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.

Convention of the Erie County Women’s Christian Temperance Union in Sandusky

The ninth annual convention of the Erie County Women’s Christian Temperance Union was held on Wednesday, September 20, 1916 at the Congregational Church in Sandusky, Ohio.

The book, History of Erie County, edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich, states that a number of well known ladies of Sandusky met to organize a temperance league in 1879. Their object of the society was: “combating intemperance and kindred vices through Christian influences and Christian work.” By 1928, there were several area groups of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in the various communities of Erie County, which were under the leadership of a Union Board.

Mrs. Imogene Dauch, sister in law of J. J. Dauch, was active in the W.C.T.U. from 1911 through the 1930’s, often serving as an officer of the West Huron chapter. Mrs. Dauch was the Erie County delegate to the Ohio W.C.T.U. Convention in 1929, held at Findlay. At the local convention of the Erie County W.C.T.U. in 1916, she opened the convention with prayer and Bible reading, and gave a welcoming address as well as the annual President’s message. Mrs. Dauch’s daughter, Cynthia Aulda Dauch presented a piano solo to the attendees. Cynthia A. Dauch would later become the executive director of the Visiting Nurse Association of Los Angeles. Imogene Dauch died in Sandusky in 1975 at the age of 92. Besides her work in the W.C.T.U., Mrs. Dauch was also a member of Trinity United Methodist Church, the Daughters of 1812, the National Order of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Huron Grange.

To read more about temperance activities in Sandusky, see this previous blog posting.

“Midsummer Eve” at Monroe School in 1916

An article in the January 28, 1916 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal reported that every student in Monroe School was assigned to play a part in the musical, Midsummer Eve, to be performed at the auditorium of the Sandusky High School auditorium. In the play, the main character Dorothy, played by Dorothy Wiegel, visits the toy department of a large department store, and then has a dream about an imaginary land of dolls. Dorothy gets lost, and is rescued by elves. In the dream she becomes a fairy, and is involved in the Fairy Court.

A nine piece orchestra provided music for the play, under the direction of Harold Foster. George F. Anderson did the orchestration for Act Two. Many children of local Sandusky residents took part in Midsummer Eve, including the two children of James Begg, James T. Begg, Jr. and Eleanor Begg.  James T. Begg was the superintendent of Sandusky City Schools from 1913 – 1917, and served as a Representative in the United States Congress from 1919 to 1929. Elmer Frank, who played an elf in the school play, later studied music in Europe and founded the Sandusky Choral Society. The son of prominent Sandusky businessman, J.J. Dauch, Wade Dauch, also played an elf in “Midsummer Eve.”

According to Ellie Damm’s book, Treasure by the Bay, Monroe School, also known as the Ninth Ward School, was built in 1894 by George Feick, and served students in the north central section of Sandusky. Until Jackson Junior High was built, grades one through eight attended Monroe School.

Midsummer Eve was so popular at its first performance on February 29, 1916, that another performance was given on March 6. Later in the month, Monroe School students performed scenes from the play at the assembly hall of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home in Sandusky, along with several patriotic musical numbers.

Convention of the Erie County Women’s Christian Temperance Union in Sandusky

The ninth annual convention of the Erie County Women’s Christian Temperance Union was held on Wednesday, September 20, 1916 at the Congregational Church in Sandusky, Ohio.

The History of Erie County (1889), edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich, states that a number of well known ladies of Sandusky met to organize a temperance league in 1879. Their object of the society was: “combating intemperance and kindred vices through Christian influences and Christian work.”  By 1928, during the Prohibition era, there were several area groups of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in the various communities of Erie County, which were under the leadership of a Union Board.

Mrs. Imogene Dauch, sister in law of J. J. Dauch, was active in the W.C.T.U. from 1911 through the 1930s, often serving as an officer of the West Huron chapter. She was the Erie County delegate to the Ohio W.C.T.U. Convention in 1929, held at Findlay. At the local convention of the Erie County W.C.T.U. in 1916, Mrs. Dauch opened the convention with prayer and Bible reading, and gave a welcoming address as well as the annual President’s message. Her daughter, Cynthia Aulda Dauch presented a piano solo to the attendees. Cynthia A. Dauch would later become the executive director of the Visiting Nurse Association of Los Angeles. 

Imogene Dauch died in Sandusky in 1975 at the age of 92. Besides her work in the W.C.T.U., she was also a member of Trinity United Methodist Church, the Daughters of 1812, the National Order of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Huron Grange.

To read more about temperance activities in Sandusky, see this previous blog post.

A Tribute to Jacob Julius Dauch

A printed tribute to Jacob Julius Dauch is in the historical files of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. J.J. Dauch’s daughter Leola had reprints of a biography of her father which had originally appeared in the National Encyclopedia of American Biography, created to give away to relatives.

The first page of the tribute discussed his parents, as well as his many business ventures, before he became involved in the very successful Hinde and Dauch Paper Company, which was formed in 1900.

Page two goes on to discuss his wife and children, as well as his untimely death on August 15, 1918,

The third page concludes with the words of a man who knew J.J. Dauch. He said of Mr. Dauch, “His strength and simplicity, his power and modesty, is unaffected integrity, stamped him as a citizen which Sandusky could ill afford to lose and one whose loss to his family and relatives is beyond worldly computation.”

Visit the Sandusky Library to learn more about J.J. Dauch and other former residents of Sandusky and Erie County.

First Anniversary of the Buckeye Business and Telegraph College

A lengthy article in the November 27, 1867 issue of the Sandusky Register reported on the first anniversary celebration of the Buckeye Business and Telegraph College. The school was founded in Sandusky by Professor E. A. Hall, and began as the Buckeye and Great Western Business College. Eventually the name was changed to Sandusky Business College. In the 1860s the school was located at Union Hall, on Columbus Avenue, between Water and Market Streets. The first anniversary celebration was held at Donahoe’s Block, with the Great Western Band providing musical entertainment. A.C. Van Tine, proprietor of the college, called the audience to attention.  M.F. Cowdery, the superintendent of Sandusky City Schools, gave an address.

The Register article summarized his remarks: “He said that next to religion, morality and intelligence must be ranked the claims of trade and commerce of the world. He referred to the effects of commerce in settling new countries, opening seaports and stimulating enterprise. He alluded to the fact that our American Independence was achieved in a war begun on account of commercial oppression, and closed by discussing the importance and value of a strict and unyielding integrity in all the walks of a business life. He paid a very handsome tribute to the energy and enterprise of the proprietors of the Buckeye College, and foresaw for it a career of great usefulness to the young of our city.”

During the evening’s program business students presented Professor Jarrett with a Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary. Lieutenant Governor John Lee spoke to the audience, advising them: “You do well to patronize and encourage an enterprise so fraught with good to the youth of your city.” Mr. John Delamater presented a gold-headed cane to Professor S.P. Hare. Rev. W.D. Godman of Cleveland told the audience that education was important not only for business, but for any vocation to which one is called. Judge Taylor pointed out that the prospects for the winter term were promising, as a large number of students had already enrolled. The evening concluded with the presentation of the engraving “Irving and His Friends” to Mr. A.C. Van Tine. 

The college had a variety of locations and proprietors throughout its existence. The last proprietor of the Sandusky Business College, then located in the former residence of Rush Sloane on Adams Street, was William O. Loudenslagel. The college closed in 1949, due to declining enrollment.

J.J. Dauch

J.J. Dauch, co-founder of the Hinde and Dauch paper company, graduated from Sandusky Business College, and at one time owned the college. Hinde and Dauch was known for hiring graduates of the local school. For over eighty years, The Sandusky Business College and its predecessors played an important role in training young people for their careers in banking, finance, and many manufacturers in Sandusky.

J.J. Hinde and J.J. Dauch, the Men behind the Hinde and Dauch Paper Company

Image of James J. Hinde courtesy of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, Fremont, Ohio

James J. Hinde was born in Huron Township, Ohio on March 31, 1855 to Mr. and Mrs. William J. Hinde, who were both natives of Ireland. Jacob J. Dauch was also born in Huron Township, on July 2, 1857, to Philip and Mary Dauch, who were of German descent. In the 1880 U.S. Census, both J.J. Hinde and J.J. Dauch were residing in Huron Township of Erie County, and they both listed their occupation as farmer. In 1888, Hinde and Dauch formed a partnership to harvest and bale straw to be used in paper making. One of their customers was the Sandusky Paper Mill, which made butcher wrapping paper from straw. The paper mill ran into financial difficulty, and after leasing it for a time, in 1892 Mr. Hinde and Mr. Dauch purchased the mill. The company eventually became known as the Hinde and Dauch PaperCompany.  In its early years, the business was not very profitable. After  developing corrugated paper, Hinde and Dauch Paper became a leading company in its field. 

An article in the March 2, 1986 issue of the Sandusky Register stated that J.J. Hinde was the inventor, and J.J. Dauch was the business man in the partnership. Below is a drawing from Patent Number 1,005,836, for a machine for making paper board, designed by James J. Hinde in 1910. The patent was issued on October 17, 1911.

 Eventually the Hinde and Dauch Company became the largest manufacturer of its kind in the United States. There were box factories in several cities of the U.S. and Canada, and paper mills as far west as Iowa. 

In 1910, J.J. Hinde left the Hinde and Dauch Company, in order to pursue other interests. Among his later business interests were the Sandusky Automobile Company, the Hinde Paper Company, and the Hinde Brick and Tile Company. Unfortunately none of these ventures proved to be successful.  Mr. Hinde died from pneumonia on February 22, 1931. In his obituary, found in the 1931 Obituary Notebook at the Sandusky Library, we learn that Henry Ford visited J.J. Hinde, where he showed Ford the first tractor that he had ever seen. Mr. Hinde was known as an ardent conversationalist, and he often spoke fondly of Ireland, the birthplace of his ancestors.

J.J. Dauch became the president of Hinde and Dauch after Mr. Hinde departed.  In the image below, J.J. Dauch is with a group of Hinde and Dauch employees, who were all graduates of the Sandusky Business College; the photo was featured in a promotional booklet for the school. The picture was accompanied by a letter of endorsement for the college on stationery from another business Dauch owned, the Dauch Manufacturing Company.

Mr. Dauch had been a graduate of the college in 1876, when it was known as the Buckeye Business and Telegraph College. In 1881, he purchased the Sandusky Business College, but sold it in 1884. 

Sadly, Mr. Dauch died in an automobile accident on August 15, 1918, at the age of 61. His chauffeur, Harry Hicks, also died in the accident, and Dauch’s wife and daughter were injured. Another injured passenger in the car was J.W. Wellington, the president of the Matthews Engineering Company. 

An article by Tom Twitchell which highlighted the life and career of industrialist J.J. Dauch appeared in the March 2, 1986 issue of the Sandusky Register, available on microfilm at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.  In the article appeared a quote by local historian Gordon Wendt, about J.J. Dauch, “He was the wealthiest man in town, and the most important.”  

In 1953, Hinde and Dauch was acquired by Westvaco. For most of the 1980s, the company operated as Displayco Midwest, which was bought out by the Chesapeake Corporation in 1989. The factory closed in 1997. The former Hinde and Dauch building at 401 West Shoreline Drive is now home to Chesapeake Lofts. An article which provides the history of the development of Hinde and Dauch is available online. Tom Jackson wrote an excellent article for the Sandusky Register covers the Paper District in Sandusky.

Though J.J. Hinde and J.J. Dauch were associated with the Hinde and Dauch Paper Company for a relatively short time, their names live on in the history of Sandusky and the paper making industry.