Stories of Sandusky, by Hewson L. Peeke

According to the Sandusky Register of August 4, 1922, Hewson L. Peeke wrote ten stories about the early days of the city of Sandusky, calling them Stories of Sandusky. They could be best described as fictionalized versions of early events. Sandusky City Schools Superintendent Frank J. Prout had the stories mimeographed in the form of a pamphlet for use in the public schools. Dr. Prout stated, “They will teach the children to respect the historical incidents connected with the city’s existence.” In 1934 an expanded version of Stories of Sandusky was printed by the Stephens Company in Sandusky, Ohio, with forty-five stories in this edition. 

In many cases, Mr. Peeke gave fictitious names to the characters. The story “How John North Came to Sandusky and What He Did There” was actually about early Sandusky businessman William T. West. It turns out that William T. West intended to go to Cincinnati. In Buffalo, his baggage accidentally was put into a boat bound for Sandusky, so he followed the boat to Sandusky to retrieve his baggage. Then Mr. West missed his train bound for Cincinnati, and he ended up staying in Sandusky. He worked as a carpenter, ran a store, and eventually he and his brother constructed the West House hotel in Sandusky. The story indicates that Mr. West felt he was a “creature of circumstance.” 

The character of John North in Stories of Sandusky was William T. West

 In “The Story of Damask Rose,” Peeke relates that Damask Rose was the beloved daughter of attorney and abolitionist F.D. Parish. Supposedly, young Damask Rose Parish was carrying food to a runaway slave child and was seen by a U.S. official. The little girl and her mother were turned over to the slaveholder, and sent back south. Damask Rose Parish died at age 10, and she always blamed herself for the unfortunate events that transpired. 

A lawsuit was brought against F.D. Parish, and he lost the case. Though F.D. Parish did indeed have a young daughter named Damask Rose, the U.S. Census and Oakland Cemetery records indicate that she died in 1855, not in 1845, as Peeke wrote in Stories of Sandusky. Her tombstone can still be seen in Block 28 at Oakland Cemetery in the Parish family lot. 

In the story about “Old Mockabee” Peeke recalls how the town drunkard redeemed himself by digging graves for the victims of cholera in Sandusky in 1849. You can read many more stories about Sandusky and the Firelands in Stories of Sandusky. Inquire at the Reference Services desk if you would like to see this interesting book by Hewson L. Peeke.

Anti -Slavery Meeting at the Courthouse in Sandusky on March 6, 1844

On March 6, 1844, at 6:30 p.m., ladies and gentlemen of Sandusky were invited to an anti- slavery meeting to be held at the Erie County Courthouse, which at that time was located on the east side of Columbus Avenue, just west of what is now Adams Junior High School. The names of fifty seven individuals appeared in the Sandusky Clarion, below a statement that read:

“The undersigned unite in advising a call for an anti-slavery meeting, to be holden at such time and place as may be found most convenient and proper; and they invite all who are opposed to the American system of slavery, and are willing to lend their personal, moral, and religious influence for its suppression, to be present, and participate in the deliberations of the meeting. If deemed advisable, an anti-slavery society will be organized and other measures adopted, to promote the object in view.”

Hundreds of residents of Sandusky and Erie County held anti-slavery sentiment for several years, and many of them participated in the Underground Railroad. The fact that many of those who held anti-slavery views were well respected in the community helped to spread that sentiment to members of the general public. F.D. Parish was Sandusky’s second lawyer, and Moors Farwell was Sandusky’s first Mayor. H.F. Merry and Thomas Hogg were early members of the Board of Education for Sandusky City Schools. Many of the men whose names appeared on the list in the newspaper in 1844 were business men in Sandusky. W.T. and A.K. West were merchants who went on to build the West House hotel in Sandusky. Long before the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, Sanduskians of the mid 1800s were also committed to civil rights.

Addendum: Here is a wider view of the area around the courthouse, circa 1870.

Sophronia Jefferson, Former Slave

An article in the November 15, 1924 Sandusky Star Journal gives an account of local resident Sophronia Jefferson. Sophronia was born in Kentucky in 1842 “under the bonds of slavery.” She and her family moved to Indiana after the Civil War, where she worked for the Patterson family. (Mrs. Patterson’s daughter married into the Van Camp family, which was well known for its canning business.) In 1868, Mrs. Jefferson moved to Margaretta Township where she was employed by a Dr. Gideon. Eventually she relocated to Sandusky with her daughter Ella Miller. The writer of the newspaper article reports that when Sophronia first came to Erie County, “Sandusky at that time seemed to her a big pen for poultry and hogs, for whenever she came to town the first thing that she had to do was to chase the hogs from the ford at Mills Creek and then make her way through flocks of chickens, ducks and turkeys.” At that time, Sandusky consisted mostly of small shacks and buildings.

Mrs. Jefferson discussed how during the Civil War slaves barely knew any of the events which were taking place in the free Northern states. News and rumors of news were brought by peddlers, mail carriers, and travelers. Sophronia states that Lincoln’s name was forbidden to be spoken to anyone of color. She said that the biggest event in her life was news of the emancipation in 1862. The second big event in her life was the news of Lee’s surrender in 1865. The picture (shown above) which appeared in the Star Journal was taken from a daguerreotype taken on Christmas Day in 1865 in Indianapolis, when she was about 13 years old.

Sophronia was widowed as a young woman. In 1910, she was living in Sandusky with her daughter, granddaughter, and her uncle Harrison Bartlett, who had fought in the Civil War with the Massachusetts 55th Infantry. She was active in the Second Baptist Church on Decatur Street. At the 1919 “May Festival” sponsored by the Autumn Leaf Sewing Circle of the Second Baptist Church, Sophronia’s daughter Ella Miller displayed a log cabin silk quilt which had been made by her grandmother on a plantation in Kentucky in the 1800’s. The Star Journal article ends with an account of Sophronia voting in the November 4 election, and add that she had been driven to her voting place in an automobile. On August 24, 1927, Sophronia Jefferson died in Good Samaritan Hospital. Her funeral was held at her residence on Tyler Street, and she was buried in the Castalia Cemetery. She had lived a rich life, having overcome incredible challenges.

Although the Sandusky Library does not have primary sources relating to Mrs. Jefferson or other former slaves, you can find several items in our book collections on the history of slavery in America and recollections of former slaves, including the book, Remembering Slavery, and its companion audio tapes, with recordings of oral histories of former slaves.