Tag Archives: Dayton Unknown

E.E. Alderman & His Postcards

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Back in May of 2014, we shared a quick blurb about E.E. Alderman:

E. E. Alderman, a Daytonian interested in short wave reception, relayed thousands of messages to families during WWII. Families received news of whether their loved ones had died, were prisoners, or were coming home. By doing this for the Dayton community, it is estimated that he relayed messages to over 9,000 families.

As a result of this, one of our readers reached out to us to share two postcards that E.E. Alderman sent about his grandfather, Private G.M. Brown.

The first postcard, dated December 12, 1944, was addressed to the postmaster of Canandaigua, New York to notify the kin of Brown’s capture by the Germans.

12-12-1944 Front

12-12-1944 Back

The second post card was to Brown’s sister Doris, dated December 22, 1944. This message thanked her for her contribution to Alderman’s endeavors and notifying her that her brother was safe and well, although still a Prisoner of War.

12-22-1944 Front

12-22-1944 Back

Our reader, Pete Granger, has donated these postcards and many other documents related to his grandfather’s service to the National Infantry Museum & Soldier Center.

Johnny Morehouse

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If you ask any research author what the bane of their existence is, it’s when they publish their research on any topic just to find more information after publishing.In 2014 Dayton Unknown posted a story about Johnny Morehouse, and over the years we’ve gathered much more information about both his life and afterlife.

John Newton Morehouse, Jr. (known as Johnny) was born in 1855, the younger son of John Newton Morehouse, Sr., and Mary Margaret (Browning) Morehouse. John and Mary were married December 23, 1851. John Sr. was a shoe cobbler and the family lived in the back of their shoe repair store. By the time of Johnny’s death on August 14, 1860, John Sr. was divorced from Mary and married to Barbara, his second wife.

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The Kettering Bug – The World’s First Drone

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In 1917, the US Army asked Charles F. Kettering to design an unmanned “flying machine” which could hit a target from 40 miles away. Kettering designed the Kettering Aerial Torpedo (later known as the Kettering Bug) and it was built by the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company, with Orville Wright acting as the aeronautical consultant on the project. The Kettering Bug was a predecessor of today’s cruise missiles and UAVs.

Launched using a dolly-and-track system (similar to how the first flight was launched), the Bug was capable of striking targets up to 75 miles away and could travel at speeds of 50 miles per hour. The Bug consisted of an engine, fuselage, and wings and cost about $400 each to produce. The fuselage was made out of papier-mache and wood laminates, and the wings were built out of cardboard. The Bug also had a small onboard gyroscope to guide the Bug to its target.
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Phil the Werewolf

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Recently the City of Piqua asked Halloween Loving Mary Simmon’s to take down her “seasonal wolf decoration”. The statue, which Mary named Phil, is a 10-foot werewolf statue Mary didn’t take down after Halloween.

Although most of her neighbors and the commenters online love the statue and want it to stay, a few complainers have reported her to the city. The complaints prompted the notice, but Piqua has also said that Simmons can keep Phil up if she wants.

To continue with the “seasonal” label, Simmons is looking into dressing Phil for holidays, including a Thanksgiving outfit.

Dayton Facts

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  • Stivers School for the Arts was named for Civil War Veteran, Captain Charles Bryan Stivers, who later became a school principal.
  • Hedgeapple plants (aka Osage orange trees) were planted in the 1820s in Bellbrook as fences. A salesman came to Bellbrook and sold them to the farmers and pioneers, touting their ability to keep the cattle in and the hardness of the wood to make wheel spokes.
  • Middletown was named because its founder, Daniel Doty, estimated it was roughly equidistant between Cincinnati and Dayton.
  • Bellbrook Magnetic Springs was once considered to be a magic spot. Legend is that the native Americans believed the water was medicinal and came from all around to drink it. A similar legend holds in Yellow Springs, and it is believed the Yellow Spring water attracts supernatural energy. Maybe that’s why Bellbrook has so many hauntings?
  • The oldest known grave in Miami Valley is Henry Stettler, who died January 28, 1791.

More Street Names:

  • Broadwell — Silas Broadwell, a town marshal.
  • Chickahominy and Chickamauga Avenues — both are named for Civil War battles.
  • Master Avenue – Named for the Master Electric Company
  • The popular angel monument at Woodland is the grave of Asa McMillan, who operated a wool manufacturing company. The McMillAn Angel base and cross were carved from Dayton Limestone and the angel was sculpted in Italy from Carerra Marble. The right arm is resting on a stone slab and a rag in her left hand to symbolize wiping a slate clean after death and past sins are forgiven.
  • During excavation at Research Park for a DP&L building, the remains of two people were discovered. The coroner and an archeological firm were called out to investigate. An estimated 75 bodies were buried at the location, which is believed to be the site of a 19th century Shaker cemetery, as the Shakers once lived on that section of land.

This Weekend’s Events

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Looking for something to do this weekend? Here are a few events!

Peter Sunderland

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Samuel Spencer born on April 14th, 1698 in Yorkshire England. Born to the 3rd Earl of Sunderland Charles and his commoner wife Judith, Samuel was not entitled to any inheritance or title due to his mother’s status. This led Samuel and his family to immigrate to the United States in 1737 with his children, including son William. The family all took on the surname Sunderland upon their arrival in the United States. In 1770, William Sunderland married Sarah Barraclough in Burlington County, New Jersey. William and Sarah eventually came to Ohio in 1795 along with their 18-year-old son, Peter.

Peter went on to live a storied life in Centerville.

  • In 1799, Peter Sunderland married Nancy Robbins, the daughter of one of Centerville’s founders, Benjamin Robbins in what was the first wedding ceremony to be performed in Washington Township.
  • In 1802, Peter and his brother Richard bore witness to the first will filed in Montgomery County.
  • In 1803, Peter was the defendant/perpetrator in the first court case in Montgomery County, for assault and battery on a man named Benjamin Scott. The case was held on the upper floor of Newcom’s Tavern. He pled guilt and was fined $6. A year later Scott and Sunderland were back in court, but this time Scott was convicted.
  • Sunderland served in the War of 1812.
  • Around 1820, a stone house was built on Alex-Bell Road (where Fortis College and Cross Pointe Shopping Center are now). The house had a secret hiding place which was used as part of the Underground Railroad.
  • In 1826, a slave from Kentucky known as “Black John” took refuge in the Sunderland house. When a group of men came to “reclaim” John, Peter threatened them and yelled for Black John to escape. Black John ran into the nearby woods and disappeared.
  • After hearing a rumor of an Indian uprising, Peter built a large stone springhouse on his property to protect the area. When the land was being cleared in the early 1980s for development, the spring house was rediscovered and subsequently dismantled and reassembled in Stubb’s Park.

Peter Sunderland died October 2, 1841 at the age of 67 years old. He is buried in the Sugar Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in Centerville along with his father, mother, and wife.

The Tragic & Sensationalized Death of Anna Hockwalt

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Anna Hockwalt
Date of Death: January 10, 1884

“Wisely they leave graves open for the dead
‘Cos some to early are brought to bed.”

During the flurry of activity in preparation for her brother’s wedding, Anna Hockwalt (also spelled Hochwalt) sat down in a chair, overcome with the excitement of the day. Moments later her mother found her in that chair, dead. A doctor determined she “was of excitable temperament, nervous and affected with sympathetic palpitation of the heart.” The wedding carried on, but with marked sadness permeating the ceremony.

The following day, attendees of Anna’s funeral remarked how natural her skin looked and that her coloring was that of a living person. Later, they told Anna’s mother they couldn’t shake the impression that she may not have been dead when buried. They approached her parents asking them to check. This idea persisted until finally the parents couldn’t take it anymore, and unearthed Anna’s coffin.
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