December 6, 2002 - By BARBARA CARDER

For The Herald

One friend casually mentioning to another that he had found an old flag led to a historic discovery for the village of Ashville.

In June of 2001, Ashville’s Brian Meyers mentioned to village resident Tom Zwayer he had an old flag that Zwayer should take a look at. Meyers knew Zwayer was knowledgeable about Ohio history and thought he might like to see the flag.

"Brian said the flag was really old and that it had 13 stars in a circle," Zwayer said. "At that point, I wasn’t too interested because I thought he just had a reproduction Betsy Ross flag. But then he went on to say that he had found the flag in the attic of the McDowell house, which is two doors north of the library on Long Street."

Meyers and his former wife purchased the house from the McDowell estate and owned it for many years by the time he mentioned the flag to Zwayer. Meyers told Zwayer that they discovered many items in nooks and crannies and found the flag by running his hand along a roof joist. He felt something folded, and it was the flag.

"Brian went on to say that he thought the flag had a 14th star in the center," Zwayer said. "That’s what caught my attention. I wondered why somebody would make a 14-star flag."

"We walked over to his house on East Street, went into his garage and he took the flag down off the top of a work cabinet and unfolded it onto the hood of the car. I was absolutely stunned at what I saw," Zwayer said.

What lay before Zwayer was a 17-star flag, with 16 six-pointed stars in a circle and one six-pointed star in the middle of the canton (the blue upper left corner of the flag). The flag appeared to be entirely of hand construction and of materials more than 100 years old.

"I pointed out some of the key characteristics of the flag to Brian, showing its age and that some of the sewing threads appear to be linen, which would make it at least 19th century. He offered it to me at that time to research as a cooperative effort," Zwayer said.

Zwayer went to work. He built a plexiglas frame for the flag so it could be viewed without being handled. He did some preliminary research at the library and on the Internet. He reported the find at the next Ashville Area Heritage Society (AAHS) meeting, and made an appointment to have the assistant curator of collections at the Ohio Historical Society (OHS) look at the flag.

Zwayer spoke with Cliff Eckle at the OHS during the summer of 2001. Eckle recommended the flag be professionally examined by Textile Preservation Associates Inc. (TPA) in Keedysville, Md. While Eckle warned the cost of the analysis could be significant, Zwayer said he was encouraging because TPA is considered the leading group of people who do that kind of work in the country.

Zwayer contacted TPA and found that the cost for analysis of the flag would run approximately $1,000. He then approached Brian and Sandy Meyers about donating it to the AAHS. Once that was done, the AAHS approved the cost for analysis. Zwayer sent the flag to TPA in May of 2002 and received it back in September 2002.

The analysis confirmed what Zwayer researched. The flag is a "transitional" flag. It is a United States flag, but it was never an official United States flag. It was created during the transition period between the 15-stars flag and the 20-stars flag. Also, the flag was repaired three different times, so this flag was important enough to someone to be maintained.

Eckle reviewed the analysis done by TPA and told Zwayer the flag is as old as anything in the company’s collection.

"We would like to get some recognition from the Bicentennial Commission," Zwayer said. "We are willing to put the flag on loan to the Bicentennial Commission in 2003 and then place it in the Ashville museum when we get it back."

Bob Hines, one of the founders of the Ashville Area Heritage Society, is excited about the flag.

"It certainly depicts and honors Ohio as the center star — which suggests that even though it was a federal flag, it also is the first flag design that represented Ohio’s statehood."