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The Lyons Mirror Sept. 1, 1898 issue, Lyons, Nebraska
by Dr. David Collins Stinson
History of the Stinson and McElhinney Families -
I will take you back one hundred years, an even century, and start our history from that time. Those were in the days when our grandfathers were school boys and attended a little subscription school in Ireland. Me thinks they studied geography and one day the lesson was about America.
Robert McElhinney being somewhat older than the other boys, told them at noon that he intended going to that far off land in a few years. This created somewhat of an enthusiasm among them and he was regarded as a venturesome spirit as a trip like that was considered a great undertaking.
After learning all he could about America, he decided to locate in the northern part of the United States. We finally left Ireland on a sailing vessel and landed in America in 1801. He first settled in Chambersburg, Franklin county, Pennsylvania. Being a Weaver by trade he soon found employment and commenced saving part of his earnings. In 1805 he was married to Miss Sarah Bell of McConnellsburg, Pa., and moved on a farm. Nov. 2, 1807, they were blessed with a pair of twin boys, and they named them Thomas and Joseph. In 1809 Robert Gorden was born. On the 23rd of March, 1811 a daughter was born and was named Sarah. On March 4, 1815, another daughter was born and was named Jane. On April 12, 1822, a daughter was born and named Margaret.
Now the news reached them that Ohio was a fair and fertile State and they decided to emigrate to that State. In the spring of 1822 they started with a good team and wagon and took what household goods they could haul, and a couple of good cows and headed towards the West.
...Our Ancestor was always a great observer of the Sabbath, and he always claimed it paid to do so in a worldly point of view if not for spiritual benefit.
Their original intention was to locate in Western Ohio but while camping at Dalton a man having land to sell made them such a tempting offer that they closed the bargain at once and moved on the farm without delay. The house was built near a spring which was so strong it never ran dry and always contained a full supply of water, cold water.
We will now leave them to clear up their land, till the soil, and gradually grow in bodily vigor as well as in substantial wealth while we go back to Ireland for those that were left behind.
David Stinson and Samuel Bell were cousins and attended the same school and in 1811 married two sisters named Elizabeth and Isabelle McCaulley.
....The thought of emigrating to American had been rankling in the breast of David Stinson for some years and after his first three children were born, he finally broke loose from Ireland after finishing his term of service as a Corporal in the English Army and receiving an honorable discharge and boarding a sailing vessel they started for Baltimore. Samuel Bell and family were their travelling companions. The journey was a long and tedious one on account of storms and adverse winds. At Baltimore the women were left in the ship while the men went ot hunt a dwelling to move into.
...After staying a month in Baltimore they journeyed up into Pa. where they stayed until the following spring, 1820. Hearing of the wonderful cheapness and fertility of the land in Ohio, they concluded to move on westward.
...After four weeks of travel they finally arrived in the vicinity of Dalton, Ohio, and for a time the Stinson and Bell families all lived in one log shanty.
...As the McElhinney and Stinson families lived in the same community, attended the same church, and were both from the North of Ireland, they became very well acquainted.
keywords: Dalton, Wayne Co, Ohio, Pennsylvania
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