The Worthington Nims Homestead in Groton Township

According to the book Pioneers’ Progress: The First 25 Years of Lyme Township and Strongs Ridge, by Adeline Wright(written for the Historic Lyme Church Association), Worthington Nims was one of three brothers who came from Massachusetts to the Strong Ridge area of Lyme Township in Erie County, Ohio in the Spring of 1826. By that fall their father Asa Nims moved to Ohio as well. 

On September 21, 1827, Worthington Nims traveled back to his Massachusetts to marry Betsy Barnard. The newlyweds’ trip back to Ohio took a total of seventeen days, several of them spent traveling on the Erie Canal. During their first winter in Ohio, Mr. and Mrs. Worthington Nims lived in a covered wagon, between the log houses of other Nims families. 

On the occasion of their fiftieth wedding anniversary in 1877, a Bellevue newspaper wrote about the couple: “By industry and wise management on the part of both, Mr. and Mrs. Nims are rightly regarded as wealthy farmers.” The etching of the Nims residence which is pictured above appeared on page 36 of the Combination Atlas Map of Erie County, published in 1874 by Stewart & Page. A home, several outbuildings, and livestock and equipment can be seen in the drawing. 

You can view a copy of the 1874 historical atlas at the Sandusky Library, where you also can find histories of several Ohio towns and counties, including three titles about the history of Lyme Township.

Liberty Bell Replica in Sandusky

The local opening of the Independence Bond Drive was marked by the ringing of a replica of the Liberty Bell in Sandusky on May 20, 1950. The New York Times reported on March 28, 1950 that John W. Snyder, the Secretary of the Treasury announced that the replicas of the Liberty Bells, which were cast in France, would be of the same size, shape and tone as the original Liberty Bell, before it was cracked. The U.S Savings Bond campaign ran from May 15 to July 4. The replicas of the bells were mounted on trucks, and sent to each of the forty eight states, the District of Columbia, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. The first replica was poured on March 1, 1950, from detailed photographs and measurements taken by Professor Arthur Bigelow of Princeton.

Reinhardt Ausmus, local Veterans’ Service officer was in charge of local arrangements. Members of the Commodore Denig Post of the American Legion were designated as guards of honor for the Liberty Bell while in Sandusky. A parade was held on Saturday, May 20, beginning at the corner of Hayes Avenue and Perkins Avenue, and then proceeding to the Courthouse where it was to be on exhibit.

Frank Nims is pictured above, with his hand extended toward the replica of the Liberty Bell. Mr. Nims, who was blind, was the operator of the Erie County Courthouse concession stand for twenty two years.