SCHOOL & FARM WORKERS
SHOPTALK: On the shoptop this week is a photograph of some fruit famers at work filling crates with apples. I don’t recognize anyone – so I suppose it’s just an anonymous pic. But I like it. I put things on the desktops each week to continually get a look at the detail. Sometimes something clicks. But with this one…No.
On my home desk this week is an old pic of the kitchen ladies at South Street School. I left the names on the scan – but I think most who went to school therein remember them. I have naught but good memories of that school and the cafeteria.
MILAN: If you’ve not been reading “The Stories From Vermilion” section of the page you’ve been missing a few things.
One of them is the history of Milan, Ohio. This week is especially interesting. It details the opening of the Milan Canal.
I was astounded by the statistics – the amount of things shipped in and out of that town. Take a look. You won’t believe it.
I also noticed that Milan was formally incorporated (1833) before Vermilion (1837). I guess I’d not thought about it before. But the entire history of Milan is extremely interesting.
FROM THE MUSEUM: We’re still working on the master bedroom at the museum. I finished with the floor last Friday. Next week the walls will be papered.
Below is another pic of the room from a different angle. In this one the closet door hasn’t received any treatment. But it will be done by next week.
We’ve received a few more items from Vermilionite Bev Zimmer as well as from my sis (Ginny) and bro-in-law Dave Wilkes. We also have little lights in one of our display cases now.
Below is a different view of the dining room. While I was taking pix the other day I thought this one was nice (and different). I’ve constantly been moving / changing things as we move along.
In the coming months and year the museum will be sponsoring several activities. One will be a wine-tasting affair. I believe it will be held on my birthday. (Too bad I don’t imbibe anymore. But I never was a connoisseur.)
Another event will be a walk though Maple Grove Cemetery – “A Visit with Old Friends and Relatives”. I will acquaint people with the final resting places of some famous and infamous Vermilionites.
And next spring or summer we will hold and Open House – 3rd Anniversary celebration of and for the museum. Part of the theme of this activity will feature pix from Vermilion High School going back to 1919. We will be asking all graduates of VHS to help us out with their photographs and memories. It should be fun.
These are all tentative events – so the dates, etc. may change as we move forward.
MUSUEM SCHEDULE: Beginning now the museum will be open six days a week from 11 AM to 3 PM. We will be closed on Sundays and Holidays. We are located at 727 Grand Street in Vermilion across the street from Vermilion's historic E&R Church. The museum is open Monday thru Saturday from 11 AM to 3 PM. A small admission donation of $3 (for adults) is requested. Children accompanied with an adult will be admitted free. For Special Tours call: 440-967-4555.
We are closed on Sundays and holidays.
Private tours during those hours and during the evening can be arranged by calling the museum, or stopping in to see us.
FIVE-OH-ONE-CEE-THREE: The museum is a 501(c)(3) organization. Consequently, all donations and memberships for the museum are tax deductible. This is retroactive to November of 2011.
Memberships for the VERMILION NEWS PRINT SHOP MUSEUM are always available. Funds generated will go toward the aforementioned renovations and maintenance of the shop.
If you would like to become a member the VNPSM you can send a check or money order to:
Vermilion Print Shop Museum727 Grand Street Vermilion, Ohio 44089440.967.4555.
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK:Take the time to visit us on Facebook. Click on the badge below and stop in. We'll keep adding pix as we go along. If you're in the area come on in. I try to be there in the a.m. most everyday. If you see a Chevy Silverado in the drive with the plate "MRCOOKR" stop by and see what's cooking.
Historically,
JIM HART: Albert Henry “Jim” Hart Jr. died last Sunday (08/10/14). He was 94. I don’t often report the demise of many residents in “VV” because I believe the newspapers cover such matters quite adequately. But with Jim it’s different. I really, really, liked him.
Jim was a man of habitual precision. And so despite this eccentricity – or maybe because of it – I always found him to be an interesting person. There was the “right way, the wrong way” and then there was Jim’s way. 99.9% of the time he was right. Being a pharmacist there was little room for being wrong or imprecise. But that Jim applied that same formula for nearly everything he did is something I found both annoying and amusing.
One time I was cooking a steak on a charcoal grill at a church picnic. They were nice steaks. Jim walked up to me, looked at his watch, and told me that I should cook them for precisely 2 minutes on each side and they would be done precisely the way he liked them (medium).
This amused me because as an experienced cook I know that the temperature of cooking devices (indoors or outdoors) vary – sometime substantially. Ergo, cooking them using time as the only guide insured nothing. But Jim insisted – and I hope he enjoyed his rare steaks. But that, to coin a phrase he often used, ”was the ticket”.
I worked for Jim as a kid at the store, and I worked with him as an adult scrubbing, washing / waxing floors at the church. He had a specific formula for the water, soap, and wax we used on the floors in both places. At first I thought he was just being ridiculous – but he wasn’t. He was right. And so long as I did those tasks I following his directive. He was an old Navy man, so I supposed he’d scrubbed a great many decks.
You don’t work with anyone without sharing stories. And every Saturday morning as we worked on the floors in Fellowship Hall at our church we share – and I learned a great deal about Mr. Hart.
He told me about his Navy experience as well as how his father started his business in the rooms now (2014) occupied by Shattuck’s gift store on Main / Division Street. (Somewhere I think I have a photo of the interior of that store.) He also told me that when his dad bought the store most locals once knew as Hart’s Corner Drug Store it had a wall down the middle of the lower floor (for 2 stores). Hart Sr. removed it.
When he returned from the Navy he gradually assumed ownership of the store and, unlike his father’s business, Jim’s began to turn a profit.
And though Jim definitely ran a tight ship (i.e. if he took a candy bar he paid for it) he did some very kind things for persons in our community whose medical needs overwhelmed their pocketbooks. No one will ever really know how much he gave because he seldom or never mentioned it – but through the years it was substantial.
My wife Georgi and I did a video interview with Jim in Exchange Park several years ago. He was 91. I thought we would get a wealth of information from him. But we did not.
What we did get is this (and don’t tell anyone): We got the recipe for the chocolate syrup he made for his soda fountain. And that, my friends, is worth its weight in ice cream.
Now Jim – Albert Henry Hart Jr. – belongs to the ages. I have the history he wrote for his store building. I have the stories of Vermilion and its people that both he and his wife, Dorothy, told me over the years. And I have his recipe for chocolate syrup.
Thanks, Jim. I hope they have ice cream in heaven.
OHIO STREET – OHIO STREET: I’ve little idea as to the name of this group of men. It was likely one of several fraternities that existed in Vermilion in the early years of the 20th century. I just noticed where they were pictured and took the current pic just yesterday (08/16/14). The older shot may have been taken around 1910 or so.
WITH A LITTLE HELP…: This is just a guess, of course; but I think the shadows accompanying this monograph were captured on film somewhere around the year 1952 – the year General Dwight David Eisenhower (a.k.a. “Ike”) became President of these United States. It was a good year. The Tuskegee Institute reported that it was the first year in the last 71 in which there were no lynchings in our country (A giant leap for manunkind); and a television program called “Dragnet” starring a fella named Jack Web / Joe Friday (“Just the facts, ma’am”) premiered on NBC. And amid all these happenings was the junior choir at Vermilion’s First Congregational Church (currently the Millet Auction House).
If anyone should wonder why I have so many photos of persons, etc. from this church it is because it is the church where I grew up – both figuratively and literally. My ancestors were already long-time Congregationalists when they landed in America on the good ship “Increase” way back in 1635. A great uncle, Rev. Howard C. Lynch, was pastor of the church when my Canadian born father stopped by for, what was supposed to be, a brief visit in 1919. Moreover, because my family’s business (the print shop) was located directly behind the church I spent a good deal of time playing around the church building (e.g. I loved to sit in the outside sill of the oval windows on the bottom floor and to sneak into the storage closet beneath the outside stairway.) And when they were building a new addition on the South Street School I attended second grade there. (It’s where I learned to spell the word “tomorrow”.) In short, the church and this particular building – in case you’ve not already guessed – was a big part in my early years. And not surprisingly, so were many of the persons in this photograph.
The youngsters pictured are from L-R: Front Row: Sam "Biff" Langfitt, Tom Sanford, Harvey Hays, Nancy Lee Fulper, Evelyn Todd Wheelock, Carol Eberle, Cheryl Barber. Middle Row: Carla Widdowson, Jeanie Lindsley Miller, Pearl “Ginny” Tarrant Wilkes, Shirley Greenhoe Lehky, Doris Boone Stwan, Leslie Roberts Ennis, and Diane Rathbun Boisclair. Top Row: Dottie Stark Kudela, Allen Smith, Harriet Langfitt Leidheiser, Karin Kishman Rathbun, and Elizabeth Shook LaMarche.
The choir directors are Charles “Chuck” Nichols and Ella Hayes. Mrs. Hayes (1885-1977) was undoubtedly the organist. She was my late friend Evelyn “Nuggie” Cook’s mom. In her younger days Mrs. Hayes had been a professional musician. Mr. Nichols directed the church choir from 1948 to 1958. He was a district circulation manager for the Lorain Journal. He passed on in 1968. His oldest son, Peter, eventually became a minister, and several years ago returned to the “new church” on State Street to preach as guest minister. His father would have been very proud of him. Now, about some of the choir members:
Biff and Harriet Langfitt were the youngest children children of my fourth grade teacher (Florence). They had an older sister – also named Florence (Louise). Their father, Samuel E. Langfitt Jr. was an engineer for the Burkhart-Chapla Construction Company when he died at age 41. Burkhart’s company was instrumental in starting the Vermilion housing sub-division that many now still call “Valley View”. It is no accident, therefore, that the first street therein was dubbed “Langfitt Street”. For many years Mrs. Langfitt kept a home on that street. Daughter Harriet married a Vermilion boy named Loren Leidheiser. He was a doctor, and she a popular Huron schoolteacher / counselor. Both were killed in an auto accident near Bellevue, Ohio in 1991.
It’s interesting to note that many persons of the choir of ‘52 have remained in, or very close to, Vermilion for all their lives. Carla Widdowson and Evelyn Todd Wheelock have, unfortunately, left us behind. But most of the gang still cast long shadows across the streets of our town. And so do some of their children, grand children, and great-grandchildren. It’s a great place to live; to grow up in; and grow old – with such a treasure of the places, faces, and sounds of yesteryear always near.
AGAIN - ANOTHER NEW (NOW OLD) THING: Initially I said that "This will not take the place of the "Macabre" stuff all the time - but will supplement whilst I search for more macabre stories to tell." But methinks that it's carved out a niche for itself and the "Macabre stuff" with have to find another.
So stay tuned...
Vol. X – NO.16 – September 27, 1906.
In the appeal case of the Cady Machine Co. vs. the Duplex Stamping co. of Vermilion, which was appealed from the court of Justice Baumhart, the plaintiff has field its petitions in the court of common pleas. The claim is for merchandise sold to the defendant amounting to $60, with interest from November 1905.
The circuit judges were engaged the greater part of Thursday in hearing the case of the state of Ohio for the use of Erie county vs. Gustavus Graham. This suit to recover from Mr. Graham certain sums of money paid to him by Sandusky banks as presents while he was county treasurer. In the common pleas court Judge Richards found against Mr. graham and rendered judgement for about $2000. The case was appealed to the circuit court and was heard on the same evidence given in the lower court with some additional testimony offered by the defendant.
Henry Fisher and Fredericks Fisher appeared in the circuit court to answer a charge of contempt on Thursday morning. It was charged that the defendants had obstructed a driveway so as to prevent the agents of Lelia Seton Wilder from taking sand from their beach at Ceylon in disobedience of the court Mrs. Fischer, who has an unassigned dower in the property leased by her son and who was not a party to the suit in questions claims a right in the premises She was fined $50 and costs but sentence was suspended. The charge against Henry Fisher was dismissed.
Two Vermilion firms were taken into the toils of the game warden the past week for shipping Black Bass to Cleveland. The representatives of said firms walked up and paid their fines of $50 each. One firm shipped four bass and the other twenty-two. While the act of shipping the bass was a clear violation of the law, there are many who believe that it has no place on the statutes.
Corporation papers have been issued to a new railroad company with a capital stock of $2000,000 for the purpose of operating a line between Marietta and Lorain and Vermilion. The road is to be known as the Ashland & Western. The road according to plains which have been filed, will run southeast from Ashland and will go through Coshocton and then to the Ohio river.
It is claimed that the parties interested are acting for the Erie Railroad company and that the Lorain and Ashland which is being built by Joseph Ramsey will be taken over by the new line. What part Vermilion has to play in the new railway deals yet remains to be seen.
Nicholas Genger while driving to Lorain with a load of fruit met an auto at Oak Point hill Wednesday. His team shied and backed into the fence breaking the wagon pole. His wife and eight year old son were with him and jumped to avoid being hurt, but as it was were severely shaken up and bruised. Had the “Choofer” shut off his machine the accident in all probability been averted. This is the fourth accident, which has been caused by reckless autoists in this vicinity lately.
[VV. Ed. Note: Editor Roscoe seemed to be anti-automobile as this point in his life – or maybe he was just objecting to the carelessness of the drivers. But I can’t help but wonder just what he’d think of auto traffic today, not to mention the number of auto accidents.]
The use of the telephone for toll business has increased so fast in the past few years that it has outgrown the capacity of the long distance line to properly handle the business. This has been especially noticeable here during the rush of summer business in July and August.
The United States Telephone co., owners of the long distance lines is now rapidly increasing its facilities in the part of the state. A construction crew is now working west from Rugby overhauling their main pole line preparatory to stringing several additional toll circuits. The wire crews working west from Cleveland here have completed four new circuits to Lorain and Elyria and are working westward as fast as possible. The new circuits form Lorain and Elyria have already helped our local service a great deal by giving more lines to Cleveland and other points east.
After constant and persistent efforts ever since he has been I command of he home (i.e. the Sandusky Soldiers and Sailors Home), General Cline has at last convinced the board of trustees that the men are fast growing beyond the ability to do manual labor or in other words perform the many duties which they have been called upon to do as detail duty. He is now authorized by the board to procure a force sufficient to do the work in the general dinging room, kitchen, hospital and garden, giving the preference to members of the home who feel able and willing to work. He is also authorized to remunerate the drum corps for their services.- Register.
Louisa Myers was born in Vermilion in 1844, Feb. 29: Was married to Joshua Bailey July 24, 1865; died Sept. 23, 1906. She was the moth4r of two children, Capt. Fred Bailey of Vermilion, and her old friends and neighbors bear testimony to the fac that she was a good woman – a good friend and neighbor.
John Giblin, a partially demented person of Lorain wandered away from his home this week and was found about 2 1/2 miles south of town. Mr. Giblin left the house and the family supposed he went down town but when night came and he did not return they became alarmed and began the search. John Delker, our village marshall [sic], was notified to be on the look out and he finally located the man as stated above He had slept out for two nights and was nearly famished. Mr. Delker brought him hoe and fed him, sending him home later.
The NEWS appreciates a friendly tip. Call 19 when you have an item.
Delmer Donaldson, 21, Panesville [sic], carpenter, and Miss Ida Hill 20, Vermilion.
Erie conference of the Evangelical association of North America to Julia E. Myers, lot 181 in block 5, Vermilion village, $750.
[VV. Ed. Note: This is an interesting realty transfer. The lot was on the west side of Division (now Main) Street – the 2nd house / building south from the corner of Ohio Street. The church that was located on the site (I think) was called the “Church of Christ”. Today (2014) it’s a duplex.]
Amherst is the scene of exciting occurrences of late. The other day the boss of a construction gang on the new railway sent a man to town on an errand. He rode a horse and when he reached town loaded up the “paint” and mounting his steed proceeded to carry things with a high hand, riding up and down the streets and defying the authorities. At last his horse cast him overboard and he was landed in the jail.
[VV. Ed. Note: Methinks the worker loaded up with something more than “paint”.]
The citizens of Amherst are after the L.S. & M.S. ry. company for blockading the streets over which the line passes. The company is widening the overhead bridges and in order to do so has narrowed the opening of the street. The work has been stopped through some trouble with the council and the streets left in a partially blocked condition which nuisance the citizens want abated.
The home of Rev. Luce of Akron, formerly of this place, was entered by burglars Sunday during the absence of the family at church. They were frightened away by Mrs. Luce who returned home on account of sickness As she entered the front door they escaped by a rear door.
The Amherst Library will be dedicated Friday September 28 with appropriate exercises by the public schools. It being a joint ownership as well, the village will take part.
It is now about four years ago when the matter first was thought of and after considerable work by a few and liberal donations by many the project is now a living reality, and one f the finest public buildings in Lorain county. Amherst has just reason to be proud. Everybody is invited to the exercise. Prof. Root of Oberlin will speak. – Oberlin News.
Preaching here every Sunday now in the M.E. Church. In the morning at the Alliance Church by Rev. Sprunger.
[VV. Ed. Note: Rev. Sprunger operated the Hope & Light Orphanage (a.k.a. the “Gore Orphanage”). Contrary to urban legend he was not an ogre. He was a bonafide minister.]
Mr. George Bake of Florence had a horse drop dead in the field yesterday afternoon supposedly from heat.
A severe storm passed over yesterday afternoon and some of the water stopped. There was more water on the ground at a time than any time this summer in the day.
Mrs. Mary Grinebach, met with a serious accident yesterday, when was driving the meat wagon as she sometimes does. The door of the back of the wagon worked loose, and in rubbing against the wheel frightened one of the horses. They became unmanageable tipping her out hurting her severely and smashing things up generally. Her little girl was in the wagon at the time but escaped any serious injury.
Hugh McQuilan is reported dangerously ill.
Prof. Allenhouse of Kelley’s Island has been employed to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Supt. Glenn.
John Schumaker is superintending the work of getting out the timber on Dr. P. Esch’s lawn. It was sold to Port Clinton parties and will be worked up into baskets.
Wm. Haley who has been very ill from appendicitis is slowly recovering.
The Evangelical Church building is undergoing many improvements, among them the installation of a furnace.
Fred Lee, aged 36 died suddenly at his home here last Wednesday morning. Mr. Lee went to his work as usual and a short time afterwards his dead body was found beside the fence by his wife. Heart failure is supposed to be the cause. Mrs. Lee has the sympathy of the community in her bereavement.
We are soon to sport a new business block on the Square, D.E. Thompson having purchased land of Geo Fey for the purpose of erecting a cider mill. We wish “Dudley” success, and a busy season.
Myron Frisby is again among his friends after being confined to his house by sickness.
The funeral of Alice Marie, the infant daughter of M.W. Haman, was held at the Advent church last Tuesday morning. Mr. Haman has the sympathy of friends and neighbors.
The grape pickers may be seen every morning wending their weary way toward the Hornig vineyards.
Another unfailing sign that winter is approaching, is furnished by the report that there exists a shortage of coal cars The consumer knows just what that means.
A young man, stenographer at the National Tube Works, Lorain, was discharged last week because the “boss” noticed the yellow tint caused from cigarette smoking on his fingers. The company will keep no cigarette fiend on its office force.
[VV. Ed. Note: I guess we really haven’t really “come a long way – baby!”]
Catawba fruit growers have had an experience this fall, which they will not care to repeat. The checks of a fruit buyers supposed to be connected with a Detroit concern have proven worthless, and a number of the fruit growers are losers of large sums of money thereby.
A new swindler is abroad in the land according to some of our exchanges. The swindler sells barbed wire fence stretching machines. He leaves the machine and forty rods of good fencing wire on trial requiring the famer to sign for the return of the stretcher. The farmer signs for $3, which turns up at the bank for $300, instead. It would be a wise plan for our farmers to give this individual a wide berth and buy their stretchers of a legitimate firm. On the other hand it also behooves some of our businessmen to give the cold shoulder to fake advertising solicitors. Farmers are not the only people who are buncoed.
It is said the Vermilion will soon have a dry goods store. It is certainly much needed. Many of the common, everyday necessities in the line better knw as staple goods can not be purchased here at present The latest thing we have heard is that several ladies in need of some cotton goods inaugurated a shopping tour and visited Axtel for the purpose of securing what they needed. This is no reflection upon the present stores here as it is well known that the stock of one must be disposed of and an estate settled before any new goods can be placed on sale. The old adage of never missing the water, etc., has surely been demonstrated and it is to be hoped that before long we will again have a place where cry goods may be purchased. Indications are that in [sic] it will be at the old stand.
[VV. Ed. Note: Some things never change. Vermilion still needs a good dry goods store (2014).]
Out on the rocks tonight, Out where the lighthouse stands, I sit while the waves are dashing below. Down on the drifting sands.
Away in the distant town, The lights are gleaming afar, And the fishermen’s boats in the bay Have passed inside the bar.
Lonely I muse on the past, While the darkness is on the shore; O! Light of my life, thou art gone, O! Joy of m heart no more!
Adieu o the lights on the shore Adieu to the boats in the bay. But the memory of that dear friend Shall never pass away.- W.S.E.
Vermilion, Ohio – Sept 25, 1906
Mrs. Elizabeth Kane expects to go to Jonesville, Mich. where she will give an entertainment.
Capt. Blattner visited home Sunday.
G.P. Wahl and assistants are at the Attica fair this week.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Whitmore and daughter Marie of Cleveland spent Sunday with relatives here. Mrs. Whitmore and daughter are still here.
[VV. Ed. Note: Robert Whitmore started THE VERMILION NEWS in 1897. He didn’t stay long – his father, George, took over from him. And so it was.]
Mrs. Sarah Gilson Kane mother of E.M. Kane of this place died in Amherst Tuesday Sept. 25. She was born in 1817 and would have soon been 90 years old. Funeral services were held today.
FOR SALE – Several pieces of furniture, mirrors, fruit cans, two feather beds, etc. – Enquire MRS. CHARLES ENGLEBRY.
The class of V.H.S. 07 pleasantly surprised their classmate Miss Grace Risden at her home west of town Friday evening. The usual games and amusements were indulged in. Refreshments were served and the young people spent a most enjoyable evening.
W.J. Leidheiser is on the sick list today.
A fine line of Horse Blankets and Robes for sale at right prices. Call at and see them at W.E. Bailey’s.
Rev. E.H. Warner and wife of Oberlin, Mrs. Jordan and son of Rockport, spent last week at Linwood.
Earl Childs has received a Notary Public commission and is prepared to perform all duties such as the execution of papers, etc., relating to that office.
R.F. Quigley Jr. has tendered his resignation as manager of the Vermilion Telephone co. He will be succeeded by A.J. Giddings who is expected to assume his duties about October 1st.
Born – To Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Mehnert Tuesday, Sept 25, a son.
Mrs. Sophia Trinter of Cleveland attended the funeral of Mrs. Joshua Bailey Wednesday.
Mrs. H.S. Miller has returned from Toledo where she was called by the illness of her son Earl. She reports him on the gain.
Hmmmmmm....
LETTERS FROM HELL: [Rushed this week with too many things to do I didn't have time to replace this article. Perhaps - later in the day I'll be able to acquire more time and replace it.]
June 4,1864. Bermuda, Virginia. “I am on the James River above the City Point, fifteen miles from Richmond, VA. We have been here a month today and have had two hard battles, and lost a great many men in both battles, but we won them. Since then we have fallen back in our entrenchments and they have tried to drive us out, but can’t. The last news is that General Grant’s Army is within seven miles of Richmond. All day yesterday the heaviest cannonading I ever heard was going on, and it kept up until ten o’clock last night.
I had letters from Levi and Chauncy. They were in Fort Cass, near Washington, D.C. they had been ordered to move, have gone to reinforce General Grant’s Army. I have been with the Hospital Department, helping care for the sick and wounded since the battles on May the 10th. [Note: This is in reference to The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House – May 8-24, 1864] The Hospital is back of the trenches, out of range of the enemy’s guns. I am up most of the night. Am again troubled with the dysentery, but have only four more weeks to stay in service. Three years is a long time to be away from one’s home ties, and I have never been away on leave of absence since I joined the Regiment two and one-half years ago, not even a day, and never been sick, so as to go to the hospital.
I give thanks to my Father above, who has gone with me through it all and am very anxious to get home to see you all.
Hoping this cruel War will soon be over, the sight of so much bloodshed and mangled bodies makes me sick. I am sick of War.”
These heartfelt words appear in one of the letters written by my great-grandfather Caselton Roscoe to his parents, Levi and Eliza Stockwell Roscoe who lived in Milan, Ohio during the American Civil War. The letter is in a booklet prepared by my great-aunt Ellen Angeline Smith Roscoe and printed by my grandfather Pearl, Editor / Publisher of The Vermilion News, in 1930. The men he mentioned – Levi and Chauncy – were two of his seven brothers. Another brother, Ransom, also served in the Union Army during the war. All survived.
That war (as many already know) was the deadliest war in American history. An estimated 750,000 soldiers, as well as an undetermined number of civilians, were killed during the conflict. Some historians estimate that nearly ten percent of all Northern males 20–45 years old, and 30 percent of all Southern white males aged 18–40 were killed during the four-year struggle between the states.
Though Caselton held the rank of musician – he was a fifer – while in the service he was hardly immune from the abject misery of the experience. While garrisoned at Fredericksburg, Virginia in May of 1862 he wrote, “I still have my cough, but have stood the marching as well as any of them. We have to play the fife all the time on marching, if not we will be put in hand-cuffs.”
Despite the fact that the primary duty of the field musician was one of boosting morale on long marches, on the battlefields their duties, as previously indicated, also included carrying stretchers and assisting medical staffs. This duty is especially reflected in a June 24, 1862 letter as he described his experiences at the First Battle of Winchester (Virginia): “Before we left Winchester we had an awful battle…General Shields had his left arm broken. This was the most terrible sight I ever saw. Regiment after regiment charged up all the time, yelling and hollowing amid (the) awful roar of cannons and muskety [sic]. It was at this time one of our homeboys fell, Henry Gibbs. He was shot through the left lower jaw, passing clear through cutting his tongue, and when I found him, had been carried and layed [sic] in an old brick building, alone in a corner, on a little hay with only a bit of oilcloth thrown over him. I tried to make him as comfortable as I could, then I had to go and help others, as I had to go back of the firing line and help the nurses carry in the wounded.” [Note: Mr. Gibbs survived his wounds, returned home to Milan, and was appointed Postmaster in 1873. He died in 1879.]
Caselton served three years and nine months with Company K., of the 67th Ohio Infantry Regiment. He mustered out of the service in January 1865. Although the war had exacted a significant toll on his health, upon his return home he eagerly took up work as a carpenter and millwright (occupations he pursued for nearly 50 years thereafter), married, and had a son. In 1904 he supervised the construction of a building on Grand Street in Vermilion to be used as a newspaper office, print shop and home by his son (my grandfather) Pearl Roscoe. And it was there, shortly after the break of dawn on a Wednesday morning in May of 1918, that he passed quietly into the yesteryear. Though his war is long over it is yet to be forgotten. Perhaps tis best that none ever do.
THE FIRE-LANDS: I found the following information re: the early inhabitants of our area to be extremely informative. Methinks you will also.
I am getting better at transcribing these passages so there are fewer mistakes. But I like to read as I go - and sometimes I fill in the blanks. So tread carefully this trail through yesteryear.
The following series will take thee to the townships south of Vermilion. Methinks you'll find this history quite fascinating.
…the schooner Kewaune. Captain Moran, arrived in the canal basin, and was moored at the dock. She was saluted with the firing of cannon. Later the people of the village assembled in frot of the Presbyterian Church, and forming in a column, with a band of music at the head, marched through the village and down the hill to the canal wharf where the Kewaune lay. Captain Moran was saluted in behalf of the ladies of Milan, by Miss Maria Butman, and presented with a national flag for his vessel. The citizens then went aboard the Kewaune and her lighter, the Water Witch and the two boats with flying colors, bands playing, and cannon firing, sailed down the canal to the river. Upon their return a procession was again formed, and all went to the Eagle tavern, then kept by Jennings & Kline, where they partook of a dinner, and drank toasts to the future prosperity of Milan and the canal.
The completion of this canal caused Milan to become a great point for vessel building, and made it the market for all the wheat and other products that the country did not need for home consumption. A great impetus was given to all industries. In the autumn, farmers thronged all of the roads leading to Milan, bringing in their grain. Many came from a distance of seventy or eighty miles south. The roadway down to the warehouse was often blockaded with teams, and the square packed. Some of the wagons had in them loads of a hundred bushels of grain, and were drawn by four or six horses. Six or seven hundred wagons have arrived in one day. As many as twenty sail vessels have been loaded in a single day, and as much as thirty-five thousand bushels of grain put on board. The total receipts from canal tolls were one hundred and two thousand dollars, and the divided to stockholders, was twenty thousand dollars. The value of exports in 1844 was eight hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, mostly in wheat and flour. The value of imports, for the same time, was six hundred and thirty thousand dollars. In 1853, there were three thousand seven hundred barrels of salt imported. In 1855, stoves were shipped to the number of eight hundred and seventy-eight thousand. In 1856, four hundred and ten thousand bushels of grain were shipped, and the aggregate of grain shipped in eleven years, from 1853, was nearly five million bushels.
Railroads began to draw away the business of Milan in 1850, and in 1854 the C. & T. (now the L. S. & M. S. R. R.), tapped all of the thoroughfares leading in from the south. Thus, was Milan practically ruined, as a business town, though still, from its loveliness of location, neatness of keeping, and good character of people and institutions left a desirable place of residence. Its growth was greatest between the years 1840 and 1850, when it rose from a village of five hundred inhabitants to one of over thirteen hundred. Fifty or sixty houses were built in 1849 and the following year.
The village came into being as a municipal corporation, in 1833, the act of the legislature being passed February 23d, and the first election held April 6th. George Lockwood and John S. Butman were judges, and William S. Hyde, clerk. The following is a transcript from the poll book:
“The said election was held open until three o'clock, on said 6th day of April, when the votes were counted and it was found that John Smith, (tanner), had received a plurality of all the Votes for mayor, and that the other officers elected had been as follows: Trustees, Ebenezer Merry, Henry Lockwood, Giles Chapin, John Smith, (carpenter), Philander Wilber; Recorder, Nathan Jenkins."
The first ordinance passed was for the assistance of the Milan Canal Company, and it was voted that twenty bonds, each for one thousand dollars, be issued for this purpose.
The Merry families, of Milan, were among the most prominent of the early settlers and most conspicuously identified with the growth of the township. Ebenezer Merry, the elder of the brothers who came to Milan, was born in East Hartford, Connecticut, July 21, 1773, and his family removed soon after to Kinderhook, New York. In 1792, he went to the "Genesee country," and five years later made another advancement into the wilderness, stopping in Mentor, (now in Lake county), where he began clearing land. In 1800, he returned to western New York, and there married Charlotte, daughter of Aaron and Sarah Adams. She was born in Tinmouth, Vermont, on the 17th of August, 1780, and had removed to York State at the age of fourteen years. The young couple immediately set out for their western home, accompanied by Hosmer Merry, a brother of Ebenezer, and made the wedding trip in twelve days, following the Indian trail and sleeping in Indian wigwams, upon the ground; or, if they were fortunate enough to find them, in the cabins of the white settlers. They arrived in Mentor, May 26th. Of the three families then in that place, two, those of Jared Ward and Charles Parker, afterward removed to Milan. After a residence of fourteen years, Mr. Merry moved to this township, then called Avery, and located upon the Huron river, about two miles below the present village of Milan. This village, as related already, was platted by Mr. Merry, and its rapid and substantial improvement was attributable almost entirely to his energy and judicious management of affairs. Himself and wife here led a happy, busy life. Mrs. Merry was, in all that the term can possibly imply, a true help-meet [sic] to her husband. She never failed, on her part, but met every duty and every danger bravely, and through all the vicissitudes of a pioneer's life was the true wife, the loving mother and the kind friend. Whether in the rude log cabin, upon the farm, or in the more commodious quarters at the village, whither they moved in 1819, she was equally at home, equally active, efficient and cheerful. Nine children were the…
DEDICATING (PART EDITORIAL): A cover for the dedication program of South Street school has appeared in “VV” before. This one, however, is in such good shape [I found it tucked into an old “Hi-Times” (VHS Annual) booklet] that I wanted to use it again. Ain’t it a shame that we (the public) don’t own the school anymore? The Decatur Street property will follow its fate soon.
I suppose I’m just getting old and don’t want things to change so much. But I have to say that I believe with all my heart and soul that the folks in charge of Vermilion’s schools are both careless and stupid. Had they want a school campus – they had it and lost it for a song.
Perhaps we can sell them stock in a bridge in Brooklyn.
"As I get older he doesn't bother to look at me!" Amy cries.
"I'm so sorry for you, as I get older my husband says I get more beautiful every day." replies Jamie.
"Yes, but your husband's an antique dealer!"
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'".
Persons interested in the history of the Lake Shore Electric Railway (which was the subject of a recent past podcast series) - "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.
Another great book with Vermilion Roots is, "Grandmas’ Favorites: A Compilation of Recipes from Margaret Sanders Buell" by Amy O’Neal, Elizabeth Thompson and Meg Walter (May 2, 2012). This book very literally will provide one with the flavor of old Vermilion. And ye can also find it at Amazon.com. Take a look.
MARY WAKEFIELD BUXTON’S LATEST BOOK “The Private War of William Styron” is available in paper back for $15.00 with tax and can be purchased locally at Buxton and Buxton Law Office in Urbanna, ordered from any book store, Amazon.com or Brandylane Publishing Company. A signed, hard back edition may be purchased from Mrs. Buxton directly for $30.00 by writing her at Box 488, Urbanna, VA 23175 and including $6.00 for tax, postage and packaging.
THE BEAT GOES ON: This page is generated by a 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
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Vol.12, Issue 23 - August 16, 2014
© 2013 Rich Tarrant