“The Spirit of the Lakes”

From 1849 through the 1850’s, a journal named the Spirit of the Lakes and Boatmen’s Magazine was published in Sandusky, for the Western Seaman’s Friend Society. The purpose of the Society was “to improve the moral and religious condition of seamen and boatmen on western waters.”

An outreach of the W.S.F.S. was the Bethel Chapel, which can be seen at the top left of the picture below.

Bethel Chapel was first located on the south side of Water Street between Wayne and Hancock Streets, and later moved to the north side of Water Street, just west of Jackson Street. This chapel served as a church for those working on the Great Lakes. Sandusky ministers who were associated with the Bethel Chapel and the Western Seaman’s Friend Society included Rev. Nathaniel Wilcox Fisher and Rev. Leverett Hull. Both of these ministers died of cholera, Rev. Fisher in 1849, and Rev. Hull in 1852. Judge Ebenezer Lane and former Sandusky Mayor Moors Farwell served as vice presidents of the Western Seaman’s Friend Society.

On page 92 of the June 1850 issue of the “Spirit of the Lakes” is an advertisement for the Bethel Chapel, which served the port of Sandusky.

An advertisement for the steamboat Arrow also was featured in that issue.

In the February, 1850 issue, Rev. Leverett Hull discussed the possibility of creating a songbook containing hymns especially for sailors.

Charles E. Frohman wrote an article about this publication in a 1973 issue of Inland Seas. He stated that the Bethel missionaries attempted to improve the moral character of canal drivers and boatmen. A particular challenge was to overcome the use of profanity by the seamen. The Western Seaman’s Friend Society did not survive very long, and never met with widespread success. Surviving issues of the Spirit of the Lakes are quite rare.

Letter from Rev. Leverett Hull in 1850

On April 27, 1850, Rev. Leverett Hull wrote a letter to his wife’s parents about the birth of their little girl. At first Rev. and Mrs. Hull were going to name their daughter Belinda, but it turned out they named her Puella Follett Hull, after the name of the daughter of Oran Follett, a dear friend of Rev. Hull. In 1925, the original letter was donated to the historical collections of the Sandusky Library, now the Archives Research Center, by Puella Follett Hull Mason, the little girl whose birth brought such joy to her parents.

Here is a transcript of a portion of the letter:

We are all well at home except Mother, and she is not so unwell but that she has been able to take another boarder. Now as this this boarder is a somewhat remarkable personage. I will try to give you some description of her – she has dark hair and very ruddy complexion and is altogether a fine smart girl, all the neighbors say – Her name is “Belinda Susanah Linda Luta Grindor (or something else) Hull,” youngest daughter of Leverett and Sarah Hull, all of this place. Now don’t be scared about this – because Mother and Belinda are getting along first rate – and Mrs. Bell says Belinda (i.e. Miss Hull)-looks like a baby a week old and we only took her in last Saturday at 7 o’clock in the morning and this is Monday. So she is now just two days old – all this I read with not a little surprise and joy as you doubtless will and made the best of my way home and found it ever so –

Sadly, Rev. Leverett Hull died of cholera on September 3, 1852.
Following the death of Rev. Hull, Mrs. Hull and the children moved to the Cincinnati area. Puella Follett Hull married William L. Mason in 1878. Mrs. Mason wrote two books about genealogy: A Record of the Descendants of Richard Hull of New Haven, Conn. and Lineage of the Tracy Family with Notes of the Lord, Garrett, Russell, and Other Intermarrying Families. Both titles are available full text on Heritage Quest, a database to which the Sandusky Library has a subscription.

To access Heritage Quest, go to the website: www.oplin.org/databases. You will be asked to enter the name your library as well as your Sandusky Library card number. Heritage Quest is available to all Sandusky Library card holders, and is accessible from your home computer.