The Kilbourne Family Had Many Ties to Sandusky

 In the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center is a book entitled The New Eden: James Kilbourne and the Development of Ohio, by Goodwin Berquist and Paul C. Bowers, Jr. (University Press of America, 1983.) The authors detail the life of James Kilbourne (1770-1850), who contributed significantly to the development of Ohio and the Old Northwest. Of particular interest to local residents is chapter 5, “The Sandusky Enterprise.”            

James Kilbourne saw the importance of a community along the shores of Lake Erie  that could be developed for trade and commerce. He discussed this idea at length with Zalmon Wildman, and eventually Kilbourne helped to settle the land dispute between Wildman and Isaac Mills and George Hoadley. It was James Kilbourne who surveyed the land between Columbus and Sandusky, where a roadway was to be built between the two towns. Known as the Columbus and Sandusky Turnpike, today this route roughly follows Ohio routes 4 and 23. Kilbourne encouraged business owners to settle in Sandusky, and he influenced legislators to see that a post office and customs port were established  in the young community. 

James Kilbourne's son, Hector, is credited with platting the city of Sandusky. The streets were laid out to form the Masonic emblem. Hector Kilbourne was the first postmaster of Sandusky, and he also served as the first master of Science Lodge No. 50, the earliest Masonic lodge in Sandusky.

The Masonic symbol can clearly be seen in the map of the city of Sandusky below, with the diagonal layout of the streets representing the square and compass of the Masonic emblem.

The final resting place of several descendants of James Kilbourne is Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery. After attorney George Reber’s first wife died, he took as his second wife Anna Stiles Kilbourne, who was the widow of Dr. James Kilbourne, the youngest son of James Kilbourne (1770-1850.) Anna, often known as Nancy, had a young son named Lincoln P. Kilbourne. Lincoln and his wife, and several members of the extended family are buried at Oakland Cemetery in the Kilbourne family lot.

Read The New Eden: James Kilbourne and the Development of Ohio to learn more about James Kilbourne and the role he played in the early development of the state of Ohio