The Slave Grave & Zachariah Archer

Here's a story I'm proud to tell. It was shared by a delightful distant cousin, Jack Huffington. He took us to Walnut Prairie cemetery to see all our Cork ancestors. Walnut Prairie is situated alongside the Wabash River which runs through both Illinois and Indiana. Back in the day there were a number of ferries taking people back and forth across that river as a lot of folks lived on one side of it and worked on the other. Well...one of my grandfathers (actually, great grandfathers by about 5 greats) was traveling on the ferry one day and a "colored" man took sick. The legend is unclear whether this man died on the ferry or from being thrown off it and drowning but what is clear is that this great grandfather of mine, ZACHARIAH ARCHER, pulled this man out of the water and since no one knew who he was he took the body home and buried him in the family plot in the Walnut Priairie cemetery. There is a handsome marker with nothing on it at all right with the rest of the Archer family. I am proud to be related to Zachariah Archer! His son is the co-founder of Marshall, the "Star" of this little blog.