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_{SPLIT PERSONALITY}

OUT FROM UNDER THE WEATHER: To be sure a great many people in the nation are experiencing far worse weather than we-uns in good ol' Vermilion have been experiencing during the last few days. I saw a weather map on television last evening and noticed that it was down in the thirties in (of all places) Miami, Florida. It's cold here - but it's supposed to be. And we've not received a terrible amount of snow. Northeast Ohio is another matter. Nonetheless - I was under the weather (or so to speak) from New Years Day until about yesterday. I don't know if it was the weather or not. But I felt like I was walking around inside a cloud for a time. I didn't feel like myself.

But I'm back now. And I feel like twice the person I was a week ago.

As an aside I need to mention (for the sakes of those far from their Vermilion homes) that it appears that the powers that be are going to shutter our beloved South Street School.

Enrollment is way down. That turn of events is likely connected to the closings of the Lorain Ford Assemby Plant and Lithonia (the old Wakefield ITT) Lighting - or that's my read on the situation.

These are difficult economic times for many - and there's no easy way to address these problems. One does what is necessary. But I am saddened to see this happen on my watch.

My good friend Larry Howell, who was Vermilion Schools Custodial Supervisor before he retired, believes that of all Vermilion's school buildings South Street is probably (structurally) the best. But Larry's opinion is unlikely to count. All the big "muckety-mucks" seem to know better.

It would be my hope - if the plan is to mothball South Street - that I city take some reasonable initiative and acquire the property to be used as a municipal complex that could house nearly all their offices and services.

I don't thing that it'd be too far-fetched for the city to seek some federal stimulus funding to finance improvements to the building for their purposes. I'd really hate to see South Street meet the same fate as that of the old State Street School. That old building (I fear) is going to have to be razed in the very near future.

We just can't afford to let all these old buildings go to hell.

(I guess one can tell that I'm now feeling quite well.)

Me-myself-and-I-ly,

Part of the VHS Class of 1927

VHS 1927: This pic really speaks for itself. And truth be told what I was actually doing when I scanned it from the Hi-Times booklet was testing my scanner. For technical reasons I needed to install a new "scanner driver" and I had a real bear of a time finding one that worked. The scanner is a MicroTek i800 Pro that is capable of scanning rather large documents and I was in a panic when I couldn't get it to work.

I chose this page from Vermilion High School Yearbook, the "Hi-Times", in part because it is the page with Fred Wakefield's and Jean Lawless's Senior pictures on it.

I know that "Viewer" Molly Milner is always thrilled when I find a pic of her father somewhere and use it. And I don't know that she has this particular photo.

And Jean Lawless was someone that I remember quite vividly although she was in her golden years at that time. She was a remarkable person and musician. Toward the end of her years in her home on the northwest corner of Huron and Washington Streets she subscribed to our local Meals-On-Wheels program. And I recall taking her meal to her home and seeing her piano just inside the front door. I believe that she was blinded by that time.

The names of the other folks pictured are familiar to me. But the faces are not. Perhaps some "Viewers" knew them.

_{"...The Inn was located on the site presently occupied by Weld-Master (window) Manufacturing..."}

THE RIVERSIDE INN: As the old adage goes, "Out of sight, out of mind”. The Riverside Inn (photograph) has nearly been forgotten by many long-time residents of Vermilion, O. It was hardly a five star eatery/ saloon. So it’s no big surprise that very few photos of it exist.

The Inn was located on the site presently occupied by Weld-Master (window) Manufacturing on the south side of Liberty Avenue just one door east of Exchange Street. A lady named Betty Kemmerer and her husband were then the proprietors. Betty was the daughter of a well known Vermilionite named George Harris, Sr. (PJ 1-10-08).

While I was not yet born when these shadows were captured (c.1942) my recollections of the place from the early 1950’s were vivid enough to allow me to recognize it when I processed the picture from some old Vermilion News photo negatives. The reason for the photo is evident by the structural damage apparent in the photo. But I have, currently, no details about the cause. Neither do I have any personal experience(s) to share with readers about the eatery. But through the years I have heard a few anecdotes relative to it.

Vermilion resident Larry Howell tells a story that took place during his youth when he and a group of his buddies were speeding on their bicycles past the Inn. When his cousin, Ron Eppler, approached the front of the place some old fellow opened the front door - which swung outward over the walk - knocking him - head over heels - off his bike. This story affords one some idea of just how close the building was to the front walk.

Another story concerns an old boatyard craftsman whose fondness for divine spirits of a corporeal nature ofttimes led him to divagate from his intended Port of Call. This gent was also a member of Vermilion’s esteemed Volunteer Fire Department. One day when the “alarum” was sounded he left his workshop along the river and headed up the hill toward the fire station on Ohio Street. As his co-workers and friends watched him - openly expressing their admiration for his dedication to the greater good of the citizenry - he crossed Liberty Avenue and entered the Riverside Inn. Evidently the fire in his belly was more in need of immediate extinguishing than the one for which the village alarm had been sounded.

I don’t recall precisely when the place closed. But methinks it sat empty for a time until the owner, Vermilion businessman Elton Fischer, sold it. The building was, of course, demolished and a new Vermilion Post Office was then built on the site.

If you stick around Vermilion, O. long enough you’ll witness the comings and goings of many, many business establishments and the folks who frequented them. This is not, however, a preface for some grandiose socio-economic critique or theory about the nature of commerce nor the people of our community. It’s just a homespun observation tendered by an equally “homespun” person whose memory was “jogged” - just a tad - by an old, and very extraordinary, photograph from a yesteryear that, but for its existence, might very well have been consigned to oblivion.

_{Ref: The Vermilion News Photo Archive; Special Thanks to Ginny Wilkes and Nancy Alice Emery; Published in the Vermilion Photojournal 11/20/08; Written 11/16/08 @ 12:09 PM.}

"Out of the two hundred forty-nine Congregational churches
in the state of Ohio, but twenty-one have a longer history than this one.."

THE FIRST 100: This is the second portion of the text of the Lucy Morgan book about Vermilion's First Congregational Church published in 1918. This is a document well worth reading. While it will appear in "VV" in parts the entire text will eventually be on a web page by itself. Again - this is a historical document.

History of the Church - PART 2

...April 20, 1838 the trustees, Isaac Fowler, Philo Clark, James Prentice, Jacob Sherarts and Perry Darby, decided to build the new church on the present site.

A few weeks later specifications for a brick building 60x45 ft. and 27 ft. in height were given to S. Atkinson, said building to be completed by October 1st. Records of a year later show that only the foundation was laid, then an effort was made to raise funds by the sale of seats. The plan of the church with the names of the seat owners and prices paid is still in existence. The prices varied from $10.00 to $86.00, some buying several seats. We do not know when the church was completed, but it was dedicated December 20, 1843, and the sermon was preached by Rev. J. W. Goodell soon after he became pastor.

An old subscription paper circulated at that time reads thus: “We, the undersigned subscribers, wishing to support the preaching of the gospel in the First Congregational church and society in this place, pledge ourselves the several amounts affixed to our names to the treasurer of said Society for the support of J. W. Goodell as pastor of said church and society. The several sums are to be applied for the support of Mr. Goodell for the term of one year and to be paid as his wants may require". Then there follows a list of pledges varying from $1.00 to $25.00 per [sic] yer. Some of the pledges seem small, but considering the times they were more liberal givers than many of the present day who have much greater privileges. It was agreed to give him $300.00 and ask for an additional $100.00 missionary aid.

December 1843 the members voted to make an offering for Home missions in January and to Foreign missions in July, by so doing they began early to give to others the help they had so recently received themselves.

About 1853, as near as can be determined, a society was formed called the Bell Society, whose object was to purchase a bell, each one earning the money in some special way. An incident has been told by one lady herself, that she persuaded her father to get her some fine cloth from which she cut and made several shirts and sold them to friends. One of those was purchased by her lover for his wedding shirt. The bell this society wanted to buy had hung in the belfry of the church that once stood on the site of the Old Stone Church in Cleveland. Engraved on the bell is the name of "Revere". Tradition gives the story that Paul Revere was a maker of bells and it is supposed that his hands shaped and finished it.

The pipe organ which was used for many years in the brick church was purchased about 1858 or 1859. Before that time various musical instruments were used. First the tuning fork, then the bass viol played by Deacon Sherart, later Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Morgan came with their little melodeon held upon the lap, one keeping the bellows filled and playing the bass, while the other played the soprano, held the hymn book and the baby. The purchase of the pipe organ was a great event. At first a man from Elyria was organist, then Miss Ermina Sherart and Mr. Henry Wagner. Then there came a time when the seat was vacant and the minister went to a mother in the' congregation to ask if her young son of twelve years could not at least give the key to start hymns. With a trembling heart she gave her consent, he played the hymns and became the regular organist from that time to the present, with the Exception of short periods when away from home.

Many of the churches of this denomination when organi-sed were placed under the care of a Presbytery to be looked after until strong enough to care for themselves. This church, with many others applied for membership in the Conference of Congregational churches in Ohio, application being made in Februrary, 1867.

"The Shafts family moved to Joppa road from Berea..."

LARRY SHAFTS: My good friend Larry Hohler who currently abides in New York State sent me this wonderful snap of his favorite uncle, Larry Shafts. that he found in his grandfather's scrapbooks; it was taken on a farm that his grandparents rented on Joppa Rd above Chappelle creek (southwest of Vermilion).

Larry, is shown in the above pic with a shotgun and the turkeys he had raised. He was in his mid teens at the time.

The Shafts family moved to Joppa road from Berea, where the elder Shafts had been a trolley conductor. The family thought the move would have a beneficial affect on his health. They lived on Joppa road until the early 1950's, when a young Larry moved them to the house he bought at 315 East Ohio Street in Vermilion.

Larry and his brother, Dale, spent summers at the house on Ohio Street as youngsters (and both were tripping over fire hoses when they burned the bottling works in about 1954. Their Unlce Larry owned the Vermilion Bottling Company.

Mr. Shafts biography can be found among the Vermilion Biographies section of "VV". He was a very interesting Vermilion personality.

_{"A few years after their arrival James Cuddeback became insane,
and Hannah was left to care for home and children..."}

VERMILION PIONEER FAMILIES: During the next few weeks I'm going to try to feature some information re: a few of Vermililion's pioneer families. I hope some "Viewers" find a little interest in this stuff. I find it fascinating.

THE CUDDEBACK FAMILY OF VERMILION

There were two families by the name of Cuddeback in Vermillion that were very prominent in affairs at that early day, and have continued so until the present time, Peter married Jenny Courtright, and James, his Brother, married Hannah Courtright, a sister of Jenny.

They came in 1810 from Minnisink, N. J. Mrs. Jenny Cuddeback brought several children with her, and more were added until she had eleven in all; five of these were girls. Her husband set out the first orchard in the township, and some of the trees are still standing. Aunt Jenny Cuddeback was noted for her unbounded hospitality. She became blind some years before her death, and it was a great trial for her, to give up and depend upon, other people's eye sight. Her last days were spent. with her son, James, on the old homestead, and she was ninety-four years old when she died.

Her sister, Hannah, came from the same place but a year later. Their farm was nearer the river than that of the other family. A few years after their arrival James Cuddeback became insane, and Hannah was left to care for home and children alone in a new country and one can imagine her hardships and trials; but with it all she found time and strength to help her neighbors in sickness, and a little of her own stores to spare for those who were needy.

After her children were grown up, married, and living in homes of their own, she sold the farm and lived with her youngest daughter, Mrs. Simpson. She died in the spring of 1896 aged 105 years. Her hearing and eyesight had become somewhat impaired but to the last she loved to receive attention from friends and welcomed all callers.

Her daughters were Rhoda, Hannah, Emily, Sarah, and Paulina. Hannah married Wright Meeker of Huron, 0., and lived in a fine, large farm house on the lake shore, about a mile east of that town. She had one daughter Polly, now Mrs. Benjamin Brigsby; and several boys, dying when the youngest was a babe.

Emily married Capt. George Stone and lives in Cleveland. The Cuddebacks were of Dutch stock.

_{"Notice: the above material is Public Domain (no copyright)."File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives byTed Reisingtedohio@yahoo.comDec. 15, 1998.
[Vermilion Twp., Erie County, Ohio]
PIONEER WOMEN OF VERMILION TWP., 1809-1845. from PIONEER WOMEN OF THE WESTERN RESERVE, 1896. Pages 783-788}

God Bless their souls - each and every one.

FROM THE MOUTHS OF BABES...

_{[Courtesy of AndyChaps]}

* "Close the curtains," requested our 2 year old grand- daughter, sitting in a pool of bright light. "The sun's looking at me too hard."

* My friend asked our grandson when he would turn 6. He replied, "When I'm tired of being 5."

* Seeing her first hailstorm, Mary Sue, age 3, exclaimed, "Mommy, it's raining dumplings!"

* As I frantically waved away a pesky fly with a white dish- towel, my granddaughter observed, "Maybe he thinks you're surrendering."

* A friend's grandson, 4, was reading with his granddad about Adam and Eve. He asked, "Is this where God took out the man's brain and made a woman?"

* Announcing to daughter Lori that her aunt just had a baby and it looked like her uncle, she said, "You mean he has a mustache?"

* When I asked our grandson if he could name the capital of Florida, he fired right back, "Capital F!"

* Shampooing my 4-year-old, I noted his hair was growing so fast he'd soon need it cut. He replied, "Maybe we shouldn't water it so much."

* My daughter told her 5-year-old that their van was going to be fixed. Instantly, the small fry assumed, "Oh, it's going to the tire-o-practor?"

* Impressed by her 5-year-old's vocabulary, my friend complimented the young scholar, who nonchalantly responded, "I have words in my head I haven't even used yet."

* His Mom informed her son, Brian, that she was going out- side to get a little sun. "But Mommy, he gulped, "You already have a son. Me!"

* When our son asked about two look-alike classmates at school, we told him they were probably twins. The next day, he came home from school all bubbly and said, "Guess what! They are not only twins....they're brothers!!"

_{PART OF AN ALMON RUGGLES MAP}

MAPPING VERMILLION: During the past week my friend, Dale Hoholer (the aforementioned Larry Hohler's brother) introduced me (via the net) to a gentlemen historian named Lou Schultz. Lou lives in Columbus but has a summer home at Cedar Point. He says that his "lifelong passion has been the history of the North Central Ohio Frontier and the War of 1812 in Ohio". And he has a great deal of interest in the man who surveyed Vermilion and the surround areas - Almon Ruggles.

Lou told me that last year he purchased an original 1809 manuscript map of the "Fire Land" by Ruggles. It was sold by Joseph Callery, the Sandusky bookdealer, in 1950 and ended up in California of all places. He also said that it is in terrible shape, but does include information regarding roads and Indian Trails that doesn't appear on the 1809 Doolittle Map of the Firelands. He also included some scans of the map before it was restored. And that is what I've included (with some obvious notations) above.

I look forward to hearing more from Mr. Schultz about our area - and I'm sure that many "Vieweres" do also.

_{Podcasts - "forever under construction..."}

PODCAST #162: This week the Vermilion Views Podcast #162 puts us back on track on our journey on the Lake Shore Electric Railway through from Rye Beach to just past Sandusky - Venice.

Persons interested in the history of the Lake Shore Electric Railway - "the greatest electaric railway system" on the planet may want to go to Amazon.com and purchase a book called "Images of Rail - Lake Shore Electric Railway". It was put together by Thomas J. Patton with the help of my friends Dennis Lamont and Albert Doane. It'd make a nice gift for the New Year.

Next week I'll be back with a continuation of the ride on the LSE.

Also, please note that all the video (MP4) podcasts (when used) are done in the "Quicktime MP4" format. If you don't have "Quicktime" it's easy to find and free to download.

NOTE NOTE:Past podcasts are not available in the on-line archive. They just take up too much disk space. But if one really, really, really wants to acquire a copy of a past cast it can be had by contacting me and I will place it on a disc and send it to ye for a minimal fee.

LOCAL ANNOUNCEMENTS: After giving it much thought this link has been "put-down". During the last year most of the folks who used to use this page as a bulletin board have acquired their own and, consequently, no longer need this forum from "Views". I have, however, kept links (in the links section) to Larry Hohler's "Hope Homes" in Kenya - and to Bette Lou Higgins' Eden Valley Enterprises sites. They are historically and socially relevant projects. I suggest that you visit these sites on a regular basis to see "what's shakin'".

The Beat Goes On: The page is generated by the dreaded Macintosh Computer and is written and designed by (me) Rich Tarrant. It will change weekly ~ usually on Saturday. Bookmark the URL (Universal Resource Locater) and come back at your own leisure. Send the page to your friends (and enemies if you wish). If you have something to share with those who visit this page, pass it on. And if you see something that is in need of correction do the same. My sister, Nancy, is a great help in that respect. It only takes me a week to get things right. And follow the links. You might find something you like. If you experience a problem with them let me know. Also, if you want to see past editions of this eZine check the new archives links below.

If you're looking for my old links section (pictured) I've replaced it with a pull-down menu (visible in the small box next to the word "Go"). If you're looking for links to more Vermilion history check that menu.

_{How the old links menu looked}

Links to additional Vermilion Ohio pages: Vermilion Ohio Historic Pix History of Linwood Park Vermilion Visitor's Advisory (Satire) Gore Orphanage History The Lester Pelton Story The Wreck of The Niles #152 The History of Crystal Beach Vermilion Views Archives Vermilion's Pioneer Woman; Charlotte Sturges Cloudy; Vermilion's Ferryman The History of Vermilion's Congregational Church Dedication Sermon of Jotham W. Goodell, 1843 The Last Time I Saw Charlie Hope Childrens Home Kenya A Profile of Rich Tarrant Vermilion Biographies Vermilion - Village of Lake Captains Vermilion's Youngest Minstrels Don Englebry's "Growing Up In Vermilion" "Views" Podcast Archive The Story of Vermilion's Education System Eden Valley Enterprises VHS Class of 1959

For Persons who would like to donate to the cause (to keep these "Views" on-line you can send whatever you would like to me at the following address. And THANKS to everybody who has already donated to the cause. I doth certainly appreciate it): _{Rich Tarrant
1041 Oakwood Drive
Vermilion, Ohio
44089
Telephone: 440-967-0988 - Cell: 440-522-4459}

or you can use PayPal:

"We never know the worth of water till the well is dry."
-Thomas Fuller

Vol.7, Issue 43, January 9, 2010

Archive Issue #356

_{Vermilion Views Search Engine}

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