a very full day...again!

...drove thru very beautiful country on a very pleasant warm and sunny day... The drive thru the Mennonite farmland was so pleasant...and easy...took country roads all the way to the southwaestern portion of Ohio into North Bend, Ohio...tiny town where Wm Henry Harrison is buried in Congress Green Cemetery...there are markers at the house where he lived and Benjamin Harrison was born,,,and about a 1/4 mile away is a huge obelisk monument attestin g to the site.. Across the narrow road is the tiny cemetery where he and many of the other family are buried...A man by the name of Symmes purchased a great pice of land for 67 cents per acre with the help of George Washinton..It was known as the Miami Purchase...Hence, in driving down from upper Ohio we drove directly thru Miami University of Ohio...which Wm Henry Harrison had attended!...The grave stones were decaying and scarcely decipherable..but there was a joint plot for the Symess nand Harrison family...since Symmes first and then the Harrisons owned the cemetery...and Symmes daughter married W. Henry Harrison!...It was awesome plodding over and around all the crumbling heaqdstones..but of course, reverential...I said "Thanks!'...and left...

Next was a drive down the same narrow road which should have taken about 15 minutes to the town of Point Pleasant, but took an hour since the road was closed for repair of a bridge and took us an hour to reach instead....It was necessary to drive over the border ninto Kentucky and back again to reach it...We arrived at the tiny one room downstairs...and one room up the ladder in which Ulysses S. Grant was born!..it was built in 1817,,,and the Grant's moved in in 1821...wer saw the room he was born in...and from which he moved when he was about 1 year old.....so..

We then drove to hid Boyhood Home where he lived from age 1 until he left to attend West Point! It was a small brick house in a small village among the adjacent farmland ..His father was a tanner, with the shop directly across the street...The church..the one room school house..the teacher..and his boyhood friends were all within a 2block area..very cozy.....He attended the 1st grade at the school...but then his father sent him to another more distant school where he thought the education better
...Evidently his father was reasonably well educated because when his mother had died he was sent off to live with a Todd family who were financially secure...The Todd son ultimately became a Governor of Ohio.. Grant's father evidently was also a shrewd merchant because in addition to his Tannery he provided Horse and wagon transportation for people as well as lumber...and nyoung Ulysses when he was about 15 became very proficient at handling the horses...which he enjoyed.. However, he hateed the "blood and guts" of the tannery and as a result didn't want to work in the tannery...and ncouldn't stand to see the raw carcasses pf the hides being prepared...so much so that he would only eat meat if it were so well done as to resemble leather! There were many boyhood friends in the area with the Bailey's up the street being one of them..That house is still moccupied being a Bed and Breakfast presently...a large colonial frame house...Their son was attending West Point...was not doing well...and didn't like the military and threatened to quit...which he did...The boy's mother confided her discontent with Jesse Grant (Ulysses father)...who then promptly arranged for Ulysses to try to gain admission,,,since it would be an excellent education...and free!...Ulysees had to be coerced and urged to attend...he really did not want to go..but he did!,...The boy who left West Point became a Doctor...went into the Civil war and was killed...His name was Bartlett Bailey...
Ulysses name originally was Hiram Ulysses...the name Ulysses was his nfather's choice and Hiram "came out of a hat"....He was aqlways called "Lyss"...and was eldest of 6 children..all of whom received good education...since his father required it!... His mother was relatively unemotional and reserved...did not condone bragging etc...and not easily rattled...she did not visit Ulysees in the White House...not impressed!.....The "rest of the story" will follow when we arrive in Galena, Illinois where he returned after leaving the Army!

It was a very full day!...We the drove to about 100 miles from Louisville, Kentucky....
Talk to you later..