Walk-in-the Water Featured on U.S. Postage Stamp

Former Sandusky resident Glenn Everett donated this envelope to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. It featured the first day of issue of the U.S. postage stamp that contained an image of an early Great Lakes steamboat, Walk in the Water, and was dated March 3, 1989.At that time, a book of twenty stamps cost $5.00. Five steamboats were included in this series of stamps.

In our historical files was a card that provided information about the stamp. Below is a transcription:

Walk-in-the-Water

The U.S. Postal Service commemorated the Walk-in-the-Water, first steamboat on Lake Erie, when it issued a booklet of 25 cent stamps on March 3, 1989, picturing historic steam vessels. Built in 1818 at Black Rock, N.Y., she was 145 feet long, with a 27-foot beam, displacing 388 tons. She had two masts for sails in case her wood-fired boiler failed. Noah Brown, her builder, liked the wonderfully descriptive name given her by the Indians.

When the Walk-in-the-Water proved she could maintain a two-day schedule between Buffalo and Detroit with stops at Erie, Pa., and Cleveland and Sandusky, Ohio, she revolutionized transportation in this rapidly developing wilderness area. Soon other steamboats were being built. The Walk-in-the-Water sank in a storm near  Buffalo in October ,1821, but her engine was salvaged and used in another steamboat, the Superior, and eventually was used to power the first steam –operated sawmill in Saginaw, Mich.

This first day cover was designed by Glenn D. Everett, a native of Sandusky and veteran Washington correspondent, who suggested that the Walk-in-the-Water be honored on a stamp.

To learn more about this historic steamer, read In the Wake of Walk-in-the-Water: The Marine History of Sandusky, Ohio, by Gordon Wendt (Commercial Printing Co., 1984.)

Adam J. Rice, Early Sandusky Mail Carrier

Adam J. Rice was born in 1856 in Sandusky, Ohio, to Mr. and Mrs. Peter Rice. On December 1, 1882, Adam Rice was appointed as one of the earliest mail carriers in Sandusky.  During his almost thirty year career with the postal service, Mr. Rice served under seven different postmasters, retiring in October 1915. On his last day of work, Mr. Rice was called to the Post Office Annex where he was presented with a mahogany chair upholstered in leather. The chair was a gift from the Postmaster Charles Schippel, along with the mail carriers and postal clerks from Sandusky’s Post Office, which was then still in downtown Sandusky at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Market Street.

In an article which appeared in the January 24, 1923 issue of the Sandusky Register, Adam Rice told of a time when a change of party in the Presidency sometimes meant that employees at the Post Office could lose their job, due to the spoils system. He said after the United States Civil Service was established, postal workers could only lose their job if there were a valid reason.

An obituary for Adam J. Rice is found on page 223 of the 1946 Obituary Notebook at the Sandusky Library. Mr. Rice  died on November 21, 1946. He was survived by his sister,Mrs. August Weier, a nephew, J.Leroy Weier, and a niece, Mrs. Fred Bloker. Funeral services were held at the Charles J. Andres Sons’ Funeral Home, and burial was at Sandusky Library. 

Unpuzzling a Baptismal Record

Recently we came across this baptismal record from 1885 in an archival box in the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. It looks like Josezf Karl [?] Wilhelm is the name of the child, the son of Johann Wilhelm, born in Sandusky, Ohio in 1885. The day of the month was 12, but the name of the month was not easily interpreted. After determining that Sohn is the German word for son, we could match the old German lettering of the first letter of the month, which appeared to be an “S.”  Since the only month that begins with the letter “S” is September, it seemed very possible that Josezf Wilhelm was born on September 12, 1885.  A search at FamilySearch.org for the surname Wilhelm, with a birth date of 1885, and father’s first name as Johann or John, retrieved this birth record.

This record has the same date as the baptismal record, and the same parents, so most likely the infant who was christened Josezf Karl [?] Wilhelm is the same infant which was listed as John Charles Wilhelm in Erie County, Ohio birth records. In looking at Erie County marriage records, for a groom with the surname of Wilhelm, and a birthdate of 1885, this record for the marriage of Charles F.Wilhelm and Marguerite Zimmerman was retrieved.

The parents of Charles F. Wilhelm were listed as John Wilhelm and Anna Hein, the same parents that were on the birth record of John Charles Wilhelm.  Military records at Ancestry Library Edition showed that Charles F. Wilhelm, with a birth date of September 12, 1885, filled out draft registration cards for World War I and World War II. The employer of Charles F. Wilhelm on both cards was listed as the U.S. Post Office in Sandusky, Ohio. In Mr. Wilhelm’s early years, the Post Office was located at Columbus Avenue and Market Street. 

By the mid-1920s, the Post Office had been relocated to the corner of Jackson and Washington Streets in downtown Sandusky.

The Social Security Death Index lists the death of a Charles Wilhelm, born on September 12, 1885, as August of 1972. An obituary for Charles F. Wilhelm appeared in the August 21, 1972 issue of the Sandusky Register. The article stated that Mr. Wilhelm had enjoyed a long career at the Post Office, where he rose to the position of Superintendent of Mails in 1943. He died at the Classic Care South Nursing Home, after a lengthy illness. He was survived by his spouse, the former Emma Marguerite Zimmerman, a brother, and several nieces and nephews. He was buried at Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio.

Though there were many discrepancies in the first name and middle name of Mr. Wilhelm, all the records consistently showed the birth date of September 12, 1885, and the parents’ names as John and Anna Wilhelm. Don’t get discouraged when you find that records for the same individual have conflicting information. Search for as many vital and military and church records as you can, and compare the details, focusing on the facts that remain the same in each.  Unpuzzling this baptismal record turned into a genealogical adventure. Mr. Wilhelm’s baptismal record is housed in the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, which can be seen from the former U.S. Post Office where he spent so many hours during his long career.

James R. Davis, Mail Carrier

James R. Davis is on the right in this 1905 picture of Sandusky mail carriers. According to U.S. Census records, James R. Davis was born about 1877 in Virginia. Mr. Davis was appointed mail carrier at the Sandusky Post Office in 1903, a position he held for thirty-nine years. For thirty years, Mr. Davis served as president of the Ohio Baptist Sunday School Convention. In his many years as a member of the Second Baptist Church, Mr. Davis served in a variety of posts, including deacon, trustee, Sunday School superintendent, and financial secretary. On June 22, 1953, he was honored at a banquet at Second Baptist Church. An article about the banquet appeared in the June 20, 1953 issue of the Sandusky Register. 

James R. Davis died in the summer of 1965. He was buried in Los Angeles, California. Mr. Davis was well known and respected in Sandusky for many years. You can see him in the picture below, taken in 1912 at the old Post Office Annex on Market Street.

George Orr, Letter Carrier

George W. Orr was the youngest son of Fred and Bessie (Stovall) Orr, born in Sandusky in 1926. Fred Douglas Orr had been born in Toccoa, Georgia, but moved to Ohio in the 1920’s to work at the Farrell Cheek Foundry.

George Orr graduated from Sandusky High School in 1945 (seen above in his Senior class photo). He served in the U.S. Navy during World War Two. George married Bertha Swain, and they had four children. He was a letter carrier for the Sandusky Post Office for over 25 years. George’s route included Venice, Bay Bridge, and Bay View. He was well-loved by the people to whom he delivered the mail.

If an elderly person’s walk was icy, George would hand deliver the mail to the front door. George got to know many of the children in the various communities he served, which was not an easy task during the “Baby Boom” years.

When the community heard that George was going to retire in 1985, several Bay View residents organized a surprise party for their beloved mailman. 350 people met at the Bay View firehouse on Sunday, August 25, 1985 to celebrate George Orr’s retirement. Among the gifts was a three foot high money tree with more than $800 in cash tied to the branches.

The Sandusky Register reported on the party in the August 26, 1985 issue. The photographs that appeared in the newspaper captured George’s infectious smile. One resident is quoted as saying “I have never known George to have a bad day.”

On November 6, 1986, George Orr died at the age of 60. His funeral was held at Second Baptist Church, and he was buried in Oakland Cemetery. Hundreds of Erie County residents still fondly recall “George the Mailman” and his many years of devoted service to the community.