Local historian to present frontier story

My husband Glenn Kinkade will present a program he has researched to members and guests of the Coshocton Historical Club at 1 p.m. Monday, May 11 in the fellowship hall of Prairie Chapel Methodist Church, 45494 County Road 23, Coshocton.

His program title is "An American Frontier Story." It is the story of Col. Henry Bouquet and his company of British regulars and colonists from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and the New Jersey militia civilian volunteers who came to Coshocton in 1764 from Fort Pitt, Pennsylvania to rescue 300 white captives who had been taken from their homes in Virginia and Pennsylvania by various Native American tribes.

Glenn is a retired guidance counselor and teacher in the River View School District. Probably his favorite classes were seventh grade and eighth grade American history. One spring he led his classes in plotting out square grids in the soil belonging to the school property — that was supposedly the site of a village — so students could try their skills at amateur archaeology to see if they could find any Native American artifacts. His students enjoyed this endeavor. Some actually found pieces of broken pottery and flint. One student even found an arrowhead. I wonder if any of his former students remember that experience.

Such figures as Chief Pontiac, Col. Henry Bouquet and an arrogant general will be mentioned. The focus of his program will be to tell the story of Eleanor Guy Kincaid and her children who were taken captive from their home in Virginia and brought to Ohio on foot, then along the Kanawha River of West Virginia and again on foot.

You will learn about how Glenn came across this story, which involves just one family; about her husband and his brother, who joined the troops to come rescue them; and what happened here in Coshocton at the forks of the Three Rivers, as recorded in the journals that were kept at that time. It's a story of endurance, bravery, sadness, disappointment and last-day reuniting. Glenn's story will conclude with our personal connection.

When you come to hear this program, you may join me in wondering if this story, which is older than our country, could be made into an outdoor drama, like "Tecumseh!" and "Trumpet in the Land." Except our county's story could be called "Eleanor!"