Constance A. Fleming

According to her death certificate, Constance Alma Fleming was born to Charles Jay Fleming and Anna Catherine Gessner Fleming on January 13, 1911 in Sandusky, Ohio. Sadly this little girl passed away shortly after her third birthday on January 25, 1914. A beautiful angel adorns her tombstone, which bears the mark of Conrad Keim. Many of Conrad Keim's tombstones are found at Oakland Cemetery and St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in Sandusky. Constance A. Fleming is buried at Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery.

Unique Genealogical Resource: Enumeration of Youth in Sandusky, Ohio

Click here to see a blog post from Sandusky History which discusses the enumeration of the youth of Sandusky in 1912. It was similar to a census record, but was within a different time frame. It results in a snapshot of specific neighborhoods in the Ohio county where the enumeration took place.

Chester Sturzinger Hartung

Chester Sturzinger Hartung, the son of Mr. and Mrs. George F. Hartung, died on January 17, 1908, at the age of one year, one month, and four days. Rev. Thiersch conducted funeral services from the Hartung home on South Campbell Street, and burial was in Oakland Cemetery.

A lamb adorns little Chester's tombstone. Lambs were often used on the tombstones of infants and children during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Obituaries for Chester S. Hartung appeared in the January 18 and 19, 1908 issues of the Sandusky Register.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History: Cars

The prompt for Week Three of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History, from Amy Coffin at We Tree, and hosted by Geneabloggers, is Cars.

The only image I have of my first car is not clear at all, but my memories of it are very clear! It was an early 1960's Chevy II, the predecessor to the Chevrolet Nova. The color of the car was aqua. I was a senior in high school when I got my driver's license. Driving was never my strong suit, and unfortunately that is still the case! I took my youngest brother Matt and sister Kellie to the beach, the park, bowling...we were always looking for an inexpensive afternoon of fun on my days off from the dairy queen, and they were delighted that big sister had "wheels."

During my first year as a new driver, I got into a minor fender bender, which left a rather big hole in my front fender. My parents had six kids, and fixing up that car was not a top priority. To make my car look not so battered, I applied flower stickers all around the area where the car had been damaged. The Chevy II promptly became known as the "flower power" car. Often I was short on funds, so I would drive up to Goins Sohio in Bay View, and get 28 cents of gas. I always figured out the mileage, so that I knew with that amount of gas, in 1969 or 1970, I could get to and from the beach safely. My siblings are all grown up now, but we laugh at many a family gathering, remembering that Chevy II and the miles of fun it provided.

Nicholas and Anna Ferback

This lovely monument which honors the memory of Nicholas Ferback (sometimes spelled Ferbach) and his wife Anna is found close to Mills Street at the St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Sandusky. (The St. Joseph Cemetery is just across the road.) U.S. Census records indicate that Nicholas Ferback was a grocer in Sandusky, Ohio. According to the the 1880 Census, Nicholas was age 33 at that time, and was born in New Jersey. His parents had been born in Baden, Germany. Annie was 28, and she and her parents were born in Bavaria. They had two little girls, Emilie, age 6, and Annie, age 2, and an infant son named William. Philip Roth, age 28, and Katie Pfaff, age 16, also were living with the Ferback family in 1880.

Nicholas Ferback died on January 16, 1884, when he was only 37 years of age. His obituary appeared in the January 18, 1884 issue of the Sandusky Register. Anna's death certificate lists her death date as January 12, 1937. Anna had married Anton Herbert after the death of her first husband. Her father's name was listed as Christian Elman, but other records indicate the spelling of his surname as either Edelman or Adelman.

The memory of Nicholas and Anna Ferback Herbert is kept alive by the beautiful monument that bears their names at St. Mary's Cemetery.

Mrs. Eva Jane Parker Jarrett

Eva Jane Parker was the oldest child of James Daniel Parker and Sarah Gurley Parker. Mr. Parker owned a general store in Perkins Township, and served for a time as the Postmaster at Bogart. He was also associated with the Sandusky, Milan and Norwalk Electric Railway. Mrs. Sarah Parker was a descendant of the pioneer Methodist preacher Rev. William Gurley.

Eva Jane Parker was born on January 22, 1871. According to Erie County Probate Court records, Eva J. Parker married James Jarrett on May 17, 1897. A baby girl was born to Eva and James Jarrett on December 26, 1899, but the baby died shortly after she was born. Mrs. Eva Parker Jarrett passed away on January 13, 1900. Rev. James Gray conducted funeral services, which were largely attended. Eva Parker Jarrett was buried in Oakland Cemetery, near other members of both the Jarrett and Parker families.

This lovely tribute to Eva, written by Julia Morgan, appeared in the Sandusky Register a few days after Eva Parker Jarrett died. She must have been so terribly missed by her family and friends.

Annual iGenie Awards for 102nd COG

The topic for the 102nd Carnival of Genealogy, as posted by Creative Gene, is the Annual iGene Awards. Bloggers are to choose their best blog posts in five different categories. Here are the entries from the Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay from 2010.





Best Picture - The angel from the post Fall at Perkins Cemetery in Erie County, Ohio. I like to think that this angel represents angels watching down on us along with my mother Joyce, who passed away in 2010, and is buried here at the Perkins Cemetery.



















Best Screen Play - There's One in Every Family. My great grandmother Ada Steen Parker, along with her husband Roy, raised a family of four children during the first quarter of the twentieth century. She knew how to cook, can, sew, help in birthing babies, as well as preparing deceased loved ones for funerals. After the family farm was sold for the War effort in the 1940's, she adapted well to city life. Her life story could be told with Claudette Colbert as the star, and Jimmy Durante playing Grandpa Roy. The children would be portrayed by John Goodman as Glenn, Tony Danza as Steen, Olivia DeHaviland as Janet, and Groucho Marx as Paul Parker.


Best Documentary - Learning More About Joseph Willmann. Details about the life of Joseph Willmann were gleaned from census records, online family trees, vital records, and cemetery and genealogical databases.

Best Biography - Spencer Baird Newberry. A professor of Chemistry who studied in Europe as well as in the U.S., Mr. Newberry was issued several patents related to the manufacturing of portland cement. The company started by Spencer and his brothers provided jobs for many of my ancestors of Hungarian descent.

Best Comedy - I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. A smile comes to my face every time I think of my baby brother singing this song in his Kindergarten class.