By: 1812Blockhouse
Throughout its history, Richland County has produced or been the home to a wide variety of individuals that have made important contributions to the world. 1812Blockhouse has been sharing their stories in a series we started last year called “Richland Roots.” For other Richland Roots stories, click here.
Occasionally, those tales take a tragic turn. During a film shoot in 1923, an aspiring actress suffered a gruesome fate that cut short what may well have been a brilliant career. This actress not only shared her name with the city of Mansfield, but it was the city that was the source of her professional name – Martha Mansfield. More…
By 1812Blockhouse
In our Richland Roots series, we briefly present the lives of men and women from Richland County — either by birth, or residence — that have made important contributions to American history but who may not be household names. Other posts in our series can be viewed and read here.
Some of these individuals made names for themselves here at home. One such man was Samuel Stambaugh Bloom, who was a state legislator that helped to establish an important institution of higher education you may know (especially if you like anything Buckeye-related).
Bloom was born in Pennsylvania in 1834, and lost her mother shortly after his birth. After his grandfather died when Samuel was 19, he moved west to the then-village of Shelby, a place where his father had emigrated a decade earlier, permanently settling there in 1856. More…
By: 1812Blockhouse
A bit over 120 years ago, a man with strong local roots occupied the position of Mayor of New York City. He was a reformer and set out to improve a corrupt system, a task which did not result in success.
His name was William Lafayette Strong.
1812Blockhouse shares posts in our “Richland Roots” series to reveal stories of the less-commonly known people born here, or who lived here, and then went on to make significant contributions to state, regional, or national history. Other posts in the series are available here. More…
By 1812Blockhouse
In our Richland Roots series, we briefly present the lives of men and women from Richland County — either by birth, or residence — that have made important contributions to American history but who may not be household names.
Other posts in our series can be read here.
Today, we share facts about Brevet Brigadier General Franklin Sawyer. More…
By 1812Blockhouse
Over the last two centuries, Richland County has produced a remarkable set of individuals who have led lives of discovery. In the nineteenth century, that included men and women who traveled west where they were engaged in the exploration of areas of the country that were not then well known to Americans.
Once such individual was Olin Dunbar Wheeler.
Wheeler was born on May 1, 1852 in Mansfield to a Methodist minister and his wife; he had a twin sister, Ellen, who died when she was six weeks old. Orin excelled in schooling, and in 1874 graduated with a degree in civil engineering from Cornell University. More…
By 1812Blockhouse
Her name was Olive San Louie Anderson.
Not only was her name a bit unusual, her life was a pacesetting one in the area of higher education for women. Unfortunately, it was also one which ended in tragedy.
1812Blockhouse shares posts in our “Richland Roots” series to talk about the less-commonly known stories of people born here or who lived here and went on to make significant contributions to state, regional, or national history. Other posts in the series are available here. More…
Authors, Mansfield History, Richland County History, Richland Roots
By 1812Blockhouse
In the 1980s, the name of David L. Cockley and tales of his heroism on the battlefield of the American Civil War, were largely forgotten. Efforts to organize records and sprucing up of Shelby’s Oakwood Cemetery in that period resulted in the recognition of just who he was.
Cockley was born in 1843 and entered the Union Army on October 20, 1862 as a private, quickly advancing to the rank of Full Lieutenant.
It was at the Battle of Waynesboro on December 4, 1864 that Lieutenant Cockley did something truly admirable and for which he was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
More…
By 1812Blockhouse
In our Richland Roots series, we briefly present the lives of men and women from Richland County — either by birth, or residence — that have made important contributions to American history but who may not be household names.
Other posts in our series can be viewed and read here.
Today’s subject may be one of the the wealthiest people that Richland County has ever produced. While that is a difficult concept to measure, in terms of accmuluated wealth for the time in which he or she lived, it would be difficult to beat the financial success of Verner Zevola Reed. More…
By: 1812Blockhouse
1812Blockhouse shares posts in our “Richland Roots” series to reveal stories of the less-commonly known people born here, or who lived here, and then went on to make significant contributions to state, regional, or national history. Other posts in the series are available here.
There are recognized experts in many artistic endeavors that have produced one significant, known work, be it a piece of music or work of art.
Such is the case with a Mansfield man who was an obviously talented architect of granite monuments, but who has only one major commission known to have been built. That particular work, the Steuben County Veterans Monument in Angola, Indiana (pictured above), is a towering column that recently saw a major restoration effort take place. More…
By 1812Blockhouse
Around the turn of the last century, a prolific landscape painter gained a foothold in capturing the scenes of a changing western landscape.
That said, Charles Henry Harmon’s life began hundreds of miles to the east, right here in Richland County.
Born in Mansfield in 1859, he was the son of lawyer George B. and Clara Harmon. By the mid 1870s the family had relocated from Ohio to the sunnier confines of San Jose, California.
More…
By 1812Blockhouse
This week we have joined The Ohio State University at Mansfield in celebrating Bromfield Anniversary Week by reposting previous 1812Blockhouse stories about the author.
Today, we close the week in a different fashion. As the week progressed, we discovered a coincidence about Bromfield’s life which connects his early years in Mansfield with his later success as an author. We are not aware that this story has been shared before this post.
More…Featured, Louis Bromfield, Mansfield History, Richland Roots
By 1812Blockhouse
Throughout its history, Richland County has produced or been the home to a wide variety of individuals that have made important contributions to the world. We profile these individuals in our Richland Roots series.
Not exactly a household name in 21st century Richland County, Friedrich Schnitzer was much better known 125 years ago.
Schnitzer, son of and father of two other men with the same name, was born in Bavaria and emigrated to America with his parents in 1859, depending on the source. His European home sat on 200 acres, and it was said that the family descended from minor nobility.
Before leaving Bavaria, he was trained in architecture at the University of Berlin. More…
By 1812Blockhouse
Throughout its history, Richland County has produced or been the home to a wide variety of individuals that have made important contributions to the world. 1812Blockhouse has been sharing their stories in a series we started last year called “Richland Roots.” For other Richland Roots stories, click here.
Few we have profiled in this series have held the variety of positions that the subject of today’s profile held during his lifetime. Edmund Burke Fairfield was a minister, a politician, a writer, a university executive, and a member of the United States diplomatic corps.
More…
By 1812Blockhouse
1812Blockhouse shares posts in our “Richland Roots” series to reveal stories of the well-known and less-commonly known people born here, or who lived here, and then went on to make significant contributions to state, regional, or national history.
By all accounts, native Mansfielder John J. “Jack” Sturges lived an adventurous life. It was his demise, however, that still fuels claims of paranormal activity in a most unlikely place – Anchorage, Alaska. More…
By 1812Blockhouse
Part One of our first Richland Roots profile on Mansfield native Lloyd Garrison Wheeler can be accessed here.
When Lloyd and Ranie Wheeler made their move to from Illinois to Arkansas in 1870, they had good timing. Just one year later, 3.3 square miles of the central part of Chicago were destroyed by fire.
On the other hand, Reconstruction-era Arkansas was a very difficult location for Wheeler as he set out to establish a law practice. Family legend says that a billy club found within his effects after his death was protection in case he might become the target of Ku Klux Klan activity. More…
