Family History, Stories and Tidbits...
photos by Manross

Over the past year or so, many of you have e-mailed us with interesting family history facts. Many of you have left the area but still come back to visit us from time to time. We have truly enjoyed your thoughts and notes about your family history, stories and tidbits of fairs, special events, and photos of times past.

Though technology can sometimes be overwhelming, it is because of this technology that we can share your lost history of Pataskala, with others...

Please send us, via e-mail, any interesting facts, notes, or even photos regarding Pataskala's past and we will place them here. If you would like us to include your e-mail address so that others may contact you, let us know and we will do so.

Thanks again Pataskala... E-Mail Us! ...send to familyhistory @ pataskalaohio . com

from...Jamie Phillips

10-30-00 This is a lovely website.
Pataskala is where I met my husband, and we fell in love....
*His Grandmother Liddie Phillips was beloved here, may she rest in peace together with her husband as they have gone home to the house of our Lord.
* I would love to hear from anyone who cares to share a tale, or sweet story about her, her freinds her family, and farm lives.I have quilts she did hand stitch to earn money for her church, I hope to pass them down to my daughter- her great granddaughter , with a journal of special moments from the life of a woman I wish she had known......
- Jamie Phillips Trumbull, CT email jeepman7@swbell.net or write 4 Daniels Farm Rd #277 Trumbull,CT 06611-3698

from... Bryan Bradbury

Greetings!
I passed much of my childhood on Nelson Langel's dairy farm on Refugee Road just north of Kirkersville, went to Kirkersville Elementary (teachers were Smith, Snider, Harriet, Fritz, and Little), went to Etna for one year (Reinert), then on to the Watkins' schools. I enjoyed growing up in the area and was fortunate to experience it before creeping suburbia came calling. After time spent in Chicago, the Florida Keys, Kentucky, and New Mexico, I have now settled myself, my wife, and two daughters in the lovely community of Buchanan, Michigan. Funny how much my current home reminds me of the best aspects of Licking County.

Places and events I recall: The incredibly untimely deaths of several classmates at Watkins during the late 70's and early 80's; iceskating on the creek that crosses Refugee Rd. just west of Langel's and Stout's old farms (I wonder who owns them now?...); recklessly borrowing apples from some of the area orchards (sorry, Mr. Lynd!); buckeye trees along the fencerows; bicycling to Brian Laughlin's house in order to play with my friends; Stout's barn burning in the summer of '74; the Hartford Fair; the annual gridiron battles with Newark Catholic; hot chocolate under the bleachers; Jill Squires' dad's death in a plane crash; planting trees on Arbor Day behind Kirkersville Elementary; going through the haunted house in the basement of the school; Tom Caw's relentless pursuit of the local news stories; studying "biology" in the woods behind the high school thanks to a pass from Miss Redmond (the BEST teacher who ever lived, God rest her soul...); and so much more that I'd need 500 pages to write it all.
Thanks, Pataskala (Kirkersville, Etna, Outville, and Wagram, too) for molding at least a little bit of who I am!
Bryan Bradbury--7th grade English teacher
Buchanan, MI
August 2000

from... S. Sellers Shikaysel@aol.com
Tommy Alsup is buried there in Pataskala but I cannot remember which cemetary. Tommy was the "Uncle Tom" in Harriet Beecher Stowe's book "Uncle Tom's Cabin". The old Beecher homestead is in that area also. There was a large white 2 story house there just south of town with a hitching post in front which served as a part of the underground railroad with a hidden room in the basement. This old house may have been closer to Outville, Ohio but it had a railroad track behind it and an entry to the basement thru the rock springhouse. It has been many years since I visited the site but I would like very much to know the name of the cemetery where Tom is buried. Do you have any idea? Thanks

from... Lisa (Kolk) Sheets WMHS 1985 sheets-n-giggles@worldnet.att.net
Hi to current and former Pataskalians...I am a former! However, I am currently spending time in my old stomping grounds searching for cemeteries, old family plots, long forgotten grave markers. I married into the Sheets family (Indiana), and am assisting my hubby's grandma in researching her Family Tree. This is an ADDICTIVE hobby! I am looking for Grandstaff markers, from the 1800s, or deceased in the early 1900s. The three places I have checked: the large cemetery on Creek just south of the Pool; the one beside Jersey Presby Church off of Morse and Condit; a SMALL plot of unknown responsibility on MacIntosh Rd o/o Headleys Mill (my thanks to the P.Ofc who directed me to this one! I wouldnt have found it otherwise!). If you can direct me to other plots in the Pataskala or Summit Station areas, please let me know via email.

from...Ann Bailey jambrogi@erols.com
Did you ever hear of the House of David baseball team? Did it ever come to your place? My grandfather was a baseball player and his name was Edward W Bailey. He live in your town. We are trying to get info on him. He died in his late years in 1969.

from...Thomas R. Bailey please e-mail thomas@hal-pc.org
My grandfather lived in your city for a long time. He died 04/06/1969 at the age 98, born 07/24/1871. he lived in a trailer on 210 Cedar St. The Old Slonaker Trailer Park. He was a retired plumber and I did not know him. I would like to hear from anyone who might of known him. He came from Johnstown, Pa in early 1920 or so. There was a friend of his, Harriet Clemens, who helped him. Thanks Harriet for your care. He had church service at St Pius in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. If you know any thing on Mr.Bailey please let me know. Pataskala, thanks for being nice to my granddad for so many years, you all must be fine people. Tom Bailey Texas A&M class '63

from... James W. Ramey, U.S. Forest Service, Retired, Mountain View, Arkansas
My grandfather, Frederick Charles was born there in 1881. His father , William Rufus Ramey was also born there June 10, 1846. William Rufus Ramey was a jeweler and watch maker and he owned his own business in Pataskala. My great great grandfather Sanford Ramey was a settler in the community on his farm. He died in 1890 and is buried somewhere near Pataskala. I feel a special tie to Pataskala and I hope I can visit your community sometime in the future.
My great grandmother, wife of William Rufus Ramey , was also born in Pataskala, Ohio. Her maiden name was Martha Jane "Mattie" JOSEPH, born 22 March 1850. She married William on March 29, 1868. Seven of their nine children were born in Pataskala. The birth of my grandfather Frederick was printed in "The Richwood Gazette"; Office on the East side of Main Street, over W.H. Cookwright& Son's Drug Store; dated Thursday, November 1, 1883. A single copy of the newspaper was 5 cent and a one year subscription (paid in advance) was $1.50.

send your history to history @ pataskalaohio . com

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