Teacher and Students of a One Room Schoolhouse in Perkins Township

In about 1899, Miss Gertrude Taylor was the teacher at a one room schoolhouse in Perkins Township, on Columbus Avenue, south of Taylor Road. The picture was taken by Pascoe’s Gallery of Sandusky, Ohio.

Pictured in the photograph are: back row, Miss Gertrude Taylor, Mary Michel, Marie Strickfaden, John Von Eitzen, Morris Hills, Ethel House, Byron House, Henry Merriam, Vincent Morris, Ollie Merriam, Willie Michel; front row, Annabel House, Carl Oswald, Susanna Strickfaden, Edith Michel, Lloyd Hills, Beulah Taylor, August Von Eitzen, and Pauline Von Eitzen. The 1896 Erie County Atlas shows that the Taylor, House, and Hills families all lived very close to the school, so the children did not have far to walk to get to the schoolhouse.

Ethel House would go on to become very active in the Daughters of the American Revolution, serving as Regent of the organization for a time. Her first husband was former prosecuting attorney and judge, Claude J. Minor. Following his death, Ethel became the wife of Bowling Green State University president, Dr. Frank Prout. When Lloyd Hills had completed his school years, he became the owner and operator of the Hills’ Supply Company, which dealt in paints and automobile accessories. Susanna and Marie Strickfaden were the sisters of Joseph Strickfaden, who operated a garden center in Perkins Township for fifty years. Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to view this and hundreds of other archival photographs relating to Sandusky and Erie County, Ohio.

Norman and Abby Hills

Norman Edwin Hills, born January 4, 1868, was the son of William Darwin Hills and his wife, the former Laura Kelley. He was also the grandson of Irad Kelley, one of the co-owners of Kelleys Island. Norman E. Hills was considered an authority on the geology and history of Kelleys Island. In 1925 he authored a book entitled A History of Kelleys Island, Ohio, which was reprinted in 1982 by the Kelleys Island Historical Association. 

This article appeared in the Sandusky Register on January 15, 1933:

Norman E. Hills passed away on December 20, 1944, and he was buried in Willoughby Village Cemetery.  The first wife of Norman E. Hills was Abby Cleaveland McEwen, whom he married about 1895. Below is a picture of Abby McEwen Hills and the first child of Norman and Abby Hills. Baby Helen Hills was age 3 months and 4 days at the time this picture was taken. These pictures are now in the Kurt Boker Collection of  Kelleys Island History, in the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

Visit the Sandusky Library and its Archives Research Center to learn more about the history of Erie County, Ohio.