The Kilbourne Family Had Many Ties to Sandusky

 In the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center is a book entitled The New Eden: James Kilbourne and the Development of Ohio, by Goodwin Berquist and Paul C. Bowers, Jr. (University Press of America, 1983.) The authors detail the life of James Kilbourne (1770-1850), who contributed significantly to the development of Ohio and the Old Northwest. Of particular interest to local residents is chapter 5, “The Sandusky Enterprise.”            

James Kilbourne saw the importance of a community along the shores of Lake Erie  that could be developed for trade and commerce. He discussed this idea at length with Zalmon Wildman, and eventually Kilbourne helped to settle the land dispute between Wildman and Isaac Mills and George Hoadley. It was James Kilbourne who surveyed the land between Columbus and Sandusky, where a roadway was to be built between the two towns. Known as the Columbus and Sandusky Turnpike, today this route roughly follows Ohio routes 4 and 23. Kilbourne encouraged business owners to settle in Sandusky, and he influenced legislators to see that a post office and customs port were established  in the young community. 

James Kilbourne's son, Hector, is credited with platting the city of Sandusky. The streets were laid out to form the Masonic emblem. Hector Kilbourne was the first postmaster of Sandusky, and he also served as the first master of Science Lodge No. 50, the earliest Masonic lodge in Sandusky.

The Masonic symbol can clearly be seen in the map of the city of Sandusky below, with the diagonal layout of the streets representing the square and compass of the Masonic emblem.

The final resting place of several descendants of James Kilbourne is Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery. After attorney George Reber’s first wife died, he took as his second wife Anna Stiles Kilbourne, who was the widow of Dr. James Kilbourne, the youngest son of James Kilbourne (1770-1850.) Anna, often known as Nancy, had a young son named Lincoln P. Kilbourne. Lincoln and his wife, and several members of the extended family are buried at Oakland Cemetery in the Kilbourne family lot.

Read The New Eden: James Kilbourne and the Development of Ohio to learn more about James Kilbourne and the role he played in the early development of the state of Ohio

Excursion of Kilbourne and Jacobs Employees to Cedar Point

Each summer between 1903 and 1911, the employees of the Kilbourne and Jacobs Manufacturing Company in Worthington, Ohio were treated to a day at Cedar Point. A banner bearing the company’s  name was placed on a Pennsylvania Railroad car. 

An article from the July 22, 1905 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal provides with details about the festive event.

James Russell Kilbourne provided each employee with two tickets to Cedar Point. Four separate trains from the Pennsylvania Railroad brought the visitors from Columbus to Sandusky. Once in downtown Sandusky, the employees then boarded steamers to travel to Cedar Point.

Mr. Kilbourne and his party traveled in a private train car. When he arrived in town, he ran into a former military buddy from the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home. The retired soldier wanted to chat, but Mr. Kilbourne said, “I’m too busy to think or talk politics. I want to see that all my people have a good time here.” Besides visiting the beach and other attractions at Cedar Point, the group took part in several contests, including a smoking contest and another one in which they had to guess the number of seeds in a watermelon. On the day of the visit of the three thousand employees of Kilbourne and Jacobs to Cedar Point, the Knights of Columbus brought in a group of one thousand visitors to the Point.

Of course the surname Kilbourne is very familiar to Sandusky residents. The great grandfather of James Russell Kilbourne, was an early surveyor of the lands in Ohio. James Kilbourne (1770-1850) was instrumental in the founding of Sandusky and Worthington. Hector Kilbourne, son of the elder James Kilbourne, was responsible for laying out the plat of Sandusky in the shape of the Masonic emblem.

George Reber’s Homes on West Washington Street

According to Helen Hansen’s book At Home in Early Sandusky, the materials and workmanship were “of the finest” quality when George Reber built this stone house at what is now 803 West Washington Street. Reber was born in Lancaster, Ohio in 1809, and he moved to Sandusky in 1838. He was a prominent attorney in Sandusky for many years. His home at 803 West Washington Street was built about 1849. The home originally featured a large entrance hall, and a stairway made of cherry wood. An earlier residence was located at 603 West Washington Street, built in about 1846. The Rebers’ next door neighbors at their earlier residence were Mr. and Mrs. William Townsend, who died in the 1849 cholera epidemic.

During the years of litigation among the early proprietors of the city of Sandusky, George Reber served as one of the lawyers. After the suits were settled, Mr. Reber secured a large amount of real estate, which he improved and then left to his family after his death in 1885. He was married twice, first to the former Amanda Boalt, and secondly to Nancy Stiles Kilbourne, the widow of James Kilbourne. One of George Reber’s daughters, Sallie Reber, was a popular singer on the New York stage. A grandson, Reber Nettleton Johnson, became a well known violinist, and later was on the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory.

You can read more about the residences of more early Sandusky residents in At Home in Early Sandusky. The book was based on a series of historical articles by Mrs. Hansen which appeared in the Sandusky Register in 1958 and 1959.