Winfield's Farm - part 1

After lunch at Patty’s Place, we split into groups for our unplanned “Road Trip”. Tracey and sister Ruth and I started out for Seneca Township in NE Noble County, Ohio.

Before we get into the journey, let me explain the research that went into this trip. My grandmother Beulah Hopps Watson was always taking pictures and loved to have her picture taken. Thank you, grandma. Well, on one occasion she was visiting the farm of Winfield Watson. Winfield is the father of Roscoe, John, Ben and Rosa. John is grandfather to Tracey and Ruth. Roscoe and Beulah are my grandparents. While visiting in 1963, grandma Beulah took a picture overlooking Seneca Lake with her Brownie camera.

She wrote on the back of the pic:

This was clue number one.

My research took me to Platt maps produced for Noble County in 1876. These maps are organized by townships and include farm boundaries, acreage, and names. Using the Google Earth application I was able to overlay the 1876 map over today’s Seneca Township. The results were amazing. On the 1876 map was a plot of 40 acres with the name M. Watson (Winfield’s mother Mary) and the farm house overlayed perfectly with a house located in a remote area. This was clue number two.

Next, using Google Earths street view, I zoomed in on the location of the farm and climbed the hill above the house and found this view. Comparing the pic taken in 1963 on the left to the Google view shows an uncanny resemblance. This was clue number three.

I remember going with my father to visit a farm when I was very young. The dirt road to the farm was long and rough. When we got to the top the road hooked to the left and there was the house. But what I remember the most was drinking water from a mountain spring coming out of a hill next to the house. The water was ice cold and so good. I never forgot that experience. Years later my uncle Don Watson confirmed the existence of this farm off Mud Run road.

Grandma Beulah and Google Earth ROCK !

Look for part 2 of this story in the next blog. We set off in two cars in search of a farm that nobody named Watson has visited in nearly 60 years.