach Park launches, was near the scene and dived repeatedly after both bodies. Both were recovered an hour later by the use of nets.
Mr. and Mrs. O'Dell came to Akron several months ago from Portsmouth, O. The bodies will be taken there for burial.
Scoutmaster, J.H. Melville and Scouts Charles Mears, Sidney Mulligan, Tom Mulligan, Richard Krum---, and William Scott of the Goodrich Unit, recovered the bodies.

Clyde and Lillian's gravesite in Friendship (Scioto) Cemetery. 

This story is important to me personally because Clyde O'Dell is my husband's great uncle, brother of his maternal grandmother, Carrie O'Dell Zimmerman.   For many years, we didn't know the whole story of the deaths of Clyde and Lillian.  Carrie spoke of Clyde trying to save Lillian and her believe was that Lillian had  panicked and with a "death grip" had pulled Clyde under, drowning them both.  Most distressing was the fact that nobody seemed to know what happened to Clyde and Lillian's daughter.  Carrie lived in Dayton away from most of the O'Dell family in Scioto County so we had little information about their status. 
That's where the internet comes in. 

My sister in law and I were both searching for information about the O'Dells and we amazingly discovered Clyde and Lillian's grandson, Chapin.  He told us about his search for information about his grandparents and sent copies of an Akron Beacon Journal article about what happened that night and about his quest to discover the true story. From the research he had done, he felt that Clyde and Lillian were both very strong swimmers and Lillian's family's version of the story seemed to suggest that Lillian had tried to save Clyde and that possibly her hair became tangled in weeds under the water. However, no one knows exactly what happened.   He shared photographs of Clyde and Lillian and he had copies of some of the original articles from The Akron Beacon Journal. One of the most significant things he could share with us was the information about his mother, Gwendolyn.  After the death of her parents, she had been adopted by a gentleman in Dayton.  She had graduated in 1931 from Fairmont High School, so she had grown up close to many of her family members. She had become a professional singer and an interior designer.  She had married twice and had  four children. Sadly, she had died in 1980.   After receiving this information from Chapin, I contacted the library in Scioto County and ordered copies of the newspaper articles that were printed in the Portsmouth newspapers at the time of Clyde and Lillian's deaths.  When we made our trip to Scioto County, their gravesite was one of the first I sought. 
Clyde and Lillian's story is so tragic, but I believe it is a great love story.  I choose to believe they died trying to save one another and I'm so thankful that because of  all the resources now available for family research, we have a better insight of what happened on the June night so many years ago.

Tombstone Tuesday - Cemetery Road Trip

Old Dutch Cemetery, Highland County, Ohio

A couple of years ago, I got inspired to take a cemetery road trip.  Both my husband and I have family members who were early settlers in several southern Ohio counties and I got the brilliant idea that we could take a drive down to visit four cemeteries where we would most likely find the gravesites of some of our ancestors.   Beginning with my Shoemaker ancestors in Old Dutch Cemetery in Highland County, Ohio, following up with Locust Grove Cemetery near Peebles in Adams County, Ohio and finishing up with my husband's Odle-O'Dell family at Friendship and Odle-Piatt Cemeteries in Turkey Creek, Scioto County, Ohio.  With the use of Google Maps and good advice from some helpful online friends, I created an itinerary that I thought would make for trip of great discovery.  Now, I just had to convince my family this would be fun.  My husband wasn't hard to convince.  Even though he really didn't have a clue which of his relatives I was really looking for, he was ready for some time away from his job. job.  The kids were going to be a harder sell.  Two teenaged and one "tween" boy were not going to be enamoured by the thought of driving for several hours and stopping only to visit cemeteries where they were going to be put to work looking for names.   So, I decided I would make this a getaway weekend and we would find a motel with a pool for a night.  I figured if they knew there was a pool and some in room movies waiting for them, I could get them through the 6 or 8 hours of sheer agony they were going to have to endure.   So I presented them with the agenda, and even though they weren't thrilled, they decided it might not be torture.

With their acceptance, I began to check out the cemeteries a little more closely so I would be prepared when I arrived.  The one that most concerned me was Old Dutch.  It looked as though it was located in the middle of a cornfield and according to some accounts I read, it was surrounded by a locked gate. Oh great.  How was I going to get someone to unlock the gate for me.  I emailed the Highland County Sheriff's Dept.  and asked if someone could unlock the gate for me when I arrived. They must have thought I was completely daft because I never received an answer.   So, I decided I would take a small ladder along; just in case!

The day arrived and we loaded the car with all the essentials. Maps, notebooks, pens, and camera for my husband and me and snacks and games for the boys.  We headed out and made it to Highland County in a little over an hour.   Sure enough, Old Dutch was located off the road, behind a cornfield.  We had to drive through a little cleared area of grass next to the field.  I kept thinking the farmer wasn't going to be happy with us!  When we arrived at the cemetery I was pleasantly surprised by how well kept it was and how beautiful and serene the area around it was.   Purple wildflowers bloomed throughout the grass and the stones were in very good condition.  Some that had broken had been meticulously repaired.  It was here that I found the gravesites of Samuel and Julia Ann Weaver Shoemaker, my paternal 4th great grandparents, as well as those of several of my distant Shoemaker cousins.

 Since the cemetery was small, my sons didn't have to look too hard for names, so they decided they would busy themselves with bothering the ground spiders that were plentiful throughout Old Dutch.  They discovered if they took a stick and moved it anywhere near the hole of the spider's den, they could get the spider to jump out at them.  As a future science teacher, my oldest son found that fascinating.  So far, so good!

The next stop was Locust Grove Cemetery in Adams County, a little farther southeast.  It was about another hours drive to reach our destination and further into the country.  I couldn't help but wonder how much the land had changed since my relatives had lived there.   When we reached the cemetery, I was surprised at it's size.  I knew I would be putting the kids to work there.  We didn't see any type of cemetery office, although since it is a working cemetery, I know there must have been one around somewhere.  It was here that I found the gravesite of my great grandparents, Thomas and Roseanna Varvel Shoemaker and  those of many of my great aunts and uncles, as well as that of  my great great grandfather, Jacob Shoemaker. 

We spent quite a bit of time at Locust Grove.  I really hated to leave; fearing I would miss someone.  But, the day was getting late and we still had a drive ahead. 

Time to head toward Friendship Cemetery in Turkey Creek, Scioto County. 

I didn't know a lot about where we were headed, except for the fact that it was close to the banks of the Ohio River and very near the Shawnee State Forest and Resort.  Some of the land that was once owned by the Odle's was sold to the state of Ohio when the forest was being created.  As we drew nearer to the area, the geography was becoming even more rural.  If you have ever been through the southern and southeastern portion of my state, you will know what I am talking about.   I thought how difficult it must have been to farm in this area because of all the hills.   We had some trouble finding just where we were going. This was before GPS devices had come into vogue and we certainly didn't have one!  Up until this point, even though the weather was threatening, we had had no rain.  The kids were getting a little tired and I have to admit, I was getting kind of cranky myself.  We finally found the cemetery and the church it surrounded was one of the prettiest country churches I have ever seen.

And, of course, it was just then that it began to rain, the kids started to complain and they became a huge pain!

Luckily, my husband took it in stride, determined that we were not going to come all this way and not discover his family.  The cemetery is medium sized, so it wasn't too difficult to find our way around.  It was here that we found the gravesites of my husband's maternal great grandparents, Andrew Jackson and Bertha Welty O'Dell.

We also found the burial place of  his great great grandparents, William and Angeline Piatt Welty and  those of several  of his great aunts and uncles.  It was quickly becoming a very good trip for us!

With one last stop to make, the rain began to slow down.  The next cemetery was a little more difficult to find. 

The Odle-Piatt Cemetery is very small and quite overgrown with weeds, but we did finally locate it.  After the spider episode, the boys were a little less inclined to enter an area that looked like such a wonderful home for other creepy crawlers, so my husband and I let them wait in the car.  It was here that we located the gravesite of  my husband's great great grandparents, Nelson and Sarah Walker Odle, and several of their children.  

By this time, we were all worn out, but feeling like we had done a good day's worth of research.  With the final pictures taken we headed to Portsmouth and that promised swimming pool.

It's been a couple of years since we headed out on our Southern Ohio Cemetery Road Trip and I sure am ready to head out again.  Didn't they say it was going to be 50 degrees this weekend?    Hey kids.........

New Discovery! Moonshiners in the Family

For many years, I have heard stories about the family of my husband's grandmother, Carrie Retsel O'Dell (Odle) Zimmerman. She was born in Turkey Creek, Scioto County, Ohio, on the banks of the Ohio River. We made a trip down there a couple of years ago, and even today, it still has quite a bit of wild country. Much of the land where she grew up is now contained within the confines of the Shawnee State Forest and Resort. She came from a large family and she was one of only two daughters. Her extended family was also quite large and I have been told that they had plenty of time and space to get into various kinds of trouble.
Today, I confirmed at least one of these stories. Luther and Charles Odle, both cousins of Carrie, were arrested for moonshining on January 24, 1921.
This story appeared in the Portsmouth Daily Times later that day:

Portsmouth Daily Times – January 24, 1921

Sheriff Swoops Down on Still – Four Moonshiners Caught

Two Make Getaway But Officers Say They Were Identified; Plant is Seized

Four men, giving their names as Thurman Thompson, Charles Odle, Charles Clifford, and Harry Beckman were arrested, and two others, said by officers to be Luther Odle and his son, Dallas, Odle, aged 17 years, escaped early Monday morning when Sheriff E.E. Rickey and a squad of officers swooped down on a moonshine liquor plant by a hollow on the Labold land in the wilds of Turkey Creek, West Side.

The raid also resulted in the capture of an immense copper still of 90 gallons capacity, in addition to more than 600 gallons of mash and about six gallons of high proof distilled liquor. The mash was destroyed and the still and liquor were seized, together with a Buick touring car belonging to Luther Odle and brought to the city along with the quartet of prisoners, who were landed in the county jail where they are held to meet charges of unlawfully manufacturing intoxicating liquor.

The still was in operation and the six men were huddled around a fire in the furnace under the cooker when the officers arrived on the scene about two o’clock and took the whiskey makers by surprise. When Sheriff Rickey suddenly slid down a hillside landing right in the midst of the distillers, there was a wild scramble of members of the gang to escape, but officers had been stationed at various points in an effort to cut off all avenue of escape and four of the men were caught.

When searched it developed none of the prisoners were armed except Charles Odle, on whose person a .38 caliber revolver, fully loaded, was found, but in a search of the premises a rifle and a discarded pistol holster were discovered.

From information received by the sheriff, the still had been in operation but a short time, as he visited the place only a few days ago and from all indications then it had been used little, if any, at that time. No one was about at the time and the officer did not disturb the outfit but waited for a more opportune time, which came this morning. It is by far the most complete outfit for the making of liquor which has been taken by local officers since the prohibition law went into effect. The still was equipped with a 30 foot copper coil and a perfect cooling system, fed from a small stream of water.

Thompson, Charles, and Luther Odle are the reputed owners of the still. Clifford and Beckman, who are Dry Run young men, claiming they have no interest in the outfit and just chanced to accompany the others to the camp Sunday night.

Besides Sheriff Rickey and Deputy Harry Dunham, railroad detectives Lee Einspander, Andy Leslie, Robert Reno, and Ehner Pratt participated in the raid.

Tomorrow: The trial of Luther and Charles Odle