Judge E.B. Sadler’s Memories in Rhyme

The Honorable Ebenezer Brown Sadler was Erie County Common Pleas Judge from 1845 to 1851, and he also served as Mayor and Postmaster of Sandusky, Ohio during his long years of public service.

In the Sunday February 14, 1885 edition of the Sandusky Register there appeared a poem by Judge Sadler entitled “Memories in Rhyme.”

Judge Sadler married Emily Webb in 1843 in West Bloomfield, New York. Mrs. Emily Webb Sadler died of cholera in 1849, and Judge Sadler never re-married. By reading Judge Sadler’s poem, it is clear that his love for Emily did not wane, though she died after they had been married for only a few years. A transcription of “Memories in Rhyme” reads:

Memories in Rhyme – Judge Sadler

Between Bloomfield and Lima, there flows a small stream.

Along a deep valley, from Lake Honeyeye [sic];

I remember the time when ‘twas like a sweet dream,

In its waters to bathe, when I was a boy.

I remember full well, the Hutchinson mill,

With all its surroundings, its bridge, and its race;

And oft do I wonder, it is standing there still;

Or have other structures been raised in its place.

Then there’s old Jockey Hill I can never forget.

Nor the beautiful maiden I there made my bride:

In my dreams, I oft fancy I see her there still,

Lovingly smiling, sitting close by my side.

She departed long since, through the shadowy vale,

The messenger, Death, having claimed her his own:

She ascended to Heaven, where joys never fail,

And left me to travel life’s journey alone.

The dear friends of my childhood have all passed away,

And left me alone in the twilight of years;

Then why should I linger, wishing longer to stay,

To drag out a life in this valley of tears.

Dear friend, please excuse this sorrowful strain,

So foreign to nature, so gloomy in tone;

But I often indulge in a mournful refrain,

When sitting and musing in my office alone.

I have passed through life’s journey with my share of bliss,

And thankful that I’ve ‘scaped its troubles so well;

Will my life in the next world be pleasant as this,

I ask myself often, but no mortal can tell.

My journey of life will soon come to an end,

Its pleasures and sorrows will soon pass away;

There is much in my life I would gladly commend,

And some to condemn, I am sorry to say.

Our progress through life is midst trouble and care;

And God’s Golden Rule should be well understood.

If the greatest enjoyment in life we would share,

We must strive to do right and seek to be good.

Judge E.B. Sadler passed away on March 25, 1888, just a few years after he penned this rhyme. He was buried in Oakland Cemetery, next to his beloved wife Emily.

Ebenezer B. Sadler: A Judge Who Lived Without an Enemy

Judge Ebenezer B. Sadler was born at Grafton, Mass., on Nov. 16, 1808, and died March 25, 1888 in Rochester, New York. His mother died in Geneva, New York when Judge Sadler was not yet ten years old. He first studied law in the office of Hon. John Dickson, of West Bloomfield, New York.

In the summer of 1835, at age 26, E.B. Sadler took a stagecoach to Buffalo, and from there embarked for Sandusky. Soon after reaching Sandusky, he was admitted to the bar, and in 1836 formed a law partnership with F.D. Parish, which continued for eleven years.

He married Emily Webb, of West Bloomfield, New York, in 1843. Mrs. Sadler died of cholera in 1849, and Judge Sadler never re-married. His only child was C. Webb Sadler.

In 1844-1845 E. B. Sadler was mayor of Sandusky, and in 1847 he was appointed presiding judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the 13th Judicial Circuit, then embracing the counties of Erie, Huron, Sandusky, Ottawa, Lucas, Wood and Henry. He served in this capacity for five years. In 1852 he was the Whig candidate for Congress. In the years 1866-1867 he was State Senator from this district. He was the Sandusky Postmaster from 1869 to 1871. After the Civil War, E. B. Sadler was involved in several area railroads.

His obituary in the Sandusky Register March 27, 1888, indicates that E.B. Sadler was in politics originally an anti-slavery Whig. He became a Republican at the birth of that party. The obituary continues to say that Judge Sadler “was the friend of every good work, broad, liberal and charitable in his views, and ever ready to do others a kind turn even at the cost of his own comfort." In the HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY, edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich, it is stated that Ebenezer B. Sadler lived without an enemy.

Law Partnership of F.D. Parish and E.B. Sadler

Two of Sandusky's most prominent early lawyers, F.D. Parish and E.B. Sadler were partners in a legal office in Sandusky, Ohio. Hewson Peeke wrote in A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio (Lewis Publishing Company, 1916), that F.D. Parish was the second lawyer in Erie County, following Eleutheros Cooke. In 1836 F.D. Parish went into a legal partnership with E.B. Sadler. Their office was on Public Square in Sandusky, near the old Courthouse, often known as the Academy because it once served as a school.

It appears that F.D. Parish was the senior partner, because his name always appeared first in the listing.

The partnership continued until 1847, when Mr. Sadler left to take the position of presiding judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the 13th Judicial Circuit, which then included the counties of Erie, Huron, Sandusky, Ottawa, Lucas, Wood and Henry. On February 15, 1847, the partnership between F.D. Parish and E.B. Sadler was dissolved.

A copy of the dissolution notice is found in the historical files of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Though the partnership ended, it appears that E.B. Sadler was trying to tie up loose ends. In the letter below from Mr. Sadler to a “Brother Norman,” E.B. Sadler requested that fees owed in some recent legal matters were to be paid.

F.D. Parish went to become well known as an abolitionist who took an active part in the Underground Railroad. E.B. Sadler served as Mayor of Sandusky from 1844 to 1845.

A Business Letter from E.B. Sadler to J.J. Dauch

On August 2, 1882, Sandusky attorney E.B. Sadler wrote a letter to J.J. Dauch, regarding a debt that Mr. Dauch owed him. A transcription of the letter reads:

J.J. Hinde, Esq.

My Dear Sir,

It is right and proper that you should be fully informed as to your matters in my hands. I have spent nearly two days in drawing off and adding up your accounts and enclosed send you a copy from my books, which you can examine at your leisure. You will perceive that I have received and paid out within the last two years over $36,000. I also send you a memorandum of the notes, mortgages and of yours I have in my hands. You ought to possess this information and I therefore send it to you. I know you put the greatest confidence in me and I mean to deserve, but you and I both may die and those who come after us will wish to and should know how matters stand with us.

Most kindly

Yours

E.B. Sadler

Hudson paid up his interest to day $326.74 and I deposited it to your credit.

($36,000 is equivalent to almost a million dollars today.)

In 1882, Ebenezer B. Sadler was a seasoned attorney, and a former judge aged 74; J.J. Dauch, a young 25, was a partner in a wholesale lake ice business, as well as one of the proprietors of the Buckeye Business and Telegraph College, later the Sandusky Business College. J.J. Dauch would go on to be one of the founders of the Hinde and Dauch Paper Company.

We do not have records that indicate if or when Mr. Dauch settled his account with E.B. Sadler, but both men went down in local history as being well respected in their fields. This letter suggests that  Dauch called upon Sadler for financial assistance in his early business ventures. 

E.B. Sadler died on March 25, 1888, and J.J. Dauch was killed in an automobile accident on August 15, 1918. The final resting place of both of these former Sandusky leaders is Oakland Cemetery.

Caroline Sadler Donahue Remembers

 

When Caroline Sadler Donahue was in the hospital in 1953, she took time to write down some of her childhood memories, which was printed into a booklet. Caroline was born in 1878 to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Webb Sadler. She married J. Frank Donahue, and they lived in Sandusky for many years.

In the booklet, It is Fun Remembering, Caroline recalls that there was a horseshoe shop near her house, and that the Marsh family stables were located behind St. Peter and Paul church. She tells of workers harvesting ice on Sandusky Bay. In the evenings, her father read from Dickens novels to the children, and for Christmas one year, Grandpa E. H. Marsh gave bicycles to the grandchildren. Caroline’s sister Emily played violin after family dinners.

Judge E. B. Sadler was Caroline’s paternal grandfather. He was a personal friend of Jay Cooke, the Civil War financier, and they once took a western trip to sell war bonds. It took the men twenty days to cross the country.

You can find Caroline’s booklet of memories in the Archives Research Center at the Sandusky Library. Consider recording your own memories, so that your family and friends can learn more about your personal history. Your remembrances could be recorded on paper, on a personal computer, or by making an audio recording or video recording. If you have a family scrapbook or memory book, think about donating it to the Archives Research so that others can learn of the personal histories of everyday people in our area.

Streets Near the Sandusky Post Office

Have you ever wondered for whom the streets near the U.S. Post Office in Sandusky were named?  The Post Office sits near the corner of Parish and Caldwell Streets.

Samuel B. Caldwell was once the Mayor of Sandusky, and he served as an Associate Judge of the Common Pleas Court in the 1800s. His portrait is now housed at the Follett House Museum.

F. D. Parish was an early Sandusky lawyer. He became well known as an abolitionist and was an active agent of the Underground Railroad.

To the north is the intersection of Follett and Caldwell Streets.

Oran Follett was active in the railroad, politics, and he published the Lincoln-Douglas Debates with Frank Foster. You can tour the former home of Oran Follett, which is now the Follett House Museum, located at the corner of Wayne and Adams Street.

Cowdery Street is one street south of Parish Street. 

M.F. Cowdery was Sandusky’s first Superintendent of Schools. His brother and brother-in-law were key developers of an improved chalk for use in school classrooms, which eventually led to the formation of the American Crayon Company.

Sadler Street is a short street that runs between Cowdery Street and Perkins Avenue. It was named for E.B. Sadler, who served as a Judge in the Common Pleas Court in the 1840s, when the 13^th Judicial Circuit included several counties, including Erie County. He was so popular, it was said that he lived his life without an enemy.

“Ye Oak Meadow” Farm and Gun Club

Between 1907 and 1919, Mr. and Mrs. Ira C. Krupp lived on South Hayes Avenue, on the property formerly owned by the Palmerton family. (Ira Krupp’s mother Ida Palmerton Krupp was the daughter of J. E. Palmerton.)  The Palmerton property in 1896 is pictured below:

Ira C. Krupp, son of local undertaker Charles J. Krupp, operated a dairy farm at this location in the 1910’s. 

In June of 1911 Ira Krupp was a founding member of  “Ye Oak Meadow Gun Club,” which was organized at the Sunyendeand Club. The officers were: August Kuebeler, President; Lea Marsh, Vice President; W.A. Magoon, Secretary; Dr. J. K. Douglass, Treasurer; Ira Krupp, Manager; and Dr. J. D. Parker, Captain. According to the June 6, 1911 Sandusky Register the membership was made up of the best trap shooters in Erie County. Roy Parker, also known as Leroy Parker, had the high score at the regular shoot at the Gun Club on August 26, 1911.  He was an Erie County Commissioner from 1920 through 1924. 

C. Webb Sadler was also a member of  the club.

He was the grandson of Judge E. B. Sadler, and was associated with many other area clubs, including the Blue Hole, Castalia Farms, and the Rockwell Trout Club. According to Helen Hansen’s At Home in Early Sandusky, C. Webb Sadler was the driving force behind the development of Battery Park. 

A large turkey shoot was held in November 1911. By this time the grounds included a club house and a firing range. Mrs. Ira Krupp, the former Emeline Moss, was hostess for a bridge party and luncheon in December 1911.Around 1919 news articles about Ye Oak Meadow Gun Club ceased, and in the 1920’s  Mr. and Mrs. Krupp moved to Connecticut. While they were in Erie County, however, they were very active in the social and agricultural circles of the area.

Harrison Ball, 1840

An invitation to the Harrison Ball of 1840 is on file at the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library. The ball was to be held at H. Victor’s Assembly Room on Thursday, December 31 at 5 p.m. This New Year's Eve festivity was in honor of William Henry Harrison, a fellow Ohioan, elected President earlier that year.

The managers of the ball were:

Maj. John G. Camp                 Henry D. Ward

Dr. Daniel Tilden                    Ebenezer B. Sadler

Oran Follett                             Charles Barney

Josiah W. Hollister                  Wm. Durbin, Jr.

Freeland T. Barney                 John M. Boalt

Sidney S. Hosmer                   Jno. G. Poole

Marshall Burton                      Lester S. Hubbard

Henry P Radcliff                    Theodore Hosmer

Davis Miller                            Alex. A. Camp

Dewitt C. Henderson              Jno. G. Camp, Jr.

Wm. A. Simpson                     Joseph B. Higbee

The list of names of people serving as managers of the Harrison Ball reads like a “Who’s Who” of early Sandusky. Major John G. Camp, Sr. fought in the War of 1812, and was active in the early years of Sandusky. Helen Hansen wrote in her book At Home in Early Sandusky, that Major Camp, along with Isaac Mills, Thomas Neill, and William Reese, laid out the addition known as “Southwark,” which was south of Monroe Street and west of Sycamore Line. John G. Camp, Jr. was an attorney in Sandusky, and he devoted a great deal of time negotiating plans for early railroad transportation in Ohio.

Dr. Daniel Tilden was a local physician who also was involved in the Underground Railroad:

Sidney S. Hosmer was an early Sandusky merchant, while his son Theodore Hosmer went west and became the first mayor of Tacoma Washington. 

Oran Follett was a prominent publisher in New York and Ohio, and his former home is now The Follett House Museum:

Ebenezer B. Sadler was a well liked early judge in Erie County:

Lester S.  Hubbard was a banker and prosperous businessman in Sandusky. Henry Clay Victor, whose Assembly Room was the location of the ball, was the father of Orville James Victor, author and editor.

To learn more about these and many other early residents of Sandusky and Erie County, visit the Archives Research Center. Here you will find county histories, historical journal and newspaper articles, and finding aids to the many archival resources available at the Sandusky Library.

Pitt Cooke

Pitt Cooke was the son of Sandusky’s first lawyer, Eleutheros Cooke, and his wife, the former Martha Carswell. He was born on July 23, 1819 in Bloomingville, Ohio, in a building that had formerly served as the Bank of Sandusky Bay.  (The bank was never chartered.)

Pitt Cooke was educated at the Norwalk Academy, and he attended college at Kenyon College, where he studied law. After passing the bar, he practiced law in Sandusky, Ohio with Lucas Beecher. Later he was in the forwarding and commission business with William Townsend, until 1849 when Mr. Townsend died in the cholera epidemic. After the Civil War began, he moved east to assist his brother Jay Cooke a banker was a significant financier of the financier of the Union military effort during the Civil War. Pitt continued to work at the banking house of Jay Cooke and Company in New York until 1873, when he moved back to Sandusky, Ohio. An article in volume 17 of the Firelands Pioneer stated about Pitt Cooke, “Few men were more competent or active in business than Mr. Cooke, and as a companion and friend he was always genial and pleasant. He was a man of large heart and warm, generous impulses, and ever ready to assist to the extent of his ability those who were in need.”    After the death of both Mr. and Mrs. William Townsend in 1849, Mr. and Mrs. Pitt Cooke took in their orphaned children, who were the younger siblings of Mrs. Cooke, the former Mary Townsend.

On December 13, 1879, Pitt Cooke died at his residence on West Washington Street in Sandusky. He left behind his wife and six children. Funeral services for Pitt Cooke were held at the family residence with several members of the Episcopal clergy present, including Rev. L. S. Osborn and Rev. A. Nicholas of Sandusky; Dr. S.A. Bronson of Mansfield; and Rev. Samuel Marks of Huron. Pallbearers were: Judge E.B. Sadler, Judge Rush Sloane, R.B. Hubbard, A.H. Moss, C.C. Keech, W.T. West, W.A. Simpson, and S.S. Hosmer. He was buried in the family lot at Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery. 

Fireman’s Ball Held in Sandusky in 1839

On March 6, 1839 a Fireman’s Ball was held at Bradley’s Cotillion Rooms in the city of Sandusky. While we do not have specific details about Bradley’s facility, most likely the ball was held in an upper floor of one of the two story buildings then in downtown Sandusky. 

On the list of managers for the Fireman’s Ball were F.M. Follett, L.B. Johnson, and E.B. Sadler. In 1839 Foster M. Follett was the chief engineer of the Sandusky Fire Department. Mr. Follett would later serve as the Mayor of Sandusky and the Erie County Auditor. Leonard B. Johnson was an early owner of Johnson’s Island, which was the site of a prison camp during the Civil War. E.B. Sadler was a well-respected judge in Erie County.

Ellie Damm noted in her book Treasure by the Bay that the city of Sandusky used horse-drawn equipment for fighting fires until 1919. Several early fire stations were built of limestone, with space for the horses at the ground level, and quarters for the fire fighters and their equipment on the upper level.  Pictured below are fire fighters are standing in front of the old Number Four Fire Station, located on the northeast corner of Central Avenue and Osborne Street in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Sandusky’s Fire Department has been in operation since the 1830s. The very earliest firemen were equipped with substantial buckets filled with water, known as the “bucket brigade.” As time went by, fire engines were purchased, fire stations were built, and wells were dug throughout the city to supply water for the firemen. To read about the history of Sandusky’s Fire Department, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. 

William H. H. Herbert, Businessman and Civic official

William Henry Harrison Herbert was born on April 24, 1839 in Hagerstown, Maryland. As a young man, he moved to Paw Paw, Virginia where he made his home with his sister. When the Civil War broke out, he fought for the Confederacy, enlisting in the 12^th Virginia Cavalry. He spent time in a northern prison camp at Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio. 

After the war ended, Mr. Herbert left his southern home, and moved north to Sandusky.  He married Elizabeth Davis Lea on November 15, 1877, and by the 1880s was engaged in the lumber business with J. D. Lea. In 1893, he was appointed collector of customs at Sandusky. He also served as a city councilman and on the board of the Water Works at Sandusky. 

On March 28, 1906, William H. H. Herbert died at the residence of his brother-in-law, Edward H. Marsh, on East Washington Street.

An article in the April 16, 1906 issue of the Sandusky Register said about Mr. Herbert, “He left his southern home and came north to engage in business and from that time to the day of his death conducted himself as a high-minded and honorable man of business, taking at the same time an active part in politics and also showing himself ready at all times to bear his share of any public burden connected with any enterprise for the good of the community in which he lived.”

Funeral services were held at the Edward H. Marsh home, with Rev. A.N. Slayton of Grace Church officiating. Members of the Elks and the city council and city officials were in attendance. Burial was at Oakland Cemetery. The pallbearers, all associates of Mr. Herbert were: Judge Thomas M. Sloane, C.W. Sadler, Fred Pickering, T. Pitt Cooke, C.T. Wight, Dr. John T. Haynes, W.H. Gilcher, and Alex M. Wagner. 

Getting to Know Horatio Wildman, Former Mayor of Sandusky

Horatio Wildman was born in 1828 in Fairfield County, Connecticut, to Frederick Seymour Wildman, and his wife the former Julia Ann Starr. Horatio’s grandfather was Zalmon Wildman, one of the proprietors of the city of Sandusky. When addressing the Firelands Historical Society at its fall meeting on October 10, 1895, Horatio Wildman recalled his grandfather’s connection to the city of Sandusky. He said about Sandusky, that “Zalmon Wildman said the Almighty meant this location for a town. As a natural location it is unsurpassed by any in Northern Ohio.”  

Horatio Wildman was a graduate of Yale University. After studying law in Connecticut, he moved to Sandusky in 1848. By 1851, Mr. Wildman was the Mayor of Sandusky. In the 1870s, he served as the city solicitor. 

In the 1860 Sandusky City Directory listed Horatio Wildman and his wife Emma (sometimes listed as Emily) as boarding at the Townsend House, along with their two young sons Horatio and Augustus. Soon a third son, Seymour was born.

Eventually the family moved to a home at the northwest corner of Washington and Lawrence Streets in Sandusky. 

After suffering serious health issues, Horatio Wildman died on May 16, 1909. An obituary appeared in the Obituary Record of the Graduates of Yale University.

A lengthy obituary also appeared in the Sandusky Register of May 20, 1909. The article reported that the funeral was held at the family residence at the corner of Lawrence and Washington Streets, with the Ref. W. Ashton Thompson of Grace Church officiating. Members of the Erie County Bar Association attended as a body. Honorary pallbearers included Judge Thomas M. Sloane, E.B. King, Malcom Kelly, U.T. Curran, C. Webb Sadler, T.B. Hoxey, and Hewson L. Peeke. John T. Beecher, an honorary pallbearer, could not be present. Active pallbearers were George C. Beis, W.J. Feisinger, C.H. Cramer and R.B. Fisher. There were numerous floral tributes. A circular wreath was given by the Bar Association. The B and O Railway Office sent a star and crescent tribute. Horatio Wildman was buried in Block 57 of Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery. Mrs. Wildman passed away in 1915, and she too is buried at Oakland.

Whigs in Sandusky

For those of you not tired of politics yet. . . .

The Whig Party was active in the United States from 1834–1856, having been formed by those who were strongly opposed to the tyrannical leadership of Andrew Jackson. The Whigs elected two American Presidents, William Henry Harrison in 1841, and Zachary Taylor in 1849. Both Presidents died before their terms ended.

Several Erie County residents were active in the Whig Party. Joseph M. Root, who held many political offices throughout his career, was elected as a Whig to the twenty-ninth Congress of the United States. Judge E. B. Sadler and Homer Goodwin, a well known Sandusky lawyer, both started out their careers as members of the Whig Party.

Newspaper editor Oran Follett, pictured below, was a staunch Whig leader in the 1840’s.
Sandusky’s first lawyer, Eleutheros Cooke, was elected to Congress as an anti-Jacksonian (later, Whig), serving from 1831 through 1833.
An earlier blog entry describes William Henry Harrison’s visit to Sandusky in 1840 when he was the Whig presidential candidate. The ladies of the town created a special banner in his honor. The October 5, 1852 issue of the Daily Commercial Register lists the names of fifty members of the Common Council of the city of Sandusky, who were planning a reception for General Winfield Scott. The council members, without regard to party, planned to welcome General Scott to the “hospitalities of the city, on the occasion of his approaching visit.” Though Scott lost the election, he had a multitude of supporters in Sandusky.

Eventually the Whig Party fell apart due to disunity on the issue of slavery. Most Whigs in the Northern United States joined the newly formed Republican Party. An excellent article about early Ohio political life is found in Edgar Allen Holt’s “Party Politics in Ohio: 1840-1850” available online through the Ohio Historical Society.