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Ottawa County Time Traveler Eastern Ottawa County Past & Present May 2023 |
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Now we've come to the next generation in your personal history. Was pregnancy a surprise or planned? How did you find out? Did you have any favorite maternity clothes? Were there any issues, morning sickness, or other problems, during the pregnancy? How did you pick names for your child(ren)? What planning did you do for delivery at the hospital? How different was the delivery from what you expected? Who was the first person you contacted after delivery? Did you have a nursery for the baby? Describe the colors, wallpaper, and furniture. Did you take turns in feeding and diapering duties? What surprised you most about being a new parent? Resource: To Our Children's Children by Bob Greene. The library has a copy in adult nonfiction under number -- 920.02 Greene 1993, and a 2nd copy in the Genealogy & Local History collection. |
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Sensory Garden Planting Saturday, June 3, 2023 10:30 am Marblehead Peninsula Branch Library is joining up with the Village of Marblehead to plant the new Sensory Garden at James Park in Marblehead. Meet at the library (710 W Main Street, Marblehead) for a brief overview of sensory gardens. Then walk over to the Sensory Garden site in James Park, about 200 yards north of the library. _______ Birding in Ohio @ Magee Marsh Monday, June 5, 2023 10 am Meet on the West End of the boardwalk for a guided trip with Becca Matthews to discuss birds and birding in Ohio and to search for birds. Magee Marsh Wildlife Area is off State Route 2, in Oak Harbor. In case of rain, program is canceled. __________ Clemons Cemetery Walking Tour Saturday, June 17, 2023 9:30 am Meet at Clemons Cemetery, 91 East Main Street, Marblehead, Ohio. 43440 for a tour and education about Clemons Cemetery, its interred, the cemetery restoration process, and the preservation of these local treasures. |
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by Linda Higgins The Ida Rupp Public Library, located at 310 Madison Street, is truly a star of our community. The services offered to us, free of cost, are numerous and of excellent quality. Our first library was established by the Ladies’ Literary and Social Club. The club was organized in 1881 and met in members’ homes. Members had been purchasing reference books for their own use, and then presenting them to the school library. In 1908, the group decided to create their own library with the books they purchased. Mrs. George Hyde, a member of the organization, offered a room at her home at 313 East Second Street. A committee of three members, Mrs. William E. Bense, Mrs. S. A. Magruder and Mrs. George Sloan, was chosen to manage the library. By 1912, the need for a larger, and public, library became apparent. The women’s clubs of Port Clinton collaborated to raise money for the project. In February 1913, our first public library opened to the public in two rooms of City Hall. The new library board was composed of the Literary and Social Club’s management committee, Coterie’s Mrs. Lillian McRitchie, ‘88 Circle’s Mrs. Joe Payne, and Fortnightly’s Mary Hesselbart. The first librarian was Ida Roth. She worked with the board to manage the school library’s contribution of 400 books, and those books and monetary donations from individuals, clubs, lodges, and Bay and Portage townships. The Board of Education took over management of the library in 1922. A levy was presented to provide for the library’s permanent maintenance. The library was given City Hall’s auditorium for library use in 1928, all but guaranteeing the library’s growth. This “school district library” was not to move for forty-one years. Through 1961, the Port Clinton High School library operated as a branch of the library, but moved from use only by Port Clinton village residents to use by residents of Portage, Catawba, and Erie townships. County and state funding eventually added to local contributions, and the library became a County Extension Library, literally extending its reach to all parts of Ottawa County. By 1958, a bookmobile service was added. A member of the early Literary and Social Club, and a member of the Library Board, Ida Rupp died in 1926. Her widower, Judge Lawrence C. Rupp, lived until 1964. Upon his death, he memorialized his late wife with a $42,000 gift toward a new library building. A $175,000 levy was approved for this new library, to be built on property previously owned by Dr. Paul de la Barre. The Erie Islands Library became part of our library system in 1983, servicing both the Put-In-Bay schools and the residents of Put-In-Bay and the Erie Islands. In 1999, adjacent grounds in Port Clinton, including a city alley, were acquired for parking and a reading garden. The Friends of the Library funded the renovation of the library front in 2013, as well as the purchase of the Collins property to the west for future expansion and/or green space. The Marblehead Peninsula Branch opened in 2017. The Ida Rupp Public Library now serves Port Clinton, Marblehead, Catawba Island, Put-In-Bay, the Lake Erie Islands, Lakeside, as well as Bay, Portage, and Danbury Townships. In just over a century, its growth has been solid. It has evolved from a generous woman’s room in her home to an ever-expanding source of knowledge and social vitality. The library embodies the essence of community that Port Clinton has possessed since before its inception. To read or share the article online, use this link: |
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Use this link to see the article on early transportation: |
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To read the article and see photos, use the link below: |
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By Susan Dress The Firelands Historical Society was founded in 1857 – it is thought to be the second oldest historical society in Ohio, and it does maintain the oldest museum in the state, in Norwalk, Ohio. Shortly after their founding, they began publication of The Firelands Pioneer, a periodical containing memoirs and firsthand accounts of local history from the first pioneers. The first edition of the periodical in the Ida Rupp Genealogy and Local History collection is from October 1898. After a list of Officers of the Society, Board of Directors, and publishing committee members, the issue starts with a Record of Proceedings of the Forty-Second annual meeting of the society. These meetings were all day affairs, with breaks for prayer, songs, and poetry readings. During the June 1898 meeting, letters were read from local officials who had been invited to attend but were unable to. Much of the meeting is taken up with discussion of how to reach out to as many of the still living pioneers of the area, or their kin, to obtain biographical information on them to have in hand when they pass. The end pages of each issue are devoted to extensive obituaries of pioneers and of members of the historical society. And I do mean extensive. The obituary for Betsy Ann Rowland Pelton tells us that she was one of the last living links to the original settlers of Clarksfield township. Details of her parents' lives are included, as is information on her two marriages, the farm where she lived with her second husband, surviving children, and names of relations still living in the township. The December 1, 1900, issue includes an address given by Mrs. Fannie G Boalt Moss on the evolution of ‘our Free Library’, its origin, its growth, prospects, and future dreams. A detailed history of libraries in general, and the Sandusky Library in particular, is given. A picture of the Carnegie Library Building, erected in Sandusky in 1900, is included. That building, still the home of the Sandusky Library, was placed on the National register of Historic Landmarks on Nov 12, 1975. We have about two dozen issues of the Pioneer, ranging from 1898 thru 2000. The Huron, Putman, and Wood County libraries [also in SEO] have assorted copies, but they are also part of those libraries’ Genealogy and Local History collections and must be used in house. If you’d like to read some volumes at home, The Internet Archive has digitized copies of volumes from 1858 thru 1921, including an index of obituaries printed in the Pioneer from 1857-1909. These obits and histories are another tool to add to your genealogy searches. Use this link to see or share the article online: |
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