Leonard Hope

Leonard Hope was born in 1856, and died in 1871. He is buried in Strong's Ridge Cemetery, in Huron County, Ohio.
The inscription "Alive in Christ" is found below his name on his grave marker.

So far, the names of the parents of Leonard Hope have not been found. Leonard Hope is listed in the Erie County, Ohio 1870 Census, as a fourteen year old, living with the family of Worthington and Betsy Nims in Groton Township, Erie County, Ohio.

Joseph D'Ambrosio

Joseph D'Ambrosio died on May 4, 1951, at age 47. Joseph was born in Italy on September 1, 1903 to Jacob D'Ambrosio and Marie Timoniare, according to his death certificate, available at Family Search Labs. He had owned and operated a barber shop at 305 West Market Street in Sandusky for many years.

Mr. D'Ambrosio was a member of Saints Peter and Paul Church, the Italian-American Beneficial Club, and the Journeymen Barber's Union, Local 263. He was survived by his widow, Ethel, his mother Marie, three sisters and two brothers. The funeral for Joseph D'Ambrosio was held at Keller Funeral Home, and he was buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in Sandusky.

Remembrance Booklet from the Funeral of Doris Wheeler Parker

My maternal grandmother, Doris Wheeler Parker, died on May 6, 1943, long before I was born, and when my mom was only eleven years old. Her funeral arrangements were handled by the Andres Funeral Home on Jackson Street in Sandusky.


















After my mom was an adult, she filled in portions of the remembrance booklet from my grandmother's funeral.














Since Doris's father was never a part of her life, Mom left the space for his name blank.


















Though they were divorced at time of Grandma Doris's death, her former husband, Steen L. Parker came to the funeral and he signed the booklet.














Grandma Doris had a group of friends who worked at Simplex. Those ladies put the word Simplex after their signatures.















Longtime friends Louie and Adeline Moosbrugger came to the calling hours at the funeral home for Grandma Doris.














She left this earth much too soon, but Grandma Doris was deeply loved and remembered.

My Family Has Always Loved Reading!

Reading was a part of my life as long as I can remember! Mom says that when I was little, I read Little Golden Books by the hour. We also read magazines like Look and Life, and the Bible. Once my brothers and sisters and I started school, we read lots of books for our book report assignments. My first grade teacher gave me a copy of ANGUS AND THE CAT, which I treasured forever. The Paul Orshoski,Sr. family is pictured above in 1960. (I am holding the book of Christmas carols from which we are pretending to sing.) During the summer months, I would wait outside under the tree waiting for the latest issue of the summer edition of the Weekly Reader to arrive in the mailbox.

Sometimes as a youngster I got to go to the library in Sandusky, where I often participated in the Summer Reading Program. If you read ten books, the Librarians would come to our school during Children's Book Week in the fall, and present a certificate to all who completed the Summer Reading Program of the Sandusky Library. As I got older, I read to my younger siblings. Sometimes when reading Mother Goose rhymes to to my little sister Kellie, I would make up extra verses to "Old Mother Hubbard" just to make her laugh. When Kellie was old enough to read by herself, she would sit in a chair and read MILLIONS OF CATS to our pet cat Patches. The cat loved it!

(Though Kellie read to the cat, she is pictured above with Sam the dog.)

I have worked in libraries for over thirty years, so I have been surrounded by books for a long, long time! My favorite type of book now is biography, but of course I read information from genealogical web sites and Google Books every day. Now that I am a mom and a grandma, I have had the pleasure of reading to my children (now all grown up) and my grandchildren. Reading books is a wonderful way to have fun, learn new things, and spend quality time with loved ones. I am very thankful for books, and to my parents, who always saw to it that we had plenty of reading materials at our house. My brother,Paul Orshoski, Jr., is the author of several children's books. Check out his website!

Bernhard and Susan Schweighart

According to the 1900 United States Census for the city of Sandusky in Erie County, Ohio, Bernhard Schweighart (spelled Benhart in the census listing) was born in Germany in 1861, and came to the United States in 1882.(Bernhard's tombstone is inscribed with the birth year of 1862.) He was 38 years of age at this time, and his wife Susan was 46. Living in the household were children: Charles, age 11; Dora, age 9; Edward, age 7; Peter, age 5; and a stepdaughter to Bernhard, a girl named Mertie Comley, age 17. Bernhard's occupation was day laborer. Erie County Probate Records indicate that Bernhard Schweighart married Susan Bruckner on December 27, 1887.

In an emigration document from Germany line number 5 lists a Bernhard Schweikart who was 17 years old when he emigrated in 1881. He was from Münchhof,Germany. The family listed at number 8 was that of Lorenz Yaeger, whose wife's maiden name was Maria Scheikart. Bernhard may have been related to the Yaeger family, whose surname was later spelled Yeager. The spellings of the surnames as well as the ages do not match up perfectly with later census and vital records, but that is not unusual in genealogical research.

Bernhard Schweighart passed away on May 3, 1939, following a cerebral hemorrhage. His interment card from Oakland Cemetery states that he was buried on May 5, 1939. An obituary for Bernhard Schweighart, from the 1939 OBITUARY NOTEBOOK, at the Sandusky Library, stated that Mr. Schweighart had died at the home of his son Ed, in Huron, Ohio. He had been a member of the Maccabees for thirty years. Bernhard Schweighart was buried at Oakland Cemetery, next to his wife, the former Susan Bruckner, who had died in 1932.

Bay Bridge Sign

Recently a sign that reads "Bay Bridge" was placed just outside the small unincorporated area, located along the Sandusky Bay, six miles northwest of Sandusky. This location has been home to six generations of my family, going back to my great grandparents, Joseph and Julia Orshoski, who settled here about 1917. Many, many of my male relatives worked at the Medusa Cement factory, from 1917 until it closed in 1960.










When I stopped to snap a picture of the Bay Bridge sign, I could hear several varieties of birds and insects in the woods next to the sign.

Thanks, Great Grandpa Joe, for finding this delightful spot in Erie County, Ohio!

Oley Kriss, Perished Aboard the Kelley Island

Oley Kriss was born in Norway on February 9, 1873. In the 1910 U.S. Census, Oley lived with his wife Rose, and three children in Huron, Ohio. He later moved to Sandusky, Ohio. On May 2, 1925, Oley Kriss was part of a crew of sixteen men who left Sandusky in the morning, aboard the steamer the Kelley Island, a sandsucker owned by the Kelley Island Lime and Transport Company. The vessel capsized in rough water on the afternoon of May 2, 1925, just off Point Pelee in Canadian waters. Nine men perished in the disaster, including Captain William G. Slackford, his son William A. Slackford, Oley Kriss, Frederick Holder, William Mayer, Paul Everett, Rolland Will, Alvey Martin, and Thomas Moran. An article in the Sandusky newspaper stated:

Caught unawares, the crew showed heroism worthy of all traditions of the Great Lakes, four of the men going to their death in a valiant but futiile effort to stem the rush of water into the ship, the captain staying in the pilot house as the vessel keeled over, and one of the survivors braving death a second time to rescue his comrades.

Seven men were rescued, having been picked up by the crew of the Canadian fishing vessel the Flossie B. It was determined that the Kelley Island capsized and sank due to error in stowing her sandsucking equipment. Oley Kriss was only 52 years old, and he had resided at 1326 Hayes Avenue in Sandusky. He was survived by his wife and three children. Oley Kriss had worked on the Great Lakes for many years. Mr. Kriss was laid to rest at Oakland Cemetery.

You can read more about the disaster of the Kelley Island, and see the obituaries of several of those who perished, on pages 30 to 33 of the 1925 OBITUARY NOTEBOOK at the Sandusky Library.