Vermilion Ohio, A Good Place to Live
SHOPTALK: On the shoptop this week is an old pic of a group of Civil War veterans on the square in Milan, Ohio.
My great-grandfather, Caselton Roscoe, is next to the last fellow on the left. He was a fifer in the Union Army. This pic was taken (probably) in the early years of the 20th century. He was born in Townsend Center, Ohio and lived most of his life in Milan in 1838. He died in 1918 at the home of his son Pearl in Vermilion.
I keep a larger copy of this pic in the front office of the museum. (Because I just like it.)
On my home desk this week is a pic of beautiful downtown Berlin Heights. This pic is several years old. But I like it because it was taken on a rainy day. For some reason I like rainy days when the weather is warm.
F.Y.I. - The black Dakota pickup truck parked in front of the stores is my old truck. It was a nice looking vehicle but was fraught with problems.
THE DAMN PHONE CO.: Since the first part of January I’ve spent at least 4 or 5 hours on the telephone with phone company representatives.
This whole thing began in late December. It was simple matter of taking advantage of an advertisement they sent numerous times to the museum saying we could reduce our bill.
As it turned out it increased: ergo the calls. Currently, I think we’ve settled the matter. But who really knows (?) - until the next billing period.
Methinks they should change their name to the Damn Telephone Company.
AROUND THE SHOP: Aside from developing glass negatives in the A.C.T. darkroom we’re now able to make digital recordings of some of the very old records in the museum’s collection.
The collection spans most of the 20th century. And though the very early ones aren’t without pits and falls (static sounds) they’re fun to hear. I’ve noted that some of the same recordings we have can also be heard on various YouTube and Discography productions if you know what to look for. It’s very interesting stuff.
Below is a recent pic a new old shower curtain donated to the museum by Vermilionites (and Huronites) Charles and Barbara Ruggles.
These lace-type curtains (they’re not plastic) match a majority of the window curtains in the apartment portion of the museum. Mr. and Mrs. Ruggles also donated those curtains.
And, yes, Charles is a direct descendant of Almon Ruggles – the man who surveyed the Fire-Lands.
UPCOMING EVENTS AT THE MUSEUM: Committee persons at the museum have been busy putting together a special activities schedule of events for the coming months.
The first activity will be a Civil War artifacts exhibition on April 23rd. This will include a significant display of weaponry, buttons and various other artifacts from the war. The exhibition will only be on display for one day so mark it on your calendars.
I’ll have more about it in following weeks.
In the latter part of May the next activity will be a (DON’T) STOP THE PRESSES (TIL I’M DONE READING) reenactment of what it was (may have been) like producing THE NEWS during the roaring 20s.
The script, however, is yet to be written and the actors, yet, to be chosen. Anyone interested in playing a part in this living tableau should send me an email. But without a script it’s a bit hard to say who or how many actors will be needed.
So stay tuned.
Then, toward the end of October we will be having a special exhibition featuring artifacts and (hopefully) several members from two of Vermilion’s old time families.
At the moment I know that the Baumhart family will be one of those featured. I’ve been in contact with Brenda Baumhart Mezz (A.D. Sr.’s granddaughter) and she indicated that she would try to be there to discuss her family.
These exhibits will feature a hefty number of photographs and some other memorabilia in addition to the existing collections held by the museum.
Refreshments will be available for all these events. Admission – depending on the type of refreshments being made available – will differ. Parking will be available in the Division / Main Street lot in downtown Vermilion. Persons parking there will be given a token as part of the admission to the museum so it will be free.
I’ll have more specifics at a later time. But please keep these things in mind. If you’re interested in local history all of these events will be both informative and fun.
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 $5 (for adults) is requested. Children under 14 accompanied with an adult will be admitted free.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.
Memberships for the VERMILION NEWS PRINT SHOP MUSEUM are always available. Funds generated will go toward the aforementioned renovations and maintenance of the shop.
A single membership for an adult is $15 a year.
A couple membership is $25 a year.
A student membership is $5.
And a lifetime membership is $100.ADMISSION - ADULTS $5.00 and young people under the age of 14 are FREE. If you would like to become a member the VNPSM you can send a check or money order to:
Vermilion Print Shop Museum
727 Grand Street
Vermilion, Ohio 44089
440.967.4555.
Cell:440.522.8397
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Historically,
SO MUCH HOPE: Looking at this photo it almost makes me cry. I suppose it’s because I can remember days like those myself – those days of innocence with the whole world ahead.
This is a snapshot of Billy Bond. He lived with his parents Frank and Elizabeth on W. Liberty street next to his dad’s café (Frank “Bunny” Bond’s Liberty Café – currently – 2016 – Rudy’s Place).
Bill was born on May 3, 1924. This pic was probably taken around 1937 when Bill was around 12 or 13 years old. The building in the background is gone now. At the time of this pic it was probably (downstairs) Frank Baker’s Ford garage. The used car lot can be seen just to the left of the building.
Bill was apparently out sidewalk skating on a nice summer day. He looks very happy.
Bill’s life was stolen just few days after Thanksgiving (27 November 1944) in France during WW2. He was 20 years old.
His niece, Katie Bake Reutener, gave me this snap along with numerous other articles. Among them were all the letters he wrote to his family while he was in France. They ended, of course, just short of his death. The telegram his mom received from the military reporting his death is also at the museum.
Bill’s nephew – also named Bill (Baker) – was a very good friend of mine when I attended Vermilion’s South Street School. That Bill died during the Asian Flu epidemic in 1957. So I guess this pic of his uncle at about that same age harkens me back to that time. And it saddens me.
Gosh that age was great. There was so much hope…
VHS CLASS REUNION: Will be held August 26 and 27, 2016, for the VHS Class of 66....they need addresses,email, etc. Folks can email Carolyn Hill or call her @ 440.967.2821.
A REACH (PERHAPS): I’m treading on real thin ice here because I’m not entirely certain that this is a correct pairing of pix.
The bottom / old pic is one that I’ve been acquainted with for some time, but have never really been able to identify. The big house on the right is a classic New England frame type structure that was very common around Vermilion and elsewhere at one time. In this pic it appears to have been old when the photo was taken. My assumption is that it is long gone – and has (again long ago)_ been replaced. But I was more taken with the other house in the background. It seemed so familiar.
In my minds eye I thought I knew where I might find one like it – and I did. It is very similar to that on the northwest corner of Ohio and Washington Streets. The chimneys are different. But I don’t consider that to be any big deal because heating systems have changed so much since the old pic was captured.
That background home was (at one time) the parsonage for Vermilion’s First Congregational Church. It was built in 1871. That year would fit with this photograph.
But like I said – it’s a reach.
A VERMILION FRIEND: Not long ago I received this photograph of Elizabeth “Bessie” A. Roscoe from my first cousin, David Lindsay who now lives in Texas. Bessie was our maternal grandmother – wife of Vermilion News publisher Pearl Roscoe – and good friend of Vermilion, Ohio.
She was born in Hennepin County near Minneapolis, Minnesota on February 8, 1877 – the eldest daughter and oldest child in a family of five. She had two younger sisters, Ella and Ethel, and two younger brothers; Lee and Thomas. Her father, E.T. (Ernest) Bottomley and mother Clara brought the family to Milan, Ohio (a reverse migration of sorts) in the latter years of the 19th century where he co-owned and operated a grocery business with his brother near Milan’s public square.
Though I’ve no idea as to where or how she received her formal education she had taken an examination and received a teacher’s certificate in Wright County, Minnesota when she was just 15 years old. On the back of her certificate the County Superintendent wrote in longhand: “Considering your age your examination is highly creditable to you. But before I give you the certificate you must get the request of all (illegible word) of the school board where you wish to teach. I wish to file that in my office. You are very young to commence teaching but should you undertake it you have my best wishes for your success. – Yours truly, F.W. Lindsley – Co. Supt.”
After the family moved to Ohio she took another teacher’s examination, and in January of 1896 – at the age of 19 – she received a certificate to teach school in Erie County, Ohio. She taught for several years for the Berlin-Milan school system – in a one-room schoolhouse. In 1901 she married Pearl Roscoe.
Pearl, a native of Milan, was working as a printing foreman for the old Lorain-Times Herald when they were married. The same year they married the couple purchased a newspaper / print shop in Vermilion, Ohio called The Vermilion News from a fellow named George Whitmore. During the first few months of their marriage editor Roscoe and wife Bessie (his associate editor) commuted between Lorain and Vermilion on bicycles. Lacking a paved highway on which to ride in those times their commutes must have been exceptionally (to say the least) refreshing. But they didn’t continue.
In 1904 Pearl’s father, Caselton – a carpenter and millwright – built the couple a new place at (513) Grand Street where they located their business. It was nothing fancy – a very utilitarian two-story building. The ground floor contained the print shop, and the upper floor served as their living quarters. But thenceforth their daily commute to and from work was reduced to 26 steps: Thirteen down and thirteen up.
On May 24, 1906 the Roscoes welcomed a daughter they named Ella into their family. Five years thereafter they welcomed another little one to their fold they named Alice. And life moved right along in the bustling Village of Vermilion.
Eventually Bessie opened a little gift shop on Liberty Avenue in a building next to the Liberty Theatre (currently known as the Art Seen) that was shared by Western Union. Both the newspaper / printing business and the little gift shop did well over the years that followed. She was active in numerous civic, social and religious affairs of the community, and served as a trustee on the board of the Vermilion Public Library for 25 years.
But in the waning months of 1945 Bessie began to feel poorly. And on the 7th day of January in 1946 she passed into the yesteryear at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Lorain. Public funeral services for her were held at the Congregational Church, just behind the print shop, on Thursday January 10th at 2pm. She was laid to rest at Maple Grove Cemetery that afternoon.
The town had lost yet another friend.
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...
In order to pay an indebtedness of $395, Grace A. Roberts, administratix of her estate of Malvina Hunt, deceased, has filed in probate court a petition to for leave to sell a lot in Milan. Action is against Eva Bell Silcox.
Cases that are, the well-known living man were to have been heard this week in the court of common pleas have been postponed owing to the premise of judgment lead.
The 7-Up club met with Capt. Charles Gegenheimer Tuesday evening had a very pleasant time. Delicacies of the evening, cigars and a free lunch.
Events: Bert was quite exercised because his king and trey was never high or low. Dave said he always enough cards but there was so many spots on them; Minium smiled because he won the prize, but it was a close shave; the Captain was all smiles as he was not in the contest and always held either of the ace, deuce, or those uninformed cards.
Harry Willis while operating one of the die presses at the Sterling Machine And Co.’s plant, Tuesday, had the misfortune to lose one of his fingers. Dr. Englebry dressed the unfortunate man's hand.
L.A. Driver met with a similar misfortune a few days ago.
Mrs. Will Huff died at her home near Ashmont last night. She was about twenty-eight years of age and leaves a husband and one child four months old. Blood poison was said to be the cause. Her maiden name was Esther Mason.
Martin Baldwin will take base of George made me I will route number one, beginning Monday.
Little Thelma Stockton, seven-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Stockton, of Third Ave., Lorain was bitten by a small bag while returning from Sunday school a few weeks ago died from hydrophobia Friday night. It was feared at the time that the dog might have been suffering from rabies and its head was sent to the State Board Of Health for analysis. The report was received that no symptoms of the dread disease could be found, consequently the child was kept at home instead of being taken to the Pasteur Institute for treatment.
W.H. Basore, the well-known Lorain deliveryman, has gone to the Pasteur Institute Chicago for treatment for rabies. Mr. Basore was bitten by a dog while near Amherst some time ago and the first stages of rabies have developed so he left for the Institute.
Mrs. A.G. Horn and son were both recently bitten. Action will be taken at Lorain to have all dogs muzzled. Lorain is not the only place affected and other towns are taking precautionary measures.
At the meeting at the Maudelton Hotel last Monday evening it was decided that the first rehearsal be held at the Christian church on the same evening one week later, March 2, at 7:30 o'clock. Miss Hull, Mr. Seemann and Mr. Hofrichter were appointed committees in charge.
It is especially urged that all those who are at all interested in the work should attend whether married or single young or old. In fact anyone who have voices and desirous of developing them.
If necessary will be a beginners class started for special study.
For further information were invited to attend.
The Vermilion G.A.R. Band, while very little has been heard of it has been steadily increasing in efficiency under the instruction of Mr. Ackley of Sandusky and we hope will give us some good music this summer especially Saturday evening. Everyone should take an interest in this institution and give encouragement and help to boost it along.
In looking over the program of the concert tonight it will be seen that the businessman of the town have done unusually well in taking space which in itself is encouraging. The band is made up of men who are interested in the work and willing to do all they can for the support of any other musical organization in the town.
Chas. Nuhn is taken Harry Steers’ place as engineer at the waterworks pumping station. Mr. Steers accepted the position as engineer of the Driscoll Fish Co.’s tug Ames.
Some of our exchanges wonder what relation the Bellevue Sanitarium has to Vermilion, evidently getting the same name confused with the town of Bellevue. As mentioned in the NEW several months ago a party of gentlemen have purchased a number of lots on the lakefront including the C.C. Baumhart place, with the intention of opening a sanitarium.
Dr. E.J. Hill of this place is one of the projectors.
E.H. Nickoll, J.B. Avery and Dr. Wiseman attended the automobile show in Cleveland Friday.
Born – To Mr. and Mrs. Martin Schmuach Sunday, Feb. 23 a daughter.
Mrs. D.C. Gluick lost her gold watch Sunday afternoon while on her way to call on a friend.
Wm. Schumach has purchased the Leland theatre and will continue the exhibition of fine pictures.
James Jackson, proprietor of the Jackson Hotel, mention of whose illness was made in these columns some weeks ago, died Thursday. The funeral was held from the hotel Sunday afternoon. Revs Harding and Black officiating. A wife three sons and one daughter survive.
The little son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Wells died Tuesday of last week and was buried Thursday.
News of the death of Mrs. Mary Manahan formally Miss Jenny Walker, at her home in Atlanta Georgia was received to this week.
Councilman Krock was the victim of a pleasant surprise Friday evening. The occasion was his birthday and a number of his friends called to celebrate the event.
L.A. Braun and Geo. Risden joined the Masonic Lodge of Vermilion Wednesday evening.
Philip Darley had the lucky number which won the set of dishes at Albert Baumhart’s in Vermilion.
Mr. George Skinn and his best girl took a sleigh ride to Axtel Sunday evening.
Mr. C.A. Baldwin makes his usual trips to Axtel with his coal oil jug.
Mr. Liva and Orrin Brown played for the dance Saturday evening at Mr. Wolfley's - all had a good time.
– A.B.C.
Born – to Mr. and Mrs. Adam Claus, Feb. 25 a bouncing girl.
G. Leimbach purchased a fine horse at Ceylon, offered Wednesday.
George Mauer purchased a fine team of horses of Mr. Schmool of Vermilion for $400.
The boys at Brownhelm Station will give a dance Feb. 26th at the Town Hall. The orchestra of Elyria will furnish the music.
Mr. L. Kelly purchased the team of horses of Henry Gordon for $400.
Samuel Bacon got a load of milk coolers to be used among the farmers that sell their milk.
Mr. Daymon the teacher of the high school was on the sick list several days. Mrs. Daymon taught school in his place.
Mr. R.W. Powell butchered 15 hogs for the market.
Mr. and Mrs. Moes are happy parents of the baby boy.
The station school was out for a sleigh ride Friday afternoon.
Alfred Sweet is on the sick list with La Grippe.
The Bacon brothers are hauling hickory buts.
Mr. Paul Schisler went through Brownhelm selling the lightning churn.[sic]
Conrad Nuhn was in Vermilion last Friday.
Effie Slocum of this play spent Saturday p.m. at Bartow Ridge.
School let out early last Friday on account of a teachers meeting.
The number of this place attended the sale of Albert Brill on Hill Street last Monday.
Little Claudie Hauff and Baby Denman have been quite sick the last few days.
M.D. Slocum went to Cleveland one day last week. While there he purchased a new horse.
Mrs. Martha J Campbell was been on trial at Norwalk in the past charged with arson has been found guilty of "aiding and abetting arson to prejudice insurance." The minimum penalty is 20 years in the penitentiary. Motion for new trial has been made and pending which, Mrs. Campbell was released on $3000 bond.
Counterfeit money still continues to be passed that Lorain and Elyria and it is thought the "workshop" is located near those places.
Why wouldn't it be well to look after the dogs and Vermilion?
Mr. Fred Kuhlman is on the sick list.
Miss Nellie Trinter is on the sick list.
A. Kuhlman’s children have tonsillitis.
Suzette Bartholomew who has been confined to the house for a number of weeks is now out able to be out. She called it one of the neighbors Tuesday.
E. Leadrach and Philip Trinter are enjoying a trip to Ragersville, Tuscarawas County.
E.C. Wasson and brother Herbert of Cleveland are visting their parents of Ragersville, Tuscarawas County, O.
D.B. Bartholomew and C. Normando took a trip to Rochester Station, Wednesday to visit uncle of D.B. Bartholomew who is very ill, with no hopes for his recovery.
Gaston Allen died at his home in Cleveland Thursday. Funeral was held Monday. Mr. Allen was a brother-in-law of Mrs. Louise Thompson of this place.
Mrs. E.A. Hill received word that Mrs. Fabian who has been visiting relatives in Exmouth, England, will sail for New York on the Maruretania of the 22nd of this month. The Maruretania is one of the largest liners afloat.
Frank Durand of Monroeville was the guest of Mrs. Miss Charlotte Harris Monday.
In the afternoon he left for Brooklyn where he will enter the U.S. Navy. Mr. Durand has many friends in Vermilion who will wish him success.
Henry Root one of Lorain's oldest citizens died Saturday at Lake View Hospital. He was born at Berlin Heights.
Hmmmmmm....
150th ANNIVERSARY OF THE “BATTLE OF THE HUNDRED SLAIN”: 3 miles from Fort Phil Kearny near Story, Wyoming will be held this year. (See Wikipedia.)
Late Vermilion resident, Matilda Louis Grummond was the sister of 2nd Lt. George Washington Grummond. Grummond and 81 of his fellow soldiers were killed by an overwhelming force of Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians in one of the worst military disasters suffered by the US Army on Great Plains.
If you are a descendant of Matilda please email John Horton or call him at 1.586.549.2471.
Mary Wakefield Buxton
POLITICS:
Like George Washington, I now think political parties and partisanship are destructive to the nation. I no longer care to be divided into political groups and assigned special interests and therefore I am not a member of any political group.
But I didn’t always feel this way. In my 20s I was what we might now refer to as a “zealot” and I fervently believed in small government, individual freedom and self- responsibility which the Republican Party once stood for and for some odd reason, I felt it was my duty to help build a two party system in Virginia.
Which only added to my social unacceptability. Forget that I had come from Ohio. The real problem with launching me into society in those days was simple: I was a Republican in a state where such an admission was rather like confessing one was descended from snakes.
When I arrived in Virginia in 1959 as a freshman at Randolph Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia I soon learned the Commonwealth was a “one party state” and totally run by the “Byrd machine.” In those days Republicans were considered “Carpet Baggers,” a negative term left over from the Civil War, and definitely not welcome. Period.
Sure that I was right and everyone else was wrong, (the usual partisan mentality) and with my typical “Damn those torpedoes, full speed ahead” spirit, I showed up to work for the GOP in the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon presidential election in a Lynchburg all- black voting precinct ready to hand out Nixon brochures. The natives looked at me with wide eyes, as if they were seeing a ghost, and not one single person spoke to me. I was mystified. Wasn’t I representing the great and noble party of Abraham Lincoln who wrote the Emancipation Act that freed slaves? So why weren’t blacks supporting the GOP?
I watched closely, a fox in the henhouse, as the precinct democrat operative handed each voter the ballot and told them who “we were voting for.” I was stunned. I had never seen anything like it in my life.
After a morning of chilly exile with no one to talk to, a tiny Negress of about 90 years of age arrived in a big black Cadillac. Her driver opened the car door for her and she exited with an air of majesty. To my astonishment she headed right for me. “I am a Republican!” she announced in a grand voice more for the benefit of the others than for me. Pulling herself up to her full height she not only accepted the one and only Nixon brochure I handed out that morning, but she shook my hand. I was thrilled! The good news was that I was not totally alone! There were at least two Republicans in the Commonwealth! Hope springs eternal!
Later, when I was living in Gloucester, in a fit of similar optimism, I started the Gloucester Republican Woman’s Club. There were so few of us I had to add Mathews to the mix. For some reason there were more republicans in Mathews. One of my members was a lady that had just turned 100.
I have been waiting a very long time to join a republican club,” she said joyfully. I just hoped she would live long enough to vote in the next election which was two years away. The lady remembered General Grant’s presidency.
As a young Republican in Virginia, I soon learned life would be tough. The Buxton’s were all democrats, of course. Truth be told so was every doctor, lawyer, judge, newspaper editor, realtor, banker, businessman and politician in the state.
I recall my long suffering and distinguished father-in-law, Dr. Buxton, once asking me to remove my “Holton for Governor” button in 1968 before entering the James River Country Club to attend a fancy party. Holton was a renegade republican running for governor against a well-entrenched democrat. “You are embarrassing the family,” he whispered in my ear. Of course, I did not remove my campaign button. It was a real shock to him when Holton won the governorship that year, the first republican to be elected governor ever, and ended one- party rule in the Commonwealth forever.
One of my favorite memories as a pioneer republican in the Commonwealth was the circus I helped bring to Williamsburg when I was helping my husband get through law school. Hoping to raise money for the GOP, I was busy happily hawking my circus tickets at the local shopping center one day when a short, fat man approached me who claimed to be the owner of the shopping center. I explained I was just selling tickets to a circus coming to town in order to raise funds to end one party rule in Virginia.
The man’s mouth dropped open and he stared at me with an incredulous look on his face. Finally he was able to speak. “Lady, I don’t know where you come from but let me tell you something. This is a democrat town! So take your republican tickets to the circus and get off my property!”
What? What? Talk about a small-minded man! Of all the bloody nerve!! Yet, nothing I heard shocked me in those days. I had even been told more than once while a wife of a law student at the College of William and Mary that I had better quit the GOP if I wanted to help my husband’s law career. In those days, (wink, wink,) a lawyer had to play ball, (wink, wink,) in the proper political party, (wink wink,) if he ever wanted to become a judge in Virginia.
No thank you! Who did they think I was, anyway? Someone to be bought and sold like a bag of potatoes? Why, I had principles! Oh yes, I shouted such words many times as I marched through my house slamming doors at every sentence of outrage. Why, Mary would rather scrub toilets and dig ditches than ever join the Virginia democrat party! Huzza, huzza! Oh, long live Ohio!
Sigh. Well, lady, better get out the soap suds and scrub brushes now because if you don’t conform to the demands of the group, life is going to be…well, as the Chinese say, “very interesting.”
Still, in spite of cabbages and kings and all those things, say whatever you will about non-conformity and those in society who will not budge. There is one very positive factor. If you ever do become a writer, you are sure going to have a lot to say.
A note about the author: Mary Wakefield Buxton is the author of 12 books about love and life in Virginia including her latest novel, “The Private War of William Styron.” She has written a column for 30 years for her hometown newspaper, the Southside Sentinel in Urbanna, Virginia where she lives with her husband, “Chip” and her two beloved spaniels; “Dandy” and “Dasher.”
…withdrew from its actual occupation, still, however, exercising authority and acts of ownership until their treaty with the whites extinguished their claim to title.
A word or two will suffice to describe these temporary possessors of the soil of Erie county, who have been variously known as the Five and subsequently as the - Six Nations and as the Iroquois Confederacy. It should be said that the name "Iroquois" was never applied by the confederates to themselves. It was first used by the French, and it’s meaning is veiled in obscurity. The men of the Five Nations (afterwards the Six Nations) called themselves "Hedonosaunee," which means literally, "They form a cabin"; describing in this, expressive manner the close union existing among them. The Indian name just quoted is more liberally and commonly rendered" The People of the Long House;" which is more fully descriptive of the confederacy, though not quite so accurate a translation.
The tribes comprising the Five Nations were the Mohawks, Onondagas, Oneidas, Cayugas and Senecas. During one of their warlike excursions to the Carolinas they were assisted by the Tuscaroras in overpowering the Powhattans. At a later period the Tuscaroras were overcome by the Powhattans and whites and driven out of the country. They came north and were taken into the confederacy, whereupon the Five Nations became the Six Nations.
The best authority regarding the name of the first Indian occupants of this region is the work of the Jesuit priest. Father Louis Hennepin, published about the year 1684, in which he says: "These good fathers were great friends of the Hurons, who told them that the Iroquois went to war beyond Virginia, or New Sweden, near a lake which they called 'Erige,' or 'Erie,' which signifies 'the cat,' or 'nation of the cat;' and because these savages brought captives from the nation of the cat in returning to their cantons along this lake, the Hurons named it, in their language, 'Erige,' or ' Ericke,' 'the lake of the cat,' and which our Canadians, in softening the word, have called 'Lake Erie.'"
Another French writer, Charlevoix, says respecting the lake: "The name it bears is that of an Indian nation of the Huron (Wyandot) language, which was formerly seated on its banks, and who have been entirely destroyed by the Iroquois. Erie, in that language, signifies cat, and in some accounts, this nation is called the Cat Nation. This name probably comes from the large number of those animals formerly found in this country."—Howe's Hist. Col.
From this it is inferred that the Hurons were the successors to the soil of this region under sufferance of the Iroquois Confederacy. Charlevoix credits the Hurons, or Wyandots, for they were the same people, with speaking the same language as the Eries. This would seem to confirm the theory advanced by some writers of note that a remnant of the unfortunate Eries, some years after their subjugation, returned and possessed the soil of their fathers,…
DISCOGRAPHY - GOD BE WITH YOU: This particular recording (pictured), is a one-sided thermoplastic disc coated with shellac, was made by a vocal group called the Haydn Quartet (probably) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the 19th day of January in 1905. The composer is William G. Tomer – and lyricist Jeremiah Earmes Rankin. Although the label says that this is a male quartet some of the voices certainly sound feminine. But that may just be my ear – or it’s just a bad reproduction. [You can take a listen by clicking on the link at the top of this page. It is part of the museum’s extensive record collection.]
In any case, The Haydn Quartet (pronounced hay-den) was a much-recorded male quartet that most often consisted of tenors John Bieling and Harry Macdonough, baritone S. H. Dudley, and William F. Hooley as bass. Later Reinald Werranrath replaced Dudley. Whereas the American Quartet generally recorded bright, often ragtime-infused popular numbers, the Haydn (later spelled Hayden) Quartet usually sang slower-tempo, statelier, and sometimes (like this) religious material. They also recorded vernacular selections such as the very popular “Way Down Yonder in the Cornfield.”
Tomer was born on October 5, 1833 in New Jersey. He studied singing and sang in the choir in Finesville, New Jersey, and began teaching school at age 17. He served in the Union army during the American civil war, then worked as a clerk in Washington, DC, served as music director for Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, and taught school in New Carpentersville and Greenwich, New Jersey. He died September 26, 1896 in New Jersey and is buried at Union Cemetery in Finesville.
Jeremiah Earmes Rankin was born January 2, 1828 in Thornton, New Hampshire. He attended Middlebury College, Vermont, and the Andover Theological Seminary. After ordination in 1855, he pastored at churches in New York; St. Albans, Vermont; Charlestown, Massachusetts; at the First Congregational Church in Washington, DC, for 15 years; and at the Valley Congregational Church, Orange, New Jersey. In 1889, he became president of Howard University. He authored several other hymns – the best known may be God Be With You Till We Meet Again and Tell It to Jesus. He died November 28, 1904 in Cleveland, Ohio and is buried at Cleveland’s Lake View Cemetery.
As some readers may know this hymn continues to be widely used in many churches today. Till we meet again…
Before his daring escape from prison, an infamous criminal had been photographed from four different angles.
The FBI sent copies of the pictures to police chiefs all across the land, with orders to notify Washington the moment an arrest was made.
The next day, the Bureau received a faxed reply from the ambitious sheriff of a small Alabama town:
"PICTURES RECEIVED. ALL FOUR SHOT DEAD WHILE RESISTING ARREST."
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, "Grandma's 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
1041 Oakwood Drive
Vermilion, Ohio
44089
Telephone: 440-967-0988 - Cell: 440-522-8397
or you can use PayPal: (NOTE: IT WORKS NOW)
- Clifton Fadiman
Vol.13, Issue 51 - February 27, 2016
Archive Issue #676
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