Mystery Ledgers Identified…

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18th amendment, 1933, 21st amendment, archive, Archives Bring Good Feelings, boxes, Canton, Census, City, clue, Court, Directory, discharged, Discovering, George White, jail, ledger, Municipal, organizing, Prisoners, puzzle, Salesman, seekthethreads, Stark, Stark County, volunteers, Workhouse

They simply contained a list of names

While organizing and labeling the archive boxes and shelves, we ran across three mysterious ledger books. These books had been found before, but since no one could figure out what they were, they just got put back on the shelf. What were they? They simply contained a list of names with a book number and page number after each name. There was no title or company listed to help us decide how they connected to other primary documents. They must be a cross reference to some other books, but what books? Did they connect to Church records? Employment records? Bank records? County home residents? It was time to do some deep research and figure this out. Our only clue was written on the inside cover of one of the ledgers, “Entered by G. B. Gaddis – April 1936”.

Why would these people have an alias?

Who was G. B. Gaddis and how did he connect with these ledgers? We started to research Gaddis to find out more. The 1930 U.S. Census and Canton City Directory lead us to George B. Gaddis who lived in Canton, Ohio. He was a Salesman and a Shipping clerk, but none of this helped us discover anything about these ledgers. Was this even the right Gaddis? We researched a couple of the other names in the ledgers, but nothing connected them to Gaddis. While looking through the names in the ledgers we noticed that some of the names had an alias listed alongside their name. Interesting….Why would these people have an alias? Who usually uses an alias? Prisoners or people trying to hide from the law maybe? We remembered that in Archival Room 2 were shelves full of registers from the Stark County Jail and Workhouse.

Who was G. B. Gaddis?

Could these ledgers be a cross reference to the jail and workhouse records? We took a chance and looked up one of the names from the ledger. Harvey Miller, Book 6, page 117. We pulled out book 6 of the registers of the Stark County Workhouse. We looked up page 117 and BINGO!!! It was a match. Would we really have found the answer? We checked a couple more names and they all matched up. We now had our answer! These name ledgers were a cross reference to the workhouse registers. But now we still wondered, …. Who was G. B. Gaddis? Could Gaddis be a workhouse inmate who was assigned to enter information into these ledgers? We looked under the G’s and sure enough we found George B. Gaddis. George B. Gaddis…. Book 7…. page 273. YES, upon checking book 7, page 273, we found Mr. George B. Gaddis.

Violation of Liquor Laws

George B. Gaddis was assigned to the Workhouse on March 19, 1932, from Canton Municipal Court. Occupation: Salesman. Reason: Violation of Liquor Laws. We asked one another if he might have been selling boot-leg whiskey? His sentence was to expire June 30, 1932, or June 20, 1932, on good behavior. However, he was discharged by the authority of Ohio Governor, George White on May 4, 1932. So, why would Governor White discharge him early? That part remains a mystery. This all happened during prohibition when liquor was illegal per the 18th amendment to the United States Constitution. The 18th amendment was later repealed by the 21st amendment in 1933.

put the pieces together like a puzzle…

Another mystery remains, why did George B. Gaddis enter this information in 1936 when he had been discharged in 1932? So, all of this to say, if you keep coming back to a mystery, sooner or later something will stand out that gives you a clue. With a lot of research and creative thinking, you begin to put the pieces together like a puzzle. It is fun and satisfying to see it all come together to make the whole picture. This is why we do what we do at the archives. Discovering the who, what and why of history for future generations.

Bill and Judy Ankeny
Volunteers
Ramsayer Research Center

More Than A Parchment…

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AEP, art, books, Canton, Canton Female Seminary, Catalog, collection, diploma, Donations, Episcopal Church, findyourquest, First Methodist Church, Goshorn, Graduation, John Buckius, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, ohio, Ohio Supreme Court, Ramsayer Research Center, Research, Rex, Roller Monthly, science, seekthethreads, State Senate Representative, Walsh University, Writing

June 8, 1843, graduation day. Miss Catharine A. Rex stepped up to receive her diploma from the Canton Female Seminary in Canton Ohio. At this time, the city of Canton was only thirty-eight years old and a future president of the United States, William McKinley was born just five months before. Still over seventy years away from women earning the right to vote, education for young ladies was rare, but in 1836, Reverend John M. Goshorn, with the backing of the First Methodist Church of Canton Ohio, opened the doors of the Canton Female Seminary. Goshorn and his wife would run the seminary until 1845.

1970.88.6

In the Ramsayer Research Library, within the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum, we have documents relating to Stark County history organized in vertical files. In early February, in the midst of the reorganization of our Stark County vertical files, volunteer Kathleen Fernandez came across a catalog for the Canton Female Seminary. When archivist Mark Holland looked through the folder where the catalog is housed, he found a diploma for a Miss Catharine A. Rex. Upon inspection, it was determined that the document had been donated to us back in 1970 by her great-grandson Mr. Rex McSweeney. Filled with curiosity and a wealth of questions, intern Hannah Beach, a senior at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, set out to discover all she could on Miss Rex and the Canton Female Seminary itself. With the assistance of intern Grace Doringo of Walsh University, the diploma was digitalized, cataloged, and transcribed and Hannah was able to get to work.

Ramsayer Research Center

The work done at the Ramsayer Research Library is more than receiving and storing documents and photographs. There is a great deal of research surrounding many of the donations and this diploma serves as a great example of that process. Unfortunately, there is no magical switch that can be flipped, and no one book that can answer all of our questions. Often times with a document this old, it complicates the job of the researchers. It is the job of the researcher to take what little information that is obtainable and go from there. In the case of this diploma, all that was known about it was its date, the recipient’s name, and that of the seminary, the principal, preceptress, and the examiners.

The first step in the research process was to learn about Miss Catharine A. Rex. Eliciting the help of researchers Tom and Rochelle Haas and archivist Mark Holland, Hannah was able to discover that Miss Catharine A. Rex later became Mrs. Catharine A. (Rex) McSweeney. From there, much more was to be discovered. Raised in Canton, Ohio, Catharine’s parents Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Rex were prominent members of the First Methodist Church and Mr. Rex himself, a tailor, was one of the earliest residents of Canton and a dearly beloved member of the community. In his later years he served as a member of the board of trustees for the Canton Female Seminary. One of four children, Catharine’s second oldest brother, the Honorable George Rex, went on to serve as a State Senate Representative and a judge on the Ohio Supreme Court. In 1851, Catharine married John McSweeney Esq., a renowned criminal defense lawyer. They moved to Wooster, Ohio where they had six children, losing two in infancy.

The Canton Female Seminary was very influential in the history of Canton. It played an essential role in forging a path for furthering the education of young ladies not just in the city of Canton, but across the state. At full capacity, it could accommodate one hundred and fifty young ladies. As a four-year program, students were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, chemistry, philosophy, and various other subjects. The cost for board and pupilage was twenty-five dollars, a sum only affordable by the most affluent families of society. Additional lessons such as ancient languages, piano forte, or painting could be added on for an additional fee. Most pupils came from the surrounding counties, however there were a few that came from other states in order to attend. A Miss Martha A. Wilcox, a student in 1843, came from Warren, Illinois, and Miss Frances L. Jenkins from Rochester, New York.

Mr. and Mrs. George Rex McSweeney

The exact locations of the Canton Female Seminary and its subsequent boarding house were something that remained somewhat of a mystery in the early stages of research. In recent months, researchers Tom and Rochelle Haas have been working to document and catalog our collection of publications of the Roller Monthly, a magazine published in Canton, Ohio. Though unsure of how long the Roller Monthly ran, we have editions from 1898-1919 in our collection. In the January 1899 edition, an approximate location of the Canton Female Seminary was given. It said that the education building itself was on the corner of Plum and Eighth Street Northwest, though which corner remained a mystery. The boarding house that was built by Mr. and Mrs. Goshorn for their pupils was said to have been located on North Poplar and West Fifth.

Canton Female Seminary, Martha A. Wilcox

Over the last one and a half centuries, many roads in Canton have undergone name changes making it difficult to figure out the location of places like the Canton Female Seminary. Poplar and Fifth in the 1800s is not Poplar and Fifth today. The same goes for Plum and Eighth, where the seminary sat. To rectify problems such as these, researcher Judy Pocock has extensively studied past street directories and has compiled a guide entitled “Researching Addresses in Historic Canton,” listing every street’s name changes since the 1860s. Using Miss Judy’s guide, Hannah was able to convert the 1840s street names to those of the present-day. Plum and Eighth are now McKinley Avenue and Third Street and Poplar and Fifth are now Cleveland Avenue and Second Street.

McKinley Avenue and 3rd Street SW

With the locations narrowed down to the intersection, Hannah turned to yet more sources to try and find the exact corner for each building. Using William Henry Perrin’s History of Stark County, Ohio 1881 and Church of the Savior United Methodist’s Church at the Crossroads, she was able to identify the exact locations of each building. The Canton Female Seminary was built on the southeast corner of present-day South McKinley Avenue and Third Street Southwest, adjoining the original building of the First Methodist Church, built in 1832. The seminary shut its doors sometime before 1858 where it was eventually turned into the residence of a Mr. John Buckius of Canton, Ohio. Today, the corner is occupied by the parking lot for AEP. The seminary’s boarding house had been built within walking distance of the church and seminary on what was known as Old Grant’s Corner, the corner in which Mr. Elijah P. Grant took up residence. This was the northwest corner of present-day North Cleveland Avenue and Second Street Northwest.

Cleveland Avenue North and 2nd Street NW

It is believed Mrs. Catharine A. (Rex) McSweeney taught at the Canton Female Seminary just before it shut its doors around 1858. After marrying her husband and moving to Wooster, Ohio she continued teaching and was an active member of the Episcopal Church. Mrs. McSweeney dies of Bright’s disease, a disease of the kidneys, in 1884. She was fifty-five years old. Though no photographs or portraits of Catharine can be found, her memory lives on. Her husband John and their son John McSweeney II can be seen in various Wayne County history books as they were both highly successful lawyers in their time. Today you are able to see the McSweeney residence at 531 North Market Street in Wooster, Ohio. Four generations of McSweeney lived in the house originally built by Catharine’s husband in 1845.

North Main Street Wooster, Ohio

The story of Miss Catharine A. Rex’s diploma is a story of adventure. More than a mere piece of parchment, the rediscovery of this document opened up a whole new world and a story just waiting to be told.

Hannah Elizabeth Beach
Intern
McKinley Presidential Library & Museum

Alice Danner Jones – Gifted Orator, Writer, and Educator (1854-1926)

Alice Danner Jones was a revered and accomplished Canton woman who was known as a “ripe scholar, ready writer, and entertaining conversationalist.” Her father, John Danner, was an historian, inventor, and manufacturer who founded multiple businesses, the most successful being the John Danner Revolving Bookcase Manufacturing Company. These bookcases became internationally popular, with the design winning Danner a gold medal at the Paris Exhibition in 1878. As a young girl, Alice impressed her parents and teachers with her intellect, always earning the highest marks in class. While still in high school, she began giving private lessons to boys and girls. She went on to graduate from Dennison College in 1874.

Alice Danner Jones 1854-1926

She established the Alice Danner Jones Academy in her home on Cleveland Avenue NW after marrying Levi M. Jones and having three children. The school prospered for many years and each year her class would produce a play at the Grand Opera House. Her daughter Edith was also gifted and became a teacher in her school. She was also a lifelong member of First Baptist Church and helped to establish the original Canton Sorosis chapter, which was devoted to music, art, drama, science, education, travel, philanthropy, and governmental reform. Due to her oratorical skills, she became a highly sought out speaker on a wide range of topics. Her first public address at Sorosis was in favor of universal peace and arbitration. She also was a regular contributor to the Roller Monthly, writing countless ss poems and articles. On Decoration Day in 1898 she wrote a piece about two children who e father had been killed in the Civil War. She wrote: “We must lay aside all the angry thoughts of that bitter fight we had with one another; and we must work together now to keep our dear land free from strife and to help that other land, which is now so full of sorrow, and, in which, many little boys and girls are fatherless and motherless.”

A longtime friend of William and Ida Saxton McKinley, she wrote a book in poetry form about their courtship and marriage, titled” A McKinley Romance.” It was reported that President McKinley enjoyed nothing more than matching wits with the brilliant mind of their friend Alice. She eventually had to give up her school when her health began to fail. She had suffered a collapse after her 17-year-old son John was accidentally killed by his own gun while hunting. Several years later she had a fall which so injured her hip that she could no longer walk. She was attended to by her beloved daughter Edith and continued to write and entertain many daily visitors who would listen to her recite the classics and tell many anecdotes about her life. She died in 1926, at the age of 73, survived by her husband Levi, daughter Edith and son Joshua.

Rochelle Haas

Ramsayer Research Center, McKinley Presidential Library & Museum Volunteer

Irma Steele Miss Canton…

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Archives, archivesbringgoodfeelings, Atlantic City, beauty contest, Canton, findyourquest, George, Gretchen Putman, Irma Steele, Miss Canton, New Jersey, ohio, preservation, Ramsayer Research Center, seekthethreads, Stark County, threads

Irma Steele “Miss Canton”

Illness Claims Industrial Tool Executive Here

…read the headline in the Canton Repository and The Canton Daily News for a short obituary on page 28 containing only 110 words. Irma Steele Dougherty died at Timken Mercy Hospital on Tuesday March 12, 1974, at age 67. A private service was held at the Spiker-Foster funeral home at 710 Tuscarawas Street West with no calling hours. She was a member of the Canton Women’s Club, Canton Chapter of the D.A.R., and a member of Christ United Presbyterian Church. Irma was the secretary-treasurer of the Canton Industrial Tool Company, Inc, alongside the firm’s owner and her husband, Mr. Hubert E. Dougherty. She is also survived by her two sisters. She was aCanton resident for 60 years living presently in Avondale at 3618 Overhill Drive NW. Two years later in 1976 her husband Hubert followed her to the hereafter. They are buried in Sunset Hills Burial Park in Section 19 Row 4, close to Frank Avenue NW in Jackson Township, Ohio.

Gretchen Putnam & Irma Steele

While the McKinley National Memorial was still being constructed Miss Irma Steele was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania in 1907. She went on to marry Hubert E. Dougherty in 1931 who owned Industrial Tools Company of Stark County. Irma became the secretary-treasurer of the firm.

“Most Beautiful Girl in an Evening Gown”

In between high school and her wedding Miss Steele, working for the Stark County Recorder at the time, earned the honor of being crowned “Miss Canton.” Farwell and coronation ceremonies were held on Wednesday August 31st at the Moonlight Ballroom at Myer’s Lake Park. The Cleveland Avenue Merchants’ association sponsored this venture and made the journey to Atlantic City, New Jersey a reality. The association also funded several outfits Irma would wear throughout the pageant. Monday night September 5th Miss Irma Steele and her chaperon, Mrs. George Forbes Putnam, better known to her readers as Gretchen Putnam, Editorial Staff member at The Canton Repository. Mrs. Putnam will keep Canton apprised of all the “goings on” in Atlantic City by way of the Repository. 

In a letter written by Gretchen Putnam that appeared in the Sunday September 11, 1927, issue of the Canton Repository we learn that “Miss Canton” Miss Steele won “Most Beautiful Girl in an Evening Gown.” She first thought of her friends back in Canton, Ohio when accepting this award.    

– Mark G. Holland Archivist

McKinley Presidential Library & Museum

Stories We Learn in Passing…

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challenging, E.T. Heald, exciting opportunity, exhibit, experience, History, Ida McKinley, illness, Intern, McKinley Presidential Library, Newspaper, passings, people’s stories, Photographs, William McKinley

Hello, my name is Matthew Simeone. During my time interning with Mark Holland, I was given the exciting opportunity to create an exhibit of my own. As someone who wants to go into the field of museum studies, this experience is needed. Creating this exhibit was more challenging than I expected and I would hit roadblocks in all areas, but Mark was there to give me advice when I needed it. The results ended up being about the story of when Ida McKinley’s life hung in a balance from an illness during President McKinley’s Tour of the President of the Pacific Coast and the passings of William and Ida McKinley. I wanted to explore the history and stories of people that aren’t always known. The exhibit consists of newspaper clippings that offer background of the different events, sheet music that was played at both William and Ida’s funerals, different photographs, and excerpts from an unpublished William McKinley Biography written by E.T. Heald. It lets the readers learn the story of Ida McKinley’s illness and how serious it was. I also created an entry on how everything pieces together. Overall, I am proud of the outcome of my exhibit and with all the roadblocks that I hit it lets me know that creating an exhibit is easier said than done but I know that the outcome will be worth it.

~Matthew Simeone, Intern, McKinley Presidential Library

Meet the Intern

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bachelor’s degree, Canton, enjoyed learning, History, Intern, Malone University, Museum Studies, pass on the enjoyment of learning history, political science, Ramsayer Research Center, seekthethreads, vast world of history, William McKinley

Hello, my name is Matthew Simeone. I am a senior at Malone University set to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in history and political science. I have been given the chance to intern with Mark Holland and I have been grateful to be able to learn and experience hands on how an archive works through different goals that Mark set for me during my time at the Ramsayer Research Center or through conversation with Mark himself. History has always been a subject I enjoyed learning and there is a vast world of history that can be explored and learned. A dream of mine is to go into the field of museum studies to be able to pass on the enjoyment of learning history through the setting of a museum and the exhibits that are explored. Thank you again for Mark Holland for this amazing opportunity to intern with him, I have enjoyed every second of my time here.

~Matthew Simeone, Intern, McKinley Presidential Library

Reunited: Grammar School Students & Their Principal Miss Anna McKinley…

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AnnaMcKinley, Archives, archivist, books, Canton, CantonCityDirectory, collection, database, envelope, findyourquest, Grammarschool, History, letter. Danner, Mckinley, McKinleyAvenue, ohio, organize, paperwork, photograph, Photographs, PlumAvenue, Pontius, principal, quests, Reunited, seekthethreads, ShorbAvenue, Stark County, students, threads, TuscarawasStreet, UnionSchool, volunteers, Woolley

We all have that pile of paperwork we say we will get to soon. To tell one on my mom, I was well trained when someone came to our door to pick up all the piles in our house and throw them in the nearest closet. She always helped me with these hasty projects. One of our volunteers was sifting through a similar pile of papers, magazines, and envelopes. She and another volunteer, her husband, have been working for several weeks to organize some of our paperwork, books, and photographs. You can almost hear yourself say: “Here it comes. More threads, more quests.” or “What did they find now?” The artifacts they found were a letter, a list of names, an envelope, and a story about a photograph which was missing of Anna McKinley and her Grammar school.

A third volunteer helped the couple research what they eventually found about the above artifacts. The letter was written to John M. Danner from Adam Pontius marked Canton, June 29th 1948. Mr. Pontius speaks of a photograph he is sending to Danner along with a list of names that identify the students in Miss Anna “Annie” McKinley’s grammar school classes for which she was the principal. The list is on three strips of stationary from L.G. Woolley Inventor. Patents were found in Google Patents possibly connected to Mr. Wooley. But, we are not going in that direction today. The other piece in this collection is the envelope that carried the letter, the list, and the photograph. The missing artifact was the photograph of Miss Mckinley’s students. The volunteers left for the day, and were hopeful the photograph in question could be found.

Spending a little time on this case I soon put it aside for another day. Well this is the other day, in fact it is the next day. Starting with the catalog numbers of most of the pieces I found, this little archive was donated in 1963. Two of the images of the photograph I was looking for were in our digital database. The trick was to know or find out which of Canton’s schools Anna McKinley was the principal. In the 1884-1885 Canton City Directory I found Miss Annie McKinley living with her parents and siblings on the north east corner of Tuscarawas Street and Shorb Avenue.

Her entry also listed her as a principal at West Tuscarawas Street Grammar School. This school also called Union School sat on the north west corner of Tuscarawas Street and Plum Avenue, present day McKinley Avenue. The photograph of the students was not in the Union School, or the Plum Street School folders. I found a folder marked unidentified school pictures. It did not take long before I found the photograph. The letter, envelope, list and the photograph were all Reunited, and will be filed in its appropriate home.

Mark G. Holland 
Archivist
McKinley Presidential Library & Museum

Pay It Forward Mary Renkert Wendling…

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attorney, brick, CantonMuseumofArt, Cleveland, community, Hospital, LehmanHigh, Library, MarquetteUniversity, MaryRenkertWendling, Mckinley, Mercy, MetropolitanPavingBrick, MountUnion, RenkertBuilding, RenkertWendlingFoundation, Research, skyscraper, StarkCounty, tile, TimkenMercyHospital, ToothFairy, UniversityHospital, WalshUniversity, woman

We honor and celebrate the life of a Stark County woman, Mary Renkert Wendling, who though no longer with us, continues to give back to our community.

Mary was born at Mercy Hospital in 1934 to Maurice and Bessie Marie Wendling. Maurice was a respected attorney with an office in the Renkert Building, which was known as Canton’s first skyscraper and constructed around 1913 by Harry S. Renkert. Bessie Marie was the daughter of Oliver Renkert, brother to Harry. Oliver, a dentist by profession, was the Vice President of the Metropolitan Paving Brick Company of Canton. Oliver and Harry were the sons of J. J. Renkert, the pioneering Ohio brick and tile manufacturer. Mary was the beloved first and only child of Maurice and Bessie Marie, and their dedication to her was revealed in the contents of an archival donated box at the McKinley Research Library.

From the first day of Mary’s birth, her mother began to write entries in a book entitled “Log of Life.” There are inscriptions of important dates, trips, parties, celebrations, and developmental milestones. There are locks of hair, baby teeth, hand and footprints, report and birthday cards, party invitations, greeting cards, letters, photographs and even a first Will and Testament written by Mary herself at the age of 12. In her will she bequeathed all of her possessions, including her dog Boots and her turtle Whiskey, to her mother should she survive her. Included even are letters from her own special Tooth Fairy, “Marigold.” A letter written to Mary, by her father in 1937 states: “Always do things promptly. You will find it pays in the end. Be always steadfast, truthful, and loyal. May you have a full, happy and healthful life.”

By all accounts, Mary’s life seemed to be a happy and productive one. She attended St. John’s Elementary School and graduated from Lehman High School. She had written in her “Log of Life” when she was 17 that she sincerely hoped to be able to enter the field of Medical Technology and specialize in Bacteriology. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Mount Union College in 1956. She had also attended Marquette University and completed an internship in Medical Technology at University Hospital in Cleveland. She was eventually employed at Timken Mercy Hospital in 1951 and worked as a medical technologist and bacteriologist, continuing her career there until she retired in 1997. Her Log of Life indicates that she took many trips, loved to drive, and was devoted to her family, friends, colleagues and animals.

In 1998, Mary established the Mary Renkert Wendling Foundation, a private charitable foundation headquartered in Brooklyn, Ohio. Only three years later, Mary passed away at the age of 66 on September 30, 2001. No cause of death was indicated in her obituary but she was said to have passed peacefully. She was a member of the Humane Society, Chihuahua Club of America, American Society of Medical Technologists, Ketchum Society of Mount Union College, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, and the Wagner Society of New York. Today, Mary’s Foundation continues giving back to our community. In 2023, the Mount Union Department of Visual Arts and Media was awarded a $30,000 grant to purchase equipment to give students more opportunities for hands-on learning. Other recipients have included Walsh University, Ohio Light Opera, Tuscarawas Philharmonic, the
Canton Museum of Art, and Goodwill Industries. In summary, we acknowledge with gratitude today Mary Renkert Wendling, who led a rich and fulfilling life and succeeded in her plan to pay it forward.

Rochelle Haas
Library Volunteer
McKinley Presidential Library & Museum

Hoover-Evacuee Author…

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Author, Ballroom, Children, company, downtown Canton, employees, England, Evacuee, foster families, historic hotel, History, holiday tradition, Hoover, Hoover Historical Center, Hotel Onesto, immersed, Indiana, London, North Canton, North Canton Heritage Society, novel, ohio, old historic building, President McKinley, Ramsayer Research Center, researchers, restoration, sojourner, Stark County, Thanksgiving, threads, transformation, United States, World War II

More often than we can count the Ramsayer Research Center is asked to provide information on an interesting topic concerning either Stark County or President McKinley. We are honored and consider it fun and a privilege to help these fellow researchers “Seek the Threads.” This is the story of one of our visiting researchers and her experiences here.

Hoover Evacuee Author

We were once again given the opportunity to host and help fellow sojourner, Rebecca McVay from central Indiana. We first met Rebecca and her father in 2015. She returned in 2019 to continue her search for the threads of history that tied together people in little North Canton and London, England.

Rebecca is writing a novel on the experiences of children of Hoover Company employees who worked at a branch of the company just north of London, England during World War II. Many children were brought to the United States to escape the war and placed with North Canton foster families. This is Rebecca’s third trip to Canton, Ohio to research in the Ramsayer Research Center, the North Canton Heritage Society, and the Hoover Historical Center, which is now maintained and administered by Walsh University, North Canton, Ohio.

Herb Hoover Sr. pictured here hosted at least one Thanksgiving dinner for the English evacuees in Hotel Onesto’s Ballroom. Rebecca was given the opportunity to visit the building, now known as the Onesto Lofts, located on North Cleveland Avenue and 2nd Street N.W., Canton, Ohio. Steve Coon and his team at Coon Restoration & Sealants were the people responsible for taking an old historic building in downtown Canton. Ohio and bringing it back to its former glory. Much appreciation goes to Brett Haverlick, project manager for the restoration and transformation of the historic hotel into condos. Brett is a good friend of the Ramsayer Research Center and on a Sunday morning he made a special trip from Akron, Ohio to Canton to show Rebecca the former hotel. She was immersed in a location visited by the English evacuees in the 1940’s. Rebecca walked on the same floors where these children had experienced American kindness and holiday tradition some eighty years earlier. There is much more to the story of her latest visit, but we will leave that for another time.

Mark G. Holland
February 14, 2023
McKinley Presidential Library & Museum

Uncovering Daisy: Daisy Lillian (Fox) Schoener.

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Archives, Charles Krickbaum, Church, Clay Township, Dennison, eclampsia, First Evangelical Brethren, Gnadenhutten Cemetery Gnadenhutten, historical societies, Huron County, influenza, Inspire Others, Libraries, Massillon, Massillon City Hospital, Monroeville, ohio, Past and Present, seek the threads, Stark County Probate Records, Tuscarawas County, Urichsville, West Lawn Cemetery, Wyandot County

…was born in Nevada, Wyandot County in the north western part of Ohio. By the 1900 census the Samuel and Alice (Nussbaum) Fox family was living in Clay Township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio. The household consisted of son, Simon age twenty, daughter Rose age sixteen, Earnest thirteen, Daisy seven, and Estella age three. Samuel Fox was a railroad laborer. Clay Township, is southwest of Dennison, and Urichsville, in Tuscarawas County. Today most people do not consider Dennison, and Clay Township to be a far drive from Canton, Ohio, but in the early 20th century it was quite a trek. 

By 1912 Daisy had met William Schoener born in Monroeville, Huron County, Ohio. Daisy Lillian Fox was married to William Schoener on November 26, 1912 by Reverend Charles W. Recard of the First Evangelical Brethren Church of Canton, Ohio. Probate Judge Charles Krickbaum recorded this marriage in the Stark County Probate Records on June 6, 1913. Meredith as he preferred to be called was twenty-one, and Daisy was nineteen years old when the two became one. Both were residents of Massillon, Ohio when they were married. By 1920 the Schoener family was back in Tuscarawas County, with two boys Ralph six, and his one and a half year old brother John. 

In 1922 Daisy had a baby boy named Dean Meredith, but he died and was buried in the Gnadenhutten Cemetery in the village of  Gnadenhutten, Ohio on March 21, 1922. The family eventually made their home way back to Stark County to live in Massillon. Daisy was pregnant and developed eclampsia, and influenza. She died in the Massillon City Hospital on Tuesday January 10, 1933. She was forty years old leaving her husband Meredith, two daughters Betty Jean and Mary Jane and three sons Ralph, John, and Thomas. Daisy was buried in West Lawn Cemetery in Section Z on January 12, 1933. 

Libraries, archives, and local historical societies are invaluable in helping to provide families with necessary  information. In my experience visiting libraries or archives for which I am unfamiliar, can be a rather cold experience, or sometimes a frustrating one. Recently, I was reminded of the importance of always viewing a situation from the other person’s point of view. When a patron is reaching out for help it is important to put yourself in their place. The McKinley Presidential Library & Ramsayer Research Center is a great laboratory in which we test these actions. The volunteer staff care for and validate each patron and each story they bring to us. We have helped literally hundreds of people find grandma’s house, find the footprint of a relative’s home, or find a letter or photograph that the patron never knew existed. 

We are proud of our work, and always strive to connect the past and present. Thank you for continuing to support our cause to seek, find, and knock.  

We Seek the Threads that connect the Past and Present, to Inspire Others in Their Quests…

This is WHY we do what we do

November 16, 2022 McKinley Presidential Library & Museum