Legends and Lore for Eclipse 2024

_{Richwood Gazette [Richwood, OH], June 22, 1876, 1.}

We are one week away from the 2024 total solar eclipse. So, get out your smoked glass and let’s explore a few burning questions about this cosmic phenomenon!

What makes the eclipse on April 8, 2024, a “once-in-a-lifetime” event?

Every year, there are at least two solar eclipses and about every eighteen months, there is a total solar eclipse somewhere in the world. According to NASA, “it will take about a thousand years for every geographic location in the lower 48 states to be able to view a total solar eclipse” and scientists note these eclipses “recur only once every 360 to 410 years, on average, at any given place.”¹ Based on these estimates, the next solar eclipse to travel across the continental United States from coast to coast will be in 2045 and the next total solar eclipse with visibility in Ohio won’t happen until 2099. Of course, these are averages and estimates used to predict the future (and astronomers have gotten quite good at that!), but if we look to the past, we can see just how rare next week’s eclipse is for Mansfield and Ohio.

Tecumseh

Tenskwatawa

William Henry Harrison

The last time a total solar eclipse was visible in Ohio was on June 16, 1806. Mansfield, established as a city in 1808, didn’t exist yet and Ohio’s statehood was only three years old. Also known as “Tecumseh’s Eclipse, the 1806 event marked a significant moment in settler and Native American relations on the frontier.² The prevailing legend is that, with a fraught peace treaty governing the northwest corner of Ohio (the Greenville Treaty) and a group of Native Americans fighting that treaty agreement in the Indiana Territory, General William Henry Harrison took a direct challenge to Shawnee leaders Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa. Tecumseh and his brothers were very influential figures in this area. Tenskwatawa, a Shawnee prophet, had “hundreds of devotees who followed his every word.”³ Harrison, then governor of the Indiana Territory, challenged Tenskwatawa in a letter dated April 12, 1806, saying if Tenskwatawa could perform miracles, surely, he could “cause the sun to stand still, the moon to alter its course, the rivers to cease to flow or the dead to rise from the graves.”⁴ Harrison wanted to discredit the Shawnee leader but only embarrassed himself in the process. Several historical accounts assert that Tenskwatawa responded to Harrison’s challenge, proclaiming that “in exactly 50 days he would make the moon cover the sun and it would be dark as night.”⁵ We do not know exactly when Tenskwatawa delivered his response to Harrison or whether exactly fifty days had passed when the moon moved to block the sun just before noon on June 16, 1806 (Harrison’s letter was written sixty-five days before the eclipse). At this point, solar eclipses were nothing new to European and Asian scientists and observers, but there were almost thirty years between the first documented eclipse sighting in the United States and the 1806 event – the first eclipse observed in the infant country was on June 24, 1778, visible over modern-day Louisiana.⁶ Therefore, it is not a stretch to suggest that the 1806 eclipse was something settlers on the frontier had never seen before. Anyone, besides Harrison, who may have doubted Tenskwatawa’s prophetic authority were awestruck by the accuracy of his prediction. Those with connections outside the territory, however, may have been granted advance notice of the coming eclipse as announcements had been printed in newspapers in Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland, and elsewhere. In fact, author Paul Cozzens noted the coming of the eclipse was “common knowledge in Detroit where [Tecumseh’s] British allies camped.”⁷ Regardless how Tenskwatawa came to know about the eclipse (whether he used established scientific predictions to his advantage or not), Harrison, having failed in humiliating Tenskwatawa, only grew angrier and many believe the mutual animosity boiled over five years later in the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe that ushered in the War of 1812.⁸

_{A reproduction of the path of the solar eclipse that passed over the United States on June 24, 1778. See “Total Solar Eclipse of 6/24/1778,” Solar-Eclipse.Info, https://www.solar-eclipse.info/en/eclipse/detail/1778-06-24/.}

Another popular tale out of Medina County, Ohio, suggests it was a female member of the Wyandot tribe who predicted the 1806 eclipse. In May 1806, she told others in her tribe “that a great darkness would soon fall over the Earth.”⁹ Unlike the story of Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa, it was not the settler population that did not trust the native woman, but, rather, her own tribe that turned against her. The tribe members considered her prediction to be “a dire threat” and they accused her of practicing witchcraft.¹⁰ According to historian Charles Neil, a council of tribe leaders decided she “should suffer death by strangulation by having invoked the powers of the evil one.”¹¹ Her fate was sealed a few weeks before the eclipse and some of the tribe members responsible for her death may have believed the eclipse was an act of dark revenge from the witch on the other side.¹² This nameless woman’s story is far less common in Ohio eclipse lore likely because the details are sparse and she went to the gallows unidentified, but she is representative of the prevailing wisdom of the time. In nearby Summit County, it is reported that citizens observing the eclipse were “greatly frightened, notwithstanding the event had been foretold by some of the squaws who apparently had gotten knowledge from more enlightened white people. The squaws were not believed and were put to death for witchcraft.”¹³

_{According to the Butler County Press, the 1806 eclipse was truly a memorable one.}

The 1806 eclipse was regarded by astronomers for over half a century as the most memorable one because it was seen “over all parts of North America.”¹⁴ As The Butler County Press of Hamilton, Ohio, reported in 1917, “the day was a remarkably fine one, scarcely a cloud being visible in any part of the heavens.”¹⁵ An incredible sight, surely, for those educated in such astronomical phenomena. Michael E. Bakich notes that “before 1801, eclipse observations were largely descriptive in nature and primarily made to check to the mathematical calculations of astronomers.”¹⁶ By the middle of the nineteenth century, such observations relied less on written descriptions as they could now be visually represented in a more reliable way through photography. On July 28, 1851, Johan Julius Berkowski, a photographer at the Royal Observatory in Königsberg, Prussia, took the first successful photograph of an eclipse’s totality.¹⁷

In the 218 years since Ohio saw its last total solar eclipse, so much has changed! The brief moment of darkness that comes with the totality of the eclipse is now a marvel to behold instead of the harbinger of doom it was once thought to be.

_{One account of the 1806 solar eclipse: Darkness at Noon, or the Great Solar Eclipse of the 16th of June, 1806 by an Inhabitant of Boston.}

Why do we wear special glasses to watch the eclipse?

In anticipation of a solar eclipse in August 1869, the Delaware Gazette in Delaware, Ohio, advised its readers, “in order to observe the eclipse a common opera-glass or small telescope of any kind, provided with a shade-glass to screen the eye will prove efficient. If nothing can be obtained, a bit of plain glass, smoked over a candle or lamp, in some parts more deeply shaded than in others, in order to suit the varying intensity of the sun’s rays, will give a good view of most of the phenomena.”¹⁸ Six decades after the notable eclipse of 1806, Ohioans were less inclined to believe the Earth had plunged into the darkness of night and now viewed solar eclipses with a healthy curiosity.

_{An 1897 newspaper illustration of eclipse observers using their smoked glass for safety. Cincinnati Post, July 29, 1897, 1.}

_{Path of the 1869 eclipse as shown in Scientific American, August 21, 1869, 117.}

The negative effects of looking directly at the sun had long been recognized by scientists, philosophers, and the educated elite. According to Nick Thieme, Ibn al-Haytham, an Egyptian scientist in the tenth century, used the first pinhole camera to view an eclipse.¹⁹ This “camera” in its most basic form is a box with a small pinhole in one end and a translucent screen at the other. The light produced by the eclipse (or any other object) would go through the pinhole where it would be inverted and projected onto the translucent screen.²⁰ Instead of looking directly at the eclipse, you would essentially be observing the eclipse’s shadow; better for your eyes but maybe not the most satisfying for the curious astronomer. King Louis XIV of France is credited with first utilizing smoked glass to view a full solar eclipse around 1706 – the smoked glass covering the lens of his telescope worked to dilute the harmful ultraviolet light of the sun.²¹ A 1798 encyclopedia published in Philadelphia notes, “the sun, tho’ [sic] to human eyes so extremely bright and splendid, is yet frequently observed, even through a telescope of but very small powers, to have dark spots on his surface. These were entirely unknown before the invention of telescopes, though they are sometimes of sufficient magnitude to be discerned by the naked eye, only looking through a smoked glass to prevent the brightness of the luminary from destroying the sight.”²² Smoked glass, in this instance, not only protected the observer’s eyes, it allowed them to see new markings on the sun and this is noted as the moment of discovery of solar spots.²³ Throughout the nineteenth century, British and American newspapers understandably predicted high demand for smoked glass whenever an eclipse was on the horizon.

_{Vintage 1932 Eclipse-O-Scope viewer. Image found on Brian DiMambro’s website: https://briandimambro.com/products/eclipse-o-scope-1932-novelty-promo-sunglasses-mailing-envelope-w-map?variant=48115941179671.}

_{Vintage 1932 Viz-Eclipse viewer. Image found on Vintage-Ephemera.com: https://vintage-ephemera.com/product-detail/389100157.}

By the turn of the twentieth century, smoked glass was becoming less popular and new forms of eclipse eyewear emerged alongside new trends like 3D glasses. Harvey and Lewis, a New England optical supply company, and other similar ventures began producing Eclipse-o-Scope viewers in the 1930s. These were cardboard “eyeglasses” with a small sheet of protective film covering the eyeholes. A 1932 pair marketed as “Viz-Eclipse,” includes a note saying, “this material developed by research expressly for visioning the sun over extended periods without injury to the eye. Approved by Eclipse committee of the American Astronomical Society.”²⁴ But, much like smoked glass and 3D glasses of the time, a user would have to the Eclipse-o-Scope or other viewer in front of their face and while eclipse totality is nowhere near as long as any popular 3D film, the protection offered by these early eclipse glasses was limited. In fact, by the end of World War II, at least one California physician determined smoked glass, photographic film, or even dark sunglasses are not enough protection from the sun.²⁵ Still, others working in the fields of astronomy and physics believed as recently as 1974 that solar eclipses could be “viewed safely through a photographic negative or smoked glass.”²⁶ Today, eclipse glasses are made from a resin containing carbon particles and are certified to meet standards approved by NASA. Contemporary eclipse glasses that you can get for free from the library before April 8, 2024, are made to “reduce the sun’s brightness by about 500,000 times;” regular sunglasses only reduce that brightness by a factor of five.²⁷ Only time will tell if the science and fashion of eclipse eyewear have been perfected but the current sleek design that sits comfortably on your face has been in style since the 1970s.²⁸ As long as the filters remain undamaged, eclipse glasses can be used indefinitely, but any small scratch or tear renders them unusable and it is suggested these glasses be discarded after three years.²⁹

_{“Eclipse-Gazers Warned,” Mansfield News-Journal, June 22, 1954, 4.}

Does the Sherman Room have any eclipse materials in their collections?

Yes! We have a few pieces, including a 2020-2021 yearbook from Clear Fork High School with an eclipse theme. In the opening spread of the book, the editors talk about the Covid-19 pandemic and the atypical year it created, concluding that, like a solar eclipse, “even in the darkest of times, light remains.”³⁰ Our collection also includes two pairs of eclipse glasses from the August 21, 2017, eclipse. Ohio was not in the path of totality for that eclipse, but these glasses commemorate what was dubbed “The Great American Solar Eclipse” since it was the first total solar eclipse visible from coast to coast in nearly a century. The News Journal also notes the 2017 eclipse was “the first total eclipse only visible in the United States since the nation’s founding.”³¹ Despite falling outside the path of totality in 2017, the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library still hosted programs to commemorate the event. Similarly, there has been an array of programs offered this year in anticipation of the April 8 eclipse. We have a copy of the March 2024 “At the Library” newsletter in our collection as well as three pairs of eclipse glasses marking both the April 8 total eclipse and an annular eclipse that took place on October 14, 2023.

_{A sampling of the Sherman Room’s very small collection of eclipse ephemera.}

Since the major history of eclipses in Ohio predates the library – and even Mansfield itself – there is an opportunity to begin preserving this history now. We encourage you to take photos (with all safety precautions in mind) or otherwise document your eclipse experience to share with your friends and family in the future. You are also welcome to donate your eclipse ephemera to the Sherman Room should you so desire, but please note that current collection policy guidelines still apply and we will not be accepting any more eclipse glasses. With seventy-five years until the next eclipse will be visible in Ohio and ninety-three until the next transit of Venus, this is our chance to document a once-in-a-lifetime event!

4093086480

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Total Solar Eclipse

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Transit of Venus

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1. “Eclipses: Frequently Asked Questions,” NASA, https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/faq/; Renee Stockdale-Homick, “Science Books and Films Presents a Read-Around-A-Theme on Solar Eclipses,” American Association for the Advancement of Science, https://www.aaas.org/resources/science-books-and-films-presents-read-around-theme-solar-eclipses. ↩︎
2. Pam Cottrel, “The Total Solar Eclipse of 1806: How a Prediction from ‘The Prophet’ Shaped U.S.-Native American Relations, Springfield News-Sun, March 20, 2024, https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/local/the-total-solar-eclipse-of-1806-how-a-prediction-from-the-prophet-shaped-us-native-american-relations/G2W236VTUFB2TA6AZXUPQQEK6Y/. ↩︎
3. Ibid. ↩︎
4. Seth Borenstein, “Eclipse Lore Full of Blood, Sex, Even Some Snacking,” The Lima News [Lima, OH], August 20, 2017, 3; Sheridan Hendrix, “Fear, Awe and Tecumseh: What Was Life Like in Ohio During the 1806 Total Solar Eclipse,” The Columbus Dispatch, April 4, 2024, https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/local/2024/04/04/how-tecumseh-used-the-1806-total-eclipse-in-ohio-to-his-advantage/72931327007/. ↩︎
5. Cottrel, “The Total Solar Eclipse of 1806.” ↩︎
6. Michael E. Bakich, “A History of Solar Eclipses,” Astronomy, April 5, 2023, https://www.astronomy.com/science/a-history-of-solar-eclipses/. ↩︎
7. Cottrel, “The Total Solar Eclipse of 1806.” ↩︎
8. Ibid. ↩︎
9. Mark J. Price, “Solar Eclipse Proved Deadly Prophesy for Indian Woman,” Akron Beacon Journal, June 6, 2016, B001 and B004. ↩︎
10. Ibid. ↩︎
11. Ibid. ↩︎
12. Ibid. ↩︎
13. Harry L. Hale, “True Tales about Ohio,” The Bluffton News [Bluffton, OH], November 20, 1958, 7. ↩︎
14. “A Memorable Eclipse,” The Butler County Press [Hamilton, OH], January 5, 1917, 1. ↩︎
15. Ibid. ↩︎
16. Bakich, “A History of Solar Eclipses.” ↩︎
17. Ibid. ↩︎
18. “The Eclipse,” Delaware Gazette [Delaware, OH], August 6, 1869, 3. ↩︎
19. Nick Thieme, “A Brief History of Eclipse Glasses and the People Who Forgot to Wear Them,” Slate, August 18, 2017, https://slate.com/technology/2017/08/a-history-of-eclipse-glasses-and-injuries.html. ↩︎
20. Keith Gibbs, “The Pinhole Camera,” SchoolPhysics, 2020, https://www.schoolphysics.co.uk/age11-14/Light/text/Pinhole_camera/index.html; “Pinhole Camera,” March 15, 2021, https://scalar.chapman.edu/scalar/ah-331-history-of-photography-spring-2021-compendium/trinity-hall-essay-1. ↩︎
21. Thieme, “A Brief History of Eclipse Glasses and the People Who Forgot to Wear Them.” ↩︎
22. Thomas Dobson, Colin Macfarquhar, and George Gleig, Encyclopedia: Or, A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature . . . and an Account of the Lives of the Most Eminent Persons in Every Nation, from the Earliest Ages Down to the Present Times (Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson at the Stone House, 1798): 433. ↩︎
23. Ibid. ↩︎
24. “1932 Eclipse-O-Scope – Harvey and Lewis Opticians,” Vintage-Ephemera.com, https://vintage-ephemera.com/product-detail/389100157. ↩︎
25. Thieme, “A Brief History of Eclipse Glasses and the People Who Forgot to Wear Them.” ↩︎
26. “Eclipse Can Be Seen,” The Akron Beacon Journal, December 10, 1974, 18. ↩︎
27. Thieme, “A Brief History of Eclipse Glasses and the People Who Forgot to Wear Them.” ↩︎
28. Roger Sarkis, “History of Eclipse Glasses,” Eclipse Glasses USA, August 10, 2023, https://eclipse23.com/blogs/eclipse-education/history-of-eclipse-glasses. ↩︎
29. Mindy Weisberger, “Will Your Eclipse Glasses Still Be Safe to Use in 2024,” LiveScience, August 25, 2017, https://www.livescience.com/60237-do-solar-eclipse-glasses-expire.html. ↩︎
30. Clear Fork High School, Eclipse (Bellville, OH: 2021), 3, Sherman Room.   ↩︎
31. Courtney McNaull, “How to Safely View the Solar Eclipse,” News Journal, August 16, 2017, A1. ↩︎

The Mysterious Life of Thomas W. Cover

The Cover family arrived in Ohio sometime between 1832 and 1834.  The family had traveled from Frederick County, Maryland where Daniel Cover had married Lydia Stevenson on April 2, 1822.^[1]  The couple had at least four children while in Maryland: Jason Jerome (b. February 5, 1823^[2]), Upton Aquila (b. March 18, 1826^[3]), Josiah Stevenson (b. July 16, 1829^[4]), and Thomas Wells (b. March 31, 1832^[5]).  By 1850 the family had settled in Perry Township, Richland County, Ohio and added six more children to the family: Mary, Martha, Eliza, William, Daniel, and John.^[6]  Thomas Wells Cover left the family in the 1850s, traveling west to make his fortune.  His journey would take him to Montana as a gold prospector and vigilante and on to California, where he and one of his brothers would grow prize winning oranges.  His death would come early and be filled with as much mystery as his life, where he would be the villain in some peoples stories and a hero in others.

_{Historical and Biographical Record of Southern California by J.M. Quinn}

It’s unclear where Thomas Cover was in the 1850s.  In 1860 a man with the name Thomas W. Cover purchased land in Buffalo County, Wisconsin^[7], but there is no other mention of him in the area.  The next time we see Thomas is May 26, 1863, when he and 5 other men were prospecting for gold in Montana. The group set up camp in Alder Gulch. Thomas and three other men went out hunting while William Fairweather and Henry Edgar stayed behind. While waiting for the men to return, Fairweather and Edgar began panning for gold hoping to get enough to buy some tobacco when they returned to Bannack.  The first pan turned up $2.40 worth of gold and the men laid claim to the area when they returned to Bannack and bought supplies.  They tried to keep the claim a secret, but word traveled quickly and, less then a month later, cabins and tents filled the hillside and Virginia City, Montana was born.  It’s estimated more than $30,000,000 in gold was taken from the Alder Gulch in the first three years.^[8]

_{Hydraulic gold mining in Alder Gulch, 1871. Photo by William Henry Jackson}

Cover and others didn’t feel local law enforcement was doing enough to stop crime in the area, particulary those being robbed on the trails while transporting gold, and a group of men started vigilance committee to take the law into their own hands.  The committee would track down those they thought guilty and, often with little evidence, hang them.  One of the most famous was local sheriff Henry Plummer.  The vigilantes claimed Plummer was not doing enough to stop the crimes or even aiding some of the robbers.  This small group of vigilantes acted as judge, jury, and executioner, often not sharing the views of the community as a whole.  Many believe the vigilantes were the true villains in this story, getting rid of the sheriff and others for their own nefarious reasons.^[9]

With his newfound wealth, Thomas returned to Ohio, marrying Mary E. Hess in Franklin County, Ohio.  The couple would have three daughters Estell, Camille, and Blanche.  It didn’t take long for Thomas to return to Montana with his new wife.  Once back in Montana, he began working with John Bozeman, the creator of the Bozeman trail which led from the Oregan Trail to Virginia City and who is the namesake of Bozeman, Montana.  Thomas was with Bozeman when he was murdered by a group of Blackfeet while traveling along the Yellowstone River on April 20, 1867.  Though many at the time and today think Thomas Cover was the true murderer.  It appears John Bozeman had a habit of making advances at other men’s wives and Mary was no exception.  It’s possible Bozeman’s past caught up with him and Thomas Cover took the matter into his own hands.^[10]  Whatever happened that day, Cover made his way to California a short time later, settling in Los Angeles.

_{The Death Of John Bozeman by Edgar Samuel Paxson}

The first record of Cover in California is in April of 1869 when he purchased a small lot in Los Angeles for $600.^[11]  It looked like California would be a new start for Thomas Cover.  He was a father of one daughter, with another on the way.  A year later Cover would purchase the “extensive Robedeaux Ranch, in San Bernardino County”  and began growing oranges.^[12]  Thomas’ brother, Perry Daniel Cover, would join him in California and the two would grow prize winning oranges throughout the 1870s.  The Covers were one of the first to import navel oranges to California.^[13]  The tame, horticulturist life didn’t appear to be enough for Thomas and he soon caught gold fever again, making trips to the Colorado Desert in search of the fabled Peg Leg Mine.

Thomas “Peg Leg” Smith had allegedly found a hill littered with gold-bearing quartz while traveling from Yuma to Los Angeles.  Peg Leg was never able to relocated the hill and efforts were made by many throughout the years to rediscover its location.^[14]  Cover made many of these trips into the desert, the last happening in September of 1884.  Cover and fellow horticulturist, Wilson B. Russell, and a team made their way out to the desert. The two split up, with Russell taking the team and Cover taking a short cut on foot.  When Russell made it to the agreed upon meeting place, Cover was nowhere to be found.  Russell continued on hoping to find Cover, but with no luck and returned to Riverside to organize a search party.^[15]  A $1,000 reward was offered for his whereabouts or body and this brought in many stories of bleached bones found in the desert belonging to Cover.  In 1891, reports began to circulate that Cover had run off to Mexico.  Cover had his life heavily insured and the insurance company had yet to pay on his death.  The company sent a man to Mexico to investigate the claim, but Cover was never found.^[16]  In 1901 bones were found many miles from where Cover was last seen and trinkets next to the body were identified as once belonging to Cover. His brother, W. H. Cover, was notified and many believed the mystery was finally solved.^[17] 

But what happened to Cover on that September day in 1884?  Did the experienced prospector get lost in the desert, wandering for miles and finally succumb to the elements?  Or was he murdered by some person he had wronged in the past, possibly during his time as a vigilante?  Or did he simply stage his death, starting a new life in Mexico? 

---

Sources:

1. Ancestry.com. Maryland, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1655-1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
2. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128791382/jason-jerome-cover
3. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/71688767/upton-aquila-cover
4. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/family-tree/person/tree/12092200/person/-336844705/facts
5. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132245432/thomas-wells-cover
6. Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.                                                                       
7. Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records; Washington D.C., USA; Federal Land Patents, State Volumes
8. https://virginiacitymt.com/Preservation/Area-History
9. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2488&context=theses
10. https://bozemanmagazine.com/articles/2015/02/01/101576-the-real-john-bozeman-with-sneaky-ways-and-low
11. Los Angeles Daily News, Volume 1, Number 94, 15 April 1869, p. 2.
12. Weekly Butte Record, Volume 17, Number 12, 8 January 1870, p 2.
13. Daily Alta California, Volume 31, Number 10621, 12 May 1879, p. 2.
14. https://truewestmagazine.com/peg-leg-smith-lost-gold-mine/
15. Riverside Daily Press, Volume XXXVII, Number 89, 14 April 1922, p. 4.
16. Los Angeles Herald, Volume 35, Number 175, 8 April 1891
17. Butler Enterprise, published in Butler, Ohio on Friday, March 29th, 1901, p. 2.

Haunted Tales from the Daily Shield

Printed below are two stories of haunted homes as they appeared in the Mansfield Daily Shield in 1905 and 1907. The first is of a landlady, Mrs. Mary White, who was so distressed by spirits that she feared to enter her house alone. The second story concerns the Soule family. The family was plagued by tragedy during the time of this story. Shortly before moving into the home mentioned below, they were rescued from a house fire at No. 18 High School Ct. In 1909 John Soule’s 19-year-old daughter died of tuberculosis and, in 1920, Mr. and Mrs. John Soule lost their 25-year-old son, Sherman, to illness.

Haunted House

A Landlady of a Boarding House Annoyed by Ghosts

The Mansfield Daily Shield, November 7, 1905, p. 3

Residents of the north end are in a fever of excitement over an alleged haunted house, it being claimed that the house at 258-260 North Main street, next to Schwien’s saloon, is infested with visitors from the supernatural world.  Traps and poison have proved of no avail, as the silent-footed visitors continue to stroll through the domicile.

According to Mrs. Mary White, who has recently moved into the house, and who by the way, announces her intention of soon moving out, the spirits hold high carnival almost any night of the week.  Their regular lodge meeting night seems to be on Wednesday.  Mrs. White has been keeping boarders in the house, which is a large rambling one, and she says that various occasions she has heard strange noises.  Wednesday night she says the men boarders had all left and she and another woman were sleeping together in the house.  Just as the chimes of the distant clocks were striking the silent hour of midnight, she heard a noise in the kitchen.  Going down stairs she found the door which had been locked and bolted, standing wide open, with the bolt turned back.  She shut the door and returned to bed in fright.  This thing has been repeated several times, always when the men boarders were away.

On another occasion, a Wednesday night by the way, Mrs. White was awakened in the dead of night by a strange dread of something portending.  She then heard on the panel of the cellar door, on the inside, seven distinct raps.  This was followed by silence.

But the piece-de-resistance of this troubled soul occurred about two weeks ago, when a lady walked down the stairs.  Mrs. White who, with another woman, was in the house at the time, awakened about midnight and distinctly heard the swish of silken skirts as if some richly-dressed lady was walking across the floor on the landing of the second story.  Afraid to investigate, she followed the sound and heard the silent on go down the stairs.  The last they heard of the wraith was a choking sound which might be a sigh of deep distress or a labored attempt at breathing.

Although the talk of ghost has been known to residents in the vicinity for some time, the first official notice came recently when, at the hour of midnight, Officer Beam found a woman on the street, shivering with cold and her eyes distended with terror.  It was Mrs. White.  She told the officer that all her men boarders had gone and her woman friend also had gone and she was afraid to sleep alone in the house.  She had gone onto the street to see if she could find some friend and, while she was out, the lamp had become extinguished and she was afraid to go back into the dark house.

The officer found someone to stay in the house with Mrs. White, but there were no nocturnal visitors. Mrs. White says she will move without delay.

The House which Mrs. White has been living for the past three weeks, conducting a boarding place, is just such a one as ghosts are ascribed in folklore to inhabit.  It stands in from the street, a great rambling mansion of fifteen rooms, built of gray brick, dark, gloom, uncanny.  As a motive for the ghosts in which Mrs. White firmly believes, it is claimed that there have been enacted in the house three tragedies.  Twenty-eight years ago a man living in the house fell from the porch and was killed.  His wife then hanged herself from the stair banister.  A few years ago, it is said that a man was burned to death by gas in the front parlor of the house.

Whether there be ghosts or no, at any rate it would surely make a first rate lodge initiation to require the candidates to spend a night in the place.

Noises in House

Occupants of an East Sixth Street Home Fear a Spirit is Abroad

Claim They Hear Footsteps and a Swinging Lamp Moves

The Mansfield Daily Shield, August 29, 1907, p. 6

Strange sounds and mysterious happenings have so disturbed the family of John W. Soule residing on East Sixth Street, that they are living in fear.

The house is said to be haunted. The Soule family has resided in the big green house for only a few months, and the family living there prior to their moving in claim that the “spirits” gave them no rest.

On the second night of the residence of the Soule family in the house, Vernon Soule, the son, was aroused by hearing footsteps in the hallway down stairs.  Thinking it was his sister he ran down the steps but failed to find any one.  Since then the steps are heard regularly every night.

The family who moved out before the Soule’s occupied the house, claim that the sound of walking was heard by them and that they, on several occasions, saw a woman dressed in white, pacing back and forth in the hallway during the late night hours.

They became so terrified that they moved as soon as possible.

Besides the sound of walking, the Soule’s claim that every night between the hours of ten and eleven o’clock, the lamp hanging in the hall way starts to swing back and forth and keeps the motion for some time.

Then there are strange noises, continuing through the night.  The members of the family are terrified and several of their relatives are afraid to come near the house.

Reports of the strange happenings have been kept closely guarded by the Soule family for some time, but recently became known and have become a topic in the neighborhood.

A Job for Brave Men

They Have a Chance to Find Ghost

The Mansfield Daily Shield, August 30, 1907, p. 2

The “supposed to be haunted house” on East Sixth street is being shunned by all who have occasion to pass that way after the shades of night have fallen.

Ninety out of every hundred Mansfield citizens do not believe in ghosts.  They are firm in their statements that spirits are only the products of imaginations and nervousness.  However, when they walk by the house with the haunted term applied to it, they experience sort of a queer feeling and would not be at all surprised if something unearthly would happen.

A story circulated to the effect that a girl who was murdered paces back and forth in the hallway every night.

She is supposed to be resting uneasily in her grave and has a secret to impart which would clear up the mystery in connection with her untimely end.

It has been suggested that several of the brave ones spend the night in the haunted hallway and endeavor to see if there is any truth to the strange tales.  A party of iron nerved young men would be most acceptable and the question of spirits could be solved once and for all.

While the majority put little credit in such stories still the strange goings in which have aroused and terrorized two families are worth looking into.

Mansfield’s First Christmas Tree

Legend has it that the first Christmas tree in the city of Mansfield was put up by German immigrant Peter Ott in the family parlor of the Wiler House.  The story varies slightly depending on which article you read.  According to Virgil Stanfield, the tree was put up for Christmas 1855 for the invalid son of the Wiler House operator, James Hervey Cook.  Ott had a barbershop for some time in the Wiler house.  According to Stanfield, Ott made his way into the woods and chopped down a “good-sized pine.”  He added ornaments, which he ordered from Germany, and candles.  The tree was a delight not only to the Cook boy, but all of Mansfield.[i]  The boy is not mentioned by name in the article, but a 5-year-old child named Albert Cook is listed on the 1850 U.S. Census.  He is not listed on the 1860 Census and no further information was found on him.

A shorter story from 1907 in the Mansfield Daily Shield describes the story differently.  The tree was put up Christmas Eve 1854, a year earlier, and an informal social party was held.  There is no mention of the Cook boy and it was reported Ott purchased the ornaments a few weeks earlier in New York.   Both Peter Ott and James Hervey Cook’s widow, Mary Wiler, were living at the time of this article.

From 1869-1870 Mansfield City Directory

Peter Ott was born in Plankstadt, Germany on December 14, 1834 and arrived in America in February of 1851, according to a later passport application.[ii]  According to Stanfield, he first practiced his trade as a barber in Milan, Ohio where he recalled cutting Thomas Edison’s hair, which, if true, Edison would have been 4 years old at the time.  Ott arrived in Mansfield a few years later, in 1853, and set up shop in the Wiler House.  On January 28, 1858, Peter married Fredericka Bleily in Crawford County.[iii]  According to Census records, the couple had at least 6 children and Peter is the grandfather of Mansfield business and civic leader Louis J. Ott, who married Miss Helen S. Keeting, the Mansfield Public Library’s first children’s librarian.

Peter had different jobs throughout his time in Mansfield.  After being a barber, he was an insurance agent, involved for many years in the manufacturing and sale of vinegar and cider, and a florist for the B&O Railroad.  Peter Ott was a city councilman and dedicated to the beatification of Central Park.  He was responsible for the removal of the fence around the park and the collection of money for the construction of the bandstand, even writing to the Hon. John Sherman to request, not money, but a flag for the bandstand.  Sherman replied sending the best quality flag available from Washington D.C.[iv]

From the Mansfield Daily Shield, September 11, 1878.

Peter Ott died on June 11, 1911.  In his obituary he is remembered as one of Mansfield’s most highly honored and respected men and a man of the highest integrity.[v]

 

Sources:

_{[i] Mansfield News-Journal, 18 DEC 1977, p5G.
[ii] National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; Roll #: 687; Volume #: Roll 687 – 10 Jul 1905-18 Jul 1905
[iii] Ancestry.com. Ohio, County Marriage Records, 1774-1993 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
[iv] The Ohio Liberal, 11 SEP 1878, p3.
[v] Mansfield Daily Shield, 12 JUN 1911, p2.}