Worthington Bicentennial: Interesting Stories from the Trail

Interesting Stories from the Trail

Three people will ride the wagon train for the entire 24 days. They are: Norma Marquardt of Worthington, Celeste Schnabel of Columbus and Dorothy Richmond of London, Ohio.
A Worthington, Ohio, schoolteacher Tom Strous will be walking the entire route. Tom has extensive knowledge about life in the early 1800s and will be dressed in period clothing. Tom developed a living history exhibit for children and adults to experience pioneer living during Worthington’s Founders Day Celebration in October 2002, the kick off to the community’s year-long celebration of its bicentennial.
William Chapman from Freeport, Ohio, will be riding his horse the entire trip.
Kim Ostrander and Dan Crum, from Cincinnati, plan to exchange wedding vows on the wagon train on June 21. “We planned on running away to Gatlinburg, Tenn., just the two of us,” Kim said. “What other couple can say they got married celebrating Ohio’s Bicentennial, and do it in this way?”
Equine massage therapist, Becky Brandenburd, will provide mule massages.
Clifford Collins, a Bethesda, Ohio farmer, was named State Grandfather of the Year by the Future Career & Community Leaders of America and is joining the wagon train with his own wagon and Belgian horse team. He'll share his strong pioneer spirit and numerous local stories during his three-day trek through Belmont County.
The Wagon Train will pass just below the house of Leonard and Donna Thompson, at 63833 Larrick Ridge Road, Cambridge, Ohio, just off of the National Road. They will be riding the wagon train because Leonard's Great, great, great grandfather Levi Williams was with Ebenezer Zane when he along with his brother Jonathan, John McIntire, Joseph Worley and an Indian named Tomepomihala cleared Zane's Trace through Guernsey County. He was born in Winchester, Va. in 1777 and came to Belmont County and settled at Stillwater. He made the first clearing in Wills Twp. and built a cabin near the location of the present Colonial Inn at Old Washington, Ohio. The Leonards will have with them their Grandson Jordan Thompson who is the great, great, great, great, great grandson of Levi. Also, Patti Hofius will be with them. She is the great, great, great, great granddaughter of Levi.
Two descendents from James Kilbourne will be participating in the Wagon Train. Colonel Kilbourne was the founder of Worthington who led a group of 100 people from the Farmington River Valley of Connecticut and Massachusetts to Worthington in October 1803. On the trip will be Rev. Mark Kilbourne Jeffrey Robinson from Stonington, CT, and his brother, Jeff Robinson from Portsmouth, VA, and their families will be on the Wagon Train on July 3, 4 and 5.
Ohio Governor Robert Taft and First Lady Hope Taft will be leading the Wagon Train in the Worthington Bicentennial Parade on July 5. The parade beings at 10:03 a.m. on High Street (Rt. 23) at North Street. The starting time of the parade is in honor of the founding of the city in October 2003 (10/03).
John Fenton, mayor of Zanesville, Ohio, will be riding on the Wagon Train on June 29.
June White, a Worthington elementary school teacher, was the first to register for the Wagon Train. She is going on the trip for 15 days, from June 21 to July 5.
Mary and James Finney, who have been residents of Worthington, Ohio, since 1958 and celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary at the start of Worthington’s bicentennial celebration on October 19, 2002, will be riding on the Wagon Train on July 5.
The Wagon Train is a national and international event, attracting riders from 20 states outside of Ohio and four countries. Riders are coming from Hong Kong, China, Finland, Sweden, and France. Participants from the following states are represented: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Virginia.
A family of seven persons from Beavercreek, Ohio, is participating on the Wagon Train. Sam and Linda Williams and their five children, ranging in age from 7 to 12, will be riding on the wagon train on July 11.
Dr. George Harding, who is a descendent of President Warren Haring and was medical director of Harding Psychiatric Hospital in Worthington for many years, and his family will be participating in the Wagon Train on July 3-5. Dr. Harding will have medical instruments from the period and share information about life as a pioneer doctor while on the trip.
Sylvia Miller, who co-authored an audio tape on the National Road, A Ride Through Time, will be on the Wagon Train on June 30, July 1, July 6, July 7, July 8, July 11, July 12, July 13 and July 14. She will share information about the road and sing songs of the period.
Many of the riders on the Wagon Train will be grandparents and their grandchildren.
Ethan Oberst, from Finley, Ohio, will be leading the Wagon Train on July 12 and 13 with his oxen. The 12-year-old, sixth grader has raised two oxen as a 4-H project.
A mother and daughter from Thornville, Ohio, will participate in the Wagon Train in a unique way. Kim Meadows will ride in a wagon and her daughter Blake will accompany her on her horse when they ride in the Wagon Train on July 2, 3 and 4.
The oldest rider in the Wagon Train is Eleanor George, age 91, who will ride the Wagon Train on July 6 with her daughter Betty George. Steve George is the executive director of the Ohio Bicentennial Commission, a co-sponsor of the Wagon Train event.
The youngest rider is Noah Michael Silliman, born on May 19. He is the son of Jeff and Jennifer Silliman of Worthington, Ohio. Jennifer’s father is John Butterfield who is the chairman of Worthington’s Bicentennial Wagon Train Committee, a co-sponsor of the event. The Silliman and Butterfield families will have the widest range of ages of a family represented on the trip. Accompanying John and Mary Butterfield on the Wagon Train on July 6 will be John’s mother, Dorothy, age 90.

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