My family's lineage traces back to John Ferree, who was born on May 27 1761 in Strasburg, Pennsylvania and served as a private under Captain John Slaymaker's 7th Battalion during the American Revolution. His grandson, Richard Ferree, enlisted in the Union Army on July 27, 1861, and fought in the Civil War alongside his two brothers, John and George W.

In the Civil War battle of Chickamauga Creek on Sept. 19, 1863, John Ferree was killed, George W. Ferree was wounded, and Richard Ferree was taken prisoner. Richard would ultimately die of starvation at Andersonville prison on August 10, 1864. Richard's daughter, Almira Jane "Jennie" Ferree, is my great grandmother.

Jean Christian Iuen was born October 26, 1785 in the Tyrolean region of Austria. Christian, as he was known, arrived in New York on May 23, 1838 on the bark Dido with his second wife, his three sons, and his only daughter Ursala Iuen. He settled in Boston (now Owensville), Clermont County, Ohio and devoted his life to farming.

The Iuens were among the first settlers in Owensville, Ohio. Francis X. Iuen established a store and built a hotel, one of the first brick buildings in Owensville. Together with his brother Joseph, he owned a mill located in nearby Stonelick Township. Joseph Iuen would eventually own a farm, tavern, hostelry, and stables in Terrace Park, Ohio. John B. Iuen was the founder of the Milford National Bank (which is now part of Bank One), the Valley Enterprise newspaper, and the Terrace Park Country Club.

Ursala Iuen married John Peter Fetter. John P. Fetter operated a horse-drawn bus service between Fayetteville and Perintown, Ohio. His son, John Christian Fetter, opened a store in Owensville, Ohio where he sold farm implements, as well as a dry goods shop located across the street. John Christian's younger brother, Joseph Fetter, married Jennie Ferree. Joseph Fetter and Jennie Ferree are my great grandparents.

John Peter Craver was born September 8, 1801 in Trisch, Kingdom of Prussia. Peter married Sibile Elizabeth Zumbro. In the winter of 1839 Peter and Elizabeth Craver set sail for America with their four children. It was the spring of 1840 before they arrived in Baltimore, MD as they encountered several storms at sea.

Peter and Elizabeth Craver settled in Cincinnati, Ohio where they found a few brick houses and log cabins. Unhappy with the location, they moved to a farm in Stonelick Township where their youngest child, Jacob, was born.

Peter Craver was engaged in chopping wood and burning it into charcoal and shipping it to the Cincinnati market. The year 1849 saw Peter and Elizabeth the owners of a comfortable home in Boston (now Owensville), Clermont County, Ohio which they purchased from Henry Kline. Their son Jacob married Margaret Schmidt and on July 8, 1867 Rose Craver was born.

Rose Craver married Joseph Sebastian Brown, the son of Phillip Braun and Annamarie Seifert. Joseph was a successful banker who changed the family name from Braun to Brown to match its American pronunciation. Their oldesst son George Jacob Brown married Clara Edith Fetter the daughter of Joseph Fetter and Jennie Ferree.

George and Edith Brown are my maternal grandparents. They had four children; George Joseph Brown, Margaret Ellen "Peggy" Brown, Rita Jane Brown, and Donald Robert Brown. Joseph, died at the young age of 31. Donald, their youngest child, survived World War II after being critically wounded during The Battle of the Bulge. Their youngest daughter, Rita, married Robert Brandner.

Their oldest daughter, Margaret Ellen "Peggy" Brown, married Richard Tyrrell who was born March 30, 1917 in Canada and adopted by Charles Tyrrell and Julia Mitchel of Terrace Park, Cincinnati, Ohio. Dick Tyrrell served in the Merchant Marines during WWII. After the war, he worked at Autolite Manufacturing until he became part owner and the meat cutter at J & R Foods.

Peggy Brown and Richard Tyrrell are my parents. I have a younger sister, Donna Sue Tyrrell Juniet and a younger brother, James Mitchel. As adults we lived far apart raising our children in different states.

Jim married Ina Dorst who was the mother of his four children. Ina passed away in 1988 from Lupus and Jim remarried. He remained in Cincinati until the loss of his second wife Marilyn and failing health saw him move to Medford, Oregon to be with his youngest daughter, Angel. Donna married Robert Juniet and raised her three boys in Florida. Retirement found Donna and Bob living in Valdosta, Georgia.

Meanwhile, I married Arlene A. Hart of Massena, New York, while stationed at Plattsburgh Air Force Base in New York. My oldest son Robert was born in Plattsburgh. However, the end of my military service would see us moving to Lansdale, Pennsylvania where my youngest son Joseph was born.

  Have you ever wondered why our great grandparents and grandparents were so smart without going to high school or college? I actually never thought about it until I found this little gem and it made me realize just how far down the scale our education system has dropped.

I published this exam in my original autobiography and decided to keep it as part of History. I copied the exam word-for-word from the original 1895 Salina, Kansas 8th Grade Final Exam because I believed then, as I do now, that many people would struggle answering the first question on any subject.

Some terms have probably become extinct so I provided the following hints for Arithmetic; 1 bushel of wheat is 1 cubic foot and weighs 60 lbs. A rod is 198 inches. Most of us no longer write Checks, Promisary Notes, and Receipts but other questions under Arithmetic are a good exercise in taxes, interest, and discounts.

The entire list of questiions on learning Grammer are mostly ignored today and U.S. History is not even taught in many of our schools. Two "epochs" in our history, though, are close to me as my great, great, great, great grandfather Johm Ferree fought in the American Revolution and his grandson Richard Ferree fought and died in the Civil War.

Those who deny that Christopher Columbus discovered America because people already lived here is like denying the discovery of gravity or atoms because they already existed. However, Columbus did discover a new Continent between Europe and Asia and his discovery was a remarkable adventure into the unknown.

If you cannot answer the first questions under Geography it is probably the reason you are a candidate to believe that Climate Change is a brand new 21st century problem. And finally, I'll start you with twenty points if you have even heard of the study of "Orthography" .



  Moses Mendelssohn was the grandfather of the well-known German composer. Along with a rather short stature, he had a dreadful hunchback and was far from being handsome.

One day Moses visited a merchant in Hamburg who had a lovely daughter named Fromet. He fell hopelessly in love with her but Fromet was repulsed by his misshapen appearance. When it came time for him to leave, Moses gathered his courage and climbed the stairs to her room to take one last opportunity to speak with her. She was a vision of heavenly beauty, but caused him deep sadness by her refusal to look at him.

After several attempts at conversation, Moses shyly asked, "Do you believe marriages are made in heaven?" "Yes," she answered, still looking at the floor. "And do you?"

"Yes, I do," he replied. "You see, in heaven at the birth of each boy, the Lord announces which girl he will marry. When I was born, my future bride was pointed out to me and the Lord said, 'but your wife will be a hunchback.'"

"Right then and there I called out, 'Oh Lord, a hunchback woman would be a tragedy. Please Lord, give me the hump and let her be beautiful.'"

Then Fromet looked up into his eyes and was stirred by some deep memory. She reached out and gave Mendelssohn her hand and later became his devoted wife.