STEAM FEVER

He radioed Lewis Meachem as soon as he read the item of the
Chillicothe scuba diver who found the train in the gravel pit near
Columbus. The fellows had been getting calls from all over. He said
he would even take Larry and Louie up there if they wanted to go.
Wasn’t that a nice gesture?

About ten years ago, my mother’s cousin asked me if I knew
grandma’s grandmother was a grand-niece of Robert Fulton. That
sort of stuck with me and I started to investigate. The lineage was
in a book compiled for the last McKinnis reunion held in Ohio. A
few more reunions were held in the 1920s in Indiana. Larry thinks
this may bring you in some stories of steam men in the family, or
more particulars on the one mentioned in the book.

I had submitted some family sheets to the Ross County
Genealogical Society, for a book they published last year and as a
result, a member of the clan, living in Indiana, sent me a book of
the McKinnis-Carr lineage, for my very own. I am so happy over
that.

My grandson and I go to most steam shows with Larry. I
especially enjoy the old crafts, arts and exhibits. My mother still
goes occasionally and she is 86 years old.

Following is the article by Elizabeth entitled STEAM FEVER.

The woods of Beaver Creek, near Butler, in Butler County,
Pennsylvania, must have rung with the sound of axes, as the three
brothers felled a large pine tree. The year was 1802 the brothers
Robert, George and Charles. They were sons of Charles McKinnis,
born in 1722 in Scotland and at the age of 18, was impressed into
the British Army. He served under General Braddock and was wounded
in the defeat at Fort Duquesne. At age 50, he married Rachel Carr.
They lived at Butler, Pennsylvania and had nine children.

The trunk of the large pine tree was hewn out to fashion a very
commodious canoe. It has been said that the family flour barrel was
stowed crosswise in the stern. This canoe was floated down Beaver
Creek to the Allegheny River to Pittsburgh. Here the families and
possessions were loaded. Next, they entered the Ohio River to float
down to what we now know as Portsmouth, Ohio. Robert had left the
party at Pittsburgh and came overland to Chillicothe, Ohio. He then
went south to Portsmouth, where he met the rest of the family and
returned with them to Chillicothe. This was the hub of the
Northwest Territory, and the following year, 1803, Ohio became a
state with Chillicothe the first capital. One of the few military
posts of the territory was located here. The brothers made their
living by raising corn and other agricultural products to sell to
the soldiers garrisoned here. The brothers went over the
countryside, on hunting trips, providing wild game for the family
and to sell.

Family members suffered greatly from malaria and ague and
shortly moved to Coal Township, Jackson County, Ohio. The site was
selected on account of its proximity to the sulphur springs. The
cure of the entire family was attributed to the sulphur water.

At this time, the Indians still roamed in the area and the
resident bands took a fancy to one of the boys. Their mother became
alarmed and induced Charles to move back again to be near the
protection of the soldiers at Chillicothe. This they did and not
only raised stock and grain for the garrison, but engaged in the
river trade to New Orleans. They transported pork and grain by
flatboat down the Scioto, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

Later, Charles and Martha again took up residence at the old
homestead in Jackson County, making many improvement upon the farm.
(The house was destroyed by fire in 1897.) It was located on the
Byer-Coalton Pike.

Charles served as a pilot for the flatboats and this was the
cause of his death March 29, 1837. He died of injuries sustained
while ‘shooting the rapids’ at Louisville, Kentucky, the
most dangerous part of the trip to New Orleans. He lost his life,
due to service, but never lost a boat.

Charles’ wife was Martha Cramer, of Washington County,
Pennsylvania and a niece of Robert Fulton, the civil engineer.
Robert McKinnis married her sister, Elizabeth Cramer and in 1821
they went to Hancock County, Ohio where Robert became a judge.
George McKinnis and wife, Permelia Hinkle, lived and died in
Jackson County, Ohio.

There are still members of these families in Pennsylvania,
Indiana and Ohio, but they soon went west and no doubt are in every
state west of the Mississippi River. The ones who returned to Ohio,
exchanged their farms ‘out west’ with cousins leaving the
east and midwest. My grandmother and three brothers and sisters
were born in Wapello County, Iowa in the 1860s, but the family
returned to Jackson County, Ohio.

How many were involved with steam, I do not know. Here is an
excerpt from a booklet that was compiled for the last McKinnis
reunion at Electrical Park, Jackson, Ohio in 1914. ‘Henry
McKinnis and his three oldest sons, John, Henry and William, were
killed by a boiler explosion April 1, 1893. All are buried one mile
from Oakley, Lucas County, Iowa.’ Henry was the son of Henry
McKinnis and Margaret Times of Butler, Pennsylvania. He married
Elizabeth Gilchrist of Roundup, Montana.

My great, great grandmother was Rachel, the daughter of Charles
and Martha. My son, Larry Gilmore has inherited ‘Steam
Fever’ and has attended the conventions and shows from Ontario
to Florida, from South Carolina to Indiana and hopes to be in Mt.
Pleasant, Iowa this year. Larry has restored two engines for
himself, a 1907 Case 15-45 and a 1923 Advance Rumely 22 HP. Spread
out on a shop floor are parts of a Marion boom engine. He also
restored a 1929 Baker 25-50.

Parts taken from ‘Lineage of Charles McKinnis and Rachel
Carr 1722-1914’