Mrs. Portia Follett Gardner

Portia Bartholomew married Foster Valentine Follett in Cuyahoga County in 1866. Foster V. Follett was the son of Foster Morse Follett, and the nephew of Oran Follett, publisher of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Mr. and Mrs. Foster Valentine Follett had three children, two of whom died quite young from diphtheria. Their son Foster Morse Follett became a well known cartoonist. His work appeared in the New York Herald, The World, and the Saturday Evening Post. 

After the untimely death of her first husband (at age 40), Portia married J. Henry Gardner, a musician who led bands in Michigan and Ohio. In the 1890 Sandusky City Directory, J. Henry Gardner is listed as the Manager of a Piano and Organ Warehouse, as well as a piano tuner and repairer. Mrs. P.A. Follett Gardner was listed as a Music Teacher and also a Dealer in Pianos, Organs, and Musical Merchandise. Mrs. Portia Follett Gardner died in 1906 in Flint, Michigan, and was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky. She was a strong woman, having outlived two children and her first husband, and was a full partner with her second husband in the music business. 

Freedom Fighters

It has been only relatively recently that the service of African-American soldiers in the Civil War has been adequately recognized. In the Sandusky area during the war, fifteen African-American men volunteered for service in Company I of the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The men were mustered into service in May and June of 1863 at Camp Meigs in Readville, Massachusetts.

In January 1863, Governor John Andrew of Massachusetts received permission to recruit an African-American regiment to fight for the Union. The 55th was a sister regiment to the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, whose heroic service in the war was featured in the movie, Glory. This second unit was formed due to the overwhelming response from men who sought to serve in the 54th. A total of 222 men from Ohio served in the Massachusetts 55th.

Among the Sanduskians who served, William H. Johnson was killed in battle on July 2, 1864 at James Island, South Carolina. Morris Darnell and Elijah J. Brown
returned home to Sandusky after the war, and are buried in Oakland Cemetery; Frank Gardner, Joshua Cole, and Thomas Robinson are buried at the Ohio Veterans Home.


African American soldiers comprised over ten percent of the Union Army, and over 18,000 African-American men served in the Navy. You can read an article about the Sandusky recruits in the June 2, 1863 issue of the Sandusky Daily Commercial Register, available on microfilm in the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Military records from the Civil War and other wars may be found on the Ancestry Library Edition research database, which can be accessed from within the library.