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Note: These notes were supplied by J.Denise Wilkinson to Genealogy The account we have says," Through a checkered life did this little pioneer woman pass, for diminutive size did not prevent the possession of a spirit fit to accompany a soldier." Again quoting from early records," Such a miniature mechanism of the essence of energy as was found in the widowed Hannah Garrison would not long go a begging for admirers, and in 1816 she married David English, who came from England to New Jersey,; and whom in some mysterious way she persuaded to set out for the new Eldorado near North Bens, as it was much known to Jersey-men because of the residence of John Cleves Symmes, himself a Jersey-man. So they rigged up the usual canvas-topped two-horse wagon in early 1818 and set out upon their journey, over mountain summits and through passes made by romantic rivers. Four wagon loads of friends and relatives accompanied them as far as the noon camp where they had a picnic. The parting afterwards showed much sorrow at seeing the little lady and her jolly husband going into the far west, perhaps never to return and seldom to be heard from; for in those days a letter cost a bright , clear Spanish quarter for mailing and was often lost along the way. Jolliness was the one prominent feature of Mr. English's Character. They did not travel alone, for one other wagon occupied by the Ewing family came at the same time. When they reached Philadelphia the first hotel where they applied for room was full, so they had to go further. Before morning the first hotel where they applied for a room , and the stable had burned to the ground, and very little was saved. So one might say, "The good Lord was watching after them." The travel was not hard in the sandy soil of New Jersey, but when they reached the clay of Pennsylvania, and it turned to clay, and the rain increased, they doubled teams to pull out of the mud and to drag the wagons up the steep hills many times a day, thus making an unusual delayed trip to Pittsburgh. At Pittsburgh the common mode of traveling the rest of the way was adopted. They purchased a "Flat Boat"and stowed everything aboard it. It was no trouble to pass time with Mr. English's inexhaustible fund of jokes while manning the Sweeps to clear an eddy or to keep off shore. At night he tied up ; several times near Negro quarters on the Virginia shore where he invited the hands aboard with Fiddle and plantation dance, and they were all as happy as Larks. On the last day of May 1818 they first set eyes upon the little town developed out of the frontier, Fort Washington. Mr. English found a half brother on Broadway, where the family stayed while he went on a prospecting tour of Green Township. He observed the abundance of magnificent poplars and learned that no appliance better than a "Whip-Saw" was used to work it up. He then bought a quarter section and built a treadmill to proper use of a saw, using a span of oxen as the motive power. After a lingering illness Mr. English died 9 January 1825 and Hannah (Cleaver) Garrison English was again a widow. After a time a Joseph Sexton who had come from New Jersey, and settled a tract of land , lost his wife and having five children to look after , asked widow English to bring her son Isaac and to keep house for him. Quoting the record,"Not many weeks elapsed until he became aware that a harvest needed to be gathered and our heroine again found a loving home with an estimable and thrifty husband. In 1838 Mr. & Mrs. Sexton traveled to New Jersey, and back with a spring vehicle. During their Ohio, life the Sextons were "Primitive Baptists" and attended meetings at Burlington near Coltrain Pike. Mr Sexton became ill and died 13 April 1864 and Mrs. Sexton died three days later. They were both buried in Ebenezer Cemetery, Mack,Ohio,
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