S.S. Hosmer, Early Sandusky Merchant

Sidney Smith Hosmer was born in LeRoy, New York in 1808. As a young boy he moved to Buffalo, and was active there in business until 1838, when he moved to Sandusky. He was listed as a wholesale grocer on Water Street in the 1855 Sandusky City Directory. In the May 17, 1851 issue of the Daily Sanduskian newspaper,  he advertised new arrivals of several varieties of whiskey, cognac, gin, and rum. By 1880, his stated profession was as a miller. 

Mr. Hosmer's first wife was Elizabeth Camp, the daughter of Major John G. Camp. Elizabeth Camp Hosmer died in 1857. Mr. Hosmer then married Ann Brokaw, who was from Indiana. Alex C. Hosmer, a son from his first marriage, died in the Civil War. Another son, Theodore Hosmer, was the first mayor of Tacoma, Washington. 

S.S. Hosmer died on August 3, 1888. He was buried in the North Ridge section of Oakland Cemetery. An obituary for S.S. Hosmer appeared in the August 7, 1888 issue of the Sandusky Register. The article reported that “this city lost one of its oldest citizens.”