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Photo by Kevin Borland.

Photo by Kevin Borland.

James was my 4th great grandfather. He was the paternal grandfather of Pearl Beatrice (Price) Forbes, who was the maternal grandmother my paternal grandfather John Earl Borland.

This photo was taken in May of 1891, when James was 90 years old, for inclusion in a book on the history of Carroll County, Ohio. His father Thomas Price came from Baltimore to Ohio around 1808, and founded the town of Leesville (in that county) in 1836. When the book was written, James was the oldest surviving member of that family.

My family continued to live in Leesville until my grandfather John Earl Borland died in 1986. In 2010, my father became the 8th generation of my family to be buried in the Leesville cemetery, beginning with James Price's maternal grandfather William Rippeth who fought in the Revolutionary War and died in 1842, 6 years after his son-in-law founded the town. William's grave is one of the oldest in the cemetery.

James died 12 days shy of his 95th birthday in November of 1894.

Photographer unknown.

Our new 20 gallon aquarium is only in its second day of cycling, but we had to transfer one adult male guppy and nine young guppies into it prematurely, since they were beginning to suffer from toxicity due to overcrowding in my son's one-gallon tank. Ammonia levels currently remain safe in the aquarium, and all appears to be going well. I'm monitoring the water chemistry carefully.

There are two adult females and two young guppies left in the small tank, which should survive there until the new aquarium is done cycling. We changed 50% of the water in the small tank, three times in the last two days. We don't want to put the other adults in the new aquarium yet, as we're afraid their waste and respiration could cause the ammonia levels to spike prior to beneficial bacteria development. We'll probably move the remaining two babies tomorrow though, since their addition to the aquarium would likely have minimal impact. Once the small tank re-stabilizes, it will double as a quarantine tank for any new fish we acquire, and as a breeding tank, as needed.

So far, fourteen out of the fifteen fish we adopted have survived the first two weeks. (One adult female died yesterday in the small tank, prompting the aquarium upgrade.) Thidawan named the one adult male "Pepper," because of his red tail, and because of his aggressiveness. We will gradually name the others as we get to know their personalities.

We would like to thank Jim Frint, owner of Aquaholics Aquarium Services, for explaining the nitrogen cycle and for advising us on preparing the new aquarium for the guppies.

Photo by Kevin Borland.

This sign is from my cousin Dan Borland's father Thomas Dean Borland's store. Dean died last week, at age 88.

Photo from Dan Borland collection.