Charles Cross, Mayor of Sandusky 1853-56

Charles Cross was born in England in 1812. In July 1830 he, along with Dr. I. B. Ward and several other families, sailed on the packet ship Hudson from Portsmouth, England to New York. Dr .Ward went on to settle in Zanesville, but Charles Cross remained in Sandusky.

On St. Patrick’s Day in 1844 Mr. Cross was on a committee which promoted celebrating the holiday according to the principles of temperance. He was very active in the Roman Catholic Church in Sandusky. In 1853, he was elected Mayor of Sandusky, and served through 1856.  He also served as councilman, city clerk, secretary of the Board of Water Works, and Justice of the Peace. In 1874 he was the magistrate for two cases involving Rush Sloane, another Sandusky Mayor.

Mr. Cross had been widowed while a young man. One son, also named Charles Cross, became a photographer in Sandusky.

His grandson, Nicholas Charles Cross, became “Brother Sulpicius” in the Xaverian Order of the Catholic Church, having started out as a catechist at Sandusky’s Holy Angels parish.

On November 18, 1889, Charles Cross, Sr. died suddenly from heart disease. His obituary in the Sandusky Daily Register stated that “it can truthfully be said that he did not rob the public nor use office to multiply fees and increase the burden of taxes.”  He was interred in St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

To read more about Charles Cross’s trip to America, see the article “An English Colony” by Hudson C. Ward in the Sandusky Daily Register of December 3, 1889, on microfilm in the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library, or via the Newspaper Archive online database, available through the library's website.

Who Was Grandpa Corell?

This nineteenth century cabinet card is housed in the Arts Collection of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. It pictures men in a three-piece string band. The only individual who has been identified is “Grandpa Corell” on guitar, in the center of the group. On the back of the card is the name of the photographer, C.A. Cross.

Notes with the original item indicate that the  picture was taken sometime between 1885 and 1900. To determine the identity of Grandpa Corell, we consulted print sources  in our collection, as well as online genealogical databases. The book Sandusky Then and Now indicates that Christoph. Correll, who was born in Odenbach, Bavaria, Germany in May of 1819, and moved to the Sandusky area about 1849. Christopher Correll (often spelled Corell) married Catherine Christopher. In the 1870 U.S. Census, there are several children listed to Christopher and Catherine Corell, including sons named Charles, William and Ira Corell.

It turns out that Charles Corell died relatively young, and William Corell moved to Michigan. The 1890 Sandusky City Directory listed Christopher Corell, a carpenter; and Ira J. Corell, a plane maker.

By doing some quick math, in 1890 Christopher Corell would have been about 71 years old, and Ira J. Corell would have been 31 years of age. Since the guitar player looks to be a young man, the logical conclusion is that “Grandpa Corell” is very likely named Ira J. Corell. After doing a search for Corell  in our PastPerfect Database, other Corell family items which were donated appear to have come from the Ira Corell family, giving further evidence that this cabinet card most likely came from the Ira Corell family as well. If you have family photographs, be sure to the label people in your pictures, for the benefit of future generations who may have an interest in family history.

Portraits of Katie Rittman

Miss Katie Rittman was born in Sandusky in 1870 to Frank Rittman and Catherine Kuebeler Rittman, who were both natives of Germany. The portrait above was taken at the Bishop & Veitch studio in Sandusky, when Katie was about age 12 or 13. The picture below was taken at the studio of C.A. Cross when Katie was a teenager.

This lovely picture of Katie Rittman as a young woman was taken at the Pascoe studio in Sandusky.

U.S. Census records indicate that Katie lived with her parents in Sandusky 1880 and 1900. On February 4, 1902, Katie Rittman married Charles Hoffman, who was employed at the Hoffman family business, the Hoffman Coal and Milling Company. Charles and Katie were the parents of three daughters and a son.  In 1919 the Charles Hoffman family operated a store at the corner of Scott and Hancock Streets. "Puck," a zinc statue that had once been in the store window of Dietz & Mischler's cigar shop, stood on the roof of the Hoffman business for several years. Puck is now housed at the Follett House Museum. Katie Rittman Hoffman passed away in 1929, and Charles Hoffman died in1933. Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman were both buried in Oakland Cemetery.