By: Cheryl Haminger

Cheryl Haminger — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 03:08:57 +0000

I have shown you the way to Lancaster, Ohio, founded in 1800 by Colonel Ebenezer Zane of Wheeling, Ohio. He was a “trail blazer, famous merchant, pioneer, and soldier.” The father-in-law of Issac Zane, Ebenezer’s brother, was Chief Tarhe, of the Wyandot tribe. It was the Wyandots that named the outcrop Standing Stone, now known as Mt. Pleasant. It was a landmark “known to the Indians, traders, explorers, and settlers” of the region. The Fairfield County Fairgrounds was founded in 1850 and is the oldest fair that has been in operation in Ohio. There were famous people from Lancaster, like John Sherman, who was a “US Senator, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of State, and founder of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act” (whose brother I’d rather not mention, General William T. Sherman, who did his best to “exterminate and relocate the Indigenous” natives and practically wiped out the American bison) and Thomas Ewing who was also a “US Senator, Secretary of the Treasury and was the organizer and first Secretary of the Interior.” There is also Buffington Island on the Ohio River where the only major battle of the Civil War in Ohio was fought. There are also reenactments of the battle. The island was the property of Joel Buffington who purchased a large amount of land which included the island. It was eventually sold after Joel passed in 1821 by his children. Before the Civil War, it became part of the Underground Railroad, as slaves passed into Ohio, making their way to Canada. If I remember reading correctly, Joel’s father was a Pennsylvania Quaker who brought supplies to the Patriots during the Revolutionary War, knowing if he had been caught by the British, he would have been hung for treason. There is a good chance the Buffington’s were my ancestors on my mother’s side. My grandmother spoke about the Buffington’s and Buffington Island quite often. A couple historic locations, not as iconic as those in Europe, but with some history.

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By: Cheryl Haminger