Did Dad Really Feed the Bears in Bay Bridge in the 1940s?

Pictured to the left are: my dad, Paul Orshoski, in his Navy uniform, with his brother Cliff Orshoski on the left, and new nephew Luther Gantz, Jr. in the middle, during the World War Two years.

My dad rarely told me stories of his growing up years, but once he told me that Minerva Gray, who ran the general store and Post Office in Bay Bridge, used to pay him a quarter to feed the bears she had in Bay Bridge. Well, I thought he must have been teasing me, as I just couldn't imagine a young man feeding bears in Bay Bridge!

Today I ran into this excerpt of a news article from the Sandusky Star Journal of January of January 27, 1940. It turns out that there were two black bears of the former service station in Bay Bridge! Dad was telling me the truth! Oh, how I wish he had told me more stories!

 

Frank Schmitt, Civil War Veteran

The monument honoring the memory of Frank Schmitt is found in Block 27 at Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery. Frank Schmitt was born in Germany in 1831, and he died in Sandusky in 1883.

 

Military records at Fold3 indicate that Frank Schmitt served in Company F in the 28th Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. He achieved the rank of First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Thank you for your service! 

The same monument on which the name of Frank Schmitt appears has the names of members of the Strohmeier and Brown families. To date, the exact relationships have not been determined, but it is likely that Frank Schmitt is related to the Stohmeriers and Browns in Sandusky, Ohio.

Learning about the Hertlein Campsite on the Appalachian Trail

Image courtesy Pinterest

 

Close family friends of mine are descended from the Hertlein family, whose ancestors were longtime farmers in Erie County, Ohio, with deep German roots. One of the sisters heard of a Hertlein Campsite on the Appalachian Trail. She wondered how that campsite came to be named Hertlein.

It turns out that a brewer in Reading, Pennsylvania, named John Michael Hertlein, appreciated nature and hiking. After John Michael Hertlein died in 1927, his wife, Anna K. Hertlein, donated several acres of land near Schubert's Gap  in Berks County to the state of Pennsylvania, now a part of the Appalachian Trail. In about 1930 a cabin called the Hertlein cabin was built. Eventually the cabin was demolished due to repeated vandalism. The area is now known as the Hertlein Campsite.

Mr.and Mrs. John Michael Hertlein are buried in the Charles Evans Cemetery in Berks County, Pennsylvania. 

Image courtesy Find a Grave

This picture of Mr. and Mrs. John Michael Hertlein, along with their grandson, appeared on a Passport application in 1921, accessed at Ancestry.com, before they embarked on a trip to Europe.

Thank you Mr. and Mrs. John Michael Hertlein for your generosity to nature lovers who hike the Appalachian Trail.

To read more about the Appalachian Trail, visit the travel section of your local library. Articles about the Hertlein donation of land are found in the Reading Times of October 27, 1930, and July 25, 1934.

Miss Mary E. Comstock, Educator

 

Mary Eliza Comstock was born in Sandusky, Ohio in 1839 to Thomas Comstock and his wife, the former Martha Carr. After graduating from Sandusky High School, Mary taught school at Kelleys Island and at Sandusky City Schools, In the early 1870s, Mary E. Comstock moved to Cleveland. She was eventually promoted to the principalship of the Walton School. She retired from that position in 1907.

Miss Comstock passed away on May 5, 1924. She was laid to rest in the family lot at Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery.

 

Top image courtesy: Educational History of Ohio, by James Jesse Burns (Columbus, Ohio, 1905)

Terrific Tool: Online Searchable Death Indexes and Records

 

A very helpful tool for genealogy reseach is Joe Beine's Online Seachable Death Indexes and Records. 

To us this site, just select the state for which you are looking for death records. From the state, then select the county. For Erie County, Ohio, the choices that are retrieved include:

Oakland Cemetery Burials

and

Milan Cemetery Burials

No matter where your ancestors live in the United States, you can see what death indexes and records are available for that location, by searching this site.

Oakland Cemetery, Erie County, Ohio

Naturalization of James Till

On January 8, 1852, James P. Till declared his intention to be a naturalized citizen of the United States. His brother William A. Till stated that James had resided in the U.S. for three years. Judge E.M. Colver signed the document.  James P. Till renounced his allegiance to Victoria Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. Prior to moving to the United States, James had lived in Canada, which was under the umbrella of the United Kingdom.

Queen Victoria mage courtesy Wikipedia

Sadly, James P. Till died in an industrial accident in Cleveland in 1903 when he was on the job as an engineer for the Cleveland Grain Drying Company. James P. Till was laid to rest in Oakland Cemetery.

Rest in peace, Mr. Till.

When the series Victoria was on PBS a few years ago, I never missed an episode. History comes to life when seeing the name of a local resident mentioning Queen Victoria on a naturalization document!

Following the life of Julia Anna Townsend Jacobs

Photo credit: J. Mazza

 

Mrs. Julia Anna Townsend Jacobs was born in 1837, in Sandusky, Ohio, to William and Maria (Lamson) Townsend. Sadly, Mr. and Mrs. Townsend, and one of their daughters, and Mrs. Townsend's sister. all died in the 1849 Cholera epidemic. By 1850, Julia was residing with her sister, Mary Townsend Cooke, and her brother in law Pitt Cooke.

In 1859, Julia Townsend married Angelo Jacobs, sometimes known as Thomas Angelo Jacobs. Julia and Angelo Jacobs had two sons in the early 1860s, Townsend Jacobs and Thomas Pitt Jacobs.

Angelo Jacobs seems to disappear from Julia's life in later census records. In 1872, Julia A. Jacobs applied for a Passport (accessed at Ancestry.com) with the intention of traveling with two minor sons.

By 1885, a Minnesota Territorial Census lists a J.A. Jacobs with two sons, T.H. and T.P. (most likely T.A.) Jacobs.

An article in the June 11, 1914 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that Tacoma praised former Sandusky resident Julia Jacobs.

The article stated that Mrs. Julia Jacobs died in Chicago on May 23, 1914. She had resided in Tacoma, Washington from 1887 to 1897. While in Tacoma, Julia was very active in St. Luke's Church, where she served as president of the Girls Guild. An excerpt from the article reads "She endeared herself to many friends in the years she lived here." 

The remains of Julia Anna Townsend Jacobs were taken to Sandusky, for burial at Oakland Cemetery. Julia Jacobs was survived by two sons, Townsend Jacobs and Thomas Pitt Jacobs. She was laid to rest in the family lot, near her parents and sisters.