Ashland Ohio Ewing History

Researched and submitted by: Arlene Goodwin, Auburn, Indiana agoodwin@cltnet.com and Eckhart Public Library ebethgen@yahoo.com

Nina Emma Potter, daughter of J. A. Potter died at their home Auburn, Jan. 6, 1890 at the early age of 12 years 3 months and 11 days. She had been sick for some time, in fact since the death of her mother. She had come home from her mother's funeral worn out and grief-stricken and scarcely left her room afterwards. Her disease finally took the form of consumption of the bowels and her life was gradually wasted away. The funeral was at the M. E. church Wednesday at 1:30 p. m. Mr. Lamport officiating. Following so soon the death of Mrs. Potter, it is a terrible blow on the family, and all, and especially Mr. Potter, have the deepest sympathy of the community. The funeral of Miss Nina Potter was largely attended Wednesday. The scholars in the room of which she was a member, were dismissed so that all might pay their last respects to their youthful classmate. Nina, once full of life and energy, is no more. She is sweetly sleeping the sleep that knows.

I found this cabinet photo among the paper ephemera of Gram Ewing's 1957 estate and have uploaded it to Nina's "Find-A-Grave" page. 

findagrave.Potter-Nina

Apparently this was a common "in memoriam" device in those days,  much the same as those photos people now attach to tombstones.  Thankfully not post-mortem photography.  The cabinet photo style predates her generation and I was curious about why she had kept it.  This led me to Nina's obituary (above), a surprise find with details that I had never known,  some that I doubt my father knew.  

Nina's cause of death in the obituary is an archaic medical term for inflammation and ulceration of the intestines from tubercular disease.   TB was once a widespread bacterial infection, it can infect not just the lungs, but many different organs.  It was virtually wiped out with the help of antibiotics developed in the 1950s. I did read that this form of TB was an overused diagnosis back then, as it rarely impacted adults unless the disease was already shutting down other organs.  In any case not a very pleasant way to go and you can only imagine the devastation of the Potter family at the time.

So far this is the youngest photo I have found of Jeanie (that is her on the right), if the likeness in the photo is representative she looks amazingly like Nina Potter.  The other girl is identified on the back of the photo as Ursell (McNabb?),  who is referenced in the letter below.  I can't make out the last name of the couple but the woman who looks like the Duchess from "Alice In Wonderland" is Mrs. McNabb;  the owner or co-owner of the grocery on the letterhead below.  The other man is Clint Potter or one of his brothers.

"Alice in Wonderland" was first published in 1865 so Jeanie and Ursell most likely would have understood the reference.

This was not captioned on the reverse except for Jeanie's name and I can only guess the identities of the others.  Most likely they are the Potter relatives she visited in Chicago who were mentioned in the letter.  A young Jeanie between the two women in the back row.

A real photo postcard,  it appears that Jeanie was working in her father's grocery - note the circus poster in the window.

These are photos - not postcards.  Neither are captioned although that looks like Clint (on the left) and it is probably him holding the fish in the top one.  Although similar, there are enough differences between the storefronts to mean the McNabb market had two different locations or branches. 

https://www.google.com/mapsoutside 408 South Main St.

Based on this google streetview the location with the bicycles is likely just to the right of 410 South Main St.

This is a small real photo postcard without any information on the back.  My father told me that Jean was the second from the left,  but with the benefit of a larger image I would choose the girl who is the third from the right.  Look at those waistlines, seven such girls today they would be called anorexic models, in 1908 it was just a leaner diet and more exercise. 

Note the board sidewalk.

Jeanie (on the left) and two of her friends,  a real photo post card.  Jeanie was still in Auburn,  judging from the embossed photography studio name on the bottom of the post card.  On the back of the card she has written her name and address: "Jean Potter 218 W. 12th, between Van Buren & Jackson" (there is an 1830's house still at that address).   Also written on the back is W.H. McIntyre Auto where she may have been working.  If so,  she was a part of Auburn's early automotive heritage:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntyre_Automobile

McIntyre's Imp Cyclecar

The Imp Cyclecar was produced from 1913 through 1915. These belt driven vehicles were powered by motorcycle-like engines. The vee-twin 15 horsepower air-cooled engine was mated to a friction transmission. The car had a wheelbase of 100 inches and weighed a mere 600 pounds.

The Imp Cyclecar was William B. Stout's first automotive venture. He would later build the Ford Tri-Motor airplane and the Stout Scarab. The Imp was his first idea and he sold it to the McIntyre Company. The W.H. Mcintyre Company set up a new division, the Imp Cyclecar Company.

The McIntyre Company was forced into bankruptcy in 1915 and shut-down two years later,  perhaps the event that triggered Jean's move to Ashland.

So in the summer of 1914 we have Jean at age 21 losing the man who had essentially been her life-long father.  Indications are that they had gotten very close after her Aunt Georgia's death - when Jean was just ten.  I recall Gram Ewing as extremely loving, stable, and without pretension.  Amazing considering all that life had handed her.   I suspect that her Uncle Clint deserves the lion's share of the credit for her having turned out so well.

Labeled on the back "Jean's brothers Ted and Bert Hustin - we think" by my father and mother.  It seems logical given that it was from Jean's estate and was produced by an Ashland studio.   Her older brothers had stayed in Ashland (probably with their father Almon or Elmon) and apparently Jean felt enough ties after Clint Potter's death to  move back to her birthplace,  where she met and on December 27, 1919 married Harry Baine Ewing - nicknamed Buck.  Jean, Harry, and Bert are buried next to each other in the Andrew A. Sponsler family plot of the Ashland Cemetery.  

Interestingly, both had been married once before and divorced,  Jean's married name was Mrs. Leslie Beal - I don't know if that was in Auburn, Ashland, or somewhere in between.  On their marriage license Harry's occupation is "meat business" (he was working as a butcher in a grocery in downtown Ashland) and Jean's is book-keeper.

A dapper Harry Ewing, the earliest photo of him that I have found.

  We have no information about Harry's grandfather on his mother's side (Andrew Cole) other than his being born in Michigan and married to Louisa Hildebrant who was born in either Pennsylvania or in Germany.  Both probably in the 1830's.

When they met,  Jean and Harry had something in common as both the Ewing's and the Potter's had operated meat markets and grocery stores;  with both working in their family's markets.  Of course on the Chesrown / Griffith side of my family my grandparents purchased and operated a grocery store during the first years of their marriage.  All that grocery heredity may account for my feeling so at home during my temporary assignment to the produce section of the Air Force Commissary in 1973.

I don't believe Jean established any real family ties with anyone but her two older brothers (Bert was six years older and Ted a couple more).  Bert was a disabled WWI veteran,  Company E.  146th Infantry.  My mother did not give Jean's father a year of death in her genealogy study, she only lists him as being buried in Ashland.   I think it's an unmarked grave. 

We don't know his first name but he was called "Michigan" - which is likely where he came from.   Apparently Andrew Hustin was a reclusive character who lived on or near Race Street,  when my father was a boy he occasionally visited him there.

Ashland Residences & Occupations of the Hustin's

Albert Hustin in listed in the 1895 city directory as a drayman living at 149 W. Main.  A dray was a flat-bed delivery wagon without sides. 

 The 1906 city directory lists him as drayman Albert Houston working at Myers and living south of Sandusky east of the cemetery",  with expressmen Theo & Elmer Houston.  The 1906 city directory has an advertisement for E. Heuston - Drayman.  Apparently there were several spellings of Hustin in use at this time. 

The 1911 city directory has Al Hustin - drayman at 343 Sandusky - rear,  also at this address are Herbert and Edward G. Hustin.  Edward is listed as a molder at Myers.

Bert Hustin 7/28/86 - 8/17/56  WWI Co. E 146th Infantry / custodian

Almon Hustin is listed as the father on Bert's and Jean's birth certificates.  I suspect that Almon,  Elmon,  E. Heuston,  and Michigan refer to the same person - maybe even Elmer.  Spelling does not seem to have been a Hustin strong point.  He is buried in a unmarked grave in the Ashland cemetery.  Albert was probably his brother.

135 E. Walnut (married)

132 ???? (very young Carol)

419 Jacobs Street - Harry 1953 obit

Bill - East Walnut in Harry's 1953 obit

194 Lilac Lane Jeff BC

128 E. Walnut St. (1952)

525 Edgehill 1953-56

59 Plum St. Jeromesville 1956

862 Duff Drive 1956-1966

Jean & Harry Ewing Family - Ashland Ohio Photos

Yes that is a cat,  but at least Carol Ewing is not holding it,  this was a family that managed to get one or more cats in 90% of their photos.  The family lived at 137 E. Walnut Street and later in a duplex across the street - 128 E. Walnut Street,  but this unique looking house appears in many of their photos.  After a little research I was able to identify it as 139 E. Walnut - next door to them.  I don't know the identity of Carol's friend.   Carol certainly had no reason to feel insecure about her looks - at that age she could have graced the cover of an edition of "Anne of Green Gables".  Carol was called "Dook" by her two brothers.

https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LZF6-XQ9/hiram-ewing-1851-1930

This real photo postcard features the delivery wagons of Ed G. Metcalf's Central Delivery service on the east side of Center Street.  It looks like Harry Ewing with his leg up on the wheel of the first wagon.  He was born in 1893.  The 1911 Ashland City Directory lists him as a driver living at 617 Cleveland Ave.  Hiram (his father) is also listed at that address as is Lemon Ewing;  the owner of a meat market and grocery store at 149 W. Main Street.  I believe this later became the Sanitary Cash Market.  I recall going there with my father in the 1950's and being told that Harry had once worked there as a meatcutter.  Dad kept his father's old meat saw, which was probably sold at the estate auction in 1998.  Gram Ewing was the granddaugher of Andrew Sponsler and is buried beside him in the Ashland Cemetery.  Andrew had been the Sexton of that cemetery.  He was not the Andrew Sponsler who ran a meat market at 206 Ohio Street;  a source of confusion to me as a child because it was that Andrew's sons who began the two Sponsler IGA stores in town.

Behind the wagons can be seen the office of J.A. Bucklew,  a tinner and slater.  The city directory gives his address as 135 Center Street which is likely the location of the photo, and the building to the right of Bucklew's most likely is Metcalf's establishment.  There was a Western Auto store there when I was a child - at about age six I picked out my first baseball glove there - a Jim Finnigan model infielder's mitt.  The Home Company building would be just off camera to the left of the white horse.  It is still standing.

Gram Ewing with a very young Bill.

Bill and Jean - "I've got some film go get the cats"

Four generations of Ewing men;  Bill, Harry, Hiram, and Philip (age 94)

That might be Bert Hustin standing beside his little sister,  It looks like they are set up to dispense water at the 4th of July parade.

Moving van with Harry Ewing.  Note little Bill Ewing next to his father,  bundled up for the cold.  Apparently it snowed in Ashland back then just like today.  Note the electric or telephone pole mentioned earlier,  instead of metal pegs for climbing they attached wooden wedges.   There were still some of those old poles around when I was growing up.

Bill and friend on Cleveland Avenue,  the year on the license plate is 1924.

The above photos are my favorites of their family life photos.

 Lots of fishing trips to Michigan prior to the depression, once it hit the quality of their lives declined significantly.

A very young Bob and Carol (with cats and a dog),   note the converted hot water heater planter hanging from the porch railing.  I used to think they were old truck mufflers but they actually were very early hot water heaters.  60+ years ago virtually every house on Cleveland Avenue had such a planter.  You saw them elsewhere around town but not in such concentration.   I believe that these tanks were prone to exploding when the steam pressure got too high and the safety valve failed to open.  A friend recalls hearing that they were manufactured in Ashland and the ones being used as planters had failed inspection,  and either been sold or given away to the public.

I'm not sure which house this is but the slope in the backyard is likely going down to the banks of the town creek.

The industrial rust belt had our unique version of "steelies",  old ball bearings fathers would bring home from work.  I've heard that they sell chrome-plated solid steel marbles,  but ours were re-purposed ball bearings.  Mostly the same size as a shooter marble but occasionally someone would bring a bearing about the size of a shot put and we would crush (to powdered glass) our chipped marbles with it at recess.

Harry Ewing behind the wheel,  Ashland Fire Department.

Enough with the cats Bob!  Same driveway but from an angle that shows the SW corner of Arthur Street School,  which further confirms the addresses of these two houses.

Probably the only existing photo of Bob Ewing swinging a golf club.  Bob had a bicycle despite the family's financial hardships because he had a Times Gazette paper route, the American Pickers guys could probably tell the make and model.  I did not inherit his bicycle but I did get his old cloth paper bag when I became a TG paperboy in 1962.  I delivered papers until we moved away from Ashland,  it seemed like forever but was slightly less than four years.  I passed my route down to my substitute Steve Bachmann,  who later passed it down to my cousin Scott, Bob's son.

 When Bob came back from Korea he went to work for the TG as a linotype operator.  The name of the machine comes from the fact that it produces an entire line of metal type at once, hence a line-o'-type, a significant improvement over the previous industry standard, i.e., manual, letter-by-letter typesetting using a composing stick and drawers of letters.  One year my cub scout den visited the TG,  after a tour of the facility Bob gave everyone a lead slug with their name.

Bob was not a baby boomer but he was impacted early by the ever-increasing rate of technological change that descended on the workforce,  changes that would completely alter the career landscape for us boomers.  When the linotype was phased out he went from doing part-time television repair to opening a full-time Zenith showroom and repair service beside the old Red Barn Restaurant on East Main Street.  This opened in 1977,  just in time to catch the wave of discount and big box retailers and throw-away electronics which would render his type of operation a marginal business and turn used television sets into expensive landfill.   It took a lot of imagination, innovation, and luck to navigate the changing world of commerce and few long-time family businesses were success stories for us baby boomers.

Bob and Carol - the little girl looks like Hollywood's most irritating movie character Phronsie Pepper.

The house in the background above is 130 East Walnut,  the next to last house before Arthur Street School (and Arthur Street itself for that matter).  Phronsie probably lived next door at 132 East Walnut as the two photos were taken the same day.  All the houses pictured in this area are still standing.

Gram Ewing, Harry, Carol, and Elizabeth (about 1949); Pleasant Hill Dam overlook?

Carol Jean Reffett

Died: Tuesday, October 07, 2003

Age: 70

Carol Jean Reffett, 70, of Fairborn, passed away Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2003, in Dayspring Health Care Center. She was born Dec. 5, 1932, in Ashland, Ohio, the daughter of Harry and Jean (Potter) Ewing.

Carol served her country for four years in the U.S. Air Force and retired from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base after 32 years of faithful service. She was a member of the Friends of the Air Force Museum and was a dedicated volunteer at the museum since 1998.

She is survived by two daughters, Laura Wilson of Dayton and Jane Reffett and Garry Adkins of Dayton; a brother and sister-in-law, Robert and Pat Ewing of Ashland; two grandchildren, Jason Vaughen and his wife Erika of Fairborn and Carrie Pence and her husband Chris Newman of Fairborn; two great-grandchildren, Chase Vaughen and Lucas Newman, and three nephews, Jeff Ewing, Craig Ewing and Scott Ewing. She was preceded in death by her parents; a grandson, Robert John Edie; a brother, William Ewing, and his wife Elizabeth Ewing and their son, Tim Ewing.

No visitation will be observed. Graveside services will be held today at 2 p.m. at Byron Cemetery.

The family is being served by Burcham Funeral Home, 119 E. Main St., Fairborn.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Carol’s memory may be made to the Air Force Museum Foundation, P.O. Box 33624, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base 45433.