Hinde and Dauch Company Workers

Around 1900 the photographer L.C. Sartorius took pictures of employees of the Hinde and Dauch Paper Company. in the first photograph above we can see that several women worked at the company during this time. The man on the far left is holding a cart that contains a corrugated paper product manufactured at the Sandusky plant.

In the image below we see men posed in a field near a pile of straw. These men might have been responsible for gathering the straw that was used to make the corrugated cardboard in the factory.

This advertisement from Hinde and Dauch appeared on page 20 of  the souvenir booklet entitled What, published by Charles M. Hill and William F. Holly in 1903. Hinde and Dauch products revolutionized the shipping industry in the early twentieth century.

At Work in Sandusky

Celebrated in the U.S. since 1882, Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is dedicated “to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.” The men in the photograph above were employed by Lay Brothers Fisheries in the 1930s. The crew was on a fishing boat, pulling up nets from Sandusky Bay. In the historical photograph collection at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center are a wide variety of images of local residents pictured in the workplace. 

Several men and women who were employed at Hinde and Dauch can be seen in the 1905 picture below.

The ice industry provided many area residents with jobs in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

During World War II, employees at Barr Rubber made life rafts for the war effort.

In the picture below, taken sometime between 1910 and 1915, are members of the Sandusky Chapel of the Typographical Union employed by the Sandusky Register. Maybe their vehicles were decorated for a Labor Day celebration!

 

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to see many more vintage pictures of the people who called Sandusky and Erie County home.

Pictures from Lay Brothers Fisheries

Lay Brothers Fisheries was founded in 1870 by John Sr. and Jacob Lay, both sons of Jacob Lay, Sr., who died in the 1849 cholera epidemic. Pictured above is the Lay Brothers building in 1910, along the waterfront at the foot of Wayne Street. The company grew rapidly, with another brother, Henry Lay, joining the business in 1881. When Jacob Lay retired in 1902, three sons of John Lay, Sr. came into the family business. Below is a vintage photo of employees (including the horse) of Lay Brothers Fisheries in 1890.

This picture of Lay Brothers employees was taken in 1905. Notes accompanying the picture indicate that John Lay, Sr. is the man with the beard standing in the doorway.

A woman was working along with several male employees in this office picture from the early 1900s.

    

The boat crew can be seen pulling up nets in the picture below from the 1920s or 1930s.

In the 1930s, Lay Brothers Fisheries had about thirty fishing boats. By the 1950s, business declined due to the decline of the fish population and competition from Canada. Lay Brothers Fisheries closed in 1961. Historical records from the Lay Brothers Fisheries are now in the manuscript collection of the Historical Collections of the Great Lakes.  The book Lake Erie Fishermen: Work, Tradition, and Identity (University of Illinois Press, 1990) by Timothy C. Lloyd and Patrick B. Mullen, is available for checkout from the Sandusky Library

Labor Day

In honor of Labor Day, we would like to share some images of workers, from the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.

Lay Brothers, 1905

Sandusky Tool Company, circa 1880

Beilsten Steam Laundry, circa 1895. Note the child laborers.

Another example of women at work: Jackson Underwear factory, 1906

The men who built the Jackson Underwear factory, 1899

A meeting of the Bartenders' Union, 1940

Obituaries of Employees of New Departure-Hyatt/Delphi

A former employee of New Departure-Hyatt, later known as Delphi, donated a collection of obituaries of former employees of the General Motors plant here in Sandusky. The years span 1996 through 2009. (GM sold Sandusky’s Delphi plant to Kyklos Bearings International in 2008.) Over 400 names are included in the notebook. An index at the front of the notebook provides easy access to the obituaries.

A great deal of personal history can be gleaned by browsing through these articles. Most obituaries of U. S. Veterans include the name of the unit with which they served. One lengthy obituary includes information about the former employee’s experience as an Eagle Scout, and as a combat pilot in the Pacific Theatre in World War Two. Hobbies, church affiliation, and club memberships are mentioned in most of the obituaries. An obituary for a Mr. Graziani, who passed away in 2008, provides his birth date and birthplace, which was in San Marino (within Italy) in 1929. Family connections can also be found, as the maiden names of wives are included, as well as the married names of daughters.

Following the obituaries is a collection of news articles related to New Departure-Hyatt from the Sandusky Register and company newsletters.

The last section of the notebook of Obituaries of Employees of New Departure-Hyatt/Delphi is a section of news articles about the wedding anniversaries of New Departure-Hyatt/Delphi employees. Almost every article includes a photograph of the couple.

While the notebook of Obituaries of Employees of New Departure-Hyatt/Delphi records information about a relatively small group of people for a limited number of years, virtually everyone who has lived in Erie County for any length of time will know someone whose name appears in this valuable resource. Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to browse through the compilation of obituaries and anniversary articles of former auto workers in Sandusky.