Elkannah Daniels, my great-great-great-grandfather was born on 15 May 1792 in Wilsboughrow, Essex County, New York and came to Huron Township, Huron County in 1809 to reside with his brother, Jeremiah Daniels. In those days the Indian population still resided in this area and the Daniels family left their cabin several times due to fear.

Elkannah married Almira Marks in 1820 in Huron Township, Huron County, Ohio. Almira was born in 1802 in Tarrytown, Westchester County, New York. She accompanied her brother to Huron County, Ohio traveling through Jefferson County, New York to get to the Great Lakes and Ohio.

In 1822, Elkannah obtained 80 acres of Government Land Grant land in Riley Township, Sandusky County, Ohio. The grant was signed by President, James Monroe.

Elkannah and Almira became the parents of seven children, namely: Anna, William, Franklin, Nancy (my great-great-grandmother) Rosanna, Cyrus and Jeremiah.

Elkannah developed malaria and died after a lingering illness in 1839. Almira paid off the doctor bills with fifty cents and two dollars at a time through a lawyer to the doctor.

Almira’s second marriage was to Levi Tuttle. She along with about five neighbors started a Methodist Sunday School. Almira died in 1882 and she and Elkannah are buried in McCreary Cemetery, Riley Township, Sandusky County, Ohio.

Nancy, daughter of Elkannah and Almira Daniels, was born in 1828 in Riley Township, Sandusky County, Ohio. She married Reuben Barnes on 9 February 1846 in Townsend Township, Sandusky County, Ohio. He was born on the 23 July 1820 in Livingston County, New York. Reuben’s father, Hiram Barnes (my great-great-great grandfather) was born on 11 November 1798 in Towanda, Bradford County, Pennsylvania. Hiram and wife, Lucy (Randall) Barnes came to Mustcash, Huron County, Ohio with children: Betsy, Erastus, Reuben (my great-great-grandfather), Lucy and Loren about 1825.

Hiram’s father, James Barnes, was born in 1758 in Pennsylvania and served in the Revolutionary War. He died in Livingston County, N.Y. Hiram’s mother, Susan (Baker) Barnes came to Mustcash after her husband’s death with her oldest son, Ira, and daughters, Elsie, Susan, Weltha, and Matilda.

Nancy and Reuben Barnes lived in Mustcash, Erie County for many years, until they purchased land from Reuben’s father, Hiram Barnes, in Townsend Township, Sandusky County, Ohio. Nancy and Reuben had ten children, but only four grew to adulthood, those being Rachel, Horatio, Emma and Alice. All the children were born near Castalia, Erie County, Ohio. Nancy died in 1885 in Townsend Township, Sandusky County, Ohio. Reuben remarried after Nancy’s death and died in York Township, Sandusky County, Ohio in 1890.

Horatio Barnes (my great-grandfather) was born in Castalia, formerly Mustcash, Erie County, Ohio in 1852. On the 15 December 1874 he married Loretta Johnson in Castalia. Loretta’s parents were Washburn and Maria (Hotchkiss) Johnson, both born in 1809, and married in Otsego County, N.Y. before coming to Groton Township, Erie County, Ohio about 1848. Maria Hotchkiss was originally from Norfolk, Litchfield County, N.Y. Maria and Washburn were the parents of seven children: Mary, Juliana, Fanny, Almira, Almeda, Loretta (my great grandmother), and Cyrus. Washburn died in 1892 and Maria in 1907 in Wood County, Ohio.

Four children were born to the union of Horatio and Loretta, those being Levi and Lydia (my grandmother) near Castalia, and Effie and Jessica after they moved to Payne, Paulding County, Ohio. They moved to Bellevue, Ohio about 1910. Horatio and Loretta raised chickens, geese, ducks and garden vegetables and sold them in a small building (store) in their front yard along with school supplies. Horatio died in 1925 and Loretta in 1936.

Lydia married Henry White while her folks lived in Payne, Paulding County, Ohio and raised eleven children there. Their children were: Earl, Glenn, Scylur, Esther (my mother), Floyd, Harold, Orval, Aubra, Gladys, Homer and Dorothy. This family during the early 1900's was a wealthy farming family until the 1930's when poor health changed their lives.

Esther White (my mother) was born in 1901 and moved to Bellevue from Paulding County in about 1918 with her family. Henry and Lydia moved most of their furniture, livestock and farming tools in box cars of the Nickel Plate Railroad that ran by their house in Payne, Ohio.

Two of the boys, Earl and Scylur also drove two teams of horses with wagons containing family possessions the 120 miles to Bellevue.

Esther married Ray C. Meyer on 30 March 1921 in Fremont, Ohio. Ray born 1897 in Groton Township, Erie County, Ohio, was the son of John and Cora (Frederick) Meyer. The Meyer family of German origin, immigrated from Alsace-Loraine to Union County, PA. Their children were: Elizabeth, Joseph, Mary, Charles, Matilda, Caroline, Amelia, John (my grandfather) and George. John, born in 1867 in Margaretta Township, Erie County, was the son of Joseph and Katharina (Unkrich) Meyer. Cora Frederick’s parents were William, Sr. and Asenatha (Berman). The Frederick family lived in York Township, Sandusky County, Ohio and had two other children, Samuel and Ernest.

Ray Meyer’s family were dairy farmers and he had two siblings, Naomi and Elmer.

Esther and Ray lived in Groton Township, Erie County, Ohio where I and my two sisters, Mildred and Evelyn were born. They then moved to near Venice in Margaretta Township where five more children were born: Beulah, Helen, Delores, Ruth and Cletus. They then moved to Bellevue where Carol was born. Another move took them to Clyde, Ohio. Ray dairy farmed until about 1944, then worked as a welder at Whirlpool Factory in Clyde, Ohio.

I was born in 1921, graduated from York High School, Sandusky County, Ohio and married Robert Hamer, the son of Charles and Elsie (Siggins) Hamer. Robert was born in 1919 in Berlin Township, Erie County, Ohio. We were dairy farmers until 1969, when Robert "Bob" went to work for Stokley’s Canning Factory in Norwalk, Ohio. Robert died in 1989. Our children are: Robert (Betty Searls) Jr., Kenneth (Glenna Ousley), Gerald, Paul (Onie Menzerick), and Martha (Gerald Huffman).