Mr. and Mrs. F.W. Alvord

Frederick Wakeman Alvord was born on September 28, 1836 in Fairfield, Connecticut. By 1850, he and his parents Elisha and Louisa Alvord had moved to Sandusky, Ohio, where his father worked as a carriage maker. On July 19, 1866, he married Caroline Sprague in Erie County, Ohio.

By 1869 F.W. Alvord was engaged in the wholesale fish business with his father. The E. Alvord & Son wholesale fish business was on the south side of Water Street east of Wayne Street in downtown Sandusky. According to proceedings from the American Fisheries Society, in 1883 Alvord & Son caught over 23 tons of whitefish, and in 1884, they caught 30 ½ tons. During this time, from 1878 to 1885, F.W. Alvord also served as Clerk of Courts in Erie County. Mr. Alvord continued in the wholesale fish business until poor health caused him to disband the business in 1898. 

Mrs. F.W. Alvord was an early member of the Board of Trustees of the Library Association of Sandusky, serving in the 1870s and 1880s. Mr. and Mrs. Alvord had three children, Katharine Sprague Alvord, Frederick E. Alvord, and Sophia Louise Alvord Gawne. Katharine Sprague Alvord served as DePauw University's first dean of women, from 1915 to 1936.

Their son, Frederick E. Alvord, along with A.J. Peters, operated the Alvord-Peters Company for many years. The Alvord & Peters Company owned and published the Sandusky Star Journal from 1904 to 1929. F.W. Alvord died in Sandusky in 1908. Mrs. Alvord survived until 1917. Both were buried in the Alvord family lot at Oakland Cemetery.

The Graham Drug Store

The Graham family operated a drug store in Sandusky from 1845 until 1926. John A. Graham established the drug store, and was succeeded by his son W.A. Graham. The Graham Drug Store was at what is now 102 Columbus Avenue beginning about 1868.  In the picture above, from the late 1880s, the name W.A. Graham is on a sign above the store, and the name of Dr. A.J. Gawne appears on a window in an office on the second floor of the Graham building. 

An article in the Sandusky Register of March 15, 1915 reported that W. A. Graham “was one of the best known and best prepared druggists in this part of the state.” The Graham Drug Store building is featured in the Old House Guild’s Downtown Architectural Walking Tour of Sandusky, Ohio, which lists 1868 as the date the building was constructed.  Ellie Damm wrote in her book Treasure by the Bay, (Bucknell University Press, 1989), that the Graham Drug Store building was in the Second Empire style, constructed from limestone, and faced with sandstone.  Jay Meek operated a drug store at this location in the 1930s and 1940s. From the early 1950s through the late 1980s, the Echo Tavern did business at 102 Columbus Avenue. Daly’s Pub now occupies the building.

 See a previous Sandusky History blog post to view some trading cards that were distributed by the Graham Drug Store.

Dr. Augustus J. Gawne, Inventor

Augustus James Gawne was born in 1843 to Charles and Alice Gawne. From about 1880 to 1910, Dr. A. J. Gawne was a physician in Sandusky, Ohio. He had his office at several different locations in Sandusky. In the late 1890s and early 1900s, his office was on the second floor of the Graham building at the southeast corner of Columbus Avenue and Water Street.

On January 12, 1897, A.J. Gawne was issued a patent for a medical device called a Static Generator.

In an 1898 news article, the Portsmouth Daily Times described the Gawne Static Electric Generator as "one of the greatest inventions of the age." The machine was sold to physicians, and was used for the treatment of acute and chronic aches. Dr. Gawne claimed to have success with the static generator in treating rheumatism, neuralgia, headaches, nervousness, and muscle spasms.

Dr. Gawne was married twice. His first wife, the former Ella Warden, died in 1887 when she was only 39 years of age. In 1893, A.J. Gawne married Sophia Louise Alvord, but according to his death record, that marriage ended in divorce. On June 1, 1910, Dr. Gawne died at Good Samaritan Hospital. Funeral services were held at his residence on Decatur Street, with the Rev. W. Ashton Thompson officiating.

Dr. Gawne was buried next to his first wife in the North Ridge section of Oakland Cemetery.