Chronologically Speaking

The Local History department recently received a large donation of diaries of William Moore and his daughter, Louisiana Moore Ricker. These diaries number 93 in total, with some transcriptions, and they represent early life in Portsmouth.

Captain Moore was a prominent citizen during the 1800’s, and the Portsmouth Public Library acquired many books from his personal library.  The following is an excerpt from his obituary dated June 23, 1902:

His Long Run: Noted Steamboatman Makes Trip on Dark River- Captain William Moore, one of the oldest and most respected citizens of Portsmouth, died Sunday afternoon at half past four o’clock, at his home at Sixth and Court Streets.
His death was due to infirmities of old age. For many years, Captain Moore was one of the conspicuous businessmen of Portsmouth, assisting in building up a great industry. Of late years he has led a rather retired life.
Captain William Moore was born October 8, 1815 in Alexandria, Scioto County, Ohio. His father was Levi Moore, born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, February 9, 1793. His mother was Amanda Gunn, daughter of Samuel Gunn, who was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, and came to Portsmouth at five years of age. Levi Moore was the same age when he came to Scioto County in 1797. Philip Moore, grandfather of our subject, was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
 

……..(William) labored on his father’s farm until nearly of age, then he began to run machinery where the steam was employed……….He then began steam boating for Samuel Coles on the steamer ‘Home’ from Cincinnati to Pittsburg, as engineer….
In 1839, he made a trip to New Orleans on a flat boat, and while there became an engineer on a steamboat on the Yazoo River. He then built the steamboat ‘Reliance’ and was her master for a time.
 

Captain Moore’s obituary uses much information from the biography provided by Nelson Evans, and is now included in the “History of Scioto County Together with a Pioneer Record of Southern Ohio”, by Evans. The bio/obit has much more on the life of Captain Moore.

Captain Moore’s diaries are rich with his travels, and the people and places of his home town of Portsmouth. We will be transcribing these wonderful items, and at some future time, make this available online.

I must note at this time, also, that the Philip Moore listed, is the same as the Philip Moore Stone House in Washington Township. This structure is on the historical register, and is a tourist attraction.

Last summer, we purchased the Ohio Death Index up to 1954, which is all that is available at this time from the Ohio Historical Society. At that time, I was told that the Death Certificates up to that time period were also available on microfilm. However, the cost for all the years would be $30,000.00. Well, with significant budget cuts to Ohio libraries, trying to purchase all of them was not possible at this time.

I am trying to find  a grant or generous donor in the meantime. If anyone has suggestions, please email localhistory@yourppl.org.

In the meantime, we have purchased the certificates for 1908-1909. I am sure the genealogists realize the importance of such resources. Especially with the cost of a copy from a health department being now $16.50. If you could get it here, it would copy for .25.

Keep good thoughts.

After a long delay, the Local History Department is happy to announce that the Search Indexes are once again available to out patrons. You can visit the databases by clicking here.

We currently have the following databases available:

• Cemetery Search Index
• Early Marriage Index
• Property Tax Index
• Early Death Index
• Early Wills Index

The Local History Department has received many material donations. Information obtained from two estates were bound and added to the collection. The department also has received old photos from the Community Common representing the last twenty years. These photos are presently being identified to assist future researchers. 

Another recent addition to the collection was the purchase of the Ohio Death Index from 1945-1954. These 19 rolls of microfilm contain the death date, location and certificate number. This information is invaluable to those researching their family history. As our collection continues to expand, keep us in mind as your genealogy resource.

Recently donated to the Ohio Room collection was Wilbur Siebert’s, “Mysteries of Ohio’s Underground Railroads”.  This publication is a companion to his “The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom”. The books are two key resources for Ohio’s Underground Railroad. The department also houses the microfilm of Underground Railroad materials in the Wilbur H. Siebert Papers Collection at the Ohio Historical Society.

Mr. Siebert taught history at Ohio State University beginning in 1891. During his tenure, he gathered names and addresses of participants of the Underground Railroad. This microfilm is of his correspondence and bound typescript compilations collected while at OSU.

Local History has recently added two new Scioto County books to the collection. Anyone interested in architecture will like “Portsmouth: Architecture in an Ohio River Town”. This publication was a cooperative effort by the Miami University Art Museum and Miami University Architecture Department in 1981. Portsmouth is a great study for the history of architecture, and this book contains information and photos of 17 locations.Among those are the 1810 House, Scioto County Courthouse, All Saints Episcopal Church and others.

The second book is “Scioto County, OH Newspaper Abstracts and Historical Reminiscences: 1866-1869” by Barbara Keyser Gargiulo. The book actually goes beyond abstracts of early deaths and marriages to include information useful to researchers interested in early history, such as steamboat disasters. This publication is Barbara’s 2^nd newspaper index. Her first was, “Scioto County, OH Newspaper Index: 1818-1865″. Both books are must for genealogists and historians searching early county history.

The Scioto Country Veteran Interview collection is now available for viewing in DVD format as well as the original VHS tapes. The collection was donated by local Attorney John McHenry, who is still conducting interviews and adding to the collection. The DVDs in the collection do not circulate and may not be removed from the Local History Department.

Terry and I went for a walk today to view the historic G.A.R. building before it is gone. According to history, the building was erected about 1861, the first year of the Civil War. It has been said that the Civil War lottery was held in this building.

The building was originally a church, which was attended by Portsmouth’s most prominent citizens. Colonel Peter Kinney, a member of one of our area’s pioneer families, led the first Memorial Day observance here on May 29, 1869.

Since its construction, the building has been 2 churches, the Grand Army of the Republic and a meeting place for many veteran organizations representing several wars. The Daughters of America began meeting here in the 1950’s, and at some point acquired the building as it still bears their name and council number. Terry took pictures, so it will remain a part of history within the library’s collection.

It’s been 100 years! The Portsmouth Public Library is celebrating its Centennial with many events. Monday, April 10, the library buried a time capsule containing many items that we feel will be of interest to historians 100 years from now.

The vault contained such items as a Centennial calendar, a Centennial cookbook, a Cat’s Meow library replica, a county map, local ads, 1906 and 2006 coins, 2006 budget and much more. It is exciting to know that we will all be a part of history.

NewspaperARCHIVE.com, a division of Heritage microfilm, has recently created free archives of newspapers by subject. The most recent is ImmigrationArchive.com, an archive of 50,000 historical newspaper pages that provides a comprehensive resource for anyone searching the history of immigration. You can search by the type, date or location of immigration. You can also search by surname with results that will highlight the name you searched.

Just keep in mind that this is only immigration articles in the newspaper.

You can also print, but full page copies can be ordered from the company for a fee.

For other free newspaper archives by subject, you can check the Heritage microfilm website, http://www.heritagemicrofilm.com/. Just remember that the NewspaperARCHIVE.com is a paid subscription database.