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…
By 1812Blockhouse
Shortly before his death in 1909, a husband, a Mansfield native, and wife from Chicago boarded a train and headed south, their destination a relatively new place of higher education in rural Alabama. The couple was no stranger to southern life, having spent years living in Arkansas some three decades before. On this occasion, however, the man was leaving behind a set of business difficulties and accepting a position which had been offered to him by a long-time friend. More…
By Thomas Palmer, 1812Blockouse Owner/Publisher
Permit me to share a bit about a family vacation.
Three weeks ago, I made a trip to visit an iconic landmark of American history — the Battlefield of Gettysburg.
This was my third visit there, the first coming when I was nine or ten years old, the second about 15 years ago. The reason for this trip, one taken with all the COVID-related precautions we could muster, was to take a unique tour with eight other members of my family. Three of my siblings, three nephews, and two significant others drove from Ohio to Pennsylvania in about six hours.
Here is what was up. 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.
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
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 called “Richland Roots.”
During the American Civil War, Ohio and Richland County contributed greatly to the Union cause. We have previously posted stories about soldiers such as General Robert Byington Mitchell, a native Mansfielder. Today we turn our attention to another Mansfield resident who saw service in the Union Army, albeit with a unique twist – Thomas H. Ford. 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 is currently seeing a major restoration effort take place. More…
By: 1812Blockhouse Staff
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.
A woman referred to as one of the leading American businesspersons of the early 20th century received her own start in pre-Civil War Mansfield. More…
By: 1812Blockhouse Staff
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 Staff
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 called “Richland Roots.” This is a brand new post; for other Richland Roots stories, click here.
There are children who you would imagine will live or have lived interesting lives because of their names. Blessed with obviously creative parents, they set out on journeys that take them to places as unique as their monikers.
Such is the case with a set of children born in Richland County in the first half of the nineteenth century, the Poppletons. More…
Bellville, Featured, Richland County History, Richland Roots
Publisher’s Note: Realizing that many Richland Countians are now working from home or forced to remain there due to self-quarantining or reduced travel, we are sharing stories from our archives, and adding some new ones, over the next few weeks in what we hope will be occasional diversions from coronavirus worries. This post was published by 1812Blockhouse back in early 2019:
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. More…
Publisher’s Note: Realizing that many Richland Countians are now working from home or forced to remain there due to self-quarantining or reduced travel, we are sharing stories from our archives, and adding some new ones, over the next few weeks in what we hope will be occasional diversions from coronavirus worries. This post was published by 1812Blockhouse back in late 2018:
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. More…
Famous Sons and Daughters, Mansfield History, Richland Roots
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.
As the country moves toward the centennial of women first voting in a presidential election, we profile a native Richland Countian who contribute in her own unique way to achieving that end. Unfortunately, she never saw the fruits of her work, dying at the young age of 40. More…
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…
We’re continuing our look at the life and work of native Richland Countian Stanley J. Morrow, who was born near Bellville in 1843 and who was trained by famed Civil War photographer Mathew Brady.
Stanley Morrow’s studio in Yankton, Dakota Territory did well. So well, in fact, that Morrow soon opened a branch operation across the Missouri River in Nebraska. Still, he had a sense of adventure, perhaps cultivated in his Civil War experience. Over time, that sense led him to leave the family home and studio and travel westward; each time, he left his wife in charge of the local operation which continued to thrive. More…
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. Among those is a man who learned his trade under extraordinary circumstances, and then used that training to create an important record that survives to this day.
Born near Bellville in 1843, Stanley J. Morrow’s childhood years were contemporaneous with the rise of photography in the United States. More…
