Happy Thanksgiving

This is a repost from 2006

As many of you might remember learning in grade school, the first "official" Thanksgiving was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln during the height of the Civil War, in 1863, in honor of the first Thanksgiving held by the pilgrims in Plymouth during the 17th century. But even before President Lincoln made Thanksgiving a holiday, it was traditionally celebrated by many people. The first letter below is evidence of that:

In this letter, Judge Samuel Caldwell of Sandusky has invited Samuel Butler and his wife Clara to his home for Thanksgiving dinner. (We know pumpkin pie was on the menu!) The date of the letter is November 23, 1846, nearly twenty years before the national holiday was observed. (It is also interesting to note that even then Thanksgiving was celebrated on a Thursday in November -- nobody seems to know for sure why this day was chosen.)

The second letter is from Eliza Follett, the wife of Oran Follett, requesting contributions from local residents to provide Thanksgiving food to the wives and children of soldiers serving in the Civil War. Mrs. Follett was very active in community service and charitable work, as can be inferred from this letter.

Have a happy Thanksgiving. . .

John V. Brost, Marble Worker

John V. Brost was born in Germany in 1811, to Jacob and Sophy Brost. His wife was the former Christina Meck. By 1860 John and Christina Brost and several children were residing in Sandusky, Erie County, Ohio, where John was employed as a marble cutter. Their five children ranged in age from one to seventeen. When Sandusky resident Henry Walter died in 1863, John V. Brost created this monument for him. Mr. Walter’s tombstone can be seen at Oakland Cemetery.

He signed the tombstone as J.V. Brost.

In the 1880 U.S. Census, he listed his occupation as wine dealer, but the J.V. Brost and Son Marble Works was still in business, as recorded in the 1882 city directory.

According to Erie County Probate Court death records, John V. Brost died on September 21, 1889 due to "old age."

Ironically, although he worked as a marble cutter most of his life, the monument for John and Christina Brost at Oakland Cemetery is metal, made of zinc, most likely manufactured at a foundry outside of Sandusky and shipped to the cemetery.