Edmund G. Ross: Sandusky Student, U.S. Senator

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Edmund G. Ross is best remembered as the Senator who cast the deciding vote against the conviction of President Andrew Johnson during his impeachment trial in 1868. He is also one of the Senators about whom former President John F. Kennedy wrote, in his best selling book, Profiles in Courage.

Edmund G. Ross was born in Ashland, Ohio in 1826. When he was 11 years old, he apprenticed as a printer at the Commercial Advertiser, an early newspaper in Huron, Ohio. By 1841, he had moved to Sandusky, where he worked at the Sandusky Mirror, a newspaper owned by his brother Sylvester Ross. He was a longtime opponent of slavery, and served in the 11th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry during the Civil War. He served as U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1866 to 1871.

Hewson Peeke included in his book The Centennial History of Erie County, Ohio (Cleveland Press Co., 1925) a letter from C. M. Eldis, which listed the names of the directors, instructors, and students in the class of Sandusky High School for the academic year 1845-1846. Edmund G. Ross was one of the 1846 graduating students, along with Richard Rush Sloane, later a Mayor of Sandusky, who was known as Rush Sloane in his adult life. Most likely the students who graduated in 1846 attended classes at the former Academy Building in Sandusky, which was located next to Emmanuel Church.

A program from an Exhibition by Sandusky school students in February of 1846 lists the names of both Edmund Ross and Richard Rush Sloane. Edmund’s oration was on the topic of Capital Punishment, and young Sloane’s topic was The Nineteenth Century.

Each of these young men went on to make history, Edmund Ross on a national level, and Richard Rush Sloane in the community of Sandusky. Rush Sloane was known as an ardent abolitionist. His paper on “The Underground Railroad of Sandusky” appeared in the July 1888 issue of the Firelands Pioneer.

Many students who graduated from Sandusky High School went on to make important contributions to our community, state and country. It shows us that early Sandusky leaders placed a great value on education.

James T. Begg, U.S. Congressman

James T. Begg was born near Lima, Ohio in 1877. After graduating from Wooster University in 1903, he became a school teacher. Mr. Begg served as superintendent of schools at Columbus Grove from 1905-1910, and at Ironton, Ohio from 1910-1913. On January 14, 1913, James T. Begg accepted the position of superintendent of Sandusky Schools, where he stayed until 1917. After working for two years for the American City Bureau, James T. Begg was elected to 66^th United States Congress. He served as Representative from the 13^th District of Ohio from 1919 to 1929. In the 1919-1920 Sandusky City Directory, Mr. Begg and his family are listed as residing on Columbus Avenue. James and Grace Begg were the parents of a daughter Eleanor, and a son named James Begg, Jr.  Sadly, James T. Begg, Jr. was killed in an automobile accident on April 26, 1929. Young Mr. Begg was only 19 at the time of his death, a student at Kenyon College.

The front page of the February 25, 1928 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal reported that Congressman Begg was the principal speaker of the dedication of the new Junior High School in Sandusky, which had an auditorium and gymnasium, and also served as a civic building for the community.

He also spoke at the dedication of the Sandusky Bay Bridge, after having been influential in supporting the bridge project. 

Mr. Begg was unsuccessful in his attempt to become Governor of Ohio in 1942.  After his political career, he was associated with Cyrus Eaton Industries, of Cleveland. In 1956, he moved to Oklahoma City, where he died on March 26, 1963. He body was returned to Ohio and was buried in Cleveland’s Lake View Cemetery. 

1884 Congressional Map of Ohio

Erie County, along with Sandusky, Ottawa, and Lucas Counties, was a part of Congressional District 10 in 1884. A breakdown of the popular vote in the United States, as well as in Ohio, for the Presidential election of 1884 was provided on the map. The 1884 Congressional Map of Ohio was distributed in the fall of 1888 when President Grover Cleveland was running for reelection against Benjamin Harrison. Cleveland lost reelection in the Electoral College, even though he won the popular vote by a narrow margin.

The map was a promotional item distributed by the Aultman, Miller & Company from Akron, Ohio, the manufacturer of several Buckeye mowers, binders, and other agricultural implements.

You can read about the history of Ohio Congressional redistricting during the nineteenth century in an online article.