Saudra Crum Akers

▣ Holiday Melancholia

posted by Saundra Akers on November 30th, 2009 at 7:54 AM

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Everyone seems to become more sensitive during the holidays and if something is wrong, it feels much more wrong at that time than at any other time. Depression looms large when you've no one to share your life with and if you don't have much money it's easy to think there is nothing you can do to brighten your holidays.

That isn't True!

I like the idea of lonely people banding together to share the season like a family would. It may not be ideal but it can be special. Some recreation centers and senior centers have parties ect and are cheap to join but for those who this won't work for, there are still options. A friend of mine recently lamented that he had no car, no money, and his family wasn't even getting together this year for a celebration because they couldn't afford it. I made some of the following suggestions to him as well as some other ideas more personal to his situation.

Christmas is magic...don't forget it but let the magic reach out to and envelope you. Santa Clause is a spirit if not a man.

▣ More about writing from workshop notes

posted by Saundra Akers on November 24th, 2009 at 2:06 PM

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For my memoirs followers: Write about a special Thanksgiving. Who was there, was it good, was it bad. Why? What was happy, and what was sad about it.

▣ Expanding your Character

posted by Saundra Akers on October 19th, 2009 at 8:35 AM

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In this writing I'm fresh back from a writing convention with a lot of new ideas. I hope they will help others as well.

▣ Tour of sites where my ancestors lived and books are set

posted by Saundra Akers on July 9th, 2009 at 5:06 PM

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Hello,

My name is Saundra Crum Akers and I’m taking you on a tour of the places where my ancestors lived and where they are buried. We will leave Columbus,Ohio heading south on Route 23 to Chillicothe. From there we will head West on route 50. Please see map.

Going this direction we will pass through Bainbridge, home of the Paint Valley Jamboree. The country music program has been going on every Saturday night for many, many years. On New Years Eve each year, there is a show with a potluck between halves. The show lasts until midnight when a glittering ball descends mimicking the one in Times Square, New York. One of my books, The Smelly Man, is set in Bainbridge. You will see signs in Bainbridge to let you know that they had the first Dental school in the country, and it currently has a Dental Museum.

We leave Bainbridge on route 50 but shortly out of town we take route 41 in a southwesterly direction. This is the area of Seven Caves which is now part of Highland Sanctuary. Midway between Bainbridge and Sinking Springs we pass through Cynthiana. I lived near there once and went to school in Rainsboro, since Cynthiana had no school. My Adams ancestors lived in this area and my Grandmother Sarah Jane Adams was probably born nearby. The most interesting thing about this town is the spectacle of the Cemetery in the spring. Almost the entire area is covered with a pink phlox and it is truly beautiful.

Continuing onward we come to an intersection with Bell Hollow road to the left and route 753 to the right. Turning left we head into an area once described as the “wilds of Bell Hollow” in a newspaper article. The article recalled a sheriff’s comment that a criminal has disappeared into the wilds of Belle Hollow.

My mother’s sister Thelma Lucille Stultz Carter is buried in Woodland Cemetery on a road called Pin Hook, which forks off Bell Hollow road. When Aunt Lucille died, she was only 27 years old. She had seven children and the baby was only nine days old. According to my mother, her husband, Ralph Carter wouldn’t go out to chop wood to keep them warm. Aunt Lucille did and ended up with double pneumonia which killed her. The nine day old baby, Virginia Ruth Carter, who was left without a mother, died herself, at age 11. She is buried beside her mother.

Aunt Lucille’s children say that her husband Ralph and the oldest son sat beside her grave all night the night she was buried, keeping vigil, their grief howling down the hollow like that of a banshee. However, my mother hated Ralph so much that I feared him as an ogre, not knowing he had died before I was born.

After visiting this cemetery, we continue on to Sinking Springs. This is the hub from which most of my ancestors of all lines migrated outward. I went to school here part of second, third, fourth and fifth grade. The school has burned down but the auditorium is still standing and used for community functions. This town has approximately three main streets with a few connecting ones. The town was laid out by a man named Heisted who was a brother to my GGG Grandmother Katherine Heisted Amens. Katherine Amens husband, Daniel and my GG Grandfather Jacob Wickerham, his son in law were very active in the Underground Railroad. Daniel’s brother worked with Rev. Rankin in Ripley, sending the fugitives northward. They kept them overnight and sent them onward when it was safe.One branch of my family believes that Katherine Heisted Amens might have been Jewish but this information has been lost.

I have family buried in both cemeteries in the town. One cemetery lies to the right of route 41, and one is on the other side. We pass an unusual octagon shaped building, which was the first schoolhouse, as we go to the William Byrd cemetery on the right, Daniel and Katherine Amens are buried there along with some of their children. My GG Grandparents, Jacob Wickerham and Eve Amens Wickerham and some of their children are buried there too, and also My GG Grandparents, Lewis Crum and Sarah Eagle Crum.

Returning to route 41, we take a road toward the other side of town and the other cemetery which is secluded and set on a hill at the edge of town. If you miss the street, you will not be able to find it as the cemetery sits in a highly wooded area. There is a large “Crum” section in that cemetery and my Grandmother and most of her children are buried there, although my Grandfather Lewis is not and my father is not. My Grandfather is buried in Xenia, Ohio and my father is buried at Whiteoak cemetery between Bluecreek and West Union.

Heading on down 41 toward Locust Grove and Peebles, we come to a cemetery on a hill to the right. Within sight of the cemetery is the old Wickerham Inn which is still standing and is on the register of historic places. Peter Wickerham and his wife Maria Platter Wickerham are buried in that cemetery overlooking the inn that they built and ran for many years. They are my GGG Grandparents.

Peter’s father George Adam Wickerham built an inn in Pennsylvania. Originally he laid out a town around it and called it Georgetown. Unfortunately it was very close to another inn and village; eventually both villages were combined to be called Monogehala City after the river that runs through it. His son Peter with his wife Maria came down that river to the Ohio and down the Ohio river to a place where they entered Ohio in Adams County. Peter made the same mistake his father had made by building his inn in between Locust Grove and Peebles which are only about three miles apart. He laid out streets around his inn and called it Palestine. Old maps still call it Palestine but it is not a village at this time.

Moving on down route 41 we come to Peebles, another place where I went to school and also where the book Tempest Rider is set. My mother, who was blind recounts that the first time she was in Peebles, she entered on a horse which for some reason fell flat in the street embarrassing her greatly!

Continuing through Peebles toward West Union, we stay on route 41. It is 14 miles to West Union. In West Union we head south to route 136. On that highway, about four miles out of West Union, we see Kirker Cemetery. In this cemetery most of my Mother’s Robe line is buried. My Mother’s Mother was Minnie May Robe who married Willam Ira Stultz. They are buried here. My GGG Grandparents, John Baldwin and Mary Elizabeth Curry Baldwin are buried here. My GG Grandparents, David Robe and Elizabeth Baldwin, and most of David and Elizabeth’s children are in this location as well.

At this point we start to make a circle and we continue west/north west on route 136.

We pass through Cherry Fork and head toward Winchester. A lot of my Baldwin line is buried at Cherry Fork but I’m not sure which ones. We continue on toward Winchester.

Winchester is another hub for my family history. My Mother, Clara Velma Stultz, was born in a farmhouse on 136, north of Winchester. The Stultz line had moved down to Brown County from the Sinking Springs area and then north just a little to Winchester which is on the Brown/ Adams county line. George Stultz, my GG Grandfather married Lois Brown in that area and their son Martin Van Buren Stultz married Sarah Rhoades from Winchester. Winchester is around 14 miles from West Union and the lines sort of ran together.

G Grandparents, Martin Van Buren and Sarah Rhoades, are buried in the cemetery in Winchester and I believe that his parents, George and Lois may be also. Sarah’s Grandfather, Israel Rhoads in buried there, just behind Sarah’s grave. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. Martin Van Buren was a soldier in the Civil War.

Last year, in 2008, Winchester had their first haunted cemetery tour at the conclusion of the Carmel festival. I took this horse drawn trip through the darkness and watched as men and women in period dress explained who they were and about their lives. It was more historical than scary.

Leaving Winchester we head north and pass a small settlement called Emerald. This is where my grandparents, Minnie Robe and Wm Ira Stultz were married. About two miles further we cross the county line from Adams to Highland. The first farm that lies to the right is the place where my mother was born in 1905. As we continue north on 136 we eventually dead end into route 62, then turn right toward Hillsboro. Some of the Crum’s went to Hillsboro but I know of no direct line.

Hillsboro has a country music show each Saturday. They have several restaurants now including Bob Evans and Dakota Steak House as well as Pondorosa, and both a K-mart and a Wal-mart. They have a movie theatre and college branch as well.

If we stay on route 62 we can continue north through Washington CH and back to Columbus that way.Washington CH is the setting for the book Manifesting Destiny. It is a conservative farm community with no movie theater. It does have several restaurants. Jeffersonville malls aren’t far away though and this attracts many visitors.

We leave the town, staying on route 62 North which will take us back to Columbus. We have now traveled in an elliptical path completing a circuit that has taken us home.

I hope you have enjoyed the journey.