Jay Cooke's Address to the Firelands Historical Society in 1900

Jay Cooke was born in Sandusky, Ohio on August 10, 1821. After working for E.W. Clark and Company, he opened his own banking business in 1861, known as Jay Cooke and Company. His company prospered, and during the Civil War Jay Cooke and Company negotiated loans for the government and sold bonds to raise capital for the Union cause. Because of his fundraising efforts in the 1860s, he became known as the “financier of the Civil War.” 

On October 3, 1900 Jay Cooke read an address to the members of the Firelands Historical Society at the Trinity Methodist Church in Sandusky.

Cooke’s address was printed in the December 1, 1900 issue of the Firelands Pioneer. Besides discussing his successful fund raising efforts during the Civil War, he recalled many fond memories of his early days in Sandusky, such as going hunting with Judge Caldwell. He remembered that the first train from Sandusky to Bellevue was horse drawn, and that a cannon had been shot off at the ground breaking of the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad. He revealed that he had sent the first telegraph to Sandusky, written in Philadelphia and sent to his father Eleutheros. 

You can read Mr. Cooke’s entire address in the Firelands Pioneer of December 1, 1900.  

In the nineteenth century photographer A.C. Platt created this stereographic card which features the steamer named Jay Cooke in honor of the Sandusky born banker.

A silver spoon with inscribed with the name “Jay Cooke” is in the historical collections of the Follett House Museum.

A marker noting the birthplace of Jay Cooke can be seen in downtown Sandusky on the north side of East Market Street.

I.F. Mack’s Address on “The Four Pioneers”

On June 8, 1881, I.F. Mack, the well-known publisher of the Sandusky Register, gave an address at the twenty fifth annual meeting of the Firelands Historical Society in Norwalk, Ohio.

His address, entitled “The Four Pioneers,” featured sketches of four well known pioneer attorneys in the Firelands area.

In the eight years prior to the 1881 meeting, four respected judges from Erie County had passed away. They were: Walter F. Stone, William G. Lane, Joseph M. Root, and Cooper K. Watson. Mr. Mack had known each of these men personally. He gave a brief biography of each of the deceased attorneys, and then he examined the character of each of the men. According to Mack, Walter F. Stone was very gentle in nature, and was a man of peace. “He was a gentleman always, in the practice of his profession as well as social life.”  

William G. Lane was described as having the combination of diffidence, mental strength, fidelity to the highest duty, patience and courage. Mr. Mack also said that Judge Lane had “sincerity, coupled with unquestioned purity of thought and feeling,” and claimed that he was the “wisest counsellor we ever had at our bar.” 

About Joseph M. Root, I.F. Mack said that he was sincere, honest, and brave, but “his prejudices were too intense to make him an agreeable social companion.” When someone disagreed with Joseph M. Root, his wrath was often excited and he was known to “draw forth a torrent of abuse.” Mr. Mack said simply that Root “was not a great lawyer.”

According to Mack, Cooper K. Watson “possessed legal ability of the highest order.” He had a consummate knowledge of the laws, and a thorough understanding of the intricate rules and modes of practice, and was known to be severe in the sentencing of criminals. Mack wrote that Judge Watson “read books, law, theology, poetry, history, romance, and science greedily, remembered what he read, and made it useful, in the practice of his profession and in his intercourse with friends.”

Mr. Mack concluded by stating that all four of the pioneer lawyers were regarded as honest men, in a profession popularly believed to contain its full share of dishonest men. He stressed the importance of honesty and integrity as the chief cornerstone of character, to be regarded as more important than owning lands, stocks and bonds. 

To read I.F. Mack’s address “The Four Pioneers,” see the Firelands Pioneer of June 1882. His address is found on pages 62 to 70. You can see a framed picture of each of the four attorneys discussed in Mack’s speech on the third floor of the Erie County Courthouse.

Pioneer Song, with Lyrics by General L.V. Bierce

At the quarterly meeting of the Firelands Historical Society, held in Monroeville on March 10, 1869, General L. V. Bierce of Akron gave an address about the early history of the Firelands and the Western Reserve. At the conclusion of the address, the group sang a Pioneer Song to the tune of  “Auld Lang Syne.” The lyrics had been written by General Bierce. The song had originally been written for a meeting of pioneers of Cincinnati, but the General adapted them to suit the locality of the Firelands. Reports from the quarterly meeting indicate that the Pioneer Song “seemed to stir the memories of by-gone years in the hearts of the pioneers who were present.”

The song praised the woodland forests of the Firelands, as well as the shores of Lake Erie. Ohio was considered “the west” the early 1800’s.

The final two verses of the Pioneer Song are:

The men so bold are growing old;

  The maidens’ locks are white.

Yet, through the tears of by-gone years,

  In song let us unite.

CHORUS

And every grave where sleep the brave,

  Shall be a blessed spot;

And o’er the tomb love’s roses bloom,

 And sweet Forget-me not.

CHORUS

Record of Proceedings of the Firelands Historical Society in October, 1895

On October 10, 1895, Rush R. Sloane opened the meeting of the Firelands Historical Society. Mr. Sloane was Vice President of the Society, which met in Sandusky for that particular meeting. Several persons attending the meeting had resided in the Firelands area for fifty years or more, and Judge Sloane asked those individuals to stand. The group sang a “Pioneer Song,” which had been written by General L. V. Bierce, and was sung to the tune of Old Lang Syne. Judge Sloane commented on the great work that the pioneers of the Firelands had done in recording their early history. Judge Sloane said, of the Firelands Pioneer, “I want to say to you that any one who has in his library a bound volume of the Pioneer, published by this Society, has a work of great value.”

The first meeting of the Firelands Historical Society took place in 1857. Each of the thirty-two townships of the Firelands region had chosen two individuals to gather and report the history of their township. Eleutheros Cooke and F.D. Parish were the two individuals chosen to record the history of Sandusky. Parish was also elected to be secretary for the Firelands Historical Society. In the October 10, 1895 proceedings, several individuals discussed historic items that they donated to the Firelands Historical Society. The discussions held by the members of the Firelands Historical Society were recorded in the many volumes of the Firelands Pioneer.

The key speaker at the Fall 1895 meeting of the Society was James M. Richardson, of Cleveland, who was president of the Western Reserve Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Before he gave a patriotic address, Mr. Richardson stated that the members of the Firelands Historical Society were doing a noble work in preserving the history of the Firelands. He continued, “You are not only a product of civilization, but you are one of its most potential agents; you are architects of fate, working in the walls of time: you are a part of that full force which underlies our nation.”

Several volumes of the Firelands Pioneer are available in the Reference Services area of the Sandusky Library. These include the “Old Series,” the “New Series” and the “Third Series.” There is both a general index to this set of journals, as well as an Obituary Index. Many personal stories, portraits of individuals, chronicles of settlers, and numerous other accounts of the early pioneers of Erie and Huron Counties can be found in this important resource for local history. Artifacts from these early settlers may be viewed at both the Firelands Historical Society Museum in Norwalk, Ohio and the Follett House Museum in Sandusky, Ohio.

Dr. Daniel Tilden, Pioneer Physician

According to the June 1870 issue of the Firelands Pioneer, Daniel Tilden was born in the village of Lebanon in Grafton County, New Hampshire on August 19, 1788. He obtained his medical degree from Dartmouth College in 1812. Dr. Tilden married Nancy Drake in 1814. Dr. Tilden moved to Ohio in 1817, settling in Cook’s Corners (now known as North Monroeville). He lived briefly in Norwalk before settling in Sandusky in 1839.

The biographical sketch in the Firelands Pioneer stated that Dr. Tilden “was assiduous in his attentions to the sick, often times spending hours day and night by the bedside, observing symptoms, administering medicines himself and noting the operations and the changing condition of the patient, at the same time giving largely of cheerful encouragement. It seemed to be a labor of love with him to give his services to the very poor.” Dr. Tilden had an abhorrence of oppression and injustice and he was anti-slavery in his political convictions. It was said that his recollections of assisting the poor and enslaved race gave him great pleasure, and he often had tears of joy at the thought that he had lived to see “the colored man free.”

Dr. Tilden was president of the Ohio State Medical Society in 1856, and he served as president of the Erie County Medical Society for many years. He had also served in the State Senate of Ohio from 1828 through 1835. On August 19, 1868, Dr. Tilden celebrated his 80th birthday. His daughter, Mrs. Annette Tilden Mills, invited several of his oldest friends to celebrate with him. After a lengthy illness, Dr. Tilden died on May 7, 1870. He is buried in the family lot at Oakland Cemetery.

George J. Reynolds, Carriage Maker and Underground Railroad Conductor

Though there is not much personal information known about George J. Reynolds, his name has long been connected with the activities of the Underground Railroad in Sandusky, Ohio. He was an active conductor on the Underground Railroad, making the vital connections between the individuals seeking freedom and the persons in Sandusky who helped them achieve that goal. He showed an incredible amount of courage and determination for the cause of freedom.

No known images of George J. Reynolds, his home, or his business, exist in the Sandusky Library's collections. Here is an 1851 newspaper ad from the Sandusky Daily Commercial Register for Reynolds’ carriage shop:

A brochure from the Erie County Visitors Bureau cites the business of George J. Reynolds, located at the northeast corner of Jackson and Madison Streets, in their listing of safe houses and businesses associated with the Underground Railroad in Sandusky. Professor Wilbur Siebert described Reynolds as "a man of mixed Negro and Indian blood" and a skilled blacksmith. Professor Siebert gathered and published information about Ohio’s participation in the Underground Railroad for over fifty years. His collections are held by the Ohio Historical Society.

Hill Peeble Wilson, author of John Brown: Soldier of Fortune, places G. J. Reynolds at John Brown’s Chatham Convention. John Brown and several of his supporters met at Chatham, Ontario, Canada in May 1858 to make plans on how to create a plan of action to help put a stop to slavery. While G. J. Reynolds attended the Chatham Convention, there is no evidence suggesting his participating at the Harper’s Ferry Raid.

Rush Sloane’s address on the “Underground Railroad in the Firelands” is found in the July 1888 issue of the “Firelands Pioneer.”
Sloane gives an account of the anti-slavery operations of several Erie and Huron County residents, including G. J. Reynolds. Leading officials of Sandusky, lawyers, ship captains, business owners, ministers, and many unnamed individuals all played a part in the clandestine activities necessary to aiding the fugitives make their way safely to Canada.

For more information about the Underground Railroad in Sandusky, see William Steuk’s The Underground Railroad in Sandusky, available in the Genealogy/Local History Department of the Sandusky Library, and the brochure The River to Lake Freedom Trail available online.