Clark Kent and the Erie Canal
Clark Kent and the Erie Canal T he connection between DC Comics and the Erie Canal lies in the established family history of Superman, where it is revealed that his ancestors navigated the waterway in the early 19th century. Welp, sorta… his adoptive family, the Kent’s of Smallville, Kansas ended up in the mid-west because of circumstances and the gateway of the Erie Canal. I n Action Comics #132 (published in 1949), DC Comics explored the backstory and historical lineage of Clark Kent's adoptive family. The family records detail that Captain Joshua Kent was an ancestor of Superman's Earth-Two grandfather, Hiram Kent. In those records it is revealed that Joshua Kent owned and operated an Erie Canal barge in the year 1824. Hiram was an inventor and the father of John Kent, the adoptive father of Clark Kent. John and his wife Mary, passed away when Clark was a young adult, shortly before he adopted the moniker “...
