Caroline Sadler Donahue Remembers

 

When Caroline Sadler Donahue was in the hospital in 1953, she took time to write down some of her childhood memories, which was printed into a booklet. Caroline was born in 1878 to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Webb Sadler. She married J. Frank Donahue, and they lived in Sandusky for many years.

In the booklet, It is Fun Remembering, Caroline recalls that there was a horseshoe shop near her house, and that the Marsh family stables were located behind St. Peter and Paul church. She tells of workers harvesting ice on Sandusky Bay. In the evenings, her father read from Dickens novels to the children, and for Christmas one year, Grandpa E. H. Marsh gave bicycles to the grandchildren. Caroline’s sister Emily played violin after family dinners.

Judge E. B. Sadler was Caroline’s paternal grandfather. He was a personal friend of Jay Cooke, the Civil War financier, and they once took a western trip to sell war bonds. It took the men twenty days to cross the country.

You can find Caroline’s booklet of memories in the Archives Research Center at the Sandusky Library. Consider recording your own memories, so that your family and friends can learn more about your personal history. Your remembrances could be recorded on paper, on a personal computer, or by making an audio recording or video recording. If you have a family scrapbook or memory book, think about donating it to the Archives Research so that others can learn of the personal histories of everyday people in our area.

Pictorial Section from The Bell in 1931

Students at St. Mary’s High School in Sandusky published a journal called The Bell (now a yearbook). A copy of the May, 1931 edition is housed in the Schools Collection of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. At the top of the front page of the pictorial section of this issue is a picture of Rev. William C. Zierolf as well as a scene taken at dismissal time at the end of the school day. The faculty is pictured at the bottom of the page (below). From left to right are: Miss Evelyn Bing, Miss Lillian Fievet, Mr. Ramond Helmer and Miss Olga Gundlach.

Pictured below in a scene from the annual St. Mary’s High School play are: Paul Hemrick, Dorothy Riesterer, Eula Sheets, Charles LeClair, Elizabeth Donahue, Geraldine Mack and Kenneth Polta.

Individual pictures of members of the St. Mary’s 1931 graduating class are pictured on page 2. Several of the young ladies appear to have a hairstyle known as the “Marcel Wave,” which was very popular in the 1920s and 1930s.

Dr. H. J. Donahue

Dr. Henry James Donahue was born in 1828 in Washington County, Pennsylvania. After attending St. Joseph’s College and Ohio University, he obtained his medical degree from the Cleveland Medical College in 1853. Dr. Donahue also opened his medical practice in Sandusky, Ohio in 1853.  His office was on Columbus Avenue, not far from the office of Dr. R.R. McMeens. By 1860, Dr. Donahue had married Emily Miller. For over thirty years, Dr. Donahue and his family resided in a lovely home at the southwest corner of Decatur and Jefferson Streets, seen in the bottom right quadrant of the picture below.

Dr. Donahue had a successful medical practice in Sandusky for many years and served in leadership roles in several medical associations. In 1871 Dr. Donahue attended the convention of the American Medical Association in San Francisco, California, where he was named an honorary member of the California State Medical Society. During the Civil War, he was called into service after hearing news of the Battle of Shiloh. He gave both medical and surgical aid to the wounded soldiers. 

Besides being busy with his medical practice, Dr. Donahue served on Sandusky’s City Council, was an active member of the Board of Education, and served as Treasurer of the Sandusky Building and Loan Association for eight years. 

On June 23, 1891, Dr. H.J. Donahue passed away at his residence. He was buried at St. Joseph’s Cemetery. Mrs. Emily Donahue was 82 years old when she died in the summer of 1922.

The Donahue Building

The building at 126 Columbus Avenue, now home to a resale shop operated by Stein Hospice, began as a bank building. The Moss Brothers Bank, founded by Augustus H. and Horace Moss, was at this location in the early 1850s.

In 1914, C. Faber and Frank Donahue moved their hardware store from Water Street to what is now 126 Columbus Avenue. Ellie Damm wrote in her book Treaure by the Bay (Western Reserve Historical Society, 1989), that the Donahues added the brick façade to the building as well as the stone carved name “Donahue” under the cornice. You can see the original limestone on  the south side of the Donahue building. Interestingly, Ellie Damm, who was well known for her efforts in local preservation, was a descendant of the founders of Donahue Hardware. In 1920, Lew and Ira Wiles purchased this property, and they ran the Dixie Cafeteria here. If you look closely, you can see the sign for the cafeteria in the picture below.

   

Many area residents will recall that the Sherwin-Williams store was in business at 126 Columbus Avenue from 1952 into the 1990s.

J.F. Donahue and Company Hardware

From about 1900 through 1912, J. Frank Donahue was the president of the J.F. Donahue and Company hardware store, located at 735 and 737 Water Street. In the early 1900s, J.F. Donahue and Company sold Tribune and Pathfinder bicycles, and several varieties of paint.

An advertisement in the June 29, 1911 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal stated that the Donahue Hardware Company had the largest selection of lawn hose in the city of Sandusky. At that time, lawn hose sold for ten cents to eighteen cents per foot.

In 1912, J. Frank Donahue left his leadership role at the Donahue Hardware Company, and became president of the Easiest Way Manufacturing Company. For several years, Frank’s brother, C. Faber Donahue, served as the president of the Donahue Hardware Company. The Easiest Way Manufacturing Company made washing machines. The washing machines were sold at the Donahue Hardware store and other locations locally and throughout the U.S.

In January 1921, the Easiest Way Manufacturing Company moved its operations to the northeast corner of Adams and Harrison Street, at the former site of the Diamond Wine Company.

In the article above, which appeared in the January 8, 1921 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal, it was stated that “efficiency, system and workmanship” were the outstanding features of the Easiest Way Manufacturing Company’s new plant.  On June 30, 1930, J. Frank Donahue died from an accidental drowning. He was survived by his wife, the former Caroline Sadler, and three children. He was buried at Oakland Cemetery.