Thoughts Preserved in a Scrapbook by M.F. Cowdery

A large scrapbook that once belonged to prominent Sanduskian M.F. Cowdery is preserved at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. The scrapbook contains a compilation of biographical sketches, engravings, poems, and religious passages, many from newspapers. Some entries are patriotic and others are written from an abolitionist perspective. Many articles and poems are sentimental in nature, bringing to mind thoughts of home and family. Below is a portion of a tribute to Dean Richmond, a former New York Central Railroad official who died in 1866.

 

Echoes is a poem written by Marian Ross, and originally appeared in a New York newspaper in October of 1866.

The tribute to General James McPherson, a native of Clyde, Ohio who died during the siege of Atlanta in the Civil War, was first published in the Memphis Avalanche. The article points out that General McPherson had been brave and gallant, even though it was written by someone from the South.

This poem was dedicated to “the cause of truth by Datus Kelley and his wife” by Mrs. Frances D. Gage on October 23, 1861. Kelley was the namesake for Kelleys Island, where he acquired and developed land, and lived from 1836 to his death in 1866.

Marcellus F. Cowdery was superintendent of schools for Sandusky City Schools in the 1860s.

He was also associated with the Western School Supply Company, which was a forerunner of the American Crayon Company. It is interesting to see what types of articles were important to an early educator in our community in the nineteenth century.

D. C. Richmond’s Justice of the Peace Docket, Perkins Township

Former Sandusky Library Board member, Mrs. Sakie Merz, donated her grandfather’s Justice of the Peace Docket to the historical collections of the Sandusky Library. The entries were recorded in the 1840s in Perkins Township of Erie County.

The first entry, dated November 18, 1844 was an assault and battery case. Horace J. Bell took an oath and stated that Thomas McGee unlawfully assaulted him. At first Mr. McGee pleaded Not Guilty, but later he pleaded Guilty and was fined six dollars.

The docket contains several other assault and battery cases, as well as cases dealing with perjury, attempted rape, and cases involving goods and chattel. Many lists of witnesses and bail payments are also on record in the Docket.

Half of the Mr. Richmond’s ledger contains the Minutes of the Proceedings of the 4^th Regiment, 2^nd Brigade, 11^th Division of the Ohio Militia, from 1838 through 1843.

Below is a page from the Militia Minutes which shows that William D. Lindsley was chosen to be the Colonel of the Militia, and H. J. Carpender selected as Lieutenant Colonel, on January 12, 1839.

David Chester Richmond was born in Connecticut on January 21, 1815. He moved to Erie County, Ohio in 1837, and married Sarah Burr in 1838. He died on February 17, 1888. Mr. Richmond was active in the Ohio State Board of Agriculture and the State Horticultural Society. He served in the Ohio General Assembly from 1872-1876. The Cyclopedia of American Horticulture concludes its biographical sketch about D. C. Richmond with this statement:  “Colonel Richmond was a conspicuous example of the influence which a man of ability and enthusiasm may exert in the uplifting of agricultural conditions in his neighborhood and in the states.”