GC1HG4H Ohio Spirit Quest #33 - The Lauber Hill Settlement (Multi-cache) in Ohio, United States created by TeamMina

This cache has been archived.

Keystone: As the owner has not responded to my prior note, I am archiving this cache page. Please note, cache pages that are archived by a Reviewer due to maintenance issues cannot be unarchived.

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Keystone
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GC1HG4H ▼

A cache by TeamMina Message this owner

Hidden : 11/2/2008

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

"Ohio Spirit Quest"

The Ohio Spirit Quest series of geocaches will take you to a number of historic cemeteries built by Buckeye Pioneers. This series is inspired by and a continuation of the Indiana Spirit Quest caches created by Six Dog Team. In just over three years, the SPIRIT QUEST has grown to over 550 caches, with the hiding teams growing as well. The Ohio Spirit Quest has begun to grown to over 30 in Ohio, with five current caching teams, three each with A Man and His Dog, one with a Couple and Their Dog... and one with A Woman and her Dog. Over 1,000 cachers have logged over 20,000 finds. One cache machine found 111 ISQ caches in a single day (daylight hours only).

Come with us now for a virtual tour of this old burial ground via this page, then go out and find the cache!

Lauber Hill Cemetery
Welcome to German Township, Fulton County
OHIO SPIRIT QUEST #33
"The Saga Of Lauber Hill"
The cemetery occupies land granted to G. Meister, B. Meister and A. Meister in I834. The Lauber Hill New Mennonite Church organization purchased one acre to be used for a church building and burial ground in 1865. It still provides regular Sunday services to this day.

On October 7, 1835 Christian Lauber filed a claim on lands his family had occupied for more than a year. The site area lies near the center of this plot on the west end of small sandy ridge known locally as Lauber Hill. The Lauber Hill ridge extends eastward across county road 21 to the sites of the Lauber Hill Church and Cemetery, which developed as part of the settlement.

In the spring of 1834 the Christian Lauber, Christian Rupp and Jacob Binder families traveled from near the Swiss-Alsace border to Harve France to immigrate to the United States. The three Amish families included 21 people and made the 17 day journey in three hired wagons. In early April, the families started the seven week passage to New York, arriving near the end of June. Continuing to travel by water, the families traveled up the Hudson River to Albany, over the Erie Canal to Buffalo, by ship to Cleveland and by the Ohio Canal to Fulton (now Canal Fulton). At Fulton, the families met with local Amish, but were not able to afford property in Wayne County.

While in Wayne County, they encountered three other Amish immigrant families, Jacob Kibler, George Meister, and John Van Gundy, all also unable to find land in eastern Ohio. The six families selected a “committee” to travel west seeking suitable lands; they were unsuccessful in Putnam and Defiance Counties of Ohio and in the area of Fort Wayne, Ind. In Defiance county, the committee encountered a resident of Fulton County who brought them to Lauber Hill; lands that were both suitable and affordable. Returning to Wayne County, five of the families (excluding the Rupp family) purchased oxen and wagon teams and set out overland for Lauber Hill. Peter Wyse, and his family, joined the group to act as interpreter. The group passed though Wooster, Ashland, Lower Sandusky (Fremont) and reached the Maumee Perrysburg.

Fording the Maumee, they continued upriver to Napoleon. Here the families diverged from the river and well traveled roads of the Maumee Valley. Cutting a wagon track north to Lauber Hill proved more difficult than anticipated. An eight man survey crew was sent out, but spent more time and effort than expected. The road initially ended up two miles off course before reaching Lauber Hill.

In Napoleon, family members who remained behind were affected by “fever and ague” (malaria) which was common in Northwest Ohio in the early 19th Century and seasonally, was at its worst in July. Nevertheless, the families left Napoleon and spent eleven days clearing a wagon path to Lauber Hill, arriving late in August, 1834. At Lauber Hill, sickness continued and only six men were fit to begin cabin construction. The remainder of the family stayed in the wagons or in temporary brush shelters erected at the site. The first cabin, a 24 x 24 ft. log structure was built on Christian Lauber’s land and other cabins were built, in turn, on parcels claimed by the other families. Jacob Binder, who was ill, remained with the Lauber family and the group constructed a cabin for Binder, his wife, son and two daughters. This cabin was described as “12 or 14 feet” with a partial puncheon floor and a surface fire and smoke hole ). After the first winter, the Binder family moved onto their own land.

The descendants of Christian Lauber still hold much of his original purchase. The first cabin site appears to have been occupied as late as 1846 when fugitive slaves sought help from Mrs. Lauber at her cabin, however by 1858 a road existed along the south edge of the property and the 1875 atlas indicates a house and orchard along the road. Today, a third house has been added to the farm complex, while the late 19th century residence was demolished.

A huge thanks to the www.saudervillage.org website and their "Archeological Archaeological Survey Of the Christian Lauber Cabin Site German Township, Fulton County Ohio", which most of this history is taken from.

This is a simple 3-stage multi-cache that will give you the opportunity to visit three Mennonite cemeteries, where many of the Lauber Hill area pioneers and descendants are at rest. The first and second stages will contain only the coordinates for the following stage.

Please take a moment or two at these locations to experience the history.

Congrats to GO RAIDERS! for the F.T.F.!

The cache container is a medium sized lock and lock. If you find a fallen US flag, please stick it back in the ground. As always, please be respectful, and cache in, trash out.

Placed by a member of:

"Ohio Spirit Quest" is brought to you by the following fellows of GEOOSQ*: The SixDogTeam, THE SHADOW, The Moop Along, -Eleanor-, TeamMina. If you are interested in spreading the Quest to your neck of the woods AND WOULD LIKE TO JOIN US, email The Moop Along with caching resume and at least 25 current notarized references.

*Grand Exalted Order of the Ohio Spirit Quest*

** THIS IS A GENUINE OHIO SPIRIT QUEST CACHE**

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Fgntr 1: Nobhg fubhyqre yriry, yrsg fvqr bs bcravat, unatvat ba oen apu. Fgntr 2: Fubhyqre yriry, unatvat ba oenapu, vafvqr n yvggyr. Fgntr 3: Dhvgr n ovg bss gur orngra cngu

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

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Ohio Spirit Quest #33 - The Lauber Hill Settlement Multi-Cache

This cache has been archived.

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