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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 18: Road Trip: Amos Gorrell’s Move From Ohio to Missouri

This is my second year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

His parents did not approve of the marriage.

Amos Gorrell, Jr. married the former Catherine Elizabeth (Shotts) Sayre on 6 February 1866.[1] They secretly traveled into Chillicothe (Ross County, Ohio), were married by the Methodist-Episcopal minister, Rev. Mr. Creighton, and then returned to their respective homes without telling anyone.[2]

The reason is unknown. Perhaps it was because she was a Civil War widow with a six-year-old boy. The Shotts family lived in the same vicinity. Amos’ brother, Joseph married Catherine’s sister, Eliza Shotts two months later.[3] So the reason was unlikely that the Gorrell family did not care for the Shotts family.

Anyway, by the end of the month, they decided to go to Missouri.[4]

In his diary, he gave details about their journey. They left their homes in Huntington Township of Ross County south toward Waverly by wagon. There they got a boat to Portsmouth by going down the Ohio & Erie Canal. This canal was very important as it connected the Ohio River to Lake Erie at Cleveland.

typical canal boat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_Ohio_Canals

Beginning of the trip to Portsmouth, then on to Cincinnati
http://my.ohio.voyager.net/~lstevens/canal/canalmap.html

Once in Portsmouth, they traveled on the Ohio River to Cincinnati, however, they could not get another boat to St. Louis as planned. Instead, they took a train on the Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad to East St. Louis and then traveled across the Mississippi River to St. Louis.

Cincinnati to St. Louis on the Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh,_Cincinnati,_Chicago_and_St._Louis_Railroad
After spending the night in St. Louis, they took a Pacific Railroad train to California, Missouri. From there they continued to Tipton, where it took a couple of weeks to find a place to live.

St. Louis to Tipton, Missouri via California, Missouri
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Atlantic_%26_Pacific_Railroad_Map.jpg

Amos and Catherine had a long life together, raising six children plus her son from the previous marriage. They are both buried in Old Lamine Cemetery in Blackwater, Cooper County, Missouri.



[1] Ross County, Ohio, Marriages, v. I, p. 63, Amos Gorrell to Catherine E Sayer, 1866, FHL film 281641.
[2] Amos Gorrell, “Diary of Amos Gorrell, Jr, January 1, 1866-August 23, 1866,” entry Feb 6th 1866.
[3] Ross County, Ohio, Marriages, v. I, p. 77, Joseph W Gorrell to Eliza Alice Shotts, 1866, FHL film 281641.
[4] Amos Gorrell, “Diary of Amos Gorrell, Jr, January 1, 1866-August 23, 1866,” entry Feb 26th 1866.

Copyright © 2019 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.

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