Presidents Letter 11 JULY 2009

 Sorry if I missed any of you at office hours, Weds. July 8^th. I was attending a funeral. Now I am behind on my scanning and news letter. I know you all will understand.

The BIG NEWS of the month is that we were accepted by the IRS as a non profit corporation. Whew Whew!!  Now people can deduct their donations and we can apply for grant moneys. A Great Big Thanks goes out to Fred Witzler for all of his work. We wouldn’t have been able to do this without all of his help. It looks like we will continually need his help as I look through the yearly reports we have to submit.

During our last meeting we accepted nominations for the Board of Trustees. Dave Derr, Fred Witzler and Betty Meyer have volunteered. If there are any other volunteers, let me know before our next meeting. We will have elections at our next meeting.

I have started the sketch of the Grace Lutheran Church. As soon as it is finished I will be working on the calendar. We want to have it ready before the Fall Festival. Is there anyone who would be interested in selling advertisement spots for the blank page of the calendar? If you are not interested in selling the spot yourself, would you be interested in being on a committee to formulate prices, an info letter, etc. We also need to advertise the sale of the calendars. I think we could have sold many more calendars if we got the word out to more people.

At our next meeting we need to make a decision in regards to our participation in the Luckey Fall Festival. There have been several suggestions. Please come to the meeting with ideas and an idea of how much time you can volunteer.

The Thelma Goetz booklet is complete but I have received more excellent photos. I am still waiting for better pictures of Freida Russwinkle. I have received a note from her daughter and hopefully will get the pictures soon.

Keep checking our website [luckeyhistoricalsociety.org] for additional info. In particular, people have sent me more information on the family trees. I have also been busy with some more family trees. I have been researching the Snyder family, the Rothenbuhler family, the Burkholder family, the Bockbrader family, the Meyer family and the Landwehr family. My family tree book is getting rather thick. My walks in the cemetery have changed greatly in the last year. In the past I have wondered who all of these people were. Now I feel as though I am among family. What wonderful stories and great people I walk among.

My next notebook is going to be on family pictures of the people of Luckey. If you have any old family pictures. Please make them a part of our collection.

Grace Rothnbuhler (Ruth’s sister) has been helping me make a list of century farms in the area. If you know the original owner of a barn please write down the owner’s name and the location of the barn. I plan to take a day or two and take just barn pictures. The old barns are quickly disappearing. New farming methods and equipment don’t work well with the old barns.

I haven’t reminded you all of the importance of writing your stories down and labeling your pictures. One of the nasty things that we don’t know is when our last day on earth will be. I spent the afternoon with my step-mother yesterday. “The Benjamin Franklin” was her great grandfather’s brother. The clock in Europe we know of as “Big Ben” was named after another great grandfather. She knows her genealogy like the back of her hand but has never written it down. How sad it will be if all of her great stories and generations of famous relatives are lost.

 

Next meeting; Thurs. July 16^th at 6:30 in the Library                                  over and out

Tea will be at 1:30 Thurs July 23rd                                                        Sally Predmore

 

Luckey Area Barn History by Ruth Rothenbuhler

         Ruth’s ancestors told of barn building in the Luckey area. The following is information recalled by Ruth.

A century ago many of the area barns were built by John A. Myers of 230 Krotzer Ave. Luckey OH. Lyle (Buzz) Myers told me his Grandfather Henry W. Myers helped his Great Grandfather John in building barns. One such barn John built is located at 21893 Stoney Ridge Road in Webster Township. The barn was built for Frank Freyer in 1902. The barn now has the name “Rothenbuhler” on it.

On Monday morning John would walk to the job site and possibly stay all week depending on the distance it was from Luckey. If the weather was warm he would sleep in the unfinished barn. On weekends he would walk back to Luckey to be with his family.

Native lumber was used, perhaps from that same farm.  Preparation for building was started by cutting down the trees and taking the logs to the local sawmill. The lumber was then taken back to the farm and stacked for drying several months before the building work was started.

John A. Myers, the builder, is the same man who was the junior partner of the Myers Brothers store at Main and Walnut St. in Luckey, OH.

Obituary for John A. Myers Death Sept. 28, 1934 Luckey, Sept 29—John A. Myers, 78, a prominent merchant for ay years died in his home here Friday morning at 6:00 O’clock after a two-month illness of cancer.  Funeral Services will be held Sunday afternoon at 2:00 at the residence followed by rites in the Grace Lutheran Church. Burial will be in the Luckey Cemetery.  Mr. Myers was born near Elmore OH., Sept 19, 1856. He spent his boyhood there and as a young man came to Troy Township residing here since. He was united in marriage with Margaret Rothenbuhler Aug. 11, 1876.  Mr. Myers was in business here for many years as a member of Myers Brothers who conducted a general store. He was a member of Grace Lutheran Church. Surviving are his wife and six children; William Myers, Frederick Myers, Mrs. Edward Dunn of Toledo, Henry Myers, Mrs. Anna Raab of Luckey and Mrs. Jess Slith of Wayne.  A son Edward died when 13.  He also leaves a brother, F.W. Myers and a half sister Mrs. Dora Welling, both of Luckey