“A Hero in Rags” Presented by the Social Footlight Club

In May of 1909 the Social Footlight Club presented a play entitled “A Hero in Rags” at the Sidley Memorial Hall in Saints Peter and Paul school. Victor W. Brown was the leading man in the play. Other cast members were: William A. Brune, Carl Swigert, Archie Blainey, Norma Heir, Pearl Roesch, and Ethel Herman. Charles C. Corell served as the musical director for the performance. Special acts were also performed by “The Elmores” and Byer and Moos, an acrobatic team. 

The Social Footlight Club was a theatrical club begun by a group of young men in Sandusky in 1906, with Chester Weis as its first president. Victor W. Brown was connected with a variety of amateur theatrical events in the 1900s to the 1920s

Sandusky High School Graduates in the Military, Spring 1918

The April 1918 issue of the Fram featured the names of seventy-six individuals who had either attended or graduated from Sandusky High School, and were serving in military service during World War I. The names were arranged alphabetically by surname, with the year of graduation listed after the name.

Opposite the “Honor Roll” listing of names was a page with pictures of several military men from Sandusky. Sergeant-Major William Murray was serving with the Aviation Corps of the U.S. Army.  Paul J. Appell was an instructor at Cape May, New Jersey with the U.S. Navy. Sergeant Wesley Moos was with the U.S. Army’s Quartermaster’s Corps. Ray Siggens, Harold Weis, and Surgeon Henry LaFavre were all serving in the United States Navy. La Favre, whose picture is in the center of the page, served as a U.S. Navy surgeon in both World War I and World War II. Eventually he retired to Virginia Beach. After his death on February 15, 1953, Captain La Favre was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Genealogical Research with High School Alumni Publications

High School alumni directories can be very helpful in genealogical research. The page below shows both the maiden names and married names of female graduates. Since the directory was current to 1909, by searching the 1910 United States Census, more details about the graduates can be gleaned, such as place of birth, occupation, and the names of children and spouse. (U.S. Census records are available at the Archives Research Center on microfilm, as well as through the databases Ancestry Library Edition and Heritage Quest. See the Reference Staff for assistance.)
Laura Beattie married the Rev. Charles Dinsmore, and moved to Waterbury, Connecticut. Evelina Ball had become Mrs. George W. Perkins. Charles Henry Arndt had become a minister serving a church in Germantown, Pennsylvania. A. J. Weis was employed by the Keystone Fish Company in Erie, Pennsylvania.

The listings in the directory will provide the names of the classmates of your ancestors. By then searching through the appropriate Sandusky High School “Fram,” you can view photographs of various clubs, teams, and organizations, which give further details about the students of Sandusky High School throughout several decades. Yearbooks from St. Mary’s Central High School and Perkins High School can also be found at the Archives Research Center.

In 1994, the Sandusky High School Alumni Association published an Alumni Directory, which is shelved immediately after the collection of high school yearbooks from Sandusky High School. The Alumni Directory serves as an index to the yearbooks, giving the year of graduation, and providing the maiden name of females. An address that was current in 1994 is also listed. At yearly class reunions, current addresses of living graduates are usually proved in a pamphlet given to attendees.
Alice Reber Johnson is just one of the many persons whose names are listed in the “Complete List of Living Graduates of Sandusky High School from 1855 to 1909.”