Home of Jacob and Margaret Suiter 180 Years Ago
I would not have recognized this home built by my ancestors had it not been for Joann Loete of the Suiter Family Association. She had visited the house 18 years ago and had recently shared a photo of it as it appeared then. It had been altered greatly from the way it looked in 1925. Back then it did not have a stone front.I did not have an address but I watched for the house as we drove through town on Ohio Route 7. One description I'd read mentioned that it was behind a gas station. And so it was!
We pulled into a parking lot to take a picture of the house. A young woman came out to the mailbox and I asked her if this was the Jacob Suiter house. She said yes, and after I introduced myself as a descendent she offered to show me a book about the house. It was a 3-ring binder with some articles about the home's history.
I took a snapshot of a page showing a submission to the Ohio Historic Inventory that was made in 1976. It describes the house as "Built, 1824, by Jacob Suiter with logs hewn at site. Building stands with wooden pegs."The form shows that the house was owned by William Black, although since that time he sold it. The young woman whose parents now own the house told me that the local library has information about the house. When I checked there I found that the branch library in Ironton now has the books on Suiter family history.
It was exciting to find this house built by my father's great-great-grandfather! We also made an effort to find the Suiter Family Cemetery in Bradrick and were within walking distance of it when a rainstorm moved in. At that point we drove across the river to our hotel in Barboursville and reached our room just as thunder and lightening started. I was satisfied with having seen the house — thrilled actually!
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That was neat to find that house, so many were torn or fell down. To bad they didn't do all that stone work on the rear though.
ReplyDeletehow neat that you found it and got to get more info, too!
ReplyDeleteYes, that beautiful, beautiful pictures, beautiful house!
ReplyDeleteWow, that is exciting! How cool that you got to see the house and found out more information about the house and your family history.
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat place. I love old houses.
ReplyDeleteLinda casa! bj
ReplyDeleteWhen I was kid I lived in Chesapeake and my best friend lived in this house. I'd spend a lot of time in that house. I knew it was old and that it had to have history but, I never found out what. There was a story that it was a stop on the underground railroad. That there was a passage into the hills behind it. We found a kind of cave like thing that looked filled in but I don't know if that story is true but it's a really cool house.
ReplyDelete