Over 220 years of my family heritage in The Mad River Valley
Over 220 years ago, my ancestors, who were French trappers, arrived in what is now Bellefontaine, Ohio. Back in 2009, my wife Jenny and I paid a visit to the Bellefontaine Historical Society, where we were met by two librarians who spent about 4 hours with us reviewing records dating back to the 1760s. My grandfather and my great-grandfather, Roy Lane, originally lived on Mad River Street in Bellefontaine and worked in the Iron Works, so-called “Iron City.” Back in 1780, the land in what is now western central Ohio was known as the Upper Mad River towns. Shawnee villages existed, including Wapatomica, which is now present-day Zanesfield. Zanesfield is named after Isaac Zane, a frontiersman captured by the Wyandot Indians as a child and who later married the daughter of the Wyandot chief.
Isaac, who was captured in 1763, later became a key interpreter for the Wyandot Indians during many treaty negotiations. Isaac was known as “The White Eagle of the Wyandots.” Isaac Zane was my great x8-grandfather, according to the Ohio Historical Society and the LCHC Logan County History Center.
When I finally left the Bellefontaine Historical Society with Jenny, my head was reeling because I somehow ended up in Central Ohio all the way from the Hawaiian Islands! My grandfather hitchhiked across the US from Bellefontaine, joined the US Army before WW2 in San Francisco, and was then stationed in Hawaii, and that's how my lineage reached so far out of bounds. It was sheer irony that I ended up in Logan County. I was just as dumbfounded as everyone else in our family at the time. Now I live about 10 minutes south off of Route 68, just 8 minutes South of Bellefontaine —pretty crazy stuff. Since 2009, I have met many older locals from West Liberty and Bellefontaine who remember my great-grandfather's family, and it always fascinates me how I ended up here on a lark.
I finally met my great-uncle from Bellefontaine in Colorado while on a fly-fishing trip before 2009, and much to my surprise, my grandfather and his brother fished the Mad River quite a bit as young boys. So the Mad River has some rooted relevance in my family tree, and now so do my bamboo rods.
Thank you for letting me share ~Clint Bova. www.cjbovarods.com
