More on Fostoria

More on Fostoria 1911

From R/t April 22, 2004
Article by Gene Kinn

Fostoria Shows Growth in 1911

Senator Charles Dick wires as follows, from Washington (on Jan. 13, 1911) "Official announcement just made gives Fostoria a population of 9,597, Fremont 9,939, Tiffin, 11,894 and Findlay, 14,858."
Fostoria's population, shown by the twelfth census, was 7, 730 making the increase 1,897, which is certainly a growth of which we need not feel ashamed. In the eleventh census, it was 7,070.
Compared with the other cities, Findlay is showing a loss and Tiffin and Fremont gains of 716 and 727 respectively. We have reason to feel very proud. Present indications are that we will have passed 15,000 before the decade is half gone, so we will hope for the future instead of worrying over the past.

(Now more than 90 years later (2004), the city population is estimated at less than 15,000.)

History of the 'Soldiers' Civil War Monument'

From Fostoria Focus Aug.3, 2001

Article by Leonard Skonecki

(Click for larger picture)

Monument dedication A crowd gathered for the unveiling of the

"Soldiers' Monument" in Fostoria's Fountain Cemetery in

the spring of 1911. the monument was donated by Rachel Linhart

to honor Union Civil War veterans on behalf of her husband

John Linhart

Linhart was born Oct. 26, 1841 in Allegheny, Pa. In 1854 the Linhart family moved to Parkersburg, Va. (West Virginia did not become a state until 1863) During the Civil War, 40 western Virginia counties refused to secede from the Union with Virginia and formed their own government.)

When the Civil War began, Linhart enlisted in the Union Army, Co. H of the 7th West Virginia Infantry Regiment.

The 7th West Virginia was made up mostly of farmers and was known as the "Bloody 7th". They fought in more engagements and suffered more losses than any other West Virginia regiment. After the practice of the time, they were organized by James Evan, a Morgantown politician.

The 7th West Virginia fought in the 2nd Corps of the Army of the Potomac in the Battle of Antietam. (Maryland) in September 1862. The 2nd Corps was given the daunting task of driving entrenched Confederates from heavily fortified positions along Sunken Road.

The 7th commenced its attack at 10 o'clock in the morning. By nightfall , over 5,000 casualties littered the battlefield and Sunken Road was now known as "Bloody Lane."

Though Linhart lived to tell about it, he did not fare well. Co. H followed Lt. Francis Hicks into combat. A bullet grazed Linhart's scalp. He bore the scar of that wound for the rest of his life.

Another Rebel round tore into his cartridge belt and ripped it from his body. A third bullet pieced his left arm above the wrist and exited the other side.

In terrible pain and fighting to maintain consciousness, Linhart struggled to the rear. As he did so, he walked backward, facing the enemy each step of the way so that none would think him a coward.

Linhart was one of the 23,000 killed or wounded at Antietam, one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War.

Severe as Linhart's wounds were, there were so many others more seriously injured that he wasn't treated for 10 days. By then, doctors had no choice but to amputate his arm below the elbow to prevent infection from killing him.

Through Antietam was not a clear-cut Union victory, it blunted Robert E. Lee's invasion of the North and gave President Lincoln the opportunity he was seeking to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, the executive order abolishing slavery in the states of the Confederacy.

Linhart was discharged from the Army on Feb. 15 1863, after 20 months of service. In 1865 he and other members of his family moved to northwest Ohio to work a farm in Hancock county. Linhart moved to Fostoria to work in the grocery store of Isaac N. Mickey.

In 1873, he married Rachel Rankin. They had one child, Lena, who died before her 20th birthday. Neither John nor Rachel, members of the Methodist Episcopal Church were the same after Lena's death.

Linhart joined Fostoria's Norris Post 27 of the Grand Army of the Republic on April 19, 1881.

Linhart later worked in Rawson Crocker's grocery store at 123 S. Main St. and remained employed there for many years.

He died in July 1907 at the age of 66 after three days in a diabetic coma. He had been confined to his house for nearly the last year of his life.

In October 1910, at a meeting of the Norris Post, Martin Adams announced that Rachel Linhart had donated $2,000 for the construction of a monument at Fountain Cemetery for the Post on behalf of her late husband.

The monument is made of white granite with a base nine feet square. It stands 21 feet, 4 inches high and the soldier at the top is 6 feet, 6 inches tall.

Rachel asked only that the Post conduct an appropriate dedication of the monument and see to its care.

Linhart knew he was seriously ill for several months prior to his death It was his wish that something be done for the comrades he was leaving behind.

Rachel Linhart lived another seven years. She died of heart trouble just before Christmas 1917 when the United States was raising armies for another bloody conflict, World War I.

Editor's Note; Thanks to Dick Mann who helped with research on this article.

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In the year 2001 local veterans organization and city officials have been discussing the possibility of building a memorial to Fostoria Area veterans at Fountain Cemetery. This project would entail moving some existing monuments near the main entrance to the cemetery.

One of those monuments is topped by a Civil War soldier and dedicated to the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans, on behalf of a man named John M. Linhart.

(See article above) It seems appropriate that the discussion of a modern memorial to honor all of our area veterans is the occasion to tell the story behind Fostoria's first veterans monument.

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Article mentions a Storm Buggy Company in Fostoria.

Paul Krupp Article.

READERS RECALL LIFE IN DAYS GONE BY
March 29, 1984

March 29, 1984

Dear Paul:

I still take the Fostoria paper and as I have told you before, I always enjoy reading your articles and I know many of the "Oldtimers."

A few weeks ago you mentioned The Light Car Company, which took me back some years as that is where I worked after graduating from high school in 1915. It was my first position.

I was the time-keeper and had charge of the switchboard for The Light Car Company and The Storm Buggy Co. After that I went to business college in Tiffin.

Loretta Henry, a stenographer, who lived in Tiffin and came to Fostoria on the streetcar every day to work.

Sincerely,
Shirley Turner

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