Tombstone Tuesday: Mrs. Rhoda Griffith Moss

Joseph Moss had this monument placed at Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio, after the death of his wife on September 28, 1851. The side of the monument which faces south reads "Our Mother." A lengthy inscription is found on the side of the monument that faces north. Not all the words are legible.

 The words which I could decipher read:

Erected by 
Joseph Moss
To the memory of
His Wife
Who Died
September 28, 1851

Her children arise up and
call her blessed.

According to the book PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM OF SANILAC COUNTY, Joseph Moss was born on September 8, 1775. His wife was the former Rhoda Griffith, born on July 28, 1780. Joseph and Rhoda (Griffith) Moss had a large family. The sons all had successful business careers. While visiting family in Sandusky, Ohio, Rhoda Moss died on September 28,1851. Her husband died in Marshall, Michigan on October 28, 1856. The lovely monument in memory of Rhoda Griffith Moss stands as a testament to the love her family had for her. More details about the family of Joseph and Rhoda Moss can be found at FamilySearch.


(Note: While the tombstone of Mrs. Moss indicates she died on September 28, 1851, some sources list her death date as September 29, 1851.)

Morgan and Amelia Young

Recently I discovered that my 3rd great grandaunt, Amelia House, and her husband, Morgan Young, my 3rd great granduncle were each the sibling of my 3rd great grandparents, Lindsey House and Mary Ann Young. Morgan Young was born on March 9, 1819 in Richland County, Ohio, to Noah and Anna Young. Amelia House was born on April 20, 1823 in Perkins Township, in what was then Huron County, Ohio, to Julius and Percy (Taylor) House. They were married in 1846, and had a large family of eight children. Morgan Young died on September 24, 1884, and Amelia House Young survived until November 14, 1911. They were buried in the New Haven Cemetery in Huron County, Ohio, along with the young daughter Clara, who had died in 1863. You can read much more about the Young family in the book OUR YOUNG FAMILY IN AMERICA ,by Edward Hudson Young (Durham, North Carolina, 1947), available full-text at the Internet Archive.

Perkins Cemetery Records are Being Digitized

Click here to read a recent Sandusky Register article which discusses the digitization project of the Perkins Cemetery in Erie County, Ohio. Thanks for this great news! It will be a great help to family history researchers when it is completed.

Martha Newton Wilcox, 1836-1864

Martha Ellen Newton was born on February 2, 1836, to Daniel Newton and Eunice Clemons Newton. Martha's parents were early settlers of what is now Erie County, Ohio. On January 12, 1859, Martha Newton married Rollin M. Wilcox, a Sandusky businessman. A daughter named Jessie was born to Rollin M. and Martha Newton Wilcox in 1862. Sadly, Martha Newton Wilcox died before she was age 30, on September 23, 1864, when her daughter Jessie was quite young. Martha Newton Wilcox was buried in the Wilcox family lot at Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery.

Obituary of Dr. Urial S. Lindsley

In volume four of "The Baptist," published in 1838 by W.H. Dunn in Nashville, Tennessee, is a reprint of an obituary for Dr. Urial S. Lindlsey, who died on September 14, 1838. Dr. Lindsley was the father of several children, including W.D. Lindlsey, a prominent Erie County, Ohio farmer who served in the U.S. Congress in the 1850s. Below is a transcription of the obituary for Dr. Urial S. Lindsley:

DR. URIAL S. LINDSLEY. In the La Porte County Whig, of October the 13th, 1838, we find the following notice of a most melancholy dispensation of Divine Providence.

Died in Michigan City, Indiana, on the l4th day of September 1838, Dr. Urial S. Lindsley, aged 61 years. Dr Lindsley was a native of New York. For many years he was a practicing physician in the beautiful and refined little city of New Haven, and for a few of the last years of his life of Michigan city. He has left a widow, [his second wife] three sons, one of whom is our beloved young brother and friend Solon Lindsley, now a resident of Nashville, and three daughters, to mourn the loss of a most affectionate and devoted husband, and father and a large circle of relatives, in different parts of the country, to whom he was endeared by the fondest attachments, with the names of some of whom particularly, the family of Rev. Philip Lindsley, D. D. President of the University of Nashville, many of our readers are familiar.

The Editor of the paper cited above, says: "An acquaintance with the deceased enables us to speak, knowingly, of his many virtues. He was skillful in his profession, warm in his attachments, devoted in his friendship, benevolent and charitable to the poor and needy. It may be said of him that his generosity and charity have always kept him poor. He died in the full triumphs of the Christian faith." This is a true and comprehensive portrait. He lived and labored, not for himself, but for the good of mankind. His soul grasped with the embrace of philanthropy the whole human family. Hence all good men were his friends, and the destitute and suffering mingled itheir tears over his grave.

His father was a Presbyterian Minister who early taught him the principles of religion, and in his tender youth he experienced the conversion of his soul and became a sincere Christian. He united himself with the church of his father, and remained one of its most devoted members until his death. His mind, by nature strong and vigorous, was cultivated by profound study in every department of knowledge. In theology as well as medicine he was deeply versed, on which subject he maintained a regular correspondence, during many years, with several of the most eminent divines in Europe. He united a mildness of disposition, and affability of deportment, with the emotions of a heart richly imbued with the spirit of Christ, from whose altar he daily derived the holy fire that perpetually burned in ardent attachment to his blessed cause, and zeal for the prosperity of Zion.

Thus was he peculiarly qualified for the important sphere in which by his profession he was called to act, and adapted to administer to the spiritual as well as to the bodily diseases of the sick and the afflicted, the dying and the survivors of the dead. He now rests from his labors, and will reap in heaven the full rewards which earth could neither give nor take away.

The name of Dr. Urial S. Lindsley appears on the Lindsley monument in Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery.

Laura Francis Parker, 1873-1875

According the to THE HISTORY AND GENEALOGY OF THE GURLEY FAMILY, by Albert E. Gurley (Willimantic, Connecticut, 1897, Laura Francis Gurley was born on September 16, 1873 to James D. Parker and Sarah Susannah Gurley Parker. Little Laura died on her second birthday, September 16, 1875. The Oakland Cemetery interment card for Laura F. Parker states that she was first buried at the Perkins Cemetery, but later was re-interred at Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio, near her parents' final resting place. Laura F. Parker's great grandfather was the pioneer Methodist minister Rev. William Gurley.

"Day for Genealogists" Scheduled at Sandusky Library on September 20, 2014

The Sandusky History blog just announced that a "Day for Genealogists" will be held at the Sandusky Library on Saturday, September 20. 2014. The morning session, from 10:30 to Noon, will feature a session on researching your family tree. After the lunch break, from 1 to 5 p.m., an the library will be open to genealogists. Researchers can use the library's computers, or browse through hundreds of local and family history books and microfilmed records. Join us for a fun day!

Harmon Wilcox and Maria Mabel Hubbard Wilcox

Harmon Wilcox was born in Connecticut on September 17, 1800. His wife Maria Mabel Hubbard was born in Connecticut on February 17, 1806. By the 1830s, according to Ohio tax records, Harmon Wilcox was residing in Morgan Township, Ashtabula County, Ohio. In the 1860 U.S. Census, H. Wilcox was living in Sandusky, Erie County, Ohio, along with his wife and two members of the Hubbard family. On August 29, 1867, Harmon Wilcox died, and was buried in Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery. By the time of the 1880 U.S. Census, Maria Mabel Hubbard Wilcox was listed as M.M. Wilcox in the census. She was residing with her son, Sandusky businessman Rollin M. Wilcox. Maria Mabel Hubbard Wilcox died on September 12, 1893. She was buried next to her husband in the family lot at Oakland Cemetery.

To read more about the Hubbard family, see the book ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF HUBBARD HISTORY,  866 TO 1895, available at the Internet Archive. (Maria is mentioned on page 297.)

Mrs. Georgiana Holcombe Hubbard, 1826-1916

Miss Georgiana Hubbard was born in Connecticut on July 18, 1826, to Daniel B. Holcombe and Sarah Case Holcombe. In September of 1846, Georgiana Hubbard married Watson Hubbard, a man who would eventually have large interests in the lumber business, both in Michigan and in Ohio. In 1867, Watson and Georgiana Hubbard were residing in Sandusky, at the northwest corner of Wayne and Jefferson Streets. Three children were born to Watson and Georgiana Hubbard, but two died in childhood, Georgiana and Franklin Hubbard. Elizabeth Hubbard, the daughter of Watson and Georgiana Hubbard, survived to adulthood, and she became the wife of Jay Caldwell Butler. Watson Hubbard passed away in 1907. Mrs. Georgiana Holcombe Hubbard lived to be ninety years of age. She died in Sandusky, Ohio on September 10, 1916, at her home at 429 Wayne Street. A lengthy obituary for Georgiana Hubbard was featured in the September 11, 1916 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal, written by one who knew her well. The author of the tribute had the initials J.H.L.D. (Most likely this was Jennie Livingston Hubbard Denig.) The obituary read in part:

"The death of Georgiana Holcombe Hubbard on September 10, 1916, removes from our midst a beautiful character - fearless, unselfish, generous and dignified. In her we felt we could depend; she would be ever the true friend and wise counsellor, for she embodied the graces of common sense, discretion, true perception, discrimination, straightforwardness and right judgment. Her brain and body and spirit were perfectly balanced and splendidly co-ordinate. She possessed a remarkable and accurate knowledge of the world's history and her logical mind loved to trace the influence of the past on current events, with which she was always well informed. Her mind did not age with her body. ...Mrs. Hubbard had a tender heart and open hand for those distressed and needing help. She gave freely and without ostentation. Not even those nearest her always knew!"

Mrs. Georgiana Holcombe Hubbard was an active member of Grace Episcopal Church. Funeral services for Mrs. Hubbard were held at the family residence on Wayne Street. Burial was in Oakland Cemetery.

Confida Textor

The Oakland Cemetery interment card for Confida Textor indicates that she died from a fever, at the age of two years and three months. Though the month of April was listed, the year of her death was not recorded. A search of birth, death, and census records yielded no results. Several other Textor family members are buried in Block 59 at Oakland Cemetery, but little Confida was buried in Block 59. Today, no stone remains at Oakland Cemetery for Confida.

Confida appears to be a feminine name based on the root word of confide. A quick search at Ancestry Library Edition for individuals with the first name of Confida showed several females of Italian descent, and one member of a religious order named Sister Confida.

Three separate Textor families appear on page 207 of SANDUSKY EINST UND JETZT, a book which chronicles the early German settlers in Sandusky, Ohio, and is accessible at Google Books.





Mostly likely Confida Textor was the daughter or granddaughter of one these early Textor residents of Sandusky. The little girl with the beautiful name remains a mystery. May she rest in peace.

Tombstone Tuesday: Edward Slackford, 1823-1875

This flat tombstone, which honors the memory of Edward Slackford, is found in Block 55 of Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery. According to Church of England records, found at Family Search, Edward Slackford was born on March 22, 1823 to Thomas and Ann (Sinnock) Slackford. He was christened in the Church of England in Playford, Suffolk County, England on April 27, 1823.

In the 1870 U.S. Census for Erie County, Ohio, Edward Slackford and his wife Ann were residing in Sandusky, Ohio. They have a large family in their household:

Edward, age 22
Thomas, age 16
Hattie, age 11
Clara, age 8
George, age 5
Kate, age 3

Edward Slackford, the father, was 47 years old in 1870, and both he and his son named Edward both listed their occupation as sailor. Edward Slackford died on September 2, 1875, and he was buried at Oakland Cemetery on September 5, 1875.