There are currently 591 documented members of the First Families of Athens, which documents the descendants of Athens’ pioneers.
Trudy Montle, a 65-year-old Athens resident, can recall watching the Hocking River flood multiple times before it was rerouted in 1969. She can point to where her grandparents’ names — the Sheridans — are etched on the stained glass windows of the church she has attended all her life, St. Paul Church, 38 N. College St.
She grew up hearing stories from her father, who remembered when Court Street was populated with horse-drawn buggies, and how he used to attend primary school at the Rock Riffle School, a one-room schoolhouse in town.
Montle is a fourth-generation Athenian, and one of 591 members of the First Families of Athens County. That membership confirms she’s related to one of the first 585 “pioneers” that settled the town before 1830.
“The Sheridan family was one of the first families that bought land in Athens County,” Montle said, referring to her paternal grandfather, who arrived in Athens from Ireland after a brief stay in Buffalo, New York.
Although the Sheridans aren’t among one of the first families settled in Athens, Montle’s grandmother’s family, the Fosters, arrived a little earlier in 1809.
To achieve membership to the organization, individuals have to provide the Athens County Genealogical Chapter with evidence of their lineage — birth records, land deeds or court records — indicating they are related to a pioneer of Athens County.
Members also have to pay a $25 fee to the chapter for the application and $20 annual fee for membership to the society.
The program, which operates through the Athens County Historical Society and Museum, 65 N. Court St., had its first members admitted in 1983, after Beverly Schumacher founded it.
Schumacher said she based the program on the First Families of Ohio project, which documents relatives of the first settlers in the state.
Schumacher is a member of both groups and is descended from the Tippie family, which helped settle Athens.
At the time she started the First Families of Athens County project, Schumacher had just started working for the Athens County Historical Society and Museum. She didn’t find out until later that her grandparents had been original settlers in the county.
“I did not know where Athens County was before I lived here,” she said. “When I came here I found out (it) was full of my relatives.”
After that, Schumacher began researching her family history and generated a list of other Athens pioneers.
“I thought that was what you were supposed to do,” she said. “I started helping people right away.”
Schumacher stepped down from her role as chair of the project about five years ago, passing the torch to another First Family member, Cheryl Wright, who descended from the Dorrs.
Since then, Schumacher has continued coming back to the genealogical society once a week to help out with research.
“I left, but I can’t get away,” she said.
When the First Families project started, the genealogical chapter held annual dinners to recognize the first families and hosted ceremonies for those newly admitted.
Schumacher said they stopped holding those dinners in the early 2000s, when the historical society requested it host the ceremonies during its annual meetings instead.
Simultaneously, membership rates began dropping.
“We really need something or a couple of someones to kick start (the program) or it’s going to die of lack of interest,” she said.
Diane Reeves, the president of the genealogical chapter, said that only four people applied to be members last year — compared to an estimated 20 new members per -year during the first decade of the project’s inception.
She said there would likely be more interest if first family members received financial benefits.
“Instead you just get a pin and an award and get to say you’re a first family,” she said.
But Reeves said she is optimistic about the future of the program as long as there are people still passionate about understanding where their families came from.
“To me, genealogy, once you get started, is a disease,” she said. “You can’t get out of it. You keep digging and digging.”
For Montle, those roots run deep.
The Sheridan family, she said, settled on a farm on Rock Riffle Road. There were 11 children in the family and, eventually, 24 grandchildren.
But in spite of that, she said the number of her relatives in Athens is dwindling due to deaths in the family and children moving away.
“I think there ought to be a law against children moving away,” Montle joked. “You want them to be independent, but sometimes I think we raise them to be too independent.”
When she was growing up, her dad and her uncles worked at McBee Sytems, a printing press on 1055 E. State St.
But with modern technology, she said many of those businesses died away long ago.
Even so, Montle said she is proud of her Athens heritage and has no intention of moving away.
“It’s a good place,” she said. “Why leave?”
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