I have been collecting my thoughts and research to begin my book. Over the weekend, I finally sat down and just started writing. It felt like a very important step in my life and even though I figure it will take a good while to finish, I am very happy to report that I have finished the first chapter of my book. I am going to post a teaser from chapter 1 here. Please do not reproduce. Home, it is a simple word that can hold so much for a person; no matter where you were born and raised, that place will always hold a special connotation to you. The old saying, “home is where the heart is” rings true for millions of people, and I am no exception. I was born and raised in the small Ohio valley town of Ceredo, WV. Last census numbers have the city around 1,500 citizens[i], it truly is nothing special to the outside observer, nothing more really than a nice little place to stop along the famous “Midland Trail”. This outside perception of plain, uninteresting, small town life is what I grew up thinking for most of my early years.
The perception is much different from reality for my little hometown, the town of Ceredo was founded during the most tumultuous time in American history, it was founded right in the middle of a disputed territory and the reasons behind its founding are quite unique. Ceredo was founded in the late 1850’s as the United States was being torn apart by sectional differences; the argument can be made that the founding of Ceredo is a perfect illustration of that division. Ceredo is on the border of Kentucky and Ohio so, at the time, it was the absolute furthest place west in the Old Dominion. It was this location, at the very edge of slave holding territory that would bring abolitionist eyes to the area.
The founding of Ceredo was no accident, there were very distinct reasons for the founding of the town, the location of the town and for the early government as well. Ceredo was founded as an experiment of sorts, the idea was that northern land speculators were going to buy up land in slave holding states and establish towns that were fueled on the back of free labor, not the slave labor that had built the south. This was a revolutionary idea, especially when the state being targeted was Virginia. The man behind the idea for Ceredo was a man who had experience founding free labor colonies in the bloody Kansas territory during the 1850’s, Eli Thayer
All rights reserved.
Copyright Matthew A. Perry 2016
[i] Census.org
The perception is much different from reality for my little hometown, the town of Ceredo was founded during the most tumultuous time in American history, it was founded right in the middle of a disputed territory and the reasons behind its founding are quite unique. Ceredo was founded in the late 1850’s as the United States was being torn apart by sectional differences; the argument can be made that the founding of Ceredo is a perfect illustration of that division. Ceredo is on the border of Kentucky and Ohio so, at the time, it was the absolute furthest place west in the Old Dominion. It was this location, at the very edge of slave holding territory that would bring abolitionist eyes to the area.
The founding of Ceredo was no accident, there were very distinct reasons for the founding of the town, the location of the town and for the early government as well. Ceredo was founded as an experiment of sorts, the idea was that northern land speculators were going to buy up land in slave holding states and establish towns that were fueled on the back of free labor, not the slave labor that had built the south. This was a revolutionary idea, especially when the state being targeted was Virginia. The man behind the idea for Ceredo was a man who had experience founding free labor colonies in the bloody Kansas territory during the 1850’s, Eli Thayer
All rights reserved.
Copyright Matthew A. Perry 2016