Mrs. Alice DeWitt Akins, 1856-1951

 

Alice Frank Bush was born in Illinois in 1856 to William Millard Bush and his wife, the former Mary Amanda Hubbard. By 1860, the Bush family was living in Erie County, Ohio, where William Bush worked as a farmer in Perkins Township. According to pedigree charts on FamilySearch, Alice's Bush lineage goes back to John Bush (1593-1662), who is also an ancestor of President George Herbert Walker Bush.

In 1873, when Alice was only age 17, she married James Lloyd DeWitt, an attorney who would become Mayor of Sandusky from 1883 to 1886, and later served as Common Pleas Judge for Erie County. Judge J.L. DeWitt died in 1890, when he was struck by a train as he was walking along the railroad tracks. The whole community mourned his loss. Alice was left a widow, with two children. Alice’s son Rufus DeWitt moved to Idaho, where he was a farmer. Her daughter Maud DeWitt married well known biologist Raymond Pearl.

 Alice became the wife of F.A. Akins in 1903. Mr. Akins was a widower who also resided in Perkins Township. Mr. Akins passed away in 1920.

 In May of 1951, Mrs. Alice Akins died at the age of 94. She was survived by three grandchildren. One of Alice’s granddaughters became a psychotherapist and author. Penelope Russianoff wrote the books Why Do I think I am Nothing Without a Man? and When Will I Be Happy?

Alice DeWitt Akins outlived her two children and both husbands.  She was buried at Lot 106 in Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio. Both Judge J.L. DeWitt and F.A. Akins are buried nearby. Alice lived through the Civil War, and two world wars. She saw a multitude of inventions during her lifetime, including electricity, the airplane, the automobile, the telephone, and radio and television. She was truly a pioneer woman.

Mrs. Ellen Conners, nee Printy

 An obituary for Mrs. Ellen Conners (sometimes spelled Connors) appeared in the December 5, 1904 issue of the Sandusky Daily Register.

Patrick Conners (aka Connors) followed his wife to the grave between 1904 and 1910. Several children of Patrick and Ellen were also laid to rest in St. Joseph's Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio, in Section A, Lots 26 and 27.

• Bernard Connors died December 20, 1933
• Catherine Connors died November 30, 1938
• Margaret Connors died March 17, 1947
• Ella Mary Connors died April 11, 1948
• Rose Ann Connors died May 6, 1956

May they all rest in peace.

New Exhibit at the Hayes Presidential Library and Museums

President R.B. Hayes image courtesy Wikipedia

From March 28 to June 30, 2025, an exhibit which focuses on President Rutherford B. Hayes' love of reading. President Hayes collected  thousands of books throughout his wife, many of which are in the library at his former home at the Hayes Presidential Library and Museums.

President Rutherford B. Hayes and his wife Lucy Webb Hayes are both buried on the grounds of the Hayes Presidential Library and Museums.

Cannon Townsend, died 1855

Photo by J. Mazza

Cannon Townsend, aka Charles C. Cannon, was the young son of Absolom Townsend and his wife, the former Eleanor  Bowe. Cannon Townsend was born in 1849, and died in 1855. He is buried in Section 12, Lot 8 of Oakland Cemetery in Erie County, Ohio.

The name Cannon was the surname of Cannon Townsend's paternal grandmother, Esther Mary Cannon. Many members of the extended Townsend family settled in Erie County, Ohio, after moving here from New England states.

To learn more about your own ancestors, check the free database www.FamilySearch.org, where many vital records and family trees may be located. In Erie County, Ohio, the Sandusky Library houses a vast variety of genealogical resources, both in print and online, to help you in your family tree research.

Dr. Benjamin Lord Hill

Image courtesy History of the Eclectic Medical Institute

 

Dr. Benjamin Lord Hill was born in 1813 in Pennsylvania to Noah Hill and his wife, the former Sukie Butler. When Benjamin was a youngster, the family moved to Berlin Heights, Erie County, Ohio. Benjamin Lord Hill studied law, and for a  time he practiced law in Norwalk, Ohio. Later, he studied medicine and graduated from the Reformed Medical College at Worthington, Ohio. Dr. Hill was Professor of Anatomy at the Eclectic Medical Institute. In 1850, Dr. Hill published a book entitled The Eclectic Practice of Surgery. In 1851, Dr. Hill took part in the founding of the Western College of Homeopathy. Around the same time, he was associated with a large water cure establishment in Berlin Heights. 

Image courtesty Water Cure Journal

In 1863, Dr. Benjamin Lord Hill was appointed by President Lincoln to consul to Nicaragua. Later, he was connected with the lumber industry in Michigan. In the late 1860s and early 1860s, Dr. Hill represented Erie County in the state of Ohio Legislature. Dr. Hill died in 1871 in Marysville, California. He was survived by his wife, the former Joanna Greer, and five children.

A lengthy obituary for Dr. Benjamin Lord Hill appeared in the May 24, 1871 issue of the Sandusky Register. Books written by Dr. Hill are housed in the Cleveland Health Sciences Library.  The final resting place of Dr. Hill is in the family lot of the West End Cemetery at Berlin Heights, Ohio. You can read more about Dr. Benjamin Lord  Hill in the History of the Western Reserve  and the History of the Eclectic Medical Institute. 

Birthplaces of our Yeager and Piehl Ancestors

 

Andrew Yeager and Lena (Piehl) Yeager were my great grandparents. Andrew Yeager was born in Muenchhof, Germany, to Lawrence Yeager (Lorenz Jaeger) and his wife, the former Maria Schweighardt. His birth year was either 1874 or 1876. (Sources in vital records and census records vary.) The Yeager family settled in Sandusky, Erie County, Ohio.

Lena Piehl was born in Oak Harbor, Ottawa County, Ohio in 1881, to Gotthold Ferdinand Piehl and  his wife, the former Augusta Jaensch. Both Gotthold Ferdinand Piehl and Augusta Jaensch were born in Bnin, Posen, Germany which is now Bnin, Poznań, Poland. They eventually settled on a farm near Oak Harbor, Ohio.

A relative told me that Grandma Lena Yeager and her sisters used to take the interurban railway from Oak Harbor to Sandusky, where they worked as domestics for rich people of German descent in Sandusky. Somewhere along the way, Lena met Andrew Yeager, and they were married in 1903, and lived most of their adult lives in Erie County, Ohio.

Below is map courtesy Google Maps, which shows the route from Bnin, Posen, Germany, the birthplace of Gotthold Ferdinand Piehl and Augusta Jaensch, to Muenchhof, Germany, the birthplace of Grandpa Andrew Yeager.

All my great great grandparents, as well as their children, traveled many miles. Had they not traveled, then all the descendants of Andrew and Lena Yeager would not be here! It is interesting to determine where some of  my roots originated!

While the area where Grandma Lena Yeager's parents were born is now a part of Poland, I have only heard of that branch of the family as being German in culture. Maybe today I still  have cousins in Poland and Germany.

Esther M. Blatt

Image Courtesy Find a Grave 

Young Esther M. Blatt died as an infant in 1920, after suffering from whooping cough. She was the daughter of Fred Blatt and his wife the former Martha Piehl. 

Esther was my first cousin twice removed, the first cousin of my Grandma Emma Yeager Orshoski.

Below is a tribute to baby Esther, found in a collection of family clippings.

Esther was survived by her parents, three brothers, and four sisters, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins. Rest in peace little one.

Note: Though the tombstone of Esther Blatt reads 1918 - 1919, her death record indicates she was born in 1919 and died on May 1, 1920.