Benjamin Drake Tilden, Cholera Victim

Benjamin Drake Tilden was the son of Dr. Daniel Tilden and his wife Nancy, born in 1815. According to the book CHOLERA VICTIMS OF 1849 IN SANDUSKY, ERIE COUNTY, OHIO, by Katharyn L. Wunderley, Benjamin Drake Tilden died of cholera on July 27, 1849. He was only 34 years of age at the time of his death. In the newspaper, the Daily Sanduskian, dated July 27, 1849, an article gave this account: "Benjamin D. Tilden, attorney and counsellor at law, died this afternoon, after an illness of 16 hours, leaving a wife and children, etc. Up to the time of the attack, he had been active in administering relief to the sick."

Benjamin D. Tilden was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Block 20. In the 1850 U.S. Census for Erie County, Ohio, the widow of Benjamin, whose name was Jane, and his young son Thomas, were both residing in the household of Dr. Daniel Tilden.

Mrs. Emily Sadler

The wife of Judge E. B. Sadler, Emily, died of cholera on July 14, 1849, at the age of 34. Her tombstone is found in the North Ridge section of Oakland Cemetery. From the book CHOLERA VICTIMS OF 1849, by Katharyn Wunderley, we read this passage about Judge and Mrs. Sadler:

"Our long known, highly esteemed and well-tried friend, Judge Sadler. He lost his wife and her young child on the 13th and 14th of July, and soon after left, in feeble health, in company with his deceased wife's friends for West Bloomfield, in the State of New York, for the recovery of his health, and to take his only remaining child to a place where it could receive the next best thing to a Mother's care."

Judge Ebenezer B. Sadler never re-married. It is said that he "lived without an enemy."

Rev. Leverett Hull

Rev. Leverett Hull was born in Bethlehem, Connecticut on December 3, 1796. He graduated from Hamilton College in 1824. He attended New York's Auburn Theological Seminary from 1824 to 1827. He was ordained as a minister in Oneida, New York in 1829. He served in several congregations before moving to Sandusky, Ohio in 1846. Sadly, Rev. Leverett Hull died of cholera on September 3, 1852. Rev. Hull is buried in Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery.

Isaac Augustus Mills

Isaac Augustus Mills was the son of Isaac L. Mills, one of the proprietors of Sandusky, Ohio, which was first called Portland. Helen Hansen wrote in AT HOME IN EARLY SANDUSKY, that Isaac A. Mills married Sophia Lyman in 1829, when the bride was only sixteen years of age. Both Mills Creek and Mills Street are named for the Mills family, pioneers of the city. Sophia Lyman's father, Abner Lyman, was also a pioneer settler of Sandusky, Ohio. On August 10, 1852, Isaac A. Mills died of cholera. He left his widow, Sophia, and eight children. Mrs. Sophia Mills lived until June 25, 1881. Isaac A. Mills and Sophia Lyman Mills are buried in Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery.

Joseph Washburn Muenscher, 1826-1849

Joseph Washburn Muenscher was born in South Leicester, Massachusetts on September 21, 1826, to Rev. Joseph Muenscher and his wife, the former Ruth Washburn. A brief biographical of sketch of Joseph W. Muenscher is found on page 190 of the book entitled Samuel Davis, of Oxford, Mass., and Joseph Davis, of Dudley, Mass., and Their Descendants, written by George L. Davis George F. Daniels in North Andover, Massachusetts in 1884.






The promising young lawyer died at age 22 during Sandusky's cholera epidemic in 1849. He was buried in Sandusky, Ohio. Oakland Cemetery did not begin accepting burials until 1850, so it is likely that Joseph W. Muenscher may have first been interred at the Cholera Cemetery in Sandusky, and his remains moved to Oakland Cemetery after it opened. Joseph W. Muenscher's sister, Eliza C. Muenscher, was the first wife of pioneer Sandusky merchant Austin Ferry.

J.V. Nickolai, Victim of Cholera

J.V. Nickolai was also known as John Valentin Nicolai. As often is the case with individuals of German descent, there are often discrepancies in spellings of both their first and last names. This brief biographical sketch of Mr. Nickolai/Nicolai in HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY, OHIO, edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich:

Valentin Nicolai was born in Saxonia in 1806 and emigrated in 1834. He worked at his trade, that of carpenter, for many years with Peter Gilcher and F. R. Rheinheimer. In 1837 he was married to Elizabeth Schmidt ; of their six children four are now living : Frederick, residing in Tiffin ; Ezra, also a resident of Tiffin ; Johannes, residing in Cincinnati, and Christine Scheer, of Michigan. Mr. Nicolai died of the cholera in the epidemic of 1849.

Valentin Nickolai/Nicolai succumbed to cholera on July 20, 1849, at the age of 44 years, 3 months, and 25 days. He was buried in Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery. Hundreds of individuals died in Sandusky during the cholera epidemic of 1849. A marker found at the Cholera Cemetery, which served as a mass burial location for hundreds of cholera victims, honors the memory of both the cholera victims, as well as those who came to their aid.

















Note: A GAR marker is found near the tombstone of J.V. Nickolai, however this is most likely an error, since GAR members were Civil War Veterans. Mr. Nickolai died several years before the outbreak of the Civil War.

Henry Buck

From the IGI portion of Family Search, we learn that Henry Buck was born in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania on March 1, 1778. He married Jane Corson in 1810. Hewson L. Peeke wrote in A STANDARD HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY, OHIO, that Henry Buck was one of the earliest settlers of Erie County, and he died of cholera in 1849. His date of death was September 9, 1849. Henry Buck is buried in Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery.





Not all the words in the inscription of the tombstone of Henry Buck are legible. Here are the words I could decipher:

Remember man as
...by for as thou
...was i...
...prepare to die
And follow me.

This may be a variation of the tombstone inscription found in an 1848 issue of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, available at Google Books:

Tombstone Tuesday: Joseph Large

According to the book SANDUSKY THEN AND NOW, Joseph Large, age 36, died of cholera on August 15, 1852. There were three cholera epidemics in Sandusky, in 1849, 1852, and 1854. Joseph Large is buried in Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery.

In the original German version of SANDUSKY THEN AND NOW, entitled SANDUSKY EINST UND JETZT, page 180 includes a listing of the names of individuals who died of cholera in 1852. SANDUSKY EINST UND JETZT is available full text at Google Books, and is searchable by name or any keyword.

Erastus Cook

From the HISTORY OF WALLINGFORD, CONNECTICUT, by Charles Henry Stanley Davis, we read that Erastus Cook was the son of Asaph and Sarah P. Cook.(Later some family members spelled the surname as Cooke.)

Erastus Cook married Fanny Anderson on November 10, 1826. Erastus Cook was the Postmaster of Sandusky from 1836 to 1841. He died on July 29, 1849,during Sandusky's Cholera epidemic. You can see the name of Erastus Cook on page 61 of the pamphlet Cholera of 1849 and the Opinions of Medical and Other Professional Gentlemen in Regard to its Origin and Proper Treatment, available at the Ohio Memory website. Erastus Cook is buried in the North Monroeville Cemetery.

Erastus Cook was a brother of Eleutheros Cooke, Sandusky's first lawyer. Mr. and Mrs. Erastus Cook were the parents of James, George, and Emma Cook.

Jeremiah Dewey, Clockmaker and Jeweler

Records found at FamilySearch indicate that Jeremiah Dewey III was born in Rutland County, Vermont in 1788 and was married to Orinda Todd in 1808. THE TWENTIETH CENTURY BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF NOTABLE AMERICANS states that Jeremiah Dewey moved with his family to Elizabethtown, New York in 1828. The family moved to Detroit Michigan in 1830, where Jeremiah Dewey worked as a clockmaker and jeweler, and the family settled in Sandusky in 1841.

Hewson Peeke wrote in his STANDARD HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY, OHIO that for a time, Jeremiah Dewey was the only jeweler in Sandusky. Sadly, Jeremiah Dewey died of cholera July 29,1849. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky.

A War of 1812 marker honors his memory:



The advertisement below appeared in the April 18, 1848 Sandusky Clarion.

Cholera Cemetery

In 1849 a cholera epidemic swept through Sandusky. Many people fled, but of those who remained, 400 died of the disease. Many were buried in a common grave in the cemetery on Harrison Street in Sandusky, not far from Sandusky Bay.

The “Remarkable Ohio” website contains a transcription of each side of the marker found at the site of the Cholera Cemetery.

Side A:

Of the city's 5,667 people in 1849, 3,500 fled, and 400 of those remaining were victims of cholera. Most are buried here, some only in rough boxes in a common grave. The scourge came again in 1850 and 1852 but with less toll. "Dismay stalked abroad in the daytime and the drowsy night was hideous with the wailings of the disconsolate."

Side B:

Doctors, nurses and others assisted in fighting the cholera in 1849, aiding heroic citizens led by Foster M. Follett. Doctors Austin, Brainard, Lane and Tilden suffered illness and exhaustion, leaving Dr. Cochran alone among Sandusky doctors until aid came. Drs. Ackley, Beaumont, Lauderdale and Spencer, and Messrs. Dolan and Miller of Cleveland; Drs. Banks, Caroland, Follen, Foote, Hughes, Lindsey, Ocheltree, Quinn and Raymond, and Messrs. Bailey, Hindale and Yorke, Mrs. Cowden and nurses from Cincinnati; Dr. Appleton of Philadelphia; Dr. Stanley of Canton; Drs. Evans and Pack of Akron; Drs. Glick and Teagarden of Mansfield; Dr. Vance of Urbana; and Mr. and Miss Rushton of Bellevue. "They came emphatically in our time of need, and faithfully and successfully did they minister relief to the distressed and the dying. Long will be e'er the citizens of Sandusky forget their kindness."