Sunday's Obituary: Cynthia Strong Sloane

The following obituary for Cynthia Strong Sloane appeared in the July, 1888 issue of the Firelands Pioneer, on pages 107-108. Mrs. Sloane died on February 2, 1873 in Waterloo, Indiana, and she was buried in the Sloane family lot at Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery.

Both the Strong and the Sloane families were pioneers of the Firelands area. Rest in peace Cynthia!

Tribute to Two Fallen Firefighters in Toledo, Ohio

Sadly, two firefighters, James Dickman and Stephen Machcinski, died in the line of duty while fighting a fire in Toledo, Ohio on Sunday, January 26, 2014. Click here to view a tribute to the firefighters from the website of Toledo's ABC station, Channel 13. Rest in peace, James and Stephen.

Interesting Post at Ohio's Yesterdays on Construction of Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial

To take a break from cold winter weather, head over to the Ohio's Yesterdays blog, and read about the construction of the Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial! Thanks for this interesting post, and link HISTORYPIN!

George B. Richmond

George Burr Richmond was born on May 10, 1850 to David C. and Sarah (Burr) Richmond, both natives of Connecticut.  His name is listed in the 1850 Erie County Census.

George's father, David C. Richmond, was a successful farmer in Perkins Township, for many years, and he also served in the State Legislature of Ohio. George worked on the family farm. George B. Richmond died on January 29, 1888, when he was not yet 40 years of age. He was buried in the family lot at Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery. An obituary for George B. Richmond, which appeared in the January 30, 1888 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that George, the only son of Mr. and Mrs. D.C. Richmond, had died following a week's illness with pneumonia. The article read, in part, about George, "He was a kind hearted young man, full of energy, and closely identified with his father in the management of the latter's large farm, three miles from this city. He leaves a wife, the daughter of Mrs. I.f. Reynolds, of Berlin Heights, and a son eight years old.....The family will have the sympathy of a wide circle in the affliction that comes to all in turn and spares none."

Sentimental Sunday: Educational Statistics from Erie County, Ohio in 1917

While browsing online through Google Books, I came across an issue of  The Ohio Teacher (volume 37, number 6), from January, 1917. On page 223, I found several statistical listings, prepared by R.E. Offenhaur (sometimes spelled Offenhauer), an educational administrator from Sandusky, Ohio.

In 1917, there were still some one-room and two-room schools in operation in Erie County, Ohio. At that time, 18 teachers were college graduates; 12 teachers were normal school graduates; 29 teachers had one year of normal school training; and 77 teachers had less than one year of professional training. High school teachers in Sandusky City Schools had the highest average yearly salary in 1917, at $1062.50 per year. Elementary teachers in Berlin Township, Erie County, Ohio, had the lowest average yearly salary, at $470.07 per year. Browse through Google Books for educational statistics for teachers in your part of the country. How things have changed through the years! Roy E. Offenhauer went on to become the second  president of Bowling Green State University.

Wisdom Wednesday: Things My Mother Used To Tell Us

My mom, Joyce Parker Orshoski,  and I are pictured above, when I was about 10 ten years old. Mom had several sayings that she told us over and over again, and I am sure that most of them were sayings that she had heard from the adults in her life. Here are some of the words of wisdom she gave us six children:


"Always do your best."

'If you can't anything nice, don't say anything at all!"

"When God closes a door, he always opens a window."

"You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar."

"Don't knock it until you've tried it."

When someone was being mean to us , Mom would tell us to "Kill them with kindness."

When kids teased me about being short, she told me to tell them, "Good things come in small packages."

When we had a cold, Mom would say: "Wear your socks; put Vicks under your nose; and take a Vitamin C."

When everything was going wrong, she'd say, "Cheer up, things could be
worse; and sure enough, I cheered up and things got worse!"

Mom used to put a picture of a cat at the bottom of the refrigerator,
so that our cat Patches would have something interesting to look at, at her own level.

What words of wisdom did your parents give to the children in your family?

GenEx2014 Conference to be Held in Ohio

GenEx2014, the statewide conference of the Ohio Genealogical Society, will be held April 30 to May 3, 2014. Click here to see the program. (At this page, click on Download File to view the program in a pdf.) Click here to see a list of presenters, called "Safari Guides," as the conference is being held at Kalahari in Sandusky, Ohio. I have attended the conference of the Ohio Genealogical Society before, and it is always an invigorating event! There are outstanding speakers, opportunities to network, and a lot of learning and fun along the way.  Browse through the GenEx2014 program. There are even fourteen separate workshops that are free! (Registration is required, however.) Consider attending all or part of the GenEx2014!