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Valentines

February 14, 2017, 6:00 am
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Several Valentines created by the Buzza-Cardozo Company of Hollywood, California, are now in the historical collections of the Follett House Museum. The Valentine above is from the “Heart to Heart” line of Buzza-Cardozo greeting cards, which were popular in the 1940s and 1950s. The Valentine pictured below is a Valentine's Day birthday card.

 
Another combination birthday card and Valentine is shaped like a book.

 
This Valentine features a three dimensional rose when opened. It was a Valentine from a husband to his wife.

              
The inside greeting reads: “Because you're such a darling so dear in every way.  Because I love you always, and especially today." 

The ordinary items in our daily lives can provide family history clues. We know that the recipient of these lovely cards was a female whose birthday coincided with Valentine’s Day, and that she valued the cards enough to keep them for several years.  To learn more about ephemeral items of our daily lives see the book Encyclopedia of Ephemera: A Guide to the Fragmentary Documents of Everyday life for the Collector, Curator, and Historian, by Maurice Rickards (Routledge, 2000), available for loan at the Sandusky Library.
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Hinde and Dauch Company Workers

February 17, 2017, 6:00 am
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Around 1900 the photographer L.C. Sartorius took pictures of employees of the Hinde and Dauch Paper Company. in the first photograph above we can see that several women worked at the company during this time. The man on the far left is holding a cart that contains a corrugated paper product manufactured at the Sandusky plant.



In the image below we see men posed in a field near a pile of straw. These men might have been responsible for gathering the straw that was used to make the corrugated cardboard in the factory.


This advertisement from Hinde and Dauch appeared on page 20 of  the souvenir booklet entitled What, published by Charles M. Hill and William F. Holly in 1903. Hinde and Dauch products revolutionized the shipping industry in the early twentieth century.


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Historical Items from Sandusky Pharmacies

February 22, 2017, 6:48 am
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This cabinet file once used for storing medicine labels is now housed in the attic level of the Follett House Museum. It had been used at the Sloane House Pharmacy, which was on the street level of the Sloane House hotel in Sandusky, beginning about 1890. Several different pharmacists worked in the Sloane House over the years, including H.K. Henkelman, Henkelman & Bechberger; Bechberger & Brown; Bechberger & Kubach, and Kubach and Buderer. Some of remedies on the labels are for Epsom salts, cod liver oil, boric acid and liniment. The label below from a container of pine tar capsules was purchased when Bechberger & Brown were partners in the Sloane House Pharmacy.


This apothecary bottle came from the pharmacy of Charles A. Lehrer, who had his business at the corner of Central Avenue and Decatur Street for several years in the first quarter of the twentieth century. He was the son of former Zion Lutheran Church pastor Rev. J. George Lehrer.
  
    
The compound of licorice powder is from the pharmacy of J.H. Emrich, an early Sandusky pharmacist.

    
This bottle of medicinal oil came from the E. J. Windisch Quality Pharmacy, which was in business in the 800 block of Hayes Avenue from about 1908 to 1925.

  
From 1898 until about 1930 Daniel Schaffer manufactured liniment. Advertisements claimed it to be the “greatest pain killer on earth.”  This advertisement for Schaffer’s Wonderful Liniment appeared in the Sandusky Star Journal on November 17, 1920:


Mihalovitch’s Hungarian Blackberry Juice was manufactured by a liquor dealer in Cincinnati, but was sold locally by nine different pharmacies in Sandusky in 1887. The juice was said to be a remedy for diarrhea, dysentery, cholera morbus (gastroenteritis), and all disorders of the bowels.



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Charles Merz, Editor of the New York Times, 1938-1961

February 25, 2017, 6:00 am
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Charles Merz was born in Erie County, Ohio on February 23, 1893, to Dr. Charles H. Merz and Sakie (Prout) Merz. While at SanduskyHigh School, Charles Merz worked on the school’s yearbook, the Fram. During the summers, he was a cub reporter for the Sandusky Register and the Star Journal. He graduated from SanduskyHigh School in 1911. The younger Charles Merz is pictured below with the Debating Team at Sandusky High School.


Charles Merz graduated from Yale in 1915 and moved to New York to work at Harper’s Weekly, eventually being named editor of the magazine. In 1916, he became the Washingtoncorrespondent for the NewRepublic, with a brief hiatus during World War I, when he worked in military intelligence. He and Walter Lippmann compiled a survey on the press coverage of the Russian Revolution, and were very critical of the coverage by the New York Times.  

In 1931 Charles Merz went to work for the New York Times, where he served as editor from 1938 to 1961.  During the McCarthy era, Merz was known for his opposition to Senator Joseph McCarthy in his editorials. He also wrote several books, including: The Great American Bandwagon, The Dry Decade, And Then Came Ford, and Centerville, U.S.A.  It is believed that Centerville, U.S.A. was based primarily on Merz’s upbringing in Sandusky, Ohio. 


Charles Merz passed away on August 31, 1977. He is still remembered for his long career in journalism and his devotion to the principles of American democracy.
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Civil War Pension Files of Harrison Washington and William H. Johnson, African American Recruits from Sandusky

February 28, 2017, 6:00 am
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An article in the June 6, 1863 issue of the Sandusky Register reported on several African American recruits from Sandusky who were traveling by train to Readville, Massachusetts to enlist in the Massachusetts 55th Infantry. The group included a large majority of the able bodied men of color in the city of Sandusky ranging from 18 to 40 years of age. The Massachusetts 55thInfantry was a sister regiment to the Massachusetts54th, the military unit featured in the film Glory. Fourteen men from Sanduskyserved in Company I of the 55th Massachusetts Infantry. They were led by Captain George T. Garrison, the son of well-known abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. A previous blog post about these soldiers included pictures of the tombstones of two Civil War Veterans of the Massachusetts 55th who were buried in Sandusky at OaklandCemetery.

In the pension file for Harrison Washington from the National Archives, we learn that he enlisted in the Massachusetts 55th in June of 1863. At that time, he was 5 feet 6 inches tall and he had been born on May 15, 1833 in Fleming County, Kentucky. Harrison Washington was honorably discharged in Massachusettsin October of 1865. He returned to Ohio for about thirty years, and then moved back to Fleming County, Kentucky.


Another page from Mr. Washington’s pension file provides the name of his wife, Frances Washington, whom Harrison married in 1890, his third wife. One of his previous wives had been the former Cordelia Winfield from Sandusky, Ohio, who died in 1866. The file also includes the names and birth dates of Harrison Washington’s children, who were named Matilda, Charlie, Cordelia, and Mary. In 1898, Harrison Washington was still living in Kentucky.


A note in the pension file of Harrison Washington stated that he was dropped from the pension roll due to his death in September of 1917.


William H. Johnson was another Sandusky resident who served with Co. I of the Massachusetts55th Infantry. He enlisted when he was 22 years old, and his occupation was listed as carpenter. He died from wounds he received in battle on July 2, 1864 at James Island, South Carolina. On September 3, 1883, Mrs. William H. Johnson, the former Anna McGuire, applied for a widow’s military pension. She stated that she had married Mr. Johnson on December 25, 1861, in AugustaCounty, Virginia. A Sandusky attorney, John E. Moore, presented the widow’s claim, though at the time she had moved to Cleveland, Ohio.



A recent article in the Charleston Post and Courier reports on the unveiling of a historic marker at Folly River Park which honors the service of the Massachusetts 55thInfantry during the Civil War. In the 129th Ohio General Assembly, the Ohio House of Representatives passed H.R. No. 297, to honor the 511 African American Ohioans who enlisted in the 54th and 55th Regiments of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War.
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Dr. Dewey Duane Smith, DDS

March 3, 2017, 6:00 am
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Dewey Duane Smith was born in Gratiot County, Michiganin 1878. He was educated at AlbionCollege, the Universityof Michigan, and OhioStateUniversity’s College of Dentistry. He is pictured above with his wife Alma Smith and daughters Elizabeth and Marjorie. Sadly, Alma died shortly after the birth of her third child, Dewey Duane Smith, Jr.,  in 1925. He later married Etta Detleftsen.

In 1904 Dr. D.D. Smith moved to Sandusky, where he opened a dental office in the Kingsbury Block.


Dr. Smith took advantage of the fact that his initials were the same as the acronym for Doctor of Dental Surgery, as seen in the advertisement below from the August 31, 1905 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal.




Dr. Smith specialized in orthodontia. In the 1920s, he moved his dental practice to 130 East Market Street. 

Besides having a very busy dental practice in Sandusky for over fifty years, Dr. D. D. Smith, Sr. was also very involved in the community. He was a member of Grace Episcopal Church and the Masons. He served on the Council of the Boy Scouts of America for the local district, and he was instrumental in organizing Sandusky’s “Flicker Club,” a group of individuals interested in the promotion of amateur home movies.  Dr. Smith once served as secretary of the Northern Ohio Dental Association and was a member of the Erie County Medical Advisory Board. For eight years he served on the Ad Interim Committee, House of Delegates of the Ohio State Dental Society. 

Dr. D.D. Smith, Sr. died on May 1, 1959. He was survived by his wife Etta; daughter, Mrs. Walter Kerber; and son Dr. Dewey Duane Smith, Jr, who was also a dentist. Dr. Smith’s daughter Marjorie Kahn had died in 1956. Dr. Smith, Sr. was buried in Sandusky’s OaklandCemetery.
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Women in the Western Reserve Before 1850

March 6, 2017, 6:40 am
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Often overlooked, the microfilmed copy of  Women in the Western Reserve Before 1840-1850 is an invaluable resource to consult if you have female ancestors who settled in the Western Reservebefore 1850.  Mrs. Emily (Coan) Anderson (pictured above) was one of these women. Emily L. Coan, later Mrs. George J. Anderson, came to Sandusky in 1849. She moved to Sandusky from North Ridgeville, Ohio. You can see the name of Mrs. George J. Anderson at the top of the list of the page below, providing information about early women who resided in Erie County, Ohio before 1850.


This resource is housed in the microfilm cabinets of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Arranged alphabetically by county, the microfilm roll contains genealogical data about early women residents of the Western Reserve.  Within each county, the names are not in alphabetical order, so a thorough search must be made of several pages in order to locate a particular name. The columns provide: Married Name, Maiden Name, Year Came to Township, Where From or Where Born, and Last Residence. The Sandusky Library Archives Research Center is fortunate enough to have some photographs of some of these pioneer female residents. A sister-in-law of Emily (Coan) Anderson was Pallas Lane, whose name was also listed in the Women in the Western Reserve Before 1840-1850. Pallas Lane was born Pallas Anderson. She was the daughter of the first physician in Sandusky, and she became of the wife of Dr. Ebenezer Shaw Lane, also an early physician in the Firelands.

Pallas (Anderson) Lane was born in Sandusky in 1825, but later moved to Chicago, Illinois.
  

 Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to view the microfilmed copy of Women in the Western Reserve Before 1840-1850. See a previous blog post from Sandusky History for even more resources helpful in locating that elusive female ancestor!
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Captain Alva Bradley

March 9, 2017, 6:00 am
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Alva Bradley was born in Connecticut in 1814, and moved with his family to Brownhelm Township, Lorain County, Ohio in 1823. At age 19, he began working on ships of the Great Lakes, and by 1839 he was in command of the schooner Commodore Lawrence. 

The famous inventor Thomas Alva Edison received his middle name in honor of Captain Bradley, as his parents Samuel and Nancy Edison were close friends. 

 In 1841 Captain Bradley, along with Ahira Cobb, built the ship the South America. He began building more ships, and by 1852 he gave up sailing in order to devote himself solely to constructing ships. The Bradley fleet of ships became the largest on the Great Lakes. W. Scott Robison wrote in his book History of the City of Cleveland, that Captain Bradley “owed his success entirely to his own efforts, to his Yankee grit and shrewd business sense.” Eventually Captain Bradley became a millionaire through his success as one of the Great Lakes’ best known ship owners. 

Alva Bradley married Helen Burgess, of Milan, in 1851. They had three daughters and one son. A grandson, also named Alva Bradley, was president of the group that owned the Cleveland Indians from 1927 until 1946.The younger Alva Bradley was successful in real estate, and served on the board of several businesses. 

  
Captain Alva Bradley and his family used to visit Lakeside during the summer months. After his death in 1885, his wife had the Bradley Temple built in Lakeside as a memorial to her husband, with the stipulation that it was to be used solely for children’s programs and Sunday School sessions.
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Hugo Engels' Scrapbook of Performances

March 12, 2017, 6:00 am
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From 1882 through the 1890s, Hugo Engels kept a scrapbook containing programs and newspaper articles from local concerts, recitals, and plays. Many of the newspaper articles are in German. 

Hugo Engels was born in Germany on February 9, 1863. He came to the United States with his family in 1876, when his father Herman came to Sandusky to take over the wine business of his uncle Jacob Engels, who had died in 1875. Herman and Louisa Engels had five children, Hermine, Otto, Hugo, and Paul. Hugo and his brothers worked with their father in the winery, which became the Engels and Krudwig Wine Company when R. P. Krudwig joined the company in 1878. Hugo’s brother Carl L. Engels was also associated with the “Big Store,” a Sandusky department store.  

On June 4 1885, Hugo Engels performed Das Bild der Rose in Harmony Hall. Gesang Vereins is the German phrase for Singing Association.



On May 28, 1890, Mrs. A. P. Lange and Hugo Engels played a duet entitled Kucken in a Musicale.


Hugo Engels died on November 7, 1912. His wife Charlotte Engels donated the scrapbook to the historical collections of the Sandusky Library after his death. By looking through the scrapbook, one can learn more about the musical entertainment of Sandusky area residents in the late nineteenth century. It is interesting to note that many of the pioneer residents of Sandusky shared the love of music with residents of German descent who came to Sandusky as immigrants. 

The obituary of Hugo Engels, in the November 9, 1912 Sandusky Register stated that he participated in all of the Elks entertainments, particularly the musical performances.



At the funeral, Mayor John J. Molter delivered an address in German. Music was performed by a string quartet, under the organization of George F. Anderson. Hugo Engels was buried at OaklandCemetery, with the Elks Lodge conducting the graveyard services.
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Foster M. Follett, Cartoonist

March 15, 2017, 6:00 am
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From the September 30, 1899 issue of Collier’s Weekly magazine

Foster M. Follett was born in Sandusky in the 1870s, to Foster Valentine and Portia Follett. Both Foster M. Follett’s father and grandfather served in the 128th Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. The grandfather, also named Foster Morse Follett, was an early Health Commissioner of Sandusky, who worked tirelessly during the 1849 Cholera Epidemic; he died in 1862. Foster Valentine Follett died when his son was only ten years of age.

For more than forty years, the younger Foster Morse Follett was an artist and cartoonist. His work appeared in The New York World, The Saturday Evening Post, Life Magazine, and Collier’s Weekly. Several Follett cartoons about the character “Tidy Teddy” are featured on the website of Barnacle Press. He also created some animated short subjects in 1916 and 1917. Two characters from Mr. Follett’s early animated films were “Quacky Doodle” and “Mr. Fuller Pep.” 

These cartoons appeared on pages 178 and 179 of the August, 1903 issue of Life Magazine. The cartoons follow a hunter who caught a lion. After trying to get a photograph taken, both the hunter and photographer can be seen running away in the distance.



In 1937, a short while after he was involved in an automobile accident, Foster M. Follett died in Richmond, Virginia. He was survived by his wife the former Nettie Bell, and three children. His obituary appeared in the February 21, 1937 issue of the New York Times.
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Jeffrey's Pool Parlor

March 17, 2017, 8:48 am
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In the 1930s, Tuty S. Jeffrey operated a pool parlor at 931 West Washington Street. He also sold soft drinks and had a lunch counter at his establishment. Jeffrey’s Pool Parlor was in the same block as Link’s Hall, and across the street from the Mertz Hardware store. 

This lovely image of a young lady was given away as apromotion for the business. This item also features a sentiment from James Whitcomb Riley that reads:

It’s the song ye sing
And the smile ye wear,
That’s amaking the sun shine,
Every where.

Tutti Salvatore Jeffrey, also known as Thomas, died on June 16, 1961. In his later years, he was well known as the steward at the Knights of Columbus. Funeral services for Mr. Jeffrey were held at the Charles J. Andres Sons’ Funeral Home and at Saints Peter and Paul Church, with Father Marlborough officiating. Burial was at Calvary Cemetery.
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Sandusky Furniture Company

March 20, 2017, 6:00 am
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The Sandusky Furniture Company opened in 1894, with three partners: Carl G. Nielsen, August Muehlhauser, and F.W. Molitor. The office and factory was on South Depot Street in Sandusky, Ohio. In the picture above, you can see engine number 441 from the old Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad. An advertisement in the October 9, 1894 issue of the Sandusky Register stated that the Sandusky Furniture Company manufactured bar, bank and office fixtures. The company also did stair and grille work, and made folding doors and bay windows.


The interior of Henry Dehnel’s jewelry store in Sandusky was furnished by the Sandusky Furniture Company, as seen in this picture which appeared in the 1895 publication Men of Sandusky.



In the 1890s, the Sandusky Furniture Company began making household window screens, so that local residents could keep the flies out of their homes. In 1895, the company built a new desk and office furniture for the Sandusky Post Office. The Third National Bank purchased new office furniture from the company around the same time.

An article in the July 18, 1979 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that the Follett House Museum had taken cabinets made by the Sandusky Furniture Company to the attic level, where they were to display military items from the Spanish-American War and World War I

. In 1901, the Sandusky Furniture Company suffered a devastating fire, and by 1902 the company had gone into receivership. Though this local company was only in existence for a few short years, it provided excellent quality materials for many area businesses and homes while it was in operation.
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Sandusky’s Former Post Office

March 23, 2017, 6:00 am
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Seen here in the 1930s or 1940s, this building was opened as Sandusky’s Federal Building in March of 1927.  In 1923, Congressman James T. Begg introduced a bill in the U.S. House which requested an increase in the appropriation for the proposed Federal Building at Sandusky, making a total of $215,00 in funds to be used for the project. Congressman Begg pointed out that the current Post Office and Customs House had been built before the Civil War, and was very congested.  Ground was broken for the new Post Office on November 1, 1925.  T.M. Samford was the superintendent of the project, under the leadership of contractor Algernon Blair. M.J. Callan and Sons, of Sandusky, did the excavation work at the building site, beginning November 6, 1925. The building site was located at the intersection of Central Avenue, Jackson Street, and Washington Street. Formerly Bernard Lodick’s carriage shop and Trinity Methodist Church were at this location.

You can see the layout of the Post Office in 1939 in the portion of the Sanborn Map below.


The new Federal Building was built in the Neo-Classical style. It features a very large portico with fluted columns. Besides housing the Post Office in 1927, this building held offices for U.S. Customs, the Internal Revenue Service, and the U.S. Weather Bureau. During war years, the U.S. Armed Forces had recruiting offices here as well. The men in this picture are the first draftees from Erie County in January of 1941, standing on the steps of the Post Office:

           
Of course the former Sandusky Post Office and Federal Building is now home to the Merry-Go-Round Museum. When you walk into the lobby of the Museum, you can still see one of the windows where stamps were sold.


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Corydon Whitten Bell, Author and Artist

March 26, 2017, 6:00 am
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On July 16, 1894, Corydon Whitten Bell was born in Tiffin, Ohio to Mr. and Mrs. Alvin J. Bell. The Bellfamily moved to Sanduskyaround 1910.  Corydon graduated from SanduskyHigh School in 1913, where he had been active in the high school orchestra under Eugene Ackley.  In the picture below, a copy of the Fram can be seen on the table beside his desk.


Corydon Bell attended the University of Michigan and Western Reserve University before entering Army Medical School. During World War I he served as a bacteriologist and instructor. In 1921 he married Thelma Harrington. They both worked in advertising in Cleveland, but later both husband and wife became writers. Often Thelma wrote the text of the book and Corydon did the illustrations. In 1944 the Bells moved to North Carolina where they lived on an old farm in the mountains, and enjoyed being away from the pressures of the business world. Bell says “Immersed in undiluted nature on our remote mountain, I evolved the idea of writing about some of the fundamental aspects of natural science.”  A few titles that he authored are: The Wonder of Snow; Thunderstorm; and The Riddle of Time. Corydon Bell’s works are featured in libraries throughout the U.S., the Smithsonian American Art Museum,and the Ohioana Collection of Ohio Authors.

On page 22 of the June 1913 issue of the Fram is a piece entitled “The Class Motto.”  The names of several members of the graduating class are listed, with specific letters in bold that spell out Ready For All Things. Corydon Bell’s name is the fifth in the list.


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Sandusky High Schools Girls Basketball Team of 1922

March 29, 2017, 6:20 am
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These young ladies were on the Sandusky High School girls basketball team during the academic year 1921-1922. In the back are: Hyacinth Brownworth, Ruth Thom, and Coach, Mrs. Carl Mackey. In the front are; Elsie Hofer, Betty Grulich, Ruth Laux, Vesta Dwelle, and Alyne Wiedenhaefer. All the members of the team earned a letter at an assembly held at Sandusky High School in March of 1922.


Hyacinth Brownworth, later Mrs. John Rheinegger, served as the Clerk of the Board of
Education of the Sandusky City Schools for several years. In 1957 Hyacinth Rheinegger was honored at a dinner party for “the meticulous and efficient way” she ran her office. Several school officials, past and present, attended the dinner at the Rockwell Springs Trout Club in her honor.
 
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Burger Chef in Sandusky

April 1, 2017, 6:18 am
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From the early 1960s until 1977, Sandusky area residents enjoyed hamburgers, French fries, and milkshakes at Burger Chef. The first Burger Chef was at 302 West Perkins Avenue. Manager Joe Brennan once presented Jacquelyn Mayer, Miss America of 1963, with a gold plated lifetime pass to Burger Chef.


The Burger Chef restaurant was air conditioned, but customers often ate in their automobiles. In 1966 hamburgers at Burger Chef cost fifteen cents.  In 1974, Burger Chef offered larger sandwiches, like the “Big Chef” and the “Super Chef.” By 1974 there were two Burger Chef restaurants in the Sandusky area, the original on Perkins Avenue and the other at 3002 Milan Road. By 1975, the first Burger Chef had closed, and the Brew and Watcha took over the property on West Perkins Avenue.  According to the July 3, 1976 issue of the Sandusky Register, “Burger Chef and Jeff” were to appear on the Burger Chef float in the Bicentennial parade. In an article which appeared in the December 17, 1977 issue of the Sandusky Register, the last Sandusky Burger Chef was scheduled to close on the following day. Burger Chef expressed its appreciation for customers having patronized the restaurant for the past seventeen years.
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George W. Campbell and His Letter to Mrs. Hubbard

April 4, 2017, 6:00 am
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George W. Campbell was born in the state of New York to David and Mary Jones Todd Campbell on January 12, 1817. In the early 1820s he moved with his parents to Sandusky, Ohio, where his father published the Sandusky Clarion. The Clarion was the first newspaper published in the Firelands area, and was the predecessor of the Sandusky Register. Mr. Campbell worked with his father in the publishing business in Sandusky, until he relocated to Delaware, Ohio in 1849. In Delaware, he worked in the mercantile business. Later he devoted his pursuits to the propagation of a wide variety of fruits, and he became well known as a horticulturist. Mr. Campbell was best known for his promotion of the Delaware grape. The popular Delaware grape was known for its hardiness, productivity, and unsurpassed flavor and quality. 

George W. Campbell died on July 15, 1898 and was buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in Delaware County, Ohio. He was survived by his widow, the former Elizabeth Little. He had been president of the Ohio Horticultural Society and was appointed by President Rutherford B. Hayes as United States Commissioner to the Paris Exposition of 1878.  In 2002 an Ohio historic marker was dedicated at the former Campbell home, now the Delaware County Cultural Arts Center.


A letter from George W. Campbell to Mrs. Jennie West Hubbard is housed at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Mrs. Hubbard was working on a project to collect biographical information about women who resided in the Western Reserve before 1850. She was hoping that her relative, Mr. Campbell, could tell her some of the birth and death dates of their mutual female relatives. It turns out that he did not recall the dates exactly, but he did remember with fondness the work that several Sandusky ladies did when creating a banner for the visit of William Henry Harrison to Sandusky. The letter and transcription are below.



Delaware, O., June 3, 1896
My dear Jennie:
            I am really ashamed of myself for allowing your letter of last March to remain so long unanswered, asking for information about the pioneer women of the Western Reserve; and I now regret that I am unable to give you so little of interest. I have somewhere, a book of records of my father’s family; but it has been mislaid, and I have been unable to find it; but I am not certain that it contains much. I have filled out the blank record of names you sent me, as far as I can. I have not the date of Aunt Eleanor’s birth or death – but I think they are recorded on her headstone in the cemetery of Sandusky. Of Wealthy’s record, I have only the state of her marriage to brother Henry.
            As to that flag, I am sorry my memory is so indistinct. I feel certain that Aunt Eleanor did work on a flag, and I think I saw the design; but cannot recall much about it. I was under the impression that it was modeled in whole or in part from the inclosed picture which I drew for the heading of a little campaign paper printed in the days of “Tippecanoe and Tyler too,” and had engraved at Buffalo by Mr. J.W. Orr. If you find the design on the flag is the same, or substantially so, you may be pretty sure that it is the same upon which Aunt Eleanor and other ladies worked. When I come to Sandusky, as I hope to do sometime this season I will investigate it and I think the sight of the flag will enable me to mark the names on the printed list which enclose also. When I am in Sandusky, perhaps I may be able to give you some items of interest with your assistance in prompting me as to what you would like to have.
            We are in health about as usual. Weather has been pleasant generally, with play of rain and sunshine; and lately cool, but without frost. Everything sure now must propicous for a fruitful answer, if we are not visited by storms or hail or cyclones. I sincerely hope you and your family and all the connections are well and happy, and that you and your mother – my sweet little Auntie had a delightful visit at Cincinnati. With kindred love from both, at this end of the line. I am affectionately and truly yours.
                                                            George W. Campbell
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Miss America of 1922 Had Ties to Sandusky

April 7, 2017, 6:00 am
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One hundred years after David Campbell founded the Sandusky Clarion, his great great granddaughter Mary Katherine Campbell was named Miss America in Atlantic City. A former “Miss Columbus,” she won the title in both 1922 and 1923. The clipping above appeared in the Sandusky Register on August 24, 1924. Miss Campbell had been invited to Sandusky’s Centennial Celebration. (It is unknown if she actually attended the celebration in Sandusky.) Mary Katherine was the daughter of H.R. Campbell, who worked for several years in Ohio governmental offices, including the State Auditor and the Ohio Bureau of Inspection. The grandfather of Mary Katherine Campbell was Frank Little Campbell, former owner of the Blue Limestone Company. Mary Katherine’s great grandfather was George W. Campbell.



Before moving to Delaware, Ohio, George W. Campbell worked for several years with his father in the newspaper publishing business in Sandusky. His father, and great great grandfather of Mary Katherine Campbell was David Campbell, who died in Sandusky in 1861. An inscription on Mr. Campbell’s tombstone in Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery reads: “An Honest Man.”


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Mr. and Mrs. William Townsend

April 10, 2017, 6:00 am
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Now on display at the Follett House Museum, oil paintings of William Townsend and his wife, the former Maria Lamson, were donated to the museum by descendants of Mr. and Mrs. Townsend. William Townsend settled in Sandusky, Ohio between 1815 and 1819. He opened a dry goods store opposite the Colton House in Sandusky, and later went into the commission and forwarding business. Mr. Townsend was the first local merchant to advertise in the Sandusky Clarion. The advertisement below appeared in the Sandusky Clarion of May 15, 1822.


William Townsend was a Sandusky council member when the city was incorporated in 1824, and he also served as the city’s first recorder. He invested in the Mad River Railroad, and owned a line of steamers that ran between Buffalo and western lake ports, including the city of Sandusky. He married Maria Lamson (sometimes listed as Lampson) in 1824.


The Townsends had a large family of eight children, all of whom were girls except for one son named William Kneeland Dell Townsend. An article in At Home in Early Sandusky, by Helen Hansen, states that William Townsend’s employees celebrated the birth of the son in 1840 by firing off guns from the roof of the commission house.  

The former home of William and Maria Townsend was built in 1844, and it still stands on West Washington Street, now a multi-family unit.


Sadly, the happiness of this prosperous local family was shattered in 1849. William and Maria Townsend, their daughter Sarah, as well as a sister of Mrs. Townsend all died between July 27 and July 31, 1849 when a cholera epidemic swept through Sandusky. The oldest Townsend child was Mary Elizabeth Cooke, the wife of Pitt Cooke.  Mr. and Mrs. Pitt Cooke took in Mary’s orphaned siblings, and raised them. A lovely monument at Oakland Cemetery, which honors the memory of William and Maria Townsend, is pictured on this stereographic card created by photographer A.C. Platt.

    

Another beautiful memorial at Oakland Cemetery is connected to the Townsend family. William and Maria Townsend’s youngest daughter Louisa married Theodore Hosmer, the first Mayor of Tacoma, Washington. The final resting place of Louisa Townsend Hosmer, who died in 1885, and Theodore Hosmer, who died in 1900, is in Lot 25 in the North Ridge section of Oakland Cemetery.


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The Firelands Chorus at the Follett House Museum, 1977

April 13, 2017, 6:30 am
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This photograph of members of the Firelands Chorus was taken by Alden Photographers on September 6, 1977. The fashions and hairstyles are definitely reminiscent of the 1970s. 

Don’t forget that the Follett House Museum is open for tours from April through December. You can see four floors of artifacts, furniture and historic photographs from Sandusky and Erie County. Admission to the museum is free.
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