LITTLE ANNIE & TODD CHILDREN
SHOPTALK: Atop my home desk this week is an old silent movie program from Vermilion’s Liberty Theatre c. 1925.
Little Annie Rooney started out as a popular song in 1889. As is obvious Mary Pickford starred in the comedy-drama movie about a 12-year old girl living in the slums of New York’s Lower East Side. Ms. Pickford was 32 years old when she played the part and no one seemed to take issue with it. It is said to have actually been one of her more successful movie.
I found this program in an old scrapbook that my Aunt, Alice Lindsay, kept as a girl. She would have been about 14 years old when she saw the film at our local movie house.
It never occurred to me (until just this minute) that silent films were played at the Liberty. I wonder who played the music that accompanied the films?
On the shop desk this week is a pic made from (as indicated) the Todd Fruit Farm back around 1910. I’m guess that all the children were there for some kind of party – perhaps a birthday.
This is a glass negative photograph. The photographer was likely a member of the Todd Family. It may have been O.K. Todd. I have another negative from the same era of the front of the Todd farmhouse, and the name on the mailbox is O.K. Todd.
I got most of these photos from the current owners of the old Todd residence. I also got a few from Gene Todd and (I believe) Barb Ruggles.
Life out on the “ridge” was busy back in those days.
LAZY BONES:I didn’t accomplish very much this week at the museum nor anywhere else. I’ve really been caught up in learning about Adobe’s InDesign software. It’s a good deal more sophisticated than any I’ve used before. It’s amazing software. But it’s not simple.
Nonetheless I’m catching on – and I hope to be finished with it by the end of the week. But, alas, that’s what I told myself last week.
Fortunately, the weather’s been so brutal very few persons have taken the time to visit. Next Saturday, however, we have a group of ladies (the “Tiger Lilies”) coming for a tour in the afternoon.
And thus my “lazybones” days are officially at an end.
A POLITE REMINDER: Everything on this website - Text, graphics, and HTML code are protected by US and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means without explicit permission.
Due to things like Facebook etc., some of the items used in “VV” are often copied and used inappropriately. Please note that occasionally people lend me materials that I use on these pages in good faith. My use of them does not mean that they are free for the taking. The copyright belongs to the lender / owner and most certainly should not be copied and/or used without written or oral permission of the contributor / owner.
So – Please refrain from misappropriating the materials found herein. It’s really a matter of reasonable net etiquette.
MUSEUM 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.Cell:440.522.8397
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,
FATHER & SON PORTRAIT: Early in the week Carolyn Koachway Hill dropped by the museum and gave me several pix she wants me to copy / enlarge for her. This was one of those snaps. It is a photo of her father, Allan Koachway, with his son (her brother) Leroy.
I believe Leroy was roughly the same age as my brother Albert (b.1935). I recall he and my brother Al were friends. I can vaguely remember being with my brother as he picked up Leroy when the family lived in the Englebry home (currently a little eatery) on the northeast corner of Liberty and Grand streets.
While many local folks knew both Leroy and his father, I’ll bet that few knew the elder Koachway had a twin brother (Arlan).
What a great photograph!
OUT OF THE BLUE: Nicholas Fischer – the patriarch of the German branch of Vermilion’s Fischer family – is the bearded fella seated (left) on the porch of this rather bucolic manse (pictured). For the benefit of those unfamiliar with him; he operated a very successful lumber supply business in Vermilion from about 1870 until his death in 1905. The lumberyard was located along the Vermilion River between the Kishman and Driscoll Fisheries. In January of 1928 all but one building was destroyed in a spectacular early morning fire. Currently (2015) the site is occupied by the lower (riverside) part of Exchange Park and the Vermilion Boat Club’s swimming pool.
The accompanying portrait came to me “out of the blue”. In mid-January of this year a person (I don’t currently know) named Cynthia Davis Herpell sent it to me via the Internet. Along with it were individual photographs of Nicholas and his wife Mary Frohlich Fischer, as well as a photo of the Vermilion Boy Scouts on the steps of the town hall, and one of a Vermilion house I have yet to identify.
One of the great things about this particular photo is that some good soul had the foresight to list the names on the back. Though they are not in any specific order having them at all is very helpful. Listed are: Lee Fischer, George Fischer, Henry Fischer, Elizabeth Fischer, Hazel Fischer, Anna Fischer, Chas Fischer, Maud Fischer, Nicholas Fischer and Minnie Fischer.
George, Henry and Charles / Chas were Nicholas’s sons. Anna and Minnie were two of his four daughters. Maud was a granddaughter – the oldest child and daughter of George and Elizabeth. She is seated in the chair on the walk near the front steps of the house. Because Maud was born in 1885, and appears to be around five years of age, the photograph was probably taken right around 1890. Daughter’s Annie and Minnie would, at this time, have been around 23 and 18 respectively. While I am unable to definitely identify all those in this portrait I do recognize Nicholas, George and Maud from other pictures I have of them. Lee and Hazel may have been Fischer’s grandchildren or cousins.
Ms. Herpell wrote that the accompanying picture was taken at the lumberyard – and I don’t doubt that to be the truth. However, I don’t think it was the Vermilion lumberyard. The scene is too rural to be Vermilion; even in 1890. The house, which by the way seems to have been freshly built, appears to be surrounded by forest. And that leads me to believe that the picture was taken in Kentucky where Fischer’s harvested much of their lumber. Homes constructed in Vermilion during that period of time were a good deal more sophisticated – architecturally. It’s not my intent to dispute the location of the photograph. Where it was taken is not really important. What is important is that it even exists. It is the first portrait I’ve ever seen of all three brothers and two of the four sisters of the Nicholas Fischer family together. It is, in short, an extremely rare Fischer family reunion photograph.
The Fischer Family was definitely one of Vermilion’s most prominent and productive families during both the 19th and 20th centuries. Nicholas died on January 7th 1905 at his daughter’s house in Cleveland. His wife, Mary, followed him five years later. His grandson, Elton, was the last family member to live and work in Vermilion. He died in 1960. Today none of the direct descendants of Nicholas Fischer remain in Vermilion. But thanks, in part, to that thing we call the Internet and, in whole, to the descendants of Mr. Fischer like Ms. Herpell and my California chum Bobbi Riley, they are able to maintain both an interest and presence in the town their family helped build in a yesteryear.
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.45 – April 18,1907
A second partial report was made by the grand jury to Judge Reed on Monday. Ten indictments were returned in seven cases against eight persons; in case of four bound over no bills were returned. 111 witnesses were examined.
Among the indictments returned were: John Miller who was recently sent to the O.P. for bigamy, on a charge of obtaining the license under which he married Clara Slyker of Huron.
Mack Kurney and Will Reynolds on grand larceny charge.
Dell Miller for horse stealing and larceny. He was arrested in company with a young man named Thomas G. Smith, after having driven a horse to death, and sold the buggy and harness. The outfit belonged o L.J. Decker & Co., liverymen at Vermilion. Smith will probably be held as a witness against Miller in case he stands trial.
Henry Mehling, a Sandusky brewer, three indictments: carrying concealed weapons, pointing and discharging firearm at neighbor, and discharging double barreled shotgun at a number of persons.
[VV. Ed. Note: It seems like Mr. Mehling might have been tasting a little too much of his brew.]
Martin Donelly, grand larceny.
Adam Ostheimer, assault and battery.
Albert Ferguson, colored, petit larceny.
[VV. Ed. Note: For young people unfamiliar with American history this little blip is a great illustration of how black people were considered by white people. Today we would find it irrelevant to specify the ancestry of anyone indicted for Furgason’s crime.]
Judge Parker gave the opinion of the court in the error case of Louis Koehnle, administrator, vs. the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Col, plaintiff, as the legal representative of the estate of the late Christopher Bechtold, Jr., sought to recover $10,00 damages for the death of his decedent who was killed I company with another young man named Favro while at work on the Vermilion bridge in 1903. The case was tried to a jury in the court of common pleas and resulted in a verdict for the defendant company. The evidence show that the unfortunate men were cutting bolts on the bridge using the track as an anvil, and while a train was passing on the east bound track they did not hear or see the approach of a train from the opposite direction on the track on which they were working, and they were ground down and killed, in spite of the fact that frantic efforts were made by person at both ends of the bridge to warn them of the danger of their situation. Judge Parker said the verdict of the jury as proper and they could not reasonably have any other conclusion. Under the circumstances, he said the court below would have been justified in directing a verdict for the company on account of the apparent negligence of the dec3ased in going to this place of danger and working there without being required to do so and without keeping an effective lookout for his own safety when he must have known that there was nobody to look out for him but himself.
George Fischer vs. Village of Vermilion. Appeal. Continued for lack of time.
In the suit of Andrew Beeckel et al. vs. John Hayman the court made an order quieting plaintiff’s title to the property in question.
The appeal case of Christ Hauff vs. the Nickel Plate railroad, which came up from a justice’s court at Vermilion has been settled and dismissed at he defendant’s cost.
The spring storms on the lake played havoc with the right of way of the Nickel Plate railroad at Kishman’s siding east of town during the past week. For the last three or four days the t rains on the road received instructions to run slowly over the stretch of track at the point. The siding was out of commission entirely for several days.
Gangs of laborers and section men were hurried to the spot Friday and nearly 70 men were employed in filling up the earth that was undermined b the waves. This morning their work has so far advance that orders came at the local office that the switch would be used. Owing to the switch being on the lake side, the order has practically assured the railroad men that the main track was again in shape. – Times-Herald.
When the “Flyer” No. 3 on the Lake Shore Railway reached Sandusky the hat and a portion of the skull of a man was found on the pilot of the engine. Later the finding of the body of a man ground to bits was discovered along the track just east of Amherst. The hat was sent to Amherst to assist in identifying the man.
A farmhand, William Winton, was missing and it developed that he left Amherst late Saturday night for his home. The remains are identified as his . Evidently the train struck him and threw the body onto the other track where several trains passed over the body. Winton had always lived near Amherst and was 54 years old and unmarried. He lived with a brother-in-law Ed Bivins. A feature of the accident was that when the train struck Winton the shock shook his boots from his feet thrown them to some distance.
The meeting of the committee on organization of the Civic League did not materialize. Several were at the hall but the chairman and secretary were unavoidably absent so no meeting was held.
[VV. Ed. Note: I’ve not looked ahead, but this does not bode well for a Civic League in Vermilion. Noting that the “organization” was still not officially an organization a meeting still might have been held. But no-shows probably indicate that enthusiasms had waned – quickly.]
Wednesday at high noon Miss Mary Baxtine and Dr. F.E. Englebry were married at the home of the bride’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. Baxtine in the presence of only the immediate relatives. The rooms were decorated with roses, spring flowers and smilax.
To the strains of the Lohengrin wedding march, played by Mrs. Charles Horton, the bride and groom unattended, entered the rooms.
The ceremony was performed by Rev. Wyler; the ring service of the Reformed Church being used.
The bride was gowned in a lace dress over white silk and carried bride’s roses.
After the wedding breakfast Dr. and Mrs. Englebry left for an Eastern trip and will be at home to their friends after June the first at the Rowland J. Cottage, Linwood Park.
The fishermen are rejoicing. Fishing is now very good. Tuesday the Driscoll brought in 7100, the Ames 4000, and the Stricker 5100, and smaller craft too are doing well.
The lifts Wednesday were even heavier than Tuesday; One tug bringing in 5 tons of fish.
Howard Hall is on the sick list.
Bond election will be held Friday (tomorrow) for $33,00 for a new schoolhouse.
The power plant was put into operation Friday night by chief engineer Lou Scheverstein. It supplies at present 50 arc light and is run by a 45 HP Skinner system engine.
Mrs. M.C. Bemis is ill.
J.H. Schibley has purchased a beautiful dark gray team about 4 years old.
Dr. Foster, Health Officer, was examining hog pens in “Dutch” Settlement, Saturday.
Fred Raezler is on the sick list and his case seems to be most puzzling to the doctors.
Rev. Whaley handed in his resignation as pastor the Congregations Church here on Sunday.
Mr. Tule who moved here a sort time ago has gone into partnership with Louis Mobius in the blacksmith business. We wish the firm success.
The Hurrah Boys will entertain their lady friends at a clambake the latter part of the week at Slater’s Grove.
The enterprising firm of Kuss & Nicholl is arranging to install an elevator in the rear of their drug store.
Wm. Coburn has the contract for grading the Moore farm now owned by B.F. Taylor of Sandusky and on their first days work found several horse and cattle skeletons.
The baseball game to be played between the Concavker’s [sic] and the Southerner’s was postponed on account of the heavy snowstorm.
DIED – The four-months-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Will Kreinbring, at East Quarry, Monday. Funeral at the home at 2 o’clock Wednesday.
The citizens of the village have decided to run B.A. Kuss as our next mayor. Being that he has lived here all his life and a prominent citizen also holds several offices as village clerk and partnership in the drug store, which will, hereafter be known as Nicholl & Kuss, no doubt he will be voted mayor without the need of campaignic [sic] assistance.
Frank Wesbecher who was roller skating at Lorain a short time ago fell and sprained his wrist, this was his first attempt and he has not put them on since.
John Beller has opened a new blacksmith shop in the old Clause building and is prepared to do any kind of blacksmithing. He has had thirty years experience.
Geo Rosenkrantz, who was so severely injured at the Ohio Quarry some time ago is reported by his wife and children who called on him at the hospital Sunday to be much improved. They expect to bring him home Sunday.
Lee Osborne and Harold Parsons of S. Amherst have rented the H.C. Smith building on Elyria St. and on the next Monday will open and up-to-date electrick moving picture theatre.
The G.F. Sabiers icehouse was completely destroyed by fire early Monday morning. It is evident that it was set on fire. It was located in the hollow a mile northwest of the village and a half-mile from any residence. It was owned by the Knox syndicate and no insurance.
It is said that John C. Speaks of Columbus will probably be chosen state Fish and game Warden in place of J.C. Porterfield who resigned last week.
The B.O. Shops will be moved from Mount Clair, Md. To Chicago Jct. (aka Willard), O., if a 45-acre tract which the road is negotiating for is secured.
School has reopened at Castalia, as all danger from Spotted Fever seems past. The patients are doing nicely and their ultimate recovery is expected.
Geo Ritter of Cleveland Sundayed [sic] at home.
Alva Parsons has been promoted to Dispatcher on the L.S. Electric.
Chas Alheit is assessing the township and Geo McConnelly is the corporation assessor this year. As usual there are very few dogs in this section.
[VV. Ed. Note: There’s something here I’m missing. I don’t understand what “dogs” have to do with assessments. Were people paying a tax on them? Or does it means that there would be no dogs to chase unwelcome assessors?]
Miss Amelia Schmoll who has been on the sick list the past week is again able to be out.
Det Parsons and Roy Kane left to begin their summer’s work on the lakes.
Miss Leanna Shadduck received a three years certificate at the last teachers examination.
Mr. Chas Driver of Georgia who is enlisted in the U.S. Army is visiting with his brother Mr. Geo Driver and family.
Perry G. Walker, aged 75, died very suddenly at his home in Sandusky Sunday afternoon April 14. He was a brother of Mrs. Wells of this place. Funeral was held from the ome Wednesday afternoon.
Mr. Meeker is reported very ill.
Mrs. Kate Sullivan is on the sick list.
A case of smallpox has been found in Lorain.
Miss Myrta Moore has resigned her position at the telephone exchange.
[VV. Ed. Note: I knew Myrta in her latter years (or my younger). She married Court Simons the son of local grocer Sid Simons. Court and Myrta lived in the brick house on the southeast corner of Ohio and Grand streets. To my knowledge they had no children.]
BORN – Tuesday April 16th 07 to Mr. and Mrs. Delmar Donaldson a son.
Martin Leidheiser is still confined to his bed. It is believed his illness is caused by his fall from a streetcar some time ago.
BORN – To Mr. and Mrs. Bert Hamill, Thursday, April 18, 07 a daughter.
Guy S. Davis, who with Milton Nuhn purchased the grocery of Pelton and McGraw, has sold his interest to Mr. J.J. Fey.
It is rumored that a new house will adorn the Naegele property on Main Street in the place of the building now occupied by E.C. Rust as a carpenter shop. Mr. Rust does not as yet know where he will locate his shop. Mrs. Naegele and daughter find that they must vacate their present residence recently purchased by F.S. Lawless and are considering building. A residence on this place will add greatly to the appearance of the street and make the second new house in that portion of the town so far this year. Mr. Howell’s being the other.
[VV. Ed. Note: I believe that Mr. Howell’s house is the one that sits back from Main Street across from the building currently (2015) known as the “Sail Loft” / French Restaurant. I don’t know where Rust’s shop was located. Perhaps it was one door to the south of Howell’s home.]
Mr. James Mardoff is quite sick. He was taken with a bad cold and was not able to throw it off. Quite a little anxiety is felt for him as he is quite aged, being 83 next June.
Hmmmmmm....
By Mary Wakefield Buxton
In 1959 Randolph Macon Woman’s College was filled with highly intelligent, beautiful, white, privileged southern girls who went by the term of “southern belles.” They had come from all over the South…Atlanta, Charleston, Richmond, Dallas, Montgomery, Jacksonville, Columbia, and Savannah. There were very few students from the North.
I stared at my own image in the mirror. Did a lady possess beady brown eyes, a mop of restless curls, and a freckled nose? I doubted it. Back home I had never thought about looks. But a girl in the south not only had to be charming, she had to be beautiful.
The incoming freshman class handbook had been distributed to all the fraternity houses in Lexington, Farmville and Charlottesville. Our senior photos from high school became the basis for pre-arranged or blind dates at VMI, Washington and Lee, Hampton Sydney and UVA. If one’s looks didn’t make the grade, one wouldn’t get a blind date. This was grim news for me because any beauty I possessed was difficult to discern at first glance. I felt like a sheep lined up at the gate to be assessed for market.
It occurred to me while my date would know what I looked like, I had no idea what my date would look like. Where was my handbook of entering classes at the men’s colleges so that I could make my selection? I thought segregation of the sexes an odd system, almost as if males and females had to be kept apart to be able to concentrate on studies.
Ridiculous, I thought as I hopped on the Trailways bus and headed for Charlottesville for my first prearranged blind date and my big night at the distinguished University of Thomas Jefferson. I had been given the name of a faculty member’s family at whose house I would spend the night. They were an elderly sweet couple and I had a cozy room where I could prepare for my big evening.
I was determined to have a good time no matter what my blind date looked like. He turned out to be short but I was relieved he looked handsome enough in a southern sort of way.
The party was at a “frat house” and when we arrived it was already going full blast. About 50 wild, crazed couples were dancing in frenzy to loud rock ‘n roll music. A huge table in the center of the room contained a punch bowl that was dispensing a fruit beverage to thirsty revelers. I didn’t see any sign of a chaperone; Mother would not have approved.
I was soon mashed into the center of my first exposure to a drunken brawl. I decided to try some of the punch so that I could get more in the party mood. It was only fruit juice but I began to feel better…perhaps becoming less of a budding writer observing human behavior around me and more of a participant.
Suddenly a big male with wild bestial eyes gyrated up to me following the beat of the music, picked me up, threw me over his shoulder and carried me upstairs. Kicking open the door to a bedroom, he flung me onto a bed and leaped upon me.
What? What? Horrified, I froze in fear. Was this what Mother had in mind when she sent me off to Virginia to become a lady? His weight was dead centered over me and I soon realized “dead” was a good description as the young man had passed out. I pushed his heavy body aside and switched on the light.
He looked so young and vulnerable, no doubt some mother’s precious son that she hoped was becoming a gentleman. He was probably under as much pressure as I was as to meet everyone’s expectation. He was probably desperately trying to be known as “BMOC” (big man on campus) and here he was, helplessly passed out in a frat bedroom.
I looked around me in disgust to see a pigsty room of jumbled sheets, blankets, and articles of discarded clothing flung everywhere. Empty beer bottles lay on the floor and the room smelled like a brewery. A bra hung from a lampshade, no doubt from the last lady and gentleman’s visit.
Ohio arose from the den of iniquity, gathered her rumpled self, and marched down the stairs and out the front door. I managed to find my way home and without a word to the professor’s wife, who came to the door, not terribly surprised that I had returned so early, went straight to my room. The next morning I crept out of the house closing the front door quietly behind me and caught the earliest bus back to Lynchburg.
Gone were any illusions about college life in Virginia or much interest in becoming a lady. This, gentle readers, was going to be war but I did not yet know the war I fought would be with myself.
[VV. Ed. Note: Mary was kind enough to forward me this series to be used in "Views". The series will be running in the Southside Sentinel (NY) in separate columns starting March 5, 2015]
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.
490…Margaretta is the northwest township in the county, and is bounded on the north by Sandusky bay, on the east by Sandusky City, Perkins and Oxford townships, on the south by Groton. and on the west by Sandusky county and the bay. Range twenty-four, township six.
The surface features of the township, as a whole, may be called level, although some parts of it are high land and some gently rolling. The west half of the first section is rolling and thinly timbered, and is what is generally known as “oak openings," with a clay, sandy, or limestone soil, or some combination of these, and sand, gravel and limestone ridges occasionally. The northeast part was heavily timbered and level having a muck soil with clay subsoil, very rich and productive. The second section was heavily timbered land, except the south part, which was oak openings with a gradual descent to the north. The third section is mostly prairie with some strips of timber. It used to be called a marsh, but by making a channel for Cold creek, building the railroad, and making several large ditches through it, has made it good farming and grazing land. The fourth section is "openings" land, except the northwest corner, which extends on to the prairie. The "openings" were timbered with oak and hickory, with occasionally a walnut, ash, elm and basswood. The timbered land was covered with white, black, yellow, swamp, pin and burr oak, black walnut, hickory, black and white ash, elm, basswood and some chestnut, butternut and maple. Limestone ridges crop out in some places on the openings, so as to make the land difficult to cultivate, but, generally speaking, the soil produces a good quantity and a very superior quality of wheat, oats and potatoes, with average corn, clover and timothy, while the heavily timbered land is superior for grass, corn, wheat, when under-drained, and other heavy crops. There is a fraction of land along Sandusky bay, from one to two miles wide, that is north of Sandusky county, which belongs to Margaretta, and forms the northwest part of the township. The east half is timbered, the west half prairie and marsh; when the lake is high a portion of it is overflowed with water; when not under water, it produces a coarse grass of but little value.
There is a small stream called Pike creek (from the Pike fish which are found in it in early spring floods), which enters the township near the southwest corner of section one, and runs in a northeasterly course through this section and 'into Perkins township, emptying into Sandusky bay, about a mile west of the city, and this is known as Mill's creek. Quite a large area of territory is drained by this stream, which, in time of high water, afforded sufficient power to run a couple of saw mills, in an early day, one of which has been but recently torn down. There are two smaller streams, which rise in the northern part of section three and empty into Sandusky bay. Their waters are strongly impregnated with some mineral, generally supposed to be sulphur.
The most important stream in the township is Cold Creek (so called from the fact of its water being cold), having its source a little west of the center of the township, runs about forty rods in a southwesterly course, then turns north, and empties into Sandusky Bay. Its whole length in a straight line would be about three miles. In its natural channel it ran through a piece of flat land or prairie heretofore mentioned, converting several hundred acres into a quagmire and muskrat garden. It now runs nearly its whole length through an artificial channel or millrace, and affords sufficient power to run two grist mills of four, and one of six run of stone. Cold creek rises north of the ridge, boiling up from a great depth in a large volume evidently from crevices in the limestone rock. About a half mile north of the head of this stream, formerly there was a small, narrow stream (which one could step over without any effort) that came up in the form of a spring after the erection of the first mills at the head of Cold creek. By raising the water at its fountain head, this small stream was greatly enlarged, and excavated for itself a basin forty feet in diameter, and what, seems most unaccountable, exposed to view large trees in a prostrate position at the bottom of its bed. How these trees came there in that position we leave for savants to answer. As the waters of this stream (which now assumed the name of Little Cold creek) increased those of Cold creek proper, decreased, which led irresistibly to the conclusion, that there was a subterranean connection between the two, so that in order to secure sufficient water for the mill on Cold creek proper, this stream was dammed up to bring their waters to a level. Afterwards it was deemed advisable to connect the two springs by a channel so as to bring the water from this spring to the mill, but when done, the water ran the wrong way, and the larger stream emptied into the smaller instead of the smaller into the larger, as was intended, which necessitated building the mill where it now is at the lower spring, making one stream of the two. The waters of these springs are strongly impregnated…
VERMILION TELEPHONE 1925 CONTIN…: I don’t know that I’ll feature every page of this 1925 Vermilion Telephone Company phone book, but I do want to show readers some of the inside pages.
This one – the introductory page – is a hoot and a half. This is especially true because there are some children around today (2015) who can’t remember when cell phones didn’t exist.
That which I find amusing herein is that the company “earnestly” asked their customers to report “any difficulty” (etc.) they might have to their manager.
Try calling the telephone company today to report a problem and see what happens. Someday you might even talk to a “real” person.
Q: If there is H2O on the inside of a fire hydrant, what is on the outside?
A: K9P
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
or you can use PayPal: (NOTE: IT WORKS NOW)
Vol.12, Issue 52 - March 7, 2015
© 2013 Rich Tarrant