Pipe Creek runs through Erie County from Groton Township to Sandusky Bay, and is often mentioned in local county histories as being a site where pioneers first settled. It is believed that the name Pipe Creek came from the clay found in the creek bed, from which Native Americans made pipes. Today there is a Pipe Creek wildlifearea at the mouth of the bay. 

Scrapbooking is now a billion dollar a year business, but it has been done in a variety of forms for centuries. Throughout history people have kept scrapbooks of newspaper clippings, funeral cards, photographs, and greeting cards to keep a record of special memories. Thomas Jefferson kept a scrapbook of poetry and prose. The Hayes Presidential Center has both diaries and scrapbooks of former President Rutherford B. Hayes. Often a grandmother’s clipping book is a prized family heirloom.

Clarabelle Cayhoe’s memory book is one of the many scrapbooks housed at the ArchivesResearchCenterof the Sandusky Library.

Clarabelle was the daughter of Charles G. Cayhoe, who taught writing and drawing in the Sandusky Schools from 1909 through 1919; he was also one the organizers of Sandusky’s First Christian Church.

Clarabelle graduated from SanduskyHigh Schoolin 1922.  Some of the items which Clarabelle kept in her memory book are: grade cards, candid photos of her classmates, notes and photographs from trips, newspaper articles, mementos from parties, and several poems and autographs.

Charles E. Frohman, who later became noted as a local historian and author, signed Clarabelle’s memory book on page 42.

On June 29, 1921, Clarabelle and several family and friends went to Put in Bay.

If your ancestors lived in Sandusky, you can learn interesting details about their lives by looking through old yearbooks, city directories, and several histories of Sanduskyand ErieCounty.

An interior scene at the Atlantic Pleasure Gardens in the 1870s

When he was old enough, Herman took one of his father’s boats out on Sandusky Bay for fishing parties. Then in the 1880s he left home on the train and headed west where he worked on a cattle ranch. Eventually he moved back to Ohio and married Mary Rodecker. They had two daughters, and resided in Cuyahoga County, where Herman worked in the shoe business. 

In the portion of the notebook which includes memories of Hedwig Zistel are Hedwig’s recollections of life in Sandusky in the 1800s. She recalled that the Great Western Band used to have a concert every Wednesday night at the Atlantic Gardens.

Stereographic Image of Great Western Band circa 1880

Her job was to clean the chimneys. Hedwig, also known as Hettie or Hattie, told about her father inventing a rustic cash register, and an ice elevator. She also recalled her brother Oscar’s inventions, especially the live fish car. Hettie became an apprentice seamstress, after leaving school at a young age. In 1891, she married Charles Schippel. Hettie lived to the age of 91, passing away in January of 1962. This notebook of recollections of Herman and Hedwig Zistel is fascinating to read. It takes one back to a day before television and automobiles, and gives details about what everyday life was like in Sandusky, Ohio from a long gone era.

Now a part of the collections of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, this textbook was once used by Erma and Bertha Jahraus, daughters of Sandusky residents William and Lena Jahraus. The book cover protecting the book was acquired at S.T. Lemley’s Bookstore in Sandusky. Mr. Lemley had a bookstore and stationery business in Sandusky from about 1904 to 1909.

In the 1800’s and early 1900’s, German was the first language in many homes in Sandusky. It was taught as a subject in school, and some Sandusky churches offered services in German. Soon after the United States entered World War I, the use of the German language in local schools and churches disappeared due to anti-German sentiment.

The 80 page booklet featured recipes for breakfast, lunch and supper. Also included in the booklet were advertisements for household goods that were manufactured by the Enterprise Manufacturing Company. Coffee mills, irons, raisin seeders, and ice mills are just some of the products which were made by the Enterprise Manufacturing Co.

Helen Louise Johnson was educated at the Philadelphia Cooking School. She wrote a chapter on “Cooking as an Art” for the Congress of Women which was held at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The Enterprising Housekeeper was printed in several editions between 1896 and 1906. Copies were carried by hardware stores and general merchandise stores all across the United States. The 1897 edition sold for fifty cents, and was carried locally by the J. J. Butts & Son Hardware Store.

The J. J. Butts store was on Columbus Avenue in Sandusky, Ohio from 1892 until May of 1920. Mr. Butts was considered a pioneer hardware merchant of Sandusky, having first worked for Barney and Ferris. His first business operated under the name of Butts and Whitworth from 1881 through 1892. Mr. J. J. Butts died on September 15, 1927, and he is buried in Oakland Cemetery.

Ferdinand Puehringer led aband at Cedar Point in the 1880s. He is pictured below with several  band members, including Fred Bauman, Maxwell Godfrey, J. Bolton, Ed Pelding, M. McAdams, Joseph Bock, and Max Wintrich. (Fred Bauman was a pioneer musician in Sandusky, having also been director of the Great Western Band and a member of Ackley’s Band. Read more about Fred Bauman in the 1922 Obituary Notebook, located in the Archives Research Center.)

Before moving to Cleveland in 1872, Ferdinand Puehringer was a professor at WittenbergCollege. While in Cleveland, he was associated with many musical groups, including the Boys Band, a singing and orchestra school, and the Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1889, Professor Puehringer accepted a position with the S. Brainard Sons Company, a musical publishing house in Chicago. He wrote the Chicago Life Waltz in 1890, and also produced several operas, including The Czar and Zimmerman, and The Bohemian Girl.

Ferdinand Puehringer died in 1930, and his wife Mary Emich Puehringer died in 1938. They left behind a daughter Ritta Caldwell. 

(*Note: As often is the case in the spelling of surnames of European origin, Ferdinand’s last name was alternatively spelled Pueringer or Pureinger.)

In the 1920s and 1930s, Randall F. Kriss ran a trucking and moving business. The vehicle pictured above is a Kriss Auto Bus that was built by J.A.Loeffler. Mr. Kriss’s early advertisements stated that “auto busses” were available for hire for any occasion. In 1922 the Kriss Auto Bus took passengers from Sandusky’s Washington Park to the Rye Beach Dance Pavilion on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, with free rides for ladies on Wednesdays. The ad from the  November 2, 1922 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal indicated that the Kriss Auto Bus had had a heating system installed, for the comfort its pasengers.

For a time Mr. Kriss also operated an automobile garage and restaurant, but after 1936, he was no longer operating any businesses in Sandusky. 

At the time of his death in 1957, Randall Kriss had been been employed at Bargain Fair. He was married to the former Vera Starr, the sister of Beryl Starr.

William H. Wilson came to Sandusky in the early 1860s, from Seneca County, Ohio.  After having worked in the stone business and the lumber industry in Sandusky, he worked for several years as a representative of the Kelley Island Lime and Transport Company, traveling out of the company's office in Cleveland. In 1877, he was elected Mayor of Sandusky, serving between the terms of George Daniel and Rush R. Sloane. Mr. Wilson was active in Masonic circles in Sandusky, as well as a member of the United Commercial Travelers. 

While on a trip to Attica, Indiana, Mr. Wilson was suddenly taken ill. A fellow Mason summoned a doctor, and telephoned the Wilson family in Ohio, to tell them of the illness. Mr. Wilson died shortly after he was taken sick. A lengthy article by Professor E. Leon of Mansfield appeared in January 21, 1909 issue of the Sandusky Register describing Mr. Wilson's final moments. 

Beginning in 1890, F. Wichman and sons operated a grocery store at the southeast corner of Washington and Shelby Streets for many years. An advertisement in the 1890-1891 Sandusky City Directory stated that Wichman’s, operated by Frederick, Gustave, and George Wichman, sold groceries, provisions, fruits, confectioneries, cigars and tobaccos. After the death of Frederick Wichman, his son Gustave took over the business, and later generations of the family ran the business after Gustave’s death in 1938.

In her book, Treasure by the Bay, Ellie Damm wrote that Wichman’s Grocery had been built in the Eastlakestyle, and is an outstanding example of a commercial establishment in the 1890’s. The picture below was taken about 1980, when the business was known as Wichman’s Food Market, at 1118 West Washington Street.

From the 1940 Sandusky High School yearbook

An article in the Sandusky Register on December 26, 1944, read:

Staff Sergeant Moses H. Thompson, Signal Corps, has been decorated with the Bronze Star Medalin the European theater of operations. He is the son of Moses C. Thompson, 404 Tyler St.Sandusky. Sgt. Thompson was personally decorated by the commanding general of the Corps to which his unit is attached. The citation read: "for meritorious achievement in connection with military operations against the enemy in Germany on Dec. 1, 1944. In performance of duty as a non-commissioned officer in charge of a line survey crew. Sgt. Thompson completed a hazardous mission without loss of personnel or equipment. During this time he was under mortar and artillery fire, but with outstanding leadership and disregard for his personal safety the mission was successfully accomplished His display of initiative and ability has greatly contributed to the efficiency of his organization."

After serving in the Army, Moses H. Thompson moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1954; he earned a doctorate in 1956. He served as an administrative law judge in Montgomery, Alabama before his retirement in Atlanta, where he died in 2005 at age 83.

During some of his time in business, August Guenther was in a partnership with his son Bruno. For several years his business partner was John J. Molter, former Sandusky Mayor. The company eventually went out of business due to the enactment of Prohibition laws.

In 1873 August Guenther married Sophia Kolbe. They had a family of three sons. Dr. Theodore Guenther became of physician with a practice in Brooklyn, New York. Son August E. Guenther was a professor of physiology at both the University of Michigan and the University of Nebraska. Sadly, Bruno Guenther died in 1910, after he suffered serious complications following a scratch from a copper wire. The elder August Guenther died on December 19, 1932, and he was buried in the family lot at Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery.

August C. Wilhelm was the son of John and Elizabeth Wilhelm. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1906. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Navy, serving on the battleships Ohio, Baltimore, West Virginia, and Petrel. After serving in World War I, he entered the banking business. August C. Wilhelm was a charter member of the Commodore Denig Post 83, American Legion. Mr. Wilhelm passed away on May 28, 1970. He was preceded in death by his wife, the former Julia Zimmerman. He was survived by a son, daughter, and several other relatives. Burial was in Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery.

Fate was kind to Lt. Davis, however, as President Abraham Lincoln commuted his sentence from execution to imprisonment for the duration of the war, with the prisoner only learning of his fate on the very day that the execution was to be carried out. He was transferred to a prison at Fort Delaware, on the Delaware River. 

Transcribed, the poem reads:

A Soldier boy from “Dixie” lay dreaming in his cell

He was far from home & kindred & those that he loved well

His feet were sore & weary & bound by iron chains

He dreamt of Far off Richmondlovely Richmondon the James.

 

No Sister sat beside him to sooth his troubled brow

No comrade now bent o’er him to whisper words of cheer

But his Soldier heart was fearless, Twas got him there had chained

And he dreamt of one in Richmonddear Richmondon the James.

 

He walked or thought he walked the old familiar path

He talked or thought he talked with friends of days gone past

But at each & every moment the clanging of his chains

Told he was far from Richmondold Richmond on the James.

 

He thought of those who loved him what pain they would endure

When they heard that he was missing from the old PotomacShore

And Oh! it will be deeper when they hear he’s bound by chains

The sorrow at old Richmond at Richmond on the James.

 

He wakes! The light is growing dim darkness is falling fast

Another night of sorrow & anguish must be past.

How many many moments must he spend thus bound by chains

E’re again he goes to Richmond, to Richmond on the James.

Between February 14 and 16, 1909 a severe ice and sleet storm coated most of central and northern Ohio. Local weather official E.E. Nimmo reported that the track of the storm was very narrow, heading from east to west along the lake. Sandusky was in the very center of the storm’s fury. Many telephone, telegraph and electric wires were damaged, under the weight of three quarters to an inch of ice. Trains and interurbans were delayed, and the Lake Shore railroad had to resort to using manual signals, due to having no electricity.

John A. Giedeman, from the Sandusky Telephone Company, stated that “It is the worst storm of the kind we have ever had.”   The telephone company sent out ten men to work on the damaged wires. The electric company did not lose its ability to generate electricity, but it could not get that energy out to the local customers due to so many wires being damaged.  Residents and businesses resorted to using old gas lights and candles. The fire alarms in Sandusky were all out of service. Local police officers assisted in removing trees and downed wires that fell across the city’s streets and walks. The picture below shows a portion of Columbus Avenue, at the intersection of Hayes Avenue. 

In the picture postcard below, you can see Old Calvary Church on the left side of the picture, old fire engine house number 3 in the center, and Sycamore School can be seen in the background on the far right. There was severe damage to telephone poles and wires at this location, near the intersection of Sycamore Line and First Street.

Employees of the Lake Shore Electric Railway are seen  clearing the right of way on Camp Street in the postcard below.

To read more about Ohio’s severe sleet storm on 1909, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, where historical issues of local newspapers are available on microfilm and online.

In 1871, Frederick W. Cogswell married Julia Radcliffe. They had a family of four children, but two of the daughters died in early childhood. In the late 1880s, Mr. Cogswell suffered injuries from a fall, from which he never fully recovered. He died on January 4, 1893. Below is a portion of the lengthy obituary for Mr. Cogswell appeared in the January 5, 1893 issue of the Sandusky Register.

The following resolution from the McMeens Post, Grand Army of the Republic, was published in the January 21, 1893 issue of the Sandusky Register.

Frederick W. Cogswell

Another comrade has answered the last roll call,

Another soldier has gone the way of all.

WHEREAS, By the order of the Grand Commander of all the armies, our respected comrade Frederick W. Cogswell, late of Co. D 145th Regiment O.V.I. has been ordered to answer the last muster and roll call to meet the comrades who have gone before, therefore be it 

Resolved, That while we regret his loss and extend our heartfelt sympathy to his bereaved family, we hope and trust that our loss is his gain, that as he answered the last roll call on January 4, 1893, and his ashes now rest with those who preceded him, we hope and trust that in the spirit he has been duly mustered in as an honorable and worthy soldier, in that Grand Army above, where there is no more warring and dying in battle, where the tents are all set in the eternal camping ground, where the banners are never furled, and the sound of the surgeon’s call, the long roll and taps are never heard, where songs of joy do never cease, where the flowers of life do ever bloom, and eternal sun of everlasting day never sets, and when we are called may we meet and rejoice with him forever where a thousand years are but as a day. That a copy hereof be sent to his widow and bereaved children.

Frederick W. Cogswell’s final resting place was in the family lot at Oakland Cemetery. He was survived by his wife, a son, and a daughter. A silk bonnet, which once belonged to Mrs. Julia Radcliffe Cogswell, is now in the collections of the Follett House Museum.

After high school, receiving a scholarship, she enrolled in Spelman College in Atlanta, later transferring to Roosevelt College in Chicago. In 1943, she enrolled in the Howard University College of Medicine, and received her medical degree in 1947. 

By 1950, Dr. Spurlock became a staff psychiatrist in a Chicago hospital, and began a long career in medicine, education, and human services. Among her specializations in her early career in Chicago was child psychiatry, serving in hospitals, academia, and private practice. She later was on the faculty of Meharry Medical College in Nashville. In the 1970s, she was appointed to the National Institute of Mental Health and became Deputy Medical Director of the American Psychiatric Association, serving in the position until 1991. In her biography at the website of the National Institute of Health said that Dr. Spurlock "made significant contributions in focusing the medical community's attention on the stresses of poverty, sexism, racism, and discrimination that effect women, minorities, gays, and lesbians." 

After Dr. Spurlock's death in 1999, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry named two fellowships in her honor; the American Psychiatric Association created the Jeanne Spurlock Minority Fellowship Achievement Award, and, in 2002, the Jeanne Spurlock Congressional Fellowship.

In August of 1900 an article in the Sandusky Star told of Harry Dane’s bravery in rescuing a young lady who had fallen in the waters of Sandusky Bay after slipping between the dock at Cedar Point and the Andrew Wehrle steamer. The article stated that the Harry Dane and Mabel Marks may have drowned, had it not been for the combination of “rare good fortune, heroism and skill.”

During World War I, Harry Dane served as clerk of the Erie County Draft Board. After the war, from 1919 until 1940, he was the chief deputy clerk of Erie County Probate Court, working under Judge John Ray, Judge John Tanney, and Judge John Baxter. During his years as clerk of the Court, Mr. Dane issued hundreds of marriage licenses. June was often busy for Erie County Probate Court with June brides; in 1931, he issued four marriage licenses on the first day of June. An article in the August 2, 1938 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal reported that at one point during the renovation of the Erie County Courthouse, Harry Dane was the only employee of Probate Court to be still working. The headline read “Harry Dane Does Duty for Cupid,” since he was available to issue marriage licenses in spite of the construction and renovation work being done at that time. 

What the Erie County Courthouse looked like when Harry Dane began working at Probate Court

The Courthouse as it looked at the end of his career

In spite of the fact that Harry Dane never owned a boat, he was a longtime member of the Sandusky Yacht Club, and served on its Board of Trustees. After his sudden death on May 20, 1940, the members of the Yacht Club paid tribute to Mr. Dane. An article in the June 11, 1940 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal read in part, 

“Harry B. Dane was undoubtedly the oldest member of the Sandusky Yacht Club, from the standpoint of years of continuous affiliation. Not even the oldest records still in existence go back to the time when he first became a member…Always modest and unassuming, Harry never aspired to wear a commodore’s stars, but no man gave more years of work and efficient service to yachting in general and the Sandusky Yacht Club in particular than he. For years he served as its secretary and treasurer, and did much to keep aglow the very feeble spark of life which alone remained of the club following the tornado of June 28, 1924. He was a member of the Board of Trustees for so many years that the memory of man runneth not to the contrary, and his counsel and advice were always sincere, and usually right. That he was able to live to see the present strong and virile club spring phoenix-like from the ashes of old was, we know, a source of great happiness and satisfaction to him. And so his surviving shipmates, fellow members and friends of the Sandusky Yacht Club, pause for a moment in silent mediation, while eight bells are sounding slowly on the night air, and give thanks that they have been privileged to know such a true yachtsman and sportsman as Harry Dane. While the burgee of the Sandusky Yacht Club flies, he will not be forgotten.”

On May 21, 1940, the flag at the Courthouse was flown at half-staff in memory of Harry Dane. Funeral services for Mr. Dane were held at the Keller Funeral Home, and burial was at Oakland Cemetery. Officers of the Sandusky Yacht Club served as pallbearers at the funeral service.