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From: "Donald & Kathleen Dean" <>
Subject: [OHLAWREN] Dean State Forest Information
Date: Sun, 8 Oct 2000 13:49:53 -0400


I have been trying for almost 40 years to ascertain if the Dean State Forest
in Lawrence County
was named after my ancestor(s). My Great Grandfather Madison Dean purchased
land in Aid
Township (which is now in the Dean State Forest area) in the early 1860's. I
tried various sources
in Lawrence County and even The Ohio Department of Foresty all to no avail.
Earlier this year I asked my friend and fellow church member J. William
Moody if he could possibly
help. Mr. Moody has been serving as Assistant Director at The Ohio
Department of Natural
Resources for some years. A few days ago he gave me a couple of copies from
a booklet he came
across that had this information.

Dean State Forest commemorates the aptly named Forest W. Dean, whose survey
of forests in
southern Ohio in 1920 resulted in more land purchases for woodlands. This
state forest can
rightfully claim to be the father of the woods that surround it today -
Wayne National Forest.

It goes on to mention the location, size & designation (2,745 acres),
access, accommodatations,
hunting & fishing, and the address which is Dean State Forest, 149 Dean
Forest Road, Pedro, OH
45659-9740 (740) 532-7228. Here is what is said of it's history:
The first white settlers here were Pennsylvanians who traced their ancestry
to Holland and Ireland.
In the nineteenth century the original hardwood forest was logged for
charcoal, the fuel for the
region's iron blast furnaces. Later, fires started by sparks from the
Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton
Railroad kept the forest low and charred.
A parsimonious Ohio General Assembly let foresters at the Ohio Agricultural
Experiment Station
spend $10,000 for land in June 1916. One naked chunk, acquired for $4.50 an
acre in Lawrence
County, became Dean State Forest, then totaling 1,500 acres. A smaller
tract, called Waterloo
Forest, became the seed for Zaleski State Forest.
The denuded land became a reforestation laboratory after its purchase by the
state in 1916. Foresters planted several species to find out which ones grew
best in the region. The white pine, red pine, and tuliptree stands along SR
373 (Texas Hollow Road) are the products of those plantings. A Civilian
Conservation Corps camp here built roads, improved timber stands, and
designed trails in the 1930's. Today, Dean State Forest is an unbroken block
of forested land.

So, is Forest W. Dean a relative of mine? I have not been able to find any
mention of him in any of
my records, but any way now I know as Paul Harvey would say the rest of the
story. The mystery
for me anyway has now been solved. If any one would like a copy of what I
have I'll scan it and
send it to you via email.

Don Dean - Fredericktown, Ohio

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