Scout Honors Veterans at the Castalia Cemetery

Click here to read about a Boy Scout who is honoring U.S. Veterans by replacing flag holders at the grave sites of Veterans. Good Job Trent!

Tombstone Tuesday: Mallos Monument at Rock Creek Cemetery

Photograph by T. Renwand

This lovely angelic monument at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington D.C. honors the memory James B. Mallos (1885-1959), his wife Alexandra (1888-1968), and their daughter Helen (1911-1959). The 1940 U.S. Census lists the birthplace of all these members of the Mallos family as Greece. At that time, James was employed as a salesman, and the family resided in Police District 6 in the District of Columbia. 

Photo credit: Thanks so much to my nephew Tony for taking this picture.

Sentimental Sunday: Life Magazine Archives

When I was young, I remember often seeing an issue of Look and Life magazine on our living room coffee table. Recently I was browsing through the April 20, 1953 issue of Life Magazine at the Life Magazine Archives housed at Google Books.

At that time, housewives all across the U.S. were making both pudding and pies with Jell-O products.

In the July 20, 1953 issue of Life, a picture of members of President Eisenhower's family were pictured at the Easter egg roll hosted at the White House.

In 1953 the defrosting Kelvinator was a popular refrigerator.

Many of us will recall the popularity of Lane cedar chests and hope chests in the 1950s and 60s.

Visit the Life Magazine Archives, and you will see the types of advertisements that your parents and grandparents saw in years gone by!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: April 25, 2015

Randy at Genea-Musings has this challenge for today's edition of Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:

1)  Show us one of your favorite photographs of your family - a group, yourself, your mom, your dad, your sibling(s), your grandparents, etc.  Tell us about it - the date, the event, the setting, the persons in the photograph.

2)  Share it on your own blog, in a comment on this blog, or on Facebook or Google+.

This is one of my favorite family photographs. It is my parents and all my siblings for a family picture taken for Grace Lutheran Church in Castalia, Ohio about 1970.

My brother Todd is in the yellow shirt; Matt has on a blue shirt and red tie. My sister Robin has on  the purple and white dress. The tall one in the back is my brother Paul, and I am on the right, in a blue flowered dress. Between my parents, Joyce Parker Orshoski and Paul R. Orshoski, Sr., is my baby sister Kellie in pigtails. It is one of the last family pictures taken before we started getting married, and having families of our own. Between all of us six children, we produced twenty grandchildren, and many great grandchildren, with more on the way. My mom Joyce really loved having family pictures taken!

Cemeteries, by Keith Eggener

Earlier this week, I ran into this amazing book entitled CEMETERIES, by Keith Eggener. It is based on the historical collections of the Library of Congress, and features photographs of cemeteries from all over the United States. It is from a series of Sourcebooks published by Norton and the Library of Congress.  Click here to read a review of the book CEMETERIES.  An online database of the pictures found within the book is found at:

/http://www.wwnorton.com/npb/loc/cemeteries/

I cannot wait to spend more time looking at these amazing pictures which showcase the art and history and architecture so often found in cemeteries.

Samuel Summers Walker, 1849-1898

Samuel Summers Walker was born in Perkins Township, Erie County, Ohio in 1849. His parents were Samuel Walker and Betsey Summer Walker, pioneer residents of Erie County. In the year that Samuel S. Walker was born, a dreadful cholera epidemic struck the city of Sandusky. Those living in township outside the city limits had the advantage of escaping the dreaded disease. In about 1878, Samuel S. Walker and his family moved to Toledo, Ohio. On April 22, 1898, Samuel Summers Walker died after a lengthy illness. He was a brother of the late Mrs. John Hull, nee Angeline Walker, and an uncle to Judge Linn Walker Hull and the Rev. John H. Hull. The remains of  Samuel Summers Walker were brought back to Sandusky for burial in Oakland Cemetery. He was survived by a wife and three grown children. An obituary for Samuel S. Walker appeared in the April 23, 1898 issue of the Sandusky Register.

Sentimental Sunday: Former Elementary School in Marblehead, Ohio

From 1893 to 1935, this structure was an elementary school in Danbury Township, Ottawa County, Ohio.  It was built by the Kelly Island Lime and Transport Company, from native limestone. 

For about twenty years, the Schoolhouse Gallery was at this location, and sold items with a nautical theme. Now the former schoolhouse is home to the Red Fern Inn at Rocky Point Winery.

Here is a picture of a pump that once served as Marblehead’s first public water supply.

To read more about the history of Danbury Township, see the Firelands Pioneer of June 1870. On pages 63 to 75, you will find an article by A.H. Agard, entitled “Historical Sketches of Danbury Township,” also available at Google Books.

Upcoming Ohio Genealogical Events

Click here to see a schedule of upcoming classes about Ohio genealogy, sponsored by the Ohio Genealogical Society. Many,but not all, will be held at the OGS Library in Bellville, Ohio.

Tombstone Tuesday: Henry Schlottag

According to the Ancestral File portion of Family Search, Heinrich Schlottag was born on May 27, 1853, in Pommern, Germany, to Ferdinand and Carolina (Barz) Schlottag. Heinrich eventually changed his name to Henry. Records at Erie County Probate show that Henry Schlottag married Minnie Keil on September 24, 1855.

Henry Schlottag died on April 13, 1898. The April 18, 1898 issue of the Sandusky Morning Star reported that Mr. Schlottag's funeral was at held at St. Stephen's Church, and a large number of family and friends were in attendance. Burial was at Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery.

William Hoffman, 1830-1894

William Hoffman and his wife, the former Elizabeth Ohlemacher, were natives of Germany. By 1880 they were residing in Sandusky, Ohio where Mr. Hoffman worked at a lime kiln. In 1880, the children in the Hoffman home were Dora, age 21, Lizzie, age 15, Willie, age 14, and Phillip, age 9. Daughter Hermine was already married by 1880, to Ernest Heyman. After being injured in an accident, William Hoffman died on April 7, 1894. An obituary which appeared in the April 9, 1894 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that William Hoffman died at the home of his daughter and son in law, James and Lizzie Turney. Sadly, two deaths took place at the James Turney residence within twenty four hours. The mother of James Turney, Mrs. Mary Turney, passed away on April 8, 1894. What a difficult time this must have been for the Turney family, to lose two loved ones at the same time. William Hoffman was buried at Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery next to his wife Elizabeth, who had passed away in 1890.

Caroline Buck

Caroline Buck was the daughter of J. and M. Buck. Her tombstone is found in Deyo Cemetery in Erie County. It is quite difficult to read the inscription on Caroline's grave marker, but it appears that Caroline was born in 1878 and died in 1885.

Young Caroline most likely belongs to the family of John Buck, whose family is listed in the 1880 U.S. Census for Erie County. The family members are:

Adults in the family:

John Buck, age 45, occupation farmer,born in Wuerttemberg

Margaret, age 36,
born in Wuerttemberg

Children in the family:

William, age 16, born in Wuerttemberg
Charles, age 13, born in Wuerttemberg
Frederick, age 9, born in Ohio
Mary J., age 8, born in Ohio
John, age 5, born in Ohio
Caroline, age 2, born in Ohio
Christian, age 1, born in Ohio

Happy Easter!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: When I Was Young, Part One

Randy, at Genea-Musings, has challenged us with five questions in this week's edition of Saturday Genealogy Fun.  The challenge reads:

1)  Geneablogger Alona Tester has devised a new meme called the "When I Was Young" genea-meme on her blog, LoneTester HQ.

2)  Since the genea-meme is 25 questions, let's do them five at a time.  This week, answer questions 1 to 5.

3)  Share your answers on your own blog post, in a comment on this blog post, or in a Facebook post or a Google+ post.

===========================================

Here are my questions and answers:

1)  Do you (or your parents) have any memorabilia from when you were a baby? (ie. baby book, lock of hair, first shoes etc.)

I have my baby book and my first shoes, bronzed.

2)  Do you know if you were named after anyone?

I was named after my maternal grandmother Doris, and her mother, Irene. Put together, they spell Dorene!

3)  And do you know of any other names your parents might have named you?

My mother wanted to name me Timothy, if I had been a boy. My dad said that when his oldest son ran onto to the Ohio State football field, Timothy Orshoski just didn’t sound right! Luckily, my three brothers were interested in sports, as my favorite sport is reading!

4)  What is your earliest memory?

My earliest memory is my parents bringing home baby girl Robin, when I was 4 years old.

5)  Did your parent/s (or older siblings) read, sing or tell stories to you? Do you remember any of these?

My mother and great grandmothers read to me often, but sadly I do not remember it at all. Mom said that when Great Grandma Irene took us to California by train, Gram Irene read Little Golden books to me all the way there.

Thanks for the fun, Randy!

Lew J. Griffiths

According to his death record, available at Family Search, Lewis J. Griffiths was born in Warren, Ohio to Benjamin and Jennie (Richard) Griffiths, who were both natives of Wales.  An article in the April 2, 1932 issue of the Sandusky Register indicated that Mr. Griffiths had lived in Sandusky since about 1902, having arrived here in association with the Oscar Cook stock company. While in Sandusky, Lew J. Griffiths was very active in staging several amateur theatricals. He and George J. Lehrer had been in charge of the historical pageant held in Sandusky during the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the Incorporation of the City of Sandusky. On April 2, 1932, Lew J. Griffiths died after a brief illness, at the age of fifty. His obituary in the Register stated that he had been one of "Sandusky's best known men."  Mr. Griffiths was survived by his wife Laura, his mother, his sister, and one son. Funeral services for Lew J. Griffiths were held at Charles J. Andres Sons funeral home, and burial was at Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery. At the time of his death, Lew J. Griffiths was engaged in planning a revue under the auspices of the Providence Hospital. Sadly, he passed away at Providence Hospital before completion of the production.