Helen Toucey Taylor

The name of Helen H. Toucey (spelled Hellen H. Tousey in the census) appears in the 1850 U.S. Census for Fairfield County, Connecticut, with the family of Jacob and Eunice Tousey/Toucey. The IGI portion of FamilySearch provides this birth record:

Helen Hildreth Toucey was born to Jacob Beers Toucey and Eunice Burr Clarke on December 11, 1849 in Newtown, Connecticut. Her death date is listed as January 29, 1885.


THE TOUSEY FAMILY IN AMERICA, available at The Internet Archive, states that Helen Hildreth Tousey married William Nice Taylor on September 15, 1875. They had a daughter, Eunice May Taylor, who was born in 1883. Eunice May Taylor married Garfield Rogers.

Mrs. Helen Toucey Taylor is buried at the North Monroeville Cemetery. Her tombstone is elevated, supported by four legs. It would be interesting to know more details about her life, and learn what brought her to Ohio from Connecticut.

Video Clip about Arlington Cemetery on C-Span2

Image Courtesy of U.S.G.S.

Robert Poole discusses his book ON HALLOWED GROUND: THE STORY OF ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY in this video clip from Book TV, on C-SPAN2.

Click here to view the clip.

Frank B. Butler

Frank B. Butler was one of five sons born to Samuel W. Butler and Clarissa Boalt Butler. As a young man, Samuel settled in Venice, Ohio, where he operated a grist mill. Later, he moved to Sandusky, where he operated a large commission business. (See article 18 of Helen Hansen's book AT HOME IN EARLY SANDUSKY to read more about the Butler family and their former home on Wayne Street in Sandusky.)

For several years, Frank Butler worked as a cashier in his brother's business, George R. Butler & Co. The firm manufactured doors and sashes. Frank's brother John M. Butler married Sarah Cooke, a daughter of Civil War financier Jay Cooke. Frank was mentioned in the book entitled LETTERS HOME. During his service in the Civil War, Jay Caldwell Butler wrote letters home, and his son later compiled the letters written to and received by Jay Caldwell Butler. In his letters, Jay told of how he missed his brothers back at home in Sandusky.

After a lengthy illness, Frank B. Butler died in Manitou Springs, Colorado, on January 25, 1899. He had gone west in hope of improving his health. An obituary for Frank Butler, from the January 31, 1899 Sandusky Register. reported on Frank Butler's funeral: "The deceased was well and favorably known and many friends attended..." Rev. Claude Kelly conducted the funeral service, and burial was at Oakland Cemetery. Mrs. Anabel Butler died in 1912, and she is also buried at Oakland.

"Blogger's Best Friend Award"

Thank you so much, Linda, at the Flipside, for the "Blogger's Best Friend Award!" I had worked all day, and also had a challenging evening with two very active grandchildren, so it was a very nice surprise.

"Bandit," the developer of the "A Blogger's Best Friend Award," says it should be given to your most loyal blog readers. Thus, the award should be given to a follower of yours who takes the time to comment regularly on many of your posts. In addition his or her blog should be creative, funny and always entertaining. Upon receiving this award, pass it along to two fellow bloggers who fit this criteria.

I am passing along the "Blogger's Best Friend Award" to:

Southern Graves

and

All My Branches Genealogy

Congratulations, fellow bloggers!

New Article at Graveyard Rabbit Online Journal

An excellent article entitled Churchyard Literature: A Short Essay on Epitaphs by Stephanie Lincecum is now available at the Graveyard Rabbit Online Journal.

The epitaph pictured above is located on the back of the tombstone for Jay C. Smith, who died in 1928. He is buried at the Castalia Cemetery in Erie County, Ohio.

Tombstone Tuesday

Carl Franz is buried at Sandusky's Oakland Cemtery. THE ERIE COUNTY, OHIO CEMETERY CENSUS BEFORE 1909 lists these dates of birth and death for Carl:

born March 26, 1826
died Jan. 18, 1864


Clasped hands are at the top of the tombstone of Carl Franz, indicating a welcome to the heavenly realm. Mr. Franz's inscription is in the German language.

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy: Week 2

A prompt from We Tree, "52 Weeks to Better Genealogy," hosted by Geneabloggers, has challenged bloggers to examine the local history, archives and/or special collections section. A library that Ohio genealogists, Graveyard Rabbits, and anyone researching their family heritage would find helpful is the Sandusky Library, close to the shores of Sandusky Bay in Erie County, Ohio. The Sandusky Library is dear to my heart, as I have worked there on and off since I was age 18 years old. (Let’s just say that I began working there long ago….) The items that I find especially helpful for local history and genealogy are:

High School Yearbooks

Sandusky City Directories

Bound issues of the Firelands Pioneer, which features journal articles about early Erie and Huron County residents.

The many computers housed in the Lower Level of the Sandusky Library provide access to Ancestry Library Edition as well as Heritage Quest.

The Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library houses a multitude of photographs

as well as

newspapers, local government records, and cemetery records on microfilm.

The Sandusky Library features a local history blog.

The Follett House Museum has several multimedia links.

Another library that is close to Erie County is the Library of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center at Spiegel Grove in Fremont, Ohio. The library has an amazing local history and genealogy collection.

The Obituary Index, housed at the website of the Hayes Presidential Center is invaluable for anyone looking for obituaries in Ohio.

Consider visiting these libraries in you are in the northern section of Ohio, but if you cannot go there in person, stop by their web sites.