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Over 30 years ago, I trusted the word of Mrs. R.L. McCurdy, and paid her $800for one mile of W. & L.E. Ry. right of way, which she assured me she owned and could sell. Weeks afterwards John Gardner of Norwalk, the aged and venerable banker, advised me that Mrs. McCurdy only had a life estate; she was at once visited and when asked "Mrs. McCurdy do you remember of telling me you owned this farm andcouldgivea good deed?" She answered, "I did tell you so."

"Had you forgotten that you only had a life estate?" "No, but can t I give a good deed for it while I am alive?" "Yes, your deed will be good so long as you live, but when you pass away your deed will become of no value and another purchase and payment will have to be made." "Oh! I never understood it that way. The money is in Mr. Woodward s bank and I will return it."

"No, Mrs. McCurdy, please give me the names and addresses of all the heirs and you may send deeds, which will be furnished you, and ask them to execute them and so make your deed good." Those deeds came back executed by thirteen persons — all the heirs, from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and California. Mrs. McCurdy was only "a type of the times," that well illustrates the spirit of her compatriots.

I have been much aided in compiling this paper by a paper prepared in 1859 for the Firelands Historical Society of Dr. Charles Smith, a citizen of Lyme from 1826 to his death in 1861, a paper on the T.N. & C. R. R., by Louis D. Strutton, read in 1888 before that society and by Charles E. Bloomer, county auditor, for access to old records. Also to the Ohio Supreme Court report, Vol. 6, page 179, Ebenezer Lane s report for 1857 of the Mad River Railroad and to Miss Cora Crawford of the abstract office of Holliday and Tucker for cheerful search of records.

But for the vigilant and persistent labors of such pioneers as Platt Benedict, Zalmon Phillips, Chauncy Woodruff, Evert Bogardus, Phillip N. Schuyler, Gideon T. Stewart and Rush R. Sloane, former presidents of the Firelands Historical Society and their associates, dating back nearly sixty years, securing and recording the personal experience of the pioneers while yet living and their memories fresh, many of the facts now given you would have been lost history.