Mr. and Mrs. James Ellis Marshall

James Ellis Marshall was born in 1808 in Bradford, England. He came to the United States in 1855, having interests in the textile and iron industries in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. In about 1860 he settled in Sandusky, Ohio, where he became one of the incorporators of the Sandusky Tool Company, founded in 1869..

Mr. Marshall and his wife, the former Clara Robinson, were the parents of four children: Joseph Marshall, who moved west; Mary Elizabeth Marshall, the wife of Lewis Moss; Hannah Sophia Marshall, who married Rush Sloane, and sadly died in 1872; and Benjamin Marshall, whose death was believed to have been hastened by his experience in the 1900 flood in Galveston, Texas. Clara Robinson Marshall served on the Board of the Sandusky Library Association from 1870 to 1873.

Clara Robinson Marshall

Known as Deacon Marshall, James E. Marshall was very active in the Congregational Church in Sandusky. The Marshall family lived in this lovely Wayne Street home, built in the 1870s, now on the National Register of Historic Places.

According to the Ohio Historic Places Dictionary (State History Publications, 2008), the Marshall home was the first residence in Sandusky to be connected to the city’s new water and sewer lines. 

James E. Marshall died at the age of 98 on March 20, 1907. He and his wife were both interred at Troy, New York in the family vault at Oakwood Cemetery. Though Mr. and Mrs. Marshall were not born in Sandusky, and were not buried here, they definitely contributed greatly to the community in which they lived for over forty years.

1879 Fair of the Erie County Agricultural Society

According to the Premium List for the Fair, the twenty-first annual fair of the Erie County Agricultural Society was held in Erie County at the Fairgrounds from September 23 to September 26, 1879.

Entries in the Annual Premium List provided the amount of cash awards to be given to residents of Erie, Sandusky, Ottawa and Huron Counties who competed at the Fair in a wide variety of categories, including livestock, farm implements, manufacturers’ products, fruits, vegetables, handmade clothing, quilting, embroidery, photography, and flower arranging. In the Educational Department, students and teachers were awarded diplomas for excelling in such fields as spelling, reading, attendance, and record keeping. Scattered throughout the Premium List are advertisements from local companies.

The Adams’ Buckeye Land Roller was manufactured by the Sandusky Tool Company at the time of the 1879 Fair. This particular piece of equipment was known for its durability, though simple in design.

The Sandusky Register provided excellent coverage of the activities at the Fair. A large article on page 4 of the September 26, 1879 paper reported on the events of September 25, when it was estimated that fifteen thousand people attended the Fair.

On Thursday, there were horse races held at the Fairgrounds, as well as several teams that competed in a Hook and Ladder Tournament. John Krupp, who exhibited several pieces of furniture, also had on display a burglar-proof air-tight grave vault which was designed for protection against grave robbers.

At the fair, William Dilger had a display of plants that included an orange tree, a rare philodendron and a bridal bouquet of rare beauty. Photographer A.C. Platt featured a life size crayon portrait of President Hayes and Dr. I.B. Massey in his exhibit. D.C. Richmond stated that at the 1879 fair was the largest and best display of apples he had ever seen at any fair. Henry Lange, a grape grower from Kelleys Island, showed fair visitors a five foot stem of Concord grapes which contained over sixty bunches of grapes. During the wheat binding competition, local businessman J.A. Hosmer attempted to place a live pig inside a hot air balloon. It turned out that the young pig became too restless, so it was removed from the balloon. It was decided instead to place business cards from area merchants, as well as a copy of the Sandusky Register and a publication from the Erie County Agricultural Society inside the hot air balloon. Fair crowds grew excited as the hot air balloon headed to the north, toward the Marblehead peninsula. To read much more about the exciting 1879 Fair, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center where you will find decades of local newspapers on microfilm, dating back to 1822.

Erie County Residents Were Inventive

      

For several decades, the Hinde and Dauch Paper Company was a leading company in the production of corrugated paper products. James J. Hinde is credited with developing the corrugated process that revolutionized the shipping industry in the early 1900s. Below is an advertisement for an early bottle wrapper that allowed products in glass containers to be shipped safely.

The American Crayon Company began with the development of chalk being molded into a stick. Later the company made crayons and other educational products, and provided employment for hundreds of area residents.

Willard A. Bishop was a photographer in Sandusky for many years. (You can see several of Mr. Bishop’s photographs at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.)

He was issued a patent for a copying camera in 1914.

Wilbert G. Schwer was issued Patent Number 1,696,584 on December 25, 1928, while he was associated with the Sandusky Tool Company. His patent related to the improvement of planes.

Though the company went out of business in the late 1920s, planes from this firm are still highly sought after by collectors.

Did any of your ancestors have a patent issued to them? It is easy to search Google Patents by keywords. For example, by putting in the terms "Otto Kromer" and "Sandusky," a search retrieved several patents by Mr. Kromer, a former Sandusky resident who was well known as a machinist in the late 1800s. 

Sandusky Tool Company

The Sandusky Tool Company, pictured above in the book Sandusky of To-Day, was established in 1869 to succeed Allen, Dorsey and Tenner.  George Barney, Sr. was the company’s first president, and Stephen W. Dorsey was its first superintendent. The company was well known for its fine quality hand tools, including planes, hoes, axes and other small tools. A group picture of the company’s employees was taken about 1870. Note that some of the workers were quite young.

Here is a page from the 1886 Sanborn Map that shows the location of the Sandusky Tool Company on Meigs Street, adjacent to Sandusky Bay:

J.A.Montgomery, who was associated with the Sandusky Tool Company for many years, was considered a mechanical genius. He designed woodworking machinery that was in use at the tool company for as long as it was in existence. The innovation continued after his death in 1899. W.G. Schwer patented this plane the Sandusky Tool Company in 1928.

Mozart Gallup was director, treasurer, and assistant secretary of the Sandusky Tool Company in 1880, and on September 14, 1886, he became the president and general manager. Mr. Gallup held the office of president of the company until his death in 1923.

This picture of the Sandusky Tool Company was most likely taken in the 1920s.

In 1924, the Sandusky Tool Company was hit by a tornado, and within five years, the company closed.

                    

To read more about the of the Sandusky Tool Company see the publication The Sandusky Tool Company Story by Wilbert G. Schwer, housed with the local history and genealogical books in the Reference Services Area of the Sandusky Library. Five images of tools made by the Sandusky Tool Company can be seen online at the Ohio Memory Collection.  To view actual tools made by the Sandusky Tool Company, visit The Follett House Museum, where tools are displayed in a room on the attic level.

Labor Day

In honor of Labor Day, we would like to share some images of workers, from the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

Lay Brothers, 1905

Sandusky Tool Company, circa 1880

Beilsten Steam Laundry, circa 1895. Note the child laborers.

Another example of women at work: Jackson Underwear factory, 1906

The men who built the Jackson Underwear factory, 1899

A meeting of the Bartenders' Union, 1940

Stephen Wallace Dorsey, Sandusky Tool Co. Superintendent and U.S. Senator

Stephen Wallace Dorsey was born in Rutland County, Vermont in 1842. He moved to Oberlin as a young man, and was living in the home of his future father-in-law, Chauncey Wack in 1860. (Oberlin’s Downtown Walking Tour Guide refers to Chauncey Wack as one of Oberlin’s “anti heroes.”) During the Civil War, Dorsey was an officer in the First Regiment of the Ohio Light Artillery. Following the war, Dorsey married Helen Wack, who was known as the prettiest girl in Oberlin.


Records from the Sandusky Tool Company show Stephen W. Dorsey as the company’s superintendent from May 13, 1869 to September 27, 1872. Clayton Chauncey Dorsey, son of Stephen and Helen Wack Dorsey was born in Sandusky in 1871. The Dorsey family moved to Arkansas, and Stephen W. Dorsey became president of the Arkansas Railway Company. He was elected to the U.S. Senate, serving from March 4, 1873, to March 3, 1879.

In the 1880’s, Stephen W. Dorsey achieved notoriety by his connection with the “Star Route” scandal. A group including former Senator Dorsey and assistant postmaster general Thomas Brady over-funded postal contracts, and skimmed off some of the money. The case was covered by the New York Times and other periodicals. Dorsey was never convicted of a crime concerning this case, although many thought he was guilty.

Stephen Dorsey led a colorful life, including raising cattle and speculating in mines. Curiously in the 1880 Census, Stephen Dorsey was listed in New York as a stockbroker, and also in New Mexico as a stock raiser. His mansion in New Mexico was adorned with gargoyles of himself, his wife, and brother, among others. After the death of Helen Wack Dorsey, Stephen married Laura Bigelow. Stephen W. Dorsey died in California in 1916. He is buried at Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colorado with his first wife Helen.

The Sandusky Tool Company Story, by Wilbert G. Schwer, is available at the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library. To view actual tools made by the Sandusky Tool Company, visit The Follett House Museum, where tools are displayed in a room on the attic level.

J.A. Montgomery and the Sandusky Tool Company

Joseph Albert Montgomery was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts on April 1, 1820. After working for a few years in Boston, in 1847 he moved to Columbus, Ohio. From 1847 to 1861, Mr. Montgomery was associated with the Ohio Tool Company. In 1869, he came to Sandusky, Ohio to become the superintendent of the Sandusky Tool Company. He remained with the company for thirty years. Wilbert Schwer wrote in The Sandusky Tool Company Story that Joseph A. Montgomery designed woodworking machinery that was used throughout the life of the company. In 1890 Mr. Montgomery was issued several patents for machinery used in the manufacturing of planes.

On March 3, 1899, Joseph A. Montgomery passed away a lengthy illness. An obituary which appeared in the March 4, 1899 issue of the Sandusky Star stated that Mr. Montgomery was universally respected and loved. He was survived by his wife, four sons, and a daughter. Mr. Montgomery can be seen in the picture below, taken about 1870. He is sixth from the left in the front row.