Poems of Eternal Value by Elizabeth Browning Kelham

 

Elizabeth Browning Kelham was born in 1893 to William and Sarah (Durkee) Kelham of Sandusky, Ohio. She graduated from Sandusky High School in 1913. Miss Kelham was a teacher with the Sandusky City Schools for thirty-seven years. In the 1930s, Miss Kelham taught classes for visually impaired students at Barker School. She made soup or cocoa for the students to have with their lunches during the cold weather months, according to an article in the Sandusky Star Journal.

In 1939 she wrote a book entitled Poems of Eternal Value. It was dedicated to her mother Sarah D. Kelham, and in memory of her father, William R. Kelham. The small book was printed by the Stutz Printing Co. of Sandusky, Ohio. The poems were inspirational, with topics such as faith, peace, friendship, and prayer.

Miss Elizabeth B. Kelham lived until the age of 90. She died in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, and was buried at Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery. Below is a picture of the Sandusky High School Bible Class from 1911-1912, of which Elizabeth Kelham was a member.

The Graduating Class of Sandusky High School, 1872

Pictured above are several members of Sandusky High School’s graduating class of 1872. In the front row are: Lula Hayes; Sarah Lawler; Charles McLouth and Antonia Springer. In the middle row are: Hattie Miller; Frank Barker; Emma Hages; Robert Walsh and Eunice Williams. In the back row are: Ella Rayl ; Alex Camp; Emma Alder; Hattie Keech; Henry Moore; Laura Wetherell; Alice Kinney and Ella Kelham. 

By 1876, Ella Kelham was an elementary school teacher for Sandusky City Schools. Frank Barker became the city clerk of Sandusky, and he married Laura Cooke, the niece of Civil War financier Jay Cooke. (Barker Street in Sandusky was named for Frank Barker’s ancestors.) Hattie Keech was the daughter of Sandusky businessman and philanthropist, C.C. Keech. She would go on to marry Edmund H. Zurhorst, who was very active in politics in Sandusky. Alice Kinney was the daughter of newspaper publisher J.C. Kinney, and Alex Camp’s ancestors were instrumental in the founding of the city of Sandusky. These students were all born before the Civil War, and most lived well into the twentieth century.  They saw many changes in technology in their lifetimes. 

To see more historical photographs from Sandusky and Erie County, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, on the lower level of the Sandusky Library.