OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 336 *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 336 Today's Topics: #1 Fw: Know Your Ohio -- The Great La ["MaggieOhio" ] Administrivia: To unsubscribe from OH-FOOTSTEPS-D, send a message to OH-FOOTSTEPS-D-request@rootsweb.com that contains in the body of the message the command unsubscribe and no other text. No subject line is necessary, but if your software requires one, just use unsubscribe in the subject, too. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #1 Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 11:45:05 -0500 From: "MaggieOhio" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <07fb01c04e5a$6ab2cda0$0300a8c0@local.net> Subject: Fw: Know Your Ohio -- The Great Lake Erie -- Part 6. Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: Darlene & Kathi kelley Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley October 5, 2000 ***************************************************** Historical Collections of Ohio Know Your Ohio by Darlene E. Kelley ****************************************************** The Great Lake Erie -- part 6. Winter Crossings / mailmen / Islands Considering Black Friday, whose weather created such havoic on the Great Lakes, we salute all the brave Captains who continued to plunder the hazarous conditions. So many wrecks and deaths occured as Lake Erie continued with her course of distruction. However, she can be as calm and peaceful and beautiful with her magnificent sunsets and sunrises. She contains a bountiful supply of fish to be harvested and the serinity of surrounding herself around land of men who have conquored her. Winter time with coldness approaching, many have learned how to live with her. No one who has passed a winter on one of the islands in Lake Erie can realize the anxiety that filled every breast, when the mail carrier and his party were seen to be having trouble delivering his mails and cargo. Some one breaks through the ice and great care must be exercised in extricating him lest his rescurers also break through. When rescued, the man is fortunate if his dripping outer garmets are quickly frozen stiff. for this keeps out the the cold wind, which otherwise penetrates to his very soul itself and unless he is wrapped in many blankets, he would perish if far from shore when accident occurs. Another case of anxiety, is if the mailboat was caught in slush ice. When this happens. it may take many hours of exhausting labor to work through a narrow strip of it. In such cases, night often falls and the men are lost from view. In this case, or when a snow storm rages or a sudden fog descends, the anxious ones, on the island or land would build great fires as beacons to guide the struggling men in the right direction, for it was easy to lose one's sense of direction in the dark. If the storm or fog occured during the daytime they would ring bells, fire guns, and blow the quarries steam whistles to guide them to safety. Many an anxious hour was passed on the islands, who patroled the beaches from end to end in an endeavor to locate the missing ones. For the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with geography of the district and the travel routes followed, it is necessary to say that there are several routes taken in winter and this depends strictly upon wind and ice conditions. The Sandusky bay usually freezes across. When it is frozen sufficiently, one can walk across the bay on ice from Sandusky to Marblehead peninsula. When this is not possible, he can take the train from Sandusky to Danbury and go across the Peninsula to Marblehead. From Marblehead to the islands is the more difficult and uncertain passage. If the ice is solid, one can go by automobile or if not quite strong enough for so heavy a conveyance, then by horse and sleigh. If the ice is treacherous, thin or broken, then the mail boat which can sail in water or run over ice as a sled is used. Sometimes one can go to Sandusky from the islands all the way on the ice, avoiding crossing the Peninsula. The conduct of horses when crossing the ice is interesting. They are usaually in great fear and once started, are eager to get across. The slowest horse on land, becomes a fast and spirited animal on ice. Sweat pours from him and the steam rises in clouds from his wet body. Horses are never taken on ice unless sharp shod and rarely slip or fall. Should a horse break through the ice, he is immediately choked into quietness by a rope which has been previously put around his neck by his driver. Otherwise the horse would struggle until exhausted and then drowns. No driver of experience, fails to adjust a rope-noose about the horses neck before taking or driving him out upon the ice. When the horse that has broken through has been quieted in this way, his harness is loosened and a long plank is pushed under him. The plank is also an indispensible part of the equipment of the expedition. The plank forms an incline up with which the animal is pulled and in a manner brought out of the water onto solid ice. The noose is removed or loosend and the horse quickly regains his feet after he gets his breath. Notwithstanding all these precautions, horses are occasionally lost. In Vol. # 6 of the Islander, 1865-66 of Kelley's Island we find the following; " Not long since a man, while attempting to cross the Peninsula to Put-in-Bay, on the ice, was carried down the lake by the ice separating from the shore and drifting down the lake. He finally succeeded in reaching the shore at or near Black River [ Lorain ] after being on the ice for two days and nights without anything to eat. He reached the shore in almost frozen condition. " Also S.S. Dwelle started for Sandusky the same day and barely reached the shore of the Peninsula before the ice began to go down the lake. These cases ought to make a person a little more cautious when crossing over our "Wintery Bridge." Mr. Jerry Dean, who was one of the island's mailman, kept a diary for over two years starting January 2nd, 1871 thru December 31,1872, of conditions existing during the winter months. Most of the winter months mail was delivered under most unusual conditions. The diary would be to long to be quoted here word for word. It tells of the icy conditions and thaws that occured as well as the windy conditions and swells which caused a lot of trials and adventures of getting mail as well as doctors, and passengers to the islands during those two years. The mail boat was flat bottomed with sled runners beneath so that on ice it could be dragged or pushed easily. To draw it out of the water onto the ice, to drag it over rough ice, to force it through slush ice, to break way through ice too thin to bear its weight, required men of strength and endurance. To break through the ice was a common occurance. To battle against howling wind as it swept across the frozen expanse of many miles, when temperatures were about or below zero, required courage of no low order. Even steamboats have been delayed for many hours by running ice. On one occasion, the steamer Olcott was all day going from Kelley's Island to Sandusky, less than an hour's run usually, because the moving ice closed up the channel she had made on her outbound passage,and she had difficulty on her return trip in butting her way through the heavy ice, and lost so much time hunting for openings, between the heavy ice floes, through which to pass. Lake Erie has in its Archipelage twelve Islands. Kelley's Island, formally called Cunningham's Island. Mouse Island, Catawba Island, South Bass or Put-in-Bay, Green Island, Ballast Island, Rattlesnake Island, Middle Bass Island, St George Island or North Bass, Middle Island, Pelee Island, and Johnson Island. Kelley's Island is one of the most famous Island of the chain for its glacerial finds. It also has become famous for its quarries of limestone, which has supplied many stones of vast quanities to be used in building of Cleveland. Grapes were cultivated there and was used for not only table grapes , but for many wines. As I have before noted, Lake Erie is the lake of great exchanges, greetings and goodbyes; Good morning, Detroit; Good night, Buffalo; so long Amherstburg, Hello Sandusky. She is also a lake of lone wives, the unfortunate or black-hearted vessels, the Flying Dutchman of the shoals, and of much more that only the heart understands beyond words. For old time Lakeman, taking leave of Lake Erie, is much the same as parting from friends and family, from scenes of birth and childhood, from generations of auld lang syne that came into the world within the sight and sound of western Erie water, the perpetual five-o'clock rush hour highway on the inland seas. Parting can be hard.---- We leaves Ohio behind us, We sets our canvas tight; The tug slows up and casts us off, Old Erie heaves in sight ! So we watch our tiller closer, We keeps our sheet ropes clear; There is no sich thing as stiddy wind Along Lake Erie here. ****************************************************** ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 14:46:40 -0600 From: Betty Ralph To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <2.2.32.20001114204640.006fe2c4@HiWAAY.net> Subject: Bio - 1885 - Portage Co, OH, Suffield # 1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Bios: Adams, Agne, Arehart, Bauer, Bletzer, Brumbaugh, Cahill - Portage County, Ohio, from "History of Portage County, Ohio" published by Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885 ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net HORACE ADAMS, farmer, P.O. Mogadore, Summit County, was born in Suffield Township, this county, July 19, 1811; son of Moses Adams, who represented this district in the Legislature at the sessions of 1820-22. On December 8, 1842, our subject was married to Miss Lucy Richards and resided with his parents until their death. His mother died in October, 1844, and his father in March, 1845. He removed to his present home, a productive farm of 171 acres, in 1859, where Mrs. Adams died August 26, 1879. They were the parents of the following children: Martha Ann (Mrs. McKnight), Benton, Sarah (Mrs. Hildebrand), Albin, Emma, Maria Lucy, and Clayton. Our subject is an earnest Republican. He has served in several of the county offices, having been a member of the Board of Education twenty-nine years, County Commissioner, etc., and he discharged the trusts committed to his care with unswerving fidelity. HENRY AGNE, farmer, P.O. Suffield, was born in Jackson Township, Stark Co., Ohio, May 3, 1843; son of Philip and Elizabeth Agne, natives of Bavaria, Germany, who immigrated to America in 1833 and settled in Suffield Township, this county, in 1844. Their children are Catharine (Mrs. Myers), Elizabeth (Mrs. Moatz), Mary (Mrs. Goetz), Caroline (Mrs. Mohler) and Henry. Our subject, November 24, 1864, was married to Mary Jane Stamm, of Suffield Township, this county, and by her has following children: Nelson, Eugene, Clarence Sidney, Alverna May, Minnie Belle and Forest Earl, besides four who died in childhood. Mr. and Mrs. Agne now own the Stamm homestead, consisting of 268 acres in Portage and Stark Counties, Ohio. Mr. Agne is a life-long Democrat; a representative citizen, and, with his wife, a member of the German Reformed Church. ANDREW AREHART, farmer, P.O. Mogadore, Summit County, was born December 17, 1831, in Rochester, N.Y.; son of Joseph Arehart, a native of Germany, who is still living. Our subject was married, November 3, 1858, to Lena Paulus, a native of France, where she was born, August 7, 1836, daughter of Anthony and Barbara Paulus, and has since resided with his wife in the home of his adoption in Suffield Township. To this union have been born six children: Louisa (Mrs. Memmer), George, Emma, Clara, Frank and Ida, all of whom received a substantial literary and musical education. Mr. and Mrs. Arehart have by their industry acquired a productive farm of ninety-seven acres; and consistent, pious members of the Roman Catholic Church. Mr. Arehart is one of the leading citizens of the township, a man of worth and enterprise. JOHN AREHART, farmer, P.O. Mogadore, Summit County, was born January 19, 1840, in Suffield Township, this county; son of Joseph and Eve Arehart, natives of Rhenish, Bavaria, Germany, who immigrated to America and settled in Suffield Township, this county, about 1832, where they went on an entirely new farm which they cleared and improved. Mrs. Arehart died August 15, 1856, leaving eight children: Mary Ann (Mrs. May); Andrew; Joseph, in Missouri; Cordelia (Mrs. Wehner) in Michigan; Barney, in Michigan; John; Elizabeth (Mrs. Spielman) in Denver, Col., and Lawrence, in Michigan. Mr. Arehart is now living at the advanced age of eighty-two years. Our subject married, October 26, 1862, Miss Mary Ann Wilson, and located where they now live in 1872. They are the parents of the following children: Meda, Charles E., Ella (deceased), William J. and Jessie May. Mr. Arehart has served his township as Trustee, discharging his duties faithfully and to the satisfaction of the people. Politically he has been a life-long Democrat. FREDERICK J. BAUER, physician and surgeon, Mogadore, Summit County, was born March 5, 1854, in Suffield Township, this county, where his father, Jacob Bauer, still resides. He early engaged in teaching, and acquired a good literary and scientific education at Mount Union College. In 1877 he entered into the study of medicine under Dr. Ferguson, subsequently attending lectures at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati, and at the University at Wooster, Cleveland, Ohio, where he graduated in 1880, and settled down to practice with his former preceptor at Mogadore, Summit Co., Ohio, where he has built up a large and influential practice. He is a Democrat in politics. MICHAEL BLETZER, manufacturer, P.O. Suffiend, born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, September 1, 1833, son of Philip Peter Bletzer, who died in 1853. The same year his widow, accompanied by her family, emigrated to America, landing in this county May 5. Our subject at once located in Randolph Township, this county, where he established a blacksmith shop in "Johnny Cake Hollow." On June 4, 1855, he was married to Miss Albertine Helwig, by whom he had thirteen children, four of whom survive: George Henry, Eva Harriet, Philip Hartmann and Emanuel Emil. On the night of March 26, 1867, the family residence was burned to the ground, and five of the children perished in the flames. After eleven years' residence in Randolph, our subject removed to Suffield Township, where he established a wagon and blacksmith shop, and where he is known as a skillful mechanic. He and his wife are members of the German Reformed Church. Our subject's mother is residing with him, and is eighty-two years of age. Mr. Bletzer has been a sound Democrat all the days of his life, and has never voted any other ticket. CONRAD L. BRUMBAUGH, farmer, P.O. Mishler, was born October 2, 1842, in Randolph Township, this county; son of Henry and Catharine Brumbaugh, both now living. Our subject, April 23, 1868, married Miss Eliza Mishler, and they are the parents of five children: Jesse, Albert, Manno, Lydia and Della. After residing four years in the eastern part of Suffield Township, and a few months in Randolph and Brimfield Townships, they settled on a farm of sixty-two acres, in 1873, where they have since made their home. They also own thirty acres in Stark County, Ohio, and a little homestead of ten acres one-fourth mile east of his present home. Our subject is a Democrat in politics. He has served his constituency in the township as Trustee, School Director and Supervisor. He is an industrious and successful farmer, universally respected. Mrs. Brumbaugh is a member of the German Baptist Congregation. MICHAEL CAHILL, farmer, P.O. Suffield, was born December 25, 1830, in County Kilkenny, Ireland; son of Patrick and Mary Cahill. He was educated principally in his native county, and was married, in 1853, to Margaret Wilson, who died in 1860, leaving one son - Joseph P., who now resides in Illinois. Mr. Cahill when nineteen years of age went to the County of Durham, England, and engaged in the coal mines there until 1855, when he met with an accident which resulted in the loss of his right leg below the knee. He emigrated to America in 1865, and engaged with Mr. Loomis, of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, to sell tin-ware, glass, etc., for him through the surrounding country. In 1867 he was again married, this time to Betsey E., widow of Harrison Way, and daughter of Robert Fenton, of Suffield Township, and they immediately settled where they now live at Suffield Center. Mr. Cahill is a man of wide range of information, which he has acquired by extensive reading. He is a close student of public affairs, and takes a deep interested in the welfare of his adopted county. He is a Democrat in politics and has served his township as Assessor and member of the Board of Education. He is now holding his fourth commission as Notary Public, and has done considerable local legal business in this community. JOEL COBURN, farmer, P.O. Suffield, was born August 28, 1825, in Brimfield Township, this county; son of David Coburn, of Mauson, Mass., and Nancy (Moulton) Coburn, of Brimfield Township. Of their eight children three are now living: Joel, Lucy Ann (Mrs. Meacham) and Martin V., all of this county. Our subject married, September 28, 1848, Diantha, daughter of David Perkins, who became a resident of Springfield Township when thirteen years of age, and Electa (Tupper) Perkins. Seven children were born to them, four of whom are still living: Silas, Simon, Ellen (Mrs. Rogers) and Mrs. Coburn. Mr. and Mrs. Coburn are parents of the following children: Wilbur D., married to Lunetta A. Sabins, and Curtis E., who died February 27, 1879, aged twenty-five years. After a four years' residence in Brimfield Township our subject settled upon his farm of 161 acres in Suffield Township, where he has since resided. He has been a life-long Democrat; has served the township as Assessor and Trustee. Mrs. Coburn is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V00 Issue #336 *******************************************