454 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY CHAPTER XXXVII ERIE COUNTY CELEBRITIES Old John Beatty is mentioned as a typical pioneer. He built the old Beatty mansion which still stands east of Bogarts. He also built a church known as the Beatty Church, which afterwards became a Lutheran Church solely because he did not believe 'that the Methodist Church at that time had any principles on the subject of slavery and he proposed to have a church that would stand for opposition to the evil to which he was himself opposed. Like many reformers he did not have much business ability. He became land poor. He bought a large amount of land in Erie County and sold some of it for less than he paid. He sold the farm in Perkins Township that is known as the Lindsay Farm, formerly owned by Gen. W. D. Lindsay, for 1,600 bushels of potatoes, and when the potatoes were dug and ready for delivery he left them lay on the field to rot. For twenty years he was never without a lawsuit in court and spent in litigation property that today would undoubtedly be worth, several millions of dollars. He had one lawsuit with the United States over a cask of brandy that got past the custom house officials which cost him a large amount of money. His anger or sympathy were easily aroused. On one occasion a neighbor came to him and told him that a man named Smith was ill treating his children, that he had a number of small children and only fed them one meal a day, whereupon Mr. Beatty in anger went over to see Mr. Smith and when he learned the truth, which was the fact that Smith began to feed his children in the morning and fed them all day, he took the joker by the neck and kicked him a few times, at which Mr. Smith laughed, but neither Mr. Beatty nor the joker did. Gen. John Beatty.—One of the most prominent men taking part in the Civil war from Erie County was Gen. John Beatty, who was born December 16, 1828, in a log cabin on South Columbus Avenue, being the only house between Sandusky and now what is called Bogarts. His grandfather built the first brick house in the Firelands near Bogarts and it is still standing. His early education was obtained in the district school. The coming and going of the stage coach from Mansfield and towns further away carrying travelers for Sandusky, where they took boats for Buffalo, was an event in the child's life, as was the running away to come to Sandusky to witness the execution f the murderer of John C. Ritter, the only person legally executed in Erie County. At the outbreak of the Civil war he and his brother were in the HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 455 banking business in Cardington, Ohio. He organized a company of volunteers and enlisted in the Union army. He was breveted colonel of the Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry in April, 1861, served three years and resigned with rank of brigadier general. In 1860 he was presidential elector, and in that capacity voted for Lincoln, serving in Congress from 1868 to 1873 as a representative from Eighth Ohio District. In 1873 General Beatty organized the Citizens Bank in Columbus and was president until its consolidation with the Citizens Trust and Savings Bank in 1903, at which time he retired from active life to devote his time to writing, among which are noted the following : "High or Low Tariff, Which ;" "Answer to Coins Financial School ;" "The Belle o' , Becket's Lane ;" "The Alcolhuans," and "McLean." In 1884 he was presidential elector at large and was defeated for governor the first time Foraker was nominated. In recognition of his service in the war he was appointed president of Ohio, Chickamaugua and Chattanooga Military Park. He died December 21, 1914, and was buried at Oakland Cemetery. • On February 16, 1905, Jay Cooke died at the age of eighty-three. He was the son of Eleutheros Cooke, who achieved great fame as a financier by floating the Government bonds of the United States in the War of the Rebellion. Some time in the early '90s a man named W. H. Crane came here with one of the many successful schemes to separate Sandusky people from their hard earned coin. This scheme was known as the Walhonding Railroad scheme. A promoter was a good deal of a novelty in those days. Mr. Crane flew very high in those days. His meals were served in his private rooms, except that he sent his little boy down to the dining room where the ordinary guests ate, accompanied by his French maid. The doors of his suite did not suit him and he had them taken off and very expensive ones substituted. When the end came he owed the , landlord a large board bill still unpaid. In the height of his prosperity, after extracting thousands of dollars from Sandusky people, with no return, he had lent a Jew newspaper reporter $20 and when he went down the toboggan he would call and dun the Jew every day without result. It was worth the price of admission to hear him sit in the hotel office and curse the dishonesty of that Jew in beating him out of that $20. Sen. Stephen W. Dorsey lived in Sandusky, until about 1869, for several years. Thomas A. Edison.-Perched on the bluffs of the Huron River, with her well-kept lawns, stately elms and century-old maples, Milan is a . picturesque spot. On account of his patriotic views forced to leave Canada, there came to this then hustling little town in '37 one Samuel Edison, who later 'married a pretty school teacher, Nancy Elliot, a Scotch woman by parentage. They took up their residence in the red brick house which stands on the highest point of the "Hog Back." To this every visitor is invited to pay homage, as every citizen is 456 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY proud of the fact that here, on the 11th of February, 1847, was born the world's greatest inventor, Thomas A. Edison. The baby Al, as he was called in his boyhood, was like his mother, of a quiet retiring disposition, and as the child grew so did the affection between mother and son. On one occasion Mr. Edison remarked, "I did not have my mother very long but in that length of time she cast over me an influence which has lasted all my life." He says of himself, "I was always a careless boy but my mother's sweetness and goodness were potent powers to keep me in the right path." In the short time he attended school he was nearly always at the foot of his class. On one occasion the teacher remarked to the inspector that the boy was "addled" and that there was no use to keep him in school. The youth overheard the remark, repeated it to his mother, who promptly took the child back to the school and told the teacher he didn't know what he was talking about, that the lad had more brains than the teacher. Referring to this critical period of his existence, Mr. Edison says, "Had it not been for my mother's appreciation and faith in me, I should very likely never have become an inventor. She was so true, so sure of me, I felt that I had some one to live for, some one I must not disappoint. The memory of her will always be a blessing to me." The brother-in-law of Thomas Edison tells a story illustrating his investigating mind at an early age. He says that when Tom was visiting his sister, Mrs. Homer Page, at her country home he conceived the idea he could hatch an egg as well as a goose. So he made a nest, put some goose eggs in it and began to set. When his sister collared him he cried and said if a goose could hatch an egg he did not see why he could not. Well known to all are the advances Edison has made in science and electricity, the greatest of which are the incandescent lights and lighting station, the improvements in telegraphy and the telephone and the phonograph. Milan will always be proud of Mr. Edison's achievements and remembers with thanks the gift of $600 to the high school laboratory in 1908. Old Oran Follett, who died several years ago in Sandusky, was for many years prominent in the management of the Mad River Railroad. In his later years he devoted a great deal of time to writing and publishing a book to show that Shakespeare did not write the plays popularly attributed to him, but that they were written by Lord Bacon. Like all writers on that subject he did not need any evidence to prove that Lord Bacon wrote them but let it go with the assertion. In the prominence of many of the victims, there is a striking similarity in the Titanic and the Lusitania disasters. The Titanic carried to their deaths John Jacob Astor, American millionaire, and Henry B. Harris, famous theatrical man. Victims of the Lusitania include Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, multi-millionaire ; Charles Frohman, the "Little Napoleon" of the stage ; Miles Justus Forman, famous author, and Charles Klein, the playwright. A Sandusky newspaper told of the recovery of the body of Mr. HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 457 Frohman and this again recalled the fact that he was one of the most rioted native Sanduskians. Born in the house at 507 Lawrence Street, which is still standing, on June 17, 1860, he went to New York with his parents at the age of thirteen, joining his older brother, Daniel, who was then a reporter on the New York Tribune. He attended the public school and worked evenings in a newspaper office. At the age of seventeen he organized a minstrel show. Later he sold tickets at Holey's Theater, in Brooklyn. In 1880 he went to Minnesota to join the Chicago Dramatic Company, and shortly afterwards toured the United States and Europe as treasurer of Haverly 's Forty Minstrels. The real beginning of his theatrical career was when, in 1887, he obtained control of Bronson Howard's play, "Shenandoah." Then, with his brother, Daniel Frohman, he began to organize road 'companies under a new system. Within a few years he organized four minstrel companies, took the Lester Wallack Company on tour and sent his Madison Square Theater plays on the road. He took up "Shenandoah" when no other manager saw any possibilities in it and it ran all winter in New York and for twenty-five weeks in Chicago, and three or four companies were playing it at the same time. His next play, "All the Comforts of Home," transplanted from the German by Gillette, ran for thirteen weeks at the Boston Museum and for a long time in New York. Then he organized a company of his own which was at Proctor's for three years. Afterwards he organized a light comedy company and sent it out on the road with "Wilkinson's Widows." When he was ready to open the Charles Frohman Theater at Broadway and Fortieth Street, he gave Sardou $8,000 to write a play. While in Europe he made contracts for other plays, all of which were successes. Frohman's wealth was estimated at from $500,000 to $2,000,000. He spent half his time in New York and half in London. He was proprietor and manager of the Empire, Criterion, Lyceum, Garrick, Savoy and Knickerbocker theaters in New York and the Duke of York, Comedy, Globe and Adelphi theaters in London. He was interested in nearly 100 theaters in the United States, with playhouses featuring his productions in the principal cities. Besides several star actors in England, Mr. Frohman had under his direction sixteen stars in America. He referred to them always as "my people," and kept framed photographs of them above his desk. "They are my people who have made me," he would tell his friends. The stars, in turn, invariably referred to Mr. Frohman as "C. F." These stars included Maude Adams, John Drew, Ethel Barrymore, Billie Burke, Blanche Bates, William Gillette and Otis Skinner. His belief in the star system and his loyalty to the older school of English dramatics were his distinguishing traits as a producer. "Peter Pan" and " Chantecleer," two of his most famous productions, were by foreign authors. Of his personality the public knew little. His characteristic modesty was respected by his admirers among his associates and the audiences 458 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY that enjoyed his plays. Many actors in his employ for years did not even know him by sight. To doormen on Broadway he was known as the "to-and-fro-man," from his habit of sliding in and out of theaters unobtrusively. He was a man of unusually small stature, but a veritable human dynamo of energy. He spent all of his waking hours reading and rehearsing plays or looking after the many details of producing. Meals, sleep and the ordinary necessities of life he considered as annoying time-wasters. Recreation did not seem to enter into his calculations. Such rest as he got came when he was at his home in White Plains, New York. His home there is more than 100 years old and lies far off the beaten track. The nearest place to it is the famous training sanitarium known as " Muldoon's." He was entirely without intimates. He had a positive dislike for meeting people, and while probably the most talked of man on the Rialto, was the least known to its habitues. "A master producer," said George C. Tyler, noted theatrical man of New York, referring to Frohman. "If the stage needs anything it needs men like Charles Frohman. He was one of the few men in the show business who have ideals, and not only ideals but the courage to adhere to them." On March 20, 1882, the Register announced the death of James P. Gay, who was the first person who worked the City of Sandusky for any large amount of money without any real benefit being derived. He received from the city $15,000 for erecting a shipyard in the east end where the Toll Company now is. The shipyard was never built. The father of Judge Lewis Goodwin and Homer Goodwin was Dr. Erastus Goodwin, whose first wife was Miss Dotia Gilbert, who was the first woman who ever taught school in Milan Township and who met Doctor Goodwin first while he was in the vicinity of Sandusky as a soldier of the War of 1812. Lewis H. Goodwin served two terms as probate judge of Erie County and had the following creditable record in the War of the Rebellion: Enlisted as a private, September 1, 1861, in the Forty-seventh Indiana Infantry ; elected captain Company B, October 1, 1861; served in the Army of the Cumberland, December, 1861, to February, 1862 ; in the Army of Tennessee until April, 1862 ; served in Missouri and in battles around New Madrid and Island No. 10 until June, 1862; promoted to major October 1, 1862; served under Generals' Halleck and Curtiss at Memphis and Helena, Arkansas, from June, 1862, until April, 1863; served under General Grant in the Vicksburg campaign; in command of regiment during spring campaign of 1863 ; severely wounded at battle of Champion's Hill, May 16, 1863; furloughed on account of wounds; rejoined command at New Orleans, September, 1863; served in Red River campaign under General Banks in fall of 1863; commanded regiment from fall of 1863 to February, 1864 ; remained in the Department of the Gulf until close of the war ; mustered out at Memphis, Tennessee, HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 459 January, 1865 ; twice promoted for bravery ; served as colonel of regiment over a year. A brief biographical sketch of Gen. Henry Lawton is given in the history of Margaretta Township. Garry Bard Hyde Son of Daniel Hyde & Eunice. Bard Hyde Born in Oxford, Conn., May 1st, 1795. Married July 17th, 1831, To Caroline Wooster—Daughter (born in Oxford, Conn., September 17th, 1812) of Joseph Wooster, Jr. and Elizabeth Ann Hull. In the spring of 1833, G. B. Hyde, wife and infant son, Henry Wooster, left Oxford, Connecticut, with Chicago as their intended destination. They journeyed from Buffalo by steamboat to Huron, Ohio, where they stopped for a few days' visit at the home of his brother, Merriett Hyde, who resided at Wakeman, Ohio. They went from Huron by wagon. They engaged a driver who had a double team. They left Huron late in the afternoon. The trail was through a thickly wooded country, rough and muddy roads. When about an hour's drive from Huron two men sprang out of the bushes and seized the horses' bridles. The driver gave the horses smart cuts, and, leaping forward, they caused the men to loosen their hold, when the driver lashed the horses into a run. Continuing to run for several miles, mother recognized the two men as the party she had noticed following them around while they were in Huron. She was greatly terrified during the entire ride as they did not arrive at Wakeman until about midnight and the woods were dark and dismal, and it was the latter part of March. They were persuaded to abandon their journey to Chicago, and he purchased a farm in Vermillion Township. He cleared the farm, selling the wood in Huron to steamboats. He was the pioneer vineyardist in Northern Ohio. He was reared in the Church of England, the Episcopal, of which church his ancestors had been members for many generations. His ancestors settled in Fairfield, Connecticut, about 1669, Humphrey Hyde coming over at that time. Subsequently, Mr. Hyde removed near Athens, Alabama, where he passed away August 8, 1879. He sleeps in the New Garden Cemetery. Mrs. Hyde returned from Alabama to make her home in Toledo, from 1882 until 1891. She departed this life August 14, 1902, at Waco, Texas, where she was buried. Henry, the oldest son, sleeps in Chester, Florida. Daniel Bard found rest in a cemetery in Chicago. The four daughters are yet living. Hen- 460 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY rietta (Mrs. Harding McFall) resides in Cleveland. Lavilla (Mrs. C. M. Thomas) has a home in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Eunice Bard Hyde (mother of Garry Bard Hyde) was born in Bristol, Connecticut, January 4, 1765 ; died at the residence of her son in Vermillion, February 10, 1862. She had ten brothers who fought in the War of the Revolution. She also had two sisters. She came to Ohio about the year 1834. Her remains were interred in the Vermillion Cemetery. Beside her sleep four great-grandchildren.: Willie Hyde, son of Daniel B. Hyde ; Alice, daughter of Henry Hyde; Agnes Laidlaw, daughter of Isabella Hyde Laidlaw, and Viola Harding Risden, who met a tragical death October 19, 1880. Mrs. P. B. Laidlaw, Isabella Hyde, resides in El Paso, Texas. Imogene Hyde, Mrs. S. St. John, is a resident of San Diego, California. LETTER FROM MERRIETT HYDE TO GARRY BARD HYDE "Wakeman, Ohio, "August 28th, 1824. "To Garry Bard Hyde  "Oxford, County of New Haven "Connecticut. "Dear Brother, "I received your letter May 6th. dated the last of Jan'y and received the $2.53 cents instead of the tin pans. I have a few tin pans, but not as many as we want. I had to give 50 cents for them and pay the cash. "It is so far that I never shall think of having that large kettle come out here, you may keep it or sell it. The rats are determined to devour every thing. I should be glad if you could send that little trap out, and if there be any thing due me, you will put it in pans and send them out. "We are all in good health. We have heard of Mothers and your sickness, and Cousins Charle's death. "When you write again, you may write to Wakeman, for it has been set off for a town and called Wakeman. "I have been digging a well, I have dug 15 feet and came to rock, I dug 3 feet in the rock and came to good water, which is not inferior to the best. "I had two acres of great wheat, 1 acre of garden, 2 acres of corn, 1/2 acres of potatoes and 5 acres to sow now with wheat this fall. "I have six hogs to fat, that now will weigh from 150 to 200 pounds each, mid an old one and small pigs to winter. "I have 77 apple trees set out, 40 peach trees, that are from 5 to 12 feet high, and most of them blossomed last spring. "I would not have you think, my apple trees bloomed. "I have mowed 10 acres of grass to the halves. You may come and see me if you please, I should be happy to wait on you and can treat you to the fat of the this land. We was so plagued for a Blacksmith, that I let Isaac Hill have an article of my land off of the west end of HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 461 my land, and took his notes, and went to (roots) ? (this word was indistinct) town 10 miles and moved him out. "I have explored this country 10 miles East and 30 South and have seen some good country and some poor. "Everywhere I go I see some one that knew me or my Father or Grandfather or some one that they or I knew, which makes us all cousins. "I have heard of John Leferbree, and I calculate to make him a visit, he is 12 miles South and 7 East from me, but there is no direct road. "I wish you to send me some new seed and some of that large kind of 12 row corn. "Eunice was married to Chaney Thompson a Connecticut Yankee, the wedding was at 2 o'clock P. M. and held out by about 50 persons and continued by feasting and sporting until at 11 at eve. "By the bearer of this letter, Johnson Wheeler, Sally sends to Mother a little bag of useful roots. Maria and Monroe send their respects, to Uncle Garry and Grandmother, and says tell them, that Monroe has read in a testament, and Maria has read through the testament and to the 20th chapter of John again. "Crops have come in well this year and times good and lively for a new country, and most every thing will fetch the cash. "I pray God to be your Holy keeper. MERRIETT HYDE. "P. S. Give my regards to all friends and foes. " This country is very flat, and in wet seasons very muddy, but healthy. In a dry season very pleasant. It is very sickly when the drough commences the standing water stagnates, which causes fevers of several kinds, such as fever and ague, intermittant remittant and typhus. "Every new inhabitant has to have one of these fevers for a seasoning, but there are but very few that die from the seasoning although some fall victims." NOTE : Merriett Hyde was born in Oxford, Connecticut, January 2, 1794, and was married to Sally Boyd. The Eunice spoken of was his sister. Garry was his brother, who was also born in Oxford. He came to Ohio in 1833 and settled in Vermillion. They were the children of Daniel Hyde and Eunice Bard Hyde. Eunice Hyde died at Vermillion in 1862 aged ninety-seven years. Their first Hyde ancestor was Humphrey, who came to this country from Oxfordshire, England, and settled in Fairfield, Connecticut, 1669. James D. Lea was a fine specimen of the old-fashioned democrat. He spent his time and money for the democratic party without fee or hope of reward. The only office he ever held was member of the board of waterworks. He came here and by his own efforts achieved a fortune in the lumber business and lived to see the day when the party for which he had toiled for thirty years took possession of the county, state and nation. He was a strong friend and a good enemy and what greater praise can there be. 462 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY The Register of February 21, 1899, contained a biographical sketch of Fanny Mills, who for many years made Sandusky famous as the "big footed girl." She was a woman naturally modest and retiring and disliked the notoriety which the exhibition of her unfortunate condition caused. By her business ability she accumulated considerable property and for some years before her death she had retired and lived in comfort in her home on South Columbus Avenue. On February 26, 1878, and on several other occasions the Register handed a lemon to a book called "Palm' Branches," written by Miss S. M. Mills of this city. The book seems to have created as much local excitement as "Three Weeks" did many years later nationally. It was surely a warm baby. The following extract published in the Register of April 13, 1878, gives a fair idea of the book. The Register says: "Palm Branches is a dainty dream of romance, modulated to Aeolian melodies, and illuminated throughout with the glowing tints of the rainbow. The author Miss Sallie M. Mills has a Lamartine like predilection for the sweets of fancy and diction, but her recitative sympathizing with American skies has a brisker, more practical and less voluptuous movement than that of the great French idylist. A better indication of her way of looking at life might be had by placing her in contrast with her sister novelist Rhoda Broughton, the one emphasizing with perverse energy, the grit, the grime, the bald physical nature of things; the other, like the fair spirit of the dawn, projecting everything into a state of rosy light, in which the commonest objects catch something f a delusive idealism. The one belongs to the extreme youth of sentiment, the other to its age. We pluck a sample leaf from the book (which by the way is quite prettily brought out and is sold at Lockwoods 812 Broadway) Preparations had been made for LILLA 'S BIRTHDAY PARTY." “ ‘The hour at last arrived when the guests began to come. Lilla stood beside her mother ready to receive. Soft wax lights glowed from the chandeliers. Delicious music pulsated through the rooms. Lovely ladies floated through the mazes of the dance. In the excitement and hurry Daisy was for a moment forgotten. She was sitting alone absorbed in watching the dancers. The house was so beautifully decorated and the guests were so amiable and graceful. To Daisy the scene was fairy like. " 'After a time she became conscious of some one standing beside her, and a voice for which she had learned to listen was inviting her to dance. She could hardly believe her senses but there he stood glowering at her with a dark frown. She wondered at herself for not being frightened. A great calm seemed soothing over her. She looked into his face while a new brightness seemed flooding the grand drawing room. " "This waltz," ' she said. " ' "yes." " 'And then she felt herself lifted into eternity. She seemed to be HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 463 floating on azure clouds. The orchestra throbbed out its most entrancing Strauss. Mr. Carrington waltzed divinely. Who would have thought that that silent forbidding looking man could waltz. Daisy was so exquisitely fair, so every way beautiful that the city stranger ladies envied her. They looked mockingly sideways at her. " "That is the little country girl we have heard about," ' they said to one another scornfully. And several youths who had glared savagely at each other in a vain jealousy all Winter, began to shake their head and to murmur that she was too pretty to be good. Of all these evil omens about her Daisy was for the moment blissfully unconscious. She had her waltz with Mr. Carrington. After that it seemed right that she should walk with him into the conservatory. They rested for a moment beneath the boughs of an enormous tropical tree. They were alone. All the rest of the company were dancing or at supper. " 'A pale white lantern swung from a bough over their heads. " 'Daisy looked very lovely by the light of that calm moonlight blaze. Then Mr. Carrington was standing so near her. There was a new strange magnetism to the air. It glided between the two with an irresistible attraction. Daisy swayed. She was dizzy. Mr. Carrington's arm passed around her, and there without one thought of the proprieties of the occasion the two melted into one kiss.' " August Mueller settled here in 1835. His name would long have faded from memory had not a rather peculiar incident occurred which kept it alive. Sandusky fifty years ago afforded an excellent pasture ground, not only for old Foreman's sheep, but for a number of cows, that in a go-as-you-please way, found food and water, shelter and shade among the hazel bushes of the village. Mueller was the proud possessor of a cow, but it was a great chagrin to him that his cow returned dry repeatedly, in the evening. A kind-hearted neighbor enlightened him that in all probability some one procured the precious lacteal fluid without consent. Whether our friend August in his younger days had read Cooper's "Lederstrumpf" and the "Last of the Mohicans" or not, we leave this an open question. He started on his warpath, the scalping knife in his pocket, and wended his way through the bushes on hands and feet, and there sat the perpetrator of all his misery, leisurely abstracting the precious fluid. One warwhoop, one jump and he had him by the ear, one cut and he had the trophy in his hands. His friends persuaded him, as he apparently was not conscious of the enormity of the crime, to take passage on a boat that was ready to leave for Buffalo on the next morning. Between the two ports he worked on shipboard for nearly two years, but never allowed his feet to touch the soil of this city, except under cover of night. He subsequently moved to St. Louis. His victim, Lemon, minus one ear, died years ago in Sandusky. The effect of this transaction was to ear-lemonate the thief. On the 1st of February, 1914, the Register contained a biographical sketch of George R. Peck, the fourth vice president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, who was born July 10, 1858, at Sandusky.   464 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY George H. Peeke was born in Rotterdam, Schenectady County, March 18, 1833, of Holland Dutch stock with an ancestry noted for longevity, having a maternal grandmother who lived to be nearly a century. His father's name was Christopher H. Peeke. Early in life Rev. Mr. Peeke became ambitious for an education and fitted for college under an old Holland-Dutch preacher named Jukes, whose frequent quotation was that he had never feared the face of clay. Mr. Peeke graduated from Rutgers College in 1857 and from the theological seminary in 1860. His first church was at South Bend, Indiana, where Vice President Colfax, then just beginning his political career, was one of his deacons, and the first wife of Mr. Colfax was an intimate friends of Mr. and Mrs. Peeke. On his mother's side he was related to the Mabies, of whom the author, Hamilton W. Mabie, was a member. The old Mabie homestead, built in 1657, is still ,standing near his birthplace. His active ministry covered fifty-five years with prominent churches in Brooklyn, New York, Jersey City, New Jersey, Chicago, Illinois, Davenport, Iowa, Cleveland, Ohio, and Sandusky. He had great pulpit ability and more than average success as a pastor with a record covering a long pastorate, which few ministers have obtained. The book, "Who's Who" for 1915, contains a biographical sketch of Mr. Peeke. He was the first clergyman in Sandusky to advocate the prohibition of the liquor traffic. Grace A. Peeke, the daughter of George H. Peeke and Margaret B. Peeke, was undoubtedly possessed of the brightest mind of their six children. At the age of sixteen for over a year she conducted a column in the Cincinnati Enquirer in the woman's department. She died at the age of twenty-two in consequence of the mistaken notion that it was her duty to make the world better, and she therefore sacrificed her life as a trained nurse in the Post Graduate Hospital in New York City, where she contracted diseases from which she died September 25, 1891. A poem of hers is here copied, which was written at the age of sixteen: THE MODERN GIRL By Grace A. Peeke From her cloudy, fluffy bang, To her tiny boots that clang 'Neath the stylish skirts, that hang With a swirl. She's a creature far too good For our daily, common food, The antithesis of the dude— The modern girl. HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 465 With her upturned pansy face, And her scintillating grace, And her rosy lips that trace, A pouting curl; With her figure trim and neat, And her hands and waist petite, She's a picture, "Oh, so sweet!" The modern girl An aristocratic pug By a silken cord she'll tug, And a paint brush at a jug She can hurl; And she can talk a little slang, And the banjo deftly twang Till it gives her friends a pang-- The modern girl. Like an angel she can dance, And the vapid dudes entrance With her sly, coquettish glance In the whirl; She can warble like a lark, And the gaping crowds remark, As she gallops in the park- " The modern girl." To the tony church she goes, And she bows her dainty nose, While she ponders o'er the woes Of the world ; Then she elevates her chin, As she takes the bonnets in, Never thinking this a sin— 'The modern girl. On a sultry summer's day In the foaming surf she'll play, And her bathing suit of gray She'll unfurl; She'll recline upon the sand And her parasol expand, To display her jeweled hand— The modern girl. Vol. I-30 466 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY Then at length the season's past, And she's. bagged her game at last, For the parson's chained her fast To a churl; He is rich, and all is well, Has a title, so they tell, Which he needs to ring this belle' The modern girl. This poem was copied by the Cincinnati Enquirer, the New York Tribune, the Chicago Times and other papers. Margaret B. Peeke, the wife of George H. Peeke, was born at Schuylerville, April 8, 1838. Her maiden name was Peck and her mother was a Benedict, the sister of Chancellor E. C. Benedict, who wrote the standard work on Admiralty Law, which is still authority in the United States. Mrs. Peeke was the mother of six children of which the author of this work is the only one now surviving. Her father's name was Garry Peck, who died at Stillwater, Pennsylvania, when Mrs. Peeke was about twelve years old. She had a remarkably bright mind and wonderful conversational ability. She was the author of two books, "Zenia, the Vestal," and "Born of Flame," published by the Lippincotts, which ran through four editions and was in its time favorably commented on by the reviewers. She also wrote many newspaper articles, and for several years was one of the editors of the Chicago Alliance, the paper which was edited by Rev. David Swing. She had read widely and traveled much, visiting Europe several times and also Egypt and the Holy Land, and departed after a life full of experience which had taught her wisdom. She died November 2, 1908, and together with her daughter Grace lies buried in Pomona, Tennessee. RESURGAM I shall rise ! Not ages hence, When earth has passed away In fervent heat ; and, like a scroll, The clouds of heaven together roll, Upon the final day! But from this body born of earth, That binds my spirit down, I shall go forth like bird set free To breathe the air of liberty I ne 'er before have known ; A life as boundless as the skies In realms whose name is Paradise. HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 467 RESURGES Thou shalt arise ! When death's approach May cause the cheek to pale, With fancies dread, of grave and tomb, Of earthly mold and cheerless gloom, That oft make brave hearts fail;  Then, in an instant, thou shalt see  Through death's wide open door  A glorious world of light and hope, Where every power has perfect scope, And joy reigns evermore ;  And while thou lookest, thou shalt rise, To taste the joys of Paradise.  RESURGENT They shall rise! The world's great throng, Through all time's cycles born, Not one shall fail of Easter Life, Whoe'er has entered earthly strife, Or fleshly body worn ; But some shall shrink in fright away When called to leave the home of clay, And others haste to go, And meet the Judge of all their life, Whose eye hath witnessed every strife And battle here below. 'Tis thus two armies shall arise, To lose or gain a Paradise. -Mrs. Margaret Bloodgood Peeke. Lewis H. C. Post was in his day the Ward McAllister of Sandusky society. If someone could write a vaudeville sketch with him as a basis it would surely command the applause of old residents. He was a short man with bald head on which he usually wore a toupee, sandy whiskers, a high feminine voice, heavy body and short thin legs. His two great traits were an insatiable love of gossip and one of the kindest hearts ever placed in a human body. These two traits got him into a great deal of trouble. His Fidus Achates was a clerk also much given to gossip. On one occasion a young lady sent for the clerk and told him her father would call and settle with him for the slanders he had circulated about her. The clerk went to the office of Lewis Post and told Louie, as he was generally called, that the young lady's father was going to call and settle with Louie for slandering his daughter. While Louie could not remember what he had said he judged 468 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY he probably had said something and his conscience troubled him. Accordingly Louie and his clerk arranged for a storm signal if the irate father hove in sight. A little later this appeared and when the irate father appeared Louie and the clerk had disappeared and the father sat down to wait to execute venegance on the clerk and in ignorance of the deception practiced on Louie. To ,him then and there appeared the devil in the shape of Louie's dearest enemy and social rival who suggested they could not be far away as their hats and coats were still hanging on the hook. A pull on a closet door was resisted by about five horsepower, resulting in Louie being pulled out into the room ejaculating, "Oh dear Mr. I will never talk about your daughter again," which he was solemnly warned not to do. About the time of this occurrence one of Louie's friends said to him, "Now Louie that ought teach you a lesson, this makes three times you ,have been thrashed for slandering women." In his high feminine voice Louie replied, "No it aint, only twice." He often promised his friends to remember them in his will and several times drew wills doing so, though not the last. He never married, but left behind him many friends who were sorry he was gone. On one occasion when the militia was drilling on Washington Square the company had succeeded in getting possession of a lot of Shakespearian costumes belonging to a stranded troupe of actors and appeared clad in these costumes, much to the disgust of old Capt. Leicester Walker. Joseph Root, then a young man, had been unable to procure one of these costumes, but in order to be in line he had sewed a large piece of red flannel on the seat of his pants. He was then very large and fleshy and the flannel occupied a conspicuous position, as Mr. Root wore a "roundabout." Captain Walker drilled his men unmercifully for a while and then marched the company down to a house on Columbus Avenue, where a young lady at that time resided that Mr. Root was very sweet on. She, sat looking out the window. The company was halted so Root was directly in front of the window. The captain gave the order, "Front face," which brought the red patch directly in the girl's view. He then ordered "About face" and kept turning the soldier round and round until the girl left the window and later Mr. Root. One of the pleasantest memories of the writer is the personality of old Judge Ebenezer Sadler. For many years his law office stood next north of the building now occupied by Miss von Sick as a millinery shop on Jackson Street, where the Ogontz garage stood. The office building was removed to the lot east of the house now occupied by Doctor Blakeslee, where •it is still standing. In that office building for a quarter of a century the old judge lived and slept and transacted his business. He lost his wife in the early '50s, and true to her memory, he never cared to remarry. He was always fond of the ladies and in the season he cultivated a beautiful flower garden, and it was one of his greatest pleasures to give the flowers he had raised to the ladies, both young and old, which he knew and admired. HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 469 He was deeply grounded in legal principles and his career as a judge was so creditable that when he left the bench the bar of Toledo, including at that time Morrison R. Waite, afterwards chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, unanimously signed a testimonial of their appreciation of his courtesy and judicial abilitics. He was singularly kind to young lawyers and at the time of his death had long been an ornament to the profession to which he had given his active life. There has been none at the bar more deeply missed or greatly mourned than Judge Sadler in the last generation. Rev. Josiah Strong, who wrote the book, "Our Country," after he left Sandusky, frequently made the statement that he preached the entire book in different lectures to the membership of the Congregational Church in Sandusky and they went dead. William Townsend was the first and only merchant who patronized the "Clarion" by advertising. His store was a small building on Water Street nearly opposite the Colton House and for many years forming part of the old Sandusky, Dayton and Cincinnati Railroad depot, until it was torn down in 1865. He built a small dock opposite his store which is now part of the Big Four dock. He lived in a frame house on Lawrence Street a little south of the Colton House. He had a habit of building new houses out of several old ones. Some wag discovered that his house was made up of as many separate houses as lie had daughters in his family, and for several years whenever he bought an old house his neighbors would enquire after the health of his family. A brief biographical sketch of Hudson Tuttlc, the prominent writer on spiritualism, will be found in the second volume, and some mention is also made in the history of Berlin Township. O. J. Victor, the newspaper writer, was connected with the Register from 1851 to 1857. He went to New York where he achieved a high standing. He wrote a life on Lincoln, a book on the City of New York, a history of American conspiracy from which Horace Greeley largely took his history of the "American Conflict." His sister, Meta Victoria Victor, wrote many stories for Godey's Magazine, a magazine which was published up to about 1864 and was a great favorite with our mothers and grandmothers. She wrote a continued story in Godey's Magazine, entitled "Miss Slimmen's Window," the hcroine of which was a milliner who was supposed to look out from the millinery shop window and fish for men. A Miss Quick, who in those days kept a millinery shop on the present site of the postoffice; conceived the idea that the story was written especially for her benefit. The Register of October 12, 1908, contains a sketch of Eugene Walter, the author of "The Easiest Way" and several other plays. Many Sanduskians will remember him as a little freckle-faced boy, whose father was proprietor of the Sloane House for several years and who removed from here to Cleveland. Just as the 14th of June, 1899, came to an end William T. West closed his career. He was eighty-four years of age. He used to boast that fifty cents covered the cost of his education received at the old dis- 470 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY trict school in Massachusetts. He frequently said, "We are all creatures of circumstance," and illustrated it by his own career. He came to Buffalo to go to Cincinnati or Columbus. By mistake his baggage was put on the Sandusky boat. He discovered the error and jumped off the dock and swam to the boat and came to Sandusky because the captain would not return and put him and his luggage ashore. He was a cabinet maker and later engaged in business with great success. He had some eccentricities, one of which was he never wore an overcoat. He was one of the few old residents of Sandusky who conveyed an impression of strong individuality. He was one of the few progressive men that Sandusky has had. He had the contract to furnish the timber for the prison on Johnson's Island. He joined heartily in the movement to locate the state penitentiary at Sandusky offering to furnish building stone at low figures as an inducement. He built the West House in the '50s when he was at least twenty years ahead of his time, and followed it up by building the Mahala Block in his old age, which was later destroyed by fire. He delighted to tell stories of early days in Sandusky. One of his pet stories was of one of the later families of Hebrew origin who became ashamed of it and changed their name to conceal the fact. His story was that the then head of the family died shortly after his arrival and the first job Mr. West had after his arrival in Sandusky was to make a coffin for the deceased. Mr. West had been a carpenter and joiner by trade and readily undertook the task. He made the coffin long enough and wide enough but not deep enough so that at the conclusion of the funeral services where he acted as undertaker and after the relatives had viewed the remains when he started to put on the lid he learned for the first time that the nose of the corpse protruded above the side line. "But" he said, "It was no time to hesitate. I bore on with my knee and screwed her down. I could feel the bones of his beak crunch, but I screwed her down just the same." He had some amusing stories he used to tell about the Sons of Malta, a fake secret society which had a great run through the United States and struck Sandusky in the early '50s. The society was said to have been organized by George Prentiss at the time of an epidemic of yellow fever in Memphis, Tennessee, for the purpose of distracting the popular mind from their peril. The object of the society was represented as the capture of the Island of Cuba, and for that purpose the candidate was examined as to his qualifications as a recruit for such an expedition. The initiation consisted of two parts, the first of which was solemn and dcsigned to impress the candidate. He was ushered into a darkened room, lighted only by blue lights with an open coffin in the midst guarded by four ghostly figures in long monkish robes solemnly waving their arms above the coffin. An organ played solemn music while a decp bell tolled, while the sides of the room were crowded with figures in the same ghostly attire. Not a word was spoken, and the candidate was escorted back to the anteroom and blindfolded and then brought back to the lodgeroom to be put through a hoaxing degree HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 471 so complete that none ever detected the hoax till the blindfold was removed. In order to drown the laughter of the members, chains were dragged and various sound stifling devices used. The head of the lodge was supposed to be a man of deep and impressive voice for the purpose of the ritual. Early in the initiation the candidate was asked if he could write his name in the dark and on his doing so he would discover three or four days later when a bill was presented to him that he had signed an order for various solid and liquid refreshments. The routine of the initiation proceeded as follows, for example, the commander would inquire of the candidate if he would be willing in order to procure information from the enemy, to lie on his stomach and steal into his camp by night. The candidate would of course answer, "yes." The lodge would repeat in unison, "The candidate will lie and steal." The commander in his ponderous voice would say, "Let it be recorded that the candidate will lie and steal." At another place in the initiation a gigantic sponge was provided and as the blindfolded candidate stood before the commander and the rest of the lodge, at intervals during the ritual, the commander would ask in his majestic way, 'How many feet of water in the grand tank," the member having the sponge in charge would lift it from the tub and allow the water to run out of the sponge and reply, "One foot," then Two feet," and so on until ten feet was announced. Later the command would be given, "Let the candidate be emersed in the grand tank," and the blindfolded candidate would be taken up to the top of a platform and guided down the incline plane until he landed in a sitting position on top of the sponge, where he would strike out to swim, much to the delight of the assembled members. At another place in the ritual the candidate was asked if he had any precious stones concealed about his person, the candidate would answer "No," the lodge would repeat in unison, "The candidate has no stones." The commander would announce, "Let it be recorded that the candidate has no stones." A strong endeavor was made to impress on the candidate's mind the presence of one or more clergymen or prominent citizens for whom the candidate was supposed to have great respect. Whenever a man of unusual physical strength was initiated a stool pigeon was initiated at the same time. On one such occasion the stool pigeon stood at the head of a file of candidates next to a man Of great reputation for courage. All were blindfolded. After being conducted to the hall the candidates were told to count ten. The stool pigeon in a loud voice called "One," he was gently reprimanded by the commander and again asked to count. Again in a louder tone he cried "One," more severely he was reprimanded again by the commander and again asked to count, and again in a loud voice he cried "One." He was now solemnly warned that another repetition of the offense would cause him to be brought before the grand council of ten. He again cried in a loud tone "One," and immediately with great force he was torn away from the side of the courageous candidate crying at the top 472 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY of his voice "Mercy." A clanking of chains succeeded and at a little distance a fainter 'cry for mercy. A little further and the cry almost died away and then ceased after which the candidate was hazed to the content of the lodge. With this sketch of a man who served his generation well according to his light, let this record end.