Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Nathan Bugbee

Built Raft of Logs to Get Children Home

      It was in the year 1825 that Nathan Bugbee came to Ashtabula harbor from the state of New York. He traveled through the unbroken wilderness and reached Ashtabula in good spirits, determined to make the most of his new home in what was then considered the “far, wild west”.
      He built his cabin on the beach just west of the present river channel The river at that time, however, was not  a river; it was a little ditch, which Bugbee kept clean with his hoe. The little stream flowed to the lake between old Fort Hill on the west and Woodland park hill on the east.
     One day, after the children had crossed the brook to the east bank on their way to school, a heavy rain set in, a flood developed and the little stream overflowed its banks. Mr. Bugbee was clearing a piece of land in the vicinity of Walnut and Lake street during the day, and he reached home late in the afternoon to discover that the stream had overflowed and his children were prevented from reaching home. The resourcefulness of the Ashtabula pioneers, so often called into use, was displayed by the father on this occasion, for he lost no time in building a raft of logs, on which he ferried his children to the west bank of the stream in safety. That self-same flood, it is said was the beginning of the enlargement of the stream.

      Mr. Bugbee soon after moved his cabin to a location on what is now Walnut street.
Note:  This article was printed in the Ashtabula Star Beacon in 1919 under Little Stories of Ashtabula by Glenn H. Leggett    

 

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Old Home Week parade, approx 1911. Grandmother Brash in back with daughters Beryl and Jean with daughter Muriel driving.

Ashtabula Brash-Eddy Family Genealogy: John Frank Eddy hitby trolley carFrom the Ashtabu...

Ashtabula Brash-Eddy Family Genealogy: John Frank Eddy hitby trolley car
From the Ashtabu...
: John Frank Eddy hit by trolley car From the Ashtabula Star Beacon (no publication date) handwritten note “1903” John Frank Eddy was...

COULDN’T MAKE HIS LIVING AS PREACHER

By Glenn H. Leggett

Published in the Star Beacon in 1919



     About the year 1808 Seth Thayer came to Ashtabula from Connecticut. He was an ordained Episcopal minister of the Church of England, but he could not make a living at preaching the gospel, so he gave it up and went into farming. He owned what is now Woodland Park, but the property then extended far out into the lake.

    In the year 1810 Seth Thayer became a father of a son, who later was known as Capt. G. A. Thayer. The boy was born in a log cabin on the Woodland Park property. All but six months of his life Capt. Thayer lived in sight of the lake and those were probably the most unpleasant of his entire life. They were spent in a house on Prospect  street to which he had moved with the intention of leaving the Harbor forever. Homesickness overcame him, however, and he moved back to the Harbor and his dearly-beloved lake. He spent his last days and died in the house which is now the residence of B. S. Bliss, 123 Walnut street.



FOR FORTY-FIVE YEARS SAILED THE LAKES



     From the time he was 15 years of age until he was 60 Capt. Thayer sailed the lakes.

(next sentence is illegible)

     When he was a young man he helped chop the wood that burned the brick used in the construction of the old Harmon house at the top of (illegible, possibly Mill Hill), now the property of B.B. (illegible). He also helped manufacture the brick used in the building the old (illegible) Watsons home which stands at the summit of the Columbus street hill owned and occupied now by Joe Smith, an Italian merchant...

John Frank Eddy hit by trolley car

From the Ashtabula Star Beacon (no publication date) handwritten note “1903”

John Frank Eddy was my great-grandfather. His death date was Jan.14, 1903
 

Headline:  PROBABLE FATALITY

 Sub headline: Occurs on Track of City Street Wednesday

2nd Sub headline: J. F. Eddy run down while walking track

3rd Sub headline: With head lowered he failed to see car coming

4th Sub headline: And deafness prevented hearing it.- Lies at Son’s home in Critical Condition.



    A very unfortunate and distressing accident occurred at 10:30 o’clock Wednesday forenoon on the A. R. T. car line, when John F. Eddy of Michigan Ave. was struck by a motor car and probably fatally injured.



   The car was No. 1 in charge of Motorman Jay Newell and Conductor F. Carpenter. They had passed the second hollow below the overhead bridge on Lake street northbound and were within 250 feet of the Sunday residence, when the accident happened.



    Mr. Eddy, who is deaf, was walking southward on the track, while the car was going northward. The motorman observed him and rang the alarm gong vigorously when some distance away; he also commenced to slow down, thinking (page torn & missing word) that Mr. Eddy would (torn, missing word) the track. He failed (rest of this clipping missing, story continues in another clipping)



.... passed the unfortunate some distance. He was unconscious and one arm was nearly severed from the body, besides there were other bad injuries.



    Ducro’s ambulance was summoned and the injured man was removed to the home of his son, John Eddy, on Superior street, where six doctors responded to the call and all was done that could be done to save the life of the injured man. They were Dickson, Flower, King, Lynn, Whitney and Barker.



    The left arm was amputated at the shoulder. One foot was badly crushed and is a severe injury at the base of the brain. He had not regained consciousness at 2 p.m. and it was not thought he could recover.



    E. G. Ducro was a passenger on the car that struck Mr. Eddy. He was riding next to one of the front windows and observed the man walking right towards the car with his head down; was perhaps forty feet from the car when he saw him. The gong was sounded a long time.



    B. W. Baldwin of Jefferson, was also on the car and saw the accident.



    Supt. McDowell said at noon that Mr. Eddy walked the tracks earlier Wednesday morning and that another motorman had to stop his car until the man got off the track.



    This accident brings to mind the fact that the city should have the board sidewalk along Lake street at that point kept clear of snow. The walk is seldom visited by the city snow plow since Neal Guy has stopped making paths and the pedestrians are completed to take to the street. The street car track offers good walking a (missing words here) of the sweeper and (more missing paper) People with wraps over their ears (missing words) a car approaching and the cars often have to stop for people (missing words) their right of way to (missing words)



     Mr. Eddy is 53 years of age and lives with his son Frank Eddy (missing words)





My note: I find it interesting how the news account morphed into an editorial regarding snow removal!  Then back to a news account.