I'm not sure I'll ever know for sure, but the wharf at Wellsburg, West Virginia was a highly likely place where my ancestors got on a flat boat that brought them down the Ohio River.
My fourth great grandfather James McConnell, the ancestor for whom our family gained pre-Ohio-Statehood First Families of Ohio status, was one of them. This would have been the closest place to get on the mighty Ohio from his home in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
Friend Cox, my sixth great grandfather, was one of the early settlers of this part of Virginia when he came here and built a fort, Fort Cox, in 1771. The wharf likely brought his grandson and my fourth great grandfather, Isaac Newton Cox, down the river too.
The Downing, Gutridge, and Naylor families all could have gotten on the path that brought them to Southwest Ohio right here at this wharf.
I'm glad they did that. I'm glad my kids can still visit the place.
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