Prominent Sanduskians

The image below is of a group of prominent Sandusky men, taken sometime between 1910 and 1920. The picture was anonymously mailed to the Sandusky Register and then was forwarded to Wilbert Ohlemacher, who wrote The Elderlies column for the Register for several years.

Back row: Fred Emmons, Mr. H. Squire, C. Webb Sadler, Dr. J.T. Haynes, F. P. Zollinger, Dr. J.F. Douglas, Mr. Feick, William Seitz, Dr. C. B. Bliss, Sidney Frohman, unknown, and Mr. Bruce

Front row: Mr. Feick, C.B. Lockwood, William Sumser, Lawrence Morton, T. T. Morton

 

Fred Emmons was the secretary and assistant treasurer of the Hinde and Dauch Paper Company; Mr. H. Squire owned Squire Electric Company; C. Webb Sadler was the father of city manager Webb Sadler; Dr. J. T. Haynes was the physician at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home; F. P. Zollinger was the president of the Third National Bank; Dr. J.F. Douglas had a dental office on Columbus Avenue for many years; Mr. Feick was a local builder; William Seitz was a merchant tailor, Dr. C.B. Bliss was an ophthalmologist; and Sidney Frohman was the president and general manger of the Hinde and Dauch Paper Company. In the front row was another member of the Feick family of builders. C. B. Lockwood and William Sumser were associated with the Standard Box Company; Lawrence Morton was the sales manager of the Threading Machine Company; and T. T. Morgan was the treasurer and general manager of the Brown Clutch Company.

We do not know the occasion for this gathering, but you can read Mr. Ohlemacher’s newspaper article about this picture in the March 27, 1983 issue of the Sandusky Register, available on microfilm at the Sandusky Archives Research Center, or online via the Sandusky Library's website.

A Sandusky Native’s Connection to President Lincoln

 

Howard Hill Morton was born in Sandusky, Ohio in 1840, to Dr. and Mrs. George R. Morton. When Howard was a young man, he and George Doll published a small leaflet which they called The Sandusky Gazette. In 1860 he moved to Washington, D.C. where he worked in a print shop, and published a small periodical about various governmental agencies, then from 1862 to 1869, he worked as a clerk in the Treasury Department. Later he transferred to the Department of  Internal Revenue.  On July 10, 1864, H.H. Morton married his wife Annie in Cincinnati, Ohio. After the wedding, the couple moved back to the nation’s capital. During the Civil War, Mr. Morton was a war correspondent for the Cincinnati Enquirer and other newspapers.  After his father’s death in 1875, Mr. and Mrs. H.H. Morton and their family moved to North Bass Island. Howard H. Morton died on September 30, 1888, and he was buried in Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery.

The Sandusky Register and the Sandusky Star Journal both featured articles in February of 1922  in which Mrs. Annie Morton discussed her experiences from her years in Washington D.C.

Mrs. Morton and her husband often attended the Saturday receptions at the White House when President Lincoln was in office. Mrs. Morton said that Lincoln was friendly towards everyone, and often tried to make people smile. She said that while Lincoln was not a handsome man, she was struck by the kindness in his face and the strength of his handshake. Mrs. Morton wore a rose and azure blue gown to President Lincoln’s first and second inaugural balls. She was quite a petite lady, and she could still fit in the gown in 1922 when she was aged 79. Annie Morton died on January 8, 1925. At the time of her death, she was the only living Sandusky resident who had been a guest at Lincoln’s inaugural balls. 

To read more about the Morton family, see Hewson Peeke’s book The Centennial History of Erie County, Ohio ((Penton Press, 1925.)  Biographical sketches of Howard H. Morton, his father Dr. George R. Morton, and his son Lawrence D. Morton are found in Mr. Peeke’s 1925 book.

Judge George Morton and Dr. George Morton

In the 1800s, there were two well-known gentlemen, both named George Morton, who called Sandusky home. This excerpt from a page from the 1855 Sandusky City Directory lists both George Mortons along with their address and occupation.

George Morton, the civil engineer, resided at 49 Franklin Street. George R. Morton, the physician, resided at 14 Adams Street. Below is a portrait of Judge George Morton, the former civil engineer in Sandusky, from the Bishop Collection of photographs.

Judge George Morton was born in 1803 in Pennsylvania. He and his wife, the former Ruth Fifield, had a large family of six children. Mr. Morton worked as a civil engineer in Sandusky for many years. From November 1861 to November 1863, he served as Judge of the Erie County Probate Court. After serving as Judge, Mr. Morton went on to work as the Sandusky City Engineer. On June 4, 1888, Judge Morton passed away in Conneaut, Ohio. The Sandusky Register printed a copy of the telegram that had been sent to I.F. Mack & Brother, publishers of the Sandusky Register:


I.F. Mack & Bro:

George Morton died today in the 85th years of his age. Burial at Conneaut, Wednesday.

E. Chapin



We do not own a photograph of Dr. George R. Morton, but we do know that he is buried in Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery, where he has two grave markers. The tall monument provides his dates of birth and death. Dr. Morton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 13, 1806. He died on April 9, 1875 in Columbus, Ohio, while visiting his daughter’s family.

A flat stone is adjacent to the tall monument that honors the doctor's memory. (While one stone lists Dr. Morton’s birth year as 1805, the other states he was born in 1806.)

Dr. George R. Morton first practiced medicine in Coshocton, and then he moved to Sandusky. His later years were spent residing on North Bass Island, where he was involved in the growing of grapes.

Tip for researchers: When you find yourself researching two names that are the same, and the individuals lived in the same county in the same time period, gather all the census and vital records that you can find, and compare the occupations and the names of other family members. Make two separate files with the information you have found, and eventually you will most likely end up with solving the case of the two individuals with the same name.