2012: A Challenging Year

 

The year 2012 was definitely one of the most challenging years of my lifetime. My husband was in the Intensive Care Unit last June with bilateral pulmonary embolisms. The  staff at our local hospital literally saved his life. When we thought things were getting somewhat back to normal, our son took his own life after a long battle with depression. Our family faced other serious issues as well.

Thank you so very much to my family, friends, co-workers, and my genealogy family for all your prayers, words of encouragement, and so many other acts of kindness. You all helped me to get through a very difficult year!

Fred H. Smith, Monument Dealer

 

According to the book History of Huron County, Ohio,  (S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1909), Fred H. Smith was born in Sandusky, Ohio on February 27, 1860. When Fred was only fifteen years old, he began learning the marble cutter's trade. As a young man, Fred H. Smith worked for A.T. Davis, R.R. King, the Lake Shore Railroad, and the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad Company. In 1883 Mr. Smith formed a partnership with W.V. McKnight. Mr. McKnight and Mr. Smith operated a successful marble business for several years. After the death of W.V. McKnight, Fred H. Smith operated the business as the Smith Monumental Works. One of the most well known monuments created by the Smith Monumental Works was the Fries Mausoleum, at the Milan Cemetery.

In 1895, Fred H. Smith married Katherine Burger McKnight, who was the widow of Mr. Smith's business partner. On August 9, 1950, Fred H. Smith passed away at the age of 90. He was survived by his two stepsons, and a brother, Adam J. Smith of Sandusky. Mr. Smith was buried next to his wife in the McKnight Smith family lot at Norwalk's Woodlawn Cemetery. An obituary for Fred H. Smith appeared in the August 10, 1950 issue of the Sandusky Register Star News.

Mary L. Mcneil

Mary L. McNeil died in 1852, and she was buried in Block 25 of Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery. Though her tombstone is now partially underground, I was able to learn a bit about her from her Oakland Cemetery Interment Card. The card states that Mary L. McNeil died on November 19, 1852; however, the C on her tombstone may read as Dec. 19, 1852. Mary was aged 24 years, 9 months, and 28 days at the time of her death. The inscription at the bottom of her grave marker has the inscription:

Sleeps in Jesus

The 1850 U.S. Census lists Mary L. McNeil as age 22, born in New York, and residing in the household of Albertus McNeil in Portland Township, Erie County, Ohio. Rest in peace, Mary.

Gram Irene on a Snowy Sandusky Day

 

It is a snowy day here in Northern Ohio. Pictured above is my great grandmother, Irene Larkins Risko, near the Erie County Courthouse in Sandusky, Ohio in the winter of 1952.  The Erie County Courthouse was the place where many of my ancestors applied for marriage licenses. Gram Irene often walked from her home in Sandusky to the downtown area, so she was very familiar with the many seasons that Ohio has to offer!

 

I'm thinking of Gram Irene today as the snow continues to fall!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay!!

Mrs. Amanda Reber

Amanda Reber, who was born Amanda Boalt, was the first wife of Sandusky attorney George Reber. She died on December 19,1847,at the age of 31. Amanda Boalt Reber is buried in Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery.


















Below is genealogical information about George Reber from the book GENEALOGY OF THE REBER FAMILY DESCENDED FROM JOHAN BERNHARD REBER, 1738, available fulltext at the Internet Archive.


















Sallie Reber, a daughter of George Reber from his second marriage, was a well known popular light opera singer.

Military Monday: First Sergeant Alfred W. House

Alfred W. House was the son of Selah and Mary House, born in Perkins Township on April 18, 1839. He served as First Sergeant in Company B of the 176th Ohio Infantry during the Civil War. On December 18, 1864, Sergeant Alfred W. House died in the hospital at Nashville, Tennessee. His name appeared with the names of several other officers in his unit in HISTORY OF THE FIRE LANDS, by W. W. Williams (Leader Printing Co., 1879).

The remains of Sergeant House were returned to Ohio. He was laid to rest in the old Perkins Cemetery. An inscription on the tombstone of Alfred W. House reads:

 "Soldier rest thy warfare o'er 
Sleep the sleep that knows no breaking 
Dream of battle fields no more 
Morn or toil, or night of waking."