The Capsizing of the Sandsucker Kelley Island

On Saturday morning, May 2, 1925, a crew of sixteen men left from Sandusky in the sandsucker Kelley Island, owned by the Kelley Island Lime & Transport Company. Early in the afternoon the vessel met with rough waters just off Point Pelee.  The adverse weather conditions, combined with shifting cargo, caused the vessel to capsize. Several men were trapped below decks. 

A total of nine men perished in the lake disaster. The dead were: Captain William G. Slackford, Oley Kriss, William Mayer, Rolland Will, Alvey Martin, William A. Slackford, all of Sandusky. Frederick Holder and Paul Everett, both of Oak Harbor, and Thomas Moran, of Castalia also drowned in the accident.

Deckhand Curtis Brown was hailed a hero because of his successful efforts in rescuing three crew members. The Sandusky Register reported that several other crew members also heroically tried to save the ship from the water that was rushing into the ship. Alvey Martin and Frederick Holder failed in their efforts. Captain Slackford remained in the deckhouse as the ship sank. The Canadian fishing boat, the Flossie B., came to the aid of the crew of the capsized sandsucker. Members of the crew who survived the disaster were: Curtis Brown, Andrew Krause, William Loveridge, and Scott Pethbridge, all of Sandusky; Clarence Bloomstrom and Nicholas Rennard, both of Toledo; and Morton Everett of Oak Harbor. The surviving crew members of the ill fated voyage are pictured below:

The picture below shows three men from the Lakeside viewing the overturned hull of the Kelley Island.

The Slackford family suffered a double loss, as Captain William G. Slackford and his son William A. Slackford both died in the lake tragedy. Captain Slackford was a well respected shipmaster; his biography is online. A shipmaster’s pennant which once belonged to Captain Slackford is in the collections of the Follett House Museum.

To read more about the capsizing of the Kelley Island, visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Sandusky newspapers, now on microfilm, carried numerous articles about the tragedy.

Isaac D. Everett, Sandusky Merchant

Isaac D. Everett was born in 1830 to Adam and Mary (Wolverton) Everett. In 1862, he married Lavinia Nettleton, who was fondly known as Fanny. He was the brother in law of Leonard B. Johnson, the owner of Johnson’s Island at the time. 

In the 1867 Sandusky City Directory, Mr. Everett was in a partnership with Andrew Zerbe and E. and F. Nicolai in a dry goods business on Water Street between Columbus Avenue and Jackson Street.

By 1876, Isaac and his son had their own store on Columbus Avenue. They sold china, glass and queensware, which was a cream-colored earthenware.

An advertisement which appeared in the April 16, 1890 issue of the Sandusky Register announced the opening of a new store, run by Isaac D. Everett and his son Lu. The store sold groceries, fruits, and candies, and was located at 234 Columbus Avenue.

On the day of the grand opening, the Everetts provided coffee and a light lunch to all who stopped in. The ad stated that “We do not care whether you spend any money or not.” In 1892, I.D. Everett and Son moved to 226 Columbus Avenue. By the time of the 1900 U.S. Census, I.D. Everett had retired, and he was living with his daughter Nellie Nason in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. I.D. Everett passed away on October 30, 1907 at the home of his daughter Mrs. Nason, who by then had moved to Chicago, Illinois. Burial was in the family lot at Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery

Miss Gertrude Hartung, Teacher and Principal

Gertrude Hartung was associated with the Sandusky City Schools for forty years. She began as a teacher in 1921, teaching at both Madison and Campbell Schools. When she was still in her 20s, Superintendent Frank J. Prout named her as principal of Madison School.

Later she served as principal of Barker School. In her final years of teaching, Miss Hartung taught Social Studies at the Sandusky High School. She retired from Sandusky City Schools in 1961. 

Sandusky native Glenn Everett, who worked as a news correspondent in Washington D.C., wrote a tribute to Miss Hartung in the June 25, 1989 issue of the Sandusky Register, not long after her death. He told about Miss Hartung taking a large group of elementary children on a flat-bed truck to the Hartung family farm on Campbell Street, so the students could see cows being milked, and corn being harvested.  On another field trip, the children watched milk being bottled at the old Esmond Dairy, and they all got an ice cream sandwich after the tour of the plant. A field trip that really made an impression on Glenn Everett was when all the members of the class were locked for a minute in a dark jail cell at the old Erie County Jail, as a deputy sheriff warned the students about the consequences of bad behavior.

Miss Hartung felt that by going on field trips, the children learned things in a practical way that could not be learned just from reading a book. Mr. Everett wrote, “She made education exciting so that her students wanted to come to school to learn as much as possible…She was the kind of teacher all teachers could wish to be.”  In 1974, Miss Hartung was honored by the Firelands Council of Camp Fire for her many years of service as a Camp Fire Girls leader. 

On June 9, 1989, Gertrude Hartung died at the age of 89. Funeral services were held at the Groff Funeral Home, and burial was at Oakland Cemetery. Miss Hartung touched many lives during her long career as an educator with the Sandusky City Schools

Walk-in-the Water Featured on U.S. Postage Stamp

Former Sandusky resident Glenn Everett donated this envelope to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. It featured the first day of issue of the U.S. postage stamp that contained an image of an early Great Lakes steamboat, Walk in the Water, and was dated March 3, 1989.At that time, a book of twenty stamps cost $5.00. Five steamboats were included in this series of stamps.

In our historical files was a card that provided information about the stamp. Below is a transcription:

Walk-in-the-Water

The U.S. Postal Service commemorated the Walk-in-the-Water, first steamboat on Lake Erie, when it issued a booklet of 25 cent stamps on March 3, 1989, picturing historic steam vessels. Built in 1818 at Black Rock, N.Y., she was 145 feet long, with a 27-foot beam, displacing 388 tons. She had two masts for sails in case her wood-fired boiler failed. Noah Brown, her builder, liked the wonderfully descriptive name given her by the Indians.

When the Walk-in-the-Water proved she could maintain a two-day schedule between Buffalo and Detroit with stops at Erie, Pa., and Cleveland and Sandusky, Ohio, she revolutionized transportation in this rapidly developing wilderness area. Soon other steamboats were being built. The Walk-in-the-Water sank in a storm near  Buffalo in October ,1821, but her engine was salvaged and used in another steamboat, the Superior, and eventually was used to power the first steam –operated sawmill in Saginaw, Mich.

This first day cover was designed by Glenn D. Everett, a native of Sandusky and veteran Washington correspondent, who suggested that the Walk-in-the-Water be honored on a stamp.

To learn more about this historic steamer, read In the Wake of Walk-in-the-Water: The Marine History of Sandusky, Ohio, by Gordon Wendt (Commercial Printing Co., 1984.)

Erie County’s First Female Deputy

Fanny Facer Everett was a humane agent, probation officer and leading charity worker in Sandusky where she was beloved by the entire community. She was born in Sandusky and lived here most of her life.

For more than 20 years, she was connected with almost every form of benevolent and philanthropic work conducted by the general public in the city of Sandusky. For approximately 25 years, she was the leading figure in the Humane Society of the city and county. When the Erie County Humane Society was first organized in 1900, there were few members and very little financial means to help carry on the work.. For many years she acted as its first female humane agent without compensation and devoted her time, energy and strength to the work just as cheerfully, earnestly and enthusiastically as though it was her only pursuit in life. The activities of the society continued to expand and the society was finally able to render her financial assistance.

When the Federated Associated Charities was organized, Fanny Everett became its superintendent and had personal charge and direction of its expenditures.
When the juvenile court work was taken up by the probate court, Fanny was made probation officer—she was the first woman to be deputized by the sheriff of Erie County to carry a gun and make arrests.

For many years she was in charge of the distribution and adjustment of the mothers’ pensions for the county and also of the blind relief work.

It was said of her that there has perhaps never been a person in the city who was so thoroughly acquainted with the history of the people of the city who needed help, either in a financial, social or moral way. There was no one in the city to whom the weak and the erring would go so gladly, willingly and trustingly as to Mrs. Everett. Mrs. Everett’s home and her time and attention has been open both day and night to the many calls of the people of the city of Sandusky who have had trials and troubles and burdens.

Her son told a story about a memorable episode in her career: Late one night in 1902, she heard screams and cries for help coming from a house in the 200 block of Decatur Street, near where she lived. A man in a drunken rage was beating his wife and attacking his son and daughter. Fanny Everett marched straight to the house, knocked, and when the drunken man answered, she pointed her pistol at him and announced that he was under arrest. At the sight of the gun, the man raised his hands and begged “Don’t shoot, lady, don’t shoot.” Fanny replied, “You ought to be shot, but put on your shoes and you are going straight to jail.” The man obeyed and up Decatur Street they went, the man with his hands in the air. They reached the corner of Adams Street, where there was a saloon, one of the patrons, and finally a dozen or so, poured out of the bar. “Hey Joe!” they taunted, “The lady is taking you to jail, isn’t she?” When the man tried to answer, Fanny said “Keep your mouth shut and keep going.” In a few minutes they were at the door of the Erie County Jail where the man was quickly shown to a cell. At the trial the man was sentenced to ten days in jail. Fanny then took the wife and children to an attorney who advised the woman of her right to seek legal action for a separation and compulsory support payments. He urged her to seek a restraining order to protect her and the children. Many women at this time did not realize they had any legal rights against an abusive husband. Thus did Fanny Everett serve as a pioneer for social reform.