John V. Brost, Marble Worker

John V. Brost was born in Germany in 1811, to Jacob and Sophy Brost. His wife was the former Christina Meck. By 1860 John and Christina Brost and several children were residing in Sandusky, Erie County, Ohio, where John was employed as a marble cutter. Their five children ranged in age from one to seventeen. When Sandusky resident Henry Walter died in 1863, John V. Brost created this monument for him. Mr. Walter’s tombstone can be seen at Oakland Cemetery.

He signed the tombstone as J.V. Brost.

In the 1880 U.S. Census, he listed his occupation as wine dealer, but the J.V. Brost and Son Marble Works was still in business, as recorded in the 1882 city directory.

According to Erie County Probate Court death records, John V. Brost died on September 21, 1889 due to "old age."

Ironically, although he worked as a marble cutter most of his life, the monument for John and Christina Brost at Oakland Cemetery is metal, made of zinc, most likely manufactured at a foundry outside of Sandusky and shipped to the cemetery.

Berardi Brothers are Honored in San Marino

 

Photo credit: Dr. Daniele Cesaretti

Roberto and Leonello Berardi were the sons of Adam and Teresa Berardi, natives of the Republic of San Marino. The Berardi family emigrated to the United States in 1927, having left from Genoa, Italy on the ship Conte Biancamao. In 1930 the family was living on McKelvey Street in Sandusky, in a section of town known as “Little Italy.” This area was located along Milan Road, bordered by Finch Street and Boalt Street. 

Sadly, both sons of Mr. and Mrs. Adam Berardi were killed during World War II. Leonello, often called Nello, was killed in action in Italy in 1944. Roberto died in Germany in 1945. A plaque honoring the memory of the Berardi brothers was erected in the Fiorentino Cemetery in San Marino. A front page article in the Sandusky Register of April 5, 1961 reported on the memorial in San Marino.

At the dedication of the marble monument in San Marino on March 25, 1961, Dr. Frederico Bigi stated, “As citizens of the world’s oldest Republic, they took with them the spirit of Liberty as they traveled to the world’s youngest Republic, and showed their devotion to Liberty by laying down their lives to uphold freedom.”

To read more about Roberto Berardi and Leonello Berardi, see the website of the American War Memorials Overseas, Inc. The final resting place of Adam and Teresa Berardi is at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio.

Plaque Honoring Sandusky’s Pioneers

 You might have driven past this monument many times and not noticed it, but it deserves recognition. It is a tribute to the founders of Sandusky.

On June 25, 1937 members of the Martha Pitkin Chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution unveiled a plaque honoring several of Sandusky’s pioneer citizens at the triangular park located between Huron Avenue, Wayne, and East Adams Streets. The bronze plaque, created by A. J. Balconi, was placed on a three ton boulder at the park.

Names on the top portion of the plaque include the founders of Sandusky:  Zalmon Wildman, Isaac Mills, and George Hoadley. On the bottom portion are the names of the nine men who directed the incorporation of Sandusky as a city in 1824. They were: Dr. George Anderson, Aaron C. Corbet, Cyrus W. Marsh, Alexander Clemons, Eleutheros Cooke, John Wheeler, William Townsend, William Kelly, and Moors Farwell, who served as Sandusky’s first mayor. Several of these men were Masons; an article in a 1937 issue of the Sandusky Masonic Bulletin recognized them and the construction and dedication of the monument

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to learn more about the pioneer residents of Sandusky, Ohio. And be sure to stop and visit the monument in the park sometime.

The Vincent Kerber Family

Vincent Kerber came from Germany to the United States in 1849. For a number of years he worked as a building contractor in Sandusky. Later he worked with his sons in the ice business, as well as a flour and feed business. Pictured below is V. Kerber & Sons feed and flour store, located at 619 Water Street around 1890. Some of the brands they carried were Pillbury’s Best and Gold Dust Flour. Vincent’s sons Edward and John Kerber continued in the ice business for several years.

Vincent Kerber and Constantina (Eckert) Kerber had a large family of four sons and two daughters. Mrs. Kerber died in Germany in 1889. After Constantina died, he married again, during a trip to his homeland in Baden, Germany. Vincent Kerber died in September 1898.

Peeke’s A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio contains biographies of John and Edward Kerber. Vincent Kerber’s obituary is found in the September 18, 1898 issue of the Sandusky Daily Register. The article says that he was “one of the best known and most highly respected of Sandusky’s residents.” It continues “his works, in and about the city, bear silent testimony of his skill and the thoroughness with which he did whatever he undertook.”

At St. Mary’s Cemetery, an angel adorns the monument in memory of Louise Kerber and Pauline Kerber Heiberger, the two daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Kerber.

Cholera Cemetery Headstones

Have you ever wondered why there are only three headstones in the Cholera Cemetery? It has been something that has bothered me since my first visit to that cemetery. In preparation for an upcoming program, I decided to dig into this question, and the real answer was strange and just raised more questions. Just as a refresher, the largest outbreak of cholera here in Sandusky was 1849. All of those who died, 382 people, were buried in what is now called the cholera cemetery. This cemetery did exist before the outbreak, but after the cholera epidemic it was mainly thought of as the cholera cemetery. Shortly after the outbreak was over, the cemetery was abandoned, and Oakland Cemetery became the new city cemetery. Once Oakland Cemetery was opened, the cholera cemetery fell into disrepair and was not maintained.  

Now, fast-forward to December of 1893. The Sandusky Register runs an article about the Cholera Cemetery. It states that the headstones are stacked in the corners of the cemetery and the cemetery itself has been plowed for planting crops, and pigs may have been butchered in one corner. This caused an uproar in the community. The Sandusky City Council formed a committee to investigate what happened. In less than a month this special committee reports to the City Council. They find that the head of the Cemetery Committee, Voltaire Scott, paid a Peter Cann to move all the headstones from the Cholera Cemetery to Oakland Cemetery. Cann was paid $25.00 to move the headstones (about $733 today). It seems that Scott asked each member of the Cemetery Committee if they would agree to having the headstones moved to Oakland Cemetery. While each member of the committee did agree to this, there was never a formal vote at either a Cemetery Committee Meeting or a City Council meeting. It also seems that Scott never checked to see if the headstones were moved. This resulted in the stacked headstones as described in the Register article. Scott, after only consulting with one committee member, leased out the land to be farmed by a local farmer. It is interesting to note that Scott was invited to be interviewed as part of the special committee’s investigation to this but decided not to show up.

 

Once all of this comes out, the City Council decides to act! First, they hold a vote that the headstones should be replaced in the cemetery at the expense of Voltaire Scott. This vote fails by a small margin. There is never another vote to move the headstones back to the Cholera Cemetery. Next, a motion is made to impeach Scott since all his actions were done without authority by the City Council and made those acts illegal. This motion is tabled to be brought up another time but as far as my research goes, Scott was never impeached or punished for his actions in anyway. Finally, the City Council votes to build a fence around the cemetery and put up a monument to honor those who died during the first cholera outbreak. This project will be funded by selling off land that is technically part of the Cholera Cemetery. I can find no record of the city ever selling land that was connected to the cemetery. An iron fence was built sometime before 1924 but I was unable to find out when that fence was built. The current monument in the cemetery was built in 1924 and funded by private donations.  

Of course, none of these answers the question where are the headstones from the cemetery? The short answer is, who knows! I was able to track down about a dozen of the headstones that are now in Oakland Cemetery. The rest are, unfortunately, lost to history. There may be something in the old legend that they were broken up and used in paving projects around town. Sandusky was doing some major road work in 1894 and those headstones would make good gravel. It also raises the question, where did the three headstones that are currently in the Cholera Cemetery come from. Are they originals that made their way back into the cemetery or were they put there later? If they are the original, how did they get back in the cemetery? If put in later, then who put them there? As I said in the beginning, the story of the missing headstones is strange and raises many more questions that will probably never be answered. 

C. Keim’s Excelsior Monumental Works

Conrad Keim was the proprietor of C. Keim’s Monumental Works in Sandusky, Ohio from 1902 until his death in 1927. The monument business was located at the southeast corner of Market and McDonough Streets. Prior to moving to Sandusky, Mr. Keim had also been a marble sculptor in Johnston, Pennsylvania. One of the first tombstones he made was the monument he created for Jacob Horner, who was the founder of the Sandyvale Cemetery in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Mr. Keim was a survivor of the Johnstown Flood of 1889. Conrad Keim opened his home to house and feed other survivors of the flood, even though he himself lost most of his possessions in the disaster. 

Tombstones made by Conrad Keim can be seen throughout Erie County. The head of an angel adorns the tombstone which Mr. Keim made for Constance A. Fleming who died in 1914. This monument can be seen at Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery.

Mr. Keim signed his stones C. KEIM  in block letters.

The Singler monument at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery features an exquisitely sculpted angel.

Christ on the cross is the focal point of the Bauman monument at the Kelleys Island Cemetery.

 Mr. Keim was apparently quite confident in his workmanship. In an ad which appeared in the January 8, 1911 issue of the Sandusky Register, he stated, “Monuments and tombstones free of charge if they can be equaled in design, beauty or workmanship manufactured by C. Keim.” Conrad Keim passed away on January 12, 1927, at the age of 66. He had been in failing health for three years. Mr. Keim was survived by his wife Elsie, and a daughter, Mrs. Walter Erly, of Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Keim was buried in section G of Oakland Cemetery.  A lovely angel adorns the top of the Keim monument.