Happy Halloween!

Several Sandusky residents attended a costume party in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Clowns, waiters, and chefs are among the costumed guests and a variety of festive hats and balloons can be seen in the picture postcard.

First row, August Kuebeler, Mrs. Russell Ramsey, Mrs. John Mack, Mrs. R.M. Taylor, Mrs. Clifford King, Mrs. Ira Krupp, Clifford King, Mrs. Merritt Wilcox

Second row: Mrs. Phil Beery, Phil Beery, Mrs. August Kuebeler, Mrs. Watson Butler, George Beis, Watson Butler, Curtis Brewer, William Kerber, Mrs. Thomas Sloane, Herbert Textor, Fred Harten, Harry Dunn, Carey Hord, Mrs. Curtis Brewer, Merritt Wilcox, Ira Krupp

Top row: Mrs. Brown, Mrs. George Feick, George Feick, Doris Marquart, Mrs. Percy Staples, Natalie Marquart, Gladys Rife, Homer Neill, Mrs. John Britton, Mrs. Harry Dunn and Mary Vietmeier

 

The Sandusky Store Fixture Company

From about 1898 to 1903, the Sandusky Store Fixture Company did business in Sandusky, Ohio. It was the successor to the Sandusky Handle Company, and was located opposite the Lake Shore Railway Depot. 

An article in the August 8, 1898 issue of the Sandusky Star stated that the Sandusky Store Fixture Company had “the best wood, and the biggest load, for the best money.” In October of 1899 the company installed two new bowling alleys for Finley & Greisheimer, a Sandusky saloon on West Market Street. The alleys were regulation size, and made from the best quality maple wood. The company manufactured fixtures for banks, offices, drugstores, bowling alleys, and other businesses. 

For five years, C.A. Muelhauser, an expert in cabinet making, was a superintendent with the company. A.G. Baumeister was manager, and Nicholas Heinz and Otto Baumeister were listed as employees. The front page of the Sandusky Register of March 30, 1963 featured an article which reported that Bellevue veterinarian had recently had two saloon tables refinished, one of which had a label that was clearly inscribed with the words Sandusky Store Fixture Company. 

Marriage of of Tella Axline and Claude B. DeWitt

In the spring of 1901, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Augustus Axline sent out a wedding invitation for their daughter Tella Maude Axline, who was to marry Claude Bennett DeWitt, a lawyer from Sandusky. The wedding took place on Thursday evening, April 25, 1901, at the Axline residence in Columbus, Ohio. Henry A. Axline was known as the “Father of the National Guard in Ohio.”

From about 1902 to 1922, Mr. and Mrs. Claude B. DeWitt lived in Sandusky, Ohio, where he served for several years as a bankruptcy referee. He was also associated with the local law firm of Dewitt & Savord for a time. During World War I, he served as an induction officer. The image below appeared in the Honor Roll of Ohio, a reference book which features biographies and photographs of Erie County Veterans of the First World War.

Unfortunately, the marriage did not last. By the 1930’s Claude DeWitt had moved to Howard County, Iowa, where he remarried. Mrs. Tella DeWitt passed away in Columbus, Ohio on October 31, 1959. The only child of Claude and Tella DeWitt, whose name was Axline Claude DeWitt, moved to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he became president of the Dunning Coal Company

Research Resource: Record of Discharge of Civil War Soldiers

The Sandusky Library Archives Research Center has microfilmed copies of the discharge records of Erie County Civil War soldiers. These records were originally filed at the Erie County Recorder’s Office. An index which lists the soldiers’ names alphabetically by surname aids in locating each soldier’s information.

Thomas McFall, a private with Company B in the 145th Regiment of the Ohio National Guard was discharged on August 24, 1864 at Camp Chase, Ohio.

Alexander Hornig served as a private under Captain Harvey E. Proctor in Company D of the 41^st Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was discharged at Pulaski, Tennessee on December 2, 1864. Pvt. Hornig’s discharge record listed his place of birth as Germany. A physical description is also provided, stating that he was 20 years old and 5 feet 5 inches tall. He had a light complexion, blue eyes, and brown hair, and his occupation was marble cutter.

Christian Stubig was discharged at Johnson’s Island on February 28, 1865. He had served with the 128^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  He was a native of Germany, and his occupation was shoemaker.

Elijah Brown was with Company I of the Massachusetts 55^th Infantry, comprised of African Americans. (At that time, Ohio did not allow African American men into military service, although the policy changed shortly after, but only for the remainder of the war. It was not until 1870 that black men were allowed to serve in Ohio state militias.) He was discharged at Charleston, South Carolina on August 29, 1865. Mr. Brown was eighteen years old, having been born in Sandusky, Ohio. His occupation was farmer. Elijah Brown’s military unit was led by Captain George T. Garrison, brother of well known abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison.

By browsing through these government records, a great deal of personal information can be learned about the men who served in the Civil War. Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research to view these military discharge records. Several book sources and online databases available at Sandusky Library can also aid in the research of Civil War soldiers.

A Baptism at Emmanuel Church

 

Albert Joseph Scheid was born on February 8, 1881, to Karl (later Charles) Scheid and Christine Rupprecht Scheid, and was baptized in the Emmanuel German Evangelical Church on November 20, 1881. His baptismal sponsors were Joseph Fiedler and Josephine Scheid. Albert’s ornate baptismal certificate was published by Schaefer & Koradi of Philadelphia, a company which specialized in German-American publications. Albert Scheid worked as a machinist in Sandusky. He passed away in 1939, and he was buried in Calvary Cemetery.

Rev. J.G. Ensslin (sometimes spelled Enzslin) officiated at the baptismal service.

The Emmanuel Church, at the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and Adams Street, was founded in 1844, and was the first German church in Sandusky.

Microfilmed copies of records from Emmanuel Church, now known as Emmanuel United Church of Christ are available at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Records range from 1844 through 1954, and include baptisms, marriages, deaths, and minutes from church meetings. Thew original records copied on the microfilm are in German, but an English translation is also included.

"All Aboard For Peters’ Restaurant"

 

From about 1873 to 1890, George Peters operated a restaurant and billiard parlor in the 600 block of Water Street in downtown Sandusky, Ohio (probably where the empty lot on the 100 block of East Water Street is today). He stated in an advertisement in the 1888 Sandusky City Directory that “meals were served to order at all hours of the day or night.”  Wine and beer were served in the saloon, and there was a private parlor for ladies. Women were allowed to patronize the business, but they weren't allowed to work there! 

The Sandusky city ordinances of the time prohibited women from working in a business that served alcohol unless they were the wife or daughter of the owner.

And if a woman did happen to work in a saloon, young men (under 21) were not allowed to engage in conversation with her, to help preserve "order" in the community. Rules were different in those days.

George Peters was a native of Germany. During the Civil War he served as a private in Company B of the 145^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. In the early part of the twentieth century, he moved to Norwalk, Ohio. After his death in 1909, he was laid to rest in Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery.

Plaque Honoring Sandusky’s Pioneers

 You might have driven past this monument many times and not noticed it, but it deserves recognition. It is a tribute to the founders of Sandusky.

On June 25, 1937 members of the Martha Pitkin Chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution unveiled a plaque honoring several of Sandusky’s pioneer citizens at the triangular park located between Huron Avenue, Wayne, and East Adams Streets. The bronze plaque, created by A. J. Balconi, was placed on a three ton boulder at the park.

Names on the top portion of the plaque include the founders of Sandusky:  Zalmon Wildman, Isaac Mills, and George Hoadley. On the bottom portion are the names of the nine men who directed the incorporation of Sandusky as a city in 1824. They were: Dr. George Anderson, Aaron C. Corbet, Cyrus W. Marsh, Alexander Clemons, Eleutheros Cooke, John Wheeler, William Townsend, William Kelly, and Moors Farwell, who served as Sandusky’s first mayor. Several of these men were Masons; an article in a 1937 issue of the Sandusky Masonic Bulletin recognized them and the construction and dedication of the monument

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to learn more about the pioneer residents of Sandusky, Ohio. And be sure to stop and visit the monument in the park sometime.

Rush R. Sloane

Rush Richard Sloane was born in Sandusky in 1828, the son of John Sloane and Cynthia Strong Sloane. (Cynthia’s father Abner Strong was said to be a leader in the Underground Railroad in Ohio.) When he was only 16 years of age, Rush R. Sloane studied law under prominent Sandusky attorney F. D. Parish. Sloane practiced law until 1857. 

Below is a circular from 1853 which announces that Rush Sloane would practice law in Supreme, Federal, District, and Common Pleas Courts throughout Northern and Central Ohio. His list of references included Jay Cooke, as well as many leading men of Sandusky, Buffalo, and several other locations.

During the 1850’s Rush Sloane was a leading abolitionist in Ohio. In 1852, he defended seven men escaping slavery. The men were released, but one of the former slaveowners, Louis Weimer, sued Sloane in the U.S. District Court in Columbus. Sloane was fined $3000 ($104,000 in 2021 dollars) and court costs. In appreciation of his support, several African American residents of Sandusky presented Rush Sloane with a silver headed cane. 

This cane is on display at The Follett House Museum in Sandusky.

In 1856 he attended conventions held in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia that laid the foundation of the Republican Party. On June 2, 1900, he was invited to the 1900 Republican Convention on June 19, though by that time Sloane had become a member of the Democratic Party.

Rush Sloane served as city clerk of Sandusky from 1855 to 1857, and was elected Erie County Probate Judge in 1857. In the early 1860s, he briefly moved to Chicago to be a special agent of the Post Office Department. By 1867 he had become president of the Sandusky, Dayton and Cincinnati Railroad, successor to the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad. Because of several financial disputes, a challenge to his leadership of the railroad, and a charge of embezzlement from the company, Sloane fled to Europe for three years. By 1876, he had returned to Sandusky, and eventually cleared of the charges (although there may have been a paid settlement). 

After his return to Sandusky, Sloane ran for mayor of Sandusky on the Democratic ticket. He served as mayor of Sandusky in 1879 and 1880. He had the Sloane House hotel built in 1880, and later built the Sloane block (aka Sloane Annex) which housed several businesses. 

Rush Sloane died on December 21, 1908. He was survived by his third wife, the former Helen F. Hall, two sons, and two daughters. From 1899 until the time of his death, Rush Sloane served as president of the Firelands Historical Society.

There is a wealth of historical information about Rush R. Sloane at the Sandusky Library and the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Charles E. Frohman, in his index to the Sandusky Register, features over 50 index cards with newspaper citations relating to Rush R. Sloane. A large portion of the biography of I.F. Mack, entitled Sandusky's Editor, by Charles E. Frohman, is devoted to Sloane. I.F. Mack was very vocal in his criticisms of Sloane, and as editor of the Sandusky Register he voiced his opinions often.

I.F. Mack (1837-1912)

Residents of Sandusky may have had mixed feelings about attorney, businessman, former Mayor, and abolitionist Rush R. Sloane, but there is no doubt that Rush Sloane was an important figure in the history of Sandusky.

Petersen’s Garage

This thermometer was a recent gift to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. According to an article in the Sandusky Register Star News of October 24, 1944, Arthur J. Petersen opened a small repair garage on Bell Street in 1923. From 1926 until his retirement in 1982, he ran Petersen’s Garage at 316 Scott Street.  The article noted that Mr. Petersen and four employees were kept busy with repairs to automobiles. 

This brief excerpt described the success of the garage:“Mr. Petersen’s success in the garage business can be readily traced to his ability to quickly estimate a job, obtain parts and complete work with no more delay than is absolutely necessary.” And as the article noted, Mr. Petersen was aware of the need to keep the vehicles of war workers in proper running condition. 

Arthur J. Petersen passed away on December 20, 1987. He was survived by his wife, a daughter, five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. 

A Letter from William Edward Chapman to His Father in 1862

When he was still a high school student, William Edward Chapman, known as Ed, wrote to his father, William Pendleton Chapman. A transcription of the first page of the letter is below:

April 11, 1862

Dear Father,

I received your letter of the 17th yesterday noon. In the afternoon I saw W.T. Williams and he said he would ship the provisions at 40 cents per hundred 10 cents per hundred cheaper than he did the others. The Portsmouth arrived that same afternoon and this afternoon we loaded the provisions. I got the insurance on it just now, paid $5.04. I also got G.J. Anderson to insure the $3000 on the provisions in Keech’s building, paid $3.75 for insuring that. The Sandusky Gas Light Co. have declared a dividend & they gave me a check on Moss Brothers, so I went and got the money and paid for these things instead of taking it out of the drawer. The girl has left: she is going to be married next Monday. She found us another girl though.

Poor Henry Barney is dead! He died from the effects of his wound at Pittsburgh Landing. He died in the hospital at Louisville on last Friday night between 10 & 11 o’clock. His mother was with him. His remains were brought home last night & he was buried with military honors this afternoon.

It’s about as sorrowful a time here as I ever knew. He was buried from the Church. Dr. Bronson preached a funeral

[The second page of the letter continued:]

sermon. Henry fought all day Thursday & Friday, rested Saturday, & then fought Sunday & Monday till 2 o’clock in the afternoon. He was lying on his back loading, with his knee elevated, when a bullet struck him below the knee, hit the bone & shattered his knee all to pieces. It is thought, if it had been amputated on the field, his life could have been saved, but he kept sinking lower & lower & after it was dressed the last time he fell right away & died that night. He said before he died that he had seen enough of war. If anyone that passed through those days might well say so. It seems hard to be shot nearly the last thing. Olds had a narrow escape. A ball went through his cap & bruised his head without hurting him. Everybody feels as bad nearly as if they lost a brother. I can’t realize that it is so.

Yours affectionately,

Ed

William Edward Chapman worked as a clerk in the freight office of the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark Railroad. Later he worked for the Erie Railway at Dunkirk, New York. He moved back to Sandusky for a time, and in the 1890s he and his wife and children moved to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where he worked successfully in the lake transportation business.

William Edward Chapman died in 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was buried at Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery next to his wife, the former Julia Mills. The Sandusky Library Archives Research Center is fortunate to have a series of nineteenth century letters written to and from members of the Chapman and Pendleton families. These letters help us to more clearly understand the daily lives of early settlers of Erie County, Ohio. William Edward Chapman’s letter poignantly shows the sadness that is experienced when someone loses a loved one to war injuries.