Funeral of Captain Adam Hartung

Adam E. Hartung was a lifelong resident of Sandusky, Ohio, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Christ Hartung. He had a twin brother named Daniel, and both men were firefighters for the City of Sandusky.

On the evening of November 11, 1907 the fire department was summoned to a fire at the Catawba Candy Company.  Adam Hartung, of the No. 4 Company, slipped while attempting to climb onto the hose wagon and fell, hitting his chest on the iron rail of the dashboard. He continued to the fire, but after returning to the fire station he became ill. It turns out that as Adam fell, he suffered a broken rib and the broken rib punctured his lung. Mr. Hartung remained ill for several months. He died on March 23, 1908 at his home on Hancock Street in Sandusky, at age 49, survived by a wife and six children, three brothers and two sisters. His funeral was held at the family residence, and burial was at Oakland Cemetery. City of Sandusky firefighters served as pallbearers.

Adam Hartung had been a city firefighter for twenty years. According to The Great Book of Wildfowl Decoys, he also was a skilled carver of duck decoys. 

As you can see in the photograph, long ago someone noted that the funeral took place in 1896. After checking through the Ohio Obituary Index and Oakland Cemetery interment cards, it was determined that a child of Mr. and Mrs. Adam Hartung died in 1896, but Adam Hartung, Captain of the Sandusky Fire Department died in March of 1908. Don’t always trust handwritten records you may come across in your genealogical research. Be sure to verify dates against other records, as mistakes are often found.

The Central Avenue Fire Station

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a fire station stood at the northeast corner of Central Avenue and Osborne Streets. Known as Fire Station Number 4, it was constructed of limestone, with a tower and an arched doorway that allowed room for the entry of horse drawn vehicles. Below is a portion of the 1905 Sanborn map which shows the layout of the fire station.

This close up view shows several fire fighters at the Number 4 station.

     

In 1908, Captain Adam E. Hartung died after he was thrown from a horse cart, while on a fire call. The station and fire vehicle were decorated in memory of Captain Hartung prior to the funeral procession.

       

The former fire station at the corner of Central Avenue and Osborne Streets was razed about 1930.

Miss Gertrude Hartung, Teacher and Principal

Gertrude Hartung was associated with the Sandusky City Schools for forty years. She began as a teacher in 1921, teaching at both Madison and Campbell Schools. When she was still in her 20s, Superintendent Frank J. Prout named her as principal of Madison School.

Later she served as principal of Barker School. In her final years of teaching, Miss Hartung taught Social Studies at the Sandusky High School. She retired from Sandusky City Schools in 1961. 

Sandusky native Glenn Everett, who worked as a news correspondent in Washington D.C., wrote a tribute to Miss Hartung in the June 25, 1989 issue of the Sandusky Register, not long after her death. He told about Miss Hartung taking a large group of elementary children on a flat-bed truck to the Hartung family farm on Campbell Street, so the students could see cows being milked, and corn being harvested.  On another field trip, the children watched milk being bottled at the old Esmond Dairy, and they all got an ice cream sandwich after the tour of the plant. A field trip that really made an impression on Glenn Everett was when all the members of the class were locked for a minute in a dark jail cell at the old Erie County Jail, as a deputy sheriff warned the students about the consequences of bad behavior.

Miss Hartung felt that by going on field trips, the children learned things in a practical way that could not be learned just from reading a book. Mr. Everett wrote, “She made education exciting so that her students wanted to come to school to learn as much as possible…She was the kind of teacher all teachers could wish to be.”  In 1974, Miss Hartung was honored by the Firelands Council of Camp Fire for her many years of service as a Camp Fire Girls leader. 

On June 9, 1989, Gertrude Hartung died at the age of 89. Funeral services were held at the Groff Funeral Home, and burial was at Oakland Cemetery. Miss Hartung touched many lives during her long career as an educator with the Sandusky City Schools

Sandusky High School Graduating Class of 1917

The senior class of 1917 was the largest class of graduates in Sandusky High School’s history up to then. The class consisted of 68 young men and women, but Esther Hartung was ill and could not attend the commencement ceremony. Rev. C. L. Alspach had addressed the class at the High School on the evening of June 4, 1917 during the baccalaureate service.

He urged the members of the class to seek to attain the ideals of true manhood and womanhood, rather than the ever-changing measure of success as measured by the world. During the baccalaureate service one hundred high school girls sang the song “America Triumphant” which was fitting, since the United States had just entered World War I in April. Rev. J.H. Holdgraf offered a prayer for peace, and the hymn “Onward Christian Soldiers” was sung.  

The Sandusky High School graduation ceremony took place on June 8, 1917 in the Sandusky High School auditorium, then located on Adams Street.

The speaker at graduation was Professor Delbert G. Lean from the College of Wooster. He stated that the men and women of the class of 1917 are the “men and women of the hour in an age of speed.” Professor Lean discussed the many changes in industry and technology, and spoke of the importance of education. He reminded the graduates that the youth of today “control the destinies of tomorrow.” He urged the senior class members to have conviction of purpose. Principal W.A. Richardson presented the class to Superintendent James T. Begg as “the largest and best class” ever to graduate from Sandusky High School.  Superintendent Begg pointed out that a high school education was valued at about $1800, according to figures from U.S. Government officials. Music for the commencement was provided by the high school orchestra, under the direction of Professor G.D. Jones. Several high school students also performed solos and duets. 

To see the names and pictures of each 1917 Sandusky High School graduate more closely, see the 1917 June Fram, available at the Sandusky Library’s local history collection in the Lower Level.