Myths, Legends & Hauntings in Lake County continued...Robbie Babcock and Sentinel et al.

It's that spooky time of the year, when 'Jack Tales' and other phantoms go bump in the night.  Lantern Tours, ghost walks, and paranormal tales only serve to magnify the sounds of rustling leaves, the rasping sounds among the branches and the lurking shadows among the darkening nights under an October harvest moon.  Even before Lake County was founded in 1840, stories of hauntings and bizarre activities were whispered by locals and recorded in print.  Some like the 'Girl in Blue', 'Willoughby Medical College', or the 'Melonheads' have been shared in 2012 and earlier.  The 'Monster of Little Mountain' kept scores of families in their homes at night in the early 1800's.  These loud, eerie noises resonating off the rocks and nearby caves proved to be a prank by local lads who created these menacing sounds with a wooden barrel and rawhide ropes.  Jilted by a lover, Hattie Martindale travels from her Historic North Cemetery home to haunt homes including the one on the hill at the intersection of 615 and Baldwin Road.

Fairport Harbor's Lighthouse Keeper Joseph Babcock is at the heart of two such haunting tales.  Babcok and his family resided over the lighthouse from 1871-1925.  Babcock's tenure though was not a happy one.  Babcock escaped death several times over during the Civil War, in Indian uprisings in Sandusky, and at the lighthouse, but fate was not as kind to his family.  The first story involves his son Robbie.

The Babcocks had two children during his tenure at Fairport's lighthouse.  Robbie died at age 5 of smallpox.  It has been said in journal entries and reported by villagers that Robbie continues to haunt the museum.  Staff at the all-volunteer museum have claimed to feel the chill of the cold air and the smell of decay in the basement.  Some have even mentioned an eerie sense of dread hovering while they work there.  Paranormals have even recorded images and voices from the tower telling them to 'go-away'.

However it is the the cat Sentinel that has made the museum even more special since 2001.  While cats have long been prized household pets, for millenia they have been shrouded in mystique.  Hapless felines were mummified and entombed by the pharohs of ancient Egypt.  Cats were persecuted in Europe for being in cahoots with witches.  In fact, cats have become woven into the fabric of the season.  Here once again, Mr. Babcock's family becomes involved.

Mrs. Babcock fell ill and spend a long period of time in her remaining years bedridden in the lighthouse dwelling's second floor quarters.  Her days were brightened by a grey puff cat and numerous other cats, nearly 21 in all.  At the time of her death, the cats disappeared.  What happened to her favorite grey cat?  Tales persisted of his reappearances.  Even the last curator to live in the house, 1988-91 encountered the ghost cat within a year of her arrival.  Reality set in in 2001 when a repairmen uncoverecd the cat.  The legendary cat was examined by museum staff from all-around Cleveland.  The cat named Sentinel still resides in the museum dwellings and may or may not be Mrs. Babcock's grey cat.  Photos, some tales, and several newspaper accounts do though lend credence to this tale.  Logic suggests the cat was accidently trapped beneath the dwelling or in the basement, starved to death and naturally mummified due to its dark, cool final resting spot.

Other possibilities suggest or support the UK lore of mummified cats being found inside of walls, crawl spaces and above rafters.  This practice was thought to ward off evil magic.  A second more graphic theory is the one of foundation sacrifices practiced by the Celtics.  Humans were preferred but a cat would suffice.

The keeper's cottage has been empty since 1991 but the rumored presence of Robbie and the actual remains of a ghost cat (2001) keep the legends alive.  Visitors and museum volunteers still report the eerie chill or skittering sounds of a feline to this day.

Strange happenings continue to be reported in Lake County to this day.  The renovated Steele Mansion in Painesville, a 'Not Guilty' grave in Evergreen Cemetery, dorms at Lake Erie College, Willoughby Coal, and even the witch's grave on Hart Road in Kirtland are but a few legendary tales still alive today.  Their existence lie in the eye of the beholder.

Sources- Mike Nolan, Cat Fancy 2003   Plain Dealer, 2001, Haunted Lighthouses, FHHS archives

Lake County Mini-Profiles -- Dwight Boyer, Reporter & Marine Historian

Born in 1912 in Elyria on the far west side of Cleveland, Dwight Boyer resided in Lake County in Willoughby for more than three decades.  Boyer began his notable journalism career as a reporter for the Toledo Blade from 1944-54.  From '54 thru the time of his death in '78, he was a featured reporter and editor for The Plain Dealer.  Boyer's passion for marine history elevated his journalistic accomplishments.  This is his story.

Boyer's love of freighters and the Great Lakes led him to write numerous articles and five narrative books of life aboard Great Lakes freighters.  Combining his connections with primary sources in the maritime industry and the events from the great storms of the lakes past, he specialized in constructing conjectural tales for vessels whose disappearance garnered the imaginations of the public eye.  Three stories that merit mention are the 1927 disappearance of the SS Kamloops, the 1929 foundering of the SS Milwaukee, and the infamous story of the 1975 loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald.  These stories and others comprise the five books he published from 1966-1977.  Their names and year of publication  appear below.

Dwight Boyer was also a member of the Fairport Harbor Historical Society, whose mission is to preserve Fairport history and the maritime sentiment of the Great Lakes area.  He was able to add to the museum's legacy when in late '67 he helped arrange for the acquisition of the pilothouse from the freighter Frontenac.  The Frontenac was a Great Lakes freighter built in 1923 and 600' in length.  She had a storied career on the Great Lakes until 1979 for Cleveland Cliffs.  At the time of her acquisition, she was the last wooden pilothouse on the Lakes.  The pilothouse sits attached to the 1825-1925 lighthouse in Fairport Harbor and is a part of this unique museum collection.  The pilothouse is appointed in true fashion to its 1967 setting.  The Frontenac and marine museum offer lighthouse visitors and lovers of maritime history a detailed insight in the history of the Great Lakes, freighters, and Lake Erie commerce itself.  The lighthouse and museum are open May-October and by appointment.

Dwight Boyer's books about the Great Lakes:
 
Ghost Stories of the Great Lakes, 1966
Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes, 1968
True Tales of the Great Lakes, 1971
Strange Adventures of the Great Lakes, 1974
Ships and Men of the Great Lakes, 1977

Lake County Mini-Profiles - The Story of Walter Wellman

Walter Wellman was one of Lake County's most accomplished and interesting native sons.  His accomplishments in journalism, exploration, and aeronautics gained world-wide recognition.  Yet to many of us in Lake County his name is unknown and his accomplishments largely forgotten.

Walter Wellman was born in 1858 in Concord.  His family roots were quite distinguished, having dated back to New England as early as 1640.  Their pedigree included inventors, lawyers, clergymen, scholars, and early pioneers of the Western Reserve.  Wellman's grandparents came to Madison and prospered as farmers.  Three of Walter's uncles became captains and important Lake Erie vessel masters.  Walter's father served in the Civil War and settled in our county for a short period of time before succumbing to his pioneer yearning and heading west.

Walter's career began with some writing endeavors for the Cincinnati Daily Gazette in the 1870's.  Walter and his brother Frank started a newspaper in 1880-81- The Cincinnati Post.  Another daily newpaper soon followed.  Known as the Penny Paper, it was the only penny daily between Lake Erie and the Gulf of Mexico.  Their target audience was the industrial working class.  Wellman sold controlling interest in the paper to the Scripp's family.  This association with the Scripp's group led to the Post, Cleveland Press, Times-Star and some other 17 locals being launched.

After a brief span of years under the radar, Wellman re-emerged with the Chicago Herald and Record-Herald.  In 1891 it was reported that Wellman found the exact landing spot of Christopher Columbus.  In 1894 and again in 1898 a trek to the North Pole by dirigible ensued.  He attempted the treks again in 1909 and 1910 before losing the moment to Perry.  A cross Atlantic trip by airship garnered headlines in 1910.  Wellman's explorations set records and even recorded a first- wireless messages sent from land to air.  However these flights took their toll.  Wellman was a hero but dropped from public view and lived out his years quietly in NYC.

Wellman passed in 1934 at the age of 75.  Fame came once again as a 10,500 ton liberty ship was named after him.  Launched in 1944 in Houston, Texas the vessel's back story may never be fully appreciated in 20th century annals.  Wellman lived but a short time in our county but like most pioneers his innovations left a lasting legacy on the American Experience.

Sources:  Newsweek,  Feb. 10, 1934   Scientific America, April 1934  George Stevens article, August 1969

Tempus Fugit --- Local Lore Hits 250

It all began in 2010 when a former student and athlete, now managing editor of this newspaper asked me to write a weekly blog.  At that time only one other blogger - Joe the Coupon Guy was a regular.  Being newly retired I agreed and figured it would last a year or so.  Here it is approaching 2014 and I am still learning about our county.  I recently returned from a trip to Italy and was most impressed at the the co-mingling of past and present.  It was all around and quite obvious to decipher.  Lake County offers quite the same experiences if you just look around you.  Some historic sites are quite obvious.  Other local histories are recalled at the historical societies in Fairport Harbor, Willoughby, Perry, Eastlake, Wickliffe, Madison and such.  Some require deeper layers of exploration.  Here are just a few of our county's hidden gems -- the names and places from our past.  Do you remember these stories?

August 22, 2013 - featured Painesville's Bobby Manchester
From hillside fireworks to burlesque, Bobby brought major league entertainment to Lake County in the early 1900's.  His Utopia Theater in the heart of downtown Painesville was a key part of the city's history.

September 5, 2013 - introduced the 'Painesville Hoods'
When the Civil War finally reached into our county, twenty two women answered the call.  Their contributions are part of a little known moment in history

August 26, 2013 - chronicled the short history of 'The Shore Club'
Located on Fairport-Nursery Road, this development examined the lifestyles of some of our counties leading citizens.

December 10, 2012 - recalled the story of Kirtland Hills' Leonard C. Hanna
His story dates back to 1492 and his estate remains a notable landmark in the county streetscape.

March 25, 2013 - tells the story of a solitary tombstone on Hart Road
Levi Smith's life spans the beginnings of the Mormon Migration and is part of a witch's grave legend from long ago.

June 20, 2013 - biographied Dr. Storm Rosa
His contributions to the county and the medical field stand alone in the annals of time.

January 28, February 7, June 24, 2013  examined three separate parts of County Aviation History
Willoughby's Cook Cleland Airport, Painesville's Casement airport, and Pheasant run Airport in Leroy Twp. are but three lost airfields from our past.  These urban ghosts are examined as well as several other local airports.

Like a good book, these histories are worth a second reading.  As I continue my journey into the history of Ohio's smallest county, I will share more of the little known tid-bits and hidden gems that are all around us.

Mentor @ 50 ---- Free Lecture Series Continues...

As Mentor winds its way to its fiftieth anniversary in December, the celebration continues with another round of free lectures.  The success of the spring series at Wildwood Cultural Center on Little Mountain Road has spurred on another six lectures for the fall.  These are free events that link the legacy of Mentor's past to visions of its future.  The first program begins tomorrow evening at 7pm.  Programs are free, but seating is limited so registration is required.  Here is a list of the entire fall series.  Each is held on a Tuesday evening.

September 17 -- History as We Lived It and Mentor at Leisure

September 24 -- Mentor's Great Estates, Historic Buildings and Hotels of Little Mountain

October 1 -- Mentor:  Planning for the Future and What's Trending Now

October 15 -- Hometown Memories

October 22 -- Where's Main Street Around Here?

October 29 -- Hometown Heroes, Past and Present

Each program features first hand accounts, panel discussions, Mentor Memories & Trivia Contests as well as a chance to sign a 'memories board' for the time capsule.  Frank Krupa will return as host of the events while Barbara Davis, Joannie Huebner and special guests will add to the presentations.

For more information or to register - call 440-974-5720

' Letters from our Past '

      

Nearly twenty-five hundred years ago, the Greek historian Herodotus wrote of mail carriers.  Some two hundred years ago,  early American history icon and inventor Benjamin Franklin founded a postal service in the newly established colonies.  In 1896-97, Mitchell Kendal while redesigning the NYC General Post Office, borrowed the Greek quote of ‘Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Gloom…’ for the upper façade of the remodel.  From this early postal trivia, let us celebrate the legacy of the mail service history in Lake County and Mentor, Ohio.

U.S. Postmaster General Gideon Granger  established regular mail service in our area in 1801.  The first mail arrived from Pittsburgh, Pa. on October 30, 1801.  Warren was the terminus for mail in the Western Reserve.  Four years later, mail service was extended to Cleveland.  Eleazar Gilson was the first mail carrier and he made his rounds every two weeks.  The first stage line traveled through our region in 1803.  It covered some 150 miles and its route included Erie, Pa., Champion (Painesville), Chagrin (Willoughby), and Cleveland.  In 1813, one letter cost the sender $.25.  Letters and mail service were in its infancy.

Mail and Stage Coach Service came to the future Lake County (1840) and Mentor on a regular basis in 1823.  By 1878, the West Mentor Post Office Branch was established at the DG Branch Tavern site.  The Tavern was built in 1814 by Warren Corning and sat on the NE corner of Center Street and Mentor Avenue.  The year 1888 marked the next signature moment in Mentor’s mail history.  Postal Services were now expanded and located inside the newly dedicated Mentor Village Hall.  The Village of Mentor was still quite rural at this point and just beginning its rise as part of the nursery / rose capitol of the day.

The corner of Hart Street and Mentor Avenue became the next location of the Post Office in Mentor.  From 1921-1962, it was a focal point of Mentor’s commercial sector.  The original building still remains today.  A new Mentor Post Office opened in ’62 on Center Street on the site that many remember as Mentor Office Supply.  It had just over a twenty- year history as the current Tyler Blvd. Branch was dedicated on January 1, 1983.  The former site was demolished in 2009.

Joe Baca once wrote, “ The Postal Service’s unmatched ability to reach every household and business in America six days a week is a vital part of the nation’s infrastructure…the Postal Service delivers to over 140 million addresses daily and every year that number increases by over two million.”  As the City of Mentor celebrates its 50^th Anniversary in 2013, let us not forget the men and women of the USPS who were at the forefront and took every step of our journey in history.  While recent years have not always spun a positive light on the USPS, today as you read this, remember to thank those who delivered the letters from your past.

MENTOR  POST OFFICE

LAKE COUNTY, OHIO

(Originally established in GEAUGA COUNTY)

Name                           Title                           Date Appointed

Daniel Kerr                           Postmaster                  02/16/1819

Washington Parker         Postmaster                  09/05/1832

Daniel Kerr                           Postmaster                  03/24/1834

Heman Brown                  Postmaster                  09/26/1836

Sumner Taylor                  Postmaster                  04/08/1839

Changed to LAKE COUNTY in 1840

Clark Parker                  Postmaster                  07/01/1841

Amos Birchard                  Postmaster                  09/23/1845

Erastus Briggs                  Postmaster                  03/08/1847

William S. Kerr                  Postmaster                  06/01/1849

Eleazer Burridge                  Postmaster                  06/07/1853

Daniel Holmes                  Postmaster                  01/22/1855

Duthan Northrup                  Postmaster                  05/27/1861

Franklin Parker                  Postmaster                  03/02/1871

Lester H. Luse                  Postmaster                  07/26/1877

Robert Radcliffe                  Postmaster                  09/14/1877

Martin V. Hopkins         Postmaster                  12/11/1885

Thomas C. Radcliffe         Postmaster                  09/04/1889

Martin V. Hopkins         Postmaster                  07/31/1893

Franklin M. Smith         Postmaster                  07/19/1897

Thomas H. Code                  Postmaster                  01/31/1914

William F. Lyons                  Postmaster                  12/04/1922

Glen F. Carver                  Postmaster                  04/25/1936

William A. Collins         Acting Postmaster 12/30/1964

Roger A. Kraft                  Acting Postmaster 05/07/1965

Roger A. Kraft                  Postmaster                  08/18/1966

William A. Collins         Acting Postmaster 04/28/1972

William A. Collins         Postmaster                  09/02/1972

Richard Baldwin                  Officer-In-Charge 12/31/1977

Perry S. Metcalf                  Postmaster                  06/03/1978

Kim E. Dellinger                  Officer-In-Charge 03/19/1992

JoAnn Greene                  Officer-In-Charge 06/15/1992

JoAnn Greene                  Postmaster                  01/23/1993

Leon Grigsby                  Officer-In-Charge 09/08/1999

John Vorbel                  Officer-In-Charge 12/01/1999

Julie A. Goins-Gray         Officer-In-Charge 07/02/2001

Julie A. Goins-Gray         Postmaster                  05/03/2003

Michael Bachinger         Officer-In-Charge 02/13/2006

Joseph A. Brambrick         Officer-In-Charge 11/06/2006

Joseph A. Brambrick         Postmaster                  06/23/2007

Phillip R. Sindelar Jr.         Postmaster                  04/07/2012

  

Sources:  Fairport Harbor, Ohio 1976

                  David G. Van Allen – USPS Community Relations Director

                  City of Mentor website

'The Painesville Hoods'

Social clubs and service organizations have a storied place in history.  Some like the Men's Civic Clubs, VFW or Junior Women's League are steeped in traditions and part of local mindsets.  Others like the Masons or Daughters of the American Revolution share long histories but are often not fully understood by all.  Today we look at a local Lake County society that had its origins early in the fall of 1862.  This is their story.

In the fall of 1862 the Civil War was underway and its impact had reached into Lake County.  It was at this juncture of history that twenty five young ladies of Painesville formed their society which was dubbed the 'Sisterhood' - afterwards shortened to the 'Hoods'.  Officers were elected, offices created for all and a mission formulated.  Miss Eliza Wilcox became the first chief executive.  The group convened once a week in the members homes and their object was to carry on correspondence with the absent soldiers as well as knit socks.  Their social setting ensured that no item of news escaped the pen and paper.  No mention was made that the soldiers found the letters unacceptable.

Copies of their letters appear in The Historical Society Quarterly Vol. 3 July 1961 No.3  Their story also appears in the 1976 Bicentennial Lake County History Book and The Painesville Telegraph, December 28, 1898.  For now, here is a list of married names of the twenty-two charter members.

                              Eliza Wilcox                             Libbie Lines Lockwood
                             Sarah Wilcox Hitchcock           Hetty Sanford Ganter
                             Mary Lockwood Casement       Juliet Marshall Smith
                            Leora Brown Sears                    Sarah Doolittle Wilkerson
                            Jennie Potter King                     Mary Perkins Morley
                            Gussie Avery Stockwell             Lucy Perkins
                            Mary Everett Post                     Emma Morley
                            Mary Sterling Steele                 Mary Tinan Osborne
                            Carrie Mathews Reynolds        Anna Tracy
                            Mary Rockwell Pike                 Cornelia Gray
                            Lizzie Hitchcock Morley          Kate Chesney Hover