Vermilion Ohio, A Good Place to Live
SHOPTALK:On the shop desk this week is an old Dick Koontz pic of the ladies of Vermilion’s First Congregational Church. It was likely taken around 1958 in Fellowship Hall. There are numerous familiar faces in this group. My mom is there along with Vera Thompson, Hanna Morey, Eleanor Orth, Alice Hart, Bertha Wood and a host of others you may well recognize. [I can almost hear them talking.]
I spent many hours in this room over the last twenty some years. Sometimes when I’m sitting there alone I can hear the voices and see the many faces of those who’ve passed through there over the years.
I was working in the kitchen listening to the radio when the planes struck the twin towers in NYC. An old friend had a heart attack and died on the kitchen floor – and I waited there with the police until the undertaker came for him. A young lady, fresh out of college, came into the kitchen one day asking for the minister because she wanted to arrange for her marriage. Now she has children in college. And on and one the memories flow…
On my home desk this week is a photograph that could very well stand by itself without further comment. It is - as I am often inclined to say - “a beaut”. Nonetheless there is something - but not much - that should be said of it. And much of that, I must confess, is the result of pure deductive logic as it relates to the manner of dress, and hairstyles of persons in the photo, as well as the landscape surrounding them. All that and - a fair amount of guesswork.
The large hats anchored by full hair; the rather full sleeves at the lower arms of the blouses / dresses ending in cuffs; and the feather boa worn by one of the girls; are indicative of styles worn by young women in the early part of the 20th century. Because the hats, by themselves, appear to be quite elegant it is probably safe to assume that these women have dressed for some observable occasion; and that they are not just going out to the store. The trees are not yet in full bloom, and one young lady is holding several freshly cut daffodils. Ergo; it is more than likely springtime.
Given these observations it may not be entirely unreasonable for us to also speculate that this photograph was taken on a Sunday around 1900. And because the head ware is, indeed, so ostentatious it would not be out-of-line to go further and submit that it was very likely an Easter Sunday. While there is no way of “really” knowing much of that for certain there are a few things that are known.
The two young ladies on the left side of the group are sisters. The girls are daughters of the town barber, Jacob, and his wife, “Feima” Phillipena Abell. Hattie is the lass on the far left holding the daffodil sprigs. Her sister, Ollie, is the belle next to her. Both Ollie and Hattie were born in Vermilion, O. in 1880 and in 1882 respectively. Their youthful bearing in this photo only helps to confirm the notion that it was taken about 1900.
Mr. Abell was born in Ohio, and the Mrs. was born in another state. (Her precise place of birth is problematic.) His parents, like a good number of people who settled in the Vermilion area during the mid 19th century, migrated here from Hesse Cassel (Germany). Her parents came from Wartenberg (Germany).
The Abell family lived on Washington Street. And this is where the real guesswork enters into this scholium because things have changed so much since these shadows were captured - be it only a century back. But after due consideration I believe the photograph was taken in the morning while the ladies in all their finery stood by a fence outside a home on the northeast corner of Ferry and Washington Streets.
The manner in which the shadows fall seems to indicate that it is perhaps 11 a.m. The ladies are standing in the shade of a building - perhaps their home. They are facing southeast into a camera that is facing northwest. The house in the background appears to be the house which still stands near the southwest corner of Washington and Huron Streets. The barn behind the home is, of course, gone now. And another home occupies some of the space between the street and the aforementioned house.
But back to the ladies for a moment. Hattie eventually met and married a young sailor named George S. Rathbun (VPJ 10/16/08). She and George lived in a house not too many feet away from the place where this photo was taken and raised two sons. Her sister Ollie married into another prominent Washington Street family named Naegele. And both now have descendants scattered to the far corners of the world.
I know that because every now and then I hear from one of them. Sometimes they even send me a photograph or two over which I muse for hours - and sometime days - on end. But, in the end, some of the photographs (like this one) don’t really need any explanation at all. They are, as I say, just real “beauts”.
OVERCOMING A COLD: I don’t know where it came from but starting a week from last Wednesday, I contracted an annoying cold that stuck to me all weekend and followed me into this week. I didn’t feel real bad, but it made sleeping and working on anything very difficult.
I knew I was contagious so I tried to stay away from group situations. Unfortunately, my wife had to endure my incessant coughing. And, of course, I gave it to her.
I’ve not had a problem like this for a very long time so, again, I found it to be extremely annoying. By the time this gets published I should be coughing only now and then. But I would wish whatever it is on no one. “Hack, hack!”
[Saw a doc on Friday. Got medication.]
Historically,
THE WASHBURN KIDS: Back in the very late 1940s and early 1950s the Vermilion News used to run pix of some of the local children as a I don’t believe I ever made it, but several of my sisters and a number of our friends did. And that is the reason I have these nice pix of Loren and Wanita Washburn.
Loren (b.1943) had a stellar career as a contractor in the Vermilion area. Unfortunately, he passed on in 2017 after a long illness. He was a nice person – a good person.
Wanita (b.1945) was a school chum of mine. She married a Vermilion guy named Al Schafer. I still see her around town on occasion. Both Loren and Wanita stayed in the area where they lived when they were children – near Maple Grove Cemetery.
VERMILION – A PRE-CONDITION: My grandfather took a significant number of photographs around good ol’ Vermilion, but fortunately he wasn’t the only one with a camera about town in the yesteryear. I don’t know who took the accompanying photo, but I’m really glad that he or she did. There are other photographs of the south side of Liberty Avenue between Division and Grand streets showing the way it appeared in the past, but none that I have seen are as informative as this.
I don’t mean to bore readers with bunches of photos of Vermilion’s Okagi Restaurant, but I cant’ help showing ye this one. This photo was taken before Okagi had the face of his place replaced with a beautiful glass façade. In short, it’s a very early portrait of the restaurant. Prior to locating the eatery in this building it was in a building across the street [now the Old Prague building].
This photo is unique because the lot next (left) of the restaurant where the Erie County Bank building was built in 1922 is a storage lot for what may have been at that time the Trinter-Unser General Store. A wood fence hid the lot from the street. Currently, that area is the site of a portion of our city offices.
The business to the right of the restaurant is the J. A. Klaar Harness making shop. Klaar is an interesting story. He was born in Berneberg, Germany in 1864. In 1870, and when he was six years old, he and his parents came to America and settled in Amherst, Ohio. In fact, historians often refer to that particular year, as "The Golden Age of the Horse" in our country. The 1870 U.S. census reported that there were 7,607 harness businesses throughout the nation, employing 23,557 harness makers. Of the 258 industries listed in the census, harness making and saddlery ranked 34th in the number of people employed nation-wide. Given these statistics it is little wonder that Mr. Klaar chose this vocation as a youngster, and went on to cultivate his craft in shops in both Amherst and in Wellington.
While working in Wellington he met, courted, and married a lady by the name of Miss Mary Howk. In 1885 Klaar and his new wife moved to Vermilion and opened the harness shop on Liberty Avenue where local resident, Jon Clark, now [2019] has his Vermilion Insurance Agency. Following the time of "The Great Fire" in Vermilion (December 3, 1903 - VPJ Article 11-13-2003) in which his shop along with most of the business block on the southwest side of Main/Division and Liberty streets were destroyed, he temporarily located in the upper floors of the old Hull Coal and Supply warehouse. While he did get back to a new shop in the same location in 1913, when his lease ran out in 1931 he closed the door to his shop and retired. Five years later he died, accidentally overcome by fumes from a faulty gas heater in an office at the township hall where he served as village treasurer. [F.Y.I. Klaar is Vermilionite Pete Hart’s great-grandfather.]
While I’m just guessing, I’d say that this photograph was taken around 1919-20. The Okagi’s were just making their way into the restaurant business in a new location, while Mr. Klaar’s business was slowly heading in the other direction. You will note that Okagis’ had yet to use their name on the building. But even at that time there appears to have been some elegant style to the place (e.g. the attractive signage, lace curtains and as always the menu in the windows). Currently (2019) the site of the former restaurant is home to Symphony’s Massage and Spa and appears to be no less elegant. And Jon Clark’s Vermilion Insurance Agency now occupying Klaar’s old harness shop is decorated with sailing ship models. Both shops are fondly reminiscent of the pre-condition of our pretty city. And it was good.
YESTERYEAR'S NEWS: The following clips are dictated transcriptions from past issues of The Vermilion News. I think you will find them both interesting and fun...
At 11 o’clock Tuesday night the fire department was called to the Kishman Fish Co’s. docks, where the tug Fred Driscoll was burning. The tug lay at the dock but a few feet from the company’s building and was cut adrift and taken further down the river where streams of water from the tugs and city departments soon extinguished the blaze.
The entire house was burned from the tug and the deck was burned through in one or two places.
While the loss cannot be definitely ascertained until careful examination it will probably amount to $2000-$3000. The hull of the boat, boiler and net puller seems to be uninjured but the entire upper work will have to be replaced for fully three quarters of its length. The engine is probably ruined. The origin of the fire is not known but supposed to have been from coals or sparks. The fire in the furnace was banked in very low as the engineer Everett Thompson expected to put in a new heater.
It was expected that the boat would be taken to Fairport in a couple of days to fish from Grand River. The tug was the property of the Kishman Fish Company and Capt. Clifford Parsons who had taken an interest this spring. It was partially insured.
In “THE FINAL SETTLEMENT” the attraction at the Opera House on Tuesday, May 2, theatergoers will see a new social melodrama which differs greatly the ordinary run of the realistic stage drama. The play is by one of America’s most successful dramatists.
The play deals with issues particularly vital to the new financial phase of American life. A bright young workingman makes a fortune and becomes a capitalist. His wife clings to her domestic ideals, old-fashioned and wholesome. The husband is wrathful at her reluctance to engage in social splendor. He divorces her, weds a brilliant actress and seeks to make his way into the circles of the best society. In the end the pace is too much for him, he finally loses his fortune and position and becomes again the workingman and social nobody. How his first wife is still faithful to him, how the problem of life is worked out to a startling climax are strong points in the play.
There is a pathos in the play, also bright comedy and intense humanity.
Motorman miles Beebe on the Lake Shore limited car which leaves Lorain for Cleveland at 12:50 P. M. was stricken with a stroke of paralysis and reaching Lorain on Thursday was taken to the St. Joseph Hospital in the Wickens company ambulance.
Mr. Beebe is one of the best-known motorman on the line and lives at Beach Park. – Lorain News.
BORN – to Mr. and Mrs. Frank O’Grady, a daughter, Thursday, April 20, 1911.
Rev. C. E. Snyder is again able to be out-of-doors after several weeks of illness.
Bird’s Day was observed on Friday afternoon by about twenty-six pupils in the Foster district., Miss Cora Hurlbut is their teacher. After a very interesting and instructive program, all enjoyed a ramble in the woods.
Stockholders of the old Barrows Milling company, and the Houff – McNeil company, feed and produce merchants have affected a combination and will erect a flour mill on the site of the old Barrows mill, destroyed by the fire two years ago at Lorain. J. M. Houff will be the manager of the plant in J. G. Kinsey superintendent. Work will be commenced at once on the erection of a four-story modern plant.
The new concern is capitalized at $60,000. – Lorain News.
Godleys Huff hauled his lumber home Thursday.
John Knott is busy sawing lumber.
Ted Penny will soon be around with this peddling wagon.
Two boats were loaded with coal for upper lakes Saturday.
BORN – to Mr. Mrs. Ed Clark son Sunday, April 23.
The Lorain Life Saving station was open Tuesday.
It is surely time that some provision for the care of “ownerless” dogs be made a reality. There are altogether too many running at large.
Fire destroyed the $3000 home of Mrs. Henry Wirsham, one mile from Amherst yesterday afternoon.
John Adam Hast was born at neither Neidnaula [sic], Germany, February 9, 1834. June 11, 1858, he was married to Anna Catherine Miller, of Leidesdorff, Germany. They came to America and settled in Ohio. In 1867, five children were born to them, one son and four daughters, and they with the wife are left to mourn their loss, together with fifteen grandchildren.
Mr. Hast died at Ceylon, Ohio. April 19, 1911, age 77 years, 2 months and 10 days.
Funeral services at the home conducted by Rev. A. C. Pretzer of the Vermilion Reformed Church, Saturday, April 22, 1911. Interment at Peck Cemetery.
The “Wahlene” was launched Sunday and is ready for the summer trade.
Council meets Monday night.
Capt. Henry Walper began his sea duties on the Lakes Monday.
No hard work cleaning your carpets when you have an electric cleaner. Davis rents them, $0.15 an hour, $1 per day.
O. K. Todd returned on Wednesday evening from a very pleasant winter sojourn at Mobile and Magnolia Springs, Alabama.
Arrangements are being made for the stoning or macadamizing of the State Road from the work done last winter to the farm formerly owned by Mr. Horning.
The fishing here is still very light and consequently the fishermen and owners of the fishing outfits are not pleased with the outlook. The loss of the tug F. Driscoll will also be felt keenly as it was practically a new boat having been built some seven or eight years and kept in first-class repair.
Eva P. Harrison, daughter of John and Adelia Harrison, was born July 18, 1859, at Florence, Ohio. She was united in marriage to William Saunders of Henrietta, December 8, 1880. Three children; two boys and one girl were born to bless this union. One boy about 16 months old and the girl at the age of 8 years passed into the future world while Mr. and Mrs. Saunders were living in Kansas. About twenty-six years ago Mr. Mrs. Saunders went west and located in Kansas living there about three years, when they moved to Nebraska twenty years ago, next November, they came back to Ohio and have lived in this vicinity ever since.
She gave her heart to God and hand to the Methodist Episcopal Church while residing in Kansas and in 1900 united by certificate of membership to the Birmingham Methodist Episcopal church and remaining loyal until her death. She was also member of the Maccabee Hive of this village.
Mrs. Saunders has been in ill health for a year or more. She suffered intensely until 6 o’clock Sunday morning when she passed away at the age of 51 years, 9 months and 7 days. She leaves a husband and one son besides many other relatives and friends to mourn their loss.
Thirty young men from town attended the socialistic meeting by Mr. Haywood in Elyria Monday night.
Songs and stories of the “Red Man” by Albert and Martha Gail at the town hall Saturday night, April 29, 1911. Everybody come.
BORN – to Mr. and Mrs. John H. Miller, son, Wednesday, April 26.
The Juniors of B. H. S. Were entertained Friday evening by Miss Doris Shattuck.
Hmmmmmm....
…the less monuments to the industry and ability of the gentlemen who were engaged in their preparation.
“In this connection it will not be out of place to notice a collection of the statutes of a more permanent character. In 1833-1835 (subsequently Chief Justice) Chase prepared an edition of the statutes. It included the territorial laws, whether adopted by the governor and judges, or enacted by the Territorial Legislatures and the statutes down to and including those of 1833. This embraced seven volumes of territorial laws and thirty volumes of the statutes of the State, and the whole was republished in chronological order in three volumes. The work was continued on substantially the same plan by Maskell E. Curwen, who republished in four volumes, the general laws from 1834 to 1860, inclusive. Since the death of Mr. Curwen, the work has been continued by J.R. Sayler, who has republished, in four volumes, the general laws from 1861 to 1875, inclusive.
“It will thus be seen that the statutes of Chase, Curwen and Sayler — all admirably edited— are a republication of all the general laws adopted or enacted under the territorial and State governments from 1788 to 1875, inclusive, in the order of the original publication. While only a very small number of the statutes which these volumes contain remains in force, the remarks of Judge Chase with respect to them, in his first volume are entirely just. ‘Many questions of right and remedy,' said he, ‘depend upon the provisions of repealed statutes. In reference to such questions the examination of the whole series of laws affecting them is a matter of absolute necessity. In addition to this, a knowledge of the acts repealed is often essential to a correct understanding of the law in force. No lawyer, nor intelligent legislator ought to be satisfied with knowing what the law is, unless he also knows what the law has been."
“Recurring to the subject of codification, it is evident that it had engaged the attention of the people to some extent, previous to the adoption of the present constitution. Provision was made in that instrument for a commission;-and it was ordained that ‘said commissioners shall revise, reform, simplify, and abridge the practice, pleadings, forms, and proceedings of the courts of record-of this State; and as far as practicable and expedient shall provide for the abolition of the distinct forms of actions at law now in use, and for the administration of justice by a uniform mode of proceeding, without reference to any distinction between law and equity.'
"In obedience to that provision an act was passed and William Kennon, William S. Groesbeck, and Daniel O. Morton were appointed commissioners. They confined their labors to the subject of practice in civil cases, and reported what was known as the code of civil procedure, to the fiftieth General Assembly, and that body on March 11, 1853, adopted it. . . . . . Though somewhat changed in language and arrangement, the principal part of it remains substantially as it was reported by those commissioners.
FUN IN THE SUN: There should still be a few persons around Vermilion who remember this organization. I was never a member but I do recall visiting the pool at least once years back. It was cool, it was nice. But it really wasn’t my cup-o-tea. I preferred the lake.
I think that this club may have eventually morphed into the local YWCA. I was told (back then) that they had a gym of sorts. But I never investigated further.
I thought of myself (back then) as being too cool for organized anything. Besides that I didn’t have the money to join. So I got a job and never looked back.
'Hello?'
'Hi honey. This is Daddy. Is Mommy near the phone?''No, Daddy. She's upstairs in the bedroom with Uncle Paul.'
After a brief pause..., Daddy says, 'But honey, you haven't got an Uncle Paul.'
'Oh yes I do, and he's upstairs in the room with Mommy, Right now.'
Brief Pause....
'Uh, okay then, this is what I want you to do. Put the phone down on the table, run upstairs and knock on the bedroom door and shout to Mommy that Daddy's car just pulled into the driveway.'
'Okay, Daddy, Just a minute.'
A few minutes later the little girl comes back to the phone. 'I did it, Daddy.'
'And what happened, honey?' he asked.
'Well, Mommy got all scared, jumped out of bed with no clothes on and ran around screaming. Then she tripped over the rug, hit her head on the dresser and now she isn't moving at all!'
'Oh my God!!! What about your Uncle Paul?'
'He jumped out of the bed with no clothes on, too. He was all scared and he jumped out of the back window and into the swimming pool. But I guess he didn't know that you took out the water on the weekend to clean it. He hit the bottom of the pool and I think he's dead.'
Long Pause...
Longer Pause .......
Even Longer Pause...........
Then Daddy says, 'Swimming pool? .......Is this 486 5731?'
'No, I think you have the wrong number."
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'".
Rich; it is our 60th reunion and will be very informal. It looks like this at the present time; Tuesday, JULY 9, 2019.
-4pm Boat ride Vermilion River and Lagoons (Parsons)
-5:30pm Drinks and music on the Patio-Vermilion Boat Club
-6:30pm Dinner - order off the menu Vermilion Boat Club
Replys can be sent to;
Roger Boughton
2205 1th Ave. SW
Ausitn, MN. 55912
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
P.O. Box 437
Vermilion, Ohio
44089
Telephone: 440-967-0988 - Cell: 440-522-8397
or you can use PayPal: (NOTE: IT WORKS NOW)
Vol. 17. Issue 8- April 27, 2019
Archive Issue #841
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