H.G. Blake

Harrison Gray Otis Blake

Who was H.G. Blake and why is there a Medina Elementary School named after him?


Harrison Gray Otis Blake was born 17 March 1818 in Newfane, Vermont. Shortly thereafter, his family moved to Salem, Washington County, New York.

On 19 December 1821, his father, Harrison Gray Blake, and mother, Lucy (Goodell) decided to visit family in Vermont. They took their youngest child, a 14 month old little girl named Rebecca with them.

Before crossing the Green Mountains into Vermont, they queried a local landlord and was told the way was snow covered but good for travel and that they should be able to make the trip in 3 hours.

After traveling for about 3 miles, they found that the snow deepened to 3 feet. Not long after that, their horse became tired and they disconnected the sleigh, and putting Mrs. Blake and the baby on the horse, continued onward. Finally, the horse refused to budge and they decided to try to find shelter on foot. They didn't make it very far before the cold and frostbite halted them. By now it was quite dark.

A search party was sent out the next day looking for someone else that was delayed on the road. Mr. Blake was found first and helped to shelter. The rescue party went back for Mrs. Blake and the baby who were found a mere 100 yards from where Mr. Blake was found.

Lucy Blake's tombstone from Findagrave.com

Mrs. Blake had wrapped the baby in her cloak. The baby was snug among her blankets and her parents' cloaks.  Lucy Blake died shortly after being found. Mr. Blake lost all the toes on his left foot. He survived and lived for many years after, not dying until 1868, in Cleveland, Ohio.







Their story became known as the Stratton Mountain Tragedy and was turned into a ballad:

The Snow Storm, a poem penned by Seba Smith

Cold swept the mountains high, 
Dreary was the pathless wild.
 Amid the cheerless hours of night 
A mother wandered with her child. 
As through the drifts of snow she pressed 
The babe was sleeping neath her breast. 
Bitter blew the chilly wind. 
Darker hours of night came on. 
Deeper grew the drifts of snow, 
Her limbs were chilled, her strength was gone. 
“O God,” she cried in accents wild, 
“If I must perish, save my child.” 
She took the mantle from her breast 
And bared her bosom to the storm. 
As round the child she wrapped the vest, 
She smiled to think that it was warm. 
One cold kiss, one tear she shed 
And sank upon the snowy bed. 
A traveler passing by next morn 
Saw her neath the snowy veil. 
The frost of death was in her eye 
Her cheek was hard, cold and pale. 
He took the robe from off the child. 
The babe looked up and sweetly smiled.

Rebecca Blake, the baby who "sweetly smiled" and her father, Harrison Gray Blake.

The baby, Rebecca, was raised by her grandparents in Marlboro, Vermont.

The Blakes' had left two of their children home that day, Lucy and Harrison G.O Blake.

Mr. Blake became crippled by the ordeal and other people raised his children. Harrison G.O. Blake  was taken in by Jesse Rhoades. Lucy married and lived in Marlboro the rest of her days.

Harrison Jr. traveled west with the Rhoades family in 1830 when they moved to Guilford Township, Medina County, Ohio.

H.G., as he was called, went to public school and that is where he met his future wife, Elizabeth Bell.

In 1840, the young couple married. His father-in-law, James Bell, probably helped H.G. succeed over the next few years. He went from being a clerk in a mercantile house to owning the store. In his spare time, he studied law and became a lawyer in 1847.

He was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives as a Whig in 1846 and 1847.  In 1848 he was elected to the Ohio Senate and temporarily became its Speaker. He served in the Senate until 1855 when he returned to Medina.

In the 1850 Census, H.G is listed as a Merchant with real estate worth $8,000. Not too shabby for a man who was a store clerk just 10  years before!

In 1853, he became the first editor of the newly named Medina County Gazette. 

 The family moved into the Greek Revival home that still stands at the corner of East Washington and Jefferson Streets.

The Blake Home on the southeast corner of East Washington
and Jefferson Streets in Medina.

H.G. was a strong abolitionist and his home was a stop on the Underground Railroad. In later years his daughters reminisced about being kept home from school whenever fugitive slaves were hiding in the barn or house.

Plaque on the Blake Home denoting that it was a stop on the
Underground Railroad before the Civil War.

In 1857, he founded the Old Phoenix Bank, Medina's hometown bank until 1995.


In 1859, Blake was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He was known as a strong speaker and spoke ardently against slavery or compromise with the southern states.

In June of 1860, he spoke about a resolution he had put before Congress to introduce a bill "giving freedom to every human being and interdicting slavery, wherever Congress has the constitutional power to legislate on the subject." Full text HERE. The speech was considered quite daring and "incendiary" at the time.

In the 1860 census, H.G. listed himself as an attorney and his real estate was worth $11,000.

One of his most celebrated speeches was titled "Freedom Takes No Step Backwards" and was delivered on 19 February 1861 in the U.S. House of Representatives. In this speech, H.G. came out strongly against any compromise that maintained slavery. The full text can be read HERE.

In April of 1861, Confederate forced fired on Fort Sumter and the Civil War commenced.

In 1863, Harrison Blake registered for the draft even though as a member of Congress he would have been exempt.

1863 Draft Registration for Medina and Wayne Counties

Line 14 of the Draft Registration showing Harrison G. Blake's name

Lieutenant Colonel H. G. Blake

In February of 1864, Abraham Lincoln called for 200,000 more soldiers. H.G. Blake busily enrolled volunteers in the Ninth Independent Battery.  When they reported for duty they became the 166th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with Lieutenant Colonel H.G. Blake at the head. They did not experience battle, but guarded Union property in Virginia.

After the war, veterans united in fellowship and formed chapters. The Grand Army of the Republic, or GAR. Medina's chapter was named in honor of H.G. Blake

In the 1870 census, his real estate was worth $9,000, maybe in part because of an economic depression. But perhaps also by then he had set up his daughter's households after their marriages in 1863 and 1866. (Daughter Elizabeth and husband, R.M. McDowell, built the McDowell house that sits at the far west end of Washington Street in 1890.)

In 1870, the downtown area of Medina experienced a devastating fire. H. G. led the drive to rebuild, this time, in brick! One of the first to rebuild was the Phoenix Block, home of the Old Phoenix Bank for many years.

The Phoenix Block on the Medina Square
when First Merit Bank

H.G. was mayor of Medina from 1870-1872.


By 1875, there was much talk about H.G. running for governor, but he refused his friends support.








In April of 1876, Harrison Gray Otis Blake died of pneumonia. His obituary in the Medina Gazette is lost to us, as no newspaper survives from most of that year. But this snippet survives from the Sandusky Register:

The Sandusky Register 18 April 1876, page 1.

In 2001, on the 134 anniversary of his death, the newest Medina elementary school was named in his honor.

H.G. Blake Elementary School in Montville Township

SOURCES:
History of Medina County and Ohio (1881)

Medina County Coming of Age 1810-1900 by Joann G. King, 2016.

Historical Highlights of Medina (1966)

Wikipedia

Freedom Takes No Step Backwards

History of Stratton Vermont

Findagrave.com

Equality of Rights in theTerritories

http://www.huntington150years.com/timeline/ 

Mortality Schedules

What are mortality schedules?

Mortality schedules list people who died during the previous 12 months. Mortality schedules were taken along with population schedules during the 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 censuses, and in six states (Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, and South Dakota) in 1885. (Family Search Wiki)

And for people researching their ancestors, mortality schedules can be an alternative to official death records which didn't exist for much of the 1800's in many parts of the U.S. Generally, New England states started registering births and deaths much earlier, as early as 1780. Southern and Western states didn't require state registration until much later. Some as late as the early 20th century. Ohio didn't require deaths to be registered until 1867.

Listings for Ohio are not comprehensive:

• 1850 - Only the counties Hamilton through Wayne Counties
• 1860 - All of the Ohio counties
• 1870 - NO Ohio Counties
• 1880 - Adams through Geauga Counties
• 1885 - NO Ohio Counties

What information can be found in the mortality schedules?

It varies depending on which schedule you are searching. 

It is always important to remember why the records were originally created. In the case of death records or the mortality schedules they were created to obtain a picture of the spread of epidemics and the overall health of the communities. The information collected reflects this focus.

1850 Schedule asked this information:

• Name
• Age
• Sex
• Color
• Free or Slave
• Married or Widowed
• Place of birth
• Month in which died
• Profession, Occupation or Trade
• Disease or cause of death
• Number of days ill

1850 Mortality Schedule for Spencer Township, Medina County, Ohio. As with all written records, interpreting the handwriting can be difficult. Does that look like Urrin Frimier to you? Only 2 years old, he died of dysentery,
a disease caused by unsanitary bathroom habits.

1880 Schedule:

• Name
• Age at last birthday 
• Sex
• Color
• Marital status: Single, Married, Widowed, Divorced
• Birthplace of this person
• Father's birthplace
• Mother's birthplace
• Profession, Occupation or Trade
• Disease or cause of death
• How long a resident of this county?
• Where contracted the disease if not at this place
• Name of attending physician

1880 Mortality Schedule for Guyan Township, Gallia County, Ohio. John WILLIAMS (second line down) is my 3X great grandfather and he died at the age of 84. He was the oldest person listed on this page. The average age was 14 years old.

Mortality schedules are available on Ancestry and Ancestry Library Edition, available at the library. From the Ancestry home page, go under the Census Search and then use U.S Federal Census. Under "Included Data Collections" the mortality schedule is near the bottom of that list.

Family Search has the 1850 mortality schedules HERE. And the 1872 Canadian mortality schedules is also at Family Search HERE. 

Check out Dick Eastman's blog on Mortality Schedules HERE.

SOURCES:
Family Search Wiki
Family History Daily
Wiki Commons

Library Funding

Despite what you might have read or heard, libraries are needed now more than ever!

Because:
1. Everything is NOT online.
2. Not everyone has online access and not everyone has a smart phone.
3. In economic hard times, use of the library becomes critical (Read this article on the importance of LIBRARIES from the last economic depression)
4.  A LOT of people need help finding information and using the latest technology. Where do those people go?



To the library.

Want some proof?

Take a look of some statistics for the Medina County District Library system for 2016:

• 711,966 people visited the Medina Libraries. Obviously, some of these were repeat visitors!
• Over 9,000 children played the Summer Reading Game.
• 4,908 public meetings were held at the libraries, with 101,059 people attending those meetings.
• 3,066 passports were issued. Did you know that you could apply for your passport at the Medina, Brunswick and Lodi libraries?
• 2,700,042 items were checked out. Look at that statistic again. That is over 2 MILLION! Nearly 15% of those items were digital media like digital books, music, magazines, and videos.
• 336,547 logins were tallied on library computers. The library is the ONLY place you access the internet if you don't have a home computer AND and internet provider or a smart phone.
• The libraries offered 2,942 programs on topics ranging from lap-sit story times, basic computer skills to robotics. 107,620 people attended those programs!

So libraries are as important, pertinent and even more necessary than ever. Right!!?

Why bring this up?

On May 2nd, the Medina County District Library system has an operating levy renewal on the ballot that accounts for nearly 60% of our operating budget. 60%. Over half. A lot. A WHOLE lot.

The levy money (property taxes) is represented by the teal arc in the pie chart below.

2016 budget statistics on the Library's revenue

This money pays for staffing the libraries, running & repairing six separate buildings & a bookmobile, programs, AND materials (i.e. the books, DVDs, audiobooks, magazines, e-media, etc)

The last operating levy was passed in 2007 and has lasted for 10 years. But now it is up for renewal. Without the renewal, the libraries would look very bleak:

Without that money, the picture is very incomplete.

60% fewer materials, 60% fewer open library hours, 60% fewer programs and 60% fewer staff.

The library is also requesting a small increase; an additional .25 mill, which is the equivalent of about $8.75, or the cost of a paperback book.

Learn more about the library levy HERE and remember the library on May 2nd.

In other library funding news:

1. Ohio Governor Kasich has proposed rollbacks in library funding while at the same time saying libraries should be "continuous learning centers" which libraries already are:  Columbus Dispatch article  
2. President Trump has proposed doing away with Federal library funding  (Institute of Museum and Library Services): ALA News ReleaseThis money pays for the Ohio Library for the Blind and many of the most used databases, such as Ancestry Library Edition, Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps and the EbscoHost databases.

We will have to monitor those proposals.

Genealogy Lock-In

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Lisa and I are NOT being punished, yet...

The spring Genealogy Lock-In will be Friday, April 21st from 6:30-10:30 p.m.

Click HERE to sign up.

This spring we are going back to the basics with "Starting your Quest". Discover all the information you already have in your home or in your head.

Then you will learn how to organize your research." Family history research generates a lot of paperwork and files. With Lisa's help you will be able to find any of your information in the blink of an eye!

Then Kathy will guide you through how to locate birth, marriage and death records to further your research in "Vital Records"

If you are not "new" to genealogy, join us to refresh your skills and learn about the latest techniques.

OR

Share this program with someone you know who wants to get started and doesn't know how.

As always, light refreshments will be served and there will be DOOR PRIZES!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Historic Homes of Medina

The John Smart House, home to the Medina County Historical Society

The Medina Library has some wonderful resources for researching your home's history, particularly if it is an older home in the downtown Medina area.





First, there is the Historical Home Research brochure, that is available on the library's web site and HERE and I blogged about it HERE.

Then there is Bob Hyde's wonderful web site that was in The Medina Gazette last week - READ THE ARTICLE  HERE.   I blogged about that HERE. (Bob has changed the name of the site since I posted about it.)

But you know that not everything is available online, right? Right?

In 1979,  MCRPC registered a number of area homes on the Ohio Historic Inventory. It is a one volume binder with indexing by address and the home's name. Houses had to NOT had significant rennovations to qualify and the information is limited.

 A sample sheet from the Ohio Historic Inventory:

AND...

For the last 30+ years, the Medina Library has collected newspaper articles on local history topics. One of those topics is historic homes in Medina County, with much of the focus being Medina City. These articles are now compiled in two volume (soon to be four) binders in the Franklin Sylvester Room.

The articles are indexed by address and the name of the house. 85 different homes are covered including:

• Burnham House which currently houses The Corkscrew Saloon
• The Farmer's Exchange which is currently closed. Developers are looking at options.
• The Gingerbread House in Weymouth
• Hershey's Barbershop off the Square in Medina
• The King-Phillips-Deibel House on North Broadway in Medina. This house was moved from its location on the southeast corner of the Square to North Broadway so the Franklin Sylvester Library could be built.
• Lustron Homes - post WWII pre-fab houses built aroun 1948.
• McDowell-Phillips House at the end of Washington Street in Medina
• Octagon House
• Quonset Hut
• John Smart House
• Victorian Village
• York School

The "Blue" Phillips house was one of the homes that were
part of Victorian Village on East Washington. The homes are
all gone now, removed for the Medina Library Expansion
The Phillips house was dismantled and moved across
 country to the San Francisco are and rebuilt.

The Gingerbread House in Weymouth.
It is often the focus of historic home tours
 in Weymmouth

The King-Deibel-Phillips House on North Broadway. It was
moved from the corner of East Washington and South Broadway
for the construction of the original 1907 Library building.

McDowell-Phillips house at the end of Washington Street
in Medina. 

Information is as simple as a single article about an Historic Home Tour or many articles covering multiple decades. 

Is your historic home included?


Maybe. Maybe not. Visit the Franklin Sylvester Room at the Medina Library and browse through the binders








But the library will welcome copies of any information you have gathered to be added to our files!

Flyer from Akron Summit County Public Library

Akron Summit County Library is offering a wonderful program "Church and State: Genealogy Research in Religious and Government Records" on April lst. If you have never attended one of Akron's all-day program, I can highly recommend them. I would go to this one, but I have a conflicting engagement. I.E. - I have to work that day! Sign up information is HERE.

History of the Medina Library

Library Timeline - Medina County has a long and proud library tradition.

Miss Eva Johnson
an early librarian

• 1878 A Medina Circulating Library Association was formed. Members paid dues and then were able to check out books.
• 1885 The Librarian (who was also the treasurer) was paid $20 a year.
• 1890 Mr. W. H. Albro provided a reading room rent free to be used as the library.
• 1899 the Officers of the Association vote to incorporate 
• 1899 the Medina Library Association incorporates
• 1899 A small building on the north side of the square is bought to house the library
• 1900 the Library moves to a room rented from Judge Barnard in the Barnard Block
• Librarian, Miss Eva Johnson reports an average of 27 visitors a day. 
• 1903 Purchased the mortgage on Brown Studio property.
• 1904 Librarian’s salary increased to $3 a week and the library is to be open 1:30-5 p.m.
• 1904 Franklin Sylvester proposes to give $10,000 for a public library building and asks the trustees to make it free public library.

  
  
  

  Franklin Sylvester benefactor to
  the Medina Library.

• 1904 Board of Cemetery Trustees gives $5,000 to the Medina Village Council for the purchase of a lot on which to build a library. 
• 1905 A lot on the southeast corner of the square is purchased. The Deibel house is moved to its new location on North Broadway.  

  
  
  

  An early architectural drawing of the Medina Library

• 1906 Franklin Sylvester gives another $1000 to the construction of the building.





The adult reading room at the Medina Library circa 1915

• 1907 Franklin Sylvester died in May, never seeing the completed building.

• 1907 Dedication of the new library held on August 30, 1907
• 1908 Property of the old Medina Library Association is transferred to the Franklin Sylvester Library  

  
  
  

  The finished library in 1908

• 1925 The first professional librarian, Miss Irene Hess, was hired.
• 1928 Arrowhead collection is put on display by the Medina Historical Society
• 1933 Became a county wide (excluding Wadsworth because it already had a library) library and extended borrowing privileges to all of Medina County Residents. 
• 1934 Summer Reading program for children initiated  

  

  1948 Summer Reading Club in front of the Medina Library.

• 1935 Children are allowed to take out books overnight
• 1942 Victory book campaign collects over 2,030 books for service men.  
• 1942 Mrs. Elsie Bennett Wilson was elected president of the Ohio Library Trustees Association 
• 1945 Due to gasoline rationing, tire conservation and wartime restrictions on travel, the library offers to mail books to patrons
• 1948 Bookmobile was purchased.  

Bookmobile from the 1940's

• 1960 Lodi Community Library opened in the Lodi Advertiser’s office
• 1961 Brunswick Community Library opened
• 1961 Seville Community Library opened, built with local donations by local hands
• 1965 Hinckley Community Library opened in the town hall
• 1965 Brunswick Library moves to the Brunswick Shopping Center
• 1965 Lodi library moved into the American Legion Building 
• 1972 a 5 year building levy was passed to expand the Franklin Sylvester Library
• 1974 Hinckley Library moves into the old Stouffer house on Route 303
• 1976 the Elsie Bennett Wilson addition is opened, doubling the size of the library. She was on the State Library Board of Trustees. 

  

  Elsie Bennett Wilson - Medina Library
  Board of Trustees

• 1977 The Lodi Library moves into old Funeral Home on Wooster St.
• 1980 Brunswick Library moves into new facility on Center Road by the Brunswick High School.
• 1982 the library system voted to change from a school district to a county system and became the Medina County District Library January 25 1982.
• 1982 Bookmobile service was suspended when last bookmobile became inoperable.
• 1983 Hinckley Township Trustees buy the Stouffer building from SOHIO for $45,000 (location of the Hinckley Library.)
• 1985 Seville Library receives trust from Irene Welday to make an addition.
• 1987 The first operating levy passes allowing for the operating expenses and the purchase of a new bookmobile. More staff was hired and hours are expanded.
• 1989 Medina County District Library joined the ClevNet consortium and computerized its holdings
• 1990 the Law & Commerce (Nichols) Building behind the library is purchased allowing the administrative staff to move into that space
• 1991 Bookmobile service reinstated.
• 1992 a second operating levy passes allowing for expansion of library hours and services
• 1996 Internet access is offered to patrons and the Library web site debuted
• 1997 10 year operating levy renewed
• 1998 Medina County District Library wins the Library of the Year Award. 

  

  Library Journal 15 June 1998

• 2003 Mrs. Evelyn Steingass Riggs donates 5.4 acres near the Buckeye High School to the library
• 2003 building levy was passed in November allowing for expansion of the Medina & Brunswick Branches, whole new Lodi and Hinckley/Highland branches and a brand new branch near the Buckeye school system (thanks to the donation of the land) 
• 2004 The Lodi and Buckeye branches break ground April 20.
• 2005 New, larger bookmobile hits the road in September.
• 2005 The new Buckeye Library opens
• 2006 The new Lodi Library opens
• 2007 Renovated Brunswick and Seville Libraries re-open
• 2007 100th Anniversary of the Medina Franklin Sylvester Library
• 2007 10 year operating levy renewed.
• 2008 January 12, the expanded and renovated Medina Library reopened. 
  
• 2008 - The new Highland Library opened in March.
• 2009 - State of Ohio reduced funding to all public libraries in Ohio. MCDL instituted layoffs and cutbacks in hours and services to accommodate the reduction in funding. Fees were instituted for ILL and genealogy requests. Free copies from the computers were reduced from 10 per day to 5.
• 2009 - MCDL started offering ebooks.
• 2010-2016 - Over the next several years, some of the state funding was restored, allowing for restoration of hours and some services. 
• 2017 - Today the library offers many types of emedia: ebooks, e-audio books, magazines, music, and movies accounting for nearly 15% of materials checked-out.

LIBRARIANS/DIRECTORS

• Miss Merva Andrews -1891
• Eva Johnson 1891-1925
• Irene Hess 1925-1926
• Kathryn Wilder 1926-1928
• Edna Eckert 1928-1930
• Elizabeth Urch (Kraver) 1930-1935
• Eleanor Brandt 1935 -1943
• Elizabeth Kraver 1943-1946
• Cicely Hinton 1946
• Acting Librarian - Olive Meyer 1946-1947
• Celeste Whitwell 1947
• Virginia Wood 1948-1952
• Elizabeth Kraver 1953-1974
• Ron Tollafield 1974-1985 (Last who served as director and also worked as a librarian with the public.) (Anne Mathews, Librarian retired 1981 (Deb Ludwig hired, she left in 1989))
• Bob Smith 1985-1998 (First to be hired as Director only)
• Interim Director- Mike Harris 1999
• Barbara Webb 1999-2002
• Interim Director– Christine Gramm 2002
• Mike Harris 2002-2007
• Carole Kowell 2008-20??

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Did you know that Corned Beef and Cabbage is an American dish?

The Corned Beef and Cabbage meal that most Americans eat to
celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

In Ireland, beef was way too expensive for the average family. So they ate a lot of pork and particularly liked "rashers" of bacon. When the Irish immigrants arrived in the U.S., they found that even bacon was beyond their budget. But they could afford the cheap cut of beef brisket, along with the root vegetables and cabbages which would be available at the markets in March. And that is how Corned Beef and Cabbage became a uniquely Irish-American dish.


Medina has a long but sketchy history of Irish immigrants coming into the county. Medina never had a large influx of Irish immigrants at any one time.

Chart showing number of Medina County residents who were born in Ireland. 

As the chart shows there was a higher number of Irish born residents in 1850, shortly after the Irish Potato Famine that starved a million of their countrymen and sent a million more to the shores of America. Medina County history books often contain the phrase, "born in Ireland" and "descended from Ireland". Miss Ella Canavan was a daughter of immigrants from County Mayo, Ireland.

And today, we are all a "liitle bit Irish" on St. Patrick's Day. 

And me?  I am at least 1/64th Irish from my 4X Great Grandmother, Fair Sabra Connolly.

Growing up in north central Ohio, we had a tradition of pinching anyone who didn't wear green on St. Patrick's Day. Did any of you have that tradition or another one that you would like to share?