Don,
Check out the Canal Society of Indiana's Web Site:
http://www.indcanal.org/
Robert & Carolyn Schmidt (they have an e-mail contact link on the home
page) are from Ft Wayne and they have been active in the study of Ft Wayne
area canals for some time. The Schmidts are distant cousins of mine.
Best regards,
Scott Bosecker
At 07:48 PM 9/27/1999 -0500, you wrote:
I'm looking for someone with knowledge of the early canals and
associated
business in
the Fort Wayne area.
I have a ggg grandfather, Alexander Hamilton BARTHOLD (b. 1798 in Easton,
PA, d.
1866,
Fort Wayne), who moved to Fort Wayne from Easton in 1836 aboard his
canal
boat. So says
the family history. I think this is physically possible via the Erie
Canal, which
opened in the mid 1820's. Alexander was accompanied on the trip
by his
wife Hannah KILL
PATRICK, and Iroquois Indian (b.1801 New Jersey, d. 1849, Fort Wayne).
Their tombstone
indicates that they were "canal boat builders." A street in
Fort Wayne is
names
Barthold St.
I suspect that they may have had some visibility in the early community,
but
haven't
been able to find sources regarding canal-related businesses or canal
transport to
investigate that assumption. Can anyone help me learn more about
these
people or their
business?
Don McKay