MOUNT VERNON — On my way to cover a Cleveland Orchestra concert this week, I stopped to poke around in the Medina Antique Mall, just off the interstate.
I love browsing such places, even though I don’t have any money for buying large or expensive treasures. It costs nothing but time to appreciate things.
But I also keep an eye out for small items that might be of interest (and within my budget). I found a couple booths there that had some old Ohio postcards, and I found one that shows a slightly different image of a familiar local landmark.
The postcard shows the façade of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mount Vernon before its 1929 facelift. That update changed the visible roofline, as the building was given a new sandstone facing for protection. According to info on the church’s website, this building was started in 1836 and finished in 1839.
It replaced an earlier church of insufficient foundation that only lasted a few years. The congregation, though, predated even that building, for they organized in 1829 and held services in a school until the church was built.
The postcard was postmarked at 1:30 in the afternoon on Oct. 17 in Mount Vernon. What the year was is uncertain because the ink didn’t imprint well. My best guess would be 1916, which matches with the renovation timeframe.
Who sent it?
Well, I can tell you she was someone’s grandma. The pencil-written text simply says, “Dear sis, read your letter today. Hope you are feeling better. Will look for you out. Let us know when you will be here so we can meet you. Gran.”
It was mailed to Mrs. Homer Hall, Spencer’s Station, Ohio.
Who were these people? That’s not easy to figure out. Spencer Station is a tiny unincorporated cluster of houses in the southeast corner of Guernsey County. That county is most familiar to me as the home of Salt Fork State Park and also the town of Cambridge.
There was a Homer Hall who lived there in the early 1900s and worked on the railroad, and his housekeeping wife was Lizzie B. Knox. They were married in 1903 when she was 19 and he was 20.
Was her grandmother referring to Lizzie having a hospital stay? It’s unknown.
I was able to find a marriage license which lists Lizzie’s parents as John Knox and Mary Kiesy of Barnesville, Ohio, which is just across the Belmont County line. The mother’s name was apparently a misspelling by the clerk, for most sources spell her name as Giesy, Gisy, or Geesey.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have any luck finding anything further on John and Mary or how they have a connection to Mount Vernon. Presumably the Gran who wrote the postcard was the mother of John Knox or Mary Giesy, and she must have lived in or near Mount Vernon.
But that’s as far as I got. I have a concert review to write, a preconcert talk to prepare for the Mansfield Symphony, and a book about Phoebe Wise to write, all while trying to recover from COVID, which knocked me out flat for a good chunk of January.
Many thanks to those who have been giving me well-wishes. It’s a long, slow process to recover from this pestilence, but there are stories to be gathered, so I’m back at it, wheezing all the while.
