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.

Francis McQuown, Revolutionary War Soldier

On Memorial Day in 1939, the Martha Pitkin Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a marble tombstone at Oakland Cemetery, to honor the memory of Francis McQuown. According to clippings in a D.A.R. notebook housed at the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library, Francis McQuown first enlisted as a private in the Company of Edward Grimes, 7th Battalion, at Cumberland County, Maryland. Mr. McQuown was with the Maryland Militia in 1778, and advanced to the rank of Captain in the Sixth Class, Third Company, Fifth Battalion, Cumberland County, Militia.

In 1849, Francis McQuown came with his family to Sandusky, Ohio. He first married Jane Gregg, with whom he had eight children, and then married Agnes Smythe, and they had three more children. Francis McQuown died in 1855, at the age of 99. His grave is located near the Schade Mausoleum at Oakland Cemetery.

The surname McQuown became to be spelled McEwen in Sandusky. One of the sons of Francis McQuown, Thomas C. McEwen, was the postmaster in Sandusky in the 1860’s. He was initially appointed to be Deputy Postmaster by Abraham Lincoln, according to the Journal of the Proceedings of the United States Senate.

Another descendant of Francis McQuown was Miss Sarah Elizabeth McEwen. Sarah McEwen was associated with the Sandusky Library for over forty years. Miss McEwen passed away at the age of 91 in March of 1933.

To learn more about the family history of the McQuown/McEwen family, see the book Our McEwen Heritage: The James McEwen Faamily in America Since 1736, available full text at the Family History Archives of Brigham Young University.