March 22, 2025 NV# 137
“There’s a fine line between a numerator and a denominator. Only a fraction of people will find this funny.”- Anon.
DESKTALK: Its all there. On my computer(s). I just have to find it. And that’s another story – a long one (sometimes). I still subscribe to lessons about my Macs. I still learn new things and have even more to learn.
It’s fascinating stuff.
As I have recently indicated I am currently working with QR coding. It’s really interesting (also fascinating). The crux of the matter – & question – is “How to use them?”
It is likely that most people are way ahead of me when it comes to using a phone to get info from them. But for me – a guy who doesn’t particularly like phones (cell or otherwise) – it’s a new experience. I’ve had a cell phone for a long time but seldom use it, let alone to interpret QR codes.
But suddenly, the proverbial “light went on” and I see the advantage. At least I see it as a useful tool for the Vermilion History Museum. At this time I have codes on five of the print presses and one on an old photo of the first newspaper press.
I plan to make more of them. They’re not terribly hard to create. But the big question is “Will anybody use them?”.
I am working, of course, with the assumption that most folks carry a phone these days. Many visitors ask if it’s “ok” if they take photographs (with their phones), and some interrupt tour talks. So, it’s become a “common thing”.
The other thing is that I believe I can make codes that visitors, etc. can save after they leave the museum. That’s because some of the information I make available is informative and, for some, it might be worth saving.
I guess, like many other things, only time will tell.
UNUSUAL..Well, it’s unusual for me. I just came across this pic this week in Ancestry. (It wasn’t in color.)
The lady holding the cat on the right is my paternal grandmother, Maud Eleano Lynch-Tarrant, (Not my sister Ellie.)
This is unusual (for me) because it is only the 2nd pic I’ve ever seen of her. I don’t believe she ever visited Vermilion, and she passed away four years before I was born.
I never knew any of my grandparents – maternal or paternal. So this is kind of a “big deal find” for me. She was born in Nova Scotia, Canada in 1875, and later the family moved to Vermont and then Portland Maine.
I envy folks who got to know their grandparents. (At least “I think” I do.) I have met some of her relatives (my cousins). But I’ll always wonder.🐈⬛
TELL ME A STORY: Last year I came across a book called “Whatever Happened to the ‘Paper Rex’ Man? and other stories of Cleveland’s Near West Side”. It is a collection of vignettes (stories) written by various persons who live or lived on the West Side of Cleveland during the 20th century. It was published in 1993 and went through at least 2 printings.
But one thing for sure. People did and do remember those days.
Anyway I believe it would be a nice idea for the Vermilion History Museum to put together a similar tome – one that featured stories from our community.
In literary terms, a vignette is a short, descriptive passage that captures a moment in time. It can enhance a mood, develop a character, or describe a setting.
In the last few weeks I have received more great stories from Vermilion expats. (Thanks.)
They’ll be added to the wonderful stories I acquired last year – But I need more. It doesn’t have to be a novel. 500 to 1000 words would be great. And do not worry about spelling or grammar, etc. The stories would be edited. (Even I – who writes “stuff” every day – make mistakes.)
Just take one little thing about your life in Vermilion during the 20th century and write about it. Then give or send it to me with your name.
I would like, maybe, 50 stories (1 or 2 from each person). And when all is said and done I’ll publish those stories in a nice book. Any and all funds realized from any publication will be used to support the Vermilion History Museum (a 501c3 nonprofit organization).
Please don’t be shy. I really, really would like to hear your stories.
As an old Pepsi Cola truck driver once wisely told me, “I know what I know. You know what you know. But I won’t know what you know unless you tell me.”
Feel free to call me @440-967-4555 or email me @ rnt@twc.com – or just
stop at the museum.🐈⬛
YOU'RE (still) INVITED
This is A VERY SPECIAL NOTE
NEW: I’ve added a “special section” to the “Past 20 Years” part of the page. You will find there nearly (but not all) every video and audio production I’ve published over the last few years. They’re not arranged as nicely as I want them to be. But they’re all there – and I’ll add to them as time passes.
A VERY RICH COMMENTARY
HOW TO SAVE BILLIONS: Forget about exploring outer space. Try exploring and saving our planet for the people who live here.
A Few More Pages
Part of the "Black Cat" Series
Ellen Roscoe talks about her husband's family...
WHO CAN SAY(45) who can say / what’s right? / for everyone / in the world. / the Jesus I knew / worked at the steel mill / & / everyone laughed / at who / he wasn’t / but who / can say(?) / who he wasn’t. – March 23, 2024
VERMILION HISTORY THEATRE: Due to all the distractions surrounding me lately I neglected to keep the link to the History Audio/ Video Theatre. So – click on the name above and visit.
A Day in 1958, etc.
The photograph accompanying this essay may appear to some to be remarkably unremarkable. It is – as is obvious – a picture of what appears to be some military related float being towed down a street by a nice Chevrolet sedan occupied by some ladies. And although it is not exceptionally old from my point-of-view (only 67 years have passed) it is quite worthy of some elucidation.
The photo was taken by a local man named Albert Lingelbach. While he was not a professional “picture-taker” he certainly was an extremely talented amateur. This particular photograph is one of ten emailed to me some years ago by a former Vermilionite, friend and school mate – the late Dana Buell-Wheeler.
Taken on Memorial Day in 1958 the float being towed by the 1956 Chevrolet was apparently sponsored by Vermilion’s American Legion Fiebirch Post #397. The sailor holding the American Flag is Glenn Owen. The other fellow – holding the Post Flag – is Mike Blakely. The young lady holding the lantern – that one might assume represented “The Light of Freedom” – was a Kubishke girl. (I apologize for not recalling her first name.) One of the little girls on the float, who I additionally assume were symbolic “Embers of Freedom” appears to be another local resident, Karen Moats.
Blakely, Owen, and Miss Kubishke were popular high-school students. The boys were members of a local Sea Scouting Troop that was led at one time or another by several local well-known residents such as Larry Shafts, Bob Liljegren and Leroy Lee. Mr. Lee, incidentally, operated Lee’s Boat Yard (currently known as Vermilion Power Boats Inc.). I don’t know anything about Mr. Lee’s military background, but I do know that both Shafts and Liljegren were U.S. Navy war veterans.
Glenn Owen’s father, Lloyd, was a decorated veteran of the First World War and was quite active in the local America Legion Post. Mike’s parents, at one time, ran the Dari-Bar Restaurant (now the site of the Old Prague Restaurant) on Liberty Ave.
The woman in the back seat of the now vintage Chevy I recognize was the late Louise Moats. Karen Moats (one of the little girls on the float) was one of her two daughters. Mrs. Moats’s husband, Harold, (also a war vet) was a butcher who at one time owned a tiny grocery store on the south side of Liberty Avenue in the main part of town. It was sandwiched between the former Williams Law offices (currently the Wine Vault) and Leidheiser’s (currently the Route 6 Pub) Restaurant. Several years later he built a larger market (IGA) just east of the Vermilion-On-The Lake Bridge (currently housing the NAPA auto parts store).
This photo was snapped as the car and float were passing in front of the Dennis Fish Company on Liberty Avenue. That building is currently a part of Moes Marine Service Inc. Dennis Fish was a wholesale / retail operation that supplied many local eateries, individuals, and families in the region with fresh seafood on a daily basis. While they did market fish from local sources they also sold salt water catches which included, among other things, fresh lobster and shrimp. It was one of those businesses that no one really thought they’d miss – until it was gone. And by then it was too late.
As previously said, this photo, to some folks, may seem rather insignificant. But for a few who do recall these shadows captured by the lens of Mr. Lingelbach’s camera in that yesteryear – I challenge you to look at this picture without adding some details and great memories of your own. It is wonderfully impossible.
Ref: Ref: VPJ 04/03/2009; Rev. 03/16/2025.
© RNT March 16, 2025
the history of erie county in ohio (Continued)
506ec…but burned some years later, and the present brick block was erected in its place.
Looking today at the quiet, peaceful old village, with its abundance of time for recreation and rest, with its beautiful drives, picturesque park, and general air of comfort and freedom from care concerning the world of business, it seems difficult to realize that in a single day thirty to forty thousand bushels of grain have been loaded at its wharf; that the old canal in a single year paid over a hundred thousand dollars in tolls; and that there was an export trade of $825,000 in one year (1844), and an import trade of but two hundred thousand dollars less.
Prior to the War of 1812 there were about one hundred and ninety people in Milan township. F. W. Fowler gives the names of heads of families at that time as follows: Hosmer Merry, R. Pixley, G. Harvey, in section one; David Abbott, D. Barrett, J. Ward, E. Pollock, J. Leach, N. Glines, A. Mason, and A. Collins, in section two; T. Jeffry, Josiah Smith, William Smith, P. Tillotson, George Colvin, D. Kinney, E. Kinney, S. Kinney, and D. Smith, in section three; section four containing the families of C. Parker, \V. Perry, J. Payne, W. Hubbard, J. Guthrie, William Howard, A. Wilson, and John Eldridge. The war, as stated, annoyed the early settlers, and when Hull’s paroled troops were returning home, a great panic was created here and throughout the Firelands by the report of redcoats in force on the lake shore.
Many families came into‘ this section from 1830 to 1850, whose descendants form the staunch farmers and business men of the present time. The population of the township and corporate village was 2,239 in 1880. The corporation limits, which were established in 1833, have never been extended, though an effort was made a few years ago to extend the lines to include Avery Station on the “Nickel Plate Railroad.” The town has contained, from 1850 to the present time, about twelve or thirteen hundred people, but the corporation contained only a few more than eight hundred in 1880.
School facilities are furnished to many outside the corporation, as the special district limits extend much further in some directions.
Among the present active business houses of Milan are A. Streck’s meat market, the Lockwood stores already mentioned, A. P. Mowry & Son’s hardware, which was established many years ago, but is still abreast of the times in all respects, M. Harter’s old and well established drug trade, the old reliable merchant tailoring establishment of Henry Kurtz, Star Flour Mills, for a considerable time operated by William Winslow and L. Roscoe, and Samuel Fish & Son, who succeeded to the old Turner Tile Factory in East Milan, and have perfected the machinery and reduced the manufacture of drain-tile and plant pots to a science, making the smoothest and most durable quality of each. Their business has justified the erection of substantial factory buildings, as well as of tasty and comfortable homes on their pleasant lots above the picturesque…
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY OHIO – With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers – Edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich – Syracuse N.Y. – D. Mason & Co., Publishers – 1889
