The Layout of My Childhood Home for SNGF

Randy's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge for August 23 was this:

Do you recall the layout of one of your family homes (a parent's home, a grandparent's home, your first home with your spouse/SO, etc.)?  Can you estimate the size of the house and the size of the rooms?  What features were in each room?  Can you draw the floor plan, showing doors, windows, etc.?

This sounded both fun and challenging.  I wrote about my childhood home years ago using photos but I had not considered the sizes of the room.  I'm in no way adept at estimating measurements that are longer than a foot so I could be completely wrong about how wide and deep the inside of our house was....  (I hoped the county auditor's website would have measurements but it didn't.)  I guess my drawing is somewhat proportional if inaccurate.

My parents owned the duplex and we lived in one side (except that the dividing wall on the second floor between the two sides of the house had been removed.  The house had a wide front which, when divided into the two sides, made the width and depth of each side about equal, though maybe a little deeper than wider.

This is my rough (very rough) drawing of the layout of the house.

The living room had originally been two rooms but sometime before I was born, my gather removed the dividing wall and it was one long room.  It sometimes seemed awkward because the seating was stretched from one end to almost the other, but it did feel spacious.

The kitchen had one wall with the refrigerator and sink and around the corner the stove.  Because the essentials weren't in a triangle against three walls, it allowed for a kitchen table to take up a good amount of floor space.  (Our current home as the sink, stove, and refrigerator on three walls.  No island or table for us in that part of the kitchen!)

The room beside the kitchen was somewhat of a work room.  My father's desk for repairing watches and jewelry was there, my mom's sewing machine was also there for a while, and eventually my mom's desk stood opposite my father's. 

The upstairs ran the width of the building but was narrower than the first floor.  It was one long hallway with four rooms opening off it.  The rooms on either end were larger than the rooms between them.  All had windows (two in the end rooms) and there were high windows along the back side of the hallway, but there was no air conditioning.  One fan in the hall did nothing to circular air in all four rooms, or in any of the rooms, if truth be told.  We sweltered on hot summer nights.

The wide front porch was one of my favorite places, especially in the summer.  It was a place to play games with friends, read, and watch the thunderstorms.  

As I think of this house now I think how compact it was, and my mom's motto was "a place for everything and everything in its place."  She was definitely the leader in running her household.

If I were to go back and visit, I'm sure it would seem much smaller than it did when I lived there.

—Nancy.

Copyright © 2025 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Two Lots Apart

Of all my ancestors the person who, as an adult, lived closest to her childhood home was my mother, Audrey Meinzen Doyle. 

Section of Furnace Street, Mineral Ridge, Ohio.  Courtesy of Google Maps.

She grew up in the house labeled Meinzen Residence, at right.  After she was married she lived in the house labeled Doyle Residence.  Their homes were just two lots apart.

The lots in Mineral Ridge vary in size and because I don't know the lot sizes I can't say the distance in feet or yards between these two homes.  But what I can tell you is that if I stood on our front porch I could see my grandmother's house.  And if we were both on our front porches at the same time we could wave to each other.  (The trees in the lot between our houses weren't there when I was a child.)

After my parents married they lived in Niles, Ohio, for a few years.  I don't know how or why they decided to buy a house in Mineral Ridge, as opposed to other nearby small communities, or why they ended up with a house two lots away from Mom's parent's home.  My father had no childhood home to return to in Pennsylvania and perhaps my parents were both comfortable in the Ridge.  It was certainly a safe, quiet community.

As far as my memory tells me, my mom and grandmother were not close so this situation could have sparked some challenges, hurt feelings, etc., but somehow they worked it out and peace reigned between our homes.  Being so close to my only grandmother was great for me as a child, and when my mom's sisters came to visit, my cousins were conveniently close, too.

My parents lived in this house the rest of their lives except for my mom's last few years when the stairs became too much for her and she needed more care.

This post was written for Amy Johnson Crow's 2020 version of 52 Ancestors.  The post topic was "Close to Home."

--Nancy.

Copyright ©2020, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Map of Mineral Ridge, Ohio, 1910

I thought this 1910 map of Mineral Ridge, Weathersfield Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, was too good not to share.  To see an enlarged view, click on the map.  It will open in a new window and you'll be able to click again to see more detail. 

I enjoyed looking at this map.  Emma Bickerstaff, my maternal grandmother, and her family moved to the Ridge in about 1912 or 1913, soon after this map was published.  She was married in 1914 and she and her husband, W. C. Robert Meinzen, lived in Warren, then moved back to the Ridge in 1924.

I was born about 40 years after this map was published but my memories of the Ridge don't start until the mid-to-late-1950s.  We lived on Furnace Street and my grandmother lived just two doors away.  Further down the street lived Bickerstaff cousins and even further still, a Bickerstaff aunt and uncle, siblings who shared a house. 

Our house, a double, was on the corner of Furnace and Merchant Streets.  When I was a child Merchant street was little more than an alley, but it was great fun because it had a hill.  We laboriously pedaled up the hill then turned our bikes around and sailed back down, pedaling to pick up speed, then coasting to the bottom.  If I went back to see it now it would probably look like a molehill.  On other streets around the Ridge I learned to ride my bike without holding the handlebars.  Surprisingly, I never fell.

Some observations about this map from 40-50 years after it was published:

• A street or two disappeared.  Maple Street appears to run between my grandparent's and their neighbor's properties in 1910.  When was it removed?  And Pine Street runs between Merchant and Maple Streets.  I don't remember a street with that name.  Was it renamed or removed?
• A holdover from when the Ridge was a coal mining community, Abandoned Coal RR runs loosely parallel to Main Street and then veers northeast.
• Many women owned property:  Lizzie Phillips, Ann Gallagher, Mary J. Evans, Anna Price, Mary Fox, Lucy Williams, Mary Ann Sweeney, Sarah Francis, Rebecca Williams, Jr. (yes, "Jr. is attached to her name!), Charlotte Whitney, Mary Jones, Mary Watkins, Kittie Owens, Jane Cunnick, Mary Brown, Hannah Thomas, Katherine Zipf, among others -- women whose names I never knew.
• There are familiar family names, though, those of families who stayed in the Ridge long after 1910:  Breeze, Knoyer, Garland, Koch, Pugh, Finnegan, Blunt.  Had I been a savvy child, I would have paid attention to the names and what happened to the individuals when my mom and grandmother discussed the old families.
• The block where "Union School" was located shows a Town Hall on the south side of the block.  I remember an Odd Fellow's Hall near there where my grandmother helped the Rebekahs make and serve sloppy joes to school kids and where they also made and sold doughnuts. 
• Many of the properties have "O.L" plus a number.  I don't know what that means but when I was little our phone number was OLympic 2-7979.  Could the O.L. stand for Olympic?
• Many properties on the map have small numbers.  Are they lot sizes in acres and part-acres, or do they signify something else?  I have no idea.

This map will be a delight for family history researchers who have ancestors who lived in Mineral Ridge around 1910.

See the original of this map here (with a free FamilySearch account), where you can enlarge it many times over.  It was originally published in the 1910 Trumbull County, Ohio, Tax Appraisal book.

FamilySearch's Citation for this map.
"Ohio, Trumbull County Records, 1795-2010," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9DT-VHLW?cc=2065327&wc=Q64Q-WMJ%3A1055416801%2C1055446601 : 22 May 2014), Tax records > Tax appraisements Mineral Ridge 1910 > image 2 of 27; Trumbull County Courthouse, Warren.

–Nancy.

Copyright ©2019, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Using Tax Records and a Map to Answer A Question

My cousin's question was simple:  Do you know if Grampa owned the building where he had his barber shop?  Grampa is W. C. Robert Meinzen and the building was on Main Street in Mineral Ridge, Ohio, where he barbered for several decades in the mid-1900s.  I didn't know the answer.  I was the youngest of the grandchildren, not yet 10 when my grandfather retired, and it would have been highly unusual for the adults to carry on a conversation about property and finances within the earshot of children.

Though I didn't have a ready answer for my cousin I had an idea where I might find the information.  With any luck, FamilySearch's Trumbull County, Ohio, records might provide an answer.  I found tax appraisement records from 1931 and earlier but because the images are not indexed I needed to search year by year, page by page.  (For more about those records see previous post, County, Township, Range.)

Since this published collection of records ends in 1931, I needed to know what years my grandparents might have lived in the Ridge.  Census records told me that W. C. Robert and Emma Meinzen lived in Warren in 1920 and in Mineral Ridge in 1930.  With that information I guessed they may have moved sometime between those years and and that they may have purchased land before they moved.  (It was common knowledge in the family that Gramma and Grampa owned the home they lived in on Furnace Street, but I had no idea when they may have purchased it.)  I began a search of the 1931 records.

1910 Map of Mineral Ridge Village, Weathersfield Township, Trumbull County, Ohio

Wm. C. R. & Emma Meinzen paid taxes on the following properties for the years noted. 

1924-1931

• Out-Lot/Block/Division 109, identified as S. M. Pt. in the box "All or part of lot and name of street."  I believe this was on Furnace Street.

1928-1931

• Lot 7, Leitch Tract/Plat, with Fr. Pt Orchard Ct.  The lot size was 75.5 (along the street) x 63.52 feet deep. 

1931

• Lot 187, Leitch Tract/Plat, with 184.14 feet fronting Morris Street

The map above and the enlargement of a section below come from FamilySearch's Tax Appraisements Mineral Ridge, 1910, published 14 years earlier than when my grandparents first purchased property in Mineral Ridge.  I've been unable to find a map closer to the dates of their purchases.

Section of 1910 map of Mineral Ridge, Ohio, showing Furnace and Morris Streets

I see that Lot 109 is, indeed, on the north side of Furnace Street and is located where my grandparents' home was situated.  And Lot 187 on the south side of Morris Street is near where Emma's father, Edward Jesse Bickerstaff, built a home.  However, during the time I lived in the Ridge, decades after this map was published, there was no Maple Street running north from Furnace Street.

So my cousin's original question of whether Grampa owned the building where his barber shop was located will go unanswered until I have access to property records from 1931 through the late 1950s. 

But she had two other questions which I was able to answer as a result of these tax records and the 1910 map of Mineral Ridge:  When did Gramma and Grampa buy property in Mineral Ridge? and Where was the property on Furnace Street?  I'm thrilled the tax records helped narrow down the years of purchase and that the map gave the answers to the question about location, for both the property on Furnace Street and Morris Street.

I have yet to find Orchard Court on the 1910 map because, I suspect, it wasn't there until after that map was created.  And, of course, I'll want to learn whether Grampa owned the building where his barber shop was located.

This has been fun research, the results of which coincided with Amy Johnson Crow's 2019 version of 52 Ancestors' topic for this week:  "Map It Out."

--Nancy. 

Copyright ©2019, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved.
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner.
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Walking to School, Riding the Bus

For last night's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun at Genea-Musings, Randy offered this question:

How did you get to your school(s) through high school?

The timing for this topic couldn't have been better.  My husband and I were just talking about the schools we attended in our respective towns.  I thought it strange that I attended two schools twice during different years.

I lived in the village of Mineral Ridge my whole life.  Because the Ridge was too small to have a city school, the local school was part of the Weathersfield Township Local School District in Trumbull County, Ohio.  The school I first attended, Mineral Ridge School, included all grades and was in the center of Mineral Ridge.

Mineral Ridge High School

The children and teens who lived in the Ridge walked to school (and the students who lived in other parts of the township arrived by bus).  If there hadn't been buildings in the way, I could have seen the school from my front porch.  Our house was the second on the north side of Furnace Street, so I walked up Furnace Street toward Main, turned left to walk past the Methodist Church, crossed Morris Street, passed Isaly's Dairy (all to my left as I walked), crossed Main Street, and I was at school.

Evansville School

I attended Mineral Ridge School through third grade.  I assume Mineral Ridge and the township had an increase in students because a new elementary school was being built but it wasn't ready by the time we began fourth grade.  For the first part of fourth grade I went to Evansville School, another township school not too far away.  To arrive there I first walked to Mineral Ridge School, then boarded a school bus and traveled the several miles to Evansville School. 

Sometime in the middle of fourth grade the new Seaborn Elementary School was completed and we began attending that school after Christmas holiday.  Once again I had to walk to (what was now called) Mineral Ridge High School to catch the bus to the new elementary school.  Seaborn was probably less than a mile from my home, not far from the end of Furnace Street, but I suppose farmers didn't want us walking through their fields to take the direct route.  Neither did our moms, I'm sure.  Hence, we rode the school bus.

For seventh and eighth grades we returned to Evansville School and, again, rode the bus.

From ninth through twelfth grades I attended Mineral Ridge High School and I walked to and from school.

All of the schools I attended from first through twelfth grade, from 1956 to 1968, have been demolished.  Seaborn Elementary survived less than 60 years. 

--Nancy.

Copyright ©2018, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Furnace Street Neighbors

This week's topic for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (hosted by Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings) is remembering where we lived as children and who our neighbors were.  He invited us to tell a story about one or more of our neighbors.

During all of my youth I lived at 16 Furnace Street (later 1433) in Mineral Ridge, a small village on the southern border of Trumbull County, Ohio.  Furnace Street runs east from Main Street/Route 46.  Our house was the first on the north side of the street.

The Youngs (I think their last name was Young) lived in the house on Main Street at the corner of Main and Furnace Streets.  Their back yard abutted our side yard.  They were an older couple without children, but they kept a dog in their yard with a doghouse for protection.  A few times they asked me to take care of their dog when they needed to be away from home for a few days or a week.  One morning I went out to feed the dog and give him fresh water and found him just lying there.  It was alarming.  He had died during the night.  I was not responsible for his death -- I had given him the care required -- but I felt terrible.  The Youngs were very kind when they returned and assured me that the dog was old.

They also had a rock that to my childhood eyes seemed huge.  It was in the shape of a triangle with the point at the top.  We kids loved climbing up on the rock and jumping to the ground, arms extended, yelling "Geronimo!" as we jumped.

The Youngs had Rose of Sharon trees in their year.  I never liked Rose of Sharon trees.  I don't know why except that it wasn't from any particular association with the Youngs.  

The Yosts lived in the Methodist parsonage across Furnace Street from the Youngs and cattycorner from our house.  Needless to say, the father in the family was the minister at the church.  They had a son named Charles who was about my age and a younger daughter, Mary Jane.  We played together at least occasionally.  As you can see, there was a dirt hill behind their house between the parsonage and the church.  I remember playing there more because of this photo than from any actual memory.  Charles also had a wonderful tricycle -- even larger than mine and with an attached basket -- which we sometimes rode.  It's possible that I was at least a little envious of that trike.  I think the Yosts moved before I started school. 

The Stephens (or Stevens) lived beside the parsonage and across from our house.  There were the parents and two boys, both older than me by a few years.  The Stephens operated the Isaly Dairy shop on Main Street where they sold ice cream, popsicles, candy bars, penny candy, pop, and sandwiches.  A single scoop of ice cream in a pointed cone cost 5 cents;  a double scoop in a flat-bottomed cone cost 7 cents (until it went up to 10 cents).  How they ever kept their patience with us indecisive little kids buying penny candy I don't know.  Their yard was a haven for violets which they gave me permission to pick.

When I was very young our family's water supply was not public water but was purchased and hauled by the truckload and poured into a cistern near our house.  Mom was more than careful about water usage -- there was little waste in our home.  One day one of the Stephens boys told my sister he'd thrown a cat into the cistern.  What an awful thing to do!  After draining the water from the cistern my father lowered a ladder, climbed down with cleaning supplies, and found no cat.  That boy!

The Stonestreets lived in the other side of our duplex for a number of years.  There were the parents and two boys in the family:  Billy and -- I can't remember the other boy's name.  Billy was my age and we often played together on my swing set or in the sandbox.  We pulled each other in my wagon or rode my trike.  I think the family moved before I started school because I don't remember him being in school with me.  Strangely enough, I have more childhood photos with Billy than any other children.

The Brocks lived in a house on Main Street  beside the Youngs.  Their back yard was fairly long and met ours at the corner.  Frankie was a year or two older than me but we often played together, too -- the usual sandbox, swings, trike, wagon.  He lived there longer than any of the other children in our neighborhood and I think, when we were a little older, we played cowboys and Indians. 

The Hancoxes were a sweet older couple who lived alone in the house next to ours across Merchant Street.  Their house sat back from the street, toward the rear of their lot.  They had a tall cherry tree in their front yard and grew petunias in a flower bed near their porch.  (I don't favor the fragrance of petunias, but not because of the Hancoxes.) 

They had both been married before and each had a child from the previous marriage.  When they remarried they had a son who lived in nearby Niles and he and his wife had a daughter named Linda, about two years older than me.  Linda visited in the summer for several weeks at a time.  She went to bed very late and didn't get up till noon.  I would have done the same had my parents let me but they didn't and her sleeping late was a frustration to me.  I'm sure her grandparents got tire of me checking to see if she was awake every hour or so from 9 a.m. till noon.

The Bakers lived across the street from my grandparents.  My memory tells me there were just Mrs. Baker and her adult daughter, Jean.  Mrs. Baker loved to bake and often shared her baked goods with my grandmother.  She introduced us to no-bake cookies, but not knowing their name, we called them Mrs. Baker's Cookies.  (Don't you love our creative name for them?)

When I was a little older, perhaps 10 or so, there were several children who lived in my grandparent's triplex for brief periods of time.  Other children lived streets away so it took a little more effort to arrange playtime than when I was younger and the kids lived next door.  From about the time I was 8 or 9, riding bikes probably took up more of our time in the summer than any other activity.  We also played cards -- war, rummy -- and a few board games. 

Thanks to Randy Seaver for creating Saturday Night Genealogy Fun and for inventing the fun topics.

--Nancy.

Copyright © 2016 Nancy Messier. All Rights Reserved. .

Mineral Ridge Classmates, 1925-1926 - Friday's Faces from the Past

Fifth Grade students of Mineral Ridge School, Weathersfield Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, are smack in the middle of the Roaring Twenties and unaware of the ravages of the Great Depression that would arrive only a few years later.

At right is my mom, Audrey Meinzen, age 10.  She looks angry or at least very serious.  Perhaps she was standing between two girls who weren't close friends or in front of a boy/boys who teased her.  Or maybe some misfortune had come her way just before the photo was taken.  The two dark strips on her dress appear to be the long ribbons of the bow tied at her neckline. 

Every girl in the class wears her hair cut in the popular "bob."  On the other hand, their dresses are as varied as their faces.  Though the 1920s was a time of economic boom for America in general, I suspect that the families in little Mineral Ridge continued to live frugally.  Many of the girls' dresses look home-sewn to me, certainly a money-saving effort at that time (unlike now when it's less expensive to buy a dress than make one). 

The boys wear shirts with ties, vests, sweaters, and/or jackets.  In the front row, most are still wearing short pants with long stockings.  The boys in short pants are probably a little jealous of the boys in long pants (if my father's feeling about short pants was anything like those of these boys).  I wonder if the boys on either end in the front row purposefully stuck out their tongues or it was just a chance lick of the lips and click of the shutter.

My mother never identified her classmates in this photo.  How would one ever know who these children are unless their descendants found this photo and recognized them?  I have a list of those who graduated with my mother but it's no help in putting names and faces together.

I'll just enjoy looking at the faces of these children and imagine what their lives might have been like.  You can click the photo to enlarge it and get a closer look.

Thanks for stopping by.

--Nancy.

Copyright © 2014 Nancy Messier. All Rights Reserved.

Mineral Ridge High School Graduates, 1881-1954 - RAOGK

Mineral Ridge High School was our hometown school.  My mother, Audrey (Meinzen) Doyle, all her siblings, many cousins, and my siblings and I all graduated from Mineral Ridge High School in Weathersfield Township, Trumbull County, Ohio.  In 1954 Mom attended the alumni banquet and saved the program.  In the interest of local history and as a random act of genealogical kindness, I'm posting images of the program and a transcribed list of students.  If any descendants of Mineral Ridge graduates are searching for ancestors, I hope the search engines will find them in this list.

The booklet also includes advertisements of the supporters of the Alumni Association.  They are listed on the inside front cover and on last pages.  They give a flavor of the Ridge in 1954.  Lest you're wondering why orange:  the Ridge's school colors were orange and black.

Whoever created this program was very kind to the ladies:  he/she included their married surnames (in parentheses and probably when available).  An asterisk is used to indicate that the person was deceased.  Names follow pages.

[To easily search for a name on this post:  Press the F3 key along the top of your keypad to open a search box on the lower edge of your monitor.  Type the name into the search box and if found, it will be highlighted on your monitor.  When you're finished searching, press the F3 key again and the search box will close.]

1881.  Lillian Brooks (Pearce) - Della M. Ohl* - Maria Brooks (Pennell) - Chas. Cole

1882.  C. E. Maurer* - Rachel John* - Harry John* - Mrs. Bell Garghill (Beecher)

1884.  Ella Jones (Wills)* - Mrs. Pet Ohl (Baker)* - Nelle Whitney (Gibson)

1886.  Sadie Owen (Williams) - W. J. Crum Shauck* - Alice Baker - Thomas Garry - Mary Hitchings (Gleason) - Albert Garry - Ella Lewis (Davis) - Sherman Hood*

1888.  Mary Scanlon (Skelley) - Nellie Price* - David Williams - Maggie O'Malia (Dunegan)* - Anna McGurk (Griffen) - Hanna Price (Anderson) - Elizabeth Lloyd (Prosser) - Mary Miles (Calvin) - Marian Jones (Kelly)*

1892.  Sadie Jones (Hardman) - Lawrence Pearce* - Fannie Price (Brobst)

1893.  Jessie Watson (Morris)* - Fred Burlingame* - Sophia Davis, Dannie Griffith* - Grace Leetch (Dunlap) - Rachel Jones (Hurd) - Will Jones - Margaret Thomas (Dietz) - Jennie Tigue (Quilligan)* - Anna Price (Waye)* - Ben Lewis* - Rose Worthly (Garland)

1895.  Walton Shively - Dorothy Phillips (Adamison) - Adda White - Mary White (Philips)* - Lida Jones (Dunlap) - Sara Miles (Shively) - Adda Richards (Griffiths)* - Frank Finnegan - Mary O'Malia (Riley) - Ruth Harshman

1896.  Nellie Ohl (Troxel) - Rosina Sweeney (Jones)* - Rosanna Tigue - Maggie Grimm (Martin) - James Reifinger - Ferdinand Dunlap*

1897.  Charles D. Jones

1898.  Helen Leitch* - Elsie Maurer (Hughes)* - Edna Leitch (Elder)* - Nora Tigue - Alice Williams (Smith)*

1899.  Mary Worthly* - Eva Morris (Nealy)

1900.  Bertha Cunnick (Miles) - Frank Krans* - Mary Evans (Wlliams) - Chas. E. Morris - Nellie Jones (Thomas) - George Prevost - Winifred Reilly (Mathias) - Jim Tigue* - Beulah Schroefel - Alec Watson - Armanda Thomas (Marshall) - Albert Sanderson - Lyda Thomas* - Leah Williams (Metcalf)

1902.  Dorothy Ohl (Hardy)

1903.  Clara Leitch (Tibbits) - Clara Thomas (Hinnick) - Molly Jones (Seffens) - Grace Martin* - Charles Leitch* -Frances Leitch

1904.  Raymond Breeze* - Lida Maurer (Church)* - Lena Cunnick (Gebhard) - Joseph B. Lane* - Sadie Davis (Oliver)

1905.  Blanche Leitch (Patterson) - Edith Ohl (Partridge) - Lena White (Hughes) - Edna Lodwick (Giffen) - Clyde Waggoner* - May Krause (Sayers) - Alice Owen (Hood)

1906.  Hallie Cline (Lane) - Warren Cline* - Winifred Cline - Mae Bowen (Nass)

1907.  Louise Zipf (Nicholas) -  Florence McDonald (Daughtery)

1908.  Marie Brill (Lloyd) - Mabel Lewis (Hughes) - Helen Kyle - Etta Thomas - Perry Maurer - Julia Morris Hench

1909.  Bertha Stephens (Breeze) - Virginia Zipf (Johns) - Beatrice Griffith (Mitchell) - Willard Harshman

1910.  Mabel Cline (Ashelman) - Mary Williams (Maurer) - Naomi Greiner (Crawford)* - Viola Griffith (Dunlap) - Charles Prevost - Edward Morris

1911.  Ethel Williams (Finigan) - Sadie Laramey (Evans) - Irene Powers (Farr) - Sara Jenkins (Stephens) - George Pearce

1912.  Frances Bell (Powers)* - Irene Johnston (Hood) - Whitney Brill - Walter Engberg - Ralph Worthly - Laverne Young (Lloyd) - Emma Jarrett (Hall) - Wilda Black (Ramsey) - Phoebe Pearce (Johnson) - Margaret Waser (Gilmore)

1913.  Anna Hull (Byers)* - Lusada Owen (Butler) - Myrtle Hackett (Pugh) - Paul O. Cline - Mable Zipf (Winfield) - Lucy Thomas (Jordan) - Anna Vandergrift (Begrow)

1914.  Ethel Jones (McCune) - Eula Mahan (Doerschirk) - George Pugh - George Bell

1915.  Howard Reifinger - John Jarrett - Dale Smith - Edith Stephens (O'dell) - Anna Marshman (Munsell) - Tillie Payne (Small)

1916.  Raymond Sanderson* - Harry Donegan - Nellie Pearce (Baker) - Sadie Burford (White)

1917.  Emily Lewis (Lynn) - Marrie Summerville (Morgan) - Celia Shorrow (Grimm) - Alma Marshman (Lewis) - Margaret Stephens (Campfield)

1918.  Ethel Pearce (Craig)* - Evelyn Davis (Goodwin) - Loretta Phillips (Bixler)

1919.  Edna Pearce (Davis) - Charles Lodwick

1921.  Carl Medland - Verne Weikart - Wilma Smith (Underwood) - Clarence Waser - Erna Hinkel

1922.  Herbert Williams* - Anna Morris (Kreitzburg) - George Engberg - Frank Ludwick - Annie Guarner*

1923.  Vera Koch* - Elizabeth Tidd (Fowble) - Frances Pearsall (Harker) - Beecher Pearce

1924.  Alice Uncles (Glenn) - Grace Lynn (Medland) - Edward Llewellyn - Oliver Jones - Hazel Phillips (Clark) - Helen Garnier - Theodosia Pearsall (Walker) - Hannah Morgan

1925.  Edith Ohl - Dorothy Koch - William James - Rhodel Pearce (Shorrow)

1926.  Lynn Medland - Harriet Morgan - Chester Tompkins - George Lynn - Theodore Jergens - Paul Dickeson -Wayne Tolson

1927.  Dorothy Glenn (McGlenahan) - Violet Polanski - Calvin Pearce - Lucille Weikart (Medland) - Evelyn Garland (Tompkins) - Edna Davis (Tucke)

1928.  Mary Daley (Holland) - Olive Heeter - Gladys Phillips (O'Connor) - Bernice McMahon (Williams) - Agnes Stuhldreher - Armia Leffingwell - Marion Lynn - Mary Louise Pearsall - Jeanette Anderson - Claire Simpson (Whetstone) - Bernice Williams - Esther Matthews (Rohe) - Erla Chittock - Lourene Laramey (Tolson)* - John Rose - Henry Young*

1929.  Hyacinth Walton (Thomas) - Ruth Williamson (Streightiff) - Gladys White (Carhilt) - Elaine McMahon (Matthews) - Donald Rudge - William Shook - Russell Lewis - Fred Chittock

1930.  Frank Joseph - Ione Williams (Wood) - Emil Bayowski - Dorothy Seifert (Bloomfield) - Cora Bickerstaff - Violet Moransky - Evelyn Bowker (Armstong) - James Wood - James Phillips - Paul Donegan - Lloyd Jones - William Porter - John Smith - William Van Wye - David Prosser - Wade Schrum

 1931.  Audrey Hood (Purdy) - Gwendolyn Woodruff (Tiefel) - Almira Nass (Johnston) - Elizabeth Shorrow (Croft) - Rogene Pearce (Lobaugh) - Winifred Townsend (Fairburn) - Esther Jones (Salyer) - Raymond Lynn - Howard Shaffer - William Moransky - Bill Laramey - Noble Patterson* - Catherine Myers (Bell) - Hazel Seifert (Hoffman) - Genevieve Chittock (Sankey) - Milford Morrow - Russell Hafley - Martha Smith - Grace Ward (Hoffman)  - Vera Simpson

1932.  Robert Springer - Catherine Losch - Lillian Elias (Beazell) - Joe Polanski - Robert Zipf - Catherine Thomas (Terlecki) - Alice Clemson (Grafton) - Alethe Minto (Patterson) - Russell Smith - Herbert Grafton - Betty Irwin (Grimm) - Alberta Garland (Davis) - Martha Lewis (Schrader) - Joe Vandergrift - Willis Pearce - Maxine McAllister (Dunlap) - Alice Hollowell (Morris)

1933.  Charlotte Lane (Flickinger) - Ruth Treffert (Reese) - Eleanore Bowker (Schrader) - Rose Moransky (Borecki) - Carol Seifert (Walker) - Ada Laramey (Moransky) - Debby Keeling (Zabawa) - Hugh Stout - Jack James - Kenneth Ott - Davd Nass - Jack White - William Cleveland - Eugene Bayowski - Audrey Meinzen (Doyle) - Virginia Morgan - Russell Bequeath - Verda Davis (Swaney) - Eleanore Shook (Smith) - Leonard Jenkins - Harold Waser - Louis Rose Margaret Howells (Joseph)

1934.  Randall Smith - James Lynn - Karl Zipf - Thomas Jones - Donald Bostwick - Donald Dunlap - Tom Williams - Robert Irwin - Edward Clemson - Frank Czelest - Franklin Russell - Edna Evans (Padon) - Harriet Siefert (Gifford) - Lola Rouns - Ruth Seifert - Adolph Losch - Dorothy Shorrow (Bowden) - Howard Baker - Myron Matthews - Lillian Gabb (Abraham) - Grace Springer - Iva Traichal - Helen Valentine

1935.  Matilda Armstrong - Olga Bayowski (Homery) - Ila Mae Davis (Brooks) - Lucille Dunlap - Mayme Donegan (Muempfer) - Caroline Garland - Dorothea Gilbert Weddell - Thelma Garland (Shaw) - Leota Gray (Snyder) - Dorothy Hardwick (Smith) - Mary E. Jones (Schink) - Kathryn Jones (Valochin) - Sylvia Cracium (Sohayda) - Joyce Lewis (Poppa) - Lucille Maurer (Patterson) - Jane Marsteller (Whitney) - Florence Morgan (Butler) - Caroline Nass (Sypherd) - Helen Polanski (Hicks) - Ruth Philips (Traichal) - Cora Rosser (Amy) - Zelma Rose (Elsesser) - Lola Shiley* - Margaret Waser* - Martha Waser - Garfield Bequeath - Richard Dunlap - Kenneth Garland - Delbert Garland - Lewis Hood 

Thomas Howells - Richard Hofmeister - Clarence Jones - Frank Moransky - Gordon Patterson - John Porturitca - Stanley Szelest - Clarence Watkins - Woodrow Van Court - Gordon Pearce

1936.  Marguerite Lane (Bowden) - Alice Dunlap (Croft) - Helen Ernst - Julia Evans (Mayfield) - Dorothea Ford (Airhart) - Jean Gilchrist (Henning) - Marcella Jones - Ruby Keeling (Pressell) - Bette Williams (Wiltrout) - Thelma Williman (Steel) - Mildred Smith (Phillips) - Mary Grace Lynch (Woods) - Jean Maurer (Wem) - Mary Reno (Kosa) - Geraldine Meinzen (Foulk) - Verda Powers - Verna Smith - Albert Aiken - William Bollinger - Wilson Baker - Whiteney Brill - Bob Dunlap - Gerald Cutright - Raymond Evans - Wade George - William Heron - Thomas Morris - Wade Rose - Raymond Hollowell - Robert Porter - William Seifert - George Springer - Howard Todd - 

1937.  John Robert Bowden - Bob McConnell - Ray Lodwick - Vernon Hayden - Glen Finigan - Jack Daley* - Paul Brothers* - Frances Bickerstaff (Ludwick) - Frank Warjacki - Charles Agate - Florence Nicholas (Wilson) - Mary Crouser (Jones) - Rose Akins (Kerr) - Violet Heron (Bollinger) - Grace Shackleford - Sarah Smith - Dorothy Ott (Ashburn) - Dominic Brunelli - Cronelius Kracium - Ed Smusz - Florence Shank (Shaulis) - Everett Aaron - Jack Waldron - Donald Garland - Frances Weaver - Delmar Tolson - Eugene Weimer - Frances Betts (Tompkins) - Clarence Bickerstaff - Eddie Whittaker - Harold Everett - Ellis Bequeath

1938.  Glenn Blackson - Clarence Davis - Emerson Deckerhoff - Floyd Dunlap - William Gardner - Herman Hofmeister - Donald Jones - Robert Lynn - Charles Myers - Charles Patterson - Stanley Polanski - Walter Smith - Jack Stephens - Mary Baker (Richards) - Dorothy Cauffield (DeMarsh) - Margaret Delaney (Gephart) - Margaret Mary Dunnigan - Margaret Gray (Malloy) - Bernice Keeling (Whittaker) - Edna Lodwick (Evans) - Lois Jean McMahon (Spate) - Dorothy Roose (Creed) - Lenoa Seifert (Parsons) - Madeline Stringer (Welthers) - Dorothy Trimbaugh (Patterson) - Robert Van Court - Jeanne Walters (Dennis) - Edna Stuhlreher (Marsh) - Francis Watkins (Stephens) - Naomi Ward - Marie Watkins - Thomas Smusz - Eddie Evans - Chas. B. Brown* - June Seifert (Baer)

1939.  Helen Brooks (Young) - George Young - Josephine Fraley (Smith) - Bob Williams - Marjorie Parker (Witherstien) - Aileen Miller - Leroy Bixler - Mary Sipe - Bill Dray - Bob Ault - Lila Jean Partridge - Dane Richards - Beatrice Watkins - Ken Hofmeister - Vanoy McCormick (Harris) - Roland Gilmore - Agnes McCormick - Bob Jones - Katherine Shaffer - Everett Minto - Dorothy Armstrong (Collins) - Darwin Shiley - Elaine Young (Waser) - Glen Seifert - Letha Richards (Breeze) - Andy Kazur - Kathleen Sams - Karl Hayden - Bonnie Maurer (Williams) - Maybelle Powers (Slider) - Jack Hood, Jr. - Bob Noel - Watson Vandegrift - Ellsworth George - Harold Brooks* 

1940.  Homer Bequeath - Randall Bostwick - Michael Brooks - John Carl - Wilbert Cessna - Warren Gray* - Walter Haverland - Charles Jones - Harold Leonhart - Glen Morris - Thomas Nass - William Ohl - Charles Parker - William Sweeney - William Todd - Harvey Turner - James Weaver - Gene White - Doris Adgate (Hoak) - Lillian Baker - Betty Brown (Guy) - Vonda Carnes - Ruth Carter (Lodwick) - Ruth Clemson (Smith) - Rosada Garland (Reed) - Alice Gilbert (Vandergrift) - Jean Gilbert (Law) - Muriel Hess (Young) - Bettie Holt - Evelyn Jones (Scarchnecchi) - Lucille McCormick - Vye Michael (Noel) - Grace Rishel (Urmson) - Lois Seifert (Russell) - Lavina Van Court (Webb) - Valentine Van - Mary Wargacki (Smutz) - Edith Watkins (Angelo)

1941.  Edwin Baker - Jerry Beebe - Edward Bickerstaff - Charles Breeze - Eugene Dunlap - James Paul Finigan, Jr. - George Garland - Randall Garrity - Wayne Keeling - Eugene Kracium - Robert Lawrence - Jack Lewis - Richard Lopes - Charles Lynn - Helen Ludwick (Rang) - John Marsteller, Jr. - James McQuown - Charles Morris - George Weimer - Daisy Amon (Fisher) - Geraldine Bell (Grubbs) - Mary Elaine Bixler (Cleal)

1941 (Cont.).  Lois Deckerhoff - Jeanne Dellinger - Lula Mae Evans - Mary Gimbel - Jean Grubbs - Frieda Hafely (Gotthart) - Bettie Kearney (Whittaker) - Mary Jane Knight - Marjorie Maurer (Neidlinger) - Jean Michel (Kazur) - Marjorie Minto (Evans) - Bertha Lousie Noel - Dorothy Owens (Evans) - Thelma Parker (Viera) - Anna Reno - Julia Seffens (White) - Jean Shaw - Ina Whetstone - June White - Mildred Wright (Martin) - Olive Young (Wheelock) - Dorothy Zell (Cash)

1942.  Adam Bequeath - William Burford, Jr. - Dennie Carnes - John Cessna - Walter Cook - Robert Garland - Harold Gilbert - John Gilchrist - Howard Grubbs, Jr. - Norman Keeling - Joseph O. Lane - Byron Leonhart - Max McQuown - Elliott Powers - Jack Plant - Nicholas Renato - Robert Richards - Edward Sweeney - Raymond Ward - Joseph Wargacki - Eugene Williams - Lois Baker (Turner) - Rena Bickerstaff (Biddlestone) - Bette Boyts - Mary Carl (Philimeno) - Wanda Crawford - Marthalel Davis (Keeling) - Betty Gilmore (Hudzik) - Geraldine Gilbert (Lane) - Ellamae Hegel (Newson) - June Hollowell (Keeley) - Virginia Kracium (Mayer) - Margaret Kazur (Murray) - Anna Magstrak (McCall) - Marian Mayyou (Garrity) - Dorothy Pugh (Creps) - Lillian Richards (Swager) - Ethel Salyer (Thomas) - Martha Sedlock (Gilbert) - Eva Springer (Harrison) - Lucille Webster (Gilanyi) - Alice Welsh (Morris) - Opal Young ( Habegger) - Marion Zell

1943. George Ault - Thomas Beebe - LeRoy Evans - Daniel Evans - George Garland - Ohlin Garland - Nick Harina - Harry Haverland - Jack Hoskin - Andrew Kaloci - Gordon McCormick - Edward Polanski - Edward Seifert - John Smith - John Sweeney - Robert Thompson - Dean White - Kathleen Baker  (James) - Caroline Barnett (Camodee) - Lois Campbell - Mary Kathryn Davis (Price) - Cathryn Jean Donehue (Jones) - Charlotte Games (Tolson) - Betty Jane Goodhart - Margaret Harklerood (Rossell) - Frances Kearney (Glancy) - Betty Jeanne Lopes (Kean) - Bernice Lynch (Knisley) - Caroline Miner (Minehart) - Betty Meyers (Hyden) - Jessie Salyer (Zorn) - Dorothy Stackhouse - Helen Tiefel (Shearer) - Carolyn Todd (Lloyd) - Gloria Watkins (Popp) - Albernice Williams Dunlap) 

1944.  William Bixler - Russell Brock, Jr. - William Conner - Kenneth Cook - Robert Chess - Donald Felger - Robert Gilmore - Gabriel Knight - Robert Krause - Jack Owens - Joseph Payne - Rodger Van Wye - Tom Sedlock - Edwin Troup - Charlotte Bequeath - Audrey Campbell - Eleanor Carter (Hampton) - Doris Dunlap (Dunn) - Georgia Fatsos (Savage) - Marian Harshman (Miles) - Lucille Jones - Phyllis Gene May (Ide) - Mildred Rishel - Edith June Richards (Hubbard) - Lucille Shiley (Waters) - Ruth Janet Stephens - Bernice White (Miller)

1945.  Dean Ainsworth - Mary Jane Anireno (Slick) - Dale Baker - Glen Beatty - Eunice Bequeath - Margie Bickerstaff (Pugh) - Ella Jean Bortz (McClosky) - Robert Brandenstein - Julina Burd - Maguerite Carl (Kovach) - Eileen Croft (Wilkowski) - Robert Davis - Tempa Dunlap - William Endberg - Harry Games - Mary Harina - John Hegel - Ermagene Hess (Chambers) - Mary Agnes Kaley (Bowden)* - Dorothy Mae Kaloci (Popowich) - Audrey Keeling (Parish) - Gene Koch - Dorothea Lawrence (Ashburn) - Raymond  Lynch - Marjorie Lynn - Charles May - Pauline Mienzen [sic]- Ralph Miller - Bernice Minto (Williams) - William Morgan - Asia Myers (Treharn) - Mary Jane Owen - Eleanor Purser (Dennis) - Eugene Joseph Renato - Lewis Seifert - Sadie Seifert (Ivanchak) - Esther Vandegrift (Hermison)

1946.  Dorothy Baer (Hoskin) - Katherine Bowman (Postlethwaite) - Rosemarie Brandenstein - Marie Clark- Herbert Clarke - Martha Grantz (Long) - William Hancox - Betty Hardwick (Silva) - Carol June Harris (Cook) - Edith Knight - Norma Leonhart (Miner) - Harriett McClain (Steele) - Donald Medland - Betty Payne (Keeling) - Gayle Rose (Davis) - Earl Shorrow - Margaret Thomas (Baker) - Margaret Watkins - Betty Thompson (Carnes) - Joan William (Minnick) - Harold Wright

1947.  Clarence Ashburn - Clarence Baker - Robert Bloom - Chas. Brandenstein - Wm. Brooks - Thos. Brown - Gerald Garrity - Fred Garland - Jack Hampton - John Hegel - Donald Hofius - Paul Povlich - Robert Morris - Richard Stephens - Wm. Thompson

1947 (Cont.).  Wayne Tompkins - David White - George Young - Jane Baker (Lindsey) - Edith Barnett (Stabile) - Eleanor Burk - Norma Byers (Taylor) - Naomi Garland (Wilson) - Dorothy Lee Gilmour (Sublett) - Louise Grantz (Sudol) - Sara Griffiths - Georgann Hanna (Brockley) - Marjorie Hegel (Manos) - Marilyn Johnson (Love) - Edna Jones - Janet Koch (Matta) - Armeta Lisdell - Anna Ree Morgan (Ramsey) - Jeanne Noble - Doris Ohl (Persing) - Jean powers - Barbara Price - Helen Robinson (Marino) - Godlie Mae Shaver - Genevieve Wargacki - Virginia Weller

1948.  Jean Baker - Eloise Campbell - Leroy Clark - Richard Clemson - Patricia Clarke (Thompkins) - Dorris Cook (Lang) - Bert Corbin - Nancy Creese (Leeworthy) - Mary Jane Goss (Siefert) - Charles Hayden - James Robert Hofius - William Hood - Margaret Johnson (Hegel) - Ernest Kingsley - Reroy Ludwick - Dewain McCleery - James McClimans - Mary Lou McQuown (Pepper) - Anita Morgan (Thompson) - Benjamin Pantalone - Marguerette Pearce (Chambers) - Robert Plan - Mary Lou Rose - George Schrencengost - Anna Marie Quiric - Donna Jean Stottlemire - Eugene Thompson - Patricia Thompson (Parker) Paul A. Thomas - James Weller - Laurel Leverne Young (Gray)

1949.  Ronald Pearce Baker - Donna Jean Byers (Burke) - James E. Bickerstaff - Walter Budrevich - Herbert Burk - Robert M. Clark, Jr. - Donald Croft - Richard Davis - William Donegan - Viola Rose Dunlap - Carl Durig - Janet Garland - Dorothy Grantz (Marshall) - Janice Jones - Thomas Jordan - Beverly McCleary - Donnie McCormick - Michael Miklas, Jr. - Shirley Parilla (Shonk) - Melvin R. Rose - William E. Reid - Michael Reno - William Rummell - Jan Schuller (Young) - Jack Sedlock - Dolores Shuttleworth - Wilda Jean Steele - Helen Strong (Fusselman) - William Sullivan - Kenneth Tillery - Jack Tompkins - Edward Van - Frederick Van Wye - John Warjacki*

1950.  Donna Jean Armstrong, Edna Brandenstein - Donald Carpenter - Patricia Caskey (Compton) - Jerry Clarke - Shirley Cleveland - Edna M. Durig (Moomall) - Grace L. Gelston - Margaret Harvey - Donald Heitman - Ann Hofius - Gayle Hollowell - Leroy Hood - Paul Kompanik - George Kostur - Geraldine Lynch (Weller) - Nannette McClimans - Pauline McCormick - Betty J. Miller (Chapman) - Barbara Jane Minto (Thoms) - Louis Leroy Moore - Keturah Mottashed (Baker) - Maureen Myers - Evelyn Pantalone - Donna Parker - Mary Lou Platt - James Squiric - William Stphens [Stephens] - Arthur Robert Thompson - Herman Weddell - Frances Young

1951.  William Bancroft - Margaret Bednarik - Robert Booth - Faye Boss - Ora Lucille Brown - Robert Burk - Rose Marie Butler - Robert Criswell, Jr. - John Davis - Dorothy Donegan (Schrencengost) - Joan Dull - Dorothy Evans - Raymond Felgar - Orvan Garris - Ray Garland - Ronald Garland - Martha Gilbert (Newhard) - Eva Hayden - William Hibler - Lenora Jones - Mildren Kompanik - Donald Lawyer - Barbara Miner - Eileen Parker - Gordon Parker - Mary Lou Pugh (Beebe) - Richard Rathburn - Belva Reifinger - Vera Richards - Dona Mae Rishel - Dora Lee Rishel - Bernice Robison - Willovene Rose (Plant) - Eugene Schrecengost - Lora May Sweeney - Sophia Teglas - Paul Tucke - Janet Weller - Phyllis Young (Winkle)

1952.  James Bray - Gerald Brooks - Roy Carpenter - David Davis - Robert Fairburn - George Kaloci - William Krizen - John Lawyer - William Lodwick - Myron Miklas - Robert Milligan - Thomas MOrris - James Phillips - Robert Squiric - Jack Young - Alan George - Shirley Ashburn - Ruth Byers - Mary Alice Caskey (Seaborn) - Donna Geiger - Carol Grove - Shirley Heitman - James George - Dorothy Kovach - Dorothy McCormick (Garland) - Theresa McGowan - Janet Morris (Milligan) - Rose Marie Renato (Burk) - Jean Richards (Nyre) - Joyce Stark (Seaborn) - Leah Pantalone - Verda Taggert

1953.  Shirley Ainsworth (Hake) -  Keith Baker - Richard Barney - Twila Bell - Nancy Bridgen - Gertude [Gertrude] Burke - Paul Cleveland - Eugene Cline - Laura Davis

1953 (Cont.).  William Davis, Jr. - John Davies - Retta Durig - Judith Dunstan - Alice Finney - Joyce Garris - Kay Garland - Sally Gelston - Edward Hanna - Sharon Heath - Betty Jones (Hibler) - Gail Jones - Eleanore Kompanik - Janet Lewellen - JoAnn Lodwick - Marjoie Means - Marilyn McClimans - Ana Jean McCormick - Eugene McGowan - Alfred Muffley - Shirle Anne Noble (Gabriel) - Jo-Anne Hyre (Donegan) - William Pennell - Gerald Phillips - Rex Reese - Donald Seaborn - Novella Strong - Maureen Sullivan - Barbara Jean Williams

1954.  John Armstrong - Robert Bancroft - Joanne Beard - Lary Clark - Caroline Dellinger - Shannon Durig - Bette Evans - Judith Evans - Rosemary Fatsos - Roy George - Beverly Gifford - Samuel Grafton - Hervey Grantz - Betty Jean Jackson - Mary E. Jones - Paul A. Jones - Frank Joseph - Edward Juran - Mary Ann Kaibas - Robert Kompanik - Jean Kostur - Nancy Krizen - Valerie Kicera - Shirley Mazzella - Dolus McCormick - Judith McGowan - Theresa McNevin - JoAnn Myers (Taggert) - Richard Ohl - Edwin Ott - Joan Sabo - David Shaffer - Marcia Shiley - Robert Shufflebotham - John Smith - Thomas Smith - Charles Squiric - Mary Steele - Harold Swaney - Ervin Taggert - Thomas Taggert - Mary Jean Tucke - Donald  Whittaker - Rosemary Weida - Phoebe May Woodward

Advertisers
Lane Funeral Home (inside front cover, above)
Don McCaughtry's Service.  Petroleum Products
Matthews Coal and Supply
"Can-DO" Construction Co.

Triangle Garage
Russell's Barber Shop
Lee Doyle, Jeweler
Weddell's, Sohio Servi
International Homes
Cliff James Motors
Riverside Dairy

Donald L. Bostwick, Architect and Engineer Robert N. Flickinger, Real Estate
Jack Nicholas' Sohio Service
Tunison Brothers - Floor Coverings, Carpets
Ridge Machine Company

Stanley Polanski
Mullee's Hardware, Groceries, Dry Goods, Paints
Gilanyi's Upholstering
Wood's Radio and Television
Hafely Sheet Metal
Lloyd's Packing
Libby's Frozen Custard

Winchell Cleaners and Shirt Laundry
E. Ross Adgate and Son Flower Shop and Greenhouses
Beazell's HI-Lo Market
Rose Building & Supply Co, Inc.

Mounier Drugs
Eddie, The Barber
Smitty's, Featuring Ashland Products
Isaly's
Globe Union
Carl's County-Line Garage
 

Spackman Service Station

     This program was made possible by our friends' advertisements which appear on the previous pages.  We wish to thank them for their cooperation
     We sincerely hope you have enjoyed this evenign and will want to return every year for this annual Alumni Banquet and Dance.
     Congratulations and best wishes to The Class of 1954.

--Nancy.
.

—Nancy.

Copyright ©2014-2023 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
.

The Book of Me - The House Where I Grew Up

A recent photo of 16 and 18 Furnace Street

I lived at 16 Furnace Street in Mineral Ridge from the time I was born until I left for college.  (The address became 1431 Furnace Street sometime during the 1960s when the county changed the street numbers.)  The front of the house faces south.  My parents bought the duplex in about 1939 and lived there their whole lives.  They rented the other side of the house for extra income.

Dad made some structural changes between the time they bought the house and the time I was born.  On the second floor he removed the dividing wall between the two sides so that our side had the whole length of the upper floor.  On the first floor of our side he removed a wall that created two rooms thereby creating one long room at the front of the house which we used as a living room.

My strongest memory of our house is how clean it was.  My mother was nothing if not a cleaner and the house was clean enough to eat off the floors.  Truly, I think it was!  "Cleanliness is next to Godliness," she used to say and went on to dust, scrub, scour, and sweep every surface in our home on an all-too-frequent basis.  (I love clean but I did not inherit her deep love of the cleaning process nor a cleaning gene and am happy with a house that's "clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy.")

On the first floor were three rooms:  the kitchen, the long living room (that had been two rooms), and a small room beside the kitchen where my father's desk was.  Upstairs there were four bedrooms off one long hall.  In the basement was a bathroom, the washer and dryer, and the furnace.

Let's see if I can do a photograph tour of at least the first floor. . . .

the back porch

Family nearly always entered the house from the back door.  The driveway was beside the house and a narrow sidewalk led from the driveway to the back porch so it was very convenient to come in that way.  We went up four steps onto the porch, then into the kitchen. 

Both the screen door and the back entry door opened to the right.  Standing just inside the back door, on the right and facing west, were cupboards, counter, sink, refrigerator, and closet, which are more or less shown below.  The refrigerator is just barely visible between the photos of my father and the one of my brother and his wife. 

the west wall of the kitchen with counter, sink, refrigerator, and closet; back door at right faces north

Opposite the wall in the photos above sat the kitchen table.  At first it was an enamel-topped table but later my parents bought a formica-topped, chrome-legged table and chair set.  We used that during the time I lived at home.  For a while my parents had a large chest freezer which stood to the right of the back door.  It cramped the kitchen a little but it was very convenient.

To the left of where my mom is standing in the photo above is a narrow section of wall then a short, narrow hallway.  On the right of that hallway is a door to the cellar and through the hallway is the living room.

Once through the hallway, look right (shown below) and there is the stairway going upstairs, the west-facing window at the bottom of the stairs, and then the wall to the left of the window.

west wall of living room with stairway on the right; corner to south wall is just past the left side of the photo

Going counter-clockwise around the living room from the photos above, there's a corner (and then you're facing south), a narrow window, a section of wall, the front door, a wide window, and the corner (some of which are shown below). 

east wall of living room (on left) and south wall with wide window and door (on right)

Turn the corner after the large window and face east.  In the center of the east wall is a section where the chimney extends slightly into the room.  In the left photo, above, one can't see the end of the couch but there's just a little more to it than is shown and then we're at the end of the living room.

Below continues the view from the living room, around the corner, then facing the back of the house (north).  On the right and left photos below are the end of the living room.  There was a wide doorway between the two rooms.  In the center is the view into the room where my father's desk with his clock repair equipment resided.  In the photo on the left, looking through the wide doorway, you can just see the open door (but not that doorway) that leads back into the kitchen.  You can also see two of my father's grandmother clocks awaiting new homes in the background of that photo.

north wall of living room on left and right, facing into the room with my father's watch repair business

My mother occasionally rearranged the furniture and put up new photographs.  You'll notice the differences in the photos above because they were taken over a number of years (or even decades, in some cases).  She always changed the curtains for summer and winter:  lighter in the summer, heavier in the winter.

front steps & porch

When I was a kid the porches and first floor of the house seemed to be higher than they look in the opening photo of this post.  Was it my perspective or did they regrade the yard and build new steps? 

In the front yard were two large maples trees, one on either side of the steps.  Consequently, the south-facing front porch was shaded from summer's heat and gave joy during autumn's glow.  Mom kept a little table and some chairs on the porch and I often sat there with friends on hot afternoons to play cards or with the rest of the family during summer evenings.  The porch was the very best place to watch a thunderstorm!  It was a joy to sit there and watch the lightening thrusts and the rain hammer down.  The porch during thunderstorms is probably one of the things I miss most about that house.  I've never found its equal.

Mom & Dad facing our house, looking west on Furnace St.

Furnace Street is a narrow Macadam road which was repaved every few years.  One truck would pour or spray tar, another would pour gravel, and then a roller would press the gravel into the tar.  Invariably sections of tar would be left uncovered.  It was very tempting to touch it with my shoe but doing so would bring on a scolding.  I stepped carefully while walking to my grandmother's house.

The second floor of our house had a long hallway with small casement windows on the left side and four bedrooms on the right, one for each of us children and one for my parents.  I have no photos of the hallway or bedrooms.  We slept, stored our clothes, and got dressed there but did little else.

When my parents moved to the house there were only outhouses.  In the 1950s my father added a bathroom (and tore down the outhouses).   Either because my parents did not want to give up living space or because of my father's abilities and/or finances, the bathroom was put in the basement.  It was a small space with toilet, sink, and bathtub.  I didn't realize the inconvenience it was to have the bathroom in the basement but I remember counting the steps from second floor to first and from first floor to basement so that I wouldn't fall when I walked downstairs at night.  When I was a kid with little experience of the world, I accepted things as they were.  I never gave a thought to the strangeness of a bathroom in the basement. 

For many years water was purchased by the truckload and stored in a cistern.  Mom called to order a load of water, it arrived, and the man took the cover off the cistern and transferred the water through a large tube.  I remember occasionally running out of water before the water man came.  Once we collected snow and let it melt.  My parents were very frugal when it came to water use and there was great excitement when we got "city water" in the Ridge.  It cost less and we weren't limited to an inch of water in the bathtub for a bath!

At first there was a coal furnace in the basement.  Coal was purchased by the truckload, hauled, and shoveled into a coal room at the bottom of the basement stairs.  I remember my parents carefully tending the fire in the furnace to be sure it didn't go out during the night.  There must have been other intricacies involved with a coal furnace that escaped my young understanding.  I think it was a juggle to keep the house warm enough but not too warm.  It seems that the heat just rose though I think there were several heat ducts to the first floor, but I know there were none to the second floor.  We used plenty of blankets on the beds to stay warm in the winter.  The favorite and warmest heat duct was claimed by my sister.  It was in the kitchen near the top of the basement stairs.  I remember her bringing her clothes down, sitting in front of the duct, and then getting dressed there on winter mornings.

You can guess that with a coal furnace there was no air conditioning in our home.  The upstairs was as hot in summer as it was cold in winter.  Fans were our only recourse for summer's heat.

My father eventually removed the coal furnace and installed baseboard radiators.  I don't ever remember being cold in our house (except in the bedrooms), so the radiators must have provided effective heat.

My father passed away in 1987.  My mother remained in the house until the last few months of her life when her health prevented it, sometime in the late 1990s.  The house was sold in about 1996 to a man who, we understand, intended to remodel it.  I haven't been inside since a month or so before it was sold.  I hope he's taking good care of the house where I grew up.

This is the fifth post in The Book of Me, Written By You series, created by Julie Goucher of Anglers Rest.

—Nancy.

Copyright © 2013-2025 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
.

Wordless Wednesday - Hometown News

These cute, joyful-looking boys are cousins who lived down the street from me when I was a child.  Their grandfather and my grandmother were siblings.  They're with a soapbox derby car here but they graduated to building go carts.  I was occasionally invited to ride/drive the go carts on the track behind their house.  Even then I loved speed and, aside from a car, those little go carts were probably the speediest thing I could ride and have the wind in my face.  (No helmets in those days.)  I didn't look for the results of the Soap Box Derby so I don't know who won.  Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly), the boys' uncle, Jim Bickerstaff, was a stock car driver.

I happened onto this photo while searching for an obituary in paper copies of the Niles Daily Times at the Ohio Historical Society Archives.  (I found the obituary.)  Some of the newspapers in their collection have many issues bound into single large volumes.  Imagine my surprise when I turned the page and found this photo. It's hard to believe it wasn't in my mother's scrapbook.  She cut out and saved newspaper articles right and left.  Maybe she culled her collection later in life. 

If you'd like to read the article below the photo, click on the image.  It will open in a new window.  Click again and it will enlarge.

Google, hear my plea:  continue adding newspapers to your collection, please.  I hope that some day the Niles Daily Times will be available at google newspapers and I'll be able to get a good image of the photo and the obituary as well as perform word searches. 

I guess this was a not-so-wordless Wednesday.

--Nancy.

The Rose Window - Church Record Sunday

The interminable endlessness of the minister's sermons was appeased to my 5-year-old mind by the view of this rose window above the minister's head (and the little white gloves I always wore to church and the little hanky dolls -- twins in a blanket -- my mother used to make for me) while I sat quietly, without squirming, till the very end of the Sunday service. Because the window faced north there was never direct sunlight through the panes, but the glass shimmered and danced nonetheless. To my young eyes it was beyond beautiful: it was exquisite.

Last year when I posted the dedication program for the Mineral Ridge (Ohio) Methodist Episcopal Church I put out a plea for photographs of the windows in the church. Blessing! The plea was generously answered a few weeks ago by Marcia Buchanan of the Mineral Ridge Historical Society. She photographed the building and windows the day it went up for auction a few years ago. She found my blog post and sent several dozen photos of the windows, the sanctuary (as we called it), and the balcony. She willingly gave permission for me to post the photos. Thank you, Marci.

The Dedication Day Program of the Mineral Ridge Methodist Episcopal Church from September 7th, 1930, gave a brief description and explanation of the images in the rose window. From the center, then outward and clockwise:


The Center:
The Cross in Glory -- Christ








The Inside Circle, clockwise from top:
The Nativity, Our Lord's Baptism, The Word Made Flesh, The Last Supper








Our Lord's Passion, The Resurrection, King Forever, The Triumph of the Gospel









The Outside Circle, clockwise from top:
The Holy Spirit, The Word, The Son, Eternal Life







The Trinity, The Rock of Salvation, The Father, The Church








Are these stained glass windows not exquisite? I wish I knew how and where they obtained the glass and who chose the images. They were constructed by The Buser Art Glass Company.

This church holds a place in my heart simply because I attended it as a child, but after learning that my grandmother's brother was the carpenter for the building it became even dearer to me.

You can learn more about Mineral Ridge and the Mineral Ridge Historical Society on their Facebook page but you'll need to have a Facebook account to view the conversation and photos.

Learn more about the church and view pages of the program at Dedication Day Program, Mineral Ridge Episcopal Church; "A Brief Historical Sketch" of the Mineral Ridge Methodist Church; and Mineral Ridge Businesses, 1930.
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