A Visit from Sandusky's First Shopkeeper

 

On April 10, 1861, a special visitor checked into the West House hotel in downtown Sandusky; he was special enough that the desk clerk wrote a note in the guest register. After fifty years, John Garrison, at nearly 90 years old, paid a visit to his old homestead that became the city of Sandusky. 

John Jay Garrison was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1772, but like many easterners of his time, the lure of plentiful land in the west led him eventually to Ohio. In 1810 he bought four thousand acres of land in what was then Huron County, at ninety cents an acre (about $22 an acre in today's money). But when he arrived to claim his land, much of it was underwater, and it was twelve miles from Lake Erie. So he set out to find better land nearby along the shore. 

He settled on a spot along Sandusky Bay that he thought would develop into a significant place for business, but was then occupied by camps of native people, most likely Wyandot and/or Ottawa. It was known by many settlers as Ogontz Village (seen here on a map from 1808). He set up a shop there and conducted most of his business with the native people and settlers traveling through the area.

But within the year, with war brewing between the Americans and the British and their native allies, Garrison decided it would be unwise to stay along what was then the frontier between combatants. On the advice of a Native man named Semo whom he befriended, he left the Sandusky bay area, not to return until his visit fifty years later. 

Image from Find a Grave

In his later life, Mr. Garrison spent time in Michigan and Illinois, until ultimately settling in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where he died on January 18, 1865.

Leicester and Juliet Walker, Pioneer Residents of the Firelands

Pictured above is the home of Leicester and Juliet Walker, in Perkins Township, Erie County, Ohio. The home was at what is now the intersection of Milan road and Hull Road, on the west side of Milan Road.

 The Firelands Pioneer of September, 1876 states that Leicester Walker was born in Herkimer County, New York in 1796, and he was orphaned as a child. He settled in Sandusky in 1818, and assisted in building the first frame homes in the Sandusky area. He married Juliet Andrews of Richland County, Ohio in 1825. It is said that both Leicester and Juliet Walker often attended to the needy and sick. Leicester was an abolitionist who was “an active supporter of the government in its efforts to crush the slaveholder’s rebellion.” (Three of the Walker sons served in the Union Army during Civil War.) In 1832, Leicester and Juliet Walker moved to Perkins Township, and they raised a large family of seven sons and two daughters.

On March 31, 1875, the Walkers celebrated their Golden Anniversary. Unfortunately, not long after, on May 6, 1875, Leicester Walker died at his home in Perkins Township. Mrs. Walker died at the home of her daughter in Michigan on September 13, 1875. The Walkers were interred at Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio.

The pioneer settlers of the Firelands area worked the land, established churches and businesses, and formed governmental units to oversee the region where they lived. To learn more about the earliest residents of Erie and Huron Counties, see the Firelands Pioneer a multi-volume set of books housed in the Reference Services section of the Sandusky Library.

Record of Proceedings of the Firelands Historical Society in October, 1895

On October 10, 1895, Rush R. Sloane opened the meeting of the Firelands Historical Society. Mr. Sloane was Vice President of the Society, which met in Sandusky for that particular meeting. Several persons attending the meeting had resided in the Firelands area for fifty years or more, and Judge Sloane asked those individuals to stand. The group sang a “Pioneer Song,” which had been written by General L. V. Bierce, and was sung to the tune of Old Lang Syne. Judge Sloane commented on the great work that the pioneers of the Firelands had done in recording their early history. Judge Sloane said, of the Firelands Pioneer, “I want to say to you that any one who has in his library a bound volume of the Pioneer, published by this Society, has a work of great value.”

The first meeting of the Firelands Historical Society took place in 1857. Each of the thirty-two townships of the Firelands region had chosen two individuals to gather and report the history of their township. Eleutheros Cooke and F.D. Parish were the two individuals chosen to record the history of Sandusky. Parish was also elected to be secretary for the Firelands Historical Society. In the October 10, 1895 proceedings, several individuals discussed historic items that they donated to the Firelands Historical Society. The discussions held by the members of the Firelands Historical Society were recorded in the many volumes of the Firelands Pioneer.

The key speaker at the Fall 1895 meeting of the Society was James M. Richardson, of Cleveland, who was president of the Western Reserve Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Before he gave a patriotic address, Mr. Richardson stated that the members of the Firelands Historical Society were doing a noble work in preserving the history of the Firelands. He continued, “You are not only a product of civilization, but you are one of its most potential agents; you are architects of fate, working in the walls of time: you are a part of that full force which underlies our nation.”

Several volumes of the Firelands Pioneer are available in the Reference Services area of the Sandusky Library. These include the “Old Series,” the “New Series” and the “Third Series.” There is both a general index to this set of journals, as well as an Obituary Index. Many personal stories, portraits of individuals, chronicles of settlers, and numerous other accounts of the early pioneers of Erie and Huron Counties can be found in this important resource for local history. Artifacts from these early settlers may be viewed at both the Firelands Historical Society Museum in Norwalk, Ohio and the Follett House Museum in Sandusky, Ohio.

Letter from Epaphras W. Bull to Zalmon Wildman, 1811

Epaphras W. Bull, a graduate of Yale College, was a distinguished lawyer in Danbury, Connecticut. In September of 1811, Epaphras Bull, along with his wife Polly, their three small children, and an African American servant named Patience, headed from Connecticut to Danbury Township, located in what is now Ottawa County, Ohio. The Hoyt Patch family and two hired men also made the trip. The group shared a common wagon, which was led by a saddle horse. On October 5, 1811, Epaphras W. Bull wrote a letter to Zalmon Wildman, of Danbury, Connecticut. The letter was written while the Bull family was at Buffalo, New York for five days during their westward journey. He discussed seeing various acquaintances during his trip, and his plans to take a schooner from Buffalo to Sandusky, Ohio. Bull wrote, “It now seems to be conceded by the different Capts. on the Lake that Sandusky is the Best harbor the Island excepted.” He also spoke of the great expense associated with moving a family. He said that “upon my arrival at Sandusky I shall have completely got rid of the bigger part of my money.”

President James Madison appointed Epaphras W. Bull to be the first Collector of Customs of the Port of Sandusky. Mr. Bull was also the first owner of the property now known as Johnson’s Island. The Marblehead Lighthouse was situated on property that had originally belonged to Epaphras Bull. Mrs. Bull wrote in a memoir in the March 1859 issue of the Firelands Pioneer that fish and game were abundant in the Sandusky Bay area, and there were orchards of apple, peach and cherry trees. Native Americans, who sometimes camped nearby, behaved in a friendly manner. After the War of 1812 broke out, the Bull family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. Epaphras W. Bull died in Cleveland on October 6, 1812, at the age of 33. Mrs. Bull and her youngsters moved to Connecticut after the death of her husband. She lived to 93 years of age.

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to read Mr. Bull’s original letter, or its transcription, or to read the “Firelands Reminiscences” of Mrs. Polly Bull 1859 issue of the Firelands Pioneer.