David,
Thanks for sharing this piece of history. Both my parent's homesteads were near
this area and your family's
description of life at that time in invaluable.
thanks, john peterson, ozona, florida
-----Original Message-----
From: karinking1234(a)comcast.net
To: beekeeper(a)baybroadband.net
Cc: INADAMS(a)rootsweb.com
Sent: Sat, Nov 28, 2009 11:08 pm
Subject: [INADAMS] Fwd: Some History of Adams County
David, what an exciting treasure you have! It is so hard for some of us to
imagine life and land as our ancestors have seen, and I love reading stories
about it...especially true 'diaries'...thank you so much for sharing it! The
name that the Indians gave the St. Mary's was totally unfamiliar to me. I think
it would be great fun to look for Indian relics in that area.
Tell me, is the farm still in the family today?
Karin King
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "David G Smith" <beekeeper(a)baybroadband.net>
To: "Adams Co. Roots Web" <INADAMS(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 28, 2009 8:23:51 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [INADAMS] Some History of Adams County
My grandmother was a Kunkel and quite a few years ago my dad gave me a letter
that he had in his family papers. I thought some of you might enjoy reading the
history:
The following letter, written by Mr. and Mrs. Sherman Kunkel in about 1948,
conveys their family values and attachment to the area of Monmouth, Adams
County, Indiana:
"Our farm has been in the family for 103 years, and has been the center of an
interesting, happy, full life for each of the succeeding fine generations who
have, and are at present living on it. On the south west side it is bounded by
the St. Marys river, which was named Kekionga by the Indians. On the other side
State Highway 27 runs for three quarters of a mile. In one corner of the farm is
a 21-acre tract of classified forest made up largely of maple trees from which
syrup is made, also trees of many other vanities. As it is left in its natural
state continuously, it abounds in wild life; flowers, berries, mushrooms and
nuts. As trees reach their prime, they are cut for fuel or lumber, in this way
making room for new growth. At one time when the river was the main means of
travel and transportation, the settlement which later became the village of
Monmouth, the oldest in the county, was situated on part of our farm. When roads
became more popular as the means of getting f!
rom one place to another, the village gradually moved over a short distance to
the Piqua road which was built entirely of white oak planks laid on girders of
white oak and extended from Piqua, Ohio, to Fort Wayne, Indiana. It has been
proved that around 1790 there was a large camp site of the Miami Indians under
Little Turtle just a few miles north of our farm along the St. Marys river. They
were at this site for several months preparing to go up the river and attack
Gen. St. Clair and his army at Fort Recovery, Ohio. In a surprise attack, they
killed around 1800 men of his army. In our fields along the river have been
found many arrow heads and Indian relics which makes us believe that there was
an Indian battle there. We like to imagine how the country looked at that time
and then realize what changes have taken place in 160 years. Each generation
living on the farm has had love of nature, the love of growing things and
complete love of the land. We have practiced conserv!
ation of the land and conserved its natural resources as much as possi
ble. At present we have diversified farming, raising corn, oats, wheat, soybeans
and tomatoes to sell for canning. We also have guernsey cows from which we sell
milk. Each year we raise a flock of broad breasted bronze turkeys and this month
we are starting 2600 baby turkeys which we sell at Thanksgiving time. Our
youngest son has decided that he likes farming better than anything else and is
staying at home preparing to make it his life's work. We believe that if it
became necessary, any of the other children who have married and gone away,
would come back and take over rather than have the farm leave the family. We
feel that the farm is the most pleasant place to live and that farm life is
conducive to good health and long life. After living so long in one place, we
feel sure that no other place could really be home."
Capt. David G. Smith, USN (Ret.)
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