Horace Jay Bell, 1846-1864

 

Photo credit: J Mazza

Horace Jay Bell was born in 1846, the son of John Beatty Bell and his wife the former Eliza A. Coggeshall. His great grandfathers, Eleazur Bell and John Beatty were pioneer settlers of Erie County, Ohio. John Beatty was also an abolitionist and one time Mayor of Sandusky, Ohio.In 1864 Horace Jay Bell enlisted in Co. B, 145th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. According to the book The Coggeshalls in America, in the summer of 1864, Horace died from typhoid fever, which he contracted while serving in the Army during the Civil War. He was only 18 years of age. He was buried in Lot 32 of Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio.

Rest in Peace Horace Jay Bell.

Twin Children of Mr. and Mrs. C.C. Keech

In the records of Grace Episcopal Church, in Sandusky, Ohio twin children born to Mr. and Mrs. C.C. Keech were baptized on November 8, 1864. The sponsors at the baptism were Mr. and Mrs. Keech along with Mrs. McMeens.

The twins were christened:

Robert McMeens Keech and Ann McMeens Keech

Dr. Robert McMeens had been a physician in Sandusky, Ohio, and he died while serving in the Third Regiment of the  Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. Mrs. Anna McMeens, once a Civil War nurse, went on to serve as a housekeeper for Jay Cooke for many years.

The names of the twins born to Mr. and Mrs. Keech in 1863, were a nod to the beloved Sandusky physician and his wife. Sadly, Robert McMeens Keech died at the age of 22 in May, 1885. Ann/Anna McMeens Keech married William P. Gosser. Anna died at the age of 35 in 1898. Robert McMeens Keech and Anna McMeens Keech Gosser were both buried at Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio.

 C.C. Keech is remembered as a business man in Sandusky, as well as a philanthropist. 

His first wife, and the mother of the twins, Louisa Carr Keech, died in 1868, when the twin children were only five years of age.

The Tragic Death of James Nugent

 

James Nugent was an Irish immigrant, who settled in Sandusky, Ohio. He was killed in a tragic railroad accident on September 13, 1879. According to the Sandusky Register of September 15, 1879, five men were returning from their day’s work on the B and O Railroad, on a hand car. They saw the switch train of the Lake Shore Railroad approaching. When they applied the brakes on the hand car, rain on the tracks prevented the brakes from working properly. James Nugent was killed instantly, and Michael Cassidy was injured seriously. The other three men were able to jump off the hand car.

Rev. R.A. Sidley officiated at the funeral of James Nugent, and burial was at St. Joseph’s Cemtery. James Nugent left behind a wife, Eliza Nugent, and two young sons, Thomas and James. Mrs. Nugent sued the railroad for damages for her husband’s death, and in 1885, she was awarded $3000. The case went to the Ohio Supreme Court before it was finally settled.

Though the monument for James Nugent has 1880 for his death year, all other records indicate he died in September of 1879. May he rest in peace.

Miss Emma Maher

 

Emma Maher was born in 1885 in Sandusky, Ohio to Philip Maher, an Irish immigrant, and his wife, the former Jane Norton (sometimes listed as Naughton), a native of Massachusetts. The Maher family resided for many years at 316 McDonough Street, in Sandusky, Ohio. In the 1900 U.S. Census, Emma was residing with her father, Philip Maher, a boiler maker, her mother Jane, and siblings Maggie, Ellen, Emma and Robert. By 1920, Emma’s mother had passed away, and she was residing in Sandusky with her father Philip, and her sister Maggie Maher Doyen and Maggie’s two sons. Emma was working as a sales lady in a department store.

Emma  Maher passed away on September 20, 1942. She had been working at the Cohn’s store at the time of her death. Funeral services for Miss Emma Maher were held at the family home at 316 McDonough Street, with Father H.J. Foran officiating.  She was buried at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio.

Leonard Catri

 

Leonard/Leonardo Charles Catri was born in Italy in 1869. He emigrated in the early 1900s to the USA. By the time of the 1910 U.S. Census, he was residing in Huron, Ohio with his wife Angeline, several children, and two boarders. His occupation was that of a railroad worker. Eventually Mr. Catri became a labor foreman at the railroad.  On Friday, October 3, 1913, Leonard Catri was killed in a tragic accident at the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway ore docks at Huron, Ohio. An article in the October 4, 1913 issue of the Sandusky Register stated that Mr. Catri was so well known, that he was called the "King of Little Italy." Leonard Catri's funeral was held at the Catholic Church in Huron, and he was buried at St. Anthony Cemetery in Milan, Ohio.