Dr. Benjamin Lord Hill

Image courtesy History of the Eclectic Medical Institute

 

Dr. Benjamin Lord Hill was born in 1813 in Pennsylvania to Noah Hill and his wife, the former Sukie Butler. When Benjamin was a youngster, the family moved to Berlin Heights, Erie County, Ohio. Benjamin Lord Hill studied law, and for a  time he practiced law in Norwalk, Ohio. Later, he studied medicine and graduated from the Reformed Medical College at Worthington, Ohio. Dr. Hill was Professor of Anatomy at the Eclectic Medical Institute. In 1850, Dr. Hill published a book entitled The Eclectic Practice of Surgery. In 1851, Dr. Hill took part in the founding of the Western College of Homeopathy. Around the same time, he was associated with a large water cure establishment in Berlin Heights. 

Image courtesty Water Cure Journal

In 1863, Dr. Benjamin Lord Hill was appointed by President Lincoln to consul to Nicaragua. Later, he was connected with the lumber industry in Michigan. In the late 1860s and early 1860s, Dr. Hill represented Erie County in the state of Ohio Legislature. Dr. Hill died in 1871 in Marysville, California. He was survived by his wife, the former Joanna Greer, and five children.

A lengthy obituary for Dr. Benjamin Lord Hill appeared in the May 24, 1871 issue of the Sandusky Register. Books written by Dr. Hill are housed in the Cleveland Health Sciences Library.  The final resting place of Dr. Hill is in the family lot of the West End Cemetery at Berlin Heights, Ohio. You can read more about Dr. Benjamin Lord  Hill in the History of the Western Reserve  and the History of the Eclectic Medical Institute. 

Birthplaces of our Yeager and Piehl Ancestors

 

Andrew Yeager and Lena (Piehl) Yeager were my great grandparents. Andrew Yeager was born in Muenchhof, Germany, to Lawrence Yeager (Lorenz Jaeger) and his wife, the former Maria Schweighardt. His birth year was either 1874 or 1876. (Sources in vital records and census records vary.) The Yeager family settled in Sandusky, Erie County, Ohio.

Lena Piehl was born in Oak Harbor, Ottawa County, Ohio in 1881, to Gotthold Ferdinand Piehl and  his wife, the former Augusta Jaensch. Both Gotthold Ferdinand Piehl and Augusta Jaensch were born in Bnin, Posen, Germany which is now Bnin, Poznań, Poland. They eventually settled on a farm near Oak Harbor, Ohio.

A relative told me that Grandma Lena Yeager and her sisters used to take the interurban railway from Oak Harbor to Sandusky, where they worked as domestics for rich people of German descent in Sandusky. Somewhere along the way, Lena met Andrew Yeager, and they were married in 1903, and lived most of their adult lives in Erie County, Ohio.

Below is map courtesy Google Maps, which shows the route from Bnin, Posen, Germany, the birthplace of Gotthold Ferdinand Piehl and Augusta Jaensch, to Muenchhof, Germany, the birthplace of Grandpa Andrew Yeager.

All my great great grandparents, as well as their children, traveled many miles. Had they not traveled, then all the descendants of Andrew and Lena Yeager would not be here! It is interesting to determine where some of  my roots originated!

While the area where Grandma Lena Yeager's parents were born is now a part of Poland, I have only heard of that branch of the family as being German in culture. Maybe today I still  have cousins in Poland and Germany.

Esther M. Blatt

Image Courtesy Find a Grave 

Young Esther M. Blatt died as an infant in 1920, after suffering from whooping cough. She was the daughter of Fred Blatt and his wife the former Martha Piehl. 

Esther was my first cousin twice removed, the first cousin of my Grandma Emma Yeager Orshoski.

Below is a tribute to baby Esther, found in a collection of family clippings.

Esther was survived by her parents, three brothers, and four sisters, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins. Rest in peace little one.

Note: Though the tombstone of Esther Blatt reads 1918 - 1919, her death record indicates she was born in 1919 and died on May 1, 1920.

Beautiful Monument Honoring the Memory of Mary Bova

Photo by J. Mazza

This beautiful monument of the Sacred Heart of Mary  at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Sandusky, honors the memory of Mrs. Mary Bova.

Mary was born Mary Ciresi in Termini Imerese, in Sicily, in the 1880s. Her parents were Antonio Ciresi, and his wife, the former Rose Lombardo. By 1900 the Ciresi family was residing in Sandusky, Ohio, where Antonio operated a fruit market. 

In 1902 Mary Ciresi married John Bova. Sadly, John Bova died in 1915. Eventually Mary Ciresi Bova operated a grocery store at the corner of Monroe and Warren Streets in Sandusky, Ohio.

On July 3, 1937, Mary was trying to light a hot water heater in the basement of her home. She was severely burned when there was an accidental gas explosion, and she died from her injuries.

Mary's  son and daughter in law, Mamie and Joe Viviano ran the grocery store which Mamie's parents had started. An article in the November 23, 1941 issue of the Sandusky Register featured an article about the market.

Though the grocery store run by the Bova and Viviano families is no longer in operation, when you drive by the corner of Warren and Monroe Streets in Sandusky, you can be reminded of the many years the grocery served area residents. In the early 1960s, a sign in the front door of the  market read "That's Salada Tea."

 

Getting to Know Harvey Newton Barrett

Image Courtesy Find a Grave

 Harvey Newton Barrett was born in Indiana in 1882 to Jefferson Joshua Barrett and his wife, the former Nettie Craig. By 1910, Harvey N. Barrett was residing in Margaretta Township, and he listed his occupation as chemist for the "cement works"  in the 1910 U.S. Census. In 1913, Harvey N. Barrett married Harriet Meggitt. Father Edward Graham from Holy Angels Church officiated at the wedding.

Between 1907 and 1915, Harvey N. Barrett, often along with Spencer Newberry, were issued several patents, while they were both key officials at the Medusa Cement Company in Bay Bridge, Ohio. Below is a page of Patent Number 1,162,944, for the process of making phosphate fertilizers. While the main focus of Medusa Cement Company was producing cement products, the company also looked for ways to use the byproducts of the cement making process.

Image courtesy Google Patents

When Harvey N. Barrett filled out his World War One draft registration, he listed his occupation as Superintendent of the Sandusky Cement Company in Bay Bridge, Ohio, later known as Medusa Cement Company.

By 1930, Harvey N. Barrett and his wife and their children, were residing in Tiffin, Ohio in Seneca County, where he worked as a chemist for a dolomite company. Sadly, on October 4, 1938, Harvey N. Barrett died from injuries in an automobile accident three weeks earlier. He was buried at Greenlawn Cemetery in Tiffin, Ohio.

When you see the intersection of Newberry Avenue and Barrett Road in Erie County, Ohio, you will be reminded of Spencer Newberry and Harvey N. Barrett, who were key officials at Medusa Cement Company in the first half of the twentieth century.

The Children of George R. and Mary Hand

The names of several children of Mr. and Mrs. George R. Hand are listed on the Hand monument at Oakland Cemetery in Erie County, Ohio. George R. Hand was a Captain on the Great Lakes, and prior to his death he had been connected with a tug business in Buffalo, New York. Mrs. Mary Hand was the former Mary “Polly” Stanbery. Mary and George were married in Erie County, Ohio in 1839.

George Hand,  Helen Hand and John Hand all died as young children. According to the June18, 1875 issue of the Catskill Recorder,  James Hand was killed when the tug R.R. Hefford exploded in Buffalo, New York on June 10, 1975.

Another child of George and Mary Hand, Bella Hand Wilson, died of typhoid in her early 30s. She was the wife of Frank A. Wilson, from New York State. Her name is on another side of the Hand monument.

An article whish appeared in the Sandusky Register of October 29, 1884, describes the Hand monument:

“A Fine Monument”

A magnificent monument has been erected in Oakland Cemetery over the remains of Captain George R. Hand, who died January 1st, 1884 at Buffalo, the body having been brought here and buried the following Saturday.

The monument, which is one of the finest in the cemetery, is of blue Quincy granite, of the cottage style, and stands a little over twenty feet high. It was made by a Boston, Mass., firm and shipped here through the agent, Mr. Eddy.

The remains were transferred yesterday from the place where they were originally buried to a spot in the same lot, by the request of his widow. The monument adds another ornament to the cemetery, and evinces the recollection of a loving wife.

Though many members of the Hand family passed away at very young ages, their names have been etched in stone and the memories of their lives live on.

The Names Joseph and Julia Orshoski Appear Many Times in My Family Tree

On my father's side of the family, there are many times in which a male has the name Joseph Orshoski, and a female has the name of Julia Orshoski. My oldest ancestor named Joseph Orshoski (1859-1940) was my 2 times great grandfather. He was born and died in Hungary. He came to the U.S. with his son, my great grandfather of the same name. He did not wish to remain in America, and he returned to Hungary. Below is an excerpt of the ship manifest from the ship Bulgaria in 1901. You can see the names Josef Orsoczky ages 42 and 16 on the manifest, which I found on the Ellis Island website.

My great grandfather Joseph Orshoski (1885-1976) is pictured below with his second wife, named Julia, nee Szmolya. These are the great grandparents I knew and loved, They lived in Bay Bridge, where Grandpa Joe worked many years at the Medusa Cement plant. 

Another Joseph Orshoski (1907-1954) was the son of Joseph Orshoski (1885-1976) and his first wife Julia Orshoski, nee Herzog. This Julia (mother of Joe Jr.) died in 1919, leaving Grandpa Joe with six sons. Joseph Orshoski , Jr. who died in 1954 passed away from injuries during a tragic trailer fire in Bay Bridge. His final resting place was near his mother, at the Castalia Cemetery.

Yet another Joseph Orshoski is my nephew, the son of my brother Matthew  S. Orshoski. He is alive and well!

The oldest Julia Orshoski in my family tree was my great grandmother, who died in 1919. A scene from her funeral service at St. Mary's Church in Sandusky is pictured below. Many friends and relatives from Bay Bridge were at the service.

My great grandpa Joseph Orshoski married secondly, Julia Orshoski, nee Szmolya. She was a wonderful cook and babysitter, and she saw to it that Grandpa Joe's glass for his beer was always chilled in the refrigerator. A favorite treat she made were special cookies with a walnut filling and covered in powdered sugar. Below is a clipping of  Joseph and Jula Orshoski on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary. 

Two more young ladies, named Julia Orshoski, both great granddaughters of Joseph Orshoski (1885-1976), came along in future generations. They are all grown up now. The names of Joseph and Julia Orshoski are well known by all our extended family. They taught us to work hard, and to love your family heritage!