Hello Columbus

In 1822, Capt. David Curtis, surveyor and land agent for the Holland Land Company, arrived in Columbus, Pennsylvania with a group of young men to build a new settlement. This early land developer was great-great-great grandfather to Mary and her siblings. The house he built in 1832 still stands and is still inhabited by a Curtis on the land of the old Curtis Dairy. While viewing the house, we stopped and talked with an 18-year-old Curtis who lives nest door.

Our first stop of the day was at the nearby David Curtis Cemetery in Columbus, where many of the Curtis and Walker families are buried, including David and the parents of Mary Melissa Walker, Cecil Walker and Eloine Curtis. Also there are Cecil's parents and grandparents. The sewing chest and table that we have at one time was in the home of Cecil's parents, William and Mary Maria DeLong Walker. Here are the tombstones of Cecil and Eloine Walker and of Thomas Dewey and Amelia Walker.

Our interest in finding the landholdings of the Walker and Curtis ancestors led us to the county historical museum in Warren. We had about an hour to do some power genealogy before the museum closed, but found some valuable information. As we were going through books, Lucy at the museum dropped a photo of the house in front of Mary and asked if this would help. It certainly did, as the real structure was easy to compare a little later. We also were able to view an 1878 landholdings map of Columbus that pinpointed the Curtis property, as well as that of David Simmons. David was the father of Eugene Amidon's wife Sarah and thus great-great grandfather of Mary. We checked out that location, but there was no current development in the area except a couple of fairly new homes.

Our museum research also revealed that David, his wife and other ancestors were buried in a second cemetery in Columbus. We had some initial trouble locating Westlawn Cemetery but then discovered that it was on a map we had. There, we found gravesites of several of the Simmons and Dewey families. Besides David and his wife Elmina, also there were 3-times great grandparents John and Maria Dewey. We did not have as much luck with finding signs of the Walkers in Bear Lake, a very small community north of Columbus. We saw an old house and a sawmill that probably have family ties, but the place mostly in a ghost town.  Finally, you may recall a photo of Walkers and Curtises on a picnic - we and Dave and Ann have copies. The photo probably was taken at a place over the New York line called Panama Rocks, but this usually excellent navigator made a wrong turn and we never got there before it closed.

It was wonderful to see Corry, Clymer and Columbus as places that were so important in the family history. However, it was sad to see how far Corry and Columbus have declined from their hay days. Corry has much work to do, if it is going to get back on its feet and be a viable community. We are more optimistic about Clymer. The Amish coming in are young, energetic and money earners. Corry needs somehow to bring in that young energy, too.

Tomorrow, it is on to the next generation back, Jacob and Hannah Amidon. They moved from Willington, Connecticut to Onondaga, New York, in 1864. Onondaga County now is home to more Amidons than any other place in the world.