I.J.P. Tessier

Israel J.P. Tessier was born in 1848 in Ontario, Canada. As a young man he moved to Ohio, where he learned the printer’s trade. He was an apprentice to a printer in Toledo for several years. While in Toledo, in 1867, he married Margaret Quigley. Eventually Mr. and Mrs. Tessier moved to Sandusky,  where he became foreman of the job department of the Sandusky Register. 

In 1885, I.J.P. Tessier was the president of the “Register Monumental Association.” The Association arranged the acquisition of a lot at Oakland Cemetery for graves for former employees of the Register. The buyers of the lot were I.F. Mack, John T. Mack, and C.C. Keech.

Sandusky Register Monument, Lot 87, Oakland Cemetery

In 1900, Mr. Tessier was elected to the position of Erie County Recorder, a position he held at the time of his death on April 13, 1905. He left behind a wife, four daughters and two sons. He was buried at Oakland Cemetery.

William Booth gave an oration at the funeral; it was published in the April 22, 1905 issue of the Sandusky Register. It read in part, 

“He was one of God’s noblest works – an honest man. Every day some man’s burden was made a little lighter by a kindly deed or an encouraging word. He loved to pluck the flowers of happiness that grew along life’s rugged pathway that others might catch and enjoy their beauty and fragrance. His words of cheer and commendation were not kept until the one for whom they were intended had passed away….”

Printers in Sandusky in 1900

An unidentified print shop, probably early 20th century

 Listed in the 1900-1901 Sandusky City Directory are eight businesses under the heading “Printers, Book and Job.” They are:

Alvord –Peters Company, at the northwest corner of Water Street and Columbus Avenue

C. C. Bittner at 622 Market Street

C.E. Chaney at 513 Market Street

I.F. Mack and Brother at 626 Water Street

Sandusky Printing Company, at 618 Water Street

W. & W.F. Senn at 742 Water Street

Star Publishing Company at 602 Market Street

Several of these print shops published newspaper as their primary business.

A.J. Peters and F.E. Alvord would go on to own and publish the Sandusky-Star Journal, which was a merger of three newspapers: the Sandusky Journal, the Sandusky Local, and the Sandusky Star. When A. J. Peters died in 1929, employees of the Star-Journal served as active pallbearers at his funeral.

In 1900, C. C. Bittner was the publisher and proprietor of the Sandusky Daily and Weekly Journal and Local. C.E. Chaney and the Sandusky Printing Company were primarily job printers. The Sandusky Star was published by the Star Publishing Co. in 1900, whose officers were Charles Bang, President, and E. C. Tierney, Secretary.

I.F. and John T. Mack were the proprietors of the Sandusky Register, but the company also did printing jobs, binding, and sold stationery. I.F. Mack was associated with the Register from 1869 until 1909, when his brother John T. Mack took over as the editor and publisher. 

(In 1972 Charles E. Frohman chronicled I.F. Mack’s years as editor in the book, Sandusky's Editor: Isaac Foster Mack's Blazing Forty Years as Editor of the Sandusky Register.)

Philip Buerkle and William F. Senn published the Sandusky Demokrat, the last German language newspaper in Sandusky.

To read more about newspapers in Sandusky, see the chapter about Erie County Newspapers in Hewson L. Peeke’s book A Standard History of Erie County.  Also available at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center is a bound copy of the Twin Anniversary Celebration edition of the Sandusky Register-Star News, from November 24, 1947, which features an article about the history of newspapers in Sandusky, beginning from David Campbell and the Sandusky Clarion and continuing through 1947. Ask at the Reference Services desk to view this item.

Michael A. McAdams, Musician and Printer

Michael A. McAdams was born in Quebec, Canada in 1856. He came to Sandusky, Ohio in 1891 to play with the Cedar Point band. He can be seen with his tuba in the back row of the Ackley Band at Cedar Point in the picture below; he was a member of the band for more than twenty years.

During the winter seasons, Mr. McAdams traveled as a musician with several theatrical groups, including Howe and White’s Circus, the Buffalo Bill tent show, and Bailey & Myers tent show. 

Besides being a popular musician, Michael McAdams also was employed as a printer for several years by the Register Publishing Company. Around 1918 his eyesight began to fail. An article in the March 13, 1924 issue of the Sandusky Register featured an article about a benefit concert performed on his behalf by the Ackley Band. The article stated, in part, “From the moment the conductor raised his baton for the first note of the Sousa March ‘Fairest of the Fair’ till the echoes from the last notes of the ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ died away in the final offering, the program was one of artistic portrayal and mastery of detail.” Mr. McAdams surprised the audience by coming onto the stage and playing a tuba solo, “My Old Kentucky Home,” and “Asleep in the Deep.” This was his first appearance in a public concert in a number of years, and the audience was delighted with his performance. The Register article said that McAdams showed “old time expertness that always made him a favored player in the days of Sandusky’s crack bass bands.”  

On April 18, 1928, Michael A. McAdams died at the Union Printers’ Home in Denver, Colorado.  An obituary, found in the 1928 Obituary Notebook at the Sandusky Library, stated that McAdams had remained friends with E.B. Ackley and other Sandusky musicians throughout the years. The printers’ union as well as several benefit band concerts for Mr. McAdams, aided in making his last days more comfortable.

Charles P. Caldwell's Farewell Poem

On page 11 of the 1924 Obituary Notebook at the Sandusky Library is the final farewell of Charles P. Caldwell to his family and friends. Mr. Caldwell was a veteran journalist who worked for the Sandusky Register for several years. He was born in Bristol, Ohio in 1852, and attended Hiram College when James A. Garfield was on the faculty. After working on newspapers in Warren and Cleveland, he came to Sandusky in 1872, to work under I.F. Mack at the Sandusky Register. 

In his early years at the Register, Mr. Caldwell was reporter, local news editor, telegraph editor and proofreader, all at the same time. While at the Register he met many well-known people, including James Blaine, William McKinley, Senators Foracker and Sherman, President R.B. Hayes, Governor Charles Foster, Jay Cooke, and Andrew Carnegie. Two of his earliest stories at the Sandusky Register were the notorious lynching of William Taylor in 1878 and the 1882 American Eagle disaster. In 1892, Mr. Caldwell was appointed Deputy Collector of Customs. He continued to work in the Customs office until 1919, when he was transferred to Dayton. He retired in 1922, and moved back to Sandusky, where he resided until his death on February 10, 1924. 

 After Mr. Caldwell died, a poem was found in his pocket, which he had written on July 4, 1922. He asked that the poem by printed in the Sandusky Register after his death. The poem read:

FAREWELL

By Chas. P. Caldwell

It is a solemn thought as death draws near

That I must part from those I hold most dear.

‘Tis certain when I came upon this earth

I had no choice whatever as to birth,

And, likewise, to my last expiring breath,

I’ll helpless be to stay the hand of Death,

For He who gave us life alone controls

The destinies of our immortal souls.

Death is the common end of all mankind,

And to that fate ‘tis best to be resigned.

So live that when the end of life draws nigh

You’ll not be stricken with the fear to die.

The light grows dim! Shades of eternal night

Foretell my soul is soon to take its flight;

And ere these final parting lines are read

The writer will be numbered with the dead.

Life will have vanished like a passing dream,

And left Death’s awful hush to reign supreme-

When all that’s mortal to my grave descends,

‘Twill be a mute farewell to kin and friends.

The rains and snows will beat upon my tomb;

The brightest sun cannot dispel its gloom.

When in the darkness of unending night,

I lie at rest, obscured from human sight,

I hope that you may sometimes be inclined

To hold a friendly thought of me in mind.

Sandusky Register Employees in the Early Twentieth Century

In the photograph above, members of the Sandusky Register “Chapel” of the Typographical Union fill up two vintage automobiles in downtown Sandusky. The cars appear to be decorated for a parade. (Possibly the Perry's Victory Centennial Parade?) The picture was taken in front of the Pabst Cafe, between 1910 and 1913, which was located at the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and Water Street, not far from the Sandusky Register building, which was at 626-630 Water Street, on the south side, between Columbus Avenue and Wayne Street. (The street numbers indicate that the picture was taken before the 1915 change in the street numbering system.)  The proprietors of the Pabst Cafe and Grill Room at that time were Moe Frohman and Frank Elzenheimer. Note that the street is paved with bricks. To see this and many other historical photographs of Sandusky and Erie County, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

Historical Receipts from Sandusky Newspapers

In April, 1822, David Campbell issued the first copy of the Sandusky Clarion, a predecessor of the Sandusky Register. The paper was renamed the Daily Register after Earl Bill and Clark Waggoner took over as editors of the paper in 1851. Eventually Henry D. Cooke became associated with the business. The newspaper firm was owned by Bill, Cooke and Company when this receipt was issued to David Campbell in 1853.

Hewson Peeke wrote in A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio (Lewis Publishing Co., 1916) that the Register changed hands three or four times between 1855 and 1869. It was after Isaac Foster Mack became half-owner in the newspaper in 1869 that the local newspaper in Sandusky became known as the Sandusky Register.  In this 1872 receipt, signed by I.F. Mack, the paper was known as the Sandusky Daily Register, under the proprietorship of the Register Printing Company.

According to the letterhead on this receipt from August 3, 1889, at that time the Sandusky Register had a daily, tri-weekly, weekly, and Sunday edition. I.F. Mack and Brother were the publishers of the Sandusky Register in 1889.

 Though the names changed slightly throughout the years, the Sandusky Register has a long history with the residents of Sandusky and Erie County. Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to view historical copies of Sandusky newspapers on microfilm. There was you will also find  an interesting biography of I.F. Mack by Charles E. Frohman, entitled Sandusky's Editor.

Henry C. Millott, Architect

Henry C. Millott was born in Erie County, Ohio in 1878 to Martin and Julia (Tracy) Millott, who were both of Irish descent. Mr. Millott worked as an architect in Sandusky for over fifty years, in partnership with Harold Parker for much of that time. He was the architect for St. Mary’s Catholic School, which was dedicated in 1909.

In 1915 Mr. Millott designed an addition to the Hotel Rieger. He was also the architect for the Sandusky Star-Journal building built between 1920 and 1921 at the southeast corner of Market and Jackson Streets, now home to the Sandusky Register.

Two financial buildings were constructed in Sandusky in 1923. Mr. Millott was the architect of the Third National Exchange Bank on Market Street, which was built in the Neoclassic style.

Both Henry C. Millott and Harold Parker were listed as architects of the Commercial Banking and Trust Company, built at the corner of Columbus Avenue and East Washington Row. Ellie Damm wrote in her book Treasure by the Bay that the Commercial Banking and Trust Company is the only Beaux-Arts style building in the city of Sandusky.

Note the carved cornucopias above the front door of the former Commercial Banking and Trust Company, which is a symbol of abundance.

In 1938, Mr. Millott designed the Erie County Children’s Home, which was a federal Public Works Administration project. The August 10, 1939 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal reported that Henry Millott had been the “brain child” of renovation of the Erie County Courthouse project which took place in the 1930s.  The courthouse renovation was completed without interrupting the normal activities of the courts.

When Mr. Millott filled out his World War II registration card in 1942, he stated that his employer was the Trojan Powder company, for whom he worked as an architect. In 1946, the Bellevue Housing Company announced that he was the architect for twelve new homes to be constructed for U.S. veterans on lots purchased on Ellis Avenue, Sheffield, Walnut and Kern Streets in that city. 

Henry C. Millott died on June 20, 1957. He was survived by his wife, the former Eleanor Hinde, two daughters, three sons, and several grandchildren. Through his architectural designs, Mr. Millott quite literally left his mark on Sandusky and Erie County.

The “Elderlies” Column by Karl Kurtz

Karl Kurtz can be seen at the right in the picture above at WLEC Radio. From 1974 to 1979, Mr. Kurtz wrote a column for the Sandusky Register entitled “The Elderlies.”  The articles usually featured photographs, and included topics of interest to senior citizens. Karl interviewed area residents and asked them their memories about businesses, school days, sporting events, and customs from Sandusky in years gone by. Here is a column from 1975 talking about the days when local residents used an ice box instead of a refrigerator.

Copies of “The Elderies” columns have been clipped and were bound into three large notebooks. If you would like to read more of these articles, stop by the Reference Services desk at Sandusky Library. The three bound volumes kept in the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. 

Karl Kurz worked in advertising and radio for many years. He passed away on May 15, 1980. His tombstone at Oakland Cemetery includes the inscription “Oddity Man,” named for his popular WLEC radio program based on unusual facts and stories.

“Speaking Of” Columns by Harry Van Stack

From 1945 to 1963, Harry Van Stack wrote a column for the Sandusky Register entitled “Speaking Of.” He penned dozens of articles about local history, politics, and social issues. Mr. Van Stack, the son of missionaries, grew up in South Africa. During the 1920s to the 1940s, he lectured aboard the prison ship Success. In this column from the January 28, 1950 issue of the Sandusky Register, Mr. Van Stack discussed the 1869 Sandusky City Directory, and its information about the city of Sandusky and its banks and railroads.

In his column from June 21, 1958, he praised the floral designs in Washington Park. He pointed out that approximately 100,000 hand-set plants and floral units were included in the many displays in the park that summer, including a cupid, which was appropriate for the area’s many June weddings.

On October 19, 1963, Harry Van Stack died unexpectedly. After his death, his wife, the former Louise Beaulieu, donated several items to the Sandusky Library, including five notebooks containing copies of the “Speaking Of” columns from 1945 to 1963. Visit the Sandusky Library to view these interesting articles which may have been read by your grandparents or great grandparents.

This picture of Mr. and Mrs. Van Stack is located in the back of Notebook Five, taken in October 1956 at the Mound Studio in Sandusky, Ohio.

Small Bits of History on Sandusky’s Historic Buildings

The symbols, initials, and acronyms that can be seen on Sandusky’s older buildings provide us with clues to the historic past of our community.

The Sandusky Register building was originally built for the Star Journal, as evidenced by the initials SJ seen on the top corner of the building.

A series of Rs border the upper level of the Rieger Lofts help us remember the Rieger family.

When John Rieger opened the Hotel Rieger at the southeast corner of Jackson and Market Streets in Sandusky in 1912, it was Sandusky’s first “fireproof” hotel.

The letters I.O.O.F. and globe that are seen on the corners of the Odd Fellows Temple on Washington Row remind us that the building was first built for the fraternal organization known as the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Sandusky’s Odd Fellows building was dedicated on March 18, 1890. Several attorneys and businesses are now located in the I.O.O. F. building on Washington Row in downtown Sandusky. Through the years, several other businesses have been in operation at the street level of the Odd Fellows Temple on Washington Row.

The building now home to Calvary Temple was constructed in the 1920s for the Commercial Banking and Trust Company.

The group of layered letters above the door on the west side of Calvary Temple feature the beginning letters of the words Commercial Banking and Trust Company.  The bank did not survive the Great Depression.

On the north side of Adams Junior High School, which opened in 1869 as Sandusky High School, is a trefoil and an equilateral triangle, which is a traditional Christian symbol that represents the Trinity.

Take note of the interesting architectural details found on the historic buildings in Sandusky and Erie County. Lots of history can be learned by observing closely the fine details in the buildings you may walk by every day.

“Most Popular Caller of the Year”

On December 24, 1901, the Sandusky Register featured this illustration of Mr. Santa Claus, “the most popular caller of the year.”  The caption stated that he would reach Sandusky that evening, and he would appear among the poor as well as the rich.

He'll be there soon . . . . 

Sandusky Gets Ready for Thanksgiving in 1906

Many area businesses placed advertisements in the Sandusky Daily Register in November of 1906, as Sandusky prepared to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. Dilgart & Bittner boasted “A Bounteous Thanksgiving Feast for All.” The store featured a wide variety of home furnishings, and they offered the installment plan, to make paying for purchases easy on the budget.

 Edward Smith’s Meat Market at 527 McDonough Street sold turkey, duck, chicken, goose, beef, veal, mutton, pork, and homemade sausages. The Smith’s Meat Market made home deliveries to all parts of the city.

 The Mayer Lebensburger store, which sold men’s apparel, placed their ad in the newspaper in the form of a Thanksgiving menu, suggesting that the hats they carried were “creme de la creme.”

J.H. Herman suggested that it would be a “Thankful Day Indeed” if you purchased your furniture, carpets and stoves from their store on Market Street.

These are just a few of the advertisements from the Sandusky Daily Register during the Thanksgiving season of 1906. Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to read historical Sandusky newspapers on microfilm, dating back to 1822.

John J. Marquart - An Interview with an Early Sanduskian in 1947

In the Twin Anniversary Edition of the Sandusky Register Star News, dated November 24, 1947, Harry Stack featured highlights of an interview he had conducted with John J. Marquart, who at that time had been a resident of Sandusky for eighty five years. Mr. Marquart is pictured below in a photograph taken at the Pascoe photographic studio. (He is seated at the left, opposite C. J. Pascoe.)

              

John J. Marquart was born in New York City in 1853, and moved to Sandusky in 1862, in the midst of the Civil War. As a youngster, he resided on East Adams Street above the Marquart family grocery store. He helped his father in the grocery store for a time, then around 1890 he became involved in a business which dealt in furniture and undertaking. By 1906, he was a funeral director and embalmer, on the street level of the Odd Fellows Temple on Washington Row, and for a time in partnership with a Mr. Meyers.  In 1925 Mr. Marquart took Lee B. Keller on as a partner, and the business was known as Marquart and Keller. For thirty nine years prior to 1932, Mr. Marquart was in charge of the burials of veterans at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home. You can see a portion of Marquart’s funeral business in the Odd Fellows Temple in the picture below, in the early 1900s.

In his interview with Harry Stack, John J. Marquart recalled the pioneer businesses of Sandusky. He personally knew Jay Cooke, and members of  the Hubbard family. He recalled seeing Confederate officers arriving by train at the Lake Shore and Michigan Railroad office at Warren Street, before being taken to the prison at Johnson’s Island during the Civil War. He remembered when the harbor of Sandusky was filled with full-sail schooners transporting lumber to and from the city. The ice industry was another vital business in Mr. Marquart’s early days in Sandusky.  He recalled when the streets were made of cobble stone, and horse drawn vehicles were used. A quote by Mr. Marquart appeared toward the end of the interview: “I’ve seen many changes and much improvement in the 85 years I’ve lived in Sandusky. It used to be more important than Cleveland, but somehow or other it grew to a certain size and stayed there. Still and all, Sandusky is all right. It’s my home and proud of the fact.”  To read the entire interview, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center where copies of the Twin Anniversary Edition of the Sandusky Register Star News are available in print and on microfilm.

David Campbell, Founder of Sandusky's First Newspaper

David Campbell was born on May 8, 1794 in Cherry Valley, New York. He moved to Sandusky, Ohio in 1821, and in May of 1822 he founded the Sandusky Clarion, the first newspaper of the Firelands area. Originally Adonijah Champlin was to have been David Campbell’s partner, but because he was detained in New York, he never joined Mr. Campbell in the venture.

When the Clarion was  first published, Sandusky had a population of about three hundred, and there were only about forty buildings in the town. A portion of a letter from Eleutheros Cooke to David Campbell, reprinted in the Firelands Pioneer, said about the Clarion, in part: “…the publication of your paper has been hailed as an event conducive to the general advancement of knowledge and auspicious to the prosperity of the country.” In 1816, Campbell married Mary Jones Todd. They were the parents of three sons. After the death of Mary Jones Todd Campbell, he married Matilda West, the sister of W.T. and A.K. West. In 1828 he was elected a member of the Ohio Senate, where he served for two years. David Campbell labored earnestly in his twenty nine years at the Sandusky Clarion. In May of 1841, Mr. Campbell retired, and Earl Bill and Clark Waggoner took over the newspaper.

David Campbell died at his home in Sandusky on July 28, 1861, at the age of 68, after having been in poor health for the past two years. A lengthy obituary appeared in the Sandusky Register of July 29, 1861. The concluding paragraph stated about Mr. Campbell, “In private life he was scrupulously just; in his domestic and social relations, affectionate and sincere; in his daily intercourse, always amiable and unassuming; in his whole life a fit model for the imitation of the just, and in death, lamented and cherished with affection by all who knew him well.” He was buried in Block 24 of Oakland Cemetery. On his tombstone is the inscription, “An honest man.”