Frame #24: Notable Bay Village Residents

William Sadler
b. 23 Sept. 1791, Laurel Hill, Pennsylvania
d. 23 Mar. 1875, Dover Township, Ohio
William Sadler was the son of Christopher Saddler and Sophia Oritz. In the War of 1812 he was a corporal under Captain Harris and participated in the Battle of Lake Erie as a sharpshooter. During the war he traveled through Dover Township and decided to settle there, purchasing Lots #92 and #98 along the Lake Erie shoreline. He arrived in Dover with his father in 1814 where the two prepared a home for William’s family by clearing the land and building a log cabin. In 1815, he traveled back to New York to bring his wife, Elizabeth Tryon and their daughter Sophia to Dover.
William and Elizabeth founded the Dover Lake Shore Methodist Episcopal Church in North Dover Township (today, Bay Village) in June 1827. The church met in their log cabin until William and Elizabeth deeded part of their land to the building of a frame church, providing materials and raising funds as well. William passed away at 84 years old and is buried in Lakeside Cemetery.

Henry Foote
Frame #24, far right
b. 21 Apr. 1844, Dover Township, Ohio
d. 12 Mar. 1919, Village of Bay, Ohio
Henry Foote was the son of Ransom Foote (son of David Foote) and Catharine Porter Foote (daughter of Asahel Porter). David Foote was an early settler of Bay Village. Around 1815, he bought Lot #97 in Dover Township where he built a log cabin and raised his family. Asahel Porter, Catharine’s father, arrived in Dover the same afternoon as the Cahoons.
Henry Foote, along with his siblings, helped farm the original Foote homestead. Eventually, Henry took over the remaining portion of the farm after part of it was sold. He raised mainly fruits and berries on his farm and also worked as a land agent for the Lake Shore Electric Interurban. He never married, living with his sister at the old family homestead. He passed away at the age of 75 and is buried in Lakeside Cemetery.

Reuben Osborn
Frame #24, middle left
b. 4 Nov. 1778, New Haven, Connecticut
d. 24 Mar. 1860, Dover Township, Ohio
Reuben Osborn and his brother-in-law Asahel Porter arrived in Dover Township on the same day as Joseph Cahoon on October 10, 1810. He permanently settled in Dover a year later with his wife, Sarah Johnson Osborn. He built the oldest frame house between Cleveland and Lorain in 1815. Reuben donated land for the first schoolhouse in Dover as well as the first cemetery. He passed away at the age of 81 and is buried in the cemetery he helped create: Lakeside Cemetery, Bay Village, Ohio.
This portrait, as well as Sarah Osborn’s, are carte de visite portraits. True to the carte de visite form, they were mailed to a member of the Foote family where they were placed in a photo album. Both have a green 3 cent telegraph stamp on the back, dated 10/22/1864.

Sarah Johnson Osborn
Frame #24, middle right
b. 8 Aug. 1779, Woodbridge, Connecticut
d. 6 Sept. 1858, Dover Township, Ohio
Sarah Johnson was the daughter of Eliphalet and Mary Johnson. She married Reuben Osborn in Bristol, Connecticut. Her sister married Asahel Porter. Asahel’s family along with Sarah’s husband and her brother Leverett Johnson, arrived in Dover Township in 1810. Reuben returned for her and waited for spring to settle in Dover permanently as a family in 1811. Her brother, Leverett, married Abigail Cahoon in the Cahoon log house in 1814. He later became the Justice of the Peace and served in the State Legislature.
Sarah and Reuben had three children together, but their only son, Selden, was the only child to survive to adulthood. He had a son named Reuben who would become the first mayor of Bay Village after it seceded from Dover. Sarah passed away at the age of 79 and is buried in Lakeside Cemetery, Bay Village, Ohio.

The David Foote Barn House

30912 Lake Road – 1855. David Foote was born in Colchester, Conn., in 1760 and married Betsy Hamlin
of the same town. He served in the Revolutionary War. They had 10 children.

In 1815, David packed up part of his family amd moved to Dover Township,
settling on Lot 97 in the northwest corner of the township, with the lake on
the north, Bradley Road on the east, Walker Road on the south and the Avon line to the west. He built a log cabin at 30903 Lake Road, then another for his son next door at 30912. Behind the second log cabin David built his barn in the 1850s.

After disuse by the Foote family during the 1940s, this barn became the basis for a house by Mr. Bosch and was painted pink; the locals called it the “Pink Barn.”

Growing Up on the Foote Farm

In 1936, our father purchased a lot in the Foote apple orchard on the south side of Lake Road across from the Foote farmhouse and later, when the trolley stopped running, Dad bought 500 feet of the interurban track bed making our lot look like a big “T.” “Our buffer against the world,” he would say.

In the years 1940 to 1950, the “neighborhood” stretched from Bradley Road to the county line, the lake on the north and the interurban track on the south. On the outskirts were the Slocum, Gillette, Irwin, Cutts, Young, Brinkman, Jacobs, Larson, and Hoagland families. The inner circle of families were Wieland, Hook, Laverty, Inwood, Rothaermel, Matyas, Kittenger, Lane, Chamberlain and Carman.

The kids in these families played together daily. As in any neighborhood there was rivalry and jealousy, but everyone knew it was up to us to make the fun and keep the neighborhood alive. In those days, Bay Village offered very little in the way of sports or entertainment.

Some yards were better for things than others. In the winter, Wielands, in the Foote farmhouse, was the place to gather. They flooded their front yard into an ice skating rink, and the backyard hills and gullies became the sledding hills.

In the fall, their Mom made homemade donuts and apple cider for trick or treat. We stood in awe as she cut off the head of a chicken and hung it by its legs on the clothes line.

Matyas’s front yard was the best baseball diamond. Laverty’s had the longest and most dangerous rope swing. We played croquet at Wielands and hide and seek in the large Rothaermel back yard along with dress up in their old chicken coop playhouse.

The best swing set was in Hook’s backyard as it had metal swings and a bar, rings and slide. A jump rope tied to their garage meant two could play. Back on the tracks in the ditch was a great place to catch tadpoles. The girls roller skated on the slate sidewalks and played school in Sis Hook’s bedroom. The Wieland and Rothaermel sisters played paper dolls by the hour.

We all watched as Mr. Bosh purchased and turned the Foote barn into a pink house which we called “the pink barn.” “Peter and the Wolf” and “Zippity Do Da” could be heard from the record players. If we needed a babysitter, Mrs. Ganyard would come. The school bus picked us up at the corner of Bradley and Lake. We were all bused to Parkview, then Forestview and finally to Glenview in 1947.

During the years of World War II, we would stand along the road, routes #6, 2, 20 and wave to the soldiers in the trucks headed east to go overseas. Our fathers were the neighborhood air raid wardens and kept us safe. The girl scouts would walk through the neighborhood with a wagon and collect grease/lard for the war effort.

It was peaceful in the country. Our neighborhood was only one of many in Bay Village where life was simple and fun. All have a story to tell. As kids we thought we had the world by the tail, how could what we had get any better?