| On our way home from a Sowers family reunion (Beth's side) in North Carolina in August, 1994, she and I found ourselves traveling through the Hocking Hills of Ohio. I think I convinced her that the old Sudlow farm, just coincidentally, was directly (sort of) on our path back to Illinois and we didn't need to go more than a hundred miles out of our way to get there. Beth was very familiar with my good fortune in July, recalling my visit with Beulah Carter, next door neighbor to Uncle Cliffie and the farm, and Bob and Charlene Carter from the nearby town of Starr. Good fortune was with us again, as Bob was doing some tractor work near his house as we drove along the road through Starr. I stopped Beth's Jeep to introduce Beth to Mr. Carter. We hadn't talked very long before Bob mentioned he had done a bit of research of his own since my last visit. Within a couple of minutes he produced a booklet published by the Hocking County Historical Society and the �Logan Daily News�. It named Joseph Ludlow (obviously a misprint) as being one of the first three settlers in the county, coming here in 1817. Since we had discussed where Uncle Cliffie, my Grandparents, Great-grandparents, and several of my great-aunts were buried in Logan, he asked if I knew where Joseph was buried. Since I did not, he speculated that they may be buried in the Starr Township Cemetery. With little commentary, we all jumped into the Jeep and drove to the cemetery on the ridge, just south of Starr. As we wandered the hillside there, I was stopped in my tracks by the sight of a headstone that reads, "Our Parents". On one side, the engraving states: "Joseph Sudlow, died February 27, 1863, aged 75 years". The other side reads: "Hanna, wife of Joseph Sudlow, died August 20, 1872, aged 72 years". About fifteen feet to the south is a tablet for Joseph that has the same inscription as the "Our Parents" stone. I am speculating that since he died first, the tablet was his original headstone and was erected at the time of his death. Then, when Hanna died, the children put up the larger common stone for both of them without removing his original one. If you are ever in Starr, these stones can be found directly on top of the ridge near the far north edge of the cemetery. Joseph and Hanna are buried just to the east of (behind) the long line of "Lee" family stones, no doubt, the people that the Sudlow-Lee Road is named for. As we wandered along the ridge to the south-southeast of Joseph's and Hanna's graves, I became fixed again in my tracks at the sight of two matching obelisks, one reading: "J.H. Sudlow" [for James Harvey], "died March 4, 1885, aged 55 & 12 days", the other for his wife, Elizabeth Sudlow. These stones are centrally located north to south in the cemetery within a few feet of the top of the ridge under the largest tree there. (I know that anyone trying to find this spot years from now could be ? hundred years old or more as of this writing in 1994.) With this find, I have now visited the graves (following the Sudlow line) of my father, Paul; my Grandparents, John Harvey and Emma Hazel (Smith); my Great-grandparents, Francis (Frank) Marion and Emily Jane (Goodwin); my Great-great-grandparents, James Harvey and Elizabeth (Hamlin); and my Great-great-great-grandparents, Joseph and Hanna (Clapp). After thanking Bob for his guiding skills, Beth and I drove to the farm to look again for the site of the old homestead. Her Jeep easily made the trip up "Cliffie's Lane" to about where I thought the house had been. We then trod the forest floor through thick undergrowth searching for what might be left of the foundation. After returning to the Jeep an hour later, covered with burrs, we drove the remainder of the way through to Tick Ridge Road and proceeded to Old Man's Cave via Route 56. While driving on Route 56 just west of Tick Ridge Road, we stopped where the continuation of Sudlow-Lee Road meets the highway so Beth could take my picture holding onto the Sudlow-Lee Road sign post. We wound our way through the hills toward Old Man's Cave and hiked the trails that my father took me on as a boy, just like his father took him, and his father took him, and no doubt, his father took him - considered special occasions as these secluded areas of natural geological and biological beauty were about a half day's buggy ride from the farm. According to Bob Alexander, a picnic lunch was standard fare. I have a walking stick at home that my father carved when he was a Boy Scout. Its inscription reads: "Paul Sudlow - Old Man's Cave - Cedar Falls Pioneers - July 11, 1928". The next day we traveled to Urbana, Ohio to visit "the skunk" Cousin Bob Alexander and his bride of 50 years and a few weeks, Dorothy. What splendid folks these fine people are! It is no wonder that my father always referred to Bob as "my favorite cousin". We had traveled to the Hocking Hills expecting to find little, if anything new there, but again found astounding treasures. We had (re)discovered old friends, an old cemetery, Old Man's Cave, and the farm, Unfortunately, we did not locate the site of the farmhouse. After an hour of fighting the brambles, thistles, burrs, hills and gullies, we admitted defeat. We would search for it again on our next visit there in October when we would have the good fortune of meeting our second cousins Andy, Susan, and Peter Alexander for the first time and find wild turkeys on the farm while walking Cliffie's Lane! 1994 John Sudlow Return to the index |