Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1932-08-25
Captain Irven Travis Locates
r. S. DeIlenbaugh

In the issue of the Democrat, Of
Aug. 4, was published an article of
much interest, which was taken
from the magazine section of the
Pittsburgh Press, concerning F. S.
Dellenbaugh who, the article stated.
was born in McConnelsville, O. AS
is our custom when we learn of 4
family or person who was connect
ed with the earlier history of Nc
Connelsville, We referred the mat
ter to Captain Irven Travis, to
learn who this Mr.. Dellenbaugh was
For once we seemed to have Mr..
Travis stumped-only for few
days however. He wrote to the pa
per in which the article appeared,
and in doing so learned that the
man referred to resides in New
York. Writing direct to him, Mr..
Travis very promptly received re-
ply, which follows:
Cragsmoor, N. Y,
August Is, 1892.
captain lrV6H travis,
McConnelsville, O.
Mr.. Dear Captain Travis Yours
is the first letter I have ever re-
ceived from a resident of McCon-
ago the 18th of September.
| was greatly pleased and inter
ested to get your letter. Naturally
McConnelsville has always had an
interest for me, and often / have
thought of dropping in there to SEE
what it looks like now. OF course
it is quite different from what j.
was 70 years ago.
Probably the reason you have
been unable to trace any Dellen-
baugh as a resident at any time, Is
that my father lived there very
short time. / do not know exactly
how long, because l never thought
to ask, but I was less than year
old when he took his departure.
The way of it was this: At some
time not long before l was born,
my father bought a very fine home
in McConnelsville right on the bank
of the Muskingum. He got it at a
great bargain, and he wondered
why. The lawn ran down to the
river brink.
The following spring one night
he heard a roaring noise; investi-
eating, it seemed to come from the
"a on1-
lar. Waterfalls were tumbling in at
every window. There was strip
of land at the back of the house
that was dry, and by this the FAM
lily got out. / never thought to Sc
cure the details of what followed,
but at any rate he was so disgusted
that he sold out and moved up to
Georgetown, Columbiana county,
near where my grandfather had
settled in 1824-27. From there al
ter a few years he moved to Buffalo.
where he lived the rest of his life
and where l was reared.
| should think there would be
some record of the purchase and
SAFE, III Tic COuhIy WIN . CiiNN1
and of my birth, although at that
time records were not very well
kept, and there were many births
and land transactions that went un-
recorded.
Sometimes I have wondered what
I would do if / should ever be call
ed upon for a birth certificate
That call is not likely to come now,
of course, but if it did | should be
in predicament unless there is a
record in McConnelsyille court
house.
When we are young we do no.
think much about the early family
history, and SO it is that | have so
little about my fathers life at Me-
Connelsville.
When | was born you were only
about six years of age, so yod
would hardly have any remem-
brance of the citizens of that date.
But your father might have had
some knowledge of my father. 1t is
not likely, however, as my fathers
sojourn there was SO brief.
l should be glad to hear from you
again at your convenience, telling
me something about your town when
you were a boy. With regards,
Sincerely yours, Frederick s. Del
lenbaugh.
upon getting the letter, Mr..
Travis set himself to learn where
the brick house referred to was To-
Gated, and going to the recorders
office and tracing the records, he
found it to be the property now
owned by F. w. Cochran, adjoining
the Cochran Bros. cigar factory
building. He learned that on April
A, 1853, Nicolas Springer sold it to
Samuel Dellenbaugh for $4,000, and
that on May IL, 1854, Dellenbaugh
sold it to John r. Bozman, sr., for
S2,1OO. Mr.. Travis is going to fo"-
ward this information to Mr.. Dellen-
baugh, hoping that he may learn
more of this man, apparently a per-
son of considerable prominence
Editor).