If you read my column on even a semi-regular basis you know that frequently research for one column leads me to something different, yet related, to write about in upcoming issues. Last week, the statement that Nessly Chapel was the “first Methodist Protestant Church in…
I started practicing law in Hancock County close to fifty years ago. Alright, forty-seven years ago in 1974, to be exact. Most of the time, in that first year or two, I never travelled further from my Weirton office than the Courthouses in New Cumberland…
So why does anyone care that there are Monuments to a Confederate General on the Capitol Grounds in Charleston or in front of the Harrison County Courthouse?Well, replace those monuments with a Nativity Scene at Christmas or a Cross at Easter and it will likely…
Last week I struggled a bit with my column, writing it, relating it to the present and just in general as to its meaning to us in Hancock County, West Virginia. I did a good amount of research because I found the topic interesting. As…
My children are grown. But I remember in 1999 travelling to and from a soccer tournament at Miami University of Ohio with my middle son, Stephen. On Sunday afternoon we stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Zanesville for a late lunch. Where we parked I…
We are now almost three weeks into 2021. I, for one, am glad to put 2020 behind me. Personally, the year just passed, like all years, had some high points. But looking back, based on the events which happened both regionally and nationally it is…
Last week was pretty exciting. I don’t know that the counting of electoral votes has been so contentious since Bush-Gore in 2000, and before that Hayes-Tilden in 1876. In the 1876 election President Ulysses S. Grant was expected to seek a third term. He defied…
So who was Patrick Gass anyhow?Mr. Gass was born in 1771 in Falling Spring, Pennsylvania. That town is now part of Chambersburg. That much is clear, however, much of the rest of his life, other than his military service and the Voyage of Discovery period,…
About twenty-five years ago a friend gave me a book as a gift. It was a history book. Not unusual, while I do read works of fiction, I read more historical materials than any other kind. Frequently, I may be reading as many as four…