- On February 25, 1879, Susan Koerner Wright, mother to Wilbur and Orville, gave birth to twins. Unfortunately, Ida and Otis were not long for this earth. Otis lived for 13 days, and Ida lived 18 days. They were buried at the Old Greencastle Cemetery. In the year 2000, an excavation of the twins’ grave searched for remains, but only found some wood fragments that could have been from a casket. Soil was collected from that part of the grave, roughly enough to fill a three pound coffee can, and buried at the Wright Family plot in Woodland. The marker from the twins’ grave was moved and placed next to the family monument.
- Dayton’s first known murder occurred on November 20, 1806. John Aiken beat his wife, Rachel, to death. He was arrested and held at McCollum’s Tavern. John was dead before he could appear in court. It was possibly suicide, but records do not exist to confirm what happened
The fun facts below came from the book Ohio Legends Volume 1, written by our late friend Jeff Wilson
- Eliam Barney and Ebenezer Thresher founded the Barney and Smith Car Company in 1849. Their factory in Dayton produced the finest railroad freight and passenger cars in the country. When Barney started the company, Dayton didn’t have any railroads! The first railroad cars had to be delivered by canal boat and horse drawn wagons
- The Wright Brothers made their own printing press from buggy parts and a discarded tombstone.
- Buckeye Bigfoot – the most recent sighting of Ohio’s Bigfoot was in 2012 in Xenia. It was described as a “shaggy beast with glowing eyes” and matched a 1995 sighting in Youngstown.
- Dayton’s leading newspapers refused to report the story of Wilbur and Orville’s first flying machine because they thought it was a hoax.
Clemens “Clemmy” Focke
Clemmy and his mother had just left early mass and headed to his grandmother’s house for a visit. When they arrived, Clemmy joined his younger brother Edward outside while their mother and grandmother headed into the house. The boys played outside for a bit and some other boys from the neighborhood joined them. It was hot outside and one of the boys suggested they go take a swim.
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1936 “Treasure Hunt” for Dayton History Facts
- Presiding Judge: Hon Francis Dunley
- Associate Judges: Isaac Spinning, Benjamin Archer, John Ewing
- Officers:
- George Newcom, Sheriff
- Benjamin Van Cleve, clerk
- James Miller, coroner
The court opened July 27, 1803, but there were no cases, so court adjourned that evening. Most of the male population of Dayton had turned out for the opening, and it was met with great excitement. The judges and lawyers slept in one room of the tavern overnight and left together the next morning to open court in Xenia. The next session of court was not held until November 22, 1803, and it was held until a tree behind the tavern. Sheriff Newcom was needed to control the crown gathering to listen to testimony from witnesses and jury deliberation.
2. Dayton was almost called Venice. Before Dayton was settled in 1796, Maj Benjamin Stites, John Stites Gano, and William Goforth had made plans for a settlement to be named Venice. It was located at the mouth of the “Tiber”, as they called Mad River at the time. They had agreed to purchase the land from John Cleves Symmers for 83 cents an acre and a contract was signed. Unfortunately for the men, Symmes had some issues with the government and the Native Americans in the area and the troubles forced them to abandon the plan for Venice.
3. The first town election was held on the first Monday in May 1805. The select council of the town was comprised of the seven trustees, with the president also serving as the mayor.
4. The first county election was held in 1802. Jerome Holt, County Sheriff, gave notice to Daytonians to convene at Newcom’s on April 1, then elect by ballot a chairman, a town clerk, three or more trustees, two or more overseers of the poor, three fence viewers, two appraisers of houses, a lister of taxable property, a sufficient number of supervisors of roads, and one or more constables.
A Wedding and a Funeral
Andrew arose on the morning of April 28th at 6:30, ready for a long day of both happiness and sadness. As he dressed and prepared for his wedding, his uncle arrived and noticed three packages on the porch. His uncle brought the three packages in, believing them to be wedding presents. Andrew’s sister and two of his aunts gathered around the table as he began opening presents. The first package Andrew opened was a wedding gift, and the second was a cardboard box wrapped in brown paper. As he began opening the box, it exploded. The blast blew a hole three inches by 6 inches in the table, knocked out chunks of plaster from the ceiling and walls, and damaged furniture and light fixtures. The explosion was heard several blocks away.
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Fox Terrier Saves Family
The fire appeared to have started in the dining room, but it is unclear how it started.
Have You Seen this Bench?
Local Author and Artist Jeff Wilson
Now there are over 300 drawings, facts, and stories about Ohio’s rich history. Many were contributed by friends, family, and readers. Jeff verifies the facts and creates the drawings for those contributions. Three books, titled Ohio Legends 1, Ohio Legends 2, and Ohio Legends 3 have been printed with these fascinating stories and facts.
We had the honor of meeting Jeff in 2019, when all three of us were published in Wright Library’s zine glide, which is an art and literary zine made up of poetry, short stories, essays, and art focusing on the Miami Valley. glide was published as both a hard copy and a digital copy. There were so many entries that an additional online zine, glide on was made available as well. We are sad to share that Jeff passed way in September of 2024, but he will always be an Ohio Legend to us.
A Duel Ends in Murder
Long time friends Clifford “Tacks” Latimer and Charles Mackrodt had been enmeshed in an argument regarding Mackrodt’s dismissal from his job at the railway police force, where Latimer served as his superior.
The men met up at the southwest corner in front of the Commercial and Savings bank and walked across the intersection to the northwest corner, where they argued in front of the Steele Building. Witnesses overheard the men discussing a duel, and they agreed to walk to a nearby alley to engage. Apparently, Mackrodt changed his mind at the last moment and turned to walk away when Latirmer pulled out a revolver and shot Mackrodt three times in the back. One of the shots pierced his heart and caused instant death. The other two shots would have likely proved fatal as well.
Deputy Sheriff John Baugan witnessed the shooting and along with Sheriff Morris Sharp, ran to the scene and arrested Latimer, who still had the revolver in his hand. Latimer did not resist arrest. He was held in the county jail, charged with first degree murder. Latimer claimed he shot Mackrodt in self defense, but was ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Seven Daschunds
Dye himself was an avid dog lover and was surprised at this answer. He mentioned that he had a dog of his own, a greyhound. To this, the German replied that the dogs he was worried about were faster and said that they were dachshunds. Dye roared with laughter at this response, imagining the tiny dogs racing past his greyhound. Indignant, the German replied that he had killed a man in Germany and immediately took the first boat out of the country. The dead man’s seven dogs followed him onto the boat, and he hadn’t a moment’s peace since. In the distance, the men heard the faint sound of dogs barking. Dye was still laughing at the story. The German retorted that he would fool the dogs that night. The pack barked and snarled outside Dye’s home all night. In the morning, when Dye went to wake the old man, he was gone. It appeared he had climbed out of the second-story window. From there, he climbed into a tree, then presumably leapt onto a passing wagon heading out of town—all to elude the dogs tracking his scent. He was never seen again, but the dogs remained outside Dye’s house for six nights before giving up on their target.
Read this and other tales of Bizarre Beasts in Sar’s book Dayton Ghosts & Legends, available through Amazon and major book retailers. Autographed copies available directly from the author on SaraKaushal.com
John Hinckley’s Visit to Dayton
Hinckley had been obsessed with the 1976 movie Taxi Driver, the premise of which was an assassination attempt. He was convinced he was in love with the leading actress, Jodie Foster.
Hinckley had been on a cross country campaign of his own, attempting to leave notes for and make contact with Foster. Her rejection of him sent him into a spiral. He needed to make a name for himself, he decided. After a while he determined the only way to get her attention was to shoot a president. Hearing about Carter’s election campaign, he traveled to Dayton to attend the next rally on October 2, 1980.
Hinckley stayed at the Sheraton Hotel at 21 S Jefferson Street and requested a room with a view of the Convention center where Carter would be speaking. He was given room 818 and paid a total fee of $35.52.
Fortunately for Carter and unfortunately for Hinckley, the crowd attracted was too large for Hinckley to be able to find a good point from which to shoot. Hinckley had left his weapons in his hotel room and was not in the mood to attempt to shoot after seeing the crowd.
After this event, Hinckley made several more attempts to shoot Carter and temporarily turned his sights to a leader of the American Nazi party. After many more failed attempts, he gave up and went home. During that time, he saw a psychiatrist, but did not mention his assassination attempts or his obsession with Jodie Foster.
When Carter lost the reelection campaign to Ronald Reagan, Hinckley turned his sights to President Reagan. He fired 6 shots and hit President Reagan and 3 of his attendants in front of the Washington Hilton before the Secret Service subdued him. President Reagan suffered a shot to the lung, missing his heart. During the chaos, he’d been shoved into the limo by a Secret Service agent and was unaware he’d been injured. He spent 12 days in the hospital before returning to the White House. Press Secretary James Brady was severely injured, suffering permanent brain damage after a shot to his head.
Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a mental health facility. He was ultimately released in 2018.
Dayton Unknown 