Several Photos Taken at the Follett House

Click here to see several photos taken by the photographers at the Sandusky Register, both inside and outside the Follett House Museum. Former publisher Oran Follett and his wife Eliza are buried at Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery.

West End Cemetery, Berlin Heights

The West End Cemetery, as its name suggests, is located in the western portion of the Village of Berlin Heights, Erie County, Ohio. The cemetery is at the edge of a ravine, and many trees shade the grounds.

An angel is located beside the Austin family monument.

















Several United States Veterans are buried at the West End Cemetery, including Hieronimus Mingos (sometimes spelled Mingus) who served in the Revolutionary War, in the Fourth New York Regiment.

The history of Berlin Heights which appeared on pages 475 through 489 of the book HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO, by W.W.Williams, has been reprinted on a UsGenWeb site.


Visit the website of the Village of Berlin Heights online.

Cleveland Firefighters Memorial

The Cleveland Firefighters Memorial was dedicated in Cleveland in June 0f 2007. The Memorial is located at 601 Erieside Street between the Cleveland Browns Stadium and the Great Lakes Science Center. It honors 76 firefighters who died in the line of duty between 1869 and 1995. An article in the June 10, 2007 issue of the Cleveland Plain Dealer lists the names of the individual fire fighters who died. The list was compiled by Paul L. Nelson, historian of the Western Reserve Fire Museum. The men honored, as well as the year of their death, are:

Paul Aukins, 1869; John C. Sturges, 1870; Henry O. Loomis, 1873; Samuel Fitch,1879; John F. Maher, 1879; John T. Gillson, 1882; Henry C. Harmon, 1884; Henry Gensert, 1887; Timothy Graham, 1888; Samuel Pease, 1891; Henry Ressler, 1891; John Grady, 1891; Michael Howley, 1891; Willis Hizer, 1894; Michael Walsh, 1896; William A. Reynolds, 1897; William B. MacFetters, 1897; Sylvester Esterle, 1898; William Roth, 1899; Sheldon Wright, 1901; Patrick Joyce, 1902; Joseph L. Flaherty, 1903; Robert Ried, 1903; Robert Duffy, 1903; James Schweda, 1903; William D. Rowe, 1906; Herman David, 1911; James R. Killoran, 1915; William P. Rush Sr., 1917; William J. Haley, 1921; Patrick Jordan, 1921;
Walter Reed, 1923; Arthur Stansbury, 1928; Daniel O'Laughlin, 1932; Michael Bolivar, 1932; Fred Brown, 1935; Leo Murphy, 1935; Roy Haylor, 1938; Charles Klocksen, 1943; Patrick Mangan, 1944; Norman Kitzerow, 1944; James J. Cull, 1945; Theodore Brenyas, 1947; Paul I. Green, 1948; Henry Spencer, 1948; John J. Kilbane, 1949; Henry F. Lange, 1949; Joseph Vlasaty, 1956; Jack W. Poe, 1959; Charles Prymmer, 1960; Walter Kress, 1962; John J. Finucan, 1963; Kenneth F. Jacklitz, 1963; Robert Ternansky, 1963; Edwin J. Hart, 1963; John T. McKenna, 1963; Robert H. Jones, 1963; Robert L. Marquard, 1963; Ralph E. Simon, 1966; John A. Petz, 1966; Charles G. Doehner, 1966; Joseph G. Toolis, 1966; Stanley Lawson, 1966; David W. Hunger, 1967; Dennis J. Connors, 1968; George J. Solloway, 1969; John D. Ruszkowski, 1969; John J. Gallagher, 1969; Salvatore Mazzola, 1970; Joseph A. DeCrane, 1972; Frank L. Bonacci, 1972; Edward J. Gresky, 1974; John W. McNamee, 1974; Richard Ward, Dec. 3, 1983; Daniel R. Pescatrice, 1985; and Edward M. Carey, 1995.






















Thank you for your bravery and sacrifice, Firefighters of Cleveland.

Easter Advertisement from 1916 Sandusky Star Journal

Residents of the Sandusky area in 1916 were encouraged to purchase new shoes for Easter at the H.J. Close shoe store at 138 Columbus Avenue in Sandusky, Ohio. This ad appeared in the April 17, 1916 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal.

I Found My Parents and Grandparents in the 1940 Census!

Today I finally got to view some of the 1940 Census records, at My Heritage (Thanks for the tip, Schelly Talalay Dardashti!) and I was able to locate my parents and grandparents in the 1940 Census for Erie County, Ohio! My dad, Paul Orshoski, was residing with his parents and four siblings on Newberry Avenue in Bay Bridge, just down the road from the Medusa Cement factory, where so many of my ancestors worked. Dad was 12 years old. His father was employed as a filter operator at Medusa. Grandpa Steve Orshoski was age 34, and Grandma Emma (Yeager) Orshoski was 33. Dad's siblings' ages in the census were: Alberta, 13; Wayne, 10; Donald, 8; and Clifford, age 6. The image above shows the five children of Steve and Emma Orshoski about five years prior to the enumeration of the 1940 Census. In the year 1940, none of the boys had yet thought about enlisting in the service, and none of the Orshoski children had met their future spouses yet. Several descendants of Steve and Emma Orshoski still reside on Newberry Avenue in Bay Bridge! Below is a portion of the 1940 Census page from Erie County, Ohio's Enumeration District 22-9, which contains the names of my father and my paternal grandparents, along with my aunt and three uncles. Click here to see the full census page.

My mother was only 8 years old at the time of the 1940 Census. She was living with her parents, Steen and Doris (Wheeler) Parker at 916 Polk Street in Sandusky, Ohio. My grandfather, Steen Parker, is the last name on page 20 of Enumeration District 22-29 . He was 32 years old, and worked as an enameler at Holland-Rieger, a business that made washing machines. Holland-Rieger later became Apex Manufacturing.

My maternal grandmother, Doris Wheeler Parker, was 29 years old. The three children of Steen and Doris were: Thomas, age 12, Joyce (my mother) age 8; and Sally, age 2. A 21 year old cousin of Doris, named James Larkins, was also residing with Steen and Doris Parker in 1940. In the image below, page 21 of ED 22-29, my grandmother Doris, her three children, and her cousin are the first five names listed on the census page.

Mom and her sister and brother appear in the picture below a few years after the 1940 Census was taken.

By 1943, Steen and Doris Parker had divorced, and Doris passed away from cancer on May 6, 1943. It was interesting to see the Steen Parker family listed in the Census before the onset of all these sad events. My mom, Joyce Parker Orshoski, attended school at Osborne School, just a few blocks south of her home on Polk Street. St. Paul Lutheran Church was within walking distance of her childhood home. St. Paul's was the church where Mom was confirmed and where she was married to my father. She so loved and respected Rev. J. A. Griffith. Good Samaritan Hospital (now Firelands Regional Medical Center) was just a few blocks away from Mom's home on Polk Street. Good Samaritan Hospital was the hospital where all six of Joyce and Paul's children were born, and the Firelands Regional Medical Center was my mother's final employer. She spent many happy hours at Firelands!

What a joy to see the names of my family members in the 1940 Census! I wish you "Happy Hunting" as you look for the names of your ancestors in the 1940 Census too!

Josiah Fowler

Josiah Fowler was born in Westfield, Massachusetts in 1800, to Medad and Lovisa Fowler. (See HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY, edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich, for a biography of Josiah Fowler.) Josiah Fowler settled in Margaretta Township of what is now Erie County in 1830, after his father and brother had also come to Ohio. He married Sophronia Stocking in 1833. Mr. Fowler was known to be an abolitionist, and was well respected by his neighbors and friends.

In 1881, Josiah Fowler wrote a book entitled AN ANALYSIS OF TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE, THE BETTER TO UNDERSTAND THE TRUE FACT, OR SPIRITUAL MEANING, THAT THE REVELATOR INTENDED TO CONVEY TO THE READER BY MEANS ON THE LETTER, which was Josiah's interpretations of certain passages from the Bible.

Besides being a man of deep faith, as well as being against slavery, it appears that Josiah Fowler was also a man who believed strongly in temperance. An article which appeared in the November 9, 1918 article of the "Sandusky Star" stated that on April 4, 1845, at a meeting at the Castalia Congregational Church, Josiah Fowler introduced this resolution:"This church regards the selling and using of intoxicating liquor as a beverage at the present day, as indicative of a doubtful Christian character, and as injurious to the peace and purity of churches and expects those who unite with them will renounce such practice."

In 1891, at the age of 91, Josiah Fowler died. His tombstone, which difficult to read now, is located at the Castalia Cemetery. In the November 24, 1892 issue of the "Sandusky Register," it was reported that relatives of Josiah Fowler had erected a handsome monument to his memory.

Urban A. Walter, Reformer of Railway Mail Service

In the 1900 U.S. Census, Urban A. Walter was age 18, and working as a Post Office clerk. He was residing with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Walter, and several siblings in Toledo, Ohio. The 1880 U.S. Census indicates that the Adolph Walter family had resided in Fremont, Ohio at that time, before Urban's birth. The following excerpt from the book THE TRAVELING POST OFFICE, by William Jefferson Dennis (Homestead, 1916), tells of Urban A. Walter's intense campaign to improve the conditions of railway mail clerk employees. His publication "Harpoon" featured articles which told of the unsafe and unfair conditions of many railway mail clerks.

According to the book MAIL BY RAIL, by Bryant Alden Long,(Simmons-Boardman, 1951) the "Harpoon" was a red and yellow bound, 32-page magazine, which featured these words on the cover: "A Magazine That Hurts— For Postal Clerks." One issue had on the cover the memorial tombstone to three clerks who burned to death, after a tragic train wreck. Railway mail cars were usually made of wood, and quickly erupted into flames if the train wrecked. Urban A. Walter exposed the fact that lodgings aboard the train were bug-infested, and occasionally there were rats found in the water supply.

Eventually Urban A. Walter developed tuberculosis, and he moved west for health reasons. Mr. Urban A. Walter died on October 14, 1919 in Denver, Colorado. He was buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery in Fremont, Ohio. The inscription of the tombstone of Urban A. Walter reads:

Dedicated to the Memory Of

Walter A. Urban
1881-1919
The Father of Steel Mail Cars

Erected by Railway Postal Clerks

An exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution National Postal Museum features a video which describes conditions of the clerks who worked for the Railway Mail Service at the end of the nineteenth century and early part of the twentieth century.