Famous "Visitors" at the West House

 

The West House was Sandusky's first "high-rise" hotel, opened in 1858 at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Water Street (now the site of the State Theatre). Its location in the heart of downtown near the waterfront and railroads made it a popular location for travelers in Sandusky.

The Sandusky Library Archives Research Center is fortunate to have the guest registers of the hotel from 1860 to 1878. Names of guests are recorded with their signatures in these books; often, the names of traveling entertainment groups accompany the signatures, as seen above with the New Orleans and Metropolitan Opera Troupe. Some names familiar to local historians and other researchers can be found in these pages, making them a useful and interesting research source.

Some signatures can be more interesting than others, for reasons you might not expect. . . 

If you look carefully at the page above from May 1860, you might see a familiar name from that time. Yes, there is a signature that says James Buchanan, destination White House. For those who know their history, James Buchanan was President of the United States in 1860. And for those who really know their history, John Floyd, the name below him, was the Secretary of War for President Buchanan. The President and Secretary of War visited Sandusky in 1860? Why have we not seen a report of this? This is something I'll need to research, I thought; but first, let's keep looking at the guest register.

So, a few pages later, we found other Presidents "visiting" Sandusky. . . 

Unfortunately, President Washington had been dead for over sixty years by then. Martin Van Buren was still living, but was an elderly 78 years old. And did you notice the similarities in handwriting among the presidents? Considering that each of the signatures were the last ones of their respective days, and the handwriting seems to be from the same person, we can speculate whether it might have been the work of a bored night clerk at the West House, who wanted to provide some entertainment for those in the future who read this guest register. It worked for us!

Civil War Pension Files of Harrison Washington and William H. Johnson, African American Recruits from Sandusky

An article in the June 6, 1863 issue of the Sandusky Register reported on several African American recruits from Sandusky who were traveling by train to Readville, Massachusetts to enlist in the Massachusetts 55^th Infantry. The group included a large majority of the able bodied men of color in the city of Sandusky ranging from 18 to 40 years of age. The Massachusetts 55^th Infantry was a sister regiment to the Massachusetts 54^th, the military unit featured in the film Glory. Fourteen men from Sandusky served in Company I of the 55^th Massachusetts Infantry. They were led by Captain George T. Garrison, the son of well-known abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. A previous blog post about these soldiers included pictures of the tombstones of two Civil War Veterans of the Massachusetts 55^th who were buried in Sandusky at Oakland Cemetery.

In the pension file for Harrison Washington from the National Archives, we learn that he enlisted in the Massachusetts 55^th in June of 1863. At that time, he was 5 feet 6 inches tall and he had been born on May 15, 1833 in Fleming County, Kentucky. Harrison Washington was honorably discharged in Massachusetts in October of 1865. He returned to Ohio for about thirty years, and then moved back to Fleming County, Kentucky.

Another page from Mr. Washington’s pension file provides the name of his wife, Frances Washington, whom Harrison married in 1890, his third wife. One of his previous wives had been the former Cordelia Winfield from Sandusky, Ohio, who died in 1866. The file also includes the names and birth dates of Harrison Washington’s children, who were named Matilda, Charlie, Cordelia, and Mary. In 1898, Harrison Washington was still living in Kentucky.

A note in the pension file of Harrison Washington stated that he was dropped from the pension roll due to his death in September of 1917.

William H. Johnson was another Sandusky resident who served with Co. I of the Massachusetts 55^th Infantry. He enlisted when he was 22 years old, and his occupation was listed as carpenter. He died from wounds he received in battle on July 2, 1864 at James Island, South Carolina. On September 3, 1883, Mrs. William H. Johnson, the former Anna McGuire, applied for a widow’s military pension. She stated that she had married Mr. Johnson on December 25, 1861, in Augusta County, Virginia. A Sandusky attorney, John E. Moore, presented the widow’s claim, though at the time she had moved to Cleveland, Ohio.

A recent article in the Charleston Post and Courier reports on the unveiling of a historic marker at Folly River Park which honors the service of the Massachusetts 55^th Infantry during the Civil War. In the 129^th Ohio General Assembly, the Ohio House of Representatives passed H.R. No. 297, to honor the 511 African American Ohioans who enlisted in the 54th and 55th Regiments of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War.

Washington Ball in 1830

Miss Florence Victor donated an invitation to the Washington Ball held on February 22, 1830, to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Florence’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Victor, invited several individuals to the celebration, which was held in honor of George Washington’s birthday. The event was held at Obadiah Jenney’s Assembly Room in Norwalk, Ohio. Managers of the Washington Ball were: W.F. Kittredge, F.F. Hamilton, G.A. Boalt, B. Carkhuff, and D.A. Baker.

The back of the invitation indicates that Mr. Henry Victor did attend the Washington Ball.

Obadiah Jenney was an early hotel proprietor in Norwalk, Ohio, while Henry Victor operated a hotel in Sandusky in the 1820s. The son of Henry and Gertrude Victor, Orville J. Victor was an associate editor of the Sandusky Daily Register from 1851 to 1856. Orville J. Victor also wrote a four volume set of books entitled The Civil, Political and Military History of the Southern Rebellion, which is housed in the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.