Kelleys Island History Blog

Every museum has a ghost story (except maybe us), and every museum has that one item that is a show stopper. Ours is “that creepy doll”. Of course we don’t think the doll is creepy at all. She is quite charming. She was donated by Lydia Bechtel and she is wearing a blue skirt with a white blouse and cloth sweater. She has a lovely pearl necklace and earrings, and has lace-up black and white shoes and socks. In researching her, we discovered an advertisement for a similar doll with this description that closely matches our doll. A doll made by Simon & Halbig, which has a smooth, creamy bisque face with crisp facial modeling. She has four upper teeth, small ears, molded and feathered brows over deeply set, spiral threaded eyes that close for sleep with upper and lower lashes. Her hair is a Mohair wig, which likely had spiral curls at one time. We actually have several lovely old dolls which we are working at bringing back out into the museum. The scariest thing about this doll is how...

Decoration Day was appropriately observed by the people of Kelley’s Island, who at 4 o’clock assembled at Kelley’s Hall, where a very interesting address was delivered by Rev. M. K. Holbrook. During his remarks, he gave a short sketch of the lives of the six soldiers who are buried in the cemetery, three of whom died in the service, one – Mr. Simon Huntington – of wounds. After the address a procession of carriages was formed, which proceeded to the cemetery. The ladies of the Island had brought their choicest flowers, forming beautiful wreaths and bouquets, and the graves of the unforgotten brave were profusely and beautifully decorated. The grave of one soldier is unmarked by any tombstone, and a committee was appointed, consisting of John T. Woodford and Mrs. George C. Huntington to procure funds for the purpose of erecting a suitable monument over his grave. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the funds will soon be forthcoming from the large hearted people of the Island. The cer...

  T HE ISLAND’S OLDEST INHABITANT– JACOB HAYES   George Huntington , in his presentation to the Fire Lands Historical Society   on October 30, 1862, offered this about the man. “Jacob Hay, then as now a bachelor, and one of our oldest residents, was boarding with Mrs. Knowlton at the afore-said boarding house in front of where the Island House   now stands. If, as political economists assert, that man is to be considered a public benefactor who causes two spires of grass to grow where but one grew before, then Mr. Hay is certainly deserving great credit, since he has performed a much greater amount of physical labor than any man now living on the island, almost the whole of which was tended directly or indirectly towards the general improvement. For 15 years his time was devoted almost exclusively to clearing land, building fences, putting up small tenements, &c. and since that date he has been employed in making and repairing agricultural implements, &c., ...

  JAMES ESTES & THE KELLEYS ISLAND SCHOOL   James Estes died in Cleveland in October 1898. His occupation was listed as grape grower and the cause of death was heart disease.   The family monument came from the Hughes Granite works and cost $5,000. It was reported that the monument was an elegant piece of work and it was installed in February 1900. “Mrs. Eva Cameron, trustee, has awarded the contract for the memorial to the Hughes Granite and Marble Co. of Clyde, O. The monument will be one of the finest in northwestern Ohio, of Romanesque design, massive, and with elaborate carvings. Competition for the work was very sharp, some 8 or 10 leading monument firms bidding, among them one from Barre, Vt., but the design submitted by the Hughes Granite and Marble Co. was pronounced the finest of all for the sum stipulated in the will, and the contract was accordingly given that enterprising company.” The Estes Family monument James, son of J & A   ...

OCTOBER 1867 - OPERATING A SALOON & SELLING INTOXICATING LIQUORS In May, John Reinheimer was accused of selling liquor to minors. This was followed by complaints of vandalism against Wm. Robinson; the first of several cases involving the Robinsons and the Reinheimers, as well as a charge of Assault & Battery. The Island had several Justice of the Peace officers, and their dockets often record some really creative testimony. SELLING INTOXICATING LIQUORS TO A PERSON INTOXICATED - “ The State of Ohio vs. John Reinheimer - Selling intoxicating liquors to a person intoxicated and for keeping a saloon for the sale of liquors contrary to law . This day came William Robinson and entered complaint that on or about the 4th day of May, the above named John Reinheimer did sell or otherwise dispose of intoxicating liquors to one named Edward Robinson, knowing that the Edward Robinson is in the habit of getting intoxicated. At the same time said William Robinson made complaint that the...

THE FIRST BURIAL S IN THE KELLEYS ISLAND CEMETERY Discover the earliest burials in the Kelleys Island cemetery. In my last post I shared the history of our cemetery which was established in 1854. Now we can explore some of the earliest burials. In 1854, the year the cemetery was established. John McDonald, who died on January 14, 1854 at age 26, was the first burial and his headstone still stands. Norman Hills told an interesting story about McDonald, who had been employed in preparing the new cemetery for burial purposes.   He was taken to task for carelessness in his work and his reply was to the effect that he did not care, for he did not expect to be buried there. It so happened that soon after completing his work in the cemetery, McDonald was accidentally killed and became the very first person to be buried in the cemetery he built. McDonald’s death appeared in Datus Kelley’s Ledger. “A letter from Mr. Addison Kelley informs us of a sad accident which occurred on Kelley’s ...

IT’S 1854 AND OUR ISLAND CEMETERY IS ESTABLISHED by  Leslie Korenko This is the history of our Island cemetery, which is quite old. It is a source of meditation, interest, research and an occasional lawsuit. In fact, Ned Williams and a couple of others, are combing through old newspapers to locate and add obituaries for of our Islanders who have passed on. These can be found FindaGrave.com; a great place to find interesting items about Island family members. The Island Cemetery was  officially established in 1854 with this deed. “Know all men by these  presents; that I Elizabeth K. Webb of the County of Erie and State of Ohio in consideration of the sum of $18.00 in hand paid by J. E. Woodford, E. Ward, Chas. Carpenter, as Trustees of the Kelleys Island Cemetery Association…do hereby  grant, bargain, sell and convey unto the said Woodford, Ward and Carpenter and  their successors in office forever, the following Premises, situate in the county of Erie, in the ...

C. C. Townley, manager of the Island House hotel for several years,  wrote a lengthy article about winter life on Kelleys Island. In this, part 2, he shares how the Islanders kept themselves busy before radios, telephones, computers, televisions, and even electric lights! The Islanders are generally a large hearted, intelligent people, well up to the ways of the world with the happy faculty of making money and disbursing it judiciously. Isolated a greater portion of the winter, they are thrown upon their own resources for amusement, consequently nearly all take an active interest in any pastime that will help shorten the long winter. They are all great readers, not only keeping themselves thoroughly posted on the leading topics of the day but readily devouring nearly everything readable that comes in their way. Statistics at the Post Office   show that there are more newspapers, magazines, etc. delivered there than at any other office of similar population in the country. ...