Prominent Sanduskians

The image below is of a group of prominent Sandusky men, taken sometime between 1910 and 1920. The picture was anonymously mailed to the Sandusky Register and then was forwarded to Wilbert Ohlemacher, who wrote The Elderlies column for the Register for several years.

Back row: Fred Emmons, Mr. H. Squire, C. Webb Sadler, Dr. J.T. Haynes, F. P. Zollinger, Dr. J.F. Douglas, Mr. Feick, William Seitz, Dr. C. B. Bliss, Sidney Frohman, unknown, and Mr. Bruce

Front row: Mr. Feick, C.B. Lockwood, William Sumser, Lawrence Morton, T. T. Morton

 

Fred Emmons was the secretary and assistant treasurer of the Hinde and Dauch Paper Company; Mr. H. Squire owned Squire Electric Company; C. Webb Sadler was the father of city manager Webb Sadler; Dr. J. T. Haynes was the physician at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home; F. P. Zollinger was the president of the Third National Bank; Dr. J.F. Douglas had a dental office on Columbus Avenue for many years; Mr. Feick was a local builder; William Seitz was a merchant tailor, Dr. C.B. Bliss was an ophthalmologist; and Sidney Frohman was the president and general manger of the Hinde and Dauch Paper Company. In the front row was another member of the Feick family of builders. C. B. Lockwood and William Sumser were associated with the Standard Box Company; Lawrence Morton was the sales manager of the Threading Machine Company; and T. T. Morgan was the treasurer and general manager of the Brown Clutch Company.

We do not know the occasion for this gathering, but you can read Mr. Ohlemacher’s newspaper article about this picture in the March 27, 1983 issue of the Sandusky Register, available on microfilm at the Sandusky Archives Research Center, or online via the Sandusky Library's website.

The Hospital at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home

The postcard pictured above was created by the Alexander Manufacturing Company, and was taken of the hospital at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home in 1918. Below is a view of the hospital in 1928, with a closer view and a slightly different angle.

The original hospital at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home (now the Ohio Veterans Home) opened in January of 1899, with seven trained nurses employed to care for those veterans who needed in-hospital care. An annual report from the Home in 1902 gave this description of the hospital.

In the early 1950s, a new hospital opened at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home. It was known as the John T. Haynes Memorial Hospital, named for the former chief surgeon of the Home, Dr. J.T. Haynes.

Fifty nursing home beds had become available at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home in 1950. Today’s the nursing home facility at the Ohio Veteran Home has 427 beds in three separate units: the Giffin Wing, Secrest North and Secrest South. In continuous operation since it opened in 1888, over 50,000 honorably discharged veterans have been admitted to the Ohio Veterans Home in Erie County, Ohio. 

You can see some vintage pictures of the former Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home at a previous blog post on Sandusky History.

Dr. J.T. Haynes, Surgeon at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home

Dr. John T. Haynes was born in Butler County, Ohio in 1864, to Dr. and Mrs. Moses H. Haynes. Dr. J.T. Haynes first attended Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. In 1889 he graduated from the Miami Medical College of Cincinnati. After practicing medicine briefly at the Cincinnati Hospital, he became the assistant surgeon for the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home in Sandusky, Ohio in October of 1889. In August of 1891, Dr. Haynes was named the Chief Surgeon at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home. Also in 1891 Dr. Haynes married Miss Olive Ashton, who was also the child of a physician. Dr. and Mrs. J.T. Haynes were the parents of six children. Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton wrote in The History of the Western Reserve that Dr. J.T. Haynes saw the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home “grow literally from the ground up.” He took pride in the construction and development of the hospitals. Dr. Haynes planned for the construction of both the interior and exterior of the hospitals at the Home. Besides working at the Home, he also was married and reared his children on the grounds of the Home.

During the years Dr. Haynes spent working at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home, it is estimated that he treated more than 15,000 men. Some suffered from wounds received in battle, and some suffered from ailments that came in peacetime. The residents of the Home held him in the highest esteem. Dr. Haynes had a special interest in the aging Civil War veterans. He felt that they were “in a class by themselves.” During his tenure at the Home, Dr. Haynes was recognized as the historian of the institution. He authored a chapter on the Home in Hewson Peeke’s 1916 book, A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio. He also wrote several articles in the Firelands Pioneer. On November 3, 1932, Dr. Haynes passed away, after suffering a stroke. Funeral services were held at Oakland Cemetery on Saturday, November 5, 1932. Hundreds of U.S. veterans attended his funeral. Honorary pallbearers were the members of the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailor’s Home, and representatives of the State Welfare Department. Dr. Haynes was survived by his widow, four sons, and a daughter. To read a lengthy obituary of Dr. John T. Haynes, see the 1932 Obituary Notebook.

Major George P. Barker

George Putnam Barker was the son of Jacob A. and Mary (Paterson) Barker, and grandson of former Mayor of Sandusky, Zenas W. Barker. He was born in Sandusky in May of 1852, and was associated with the United States Express Company in Sandusky for over forty years. From 1915 to 1929 Mr. Barker was storekeeper at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home.

During the Spanish American War, George P. Barker rose to the rank of Major. He began with Company B of the Sixteenth Infantry, and mustered out with the Sixth Infantry. For four months Major Barker held the position of military governor of the district of Santa Clara in Cuba.

On January 24, 1930 George P. Barker died as a result of heart disease. His wife, the former Alice Lyman, had predeceased him in 1925. Funeral services for Major Barker were held on January 27 at Grace Episcopal Church, and burial was at Oakland Cemetery. A military salute was fired at the grave, and taps were played. The honorary pallbearers for Major Barker were Gen. Perry Null, Dr. J.T. Haynes, Edward McCune, A.V. Brown, Roy T. Rogers, and Alva S. Humiston. Active pallbearers were members of the Spanish American War Veterans, including John Bamberl, George Schiller, A.C. Schultz, John Wunder, Thomas Schwank, and Ralph Stockdale. Obituaries for George P. Barker are found in the 1930 Obituary Notebook at Sandusky Library.