OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 26 ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgenwebarchives.org ************************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 05 : Issue 26 Today's Topics: #1 Fw: Tid Bits -- Part 12. ["Ohio Archives EV1" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <07d301c53648$cb225fe0$0300a8c0@margaret> Subject: Fw: Tid Bits -- Part 12. Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darlene & Kathi kelley" To: Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2005 7:49 PM Subject: Tid Bits -- Part 12. Contributed for Use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley Feb 26, 2005 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West by Darlene E. Kelley Major Dion Williams by Byron Williams Tid Bits - part 12. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Major Dion Williams Major Dion Williams, United States Marine Corps, was born in the Williams homestead, at Williamsburg, Ohio, on December 15, 1869. He is the only son of Byron and Katherine Park Williams. He received his earlier education in the public schools of Williamsburg, graduating from the high school in the class of 1886. Appointed a navel cadet on July 16, 1887, he graduated from the United States Navel Academy, on June 1, 1891, and for two years thereafter served as a midshipman on the United States steamer Atlanta, one of the cruisers of the Squadron of Evolution , known throughout the country as the " White Squadron." During this cruise, the Atlanta visited the West Indies and South America, and cruised along the east coast of the United States, touching at most of the important ports between Maine and the straits of Magellan. On July 1, 1893, having passed the final examinations for his class, with a good standing, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States marine corps. The marine corps, which is an integrel part of the navy, is the oldest branch of the government sevice, having been organized at Boston in 1775 pursuant to an act of the First Continental Congress. In every war in which the United States has taken part, the troops of the marine corps have taken part in the first engagement, and so well has the duty been performed that they well won the title of the " Ever Faithful," and the official motto of the corps is " Semper Fidelis." After receiving his first commission Lieutenant Williams was ordered to the Officer's School of Application, Washington, D.C., graduating from that institution in June, 1894, at the head of his class. June 30, 1894, he was promoted to be a first lieutenant, and was ordered to the marine barrack at the Navy yard, New York, where he served as adjutant of that marine battalion. On February 20, 1895, he was married at New London, Conn., to Helen Mar Ames, only daughter of Col Nathaniel H. and Elizabeth McDonald Ames. Colonel Ames was for years the colonel of the Third regiment of the Connecticut National Guard, and a leader among the military men of New England. Mrs William's mother is a member of the noted McDonald and Crawford families of Scotland. In October, 1895, Lieutenant Williams was transferred to the marine barracks at Mare Island Navy Yard, San Francisco Bay, California, where he served until September, 1897. During this time he studied law with especial reference to military procedure, and was appointed judge advocate of many important navel courts martial. In September, 1897, Lieutenant Williams was ordered to duty on the United States cuiser Baltimore, then flagship of the United States Pacific Squadron. The Baltimore proceeded to Honolulu, Hawaii, then an unstable republic, and remained there through the winter of 1897/98, protecting American interests. When the sinking of the Maine, in Havana harbor, made war with Spain inevitable, all the available navel ammunition on the west coast was rushed to Honolulu and loaded into the Baltimore, and she proceeded with all despatch to Hong Kong, where Commodore Dewey's United States Asiatic Squadron lay anxiously awaiting permission to sail for Manila. The Baltimore arrived just in time to transfer the ammunition to the other ships, don her war paint of sombre grey and sail with the squadron for Manila. In the battle of Manila Bay, May 1, 1898, Lieutenent Williams, in charge of the forward 8-inch gun of the Baltimore, fired the first shot from that ship, and he was officially commended for his conduct in the battle by Captain N. Mayo Dyer, the intrepid commander of the Baltimore, who himself commanded a small ship on that famous " August day with Farragut " at Mobile Bay. On May 2nd, the Baltimore forced the surrender of the Spanish forts on Corregidor at the entrance of Manila Bay, and on May 3rd under direct orders of Commodore Dewey, Lieutenant Williams, in command of a company of marines and sailors from the Baltimore, landed and took charge of the Spanish Navy Yard and Arsenal at Cavite. This was the first landing of American troops on Spanish soil in the war, and Lieutenant Williams at once disposed his force to establish order and protect the innocent inhabitants, and then raised the Stars and Stripes over the captured arsenal, this being the first American flag raised on Spanish soil in the Spanish-American war. For his energetic and efficient work on this occasion Lieutenant Williams received the official commendation of Admiral Dewey, who since that date has been his highly valued friend. As a result of the Spanish- American war Lieutenant Williams was promoted to a captaincy on March 3, 1899. He served in the Phillipines until May 1, 1900, serving on board the Baltimore, the battleship Oregon, and the flagship Olympia, and also on land with the army. During the Spanish war and the resultant Phillipine insurrection, Captain Williams took part in some thirty engagements in various parts of the islands, and commanded the marines at the capture of Olongapo and at the capture of Vigan, in the latter affair retaking from Aguinaldo's army ninety American and Spanish prisoners. During the latter year of his service in the Phillipines, Captain Williams held, in addition to his regular command, the assistant judge advocate general on the staff of the admiral commanding the fleet. On May 1, 1900, Captain Williams was ordered to duty on the staff of Admiral John C. Watson, and sailed from Yokohama, Japan, on board the United States flagship Baltimore for New York by way of China, the Malay Straits, India, the Suez and Europe, arriving in New York in October, 1900. He was immediately ordered to the Marine Barracks, Boston, Massachusetts, where he served two years, in charge of the United States Navel Prison, as military and technical instructor of a class of second lieutenants newly appointed from civil life, and for half of the time as acting commanding officer of the post. For this duty Captain Williams was twice officially commanded by Major General Charles Heywod, then Commandant of the Marine Corps, in the annual reports of the Navy Department. From September, until December, 1902, Captain Williams commanded Company " A" of the marine battalion, serving in Panama for the protection of the Panama railroad and foreign interests during a serious revolution. During this service Captain Williams was commended in orders by Admiral Casey, commander in chief of the United States Pacific Fleet, by Col. B.R. Russell, commanding the United States forces on the Isthmus, and by United States Consul-General Gudger, the latter commendation being transmitted to Congress by the State Department. >From Panama, Captain Williams was transferred to Culebra, West India Islands, and appointed adjutant of the First provisional regiment of marines engaged in fortifying that island. But this was to be a brief detail, as within two weeks, he was selected to be fleet marine officer of the Atlantic battleship fleet, in command of the battalion of marines attached to the ships of fleet. In this capacity he served until October, 1904, seeing service aboard the battleships Maine and Kearsarge, in the West Indies, South America and Europe. On this cruise he was presented to the late King Carlos of Portugal, and King George of Greece. In January, 1905, Captain Williams was selected as a menber of the staff of instructors of the United States Naval War College, at Newport, R.I., where he delivered lectures on military subjects and prepared important papers for the country's naval war plans. In February, 1905, he was promoted to be a major, and when the revolution of 1906 made American intervention necessary in Cuba, he commanded a battalion of marines, 400 strong, which were among the first landed in Cuba in Septemeber that year. Landing in Havana this battalion crossed Cuba to Cienfuegos and for one month kept peace and order in that important city. In October,1906, General Franklin Bell, then chief of staff of the United States Army, detailed Major Williams to the staff of the Army of Cuban Pacification, and by orders of President Roosevelt he was temporarily transferred from the marine corps to duty with the Army. For nearly a year Major Williams was first assistant to the chief engineer of the Army of Cuban Pacificatio, his princpal duties being in charge of the field work of the military map of Cuba, which was carried rapidly to a successful completion. For this work he recieved the official commendation of Major General Franklin Bell, Major General G.F. Elliot, then commandant of the marine corps, and Colonel Langfitt, the chief engineer of the Army of Cuban Pacification. Major Williams was selected by the late Admiral Robaly D. Evans, to be fleet marine officer of the Atlantic battle fleet for the famous cruise around the world in 1907/08/09, and in December, 1907, he joined the flagship Connecticut. All through the cruise of the battle fleet, majot Williams commanded the marine regiment of the fleet 1,300 strong, which paraded on shore at San Diego and San Francisco, Cal.; Seattle and Bellingham, Washington State; Sydney, Melbourne and Albany, Australia; and at the Hudson-Fulton celebration in New York in 1909, and on many occasions for drill. he was commended by Admiral R.D. Evans in an official letter to the Navy Department, for his efficient performance of duty during the cruise of the fleet from Hampton Roads, Va., to Sn Francisco, Cal., and also by Admiral Sperry, who commanded the cruise of the fleet from San Francisco, via the Suez to New York. Major Williams was also chief intelligence officer of the fleet, and in October, 1909, was detailed to duty in the office of Naval intelligence of the Navy Department, at Washington, D.C., where he remained until March 15, 1913, when he was ordered to Peking, China, as commandant of the American Legation Guard, which consists of 350 men, comprising infantry and artillery and a mounted section, and is a very important foregn post of our armed forces. Major Williams has devoted considerable attention to literary pursuits, and like his father, has written several books on subjects pertaining to the Navel profession, among them being " Naval Reconnaissance," a manuel of instruction for the reconnaissance and survey of harbors and surrounding country: " The Port Directory." containing valuable information concerning all principal ports of the world; " The Uniform Regulations, United States Marine Corps," and many articles for the press, the magazines, and the service journals. In the cruise of the battle fleet around the world, by special authority of the Secretary of the Navy, he acted as special correspondant for the " New York Times" and the " London Daily Mail." He certainly was Byron Williams' son. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid Bits to be continued in part 13. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 18:25:29 -0500 From: "Ohio Archives EV1" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <07d401c53648$ed97f030$0300a8c0@margaret> Subject: Fw: Tid Bits - part 13 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darlene & Kathi kelley" To: Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 3:04 PM Subject: Tid Bits - part 13 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E, Kelley Feb.27, 2005 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West Know Your Ohio by Darlene E, Kelley Tid Bits - part 13. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sugar Camps Whether it be to taste a harvest feast, to pick the lucious berry, to find the nuts of autumn, to drive the prowling fox, or to gather the blossoms of May, there was no blither time for people who seek a closer walk with nature, then when they share in the charms of the old-fashioned sugar camps, once common and now forever rare. When the white man came, the huger maples here and there bore the scars of mangling tomahawks; and heaps of ashes and charcol, more lasting than the logs from which they came, show that the Indians knew where and how to get the sticky sweet that he mixed with bear grease and thickened with parched corn to eat with venison, which does not seem so very bad, if the venison were real. In a pioneer's home, sugar was not until made by himself. The machinery positively required was an ax, auger, and kettle. More might be handy, such as a gimlet for making spiles and more kettles to hurry the boiling. If the auger failed, the more dextrous could make a flat spile for an ax-cut channel, which badly marred a tree. It was also well to have an adz to dig out troughs from solid blocks. Still, in extreme necessity, the axe sufficed. Next to the rifle, it was the pioneer's choicest possession. On rainy days and during the long winter evenings, spiles were made, and troughs that were to last a lifetime were shaped and scooped and smoothed and soaked free from acid or bitter taste. Another trunk large enough for a war canoe was dug out for a reservoir and placed near the kettles, hung in a row by logs, or set in a furnace that climbed a hillside to a chimney of " cat and clay " that finished the end of a log house open to the south and covered with long boards of riven oak. When disappearing snows, relenting frosts and brighter skies were the welcome harbingers of spring, and while the chattering crow, the jabbering jay and the babbling blackbird met in many conventions to proclaim the good times coming, the sire, expert in needed lore, went forth " to tap the camp. " Troughs were brought on sleds to the trees, where others came to fit the spiles and fix the vessels to catch the trickling sap. Then, convenient trees felled across the brooks for footbridges, and wood was gathered from lightening blasted trunks that were dry and quick to burn. A little later the girls and smaller boys came racing with buckets to empty the troughs into a barrel reclining on a sled drawn by a pet of the stable along the banks or across the riffles of brooks, while the roguish rider performed antics on the horse's back. Then the inspector, mother came to give the final cleansing touches. On the " master sugar day, " the constant drops all but mingled in a stream as they stirred the pellucid, crystal store below with the dimples of a ceaseless smile. Ere long, the threatened waste required the " boiling down " to begin at once. The long night fires were kindled and, as the moon put on a golden glow, the reducing syrup was dipped from kettle to kettle steadily replenished from the gathering waters, until the trickling mass was ready to be cleared and sugared off; after which the solid cakes or crumbly harvest was borne in triumph to a guarded shelf in the sylvan home. And thus the sweet toil went on from day to day and night after night till even the saucy squirrels ceased to wonder at the fierce invasion of their antique domain. When the season was over, the reward was many gallons of syrup and many pounds of the most delicious sweet that regales the taste of man. Of all they did, nothing is more fragrant with mellow memories of pioneer gladness than maple sugar making. Chemical experts today state that the old time ways were all wrong and that maple sugar water must touch nothing but metal through every stage of the changing process. Such a product may be pure, but it is not more dainty nor joyful to the taste, for the sap of the tree and the heart of man remain the same. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Earliest of Homes It is indeed, a special task to truly tell the traits and trials of the first pioneers to come. Whoever recall the fireside talks of an ancient grandshire or his saintly dame, outworn in making others glad, who told tales they heard in sunny youth, from those who came when all the world was woods, have fine but fading scenes in what has become a legendary age. Even the free spirit of the doubting Thomas is abroad demanding to see and touch the print of nails. But the wounded hands and tortured side are gone from a mortal gaze. The pioneers are as extinct as their Shawnee opponants. Except for the memory of their virtues and the legacy of their achievemant, they are the people whose like will never be seen again. No pen can write the page to make them seem as they once they were. The homes they built, the tools they used, the dress they wore, the scenes they viewed, have so changed that scarcely aught remains but the words that told their thought and make their life akin to ours. If they could repeople the " old clearings " it is doubtful whether their surprise or our wonder would be greater. The rugged independence of some fell little short of indifference as they trusted to luck afoot and chanced any change with a rifle, a knife, and a hatchet. Others packed traps and ax on a horse or put their little all in a cart. The more fortunate loaded a wagon with spinning wheel and impliments from the farm left behind, while reluctant cattle and swine lengthened the march. All were guided by the " star " of hope. Yet, many a woman's heart must have faltered as the miles became many and the days grew weary before their selection was found. Much literary skill has been employed in describing the pioneer house, as if one was the pattern for all. Plainer statement may give a more truthful idea of the conditions than is obtained from the ornate rhetoric of those who have seen little but imagined much. The cabin was a log pen, square or nearly so, and high enough to stand erect, under a bark or brush roof, with the earth for a floor, until time and chance permitted the architect to improve the design. The logs were chopped and shaped at the ends to fit them closer and to lock them firmly in place. The next step was to cut out spaces for the door on the side and fireplace at the end, which often delayed by the hurry of life, that required planting in season, and game for food. The inmates often crept into such shelter through half-cut doorways, while the fire was kept outside. The same has occurred all over the woodland of America, and, where there was no wood for a cabin, the dugout on the hillside, or sod house on the prairie, has repeated the scene of home planting. Amid all the hurried work, one of the first objects was a better roof. This was made of what was called clapboards, which were frequently brought by, or made on the flatboats, by those who came down the river. The impliment used for riving or splitting such boards or shingles, was called a frow, which came next to the rifle and ax as an indispensable tool. With a frow and a drawing knife a skilled woodsman could cover and floor, and even weatherboard his house, and fix the staves for cooperage. The pioneer who practiced borrowing a frow was shiftless, for it was needed most of the time at home, and the man who could not use a frow was pitied. Notwithstanding the importance of this once familiar and still used tool, it is not one that is easily bought at the time. Even the word " Clapboard," which was a product of the frow, once universally used for roofing in the timbered regions of America, has lost meaning, [ which is not given in Webster's dictionary ]. The " hearts" or triangular pieces left from riving the clapboards, were used to " chink." or fill the cracks between the logs, and when they were neatly done, and plastered with clay, the walls were good, alike against summer heat and winter cold. Split sticks were built into a crib for the chimney, that was thickly daubed with clay to keep the fire in and the cold out. As soon as time could be found, puncheons were hewn for the floor, and leaves were piled against the outside walls as winter drew near. Skins soon had from the game around, were spread on the floor for beds. After awhile, a post with a fork was set at proper distance from the walls to hold poles or bars for the support of clapboards for an elevated bed. It was some years before bedcords were in common use. There can be little hearty belief for any adequate expression for their life of pathetic paucity-- we dare not call it poverty, for the pioneer were self-reliant and asked no favor that could not be gained through honest effort. Perhaps no small degree of their reputed health was due to the wide-open fireplace, that radiated warmth while it swept the room with constant ventilation. The fire had no encouragement from iron. Blocks of stone answered for the great brass andirons that came fifty years later and are now regarded as relics of middle age. The bodies of hickory saplings were sufficient for the functions of a poker and tongs, and a clapboard reduced to the shape of a paddle, served for a shovel. A nearby peg held the johnny-cake board, stained with dough and browned with fire. A few had, and all wanted, a dutch oven, a shallow, flat bottomed kettle to set over live coals on the hearth, while more coals were heaped on the dish like lid. A corn or wheaten loaf baked in this way had a special taste. The wooden bowl for mixing the bread from the meal, in a handy sack hung beneath a shelf that held a few plates and cups and a vessel for the precious salt. In a few days after the start of the cabin, venison and bear meat might be found hanging at the best places for drying. Blocks of wood served as seats, to be rolled to a home-made table or bench, which completed the furniture. The rifle rested within instant reach on pins, from which the powder horn and bullet pouch always swung when not in use. Other pegs held extra clothing, and bunches of herbs and roots gathered with care and to be used with faith. Until cranes could be fixed, the boiling and stewing was done in camp kettles hung over the fire by hooks and chains from the lug pole, that was built into and across the chimney. Meats were hung and turned before the fire, while the drip fell into a pan beneath, from which the roast was basted. The modern frying pan was unknown, and broiling was accomplished by placing the meat on the clean, hot coals. It is all but useless to tell the incredulous of the surpassing flavors of such cooking. Today it is somewhat imitated, but not attained with the flavor in the expensive grillrooms of modern age. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid Bits to be continued in part 14. -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V05 Issue #26 ******************************************