Seven Hills High School - Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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HONORABLE MENTION Feud's End It was in 1787 that a group of people decided that the Ohio Valley offered them a more prosperous future than did their native Pennsylvania. So it was, that William Langford made up his mind that he and his family would leave their home in Red Stone, Pennsylvania, and travel to the settlement of the Miami Country. lt is needless to go into detail of the hardships they encountered on the arduous journey through Indian-infested territory, and through thick forests as yet unpenetrated by White people. Although I can- not he exact as to the time it took this brave little group of sixty persons to traverse the distance from Pennsylvania to Cincinnati, my estimate is somewhere in the neighborhood of five months. Among others that made the trip with William Langford and his family was a Mr. Pennock and his wife and son. This family was probably the closest to the Langfords. Both men being natural leaders, they were rather important in the settling of this new country. But it was not entirely due to the companionship of their fathers that young Abel Pennock and Julia Langford had been inseparable. For these two young people had found something very likeable about each other. They had been together con- stantly during the long journey West, and since their arrival at the Miami region where they were to make their homes out of the wilderness, they were even more together. As time went on and the settlement grew into a small town with a church and a trading post, it became necessary for the people to have a Town Council which would keep law and order in the community. At the time of the election of the Town Council, a Council President was chosen. When Mr. Pennock was elected over Mr. Langford, the rivalry which had come to exist between these two leaders flared into a bitter feud. Although Julia had believed that the outcome of the election could have no effect on her feeling for Abel, she found that her father's defeat rankled, and her mother did not let this chance slip to break up a romance not to her liking. Mrs. Langford had very definite ideas regarding her future son-in-law, and poor Abel did not meet any of the specifications. Her hopes rested on the young minister of the community, the Reverend Calvin Bertram, and, after using all her diplomacy, the situation developed as she desired. Poor Abel was heart-broken for a while, but as time passed, he courted and married an- other girl. The feud between the families did not end so peacefully as had miifone, 193 9 l61l

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HIGH SCHOOL PRIZE POEM The Old Chief Grim-faced and silent, Lone survivor of a mighty race, Bright eyes dimmed hy age, Clever brain clouded hy the while 11131175 fire-water, He sits hefore a cainp-fire, Dreaming, perhaps, of olden days - The buffalo-chase, horses swift and sure, Things done in his youth that are lost to hini forever. Degraded by the white inan, left without a tribe, The Old Chief sits alone, Wliile Death Waits, not far away, To restore his lost honor Wllen he journeys to the Happy Hunting Ground. JOAN B. SULLIVAN, HIGH SCHOOL PRIZE DESIGN Sas. X31 JOAN B. SULLIVAN, 1939 Winona, 1 93 9 I 60 I I939

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the romance, for although there was no violence, business rivalry was intense. Several years passed and the community grew, but with this growth there came a series of Indian attacks. What had once seemed a perfectly peace- ful tribe suddenly became hostile because of increasing trespassing on their hunting grounds. It was during one of these attacks that Abel Pennock saved the Langford and Bertram families from death, but in so doing was captured. The Indians held him as a hostage, demanding that the whites leave, under penalty of their leader being killed. The old feud flared anew when the minister declared to the town meeting that it were better to lose one rnan than to lose the homes of many. After Abel,s death his wife and children came to hate the name of Ber- tram. They felt that he had in effect murdered their husband and father. They could not bear to live in the same community with the Langford and Bertram families, and, some new settlers arriving and looking for a home, the Pennocks quickly sold their property and moved away. The story of Abel,s sacrifice became a family legend and the children were taught to hate the names Langford and Bertram. PART II Chris Pennock, HTech 1937, stepped from his train in Cincinnati and looked eagerly about him. Somehow or other he felt at home in this strange city. He remembered tales he had been told by his grandfather about the early days of the Pennock family and he vividly recalled the legend of Abel Pennock of Indian days and his tragic death. Looking about he thought of the changes which had taken place since that an- cestor of his had looked at those very hills. He had three days until Monday, when he was to start to work. Suddenly deciding to see the city at once, he hired a car and drove most of the morning attempting to acquaint himself with his new home. He was driving through one of the hill-top sections southwest of the basin when he realized he was hungry and while eating his lunch he began to wonder just what sort of place that great-grandaddy of his had lived in. He dimly remembered that it was Hdown the river, according to the old stories he had heard. After some inquiries he found himself driving along the Ohio. He came to a quiet little village with parks and great trees . . . evidence that there had once been many such leafy giants. He turned off the main highway and found himself alongside a small golf course with a sign HVisitors Invited. He W eafone, 193 9 l6'Zl