By: Stan Jordan
Now before you plant a bomb in my 1999 Dodge pickup, please read all of this chatter.
The Ohio Buckeye football team last August and was rated second, third and fourth in the nation to start the season. I think a lot of that came from ESPN and the commission to select the Big Four for the championship game. And the Buckeyes had a very good team in 2013, 14 and 15. But eight of those good players were picked by the NFL and I think rightfully so. But those men left some big holes in both the offensive and defensive lines.
I think the Buckeyes were a little over rated from the start.
Now they did play a good first game with Oklahoma, but then the Sooners got better as the season went on.
The Buckeyes played a few games and they just got by by the skin of their teeth even in overtime. They just got by the Indiana Hoosiers luckily and the Hoosiers haven’t beaten the Bucks for generations.
I remember the one analyst on T.V. saying, “I don’t understand it, Ohio used to score every time they had the ball.”
They didn’t look too good when they played Michigan State, but they dID a good job against the Wolverines, thank goodness.
They had Penn State beat until the player blocked that punt and ran the ball in for a score and then no more time.
The Ohio State Buckeyes did play some good ball, but I think they were over rated all season. They were not the same calibre as Alabama, Clemson and Washington.
Clemson had a better team on the field that day. That defeat was the first time that an Urban Meyer team got skunked!
Yes, I know they only lost two games, but lots of times they didn’t look like the Buckeyes.
Yes, they lost to the eventual National Championships, but we still feel badly about it.
I guess the Buckeyes played so good for so long we forgOt that they too have to have some building years.
I shall spend all summer looking forward to a good season and I’m sure those Buckeyes are also. We all hope so.
Maybe this new offensive coach is what we need.
See ya!
A.J. SMITH – A PIONEER
By: Stan Jordan
In some of my reference books I run into the name of A.J. Smith once in a while, so I thought I would write down what I know about him.
The first township election in Carryall Township was held in 1830, in a log cabin at the north end of what is now Main Street. A.J. Smith was one of the voters and he was only fourteen years old at the time.
The records show that A.J. Smith was born March 3rd, 1816 in New York State.
A.J. Smith was one of the earliest pioneers of Carryall Township, he was appointed the first sheriff of Paulding County and serving during the first term of courts held at New Rochester. He was the father of Frank, John and William Smith and Mrs. Warney Rhumbaugh and Mrs. A. Derck. I knew both of those ladies.
The book “Historical Atlas of Paulding County in 1892” does not give exactly the same information I have, but close.
See ya!
Sam Rivers Indian Agent Chapter 18: Sam Rivers Meets the New Tribe
By: Stan Jordan
It is the middle of October 1852, along with the chilly nights and nice, warm days. I was inside of our house and Callie came up close to me, and I pulled up extra close and I said, “Callie, I love you, I love you, I love you!”
She said, “Sam, I know you do, and I love you, too!”
I said, “Callie, I’ve been from Mississippi to California and I’ve crossed this big country seven times, and you are the best thing that ever happened to me. I love you, I love you!!”
“Sam,” she said, “I know, I feel the same way! I just can’t tell you, how much I love you.”
“Callie, you left your friends and came with me, and we have such a good life together, but you are such a good help to me.”
Callie said, “I feel the same way, you can see what a difference we have made with the natives. The idea is to help them lead a better life and learn our ways and we have surely done that.”
Oh, then we had another long kiss.
“You have been such a help in many ways; I am so happy with you Callie. Our house isn’t very big, but it is our home. How ‘bout one more kiss?”
She said, “How ‘bout a lot more kisses?”
Right then came a pounding on the door.
“Okay, I’m coming!” I said.
Moe answered and said, “Sam, there is a cloud of dust coming from the northeast.”
I said, “Moe, we will be right there!” And I told Callie, “We will continue this a little later.”
We all stood and watched the cloud of dust, but it was still over a mile away. I could have stayed another few minutes with Callie.
I said, “Moe, why don’t you get the little stove and make a pot of coffee.”
Of course, he did that and brought out a few cups also. We drank that pot and Moe made another, as the horsemen were still a distance away.
Well, the chatter ran high, about who it could be. It looked like about a half a dozen riders. As they approached, you could see there was six of them, all natives—no arms, just bows and arrows, all on their backs. They stopped a short distance away, and gave the peace sign. We gave the peace sign back, and I waved them to come closer. We looked each other over, and Moe went into the store and brought our totem. When their leader, looked our totem over, he broke out into a frenzy of Lakota dialect. The rest of the natives grinned and nodded and said, “White Elk.” They recognized the Lakota beads and feathers. There was a lot of jabbering and each side could tell all was peaceful.
Moe brought out the peace pipe and fixed it up, and we passed it around to all, even the soldiers.
We sat around awhile and Callie called Moe into the house. He returned with more cups, cookies, and honey. He gave coffee to all the Indians and two cookies each, along with honey for their coffee. Indians like coffee, but almost all put honey in it.
Nearly everyone was talking to each other now, even the soldiers could understand some of it. Their chief, Soaring Eagle, of the Calamus River tribe, and their shaman, Rapid River, and Limping Buffalo, and his son Little Beaver, and I were in one group, and we talked a lot.
What they were interested in, was joining our Indian agency and getting help from the U.S. Government. So I called the Lieutenant of the engineers and Moe over and had them sit in and listen to all the proceedings, so when they went back to Fort Kearney, they would report all they heard and understood, because I don’t have the authority to promise them anything, but I would except the tribe into our agency, if General Kearney says to.
We all talked about a lot of items, and it was getting late in the afternoon, and the mess sergeant was still here. I told the natives to plan on the evening meal and they could go home tomorrow. Sarg made two kettles of soup. You could have stew with buffalo meat or stew with venison. Either way, there was a lot of both soups. Then he made sheet type of apple pie. We all put the pie in our empty soup bowls and ate it with our spoons.
The mess sergeant became a hero again. He shows off every once and awhile, and he is a really good cook. We all sat around the fire and talked about the big day.
See ya!
THE LATEST ON THE EAGLES
By: Stan Jordan
On Tuesday, January 24th, Bill McVay came into the office and told me that he had just been down watching the eagle’s nest and both eagles were at the site. He said he watched that area pretty regularly and he is satisfied that they are rebuilding that nest.
This is Friday morning, January 27th, and Bill Fish, one of the village employees here in Antwerp, stopped into the office and reported on our local eagles’ nest. He has seen them nearly everyday this past week. One of his jobs is to check out the park each day and he had some interesting tales to report. He sees those birds pretty regularly, but he never stops being amazed how big they are. Sometimes they are as close as 30 feet. He saw one return to the nest carrying a rabbit. I asked him, “Do you think the birds are rebuilding the nest?” and he replied, “Oh yes, I’m sure that it is wider and taller each day.”
Now this is Monday, January 30th, and I have a lot to report from talking to some of my readers since last Friday morning.
Jack DeLong called and reported that the eagles that have their nest out on CR 192, he sees them about every day.
My coworker, Crystal, said the best way to observe the eagles working on the nest is to take your field glasses and walk down the driveway at the east end of the park and look across the river at the nest.
To answer someone’s question, “Do the eagles migrate?” No, not all of them. I don’t know why, maybe it’s their background or they are satisfied with the weather. But I have read while the young don’t fly south at the same time as the older ones, but some how they know how to get there if they want to.
Roger Lilly was in on Friday and he reported a lot of new news. Roger has hundreds of pictures of the nest, the old and the new. He said he compared the pictures of the old nest and the new one and decided that they moved the new nest about 10 – 12 feet lower than the old nest, same tree but a little lower.
They must be satisfied with that area as I think the nest is already bigger than when they first built the other nest.
I thank all my readers for their information.
