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Amy Ruth Kelly, Biographer of Eleanor of Aquitane

March 3, 2020, 6:00 am
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An article about Amy R. Kelly appeared in the June 9, 1911 issue of the Sandusky Register. While on faculty at WellesleyCollege, she and Laura E. Lockwood edited the book, Letters That Live.


Over one hundred fifty letters appeared in the book, representing seventy authors, including Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll and Emily Dickinson. The New York Timescovered the book in its “Review of Books” section on May 7, 1911.

Miss Kelly is best known for her book,Eleanor of Aquitane and the Four Kings, published in 1950 by the HarvardUniversity Press.  It was the first New York Times bestseller for that publisher. Even though it was written over fifty years ago, many maintain that Miss Kelly’s book it is still the best written biography about Eleanor, mother of Richard the Lionhearted; it has been republished multiple times through the 1990s, and remains in print.  While doing research for the book, Amy Kelly made six trips to Europeto retrace Eleanor’s steps. Her research was meticulous. Time Magazine carried an article about the book in an article “The Greatest Frenchwoman” published in June, 1950.

Amy Ruth Kelly was born in Port Clinton, the daughter of Judge Malcolm Kelly. Judge Kelly was a judge of Erie County Common Pleas Court from 1892 to 1897. He also had served in several offices in OttawaCounty (including a term as Mayor of Port Clinton), and was held in high esteem by the Bar Association. (He was a grandson of William Kelly, builder of the Marblehead Lighthouse.) Amy’s mother was active in women’s suffrage activities in ErieCounty; she donated this “Let Ohio Women Vote” poster to the historical collections of the Sandusky Library.


Amy Kelly lived the last years of her life with her sister Elizabeth“Bessie” Kelly  in Miami, Florida, where she died in February of 1962.
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Laura Jones, Sandusky Businesswoman

March 6, 2020, 6:00 am
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From 1935 until her retirement in 1970, Mrs. Laura Jones was the owner-operator of a dress shop located at 162 Columbus Avenue in Sandusky, Ohio. Laura Jones was the daughter of Martin and Mary (Pulch) Helget. She married Earl Jones in 1917. After only a few years of marriage, Mr. Jones was killed on February 28, 1923 in an electrical accident while he was at work at a manufacturing facility in Youngstown, Ohio. 

Mrs. Jones started out operating a dress shop at the same location as Emma Hansen’s hat shop in downtown Sandusky. An article which appeared in the August 13, 1935 issue of the Sandusky Registerreported that she and Miss Hansen were on a buying trip in Detroit, Michigan. While there, they attended the fall style show at the Hotel Statler. By 1952, Mrs. Jones was the sole proprietor of the Laura Jones Dress Shop.


In the mid-1950s, Laura Jones was a member of the Retail Merchants Association of Sandusky, Ohio. This group was the successor to the merchants’ division of the Sandusky Chamber of Commerce.


In 1962, Mrs. Jones had several items on sale in honor of George Washington’s birthday.


Mrs. Laura Jones retired from her dress shop in 1970. She died in September, 1987 at the age of 92. This hat box from the Laura Jones Dress and Hat Shop is now in the historical collections of the Follett House Museum.


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The Building at 604 West Washington Street Has Served Many Roles

March 9, 2020, 6:00 am
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Before the Erie County Chamber of Commerce moved to its location at 604 West Washington Street, this building was home to the Frey-Groff Funeral Home for several decades.


According to the Ohio Historic House Inventory for Erie County, in 1906 R.E. Schuck, a partner in the Gilcher and Schuck Lumber Company, built a house in the 900 block of Washington Street (later the 600 block of West Washington Street, after street numbers changed in 1915). He had the former Spencer-Phelps home razed in order to make way for his fine, sturdy house built from limestone. After the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Schuck in 1910, publisher A. J. Peters resided in the former Schuck home. Later, Herbert Farrell, founder of the Farrell-Cheek Steel Company lived at this address. 

Fred Frey, Jr. moved his funeral home from Market Street to this location in the mid-1920s.F. Leo Groff joined the business in 1939, and in 1973 the name changed to the Frey-Groff Funeral Home. Now the later generations of the Groffs operate the Groff Funeral Home on East Perkins Avenue. The former downtown chapel is now home to the Erie County Chamber of Commerce. 

This old hitching post reminds us of the early days of this building and before, during the era of horse-powered transportation.

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Michael A. McAdams, Musician and Printer

March 12, 2020, 6:00 am
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Michael A. McAdams was born in Quebec, Canada in 1856. He came to Sandusky, Ohio in 1891 to play with the Cedar Point band. He can be seen with his tuba in the back row of the Ackley Band at Cedar Point in the picture below; he was a member of the band for more than twenty years.


During the winter seasons, Mr. McAdams traveled as a musician with several theatrical groups, including Howe and White’s Circus, the Buffalo Bill tent show, and Bailey & Myers tent show. 

Besides being a popular musician, Michael McAdams also was employed as a printer for several years by the Register Publishing Company. Around 1918 his eyesight began to fail. An article in the March 13, 1924 issue of the Sandusky Register featured an article about a benefit concert performed on his behalf by the Ackley Band. The article stated, in part, “From the moment the conductor raised his baton for the first note of the Sousa March ‘Fairest of the Fair’ till the echoes from the last notes of the ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ died away in the final offering, the program was one of artistic portrayal and mastery of detail.” Mr. McAdams surprised the audience by coming onto the stage and playing a tuba solo, “My Old Kentucky Home,” and “Asleep in the Deep.” This was his first appearance in a public concert in a number of years, and the audience was delighted with his performance. The Register article said that McAdams showed “old time expertness that always made him a favored player in the days of Sandusky’s crack bass bands.”  

On April 18, 1928, Michael A. McAdams died at the Union Printers’ Home in Denver, Colorado.  An obituary, found in the 1928 Obituary Notebook at the Sandusky Library, stated that McAdams had remained friends with E.B. Ackley and other Sandusky musicians throughout the years. The printers’ union as well as several benefit band concerts for Mr. McAdams, aided in making his last days more comfortable.

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Trench Coats Were Popular in Sandusky in 1917

March 15, 2020, 6:00 am
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Inspired by military apparel, trench coats were sold by the Wilcox Company in Sandusky in the fall of 1917. An ad from the Fram read, in regards to military and trench coats for girls:

Here’s to the High School Girls that Want to be Thrifty,
Here’s to Those Who Like to Look Nifty,
Here’s Where We Sell at Less Than Fifty.

The Manhattan Men’s Outfitters carried trench coats for men, as seen in the ad below from the November 30, 1917 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal.


The Michaels-Stern trench coat carried by the Manhattan store featured “warmth without weight” and the “snap and zip of a military garment with the comfort and freedom of an ulster.” Read more about the rise of the trench coat in a Smithsonian article.

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Emily Skillman and Her Brother Alva Halt

March 18, 2020, 6:00 am
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Emily Johanna Halt was born in 1889 to Frederick and Louisa Frey Halt. Sadly, Emily’s father was killed in a railroad accident when she was just a child.  Emily marred Harry Hickman Skillman on October 16, 1907. They were married for over 50 years, until Mr. Skillman died in 1965. She lived to be 94 years of age,  passing away in Milan on March 10, 1983. Mrs. Skillman was survived by a daughter, Lois Skillman. She had outlived her husband and two sons and grandson.

Emily Skillman’s brother Alva Halt, often  known as Al or Alvie, was a well known professional baseball player. Alvie played for the Brooklyn Tip Tops, of the Federal League, in 1914 and 1915, and with the Cleveland Indians during the 1918 season.  He is pictured below with Sandusky’s BPOE Elks Baseball Team in 1910. (Unfortunately, we are not sure which one he is in the picture.)


After the death of Harry and Emily Skillman, family members donated a microfilmed copy of the papers of Harry’s uncle, Isaac Skillman, to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Isaac Skillman served as a Sergeant and later as a Second Lieutenant with the Third Ohio Cavalry during the Civil War. His papers include diary entries and personal recollections of his war experiences. Isaac Skillman died in 1925, and he is buried in Oakland Cemetery.
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Yvonne Fievet, Sandusky Businesswoman

March 21, 2020, 6:00 am
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Yvonne Fievet was born on March 8, 1891 in Fostoria, Ohio, to Pierre and Hyacinth (Desgain) Fievet, both natives of Belgium. By 1930, she lived on Central Avenue in Sandusky, Ohio, with her widowed mother and the family of her brother August Fievet. 

From 1929 to 1965, Yvonne Fievet was the owner and operator of Yvonne’s Hat and Gift Shop in Sandusky. In the early years of her business, the shop was located at 139 West Washington Street. A newspaper advertisement from the September 27, 1935 issue of the Sandusky Register, advertised “Smartest Fall Hats” for the miss and matron, with prices beginning at $1.95. In 1943, she moved her shop to 161 Columbus Avenue in downtown Sandusky.  An article in the March 7, 1951 issue of the Sandusky Register Star News reported that besides hats, Yvonne sold “a dazzling array of costume jewelry and a growing display of miniature Hollywood dolls.”  She also carried handbags, cosmetics, hosiery, aprons, and toiletries for men. Hat styles carried in the spring of 1951 featured off-the-face hats, bonnets, and sailor and chignon styles. One of the brands in Yvonne’s shop was Gage and D’Youveille Original.  

In March of 1952 Miss Fievet participated in the Dale Carnegie Course in effective speaking, leadership and training. A poem dedicated to Yvonne Fievet in the course’s handbook read:

“FeeVee”
The reason firm, the
     temperate will,
Endurance, foresight,
    strength and skill;
A perfect woman, nobly
    planned
To warn, to comfort and
   command.

On October 5, 1992, Yvonne Fievet died at the age of 101. Funeral services were held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, and burial was at Calvary Cemetery. She was survived by three nieces, Yvonne and Lillian Fievet, and Monica Amburn. The younger Yvonne Fievet, not only shared her aunt’s first and last name, but she looked similar in appearance to her aunt. Yvonne Fievet (1909-2000) worked at the Sandusky Library for several years, and also was an accomplished musician. The younger Yvonne Fievet can be seen in the picture below; she is the last person on the right in the back.

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Sandusky and the Great Influenza of 1918

March 24, 2020, 6:00 am
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As we are living through a world-wide pandemic today, so were the people living in 1918. What is often called the Great Influenza struck the nation, and the world, briefly in the Spring of 1918, and returned with a vengeance in the early Fall. In all, between 50 million and 100 million people died worldwide as a result of the flu, with both the old and the young as its victims. In fact, except for children under five years old, the death rates were highest for people between age 25 and 50. 


The people of Sandusky, and all over the United States, faced multiple challenges at that time: first, a world war that began in 1914, with Americans joining in 1917, and then, as that war was waning, a new war against a killer virus. Sanduskians fought both wars.



Many of the nation's earliest victims were soldiers sent to training camps for the war. (It is believed by some experts that Ground Zero for the 1918 outbreak was in Kansas, probably spreading to a military base there. The high concentration of soldiers on bases and in transport to battle zones allowed the virus to travel at great speed. And soldiers returning home often unknowingly brought the influenza with them.

Sandusky and Erie County face a large outbreak, responding in many ways that our similar to our response today. many events were cancelled and businesses were ordered to close; some that could stay open were under strict rules regarding personal contact. A temporary emergency hospital was opened in the newly constructed Elks Lodge on Adams Street.


The exact number of Erie County residents who died from the flu in 1918-19 is uncertain, but it was at least in the hundreds. The influenza hospital operated for about two months, serving 95 patients with 19 deaths (a mortality rate of 20%). By the Summer of 1919, about 32,000 Ohioans died from influenza, about 25,000 more than would have been expected. Nationally, about 675,000 Americans died from the Great Influenza. 

Of course, we hope the current pandemic will not compare to 1918, but we will need to be vigilant. To keep abreast with the Coronavirus in Ohio, follow https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/.
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Mary Elizabeth Seibert Fernau

March 27, 2020, 6:00 am
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Below is a tintype of Mary Elizabeth Seibert, who was born in Sandusky about 1865.


By 1904, Mary Elizabeth Seibert had become the wife of Henry Fernau, who was a painter and interior decorator. They lived at what is now 620 East Adams Street.


Descendants of Mary Elizabeth and Henry Fernau donated several family photographs to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, allowing us to have a visual record of Mrs. Fernau throughout several years.


The funeral card for Mrs. Fernau, who passed away on January 6, 1925, features a touching poem.


A precious one from us has gone
            A voice we love is stilled:
A place is vacant in our home,
            Which never can be filled.
God in his wisdom has recalled,
            The boon his love had given.
And though the body slumbers here
            The soul is safe in heaven.

An obituary for Mary Elizabeth Fernau, found in the 1925 Obituary Notebook at the Sandusky Library, stated that she was “a woman of estimable traits and many relatives and friends will mourn her departure.” Funeral services for Mary Elizabeth Fernau were held at the family residence on Adams Street, and burial was in Oakland Cemetery.

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A Trade Show in Sandusky, Circa 1951

March 30, 2020, 6:00 am
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Several pictures from a Trade Show in Erie County, probably from 1950 or 1951, are on file in the historical collections of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.


Representatives from the Singer Sewing Machine Company demonstrated their sewing machines which sold for as low as $89.50 in the fifties. Singer ads stated that a lifetime of savings could be appreciated if clothing and home furnishings were created by the homemaker instead of purchased. In the early fifties, the Singer Sewing Machine Company was located at 171 East Washington Row, and the company sold sewing machines, vacuum cleaners, and other small home appliances.

Sandusky Lumber & Supply Company, on East Perkins Avenue off of Milan Road, featured a special on Curtis Quality Kitchen Cabinets for $184.00 at the Trade Show.


Hohler Furnace and Sheet Metal Company, at the corner of Decatur and Water Streets, showed a variety of oil and gas heating unites and a gas fired incinerator.


In the display below, Modernfold Doors promised that they could save space and add beauty to the home. An interesting robot model was constructed from Devoe paint cans.


Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to view these and many more vintage photographs from Sandusky and Erie County.
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William H. H. Herbert, Businessman and Civic official

April 2, 2020, 6:00 am
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William Henry Harrison Herbert was born on April 24, 1839 in Hagerstown, Maryland. As a young man, he moved to Paw Paw, Virginia where he made his home with his sister. When the Civil War broke out, he fought for the Confederacy, enlisting in the 12th Virginia Cavalry. He spent time in a northern prison camp at Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio. 

After the war ended, Mr. Herbert left his southern home, and moved north to Sandusky.  He married Elizabeth Davis Lea on November 15, 1877, and by the 1880s was engaged in the lumber business with J. D. Lea. In 1893, he was appointed collector of customs at Sandusky. He also served as a city councilman and on the board of the Water Works at Sandusky. 

On March 28, 1906, William H. H. Herbert died at the residence of his brother-in-law, Edward H. Marsh, on East Washington Street.


An article in the April 16, 1906 issue of the Sandusky Register said about Mr. Herbert, “He left his southern home and came north to engage in business and from that time to the day of his death conducted himself as a high-minded and honorable man of business, taking at the same time an active part in politics and also showing himself ready at all times to bear his share of any public burden connected with any enterprise for the good of the community in which he lived.”

Funeral services were held at the Edward H. Marsh home, with Rev. A.N. Slayton of Grace Church officiating. Members of the Elks and the city council and city officials were in attendance. Burial was at Oakland Cemetery. The pallbearers, all associates of Mr. Herbert were: Judge Thomas M. Sloane, C.W. Sadler, Fred Pickering, T. Pitt Cooke, C.T. Wight, Dr. John T. Haynes, W.H. Gilcher, and Alex M. Wagner. 

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Dairies in Sandusky

April 5, 2020, 6:00 am
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Ohio dairy farms have been providing milk and milk products to residents for many years. In the nineteenth century, milk was made primarily by local farms and delivered to homes. Lewis Neill, Jr.'s milk delivery truck is seen below behind St. Mary's Catholic Church around the turn of the twentieth century. After milking the cows, the farmer poured the milk into large containers and then transferred the milk to individual families' smaller milk containers from his delivery truck.



There are dozens of listings for dairies in the historical Sandusky City Directories, many which represented individuals who operated large dairy farms. Eventually there was enough demand and technology for milk and milk products to be mass produced. Esmond Dairy was begun by Elmer Otto in 1907, and was incorporated in 1920. After starting on Washington Street, the company moved to the 1600 block of Campbell Street by 1919. Delivery trucks operated by the Esmond Dairy improved greatly as technology advanced. Esmond Dairy continued operating in Sandusky into the 1970's.

This truck delivered Esmond Dairy products in 1915.



A red “Quality Checked” mark was a popular advertising logo used by the Esmond Dairy in this 1960 photo:




Pictured below is a promotional item given away by the Leake Dairy, which was located on Seneca Street and was owned by Vere Leake. It appears to be the cover to a sewing kit which was given to Leake Dairy customers in the 1950s or 1960s.


In 1923 the Sandusky City Directory listed these businesses in the Dairies section: August Arheit, Ralph Rodisel, Cloverleaf Dairy, Esmond Dairy, and the Windau Dairy. By 1925 Elmer Otto was manufacturing milk products and ice cream on his own, and A.C. Routh had taken over as president of the Esmond Dairy.


The Toft family had a dairy farm in Erie County since 1900. Toft's Dairy began its retail operations in 1935. In 1937 the business was on the south side of Neilson Street just east of Campbell Street. Later it moved to East Adams Street, and many Sandusky residents will recall Toft's long standing location at 2434 West Monroe Street. In 2003 Toft's Dairy built a large facility at the corner of Venice Road and Edgewater Avenue on Sandusky's west side, with both a manufacturing plant and a retail store. Toft's remains a popular destination for both local residents and tourists.

Historical Sandusky City Directories housed at the Sandusky Library provide listings of dairies and hundreds of other Sandusky businesses throughout history. Article 54 of From the Widow's Walk features an excellent article about "Horse Drawn Milk Delivery," by Helen Hansen and Virginia Steinemann. Read about early developments in the American Dairy Industry in this article from the Special Collections of the National Agricultural Library.
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Signs, Signs (A Preview of an Upcoming Library Program)

April 8, 2020, 6:00 am
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Before television, the internet, and even radio, we still had advertising. But how did advertising reach its potential customers without the media we take for granted today? Newspapers, of course, had plenty of ads, but the only way to see them was to buy a newspaper. Businesses wanted to bring the ads to the people, instead of waiting for them to go look for the ads. So why not make use of the large empty spaces on the sides of buildings that people walk (or ride a trolley) by every day?

Of course, advertising methods (and buildings) have changed over the years, but many of these signs live on as "ghost signs," faded images barely visible but surviving as pieces of urban (and rural: "Mail Pouch"?) history.
Who remembers Betsy Ross bread?
There are several ghost signs in Sandusky and undoubtedly many in other communities as well. In a library program this summer (date TBA), Special Collections Librarian Ron Davidson will share images of many of these signs, and discuss the history of the businesses and locations portrayed, including historic views of signs when they were "living." 


In the meantime, can you find ghost signs in your neighborhood? (Don't forget to practice social distancing while you're out!) Feel free to share your images in comments here or on the related Facebook post. If you'd like, we may even present your image at the library program.

Sometimes we can't read them, but know that something was there!

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Judge George Morton and Dr. George Morton

April 11, 2020, 6:00 am
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In the 1800s, there were two well-known gentlemen, both named George Morton, who called Sandusky home. This excerpt from a page from the 1855 Sandusky City Directory lists both George Mortons along with their address and occupation.





George Morton, the civil engineer, resided at 49 Franklin Street. George R. Morton, the physician, resided at 14 Adams Street. Below is a portrait of Judge George Morton, the former civil engineer in Sandusky, from the Bishop Collection of photographs.




Judge George Morton was born in 1803 in Pennsylvania. He and his wife, the former Ruth Fifield, had a large family of six children. Mr. Morton worked as a civil engineer in Sandusky for many years. From November 1861 to November 1863, he served as Judge of the Erie County Probate Court. After serving as Judge, Mr. Morton went on to work as the Sandusky City Engineer. On June 4, 1888, Judge Morton passed away in Conneaut, Ohio. The Sandusky Register printed a copy of the telegram that had been sent to I.F. Mack & Brother, publishers of the Sandusky Register:


I.F. Mack & Bro:

George Morton died today in the 85th years of his age. Burial at Conneaut, Wednesday.

E. Chapin



We do not own a photograph of Dr. George R. Morton, but we do know that he is buried in Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery, where he has two grave markers. The tall monument provides his dates of birth and death. Dr. Morton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 13, 1806. He died on April 9, 1875 in Columbus, Ohio, while visiting his daughter’s family.





A flat stone is adjacent to the tall monument that honors the doctor's memory. (While one stone lists Dr. Morton’s birth year as 1805, the other states he was born in 1806.)





Dr. George R. Morton first practiced medicine in Coshocton, and then he moved to Sandusky. His later years were spent residing on North Bass Island, where he was involved in the growing of grapes.

Tip for researchers: When you find yourself researching two names that are the same, and the individuals lived in the same county in the same time period, gather all the census and vital records that you can find, and compare the occupations and the names of other family members. Make two separate files with the information you have found, and eventually you will most likely end up with solving the case of the two individuals with the same name.
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Clara Bock, Restaurant Proprietor

April 14, 2020, 6:00 am
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Clara Halawachs was born to Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Halawachs in Germany in 1856. She came to the United States in 1865, according to U.S. Census records. On October 27, 1874, Clara Halawachs married Joseph Bock, who was also a native of Germany. Joseph Bock died of consumption (aka Tuberculosis) in 1895, leaving Clara a widow with four children.

From about 1908 until 1938, Clara Bock ran a home restaurant at 312 West Water Street. Besides running the restaurant, she also catered dinners for the Sandusky Yacht Club and the Kiwanis Club. In 1930 on the occasion of Judge E.B. King’s eightieth birthday, Mrs. Bock presented him with a birthday cake at the July Kiwanis meeting.

On April 1, 1939, Mrs. Clara Bock passed away after a brief illness. Funeral services were held at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Henry Reutler. Burial was at Oakland Cemetery. Despite leaving her homeland at a young age, and losing her husband when she was just a young woman, she was the embodiment of the American success story.

While we do not have any photographs of Mrs. Bock’s home restaurant, below is a picture of the J. and F. Bock Barber Shop in the 1880s, at 812 Water Street, the address of Mrs. Bock’s restaurant prior to the 1915 street numbering changes in Sandusky. Most likely the children in the picture are extended members of the Bock family, and the man may be her husband Joseph.


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D.C. Powers, Pioneer Merchant

April 17, 2020, 6:00 am
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Dewitt Clinton Powers was born in 1844 in Jefferson County, New York. After he came to Sandusky in 1865, he began working as a clerk in the dry goods store of Charles E. and George A. Cooke. After working with C.L. Wagner in dry goods, he began a partnership with William Zollinger. The Powers and Zollinger dry goods store was located at 142 Columbus Avenue and 629 Market Street, in the Cooke block of downtown Sandusky.

By 1890, Mr. Powers was in business on his own with D.C. Powers and Company. He continued in this business until his retirement in 1914. Hewson Peeke wrote in his book A Standard History of Erie County (Lewis Publishing Company, 1916), that D.C. Powers and Company “was recognized as a landmark in the shopping industry of Sandusky.” Mr. Powers is the third individual from the left in the picture of the interior of the D.C. Powers and Company store, according to notes on the original photograph.



On April 23, 1919, Dewitt C. Powers died at the age of 75, after suffering a heart attack. His wife, the former Mary Alvord, had died in 1909. Mr. Powers was survived by a son, Royal A. Powers, and a daughter, Mrs. M.J. Bender. Funeral services were held at the Powers residence, with the Rev. R.J. Beard and A.H. O’Brien officiating. Burial was at Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery.
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Platt's Cemetery Stereographs

April 20, 2020, 6:00 am
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An article appearing in the May 20, 1875 issue of the Sandusky Register read:

Those who neglect to have stereographs of their cemetery lots taken while Mr. Platt is on the grounds will regret it when they see the beautiful pictures he is taking. Notice at Mr. Platt’s gallery some taken last week of Mr. Pitt Cooke’s and Mrs. Judge Caldwell’s grounds.

In 1875 A.C. Platt operated a photographic studio at the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and Water Street in downtown Sandusky. Mr. Platt created a series of stereographic images that featured tombstones at Oakland Cemetery. The image above is a stereograph taken of the Townsend family lot in Block 9 of the cemetery. During the cholera epidemic in Sandusky in 1849, pioneer Sanduskian William T. Townsend, his wife Maria Lamson Townsend, their daughter Sarah, and a sister of Mrs. Townsend, all died from cholera between July 23 and July 31, 1849.


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Frances Lockwood Davis, Civic Leader and Suffragist

April 23, 2020, 6:00 am
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Frances Lockwood was born in Elyria,Ohio in 1849, the oldest daughter of Judge and Mrs. William F. Lockwood. She married Thomas H. B. Davis, a successful businessman, in 1872. They had two children, Thomas H. B. Davis, Jr., and Edith Davis, who later married Clifford M. King.




In 1900, T.H.B. Davis died, at the age of 57. Mr. Davis’s obituary stated that “a son and daughter, together with the wife now left to tread life’s winepress alone, survive him.”

Mrs. Frances Lockwood Davis lived a very full life following her husband’s death. Her obituary, which appears in the 1933 Obituary Notebook, listed her many accomplishments: “Mrs. Davis was active in civic affairs, was the first president of the local Women’s Suffrage association and a member of the Library Building Fund association and of the board of the Sandusky Library association. She was one of the organizers of the Children’s Day Nursery, which later led to the founding of the Erie-co. Children’s Home.” Mrs. Davis passed away on January 22, 1933. She is buried in the North Ridge section of Oakland Cemetery in the family plot.


Mrs. Edith Davis King, daughter of Frances Lockwood Davis, is pictured below. Edith was also the daughter in law of Judge and Mrs. E. B King. Edith was the Assistant Librarian of the Sandusky Library in 1930, according the U.S. Census records for Erie County.


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Knapp’s Balsamic Cough Syrup

April 26, 2020, 6:00 am
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The advertisement above appeared in the Sandusky Register on February 8, 1875. John Knapp was associated with the Sandusky Medicine Company, which had its offices in the Sandusky Register building on Water Street in 1874 and 1875. Knapp’s Balsamic Cough Syrup was recommended for colds, sore throat, laryngitis, and all diseases of the throat.

Edwin Cutter, of Cleveland, Ohio gave a testimonial in the newspaper. He said he had tried a hundred remedies for asthma, but Knapp’s Balsamic Cough Syrup gave him the quickest and most effectual remedy of any other product. Mrs. E. Husted of Norwalk, Ohio stated that she was afflicted with a distressing cough for many years, but she found immediate relief with Knapp’s Balsamic Cough Syrup. The Sandusky Medicine Company seems to have gone out of business shortly after 1875, and by 1900, John Knapp was residing in Cleveland, Ohio with his daughter and her family. Patent medicines were very popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Sandusky’s drug stores sold many patent medicines before the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.
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Miller's Milwaukee Beer

April 29, 2020, 6:00 am
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Fred Zander was the manager of the Sandusky branch of the Fred Miller Brewing Company of Milwaukee, according to the 1906-1907 Sandusky City Directory. The building was located at the southwest corner of Warren and Monroe Streets. By 1912 the business moved to 722 Market Street, and the agents for the company were Fred W. Zander and Edward H. Hanson. Miller’s “Buffet” beer claimed to be the purest tasting bottled beer.



An article in the May 23, 1916 Sandusky Star Journal reported that Mr. and Mrs. Zander had moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. From Toledo, Ohio to Chicago, Illinois, they followed the signposts for the Lincoln Highway. They had a pleasant trip except for 75 miles of muddy roads in Ohio.


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