Funeral of Captain Adam Hartung

Adam E. Hartung was a lifelong resident of Sandusky, Ohio, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Christ Hartung. He had a twin brother named Daniel, and both men were firefighters for the City of Sandusky.

On the evening of November 11, 1907 the fire department was summoned to a fire at the Catawba Candy Company.  Adam Hartung, of the No. 4 Company, slipped while attempting to climb onto the hose wagon and fell, hitting his chest on the iron rail of the dashboard. He continued to the fire, but after returning to the fire station he became ill. It turns out that as Adam fell, he suffered a broken rib and the broken rib punctured his lung. Mr. Hartung remained ill for several months. He died on March 23, 1908 at his home on Hancock Street in Sandusky, at age 49, survived by a wife and six children, three brothers and two sisters. His funeral was held at the family residence, and burial was at Oakland Cemetery. City of Sandusky firefighters served as pallbearers.

Adam Hartung had been a city firefighter for twenty years. According to The Great Book of Wildfowl Decoys, he also was a skilled carver of duck decoys. 

As you can see in the photograph, long ago someone noted that the funeral took place in 1896. After checking through the Ohio Obituary Index and Oakland Cemetery interment cards, it was determined that a child of Mr. and Mrs. Adam Hartung died in 1896, but Adam Hartung, Captain of the Sandusky Fire Department died in March of 1908. Don’t always trust handwritten records you may come across in your genealogical research. Be sure to verify dates against other records, as mistakes are often found.