Ruth Freeman's Identity

......so far on " Camp Stories Not Suitable For Children" ...........   Milton R. Freeman is well known as the prosperous farmer who owned vast orchards including what is now the northern one third of Crowell Hilaka. Descendants of the neighboring farmer (in the middle third) have raised the suspicion that a couple of the children of a certain generation look a lot more like Mr. Freeman than their own illustrious ancestor. And it has only recently come to light that Mrs. Freeman's name was Ruth. According to her 1862 diary, Ruth was an extremly hardworking farm wife.

Today's installment:  Ruth's True Identity Revealed!

Not only was Ruth an Oviatt; she was one of the daughters of the land's previous owner - Nathaniel Oviatt. In my mind, this changes the whole perspective. It's not some bold adventurer, seeking his fortune, buying some land , and marrying a local girl to raise apples together. Now it's more like some guy comes along, finds out that the beautiful princess is heir to the kingdom, and marries her so that he can take over.

Well, OK. Maybe not that dramatic. Maybe Milton was a nice guy after all who just happened to fall in love with the daughter of a major landholder. I don't think they inherited - I think I have a deed upstairs showing that some money changed hands.

Not scandalous enough for you? In 1856, the owner of a large chunk of the middle (I'd guess from about Wonken Tonken up to the Adirondack Unit) was "R. Gargett". I showed this to Linda Fleming at the Richfield Historical Society, and she popped out with: "Oh yes - the Gargett's. They were part of that big murder story. - It was very famous. The last man to be hung in Summit County." To which I said, "They weren't murdered in camp, were they?" (You can see what my priorities are here.) She hastened to assure me that it was elsewhere in Richfield, and she isn't even sure how closely related these Gargetts are to those Gargetts. The Gargetts were the murderees, not the murderer. The murderer was, I believe, a doctor from Michigan named Hunter. He was was courting one of the Gargett daughters. When she soured on him, he couldn't handle it. But I will leave the details for someone else to google.

Lynn