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.

A Military History of the Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry by Franklin Sawyer

During the Civil War, Franklin Sawyer was the commanding officer of the Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry from May of 1862 until the unit was mustered out. A prominent lawyer from Norwalk, he achieved the rank of Brevet Brigadier General. Mr. Sawyer wrote a book about his unit, called A Military History of the Eighth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. It was published in 1881 by Fairbanks and Company of Cleveland, Ohio.

A copy of this military history, donated by Hattie Bretz, is housed in the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. The book originally belonged to Hattie’s father, William Bretz, who served in Co. E of the Ohio Eighth Infantry. A reprint of this book, with additional photographs, was published by the Blue Acorn Press in 1994. This edition of Franklin Sawyer’s books is found in the Local History and Genealogy collection in Reference Services.

General Sawyer tells about the Eighth Ohio’s participation in many battles, including Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor. During the Battle of Antietam, a barn on a nearby farm was used as an operating room. Wounded and dying men covered the ground around the barn. Sandusky native Horace Harper Bill, who was then with Company K, died at Antietam. In the author’s preface, Franklin Sawyer stated, “There were many individual acts of bravery and fortitude, on the part of both officers and men.”

Many men from Sandusky and Erie County were in Company E of the Ohio Eighth Volunteer Infantry. Sawyer’s book lists the names of all the officers and soldiers in each company. The unit’s chaplain, Rev. Lyman N. Freeman, had served as rector of Grace Church in Sandusky from 1845 to 1850. Zenas W. Barker, Jr., the son of the former Mayor of Sandusky, died at Oakland, Virginia on August 28, 1861. Wells W. Miller, who was a Captain in the Ohio Eighth Infantry, went on to serve as Ohio’s Secretary of Agriculture. To read many more details about the Eighth Ohio, visit the Sandusky Library to view this historic accounting of the unit.

After the war Franklin Sawyer was elected to the Ohio legislature. He died in Norwalk, Ohio on August 22, 1892. Reunions of the Veterans of the Ohio Eighth Infantry were held for several years. A reunion was held at the Dixie restaurant in Sandusky on September 18, 1922. According to the Sandusky Star Journal of August 7, 1922, four of the former soldiers of Company E of the Ohio Eighth Infantry were living in Sandusky. Their names were E.E. Warren, William Braby, Charles Chapman and Romeo Foster.

Festival of the Flower Queen

On Tuesday evening, August 14, 1860, a performance of the Festival of the Flower Queen was held at Norman Hall, under the direction of Professor A.B. Chase of Cleveland, Ohio; he had directed productions of the same play in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1858, and in Cleveland in 1859.

The musical performance featured seventy five young ladies from the Sandusky area, all appearing in beautiful costumes which represented different flowers. Featured performers were: Josephine Chapman, Sarah Parish, Kate Burton, Sarah Monroe, Amelia Brainard, Nettie Wetherell, Alice Hard, Fanny Barney, Alice Porter, Jennie McGee, Lina Mills, Kate Monroe, and Miss Sallie Reber. The theme of the musical was that the flowers were meeting in a dell in order to choose their queen. A recluse, played by Professor Chase, was discontented with life. In song, the flowers told the recluse about love and duty, and by end of the performance he was ready to return to society among his fellow creatures.

The August 15, 1860 issue of the Sandusky Daily Commercial Register reported that the performance at Norman Hall was a “a most decided success in every way.” The article stated that the Daisy, who was played by Sallie Reber, was coaxed into an encore song; she would later go on to be a popular performer with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in New York. 

William P. Chapman, Pioneer Settler of Sandusky

William Pendleton Chapman was born in 1808, the son of Timothy Chapman and Nancy Pendleton, who were natives of Rhode Island. In 1834, William P. Chapman married Eliza Cross Pendleton in New London, Connecticut. Shortly after they were married, Mr. and Mrs. Chapman moved to Sandusky, where Mr. Chapman was the proprietor of a forwarding and shipping business. By 1862, he was the treasurer of the Sandusky, Mansfield and Newark Railroad. His name was listed in a Railway Directory in 1862.

While serving as treasurer of the Sandusky, Mansfield and Newark Railroad, Mr. Chapman and his family were given several railroad passes from several different railroads.

       

Besides being a busy business man, Mr. Chapman was active in the Grace Episcopal Church, where he had served on the very first church vestry. When church records began being kept for Grace Episcopal Church, it was William P. Chapman who painstakingly wrote them by hand.

When the church celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 1885, Chapman, along with Rice Harper, wrote a history of the congregation, which was partially reprinted in Hewson Peeke’s A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio (Lewis Publishing Company, 1916.) 

By 1869 William P. Chapman had entered into the wholesale fish business with John Strickland. Mrs. Eliza Chapman died in 1891, and Mr. Chapman died in 1893. Both were buried in the family lot at Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery. 

To learn more about William P. Chapman and his extended family, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, which holds letters from the Chapman and Pendleton families dating from 1843 to 1870. 

Birthday Party for Mrs. Julia Mills Chapman

Mrs. Julia Mills Chapman was born to William and Anna Elizabeth Marshall Mills on February 25, 1852 in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Nine of Julia’s friends held a surprise birthday party for her -- the date is unknown, but probably in the late nineteenth century.

Standing left to right are: Mrs. Mattie Barrow, Mrs. Frank Davis, Mrs. Kate Jenkins, Mrs. Libbie Butler, Mrs. Lib Livingston, and Mrs. Jennie Gurney. Seated left to right are: Mrs. Alice Mack, Mrs. Julia Chapman, Mrs. Jennie Hubbard, and Mrs. Emma Sadler.

Julia’s father William Mills was known as “The Yellow Springs Man,” because he was determined to bring national recognition to Yellow Springs. He helped to convince the sponsors of Antioch College to locate the college in Yellow Springs. He served on the Board of Trustees of Antioch College for many years. (He was a grandnephew of Isaac Mills, one of the original proprietors of Sandusky.)

In 1845, Julia Mills married William E. Chapman, son of Sandusky business man William P. Chapman and Eliza Pendleton Chapman. William E. Chapman eventually moved the family to Cleveland, Ohio where he was involved in the shipping business. William and Julia had three children: Winifred, Margaret, and Mills Chapman. Mrs. Julia Mills Chapman died on February 5, 1917. She was buried in Oakland Cemetery. One of Julia’s friends, Mrs. Jennie Hubbard, lived to be 103 years of age.

New Finding Aids for Old Collections

I know this is coming a little late (the work was finished in August), but I would like to recognize and publicize some new resources produced by our summer intern this year. He created several new finding aids for materials that had been "buried" in the archives, because they had not been fully described as distinct collections. We're hopeful that these new information sources will bring increased attention to some interesting historical items, and provide more information of value to researchers. Although none of these collections is very big, there will certainly be some bits of information useful to genealogists, local historians, and others with an interest in history and culture.

Many of these new finding aids describe collections of papers and artifacts produced and gathered by local families and individuals. The Stubig Family Collection (1852-1926) contains materials relating to the life and times of Christian Stubig, a German immigrant to Sandusky, and his son Carl Stubig, a newspaper reporter and local political figure. Among the items in this collection are letters written in German between family members and Stubig's Weekly, a political newspaper published by Carl Stubig, 1915-1918.

The Wilbor & Wilcox Family Collections (bulk 1848-1873) provide insight into business and personal activities in 19th-century Sandusky. The collection contains records of dry goods business transactions and personal correspondence among family members.

The Cable Family Collection (bulk 1895-1916) offers a description of the business activities of Laurence Cable and his sons Edward and Frank, including legal documents and correspondence, some relating to the Cable Park residential development in Sandusky.

The John F. McCrystal, Sr. Papers (bulk 1893-1925) include approximately 175 items relating to Mr. McCrystal's participation in legal and civic issues, particularly during his time as chairman of Sandusky's Legal Advisory Board in the World War I period.

The Frohman Family Collection (1891-1990) is a small collection of memorabilia relating to the Sandusky family, beginning with brothers David and Henry, who arrived in the 1850s, to Charles Frohman, the businessman and local historian who died in 1976.

The Chapman and Pendleton Family Correspondence consists of 120 letters sent between family members between 1843 and 1870. They offer a rich description of life of that time, including reports of travel and migration, diseases, death and other hardships, as well as other personal matters that help to describe the era.

Also, the library holds several small collections relating to local businesses. Although none of these collections represent the complete records of a company (or even a significant portion), they offer perpectives of various local industries. Included are: the Hinde and Dauch Company Collection (1894-1995), consisting primarily of advertisements and other business ephemera; the American Crayon - Prang Collection (1878-1980), containing advertising, some correspondence, catalogs, and secondary articles relating to the company's activities; and the M. Hommel Winery Collection (bulk 1897-1915), including records of the company relating to competitions at international expositions and fairs, some business records, and advertising materials.

For more information about these collections, or any other collections in the Archives Research Center, please contact the Sandusky Library, via phone (419-625-3834) or email, or come in and visit the library.