Immigration
and Migration Stories
"History of Lykens Township: A Bicentennial History, 1776-1976," W. Stucky,
Ed., Sponsored by The Lykens Conservation League Historical Committee, p.17.
Contributed by Jeanne Luhr (jlzlluhr@netscape.net).
"Another group of immigrants to Ohio also came by wagon
train from Pennsylvania and many of them settled in the Lykens Township area.
"In 1849, Phillip Ohl and his sons, Joshua, John, and
Abraham, went to Ohio on a scouting trip to locate land to settle on. They found
land available in Texas and Lykens Townships and purchased land for a number of
families, then returned to Pennsylvania.
"They spent the next year getting ready for the final trip to
Ohio. Other families threw in their lot with the Ohls and included among them
were the Bartholomews, the Frankenfields, Zellners, Dewalts and Klaisses.
Each family had their name painted on their Conestoga wagon. The wagon with the
name Klaiss is reported to be in a museum at Tiffin, Ohio.
"When everything was in readiness and the goodbyes said, the
long caravan carrying about 85 people started on the long journey to Ohio on or
close to the first of March, 1851.
"They went by way of Strasburg and Bedford in Pennsylvania
and on through Wheeling, West Virginia, into Ohio.
"At the end of six weeks they were near their destination.
The entire wagon train stopped off at a Myers homestead, located on what is now
state Route 100. From there they separated and went to their new homes."
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Michele Mills
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