Table of Content
Indexes and transcriptions may not include all the data found in the original records. Look at the actual image of the record, if you can, to verify the information and to find additional information. The campus of the former Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home is located in the southeastern corner of the city of Xenia, close to US 35 and US 68. Many of the original buildings from the home remain and are still in use to this day, although in 2013, many abandoned buildings on the property were demolished. In 1978, the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home became known as the Ohio Veterans’ Children’s Home.
In May 1871, the board of managers authorized the construction of additional cottages to meet the demand. Any child under sixteen years of age of “deceased, indigent and permanently disabled soldiers and sailors who served during the rebellion,” were eligible for admittance to the created homes. The legislation directed that the first home be constructed at White Sulphur Springs in Delaware County, Ohio, unless the area proved to be unsuitable per the board of managers. This location was also home to Ohio’s Industrial School for Girls. Per the bill, any site selected for the initial home should be able to provide housing and care for 250 children. Finally, the legislation authorized thirteen thousand dollars for the home’s construction.
Mexican War (1846- [edit | edit source]
On November 15, 1887, 668 children lived at the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home. Of the students, girls accounted for 242 of the pupils, approximately one-third of the orphans enrolled at the institution. At this time, Major Noah Thomas served as the orphanage’s superintendent, while his wife, Alice Thomas, was the institution’s matron. The Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home employed seventeen teachers, twenty matrons—one in each student cottage—and one additional matron in the hospital.
Although Ohio did not exist as a state during the time of the Revolutionary War, a man born between 1730 and 1765 who lived in Ohio later may have been granted Ohio land for his service for another state or for the Continental Army. A temporary location was established in town, and 100 acres of farmland south/southeast of town were purchased for the permanent location. Children began arriving at the home in December 1869, and in August of 1870, they moved to the farm. Responsibility eventually passed from the GAR to the State of Ohio, and the state officially adopted the children. Children who once lived at the OSSO/OVCH formed an Association of Ex-Pupils , established a museum, and hold an annual reunion. Main BuildingBuilt around 1870, was the main administration building for the home.
Additional Records[edit | edit source]
Administration building at the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home in Xenia, 1901. Courtesy of the Greene County Records Center and Archives via Ohio Memory.Students/residents of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home, 1901.
Xenia was chosen because people from Greene County had long been interested in the plight of the veterans' families, and Reverend P.C. Prugh had been raising funds for the project for some time. Rev. Prugh is thus referred to as the "Father" of the movement to establish a home. Additionally, Chaplain George W. Collier is credited with being the first to suggest the idea of a home to the GAR.In 1869, the Grand Army of the Republic established the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home in Xenia, Ohio. Originally, the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home provided Ohio children who lost their father in the American Civil War with a place to live. Eventually, the State of Ohio opened this institution to orphans of all military conflicts and the children of all veterans, including ones who had not died on the battlefield. Due to financial difficulties, a veteran and/or his spouse might leave their children at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home to become wards of the State of Ohio.
Search for an Ancestor (Version 2.
Then you can check the Wiki regiment pages to determine counties. Often knowing the counties that had men in a regiment will help you determine if a soldier was your ancestor. There are helpful nationwide records for soldiers of the War of 1812. See the Wiki article, Ohio in the War of 1812, for information concerning military records, histories, links to relevant web sites, etc. for Ohio.
The collection consists of images to admission records of veterans to the state soldier home in Sandusky for the years 1888 to 1919. Acquired from the state archives, and historical society in Columbus. Money was collected from taxes levied during the Civil War to care for the dependents of soldiers, but the government mishandled the money. By the war's end, several families were living in county infirmities under deplorable conditions. Seeing this, soldiers still living began contacting government officials, requesting that something be done to help the families of the fallen soldiers. Eventually, the Grand Army of the Republic , a federation the veterans formed after the close of the Civil War to foster comradeship, financed the purchase of a home for veteran's orphans in the city of Xenia.
Rosters[edit
In some cases, the children had not lost their parents, but the veteran was physically, emotionally or financially unable to care for his family. By 1874, approximately six hundred children resided at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home. The large number of children caused several health outbreaks to occur during this time period, including “watery eyes” , measles, and scarlet fever.
The Home is the largest institution of its kind in the world, and has a long history of active educational work. Graduates from its schools are filling honorable positions in the civil, political, financial, military and naval departments of American life. Buckland of Fremont, Ohio, James Barnett of Cleveland, Ohio, J. Warren Keifer of Springfield, Ohio, Benjamin F. Coate of Portsmouth, Ohio, J.S. Jones of Delaware, Ohio, and M.F. The managers met in Delaware, Ohio on May 13, 1870 and determined that the land adjacent to the Industrial School for Girls was unsuitable for the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home. The home conducted church services, established a regular school curriculum as well as education in several trades, started a library, and supplied on-site medical attention. The list of trades is impressive, including tin smithing; wood carving; knitting; dress making; tailoring; farm, florist, and garden work; butchering and slaughtering; telegraphy, and blacksmithing.
The inclusion of women on the board might be surprising, as late nineteenth-century Ohio was a male-dominated society. Still, many women played an active role outside of their own homes by participating in various aid and reform movements. It is also important to realize that the purpose of the board was to assist orphaned children, and most men believed that women should be the primary caretakers of children. The State of Ohio assumed control of the institution in 1870 and eventually permitted children orphaned as a result of any military conflict to reside at the home.
Children at the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home received a traditional education, as well as training in various occupations. The boys also received some military training and several of them later joined the armed forces. In 1901, the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home was the largest institution of its kind in the world.
At a public meeting held that day, Howard E. Gilkey, an orphaned child from Cleveland, Ohio, gave an impassioned speech, asking the State of Ohio to assume control of and to increase financing for the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home. Following the Civil War, the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization for Union veterans, sought to create an orphans’ home for the children of Ohio’s veterans. In many cases, the children were truly orphans, most commonly having lost their fathers during the Civil War and their mothers either during or soon after the conflict. In other cases, mothers sought to turn their children over to this institution due to the mothers’ inability to financially care for all or some of their children. In 1998, the State of Ohio sold the Ohio Veterans' Children's Home's buildings to Legacy Ministries International, which leases the site to different businesses and organizations.
Jones, realized that the eye issue resulted from the children using the same water as other students to wash their hands and faces. Once authorities installed running water, pink eye cases declined dramatically. The doctor also determined that the measles and scarlet fever outbreaks occurred due to children using dirty blankets. Each spring, the matron and her aides placed the winter blankets in storage. They did not wash the blankets, allowing for the various pathogens to thrive.
No comments:
Post a Comment