July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
A story of history (02/25/2009)
Back in the Saddle
By By JACK RONALD-
History may have largely overlooked Austin Gollaher.
But his descendants haven't.
If you've never heard of Austin Gollaher, that's understandable.
He's more or less a footnote to American history.
He's also proof positive that footnotes - ordinary people who never aspire to fame or power - are as critical to the flow of events as any president or potentate.
As the story goes - well-documented by countless historians - young Austin was a boy of 10, growing up on the frontier of a still-young America. Living in a log cabin near a stream known as Knob Creek, Austin accompanied his mother one Sunday morning to visit friends.
While his mother visited with the woman at another cabin, Austin hung out with another boy, a kid of 7, whom he knew from school.
As they played, the boys wandered up and down Knob Creek, which was swollen badly because of recent flooding. At some point, the 7-year-old suggested they cross over the stream to a place where a covey of partridges had been spotted the day before.
The rushing waters were too wide to jump across, but there was a narrow log across. Austin made it safely, but the 7-year-old boy panicked about half way across.
The boy trembled, then fell off into the creek, which was about seven or eight feet deep.
Austin couldn't swim, so he grabbed a long stick. The 7-year-old grabbed it and was pulled to the bank.
But he was about half-drowned. Austin took him by the arms and shook him, then rolled him on the ground and forced out the water, bringing the child back from the brink of death.
"He was all right very soon," Austin Gollaher recalled later. "We promised each other that we would never tell anybody about it, and never did for years."
It's a remarkable story, one Austin Gollaher's descendants have told for years.
His great-great-great-great granddaughter, Susan Moser of rural Portland, treasures a family tree that links her generation back to the boy who was a hero that afternoon back in 1816.
His great-great-great-great-great grandson Max showed the family tree at show and tell when he was in kindergarten.
And they're especially proud now that the country is celebrating the 200th birthday of that little boy who fell in Knob Creek in Kentucky that afternoon, the little boy named Abe Lincoln.
He and Austin Gollaher remained friends over the years. While he was president, Lincoln once said, "I would rather see (him) than any man living."
Saving the life of America's greatest president. As footnotes to history go, that one is hard to beat.
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But his descendants haven't.
If you've never heard of Austin Gollaher, that's understandable.
He's more or less a footnote to American history.
He's also proof positive that footnotes - ordinary people who never aspire to fame or power - are as critical to the flow of events as any president or potentate.
As the story goes - well-documented by countless historians - young Austin was a boy of 10, growing up on the frontier of a still-young America. Living in a log cabin near a stream known as Knob Creek, Austin accompanied his mother one Sunday morning to visit friends.
While his mother visited with the woman at another cabin, Austin hung out with another boy, a kid of 7, whom he knew from school.
As they played, the boys wandered up and down Knob Creek, which was swollen badly because of recent flooding. At some point, the 7-year-old suggested they cross over the stream to a place where a covey of partridges had been spotted the day before.
The rushing waters were too wide to jump across, but there was a narrow log across. Austin made it safely, but the 7-year-old boy panicked about half way across.
The boy trembled, then fell off into the creek, which was about seven or eight feet deep.
Austin couldn't swim, so he grabbed a long stick. The 7-year-old grabbed it and was pulled to the bank.
But he was about half-drowned. Austin took him by the arms and shook him, then rolled him on the ground and forced out the water, bringing the child back from the brink of death.
"He was all right very soon," Austin Gollaher recalled later. "We promised each other that we would never tell anybody about it, and never did for years."
It's a remarkable story, one Austin Gollaher's descendants have told for years.
His great-great-great-great granddaughter, Susan Moser of rural Portland, treasures a family tree that links her generation back to the boy who was a hero that afternoon back in 1816.
His great-great-great-great-great grandson Max showed the family tree at show and tell when he was in kindergarten.
And they're especially proud now that the country is celebrating the 200th birthday of that little boy who fell in Knob Creek in Kentucky that afternoon, the little boy named Abe Lincoln.
He and Austin Gollaher remained friends over the years. While he was president, Lincoln once said, "I would rather see (him) than any man living."
Saving the life of America's greatest president. As footnotes to history go, that one is hard to beat.
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