Mr. and Mrs. Ben F. Allen’s Invitation to a White House Wedding

 

In the fall of 1913, Mr. and Mrs. Ben F. Allen were invited to the wedding of Miss Jessie Woodrow Wilson to Mr. Francis Bowes Sayre. Jessie was the daughter of President and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson.

The wedding was held at the White House on November 25, 1913. It was the thirteenth White House wedding. Sadly, Mrs. Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre died at the age of 45 in 1933 due to complications after surgery.

Ben F. Allen worked as the Washington correspondent for the Plain Dealer. He was married to Erie County native Blanche Drake, the daughter of former Ohio Senator John C. Drake. Mr. Allen died in an automobile accident while he was accompanying President Wilson on a road trip. His widow Blanche later married Fred Hiltz, a partner in Uthe and Hiltz drugstore in Sandusky, Ohio. At some point, family members donated this invitation to the 1913 White House wedding.

Sandusky High School Football, 1912

The Sandusky High School football team about 1912:Pictured are:
Top row: C. E. Fleming, Leonard Osberg, George Singler, Frederick Slackford
Middle: Charles Abele, Frank Field, Howard Earnshaw, Wilbur Schoepfle, Estes Drake, Bob Judson
Front: Bill Busch, Roy Hazen, Wilson Harris, Gene Close, Don Hand, George Giesler, Art Wieland

Charles E. Fleming would go on to teach chemistry at Sandusky High School for thirty four years. Leonard Osberg served three two year terms as the Mayor of Vermilion in the 1940’s. Robert Judson retired as plant manager from the American Crayon Company in 1964, having been with the company for forty seven years. Wilbur Schoepfle was a Navy Ensign during World War One. He majored in mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan. Wilbur moved to California, and lost his life in an automobile accident in Orange County, California in 1941. The football team photograph pictures the young men with all their hopes and dreams ahead of them, years before the two world wars were thought of, and without the responsibilities of a job and family.

Visit the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library to learn more about the history of the people who have made Sandusky and Erie County their home.