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.

Diana V. Kinney

The tombstone of Diana Violitte Kinney is found at the Strong's Ridge Cemetery in Huron County, Ohio. Diana was the daughter of John C. and Amy Kinney. It appears that Diana died on July 28, but the year is not legible.

Records from Huron County Probate Court indicate that John C. Kinney married Amy Rowley on April 18, 1826. This biographical information about John C. Kinney was found in an online edition of the book COUNTIES OF LAGRANGE AND NOBLE, INDIANA, available at the Internet Archive:


John C. Kinney was a machinist, and when a young man worked at his trade in New York, where he married Miss Amy Rowley, and soon afterward moved to Burlington, Vt. After some years, he removed to Huron County, Ohio, and in 1832 started on horseback through Indiana. He returned to Ohio the same year, and in 1833 moved his family to Lima, and ever afterward made La Grange County his home. For some years he carried the mail on horseback from Toledo through to Fort Defiance, White Pigeon and other places, and, while engaged at this, died.

Diana V. Kinney probably died as a youngster, since the Kinney family lived in Ohio for only a short time.

Genealogical Searches at Oakland Cemetery

Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery now offers genealogical searches online. Go to this web site:

http://www.ci.sandusky.oh.us/horticulture/cemetary-history.htm

Click on:

Click here for Genealogical Searches

Searches can be done by first or last name. Limits can be set by Section, Lot, Date Range, or an "Also Known As" field. Oakland Cemetery research can now be done at any time, and from any computer!

Otto Borchardt

The Borchardt family lot is found in the Castalia Cemetery. Otto Borchardt, who appeared in the 1900 Erie County Census for Margaretta Township, as the sixteen year old son of August and Wilhelmina Borchardt, who were both born in Germany. Otto Borchardt was born on February 12, 1884 in Ohio, and he died on July 22, 1905.

Below is a transcription of the obituary which appeared in the July 25, 1905 issue of the Sandusky Register.

The funeral of Otto Borchardt, who was killed at the Castalia Cement Works Saturday morning, was held Monday afternoon and was one of the largest attended funerals ever held at Castalia. Besides a great attendance from the surrounding country, the employees at the cement works turned out in a body, six of the young man's fellow workmen acting as pallbearers. The services took place at the house at 2 o'clock. Rev. Stellhorn's address being in German, while at 2:30 o'clock at the Congregational church, Rev. Reed gave an address in English. Interment was made at the Castalia Cemetery.




The inscription at the base of the tombstone for Otto Borchardt reads:

Unassuming and gentle
Obedient, kind to all He
lived ever ready
to obey his Master's call

Mr. and Mrs. John B. Paul

John Brown Paul was born to Claude Alphonso and Leticia Taylor Paul on November 3, 1928 in Ambrose, Georgia. As some of his older brothers move to Ohio in the late 1940's to find jobs, John too moved to Sandusky, Ohio.

Linda Lou Porter was born in Columbus, Ohio on July 25, 1930. Linda was orphaned at a young age, and was raised by either a foster or adoptive family. Very little is known about her background.

John B. Paul and Linda Porter were married on November 22, 1947 in Greenup County, Kentucky. Through the years, John had a variety of jobs, but he is best remembered for his long years of delivering Stroh's beer for the Sandusky Butter & Egg Company. He worked long hours, and met a lot of people. Since Stroh's was the team's sponsor, John became an avid Detroit Tigers baseball fan. Linda enjoyed reading, knitting, and sewing, and she worked as a waitress at the Log Cabin Inn, in Bay View, Ohio. John and Linda had two children: Thomas and Nancy.

Linda Paul died on October 3, 1971, after a lengthy illness. She was only 41 years old at the time of her death. John eventually married again, to Marilyn Dreschel Gioffredo. They had many happy years together, and enjoyed traveling. John B. Paul died on August 3, 2005. John and Linda Paul are buried in Meadow Green Cemetery in Huron, Ohio.

Leroy Parker Survived Auto Accident in 1914

On September 23, 1914, following a day at the Sandusky County Fair in Fremont, Ohio, George B. Parker and George J. Bing were killed in an automobile accident east of Fremont. Also injured were Mrs. George J. Bing, Leroy Parker, and John D. Ward. George Bing,who operated a carriage shop in Sandusky, was driving the car. The automobile, a six-cylinder Oakland, skidded at the foot of the hill at Green Creek, and crashed into the steel bridge. The occupants of the automobile were thrown several feet, into the ditch.

Mr. Bing suffered a crushed skull and other serious injuries. George B. Parker died while enroute to the hospital in Fremont. Mrs. Bing suffered a fractured skull, but she survived. John B. Ward, a representative of the Ohio Motor Company died twenty five hours after the accident. He had suffered three broken ribs, a broken collar bone, and serious lung injuries.

Leroy Parker, son of Perkins farmer George B. Parker, received a slight fracture of the skull, and a fracture of the spine, but no serious spinal cord injuries were sustained. The family story is that the hospital staff thought Leroy was dead, and had covered his body with a sheet. They realized he was alive when they saw the sheet move. Of course, Leroy Parker lived, went on to marry Ada Steen, and have four children,and a host of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.













George B. Parker was buried in the family lot at the Perkins Cemetery. Being the only child, Leroy Parker would always make sure his mother, the former Marian House, was taken care of, for the rest of her life.



George J. Bing had built a biplane in Sandusky, and he is remembered at the Early Birds of Aviation website.

The Next Generation of Graveyard Rabbits

In conjuction with niece Julia's genealogy project for 4-H, we took a trip to the St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery last weekend. Here is Julia standing next to the tombstone of Charles Cross, the first Catholic Mayor of Sandusky. He served in the 1850's.

During the course of several hours, Julia learned about pedigree charts, family group sheets, and how she was named for her Hungarian great great grandmother Julia. We learned a lot, and we especially enjoyed looking through the family albums for
photos for her Treasure Chest to be on display at the fair!

Siltstone Tombstones in Erie County

While I enjoy researching the stories behind the people whose lives are represented in the grave markers in Erie County area cemeteries, I am still very much a beginner in the process of identifying the type of material from which tombstones were made. A few days ago, another blogger pointed out that I had recently taken a digital photo of a siltstone tombstone. The American Heritage Science Dictionary (c2002) gives this definition of siltstone:

A fine-grained sedimentary rock consisting primarily of compacted and hardened silt. Siltstones are similar to shale but without laminations.

My experience has been that many tombstones that were carved from siltstone are almost as legible today as they were over one hundred years ago.

In June and July, I found these three siltstone tombstones in Margaretta and Groton Township Cemeteries in Erie County, Ohio.



Johnathan Dunham died on May 4, 1837. He is buried in the Castalia Cemetery













Mary M. Runner died on October 3, 1848. Her tombstone is found in the Castalia Cemetery.















Andrew Baker died on the 6th of July, 1857. He is buried in the Deyo Cemetery in Groton Township.

Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Parker

Glenn Parker was the oldest child of Leroy and Ada Steen Parker. Shortly after Glenn was born, the article below ran in the November 5, 1919 issue of the Sandusky Register. The writer suggests that since Charles Steen (Ada's father) was the president of the Erie County Agricultural Society, Mr. Steen may be swayed to vote for his new grandson at the baby contest during the Erie County Fair.



















During his busy life, Glenn Parker was a Perkins Township Trustee, an employee of Barr Rubber, a bus driver for Perkins Schools, and he worked on the family farm in Perkins Township of Erie County. Since his father was a concessionaire at Cedar Point, Glenn is sure to have spent many summertime hours at the amusement park as well. One of the concessions with which Roy Parker was associated with was the Noah's Ark.

On June 1, 1927, Glenn Parker married Florence Lindsley. Florence was a descendant of W. D. Lindsley, a former U.S. Congressman. Florence and Glenn had three children: Richard, Carol, and Lois. Carol died as an infant on April 29, 1935. Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Parker were active in the Perkins Grange. For many years they made their home at the southeast corner of Bogart Road and Route 250. My great Aunt Florence had so many wonderful qualities; she was dignified, confident, and she had the kind of wisdom that comes from having so many years of rich life experiences, including love of family, some heartaches along the way, and a lot of hard work. Glenn Parker died on January 14, 1974, and Florence passed away on January 28, 1979. They are buried in Perkins Cemetery.

Pictured below are Florence and Glenn Parker with their children Richard and Carol, about 1935.




A large stone marks the Parker lot in Perkins Cemetery.

Philo St. John

The tombstone of Philo St. John is located at Perkins Cemetery in Erie County. The inscription states that Philo St. John was fatally wounded at Lexington, Kentucky.

A biographical sketch of Alva St. John, Philo's brother, in HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY, OHIO, edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich, reports that Philo St. John was was son of James and Amarita St. John, and that Philo had enlisted in the Third Ohio Cavalry in 1861. See Google Books to read the History of the Service of the Third Ohio Veteran Volunteer Cavalry.

Possible destruction of a Native American site in Alabama

See the posts below to read about the possible destruction of an Indian mound in Alabama, to make way for a Sam's Club. It is heart-breaking!

Oxford, Alabama Destroying A 1500-Year-Old Indian Mound To Build A Sam's Club

Heritage and History Being Destroyed

Deyo Cemetery

Deyo Cemetery is located in Groton Township, in the southern portion of Erie County, on Portland Road, between State Route 269 and Southwest Road. The soil at Deyo Cemetery is very sandy, and many of the tombstones are quite old. A shady woods borders the northern edge of Deyo Cemetery.

Several tombstone inscriptions for Deyo Cemetery are found at the website FindaGrave.




The book COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF THE COUNTIES OF SANDUSKY AND OTTAWA, OHIO, available on the database Heritage Quest, contains a biographical sketch of Hiram Deyo. Hiram's parents were Dr. John Palmer Deyo and Sarah Foster Deyo, whose tombstone is pictured to the right. Dr. John Palmer Deyo was born in Ulster County, New York in 1804. In 1833, he came to Ohio on horseback. Dr. Deyo settled four and one-half miles north of Bellevue, and he was a pioneer physician in that region. After his father's death, Dr. Deyo gave up medicine, and took over his father's farm. John Palmer Deyo married Sarah Foster in 1836. Dr. Palmer died in 1898, and his wife Sarah died in 1887.



Young Joshua was the son of J. Steward. He died on January 12, 1854, at the age of three years and twelve days. While some of the older tombstones at Deyo Cemetery have inscriptions that are illegible, Joshua Steward's inscription is easily read.A star adorns the top of Joshua's tombstone.

Cholera Victims Remembered

In the July 8, 2009 issue of the Sandusky Register, cholera victims from Sandusky's past are remembered. Though a subscription is required to read the complete article, a portion of the article, along with two photos can be accessed here:

"Cholera Epidemic Ravaged Sandusky"

Mrs. Mary M. Warren

Flat against the ground at Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky is a tombstone for Mrs. Mary M. Warren, who died on July 9, 1856, at the age of 42 years, 9 months, and 22 days.


Mrs. Warren's tombstone states that she was the wife of E. W. Warren. Erie County Probate Court records available on FamilySearch indicate that Mary Matilda Burrows married E. W. Warren on October 22, 1838 .

A Rootsweb website gives much more detail about Ebenezer W. Warren and his family. Ebenezer Warren eventually re-married, and moved to Michigan. The web site Findagrave.com shows that he was buried in the Wild Cherry Cemetery in Hillsdale County, Michigan in 1869.

Not all the words of the inscription are legible, but the words that can be read are:

...suffer'd long with disease ..of the...
But this .....head is at rest
....and aching.......
.....quiet immovable breast
.........affliction no more.

None knew her but to love her.

It certainly appears that Mrs. Warren was greatly loved and missed, by the poignant words on her grave.

Graves Cemetery in Margaretta Township

Graves Cemetery is located in Margaretta Township, south of Castalia, Ohio. As its name would suggest, several people with the surname Graves are buried here.






Emily and Alice Graves were sisters, the daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Erasmus Graves. According to the obituary of Miss Emily Graves, found in the 1934 Obituary Notebook at the Sandusky Library, her father was one of the earliest settlers of Erie County, and he platted the Graves Cemetery. Alice Graves died in 1927, and Emily Graves died in 1934.


A large monument in memory of the Bardwell and Graves families is found towards the back of the Graves Cemetery.




To the left of this monument are three stones:

Sarah Ann Graves, wife of James G. Snowden
1835-1916 (Sarah Ann Bardwell was married first to William L. Graves)

William L. Graves
1831-1874

Effie M. Daughter of W.L. And S.A. Graves
1860-1864

To the right of the Bardwell-Graves monument are two stones honoring the parents of Sarah:

Salmon D. Bardwell
1796-1852

and

Lucy A. Bardwell
1806-1879



On the northern edge of the Graves Cemetery is a lovely blackberry tree, which was laden with berries at the time of my visit.



More details about the individuals buried at Graves Cemetery can be found by viewing the microfilmed records of Erie County cemeteries at the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library. The Graves Cemetery records are on the reel containing the films of the note cards from cemeteries of Margaretta Township.

Favorite Cemetery Photo

The July 1, 2009 posting from The Association of Graveyard Rabbits blog challenges the Graveyard Rabbits to choose their favorite cemetery-related photo. My favorite cemetery photo is the picture of the female sculpture which honors the memory of the daughters of Vincent Kerber, as discussed in an earlier blog post.

The pensive lady symbolizes to me a mother figure in Heaven, looking down, and thinking, "Now what are those kids up to today?" Certainly at the time this sculpture was placed in the St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio, computers had not yet been created, and no one had any idea as to what the word blog may mean. Finding the stories associated with the individuals buried in cemeteries around the Sandusky Bay area has been such a joy, and I would like to think this stone lady would be pleased.

Children of Moors and Samantha Farwell

Though barely legible, this tombstone honors the memory of three children of Moors and Samantha Farwell.

Records from the ERIE COUNTY CEMETERY CENSUS BEFORE 1909, provide these names and dates for the Farwell children:

M.E. Farwell
Died June 25, 1837
Age 4 hours

T.M. Farwell
Died July 8, 1842
Age 2 years, 2 months

T. J. Farwell
Died September 29, 1842
Aged 39 days

Moors Farwell was the first Mayor of Sandusky. He was first married to Sarah Cooke. (Sarah Cooke was the sister of Eleutheros Cooke, the first lawyer in Sandusky.) Sarah Cooke Farwell died on February 28, 1827, and she is buried in Huron County. Moors and Sarah Farwell had a daughter Sarah Farwell, who married Jeremiah Cochran.

According to the publication NEWSPAPER ABSTRACTS, HURON COUNTY, OHIO, 1822-1835, by H. R. Timman,Moors Farwell of Sandusky, married Miss Semantha Dean of Cortlandville, on June 17, 1831 at Cortlandville, New York. (This item appeared in the Sandusky Clarion on July 6,1831.) In the 1850 Erie County Census, Moors and Semantha/Samantha Farwell had these children living with them:

Julia Farwell, age 17
Maryetta Farwell, age 16
and
Augusta Farwell, age 12

The R. B. Hayes Center's Obituary Index indicates that Moors Farwell died on December 14, 1850. Mrs. Samantha Farwell married Samuel Enoch Hitchcock in 1858. They moved to Alpena, Michigan, where Samuel was instrumental in organizing the first church of Alpena County. Julia Farwell appears in their household in Michigan in the 1880 U.S. Census. Augusta and Maryette Farwell both passed away in 1852, while still in their teens, according to Oakland Cemetery records.

It is sad that these Farwell children died so young. Their father was very active in the early affairs of Huron and Erie County, and their mother was a pioneer citizen of Alpena, Michigan. Had they lived longer, they too may have made significant contributions to their community.