Quantcast
Channel: Sandusky History
Viewing all 1250 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

Christmas Greetings, With a Christmas Card Inspired by Sandusky’s Washington Square

December 25, 2019, 6:00 am
$
0
0



In 1966, Eileen Detlefsen created a series of Christmas cards which were inspired by scenes from old Sandusky.  Mrs. Detlefsen used the linoleum block print technique to make the scenes on each holiday card. Each handmade card was stamped “Eileen’s Originals” on the back.  The card above features Sandusky’s public square, also known as Washington Square, about 1863. Buildings featured in the print include Grace Episcopal Church, the old Academy building, the former Congregational Church building, and at the far right, the First Presbyterian Church. An undated (and unsourced) photocopy in our historical files appears to be a copy taken from the page of a nineteenth century book. While the photocopy is not identical to the print created by Eileen, both images are quite similar.



Merry Christmas!

↧
Search

African American Barbers in Sandusky

December 30, 2019, 6:35 am
$
0
0

There have beenbarbers for as long as history has been recorded.  Razors have been found dating back to the Bronze Age, and shaving is mentioned in the Bible. In Sandusky there were many barber shops located within local hotels, for the convenience of out of town travelers.  Pictured below is the J. and F. Bock Barber Shop, at 810 Water Streetaround 1886.  Joseph and Frank Bock’s father Matthias G. Bock was listed as a barber in the 1855 Sandusky City Directory.


Barbering was one of the few professions open to black men in the nineteenth century, so several shops in Sandusky were operated by African Americans. In the Firelands Pioneer of July 1888 Rush Sloanestates that Grant Ritchie, an African American, opened the first barber shop in Sandusky. Ritchie “was the earliest and most active agent of the line [Underground Railroad] and always successful in his operations.” Another African American agent of the Underground Railroad was John Lott, who barbered in Sanduskyin the 1840’s and 1850’s.  It is thought that many discussions and plans for the freeing of fugitive slaves via the underground railway took place in barber shops, where African American men could speak freely.

Mr. Lott’s advertisement appeared in The Daily Sanduskian on January 31, 1851.


John Lott was among the several African American citizens of Sandusky who presented Rush Sloane with a silver headed cane in appreciation of his efforts on behalf of seven fugitive slaves whom he represented in 1852. You can still see this cane at the FollettHouseMuseum. Unfortunately, no known photographs exist of Mr. Ritchie or Mr. Lott.

Barber shops continue to thrive all over America, particularly in the African American community, where people can get a haircut as well as catch up on the local gossip. Barber shops have been the inspiration for books, magazine articles, barbershop quartets, and even a major motion picture in 2002.

↧
↧

Bobbed Hair

January 2, 2020, 6:00 am
$
0
0
Members of the Sandusky High School Class of 1928

The bob cut hairstylewas popular in the United States in the 1920’s. It was a hairstyle for women with the hair cut to neck or chin length, all around the head. The public reaction to bobbed hairstyles varied widely. An Associated Press article featured in the September 6, 1921 issue of the Sandusky Register was entitled “Bobbed Hair Argument Gets Serious.” Some employers banned the new shorter hair styles. The AP article reprinted editorials which represented opposing points of view on bobbed hair. One editorial stated, “Bobbed haired girls may not be vapid and silly, we don’t say they are, but you can’t get around the fact that they look that way. And, naturally, a girl that appears frivolous is not wanted in business, even though she may be serious minded.”


Another editorial thought bobbed hair was sensible. “Bobbed hair is not a foolish fad. It is the most sensible way for business girls to wear it. They don’t keep looking at the mirror all the time, and it gives them a chance to type a letter all the way from the ‘replying to you favor’ to the ‘we beg to remain’ without having to fidget around trying to keep stands from trickling the ears or blowing in the eyes.”

In the picture below, three young ladies are getting bob haircuts at the McMahon Barber Shop, inside the Hotel Rieger, in 1925.


Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to view historical photographs and high school yearbooks, to see the fashions and hairstyles of past generations in Sandusky and Erie County.
↧

Men of Sandusky

January 5, 2020, 6:43 am
$
0
0




In 1895, a booklet promoting Sandusky was printed by the I. F. Mack & Brother Printers in Sandusky, Ohio. On page 3 is the beginning of an introductory essay by C. S. Van Tassel, the publisher of this book. According to Ohio Authors and Their Books, Charles Sumner Van Tassel was born in Wood County, Ohio in 1858, and worked at several Ohio newspapers, including the Sandusky Register, before he retired from the field of journalism to focus on writing books on local history.


Men of Sandusky begins with a brief history of the city of Sandusky. Photographs taken by Platt feature scenes of Sandusky, including city parks, churches, schools, and government offices. Several pages of the booklet are devoted to the businesses, newspapers, and transportation services of the Sandusky area. Pages 17 through 21 focus on the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home, now known as the Ohio Veterans Home. On page 15, General Sheridan is quoted as saying “Sandusky ought to be made the most beautiful city on the Lakes….”

Forty nine leading male citizens are pictured in the second half of Men of Sandusky. Jacob Kuebeler and John E. Stang were both connected with local brewing businesses.


I.F. and John T. Mack were the co-owners of the Sandusky Register


An index (pp. 57-59) to the men pictured in Men of Sandusky gives a very brief description of the prominent Sandusky men whose portraits appear in the booklet.

Visit the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library to view Men of Sandusky.
↧

Rollin M. Wilcox, "An Honest Merchant"

January 8, 2020, 6:00 am
$
0
0

Rollin Merritt Wilcox was born in 1836 in Rock Creek, Ashtabula County, Ohioto Harmon Wilcox and his wife, the former Maria Mabel Hubbard. Rollin’s uncles were well known Sanduskybusinessmen, L.S. and R.B. Hubbard. Below is an undated daguerreotype of Rollin and his brother E.H. Wilcox.



In 1859 Mr. Wilcox married Martha Newton, and they had a daughter named Jessie. Mrs. Martha Newton Wilcox died when she was not yet age 30. In 1870, Rollin married again, to Helen M. Smith. Rollin and Helen also had several children, Laura, Merritt, and Mabel. Mrs. Helen Smith Wilcox was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Library Association of Sandusky, from 1875 to 1877.


For many years, Mr. Wilcox was connected with the Wilcox Company, a dry goods and department store, in operation in Sanduskyfrom 1886 until 1929.

            

In the first days of operation, the store was called Hubbard and Wilcox. Later it became March and Wilcox. The third name of the business was E. H. and R. M. Wilcox. (Edward Harmon and Rollin M. Wilcox were brothers.) After the death of Edward H. Wilcox in 1886 his son C. B. Wilcox entered the firm, and the firm became known as the R. M. & C. B. Wilcox Company.  

On May 1, 1902, Rollin M. Wilcox died at his home on South Columbus Avenue, after a brief illness. An obituary in the May 4, 1902 issue of the Sandusky Register featured the headline, “A Good Man Gone.” The article went on to declare that he was an honest merchant, and maintained that excellent reputation throughout his long career. Mr. Wilcox was buried at Sandusky’s OaklandCemetery in the family lot. After his death, his son Merritt S. Wilcox began working for the company.
↧
↧

William A. Richardson, Educator

January 11, 2020, 6:00 am
$
0
0


William A. Richardson was born in Port Clinton, Ohio, on February 17, 1869 to David and Paulina Richardson. William’s father was born in Scotland, and his mother was born in Bavaria. After working as an educator in Port Clinton, Mr. Richardson went to SanduskyHigh School, serving from 1901 until 1935. From 1914 to 1921, he served as principal of the school. For several years, Mr. Richardson taught algebra and geometry at Sandusky High. 

A newspaper article that highlighted his long career stated that “Richardsonis a teacher heart and soul. He feels that an instructor has a real job, whose ability comes mostly through experience and a born liking and aptitude for imparting knowledge. He has spent his entire life, in and out of school, perfecting himself in his job.” 

On January 12, 1941, William A. Richardson passed away, after a lengthy illness. Karl A. Whinnery, then the superintendent of Sandusky City Schools, stated: “With the death of W. A. Richardson, Sandusky loses one of its finest citizens. He served the SanduskyHigh School for thirty five years, one of the longest terms in the history of the school. The quality of his work was entirely in keeping with the length of his service. He was held in the highest regard by both the teachers and students.”



↧

Sandusky, the "Ideal Home City"

January 14, 2020, 9:09 am
$
0
0


In the 1912-1913 Sandusky City Directory, Conrad Boehm was listed as a confectioner at 103 Columbus Avenue, in the West House hotel in downtown Sandusky (the present site of the State Theatre). An envelope from Mr. Boehm’s store advertised Sandusky as the “Ideal Home City.”


Conrad Boehm sold post cards and other souvenirs at the time of the Perry Centennial Celebration in September, 1913. The image he used on the envelope was from a popular postcard at the time. 

The return address on the envelope
A gate featured on the envelope promotes Sandusky as being the Gateway to the Perry Centennial, with steamers providing a direct route from Sandusky to Put-In-Bay. (Note that the imagined Perry's Victory monument doesn't quite match how it ended up in reality.) Cheap fuel, power, and free factory sites are also promoted on the envelope.  Sandusky has long been a hub of transportation, with Sandusky Bay being a natural harbor on the Great Lakes, and railroads running east, west, and south to and from the city. 

To read more about the history of transportation in Sandusky, see Leola M. Stewart’s article entitled “Sandusky, Pioneer Link Between Rail and Sail,” available on the Ohio History Connection’s website.

↧

Anna Gilbert’s Autograph Book

January 17, 2020, 6:00 am
$
0
0

Anna Gilbert, daughter of George and Anna Gilbert, is pictured above in her graduation picture from  Sandusky High School in 1892 The picture was taken by photographer J.M. Lloyd. In 1884 Anna received an autograph album as a Christmas gift. The autographs Anna collected range in date from 1884 to 1890. Several of the verses written to Annie were decorated with colorful illustrations.

On February 14, 1885, E.A. Gilbert wrote this verse encouraging Annie to think of the author, even if she were to live far away in the future:


Minnie Carter signed this verse in 1886:

George M. Stevenson suggested that Anna was the female pictured on the page on which he signed his name.

Anna Gilbert lived to the age of 96. She passed away on January 17, 1970, at the colonial Manor Nursing Home. An obituary for Anna Gilbert appeared in the January 16, 1970 issue of the Sandusky Register. Anna was a retired bookkeeper, and had been employed at several area businesses, including several wineries, the former Roberts Motor Company, and Harten and Brooks Motor Sales.
↧
Search

A Crowd Gathered in Milan in the 1890s (Mystery Photo)

January 27, 2020, 6:25 am
$
0
0


In the late 1890s, amateur photographers from Milan, F.T. Cooke and K.P. Ruggles, took photographs of a crowd gathering to hear someone speak in front of an electric railway car. There was no information accompanying the original picture as to the people in the scene, or the reason for the gathering. The man speaking at the time was moving when the picture was taken, so his face is blurred. Several other men are sitting nearby on the speakers' platform.


As was the custom of the time, almost all the people were wearing hats. The ladies’ dresses were floor length. The streetcar was part of the Sandusky, Milan & Norwalk Electric Railwayline that was in operation at that time. Frank T. Cooke moved from Milan to Oberlin, where he became an agent for the Eastman Kodak Company. Mr. Cooke worked as a photo finisher at the A.G. Comings and Son bookstore for several years. If anyone has more details about this scene from Milan, please leave a message in the comments section of this post.

Edit: If you look closely particularly at the second image you could see portraits of men, draped in bunting, suggesting that this might be a political rally of some sort. William McKinley ran for Governor in 1891 and President in 1896, but the visible portraits do not show his face. Could he be the blurred-faced man speaking? We don't know, but have some doubts.
↧
↧

Harry G. Olds, Photographer in Sandusky and Argentina

January 30, 2020, 6:00 am
$
0
0


In the novelty picture above, taken in Sandusky at the Bishop & Barker Photographic Studio in the late 1880’s are Harry Olds, Charlie Olds, John Irvine, and another male friend. The initials H.O. can be seen on the fan that Harry holds, on the left side of the image. 

Harry Grant Olds was born in Sandusky on November 3, 1868, to Mr. and Mrs. Henry H. Olds. Harry’s brother Charlie was born in 1871. On a passport application issued to Harry G. Olds in 1921 indicated that his father had died by 1921, and his mother Georgia Olds was residing in Detroit, Michigan. After working in Sandusky, Ohio as a photographer, around the turn of the twentieth century, Harry G. Olds moved to Argentina, where he had a successful career as a commercial photographer. In 1998, a book of his photographs was published in Argentina, entitled: Fotografías, 1900-1943 (Buenos Aires : Fundación Antorchas, 1998.) While this book is not found in the ClevNet library consortium, several copies of Fotografías, 1900-1943 are found in academic libraries in the United States and other countries.


Book Description:
Buenos Aires,: Ediciones Fundación Antorchas,, 1998,. 108p. b/w plates (1 color), ports., ind., pict. wrps. 9.5x10  in. The work of Harry Grant Olds,  Ohio-born photographer who relocated to Argentina in 1899 and lived there until his death in 1943. Much of this relatively unknown, commercial photographer's work was marketed in postcard form. His original negatives show that he concentrated on institutional, documentary and journalistic photography, publicity and landscapes in and around Buenos Aires. 
↧

Sandusky’s 14th Semi-Annual Hancock Street Sale in 1925

February 2, 2020, 6:00 am
$
0
0

From February 3 to February 14, 1925, a sale was held by several merchants whose businesses were located on Hancock Street in Sandusky.  A large advertisement which appeared in the February 1, 1925 issue of the Sandusky Register stated,“The Whole Street Ablaze with Bargains – Come, Get your Share.” In the 1920s, the H and S Modern Baking Company (maker of Betsy Ross Bread) had their main bakery at 625 Hancock Street, with another retail store located on Columbus Avenue. At that time, baked goods from the bakery were still transported by horse and wagon.


L.A. Biehl, who had a drug store at the northwest corner of Monroe and Hancock Streets, sold valentines for one cent, and advertised Crane’s candies during the February sale. Shoppers could get to Hancock Street easily via the streetcar, which ran down Hancock Street.

Image circa 1900
The many ads in the Sandusky Register for the Hancock Street Sale were indicative of a different era. Lange’s Grocery still made home deliveries, and the Hoffman Coal Company served the many Sandusky residents who heated their homes and businesses with coal. Al O. Pietschman sold button hooks and shoe horns for one cent each. Pusch’s and the Parrot Art Shoppe both sold ladies’ bloomers, along with many other products at their stores.

Browsing through historical newspapers can provide hours of learning and entertainment, as one notices how some things change over time, yet some things remain the same. Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to view local newspapers dating back to 1822, available on microfilm and online.
↧

The Sandusky Booster

February 5, 2020, 6:00 am
$
0
0

Albert B. Pierpont owned and operated Pierpont Advertising Service, at 605 E. Washington Street in Sandusky, Ohio. Pierpont Advertising was the publisher of The Sandusky Booster from about 1927 to 1942. The publication’s purpose, as told in its masthead, was to “Boost Sandusky by Patronizing Sandusky Store Owners.”  A microfilmed copy of The Sandusky Booster from February 7, 1930 is available at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. The publication stated that it provided economical advertising for Sandusky merchants, who offered values for Sandusky housewives. 

Ebertshauser’s Grocery, at Decatur and Jefferson Streets, advertised fancy roasted Alaskan reindeer meat, and Lusitania Portugal sardines. A haircut at Patterson’s cost thirty five cents, and a marcel wave was fifty cents. John G. Heyman, a local coal dealer, ran two advertisements in The Sandusky Booster, and stated that “I can make it hot for you!”  The Citizens Banking Company promised safety, courtesy, promptness, and cheerfulness. The Pelican and Martin’s Confectionery sold a variety of sweet treats just in time for Valentine’s Day. Silk stockings were a popular item sold by the Kugel Brothers store “on the Avenue.”


Here are a few more advertisements from Sandusky businesses in 1930:


The prices of groceries and lunches were very reasonable in 1930. Mulheran’s Restaurant at the Sloane House featured a thirty five cent lunch plate and a fifty cent dinner (about $7.50 in today's money).


Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, to view The Sandusky Booster as well as several decades of the Sandusky Register and other local newspapers, dating back to 1822.
↧

Boy Scouts Celebrated Twelfth Anniversary in 1922

February 8, 2020, 6:00 am
$
0
0

An article,“Whole Nation Celebrates Scout Birthday,” appeared in the February 8, 1922 issue of the Sandusky Register, reporting on the anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scouts of America in 1910. Sandusky celebrated along with the rest of the U.S. 

To mark this twelfth birthday, Sandusky scouts took a hike to the Plum Brook Country Club. The photograph above shows the Scouts and their leaders on the steps of Sandusky High School, just before they left for the anniversary hike. Some of the boys are holding their sack lunches. In the Register article, Paul R. Savanack, the Scout executive for Sandusky said, “The normal boy has over 3000 hours of unorganized time on his hands in a year to use as he thinks best. That is the reason the scout work is filling such a place in the lives of the boys from 12 to 20 years.” 

In 1922 there were twelve local scout troops in Sandusky, with over 200 members. Dr. Charles E. Stroud had started the first Sandusky Boy Scout troop in December 1910.
↧
↧

Movietone’s Presentation of “Mother Knows Best”

February 11, 2020, 6:00 am
$
0
0


In 1929, the Movietone movie, Mother Knows Best, played at Schine’s State Theater in Sandusky on February 7, 8, and 9. The movie was based on Edna Ferber’s novel of the same name. In the film, Madge Bellamy portrayed actress Sally Quail, whose professional and personal was being dominated by her mother. Many critics felt that the film was loosely based on the life of actress Elsie Janis. The movie was part a silent movie, but it did have some scenes in which the characters spoke.



Advertisements for Mother Knows Best appeared in both the Sandusky Register and Sandusky Star Journal. Both papers featured a contest in which pieces of a puzzle could be put together to form a scene from the movie. The first 25 people to solve the puzzle correctly would win two tickets to the movie.

↧

A Victorian-Era Valentine

February 14, 2020, 6:00 am
$
0
0


This ornate card is housed in the historical collections of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. It is decorated with flowers and lace, which is typical of the Victorian era. Inside the card is a verse that reads:

Return My Love
Love is dangerous, they say;
But what am I to do-
When you and I met the other day,
I fell in love with you.

But if you will return my love,
I don’t mind what they say;
Our vows will be registered above-
So name the happy day.

The card was sent to Miss Capitola E. Rockwell of Prout’s Station, Erie County, Ohio. The small envelope is embossed with a floral design. The one-cent Benjamin Franklin stamp was first issued in 1870.


By searching the name of Capitola Rockwell in the FamilySearch database, we learn that she married Charles O. Merry in Erie County, Ohio, on April 3, 1879.  Their marriage license was filed at Probate Court of the Erie County Courthouse.
            

Charles and Capitola Merry were married for sixty-five years. They had four children, and several grandchildren and great grandchildren. You can read much more about both Charles and Capitola Merry on pages 1051-1053 of Hewson Peeke’s book A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio (Lewis Publishing Company, 1916.)  The lovely card which was sent to Capitola before she wed was not signed, so we do not know if it was sent by her future husband or by another suitor.
↧
Search

Charles P. Caldwell's Farewell Poem

February 17, 2020, 6:00 am
$
0
0


On page 11 of the 1924 Obituary Notebook at the Sandusky Library is the final farewell of Charles P. Caldwell to his family and friends. Mr. Caldwell was a veteran journalist who worked for the Sandusky Register for several years. He was born in Bristol, Ohio in 1852, and attended Hiram College when James A. Garfield was on the faculty. After working on newspapers in Warren and Cleveland, he came to Sandusky in 1872, to work under I.F. Mack at the Sandusky Register. 

In his early years at the Register, Mr. Caldwell was reporter, local news editor, telegraph editor and proofreader, all at the same time. While at the Register he met many well-known people, including James Blaine, William McKinley, Senators Foracker and Sherman, President R.B. Hayes, Governor Charles Foster, Jay Cooke, and Andrew Carnegie. Two of his earliest stories at the Sandusky Register were the notorious lynching of William Taylor in 1878 and the 1882 American Eagle disaster. In 1892, Mr. Caldwell was appointed Deputy Collector of Customs. He continued to work in the Customs office until 1919, when he was transferred to Dayton. He retired in 1922, and moved back to Sandusky, where he resided until his death on February 10, 1924. 

 After Mr. Caldwell died, a poem was found in his pocket, which he had written on July 4, 1922. He asked that the poem by printed in the Sandusky Register after his death. The poem read:

FAREWELL
By Chas. P. Caldwell

It is a solemn thought as death draws near
That I must part from those I hold most dear.
‘Tis certain when I came upon this earth
I had no choice whatever as to birth,
And, likewise, to my last expiring breath,
I’ll helpless be to stay the hand of Death,
For He who gave us life alone controls
The destinies of our immortal souls.
Death is the common end of all mankind,
And to that fate ‘tis best to be resigned.
So live that when the end of life draws nigh
You’ll not be stricken with the fear to die.

The light grows dim! Shades of eternal night
Foretell my soul is soon to take its flight;
And ere these final parting lines are read
The writer will be numbered with the dead.
Life will have vanished like a passing dream,
And left Death’s awful hush to reign supreme-
When all that’s mortal to my grave descends,
‘Twill be a mute farewell to kin and friends.
The rains and snows will beat upon my tomb;
The brightest sun cannot dispel its gloom.
When in the darkness of unending night,
I lie at rest, obscured from human sight,
I hope that you may sometimes be inclined
To hold a friendly thought of me in mind.
↧

D. C. Richmond’s Justice of the Peace Docket, Perkins Township

February 20, 2020, 6:00 am
$
0
0
Former Sandusky Library Board member, Mrs. Sakie Merz, donated her grandfather’s Justice of the Peace Docket to the historical collections of the Sandusky Library. The entries were recorded in the 1840s in Perkins Township of Erie County.


The first entry, dated November 18, 1844 was an assault and battery case. Horace J. Bell took an oath and stated that Thomas McGee unlawfully assaulted him. At first Mr. McGee pleaded Not Guilty, but later he pleaded Guilty and was fined six dollars.


The docket contains several other assault and battery cases, as well as cases dealing with perjury, attempted rape, and cases involving goods and chattel. Many lists of witnesses and bail payments are also on record in the Docket.

Half of the Mr. Richmond’s ledger contains the Minutes of the Proceedings of the 4th Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 11thDivision of the Ohio Militia, from 1838 through 1843.

Below is a page from the Militia Minutes which shows that William D. Lindsley was chosen to be the Colonel of the Militia, and H. J. Carpender selected as Lieutenant Colonel, on January 12, 1839.



David Chester Richmond was born in Connecticut on January 21, 1815. He moved to Erie County, Ohio in 1837, and married Sarah Burr in 1838. He died on February 17, 1888. Mr. Richmond was active in the Ohio State Board of Agriculture and the State Horticultural Society. He served in the Ohio General Assembly from 1872-1876. The Cyclopedia of American Horticulture concludes its biographical sketch about D. C. Richmond with this statement:  “Colonel Richmond was a conspicuous example of the influence which a man of ability and enthusiasm may exert in the uplifting of agricultural conditions in his neighborhood and in the states.”
↧
↧

Bonnie Schwerer Danced and Whistled Her Way to Fame

February 23, 2020, 6:00 am
$
0
0

      
An article in the Sandusky Register of July 2, 1965 said about Bonnie Schwerer, “People who resided in Sandusky prior to 1950 probably remember the former Bonnie Schwerer as the girl who danced and whistled her way to fame with the late Ted Weems Orchestra.” Bonnie Schwerer grew up in Sandusky, Ohio, and she took dance lessons at the Kay Lutes studio, once located in the building at the intersection of Monroe, Elm, and Hancock Streets.


In the 1950 Bonnie Schwerer, who used the stage name Bonnie Ann Shaw, appeared as a featured singer and whistler with the Ted Weems Orchestra. She is pictured below as a young woman in a photo taken by the Torow Studio.

             
Bonnie married and had three daughters. Following a divorce, she moved back to Sandusky to look after her parents. Bonnie Schwerer Moran died in 2003, after a battle with lung cancer. She was fondly remembered by those who had known her so well in her hometown of Sandusky. Obituaries for Bonnie Moran appeared in the Toledo Blade on May 11, 2003, and in the Sandusky Register on May 10, 2003. 

In the picture below, a young Bonnie Schwerer is pictured with fellow musician Rosemary Schultz, and an unidentified young woman.

↧

Job Fish Taught School in Erie County for 53 Years

February 26, 2020, 6:00 am
$
0
0



Job Fish was born in Niagara County, New York, in 1828, to Elias Fish and the former Betsy Van Wagner. He traced his Quaker ancestors back to Thomas Fish, who resided in Rhode Island in the 1640s. Elias Fish and his family moved to Geauga County, Ohio in 1843, where Job attended the local schools. Two of his teachers were Joseph W. Gray, the founder of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and his older brother Charles Fish, an attorney in Cleveland. 

The young Job Fish worked as a driver on the towpath of the Erie Canal in the summer of 1843. He attended the Western Reserve Seminary in 1845 and 1846, and Dr. Lord’s school in Kirtland in 1846 and 1847. Later he studied law at the law office of his brother Charles. When he was 17, he started his own debating school. In 1848 and 1849, Fish began giving lectures in various towns in northern Ohio. He settled in Erie County in 1854, and he taught in the county for over fifty years. 

Hewson Peeke provided a listing of the schools where Job Fish taught in his book A Standard History of Erie County (Lewis Publishing Co., 1916.)


Mr. Fish also conducted sessions for the training of teachers.


An article about Job Fish in the Firelands Pioneer began with the sentence, “No one has exercised in Erie County a larger influence as a teacher than the venerable Job Fish.” The author said of Mr. Fish, “All his life his greatest interest has been in human beings. His heart went out to each and every one of his pupils: and so manifestly genuine was his desire to help them make the utmost of themselves that all their natural timidity and reserve vanished, and they freely and unconsciously unfolded to him their better natures, which were thus in the most favorable condition for development.” Mr. Fish never had to resort to punishment, threat, or exhortation. Dozens of students made Mr. Fish their confidante and counselor. Job Fish could speak in nine different languages, and he learned how to read French, German, Spanish and Dutch after he was fifty years old. 

On February 27, 1923, Job Fish died in Illinois at the age of 95. His wife had passed away in 1904. He was survived by three sons and three daughters. He was buried at the Shadyside Cemeteryin Auburn Corners, Geauga County, Ohio.

↧

“Midsummer Eve” at Monroe School in 1916

February 29, 2020, 6:00 am
$
0
0

An article in the January 28, 1916 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal reported that every student in Monroe School was assigned to play a part in the musical, Midsummer Eve, to be performed at the auditorium of the Sandusky High School auditorium. In the play, the main character Dorothy, played by Dorothy Wiegel, visits the toy department of a large department store, and then has a dream about an imaginary land of dolls. Dorothy gets lost, and is rescued by elves. In the dream she becomes a fairy, and is involved in the Fairy Court.


A nine piece orchestra provided music for the play, under the direction of Harold Foster. George F. Andersondid the orchestration for Act Two. Many children of local Sandusky residents took part in Midsummer Eve, including the two children of James Begg, James T. Begg, Jr. and Eleanor Begg.  James T. Begg was the superintendent of Sandusky City Schools from 1913 – 1917, and served as a Representative in the United States Congress from 1919 to 1929. Elmer Frank, who played an elf in the school play, later studied music in Europe and founded the Sandusky Choral Society. The son of prominent Sandusky businessman, J.J. Dauch, Wade Dauch, also played an elf in “Midsummer Eve.”



According to Ellie Damm’s book, Treasure by the Bay, Monroe School, also known as the Ninth Ward School, was built in 1894 by George Feick, and served students in the north central section of Sandusky. Until Jackson Junior High was built, grades one through eight attended Monroe School.

Midsummer Eve was so popular at its first performance on February 29, 1916, that another performance was given on March 6. Later in the month, Monroe School students performed scenes from the play at the assembly hall of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home in Sandusky, along with several patriotic musical numbers.
↧
Viewing all 1250 articles
Browse latest View live
Search
<script src="https://jsc.adskeeper.com/r/s/rssing.com.1596347.js" async> </script>