Dr. James K. Douglas, Native of Berlin Township

Dr. James K. Douglas was born in August 1869 to James and Cornelia (King) Douglas. He grew up on his parents’ home along Lake Erie in the northern portion of Berlin Township of Erie County, Ohio.

In 1894 he graduated from the School of Dentistry at the University of Michigan. Dr. Douglas started practicing dentistry in Sandusky in October, 1894 in the old Kingsbury block. On December 30, 1894, he married Maora Hill, the daughter of George F. and Mary (Steen) Hill. Maora is seen below with a group of young women from Berlin Heights in the late 1800s. She is seated on the right side, in row of ladies at the bottom portion of the picture taken by I.G. Ferres.

By 1910, Dr. Douglas moved his office to the 400 block of Columbus Avenue in the building known as the Bliss building. Dr. Douglas remained at this location until his retirement in 1950. 

On October 17, 1951, several area dentists, who were members of the North Central Dental Society, met to honor Dr. Douglas for his over fifty years of service to his community as a dentist. Dr. James K. Douglas was a longtime member of the American Dental Association, and past president of the Ohio State Dental Association, the Northern Ohio Dental Association, the North Central Ohio Dental Society, and the Sandusky Dental Study Club. He was a member of the state board of dental examiners for a number of years. Dr. D.D. Smith was the toastmaster at the October event, where Dr. Douglas received an autograph book containing messages from all the dentists in attendance. 

On October 4, 1954, Dr. Douglas died unexpectedly at his home on Meigs Street in Sandusky. He was survived by his wife, a daughter, granddaughter, and sister. Dr. Douglas was buried in the West End Cemetery in Berlin Heights, Ohio.

Small Appliances Made in Sandusky

From about 1929 through 1934, the Made Rite Manufacturing Company was in business in Sandusky at the southwest corner of Shelby and Water Streets. The pie sealer, pictured above, prevented the pie filling from spilling out of the crust and making a gooey mess in the oven. 

The Made Rite electric toaster from the 1930s looks a lot different than the toasters we use now:

Other products made by the company included waffle irons, mixers, and a unique incubator in which the chicks could regulate the temperature by themselves. An article in the April 13, 1934 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal featured an advertisement from the M.R. Herb Company where parents were urged to bring their children in to the store to see the live baby chicks housed in Made Rite chick-o-matic incubators. 

From 1932 to 1934, the officers of the Made Rite Manufacturing were George C. Hill, president; Norbert J. Kuebeler, vice- president; and Arthur Cronenberger, secretary. Ultimately, the company was acquired by the Weinig Products Company, and eventually all operations in Sandusky ceased. The Follett House Museum is home to several locally made products. Visit the museum to see clothing, household items, furniture, photographs, and many other historical items from Sandusky and Erie County.

Honorable Discharge of a Squirrel Hunter

In September of 1862, General Lewis Wallace (of Ben-Hur fame) was ordered to prepare to defend Covington, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio, following the capture of Lexington, Kentucky by Confederate forces.  Martial law was declared in Cincinnati, and local civilians were called in to help defend the city against an attack. Governor David Tod ordered the Adjutant-General of Ohio to send any available troops. Several counties around the state offered to send civilians to Cincinnati. Only men who had their own weapons were to respond, and the railroad was to provide transportation to the volunteers at no cost to the men. Eventually these men became known as “Squirrel Hunters.” 

One of the men who answered the call to go to Cincinnati was John McCardle, from Erie County.  In 1863, he received an honorable discharge by Governor Tod. The document was also signed by Charles W. Hill, the Adjutant-General of Ohio, and Malcolm McDowell, Major and acting Aide de Camp. In 1908 Ohio legislators passed a resolution to pay each surviving Squirrel Hunter a sum of thirteen dollars, as pay for serving as an Ohio militia man. You can read more about Ohio’s “Squirrel Hunters” in an online newsletter from the Oberlin Heritage Center.

Exhibition of the Berlin Seminary in 1854

On March 17, 1854, under the leadership of Principal T.H. Armstrong, students of the Berlin Seminary in Berlin Township in Erie County, Ohio, gave an exhibition at the Congregational Church of Berlin Township. Over five hundred people attended the exhibition. 

Rev. F.A.  Deming from the Congregational Church opened the session in prayer. H.B. Luce gave a talk about education, and J. Kilburn spoke about industry. Other topics included beauty, self-made men, and several “ladies’ papers.”  As the evening progressed, H.C. Hill spoke about spiritualism (a very popular topic of the era), while M.M. Benschoter spoke about anti-spiritualism. Several women acted out a skit about human nature. A favorite number of the exhibition was given by a trio of young men, Orro Lovell, George Fowler, and John Tucker, who performed a ballad entitled “Sour Grapes.” 

An article which appeared in the April 15, 1854 issue of the Sandusky Register pointed out that Berlin had in its precinct those who could add to the community’s intellectual and moral enjoyment.  Students who attended the Berlin Seminary had the opportunity to board with area families. Tuition in 1853 was $3.00 for common English studies; $4.00 for higher level English studies; $4.50 for Latin and Greek languages; and a fee of twenty five cents was to be paid each term by all students for “incidentals.”  The Congregational Church at Berlin Heights is now known as the First Congregational United Church of Christ. A commemorative plate from the Congregational Church is found in the historical collections of the Follett House Museum.

    

Records of the Library Company of Eldridge Township

In 1938 Mrs. James Douglas donated the Record Book of the Library Company of Eldridge Township: 1825-1830 to the Historic Room of the Sandusky Library. (Eldridge Township is now known as Berlin Township.) It appears that this early library was a subscription library, which unlike today’s public libraries, was supported by subscription fees assessed to individual users. Persons who had a membership in the Library Company of Eldridge Township had their names listed on separate pages, and columns indicated the date they checked books out, and also the amount of “shares” they used for each check-out. The Record Book also contains minutes of the meetings, and gives details of fines charged and transfers of memberships.

One of the members of the Library Company of Eldridge Township the great-grandfather of Mrs. James Douglas, Noah Hill.

By 1818 Noah Hill was a farmer in Berlin Township, after having been a shipbuilder in Connecticut, and living briefly in Pennsylvania. He married Sukey Butler, and they had ten children. Two of their sons became physicians, and another was an Ohio legislator. His son Dr. Benjamin Hill was appointed as U.S. Consul at Nicaragua under President Lincoln. Mr. Hill served as a Justice of the Peace for several years. His obituary in the June 1865 Firelands Pioneer states that “the qualities of his heart will ever be held in remembrance by his relatives and acquaintances. He was noted by his love of home, and his attention to the wants and needs of his family…” Noah Hill was considered one of the few remaining original pioneers of the Firelands at the time of his death.

Rev. True Pattee was an early Methodist preacher in Huron and Erie Counties. The History of Ohio Methodism indicates that in 1824 Rev. Pattee was preaching in Sandusky in a frame building on Columbus Avenue where the Sloane House was later located.

Rev. William Gurley in his memoir says that Rev. True Pattee was distinguished and dignified. He continues to say that Rev. Pattee would “throw before the audience some pleasing truth, strew around it some flowers of rhetoric, and leave his hearers delighted with both it and himself.” Rev. True Pattee and his family moved to Indiana. He died in Allen County, Indiana in 1867. Burial was in the Old Harlan Cemetery.

If you or your family members have old records of historic organizations or businesses from Sandusky or Erie County, consider donating them to the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library to be preserved for future generations.