Poem about Sandusky in the Columbian Register in 1818

A poem enticing residents of New Haven, Connecticut to consider moving to the city of Sandusky was printed in a newspaper, the Columbian Register of April 25, 1818. Mrs. Evangeline Vinton Bouton presented a copy of this item to the historical room of the Sandusky Library in 1928. Unfortunately the original item has disintegrated, and only a photocopy of the poem remains in our collection.

A transcription of the entire poem reads:

Come on my good neighbors who live in the East,

Who wish for less winter and snow,

Come join with your friend, and we'll move to the West,

To Sandusky New City we'll go. 

If commerce you choose, where it's not overdone,

(And many like trading, I know;)

Come join with your friend, and prepare to go on;

To Sandusky New City we’ll go

If fishing and fowling your fancy should take,

The half of each summer, or so,

To find rich employment on Erie's proud Lake;

To the Bay of Sandusky we'll go.

 If farming should please us, and please us it must,

Where wealth, fame and luxury flow,

From tilling the soil as we find in the west,

To the Land of Sandusky we'll go.

Ye friends of good dairy, with your dairy wives,

Who like some fine cheeses and so,

To make up your fortune, and lead easy lives,

To Sandusky Prairies must go.

You who have no land, but have many fine boys, 

Tom, Andrew, John, Dick, Bob and Joe,

To get them good farms and increase your own joys,

To the Land of Sandusky should go.

To charming Ohio, by thousands are gone,

The best of our young men you know,

Who spurning dependence, by prospect led on,

To the new world had spirit to go.

Then we who have daughters, young, blooming and fair,

As roses and lilies can grow,

To marry them well and relieve tender care,

To the Land of Sandusky will go.

Now Mary, dear Mary, what think you of this?

Shall we move to the westward or no?

I’ll take a sweet kiss, while your lips answer yes,

To Sandusky New City we’ll go.

Readers of the Columbian Register were urged to consider moving to Sandusky for its fishing, wildlife, and business prospects. At that time, Sandusky, Ohio was considered to be in the west. Of course, thousands of residents of New England did move to northern Ohio in the early 1800s. You can see still the influence of New England in Ohio to this day. If you would like to read a first-hand account of a group of people who traveled from Glastonbury, Connecticut to Perkins Township in the fall of 1815, see the June, 1865 issue of the Firelands Pioneer, available online and at the Sandusky Library.