Dr. Usher Parsons, Acting Surgeon During the Battle of Lake Erie

Dr. Usher Parsons was the Acting Surgeon aboard the Brig Niagara during the Battle of Lake Erie, which took place on September 10, 1813, during the War of 1812. Click here to read an account of how Dr. Parsons provided medical care to ninety-six wounded men aboard the Lawrence, Niagara, and another smaller vessel during the Battle of Lake Erie. In A TREATISE ON MILITARY SURGERY AND HYGIENE, by Frank Hastings Hamilton, published by the Baillière Brother in 1865, we read how Dr. Parsons managed men with compound and simple fractures, severe lacerations, and injuries which resulted in several amputations. There were only three deaths of the wounded men under Parsons' care. (Of course there were numerous battle casualties for both the British and United States during the Battle of Lake Erie.) You can read more about Dr. Usher Parsons at the Rhode Island Historical Society's website. Visit FindaGrave to view an image of the tombstone of Dr. Usher Parsons at the Swan Point Cemetery. Dr. Parsons died on December 19, 1868, after having lived a full life as a physician, historian, and genealogist.

Note: Image of Dr. Parsons from Wikipedia.

Snapshots of Mom from the 1940s

Recently I ran across a couple of old pictures of my mom, Joyce Parker Orshoski, from the 1940s. In the picture to the left, Mom was playing dress up, while she was spending time with her paternal grandparents, Leroy and Ada Parker, on their farm in Perkins Township.















Mom wrote a few notes on the back of the picture.

In 1947, Mom gave her Grandma and Grandpa Parker a picture of herself, at age 16, at Christmas time.

Eventually the picture from 1947 made its way back to Mom. It seems like you can see the zest for life in Mom's eyes in that photo. When she was playing dress up, I think she was looking ahead to the day when she would be a wife and mother, and be the "lady of the house." She surely did indeed grow up to achieve all that, and so much more! She put her whole heart in everything she ever did, and it is a joy to look back at pictures of Mom from her growing up years.

Moe C. Frohman

Moe Frohman was the son of David and Rachel Strauss Frohman, who were both natives of Frankfort, Germany. Moe was a lifelong resident of Sandusky, Ohio. He worked at the Hinde and Dauch Paper Co., and was a member of the Elks Lodge and the United Commercial Travelers. Moe C. Frohman died on June 18, 1942, at the age of 67. He was survived by his wife, mrs. Pauline Miller Frohman, a daughter Portia, and a granddaughter Polly. An obituary for Moe C. Frohman is found in the 1942 OBITUARY NOTEBOOK at the Sandusky Library.

Moe C. Frohman was a brother of Sandusky businessman and philanthropist, Sidney Frohman. Moe's nephew was historian and author, Charles E. Frohman. Cousins of Moe C. Frohman, who were also born in Sandusky, were David and Charles Frohman, who were both very active in the theatrical business in New York City.

Moe C. Frohman and his wife Pauline are both buried in Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery.


Moe's parents, David and Rachel Frohman, are buried in Sandusky's Oheb Shalom Cemetery.

Thomas Caswell, War of 1812 Veteran

In the book HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY, OHIO, edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich (D. Mason & Co.., 1889), we read that Thomas Caswell was born in the state of Massachusetts, and resided in Steuben, New York, before settling on 500 acres in Margaretta Township, Erie County, Ohio. His wife was Elinor/Eleanor Force. Thomas and Elinor Caswell had a family of seven children. Their son Calvin Caswell was a prominent agriculturist in Erie County, and he served as Erie County Commissioner from 1863 to 1868.

During the War of 1812, Thomas Caswell served in a unit from the State of New York.


















Thomas Caswell died in Margaretta Township, Erie County, Ohio, on September 2, 1853, at the age of 60. He was buried in the Castalia Cemetery. A War of 1812 marker and an American flag adorn his tombstone.

Sundial Presented to the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home in 1933

On September 3, 1933, the Wormen's Relief Corps, McMeens Post No. 48, presented a sundial to the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home as a part of the Home's Golden Jubilee Celebration. At the presentation, Rev. A. J. Funnell of the First Presentation gave the invocation. Miss Etta Mehling sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Speeches were given by Commandant Perry Null, Wilber Phillips, and Major E.T. Thorson. Mrs. Perry Null spoke about "The Significance of Time."

The base of the sundial has an inscription that reads:

Presented by
McMeens Corps No. Forty Eight
Womens Relief Corps
In Grateful Remembrance
To the Grand Army of the Republic
Upon This Our Golden Jubilee
Nineteen Thirty Three

Around the sundial are the words:

Hours Fly
Flowers Die
New Days, New Ways Pass By
Love Stays

The Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, now known as the Ohio Veterans Home, has been home to thousands of honorably discharged United States Veterans since 1888. Also on the grounds of the Ohio Veterans Home is a cemetery which serves as the final resting place for many men and women who served our country through military service.

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy: Ancestor Photos

The prompt for Week 36 of 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy, from Amy Coffin at We Tree, and hosted by Geneabloggers, is Ancestor Photos

For which ancestral photograph are you most grateful? Who is in the photo and how did you acquire it? Why does the photo hold a special place in your heart?

This vintage picture is one of my very favorite family photographs from my mother's Larkins side of the family. My great great grandfather Thomas F. Larkins appears in a four generation photo with his daughter, Irene Larkins Risko, granddaughter Doris Wheeler Parker, and great granddaughter Joyce Parker, who later married my dad, Paul Orshoski, Sr. The date of the picture is December 8, 1941, the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the day of President Roosevelt's well known "Day of Infamy" speech as the U.S. entered into World War Two. My mom, Joyce Parker Orshoski, was in the wedding of family friends, Elizabeth Schmid and James Summy. Mom was ten years old in this picture. The wedding took place at St. Stephen's Evangelical and Reformed Church in Sandusky, Ohio. The reason I love this picture, which was in my mother's collection of family photos, is that it represents to me a much happier time in the Larkins line of my family. Grandma Doris died on May 6, 1943, at the age of 32, following a divorce. Great Great Grandpa Tom suffered a debilitating stroke, and Great Grandma Irene would end up taking care of both her ailing daughter and father in the early 1940s, not all that long after this lovely picture was taken.

Mom was resilient, however, and enjoyed her years at Sandusky High School and Margaretta High School. She got married in 1950 to my father, Paul R. Orshoski, Sr.

They had six children, twenty grandchildren, several great grandchildren, jobs they loved, lives filled with lots of friends and family, and many years of making memories.

August Ruemmele

August Ruemmele was born on December 6, 1818 in Zell, Baden. He emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1849. In 1851, August Ruemmele and Herman Ruess founded the first German language newspaper entitled the Intelligenz-Blatt. (An excellent article about German speaking newspapers in Sandusky is found at the Sandusky History website.) On September 1, 1857, August Ruemmele lost his life in a railroad accident. Several cars of the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad separated from the track near the Castalia Mills. Henry Ross and David Cassett, both railroad employees also lost their lives. An account of the train accident appears in the September 2, 1857 Sandusky Daily Commercial Register, on microfilm at the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library, and the library of the Hayes Presidential Center.

The newspaper article reported that August Ruemmele left behind a young wife and child, as well as nine siblings. When the train arrived in Sandusky, carrying the bodies of the deceased, many of the friends of August Ruemmele met the train. He was buried in Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery.