Damask Rose Parish

 

J.C. Judson wrote about Damask Rose Parish in his history of the First Congregational Church of Sandusky, which he titled Agony and Attainment. According to Mr. Judson, Damask Rose was born in the fall of 1845, and was baptized on August 27, 1846. Her parents were Francis Drake Parish and Mary L. Parish. F.D. Parish was a well known lawyer in Sandusky, and an active participant in the Underground Railroad. They named their child after the late wife of Congregationalist minister Rev. I. A. Hart. Born Damask Rose Frisbie, Mrs. Hart died in 1840, at about 30 years old.

F.D. Parish in his later years

Mr. Judson wrote that Damask Rose Parish was “an unusual, lovely and beautiful child.”

According to records at Oakland Cemetery, Damask Rose Parish died on October 6, 1855, at the age of ten. Her tombstone, which has a rose inscribed under her name, is in Lot 4 of Block 28.  Mr. Parish was greatly saddened when his daughter died, but he was noted for his stoic dedication to his work and community service. 

Hewson Peeke’s book, Stories of Sandusky contains an almost certainly fictional story about Damask Rose Parish. The story tells how Mr. Parish was a friend to fugitive slaves, and suggests that Damask Rose herself took part in helping provide food and water to the fugitives. But J.C. Judson noted that she could not have been old enough to have helped the slaves that were aided by her father in 1845, since she was born that same year.

You can find the grave of Damask Rose Parish at Oakland Cemetery today. Stories of Sandusky and Agony and Attainment can both be found in the Archives Research Center of Sandusky Library. While the Peeke story about Damask Rose may indeed be fiction, there is no question that F. D. Parish was a friend of fugitive slaves. An account of the Underground Railroad of the Firelands is given in the July 1888 issue of the Firelands Pioneer. Rush Sloane, who knew F. D. Parish personally, gives specific dates and places associated with the activities of the Underground Railroad.

When Home Economics Classes Were Held at the Follett House

From the 1940s through the mid-1950s, Sandusky High School Home Economics classes were held at the Follett House. Janet Judson wrote this introduction to the April, 1939 issue of the Fram:

“For Gracious Living”

In illustrations and in text The Fram wishes to call attention with this number to another milestone in the history of our school. As keeper of the archives we are glad to present herewith a brief history of the Follett House. The purchase of this house by the Sandusky Board of Education may be regarded as the crowning achievement of Mr. F. J. Prout, as Superintendent of our public schools, before leaving us to assume his duties as President of Bowling Green University. The Follett House will offer the opportunity to all of us for practical experience in homemaking and broader social contacts. With our academic and industrial studies we shall now have a well rounded preparation for this important matter of living. We are very happy that this hospitable home has once again become a center of fellowship and gracious living.

The April, 1939 Fram featured an article entitled “The Throng in the House,” by Lois Zank and Florence Thayer. The students reported in their article that the Follett House had been purchased by the Sandusky Board of Education on March 1, 1939. While the most recent residents of the home had been members of the Krupp family, the builder of the house was Oran Follett.

The home was constructed of stone in the 1830s. The authors of the article which appeared in the Fram stated that the Follett House had “an air of mysterious interest” with its ivied walls, high steps, and deep-set windows. Mr. Follett’s library once had books that lined the walls all the way to the ceiling. Mrs. Follett was known as “the original hostess.” It seemed most appropriate that the home again will be used as a social center for the Home Economics students.  Today the Follett House is a museum that is open to the public from April through December. Admission is free, and visitors are invited to tour the home which features hundreds of historical artifacts from Sandusky and Erie County. 

Visit the Sandusky Library Research Center to view the April, 1939 issue of the Fram, to read this article in its entirety. Pictured below are students of Home Economics sitting around a fireplace at the Follett House.

               

Photograph Album of Sandusky High School Graduates, Class of 1902

In 1902, C. W. Platt had a photographic studio at the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and Water Street in downtown Sandusky, which had been started by his father, A.C. Platt. C. W. Platt’s daughter Winifed H. Platt and her future husband Edward C. Schnaitter were both graduates of Sandusky High’s Class of 1902.

Miriam and Oliver Rinderle donated a photo album to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center which features individual portraits of each of the graduating seniors from the Sandusky High School class of 1902.

Unfortunately only four of the students’ pictures were identified in the album.  They are:

W. Leroy Slate

Alice Judson

Norma Zistel

and Frank Prout, who would later become Superintendent of Sandusky City Schools, from 1921 to 1939, and would serve as President of Bowling Green State University from 1939 to 1951.

Two African American young women graduated from Sandusky High School in 1902: Emeline Gilkeson and Iona Scott.

Other noteworthy students from Sandusky High’s class of 1902 were Dr. Walter Rieger, a physician who resided in Cleveland, and Mary Klingbiel, who became a nun and observed fifty years as a parochial educator in northern Ohio schools in 1957. After entering the Notre Dame order, Mary was known as Sister Mary Josephine. Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to view these and other vintage photographs of residents of Sandusky and Erie County, Ohio.

Charles A. Judson, Civil Engineer

Charles Albert Judson was born in Florence Township of Erie County on August 11, 1856, to Mr. and Mrs. Albert W. Judson. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1882 and married Roxie Lowry in 1883. After their marriage, Charles and Roxie Judson settled in Sandusky, Ohio. Charles A. Judson became a civil engineer, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. Charles A. Judson served his community in many different capacities. He was Corporal in Co. B of the 16th Regiment of the Ohio National Guard from 1882-1887. He served as city engineer of Sandusky from 1894 to 1891, and was superintendent of the Water Works from 1884 to 1907. In 1902, Charles A. Judson was elected to the Ohio State Senate, and he was appointed to be the Collector of U.S. Customs in Sandusky during the Theodore Roosevelt administration, and he was re-appointed under President Taft. After retiring from the Customs Office, Charles A. Judson returned to surveying. He was elected as a city commissioner in the early 1920’s. Ancestors of both Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Judson were early settlers of Erie County, Ohio.

On the evening of September 30, 1926, Charles A. and Roxie Judson were killed in a tragic accident in which the Judson vehicle collided with a freight train in Friendship, New York. The couple was en route to visit two of their married daughters in Pennsylvania. At first it was feared that some of their grandchildren had also been killed, as at the scene of the accident, several items of children’s clothing were found in the wreckage. (The Judsons had planned to take gifts of clothing to their grandchildren in Pennsylvania.) The Associated Press carried news of the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Judson, which caused great sorrow in the Sandusky area. Mr. and Mrs. Judson were very active in their church and community organizations, and both were held in high esteem. Mr. and Mrs. Judson were survived by two sons and three daughters. Joint funeral services were conducted at the First Congregational Church, and the couple was buried at Oakland Cemetery. A lengthy obituary for Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Judson is found in the 1926 Obituary Notebook at the Sandusky Library. A tribute to Mr. and Mrs. Judson also appears in the April 1930 issue of the Firelands Pioneer.

James C. Judson, son of Charles A. and Roxie Judson, wrote the book Agony and Attainment, a history of the First Congregational Church of Sandusky, covering the years 1819 to 1869. This book, while it focused on the history of the church, also contains a lot of anecdotal history about early residents of Sandusky.

Sandusky High School Football, 1912

The Sandusky High School football team about 1912:Pictured are:
Top row: C. E. Fleming, Leonard Osberg, George Singler, Frederick Slackford
Middle: Charles Abele, Frank Field, Howard Earnshaw, Wilbur Schoepfle, Estes Drake, Bob Judson
Front: Bill Busch, Roy Hazen, Wilson Harris, Gene Close, Don Hand, George Giesler, Art Wieland

Charles E. Fleming would go on to teach chemistry at Sandusky High School for thirty four years. Leonard Osberg served three two year terms as the Mayor of Vermilion in the 1940’s. Robert Judson retired as plant manager from the American Crayon Company in 1964, having been with the company for forty seven years. Wilbur Schoepfle was a Navy Ensign during World War One. He majored in mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan. Wilbur moved to California, and lost his life in an automobile accident in Orange County, California in 1941. The football team photograph pictures the young men with all their hopes and dreams ahead of them, years before the two world wars were thought of, and without the responsibilities of a job and family.

Visit the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library to learn more about the history of the people who have made Sandusky and Erie County their home.