Erie County Farmers' Picnic

Here is a schedule of events at the Erie County Farmers’ Picnic held at Cedar Point on Saturday, July 23, 1892.

An account of the picnic in the July 25, 1892 Sandusky Register reported that the event was a “success in every way,” except for attendance.  Many farmers could not attend because of the late harvest, which kept many farmers at home working in the fields.  The article stated, “The programme heretofore published was fully carried out and nothing was left undone by the Cedar Point management that would add to the pleasures and comfort of those who were there to enjoy the day.” 

Musical entertainment was provided by the Great Western Band (above) and vocalist Ida Reynolds.

 

Charles Steen, pictured above with his wife Sarah, was the Vice-President of the Erie County Agricultural Society in 1892. Mr. Steen introduced the speakers of the day: I.F. Mack, Department Commander of the Ohio G.A.R. and General William H. Gibson, from Tiffin, Ohio.

Mr. Mack gave an address which focused on pensions for the Union Veterans of the Civil War. He indicated that the pensions for former U.S. soldiers compared favorably with the pensions given to the veteran soldiers of other countries.

When Vice President C. F. Steen introduced General William H. Gibson, of Tiffin, the crowd gave an enthusiastic ovation. General Gibson, considered an outstanding orator, was known as the “Grand Old Man of Ohio.” The Register carried a large portion of General Gibson’s speech, in which he praised the farmers of the United States. He spoke of the American wheat, corn, and cotton crops, and how wheat from the U.S. was sent to famine victims in Russia. He continued “This is a great farm and we don’t want any drones on it. I have worked ever since I was born and this is the best world I ever struck.” He encouraged the young men in the crowd to “get forty acres of land in any part of the state of Ohio” and “hang on to it.”  General Gibson concluded with patriotic remarks, stating that America was the most popular nation in Christendom, with bounteous wealth and infinite resources. 

To read the full article about the Erie County Farmers’ Picnic in 1892, visit the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library, which houses decades of historical local newspapers on microfilm, or find the article on Newspaper Archive, a subscription service available free to Sandusky Library cardholders via our local history resource page.

 Pictured below is a picnic at Cedar Point in 1906, several years after the Erie County Farmers’ Picnic.

 

Agriculture Has Played a Key Role in the History and Development of Erie County

Before the 1800s, nearly all Ohioans earned their living through agriculture. Even as industrialization expanded in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, agriculture remained and continues to play an important role in our economy. A 2012 Census of Agriculture indicated that there were over 300 farms in Erie County, Ohio, with over 83,000 acres of farm land in the county. The market value of agricultural products sold was worth more than $88,000,000 dollars. The top crops in Erie County were listed as soybeans and corn. 

Several items in the Sandusky Library Archives Research and Sandusky Library reflect the importance of agriculture to our area. This is a ribbon from the Erie County Fair held in 1856:

             

The 1874 and 1896 historical Erie County atlases show the locations and property owners of the farms in rural Erie County. In the holdings of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center are several ribbons and premium booklets from past Erie County Fairs, primarily from the nineteenth century. 

Man local citizens have been recognized over the years for their agricultural skills and innovations. Erie County resident Wells W. Miller served as Ohio’s ninth Secretary of Agriculture, from 1894 to 1906. The medal below was presented to Charles J. Messer for his corn sheller at the 1858 Ohio State Fair, which was held in Sandusky. Mr. Messer’s threshing factory was located at the corner of Water and Warren Streets. An early annual report the Ohio State Board of Agriculture reported that Messer’s power corn sheller had no superior.

The Hero Reaper was manufactured by the Sandusky Machine and Agricultural Works in the 1880s.

The well-known Hoover Potato Digger was made at the same time in Avery, just a short distance south of Sandusky. Using the wealth derived from the invention, the Hoover family became prominent investors in the Lakeside Chautauqua community in Ottawa County. 

In 1911 the National Corn Exposition was held in Columbus, Ohio from January 30 to February 11.  Milton Earle donated this ribbon from the Corn Exposition to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

The National Corn Exposition of 1911 featured exhibits from thirty five states. Scientific displays were exhibited by over twenty agricultural colleges and agricultural experimental stations. The National Corn Banquet was held on February 3, 1911, and President Taft spoke at the Exposition on February 10. 

If you would like to learn more about the history of agriculture in Ohio, there are many books available for loan through the ClevNet system on the topic of farms in Ohio.

The Sandusky Machine and Agricultural Works Made the Hero Reaper

Though the Sandusky Machine and Agricultural Works was begun in the mid nineteenth century, it was not incorporated until 1870, with W.F. Converse as the president. The 1874 Sandusky City Directory states that the Sandusky Machine and Agricultural Works was located on Water Street between Jackson and Decatur Streets. The company manufactured threshers, corn shellers, portable engines and other agricultural implements. In the business collections of the Sandusky Archives Research Center is a catalog for the Hero Reaper, made by the Sandusky Machine and Agricultural Works in the 1880s.

The brochure’s cover claimed that the Hero Reaper was the lightest draft and strongest reaper in the world. It could work in any type of soil, and was easily pulled by a pair of light horses. The Hero Reaper sold for $125, and each reaper came with its own tool box of extra bolts, rivets and wrenches. Several pages containing testimonials of farmers who had satisfactorily used the Hero Reaper were printed in the 1881 catalog.

Another product manufactured by the Sandusky Machine and Agricultural Works was the Excelsior Gleaner and Binder, which was said to be simple, efficient and light.

Eventually the Sandusky Machine and Agricultural Works was consolidated with the Klotz and Kromer Machine Company.

In the early twentieth century, the Sandusky Machine and Agricultural Works name was dropped, and by 1929, the Klotz and Kromer Machine Company incorporated as the Klotz Machine Company. Later it was known as the Klotz Machine and Foundry Company, which was acquired by Union Chain in 1951. Today, the company formerly known as Union Chain is a part of U.S. Tsubaki, located on Edgewater Avenue on Sandusky’s west side.

Erie County Farmers’ Institute in 1912

Farmers’ Institutes were modeled after the popular Teachers’ Institutes in the mid-1800s for the purpose of disseminating information to farmers about the latest developments in farm management. Dr. Norton S. Townshend former secretary of the Ohio Board of Agriculture, promoted Farmers’ Institutes in Ohio. In an address at the annual meeting of the State Board of Agriculture in 1874, Dr. Townshend said, "What we want is to abandon the old idea that farming has no higher aim than getting a living, and instead of it to adopt the better one that the chief end of farming is the culture and improvement of the farmer and his family; and while it does this, it should, as a secondary result, give support and pay expenses. Farming needs a new departure, or to take a new start, and with a higher aim and purpose, so that it may secure to the farmer the same improvement in intellectual and social position that men expect to secure through the professions of law or medicine. These professions educate men by their daily work, and so will farming when taken hold of in earnest and in the right way."  The Farmers’ Institutes were held in most Ohio counties during the winter months, for two or three days. Lectures were presented by state agricultural leaders, followed by open discussions among the local farmers. On January 1 and 2, 1912, the Erie County Farmer’s Institute was held at the Perkins Methodist Church.

 Ross D.L. Ransom was the president of the Institute, with Charles F. Steen as vice president, Harry E. Storrs as treasurer, and L.J. Parker serving as secretary.

 Several lectures were given, covering topics such as soil needs, the consumers’ dollar, use and value of lime, corn growing, and pruning of nursery stock. Interspersed among the lectures and discussions were musical numbers by area residents. The Ladies’ Aid Society of the Perkins Methodist Church provided dinner in the church basement for twenty five cents. Clifford King donated four programs from Erie County Farmers’ Institutes, from 1911 to 1914. 

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center if you would like to view this historical items, which are housed in archival box E-6, folder 5. A chapter about Ohio’s Farmers’ Institutes is found in the Farmer's Centennial History of Ohio, online at the InternetArchive. Agriculture continues to be an important component of Ohio’s economy, with one in seven Ohioans employed in agriculture or an agricultural related business. 

Residence of Simeon Galloway in Perkins Township

This is the residence of Simeon Galloway in Perkins Township from the latter part of the nineteenth century. A description of early homes in Perkins Township was provided in the chapter on Perkins Township in History of Erie County, Ohio, edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich. These early residences were made of logs, and usually consisted of just one room with an open fireplace. Windows were made of greased paper, the floor and door were made from a simple slab, and no nails were used. In the 1860 U.S. Census for Perkins Township of Erie County, Ohio, Simeon Galloway was listed as age 42, occupation farmer, and his birthplace was Pennsylvania. His wife Amelia, age 38, was born in Ohio. Simeon and Amelia had a son and six daughters, ranging in age from infancy to 19. Simeon Galloway died in 1890, and his wife Amelia died in 1900. Both are buried in Perkins Cemetery.

By viewing the Agricultural Schedules for Erie County, Ohio from 1860, we learn that Simeon Galloway’s farm was on ten acres of improved land. He had a milk cow, and two other cattle, and the crops on his farm included wheat, corn, oats and sweet potatoes. Mr. Galloway also produced one hundred pounds of butter between June 1, 1859 and June 1, 1860. The Sandusky Library Archives Research Center has the Agricultural Schedules for Erie County for 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880. Usually several counties are contained on one roll of microfilm. While there is no surname index to the Agricultural Schedules, a little time spent browsing in the township where one’s ancestor resided can yield interesting details about that ancestor’s farm. Information is provided about acreage crops, and livestock. To learn more about the Nonpopulation Census Records compiled by the United States Government, see the website of the National Archives and Records Administration.

Georgia Excursion of 1891

On February 26, 1891, about one hundred residents of Sandusky and the surrounding area boarded a special B & O train for a trip to Georgia. The trip was sponsored by the Erie County Board of Agriculture and the Lake Erie Fruit and Wine Growers Association. Most of the men on the trip were farmers and fruit growers, but several Sandusky community leaders went as well, including Judge E. B. King, W. T. West, Judge Merrill, Jacob Kuebeler, U. T. Curran, J. G. Strobel, and Clark Center. The purpose of the trip was to examine southern vineyards, orchards, mills, and factories. The February 27, 1891 Sandusky Daily Register reported that Judge King, Judge Merrill, and City Clerk Miller had hayseed scattered on their hats, and Councilmen Bing and Nielsen carried corn cobs in their pockets. Several containers of “Hommel’s Extra Dry” wine bottles were on the train, reportedly to give the Georgia residents a sampling of Erie’s county’s liquid agricultural products.

John T. Mack was the main organizer of the southern trip. (He did not go on the trip, however.) He coordinated the agenda with W. T. Glessner, a railroad executive from Americus, Georgia. Mr. Glessner, often called Major Glessner, had previously brought a group of farmers and newspaper men from Georgia to visit Northern Ohio’s many fruit farms, vineyards, and wine cellars. While here, the Georgia men visited the Confederate Cemetery at Johnson’s Island. As a result of the trip, it was arranged for slabs of Georgia marble to be placed at the gravesites of the Confederate soldiers interred at Johnson’s Island Cemetery.

During the trip, J.F. Greene and Clark Center wrote articles for the Sandusky Daily Register, reporting of the experiences of the excursionists. Members of the group saw Kentucky bluegrass, southern mountain ranges, and the sites of Civil War battles. They visited cotton mills, and learned how soils and fertilizers differed from those in Ohio. Clark Center reported that Georgia peaches grew in “beautiful perfection.” At Americus, Georgia, all the men received badges that said “Welcome Citizens of Ohio to Americus, Georgia, March 5th, 1891.” The northern visitors were given a reception by the city’s businessmen in Columbus, Georgia.

After leaving Georgia, the Erie and Ottawa County visitors went to Jekyll Island and Cumberland Island. On the trip home, visits were made to Lookout Mountain and the National Cemetery in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The Sandusky Daily Register gave reports on the Southern excursion from March 2 through March 18, 1891. Shortly after his return home, J.F. Greene gave a resume of his trip to the Perkins Methodist Church Ladies Home Group, followed by remarks by George Ransom, C. F. Steen, Charles L. House, and Will C. Dewitt.

Prior to the 1891 Georgia excursion, another group of Sandusky residents visited Georgia. In this undated photograph, W.T. West (number 1), W .V. Latham (number 2), and George Barney (number 3) are pictured in a group photo in Albany, Georgia.

Calvin Caswell, Erie County Commissioner

Having settled in Margaretta Township in 1838, Calvin Caswell was one of the largest wheat producers in Erie County. Mr. Caswell was an Erie County Commissioner from 1863 to 1868. He served as president of the Erie County Agricultural Society for a number of years. Caswell was also a member of the Margaretta Grange, and had served as a fifer for the Bay City Guards. An engraving of Mr. Caswell’s farm from the 1874 Erie County Atlas is pictured below. Calvin Caswell was married twice, first to Louisa Ellison, and then to Serena Jackson Caswell. (After Calvin’s first wife died, he married his brother Daniel’s wife, who had become a widow in 1855.)

On February 7, 1879, Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Caswell hosted a dinner for the members of the Erie County Agricultural Society. A napkin, which was a gift to the Follett House Museum, reads: “Welcome All, Grand Circuit of Feasting and Not Fasting.”
Calvin Caswell died in May of 1907. The Sandusky Register featured a lengthy obituary, which stated in part: “In the presence of hundreds of kindred and friends, farmers and citizens from the varied walks of business and professional life, the funeral of the late Calvin Caswell was held at the family home in Margaretta Saturday afternoon. The body of the deceased reposed in a magnificent casket of the McKinley pattern, surrounded by the rarest of flowers, and rising back and above a large floral crown, a Gates Ajar several feet in height, while at the head rested a pillow of carnations.” Calvin Caswell was buried in the family plot at Castalia Cemetery. A large sculpture was erected by Mr. Caswell several years before his death. A biographical sketch of Calvin Caswell is found in Patty Pascoe’s book, Elected to Serve Erie County, Ohio, available at Sandusky Library.