FYI -- Just happened to see your message. You do know that there are plenty of Gingrich family from Lancaster, right? It's just like Newt Gingrich ... same spelling and same family. Rosemary in San Diego ----- Original Message ----- From: "Searcher" <zxcqwe123@netzero.net> To: <OHSTARK-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, November 18, 2000 5:10 PM Subject: [OHSTARK] Ohio and Erie Canal which ran through Stark Co. and later Summit Co. brought people to Ohio to work on the canal > Hi, I am new to your group. > > Does anyone else have relatives who came to Stark or adjoining counties from Lancaster Co. Pennsylvania? I am a descendant of a Susanna "Susan" Gingerich/Gingery who was supposedly born in Lancaster Co. Pennsylvania in 1821. Her father was John Gingerich/Gingery, who came from Warwick Twp. Lancaster Co. Pennsylvania to Stark Co. before the 1830 census, in which he is enumerated with three other Gingerich families. > It seems very likely that one of the reasons my John came to Stark County was the Ohio and Erie Canal that was built through Stark County about the time he resided there. The last child of his that I have a record of as born in Pennsylvania was born in 1822 in Lancaster, so sometime after that they moved to Ohio. This would have been at about the same time as the Ohio and Erie Canal was being constructed. When we visited Stark County I even took a picture of the remnants of the canal system there and an old canal boat because I wondered even then if there could have been a connection. I always wondered why my John never owned property in Stark County. He may have just lived there while working on the canal. Does anyone else have relatives who worked on the canals in Stark County, or does anyone know of some good documentation on the history of this canal? > > Just a few days ago I found on the WEB an account of a Martin Greiner Jr. who married a Geib, and both this Martin and his father were supposed to have worked on the "Erie Canal." (The Erie canal ran mostly east and west through New York). The Geibs were descendants of a Maria Gingerich. These Geibs and Greiners all were reported as coming from Warwick Twp. I do not know exactly who Maria would have been a daughter of. The future father in law was said to have been Martin's "boss" on the Erie Canal. I wonder if the canal referred to was really the Ohio and Erie Canal, which ran north and south through Stark County. These Greiners and Geibs lived in Ashland Co. around 1832, which is right next to the township in Wayne County where my Joseph and Susan (Gingery) Frank later lived after their marriage. > > One of my favorite books as a youth was The Erie Canal published by the American Heritage Junior Library. On p. 112 this book states: > > "De Witt Clinton took time off from work on the Erie to break ground for a canal system in Ohio on July 4, 1825. The state had an extremely ambitious and complicated plan: It consisted of two main canals running generally north to south the length of the state, from Lake Erie to the Ohio River.. Work on the two canals continued for eight years.The Ohio canals were largely finished by 1832, although the Miami and Erie did not reach the lake until 1845. The Ohio and Erie Canal was 309 miles long and had 152 locks and 14 aqueducts." > > In 1841 Summit Co. was formed out of a considerable amount of Stark County, and was named after the "summit" or high point on the Ohio and Erie Canal. Just now I have the Akron Beacon Journal Index on interlibrary loan, and in reading through the index, which begins in 1841 there are several references to the canal that ran also through Summit County as well as some of Stark county that was not taken into the limits of Summit County. The film which it indexes I do not, however, have on loan at this time. In fact the early issues before 1870 can not be loaned from what I can find. If anyone knows otherwise, please let me know. > > Richard > > > > ==== OHSTARK Mailing List ==== > Stark County USGenWeb site: > <http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohstark/> > >