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Cache adopted by mr. bloodhound on 11/8/08
Jaybird is listed as only a historical location in Adams County now, but once was a thriving town that had births, marriages and deaths recorded amongst the town folk that populated the place in earlier days…
Peach Mountain, the highest summit in Adams County is located here, rising 1260 feet above sea level… Originally named by the Shawnee Indians that once hunted the area, Jaybird grew as a community due to it’s location along a water source- Brush Creek… Jaybird saw it’s population increase into the turn of the century as the railroad had a nearby station at Mineral Springs…
Today, Jaybird is one of the many ghost towns of America…
Back in the day, one of the pioneering families that took up roots here were the Smalleys…
Smalleys have a Mayflower Connection and can trace their roots back to the original Plymouth Colony... John Smalley, of Devonshire, England, was born in 1615...He was a member of the passenger list which came with Edward Winslow aboard the "William and Francis", sailing from London, England, in March, 1632, and arriving at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in June the same year (New England Historical Register, Volume 14).
John married Ann Walden on November 29, 1638, at Plymouth, Mass... In 1643, his name appeared in a list to bear arms in Plymouth Colony... In April 1644, he moved to Nausett, now Eastham, where he was appointed in 1647, to the office of Constable... He was appointed as Surveyor of Highways in 1649 and several times was in charge of the "Grand Inquest" between 1654 and 1667 (Plymouth Colony Records)... Later, he moved to Piscataway, Middlesex County, New Jersey, being among the pioneer freeholders of this New Jersey settlement... He was elected Magistrate in August, 1673 (New Jersey Archives, First Series).
John and Ann (Walden) Smalley had four children: Hannah and John, born at Plymouth, Mass.; and Isaac and Mary (twins), born at Eastham, Mass. (New England Historical and Genealogical Register).
Mary married the grandson of Mayflower voyager Stephen Hopkins who sailed with his daughter Constance in 1620...Constance married Nicholas Snow... It was her son, Nicholas the second that Mary wed in Plymouth in 1647...
Issac's son Andrew was the generation that came to Adams County...Andrew was born November 29, 1744, in Loudon County, Va. (family bible records)... Andrew was a large land holder in Virginia, but sold the land in 1797 and moved to Kentucky (Loudon and Hampshire County Records)... In April, 1798, Andrew and his wife Nancy sold their household goods and chattels to a Benjamin Bledsole and moved to Adams County, Ohio, where they settled between Rome and Portsmouth, near the Ohio River... After a brief stay at that location,they moved in 1800 to where they had built new homes on the Northfork of Scioto Brush Creek, where the community of Jaybird is now located... Here
they cleared land to make the first tillable farm in that area... Andrew and Nancy purchased this land of 700 acres on November 2, 1807, from Nathaniel Massie (Index to Deeds, Book 1, Adams County, Ohio) who was a founding father of Adams County in 1797...
Each of the children of Andrew had large families so the family made homesteads across Peach Mountain and over toward Mineral Springs near where the train station was built... One of Andrews's sons cut the first road around Peach Mountain... Smalleys have served in public office and owned successful businesses...
The Smalleys came, cleared the land, built homes and churches and schools, and still live and serve the area today...The family name has made its mark in the historical record books many times throughout the years…
Smalleys were listed in Revolutionary and Civil War Pension Records… Smalleys have been successful farmers, business folk and community leaders throughout history... Their family name still thrives in the local area today…
In researching the Smalley family, the most interesting story was about the early days in Adams County when an indian attack reportedly saw a red headed Smalley child scalped and the hair used as shoe laces for indian moccasins…
Jaybird, Ohio became a stop on the pike that was built as part of the early north-south roadway constructed before the railroad days... The pike went through the Smalley farm… It connected to the south of Jaybird near Harshaville where a covered bridge which was part of the new highway crossed Brush Creek… The covered bridge there still stands today…
Buried at Jaybird Cemetery is a large delegation of the Smalley Family… Come visit their family grave sites and find the cache…
Cache is a camouflaged large pill bottle with a log book… Bring a pen and your imagination and think about how family roots can sometimes be traced back to the original colonists who took a sea adventure to an unknown land back in 1620... It had to be tough to tame this once wilderness and shape it into what America has become today!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Srapryvar. Qrnq gerr.