Tools of a Notary Public

This historic Ohio notary seal was donated to the Sandusky Library in 1933, and is now in the collections of the Follett House Museum. It is much larger than the notary seals in use today, probably because most early legal documents were significantly larger than typical documents of today. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a Notary Public is "a public officer who attests or certifies writings (such as a deed) to make them authentic and takes affidavits, depositions, and protests of negotiable paper." Many banks, legal offices, and government offices have staff on hand who are recognized as notaries public by the state of Ohio.  

Several certificates of the commissions of notaries public that were issued to Hewson L. Peeke and Rush R. Sloane are found in the files of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Here is a document that indicates that Rush R. Sloane was appointed as Notary Public by Governor Seabury Ford, on September 8, 1849:

Rush R. Sloane was once the Mayor of Sandusky, owned the former Sloane House Hotel, and was very active in the Underground Railroad activities of the Firelands. He most likely performed notary duties in his profession as an attorney at law.