The Spirit of the Times

In the archives of the Sandusky Library is a bound volume of a newspaper called the Spirit of the Times. It was published in Batavia, New York, beginning in 1819. You might wonder why this library in Ohio is holding a newspaper from New York in its collections. if you look closely, you will find the answer on the newspaper's masthead: "Published every Friday by O. Follett." 

Oran Follett probably when he was around 45-50 years old

Oran Follett was a prominent resident of Sandusky for about sixty years, until his death in 1894, but he was born in New York state, and lived in Batavia and Buffalo in his younger days. He founded the newspaper in 1821, when he was 22 years old, and managed it until 1825, when he turned it over to his brother, Frederick Follett. He then moved to Buffalo to become a co-editor of the Buffalo Journal. Around 1834, Mr. Follett moved to Sandusky, where he had purchased land. He continued in publishing while in Ohio, as an owner of Follett, Foster, and Co. (publishers of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates) and as editor of the Ohio Journal, but he was involved in several other ventures as well. 

The article above, from the Spirit of the Times, reports on the wreck of the Walk-in-the-Water, the first steamboat on the Great Lakes.