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Lost and Found
A letter arrived at my home in Baltimore, Md from my elder niece, another alumna of Bowling Green State University. The open
envelope produced a news clipping from the May 16, 1982 issue of The Columbus Dispatch Magazine. The article was entitled: “KILVERT,” written by Joe Ionne with photos by Gordon Kuster Jr. It is a story about a small community in Athens County, Ohio that evolved
via the inter-mingling of the races: Caucasian, African and Native American.
My amazing story unfolded before my eyes. The setting is a plantation in the old Dominion State of Virginia, 30 years prior
to the Civil War. The master’s son fell in love with a mulatto house servant and sired six children by her. Disgruntled with
his son’s unorthodox behavior, the master sold the slave girl, named Hannah, to thwart his son’s actions. The son, Michael
Tabler defied his father and plantation society by buying her back, emancipating his family and moving them across the Ohio
River to freedom. The interracial couple bought farmland in Rome Township, Athens County, Ohio in the 1830s. The area became
known as Tablertown, later to be renamed Kilvert.
My surname is Tabler, a name that genealogists consider to be rare in number. I wondered, “Are these kinfolk?” I knew little
about my paternal grandfather’s family other than they were of German extraction, Lutheran and farmers who had migrated from
southern Ohio to northwest Ohio in the 1880s. They considered themselves to be Caucasian.
The article intrigued me. I made inquiries of relatives but received no constructive information. My mother was adamant that
I not pursue my research but I defied her directive. She was not happy with my decision. A truce was rendered on the condition
that I not discuss my findings with her. In retrospect, my firm stand was much like Michael Tabler’s. We both defied a parent.
In 1995, a year before her death, my mother welcomed her first biracial great-grandchild into her family, a beautiful boy
that she took much delight in. Her earlier concerns regarding the mixing of the races evaporated. She freely conversed about
the “browning of America.” She embraced the Michaels and Hannahs of the future.
Every August, my sister, my niece and her biracial son and I travel to Kilvert, Ohio to attend the multiracial Tabler Family
Reunion. Yes, we are blood-related cousins many times removed. We share a unique history. We have bonded.
The family unknown–once lost, now found–whole again.
David L. Tabler ‘63/Sociology
Baltimore, Md.
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