Tag Archives: Ohio history

Anthony Wayne

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There is a lot to learn about Anthony Wayne, and not all information can be put into one post. We highly recommend learning more about Anthony Wayne’s life.

Anthony Wayne was born January 1, 1745 in a log cabin in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Although his father wanted him to be a farmer, Anthony was charmed by his father’s stories of his time in the French and Indian War, and dreamed of being in the military. Anthony was educated as a surveyor and worked for Benjamin Franklin surveying land on Nova Scotia for a year. Anthony married Mary Penrose in 1766 and together they had two children, Margretta and Isaac. Wayne was a well-known philanderer, causing estrangement with his wife.

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Ida Weller

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Ida Evaline Albrecht (later Albright) was born in 1876 to farmer parents. Her father’s farm was located on the western side of State Route 48, where Bethany Lutheran Village now stands.

In 1893, At the age of 17, Ida graduated from the Washington Township High School on West Franklin Street. The building still stands today, and until recently, was the Las Piramides Mexican restaurant. Two years later at the age of 19, Ida earned her teaching certificate from Ohio Northern College and from 1895-1897, Ida taught at Schoolhouse Number 8, which was located at McEwen Road and State Route 725.
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This Day in History – April 30th, 1802

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On April 30, 1802, Thomas Jefferson signed the Enabling Act that laid that groundwork for Ohio to become a state.

Arthur St. Clair, one of the co-founders of Dayton, was a staunch Federalist and opposed Ohio becoming a state. As Governor of the Northwest Territory, he believed that Federalists could keep control by keeping the states small. The population requirement to become a state was 60,000. For reference, Kettering’s population in 2017 was 55,175.

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This Day in History – May 1st, 1863

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In a speech in Mount Vernon on May 1, 1863, Clement Laird Vallandigham declared that the Civil War was being fought to gain “the freedom of the blacks and the enslavement of the whites.”

He went on to say that President Abraham Lincoln was using the war as an excuse to squelch Constitutional rights.

Days later, federal troops broke down the door at his home on Wilkinson and First Streets in Dayton. He was arrested for violation of General Order 38, which prohibited declarations of sympathy for the Confederacy.

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Victor Galbraith

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Note: Based on conflicting sources during my research while writing this, most of the information is based on the overall consensus of the facts during that time.

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere…

Many have heard or at least heard of the poem Paul Revere’s Ride, but how many have heard of the poem titled Victor Galbraith, also by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow? Before you read it, let’s get a little background:

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The Day They Hung John McAfee

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In 1825, a man by the name of John McAfee was convicted of murdering his wife and sentenced to death by hanging. Although he never made a formal confession, he was said to have written one out in rhyme:

Draw near young man and hear from me
my sad and mournful history.
And may you ne’er forgetful be
of all this day I fell to thee.

Before I reached my fifth year,
my father and my mother dear
were both laid in their silent grave
by Him who their being gave.

No more a mother’s love I shared,
no more a mother’s voice I heard,
no more was I a father’s joy –
I was a helpless orphan boy.

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The Man Who Sent Wilbur on the Wright Path

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If any fact is known about Dayton, it’s that Wilbur and Orville Wright created their heavier-than-air Flying Machine in Dayton, Ohio. What many don’t know, is that it almost didn’t happen.

Wilbur had set his sights on Yale. A star athlete in football, skating, and gymnastics, Wilbur intended to leave Dayton behind. It was the Winter of 1886 that changed the course of history for Wilbur and the future of flight.

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The Story of Jack the Strangler

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The influence of Jack the Ripper had a worldwide effect, along with the tabloid-like practice of naming killers. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a series of criminals were given similar monikers, from Jack the Peeper, a man who broke into houses to tickle the feet of the lady residents, Jack the Grabber, an exhibitionist, all the way to Dayton, where a vicious serial killer who terrorized Dayton for 9 years (1900-1909) was nicknamed, “Jack the Strangler.”

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Dayton Firsts Parts 1

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Curious about the early days of Dayton? Here’s a little more information:

First Surveyor – Daniel C. Cooper, of New Jersey. He laid out lands now embraced within the city of Dayton.
    
First Blacksmith – The first blacksmith to open up a shop in Dayton was John Burns. Others opening in competition with him were Obadiah Conover, Jacob Kuhn and James Davis.

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