Sunday, June 12, 2011

Lorenzo Dow Anthony

Lorenzo Dow Anthony was born on April 10, 1827 at Watertown, New York to Nathan and Esther Finch Anthony. The family moved to Sandusky, Ohio in 1837. As a young man, Mr. Anthony was in the fish business and later he was in the wholesale grocery business.

During his many years spent in Sandusky, he saw many significant events take place. Hewson Peeke wrote in his book, A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio, about the time that Lorenzo Dow Anthony met Charles Dickens when the author visited Sandusky in 1842. In other memorable experiences, Mr. Anthony was only 22 years old when cholera swept through the city, killing hundreds of Sandusky residents, and he was a member of an early local militia group, the Bay City Guards, which was commanded by Dr. R.R. McMeens. Karl Kurtz wrote in an article in the July 9, 1977 Sandusky Register that during the 1924 tornado, the Anthony home, at the northwest corner of Perry and Meigs Streets, was severely damaged. The tornado ripped a photograph of the sailing ship “The Dawn” off the wall, and dropped it in Lorain. Since the back of the picture had the name and address of the Anthony family written on it, residents of Lorain returned the picture to Mr. Anthony.


Lorenzo Dow Anthony was the first commodore of the Sandusky Yacht Club, from 1894 to 1899. He died on December 9, 1922 at the age of 95. Commodore Anthony was survived by his wife, the former Martha McDowell, who he married in 1852, and five daughters. Burial was at Oakland Cemetery. Pallbearers for Mr. Anthony were H.L. Peeke, John F. Hertlein, W. A. Wehrle and A. H. Klotz.

4 comments:

Steve Anthony said...

I'm absolutely stunned by this... Lorenzo Dow Anthony is my Great-Great Grandfather! We've lost most of the family pictures, most of the 'legacy'. We were aware that he was SYC's first Commodore, but with the destruction of SYC's clubhouse and all records in the Tornado re-constructing his life and accomplishments has been nearly impossible until the internet came along. The oral history passed down in the family relates his ownership and skippering of several fishing schooners, when the whitefish died off and the industry collapsed his son (Jay Lorenzo Anthony)moved with his wife and children to Los Angeles leaving the family 'business' behind at about the turn of the century. If anybody has any more info, photos, etc regarding Lorenzo Dow Anthony and his Father, Nathan anthony passing it along to us would be hugely appreciated... and THANK you for publishing this info on Lorenzo Dow Anthony!

Stephen R. Anthony, Long Island NY.

Anonymous said...

Dear Steve,

My name is David Donaldson. My grandmother was Esther Anthony, one of the grandchildren of LD Anthony in Sandusky. She used to talk about "uncle Jay" the black sheep who wrote (I seem to recall) bad checks and pissed away what was left of the family fortune.

I think I came across your name in a Sandusky history blog asking for more documents about LD. I have one interesting artifact which Esther (grandma) left me. It is a child's boot which was given to an Anthony ( I assume her father- jay's brother) by Horace Greeley. I also have inherited some geneological information on the Anthony family although I suspect that it is already known to you. I have an original LD photo - him at the helm of the Dawn and a copy of the photo of the Dawn. I also have some earrings made from coins by Confederate prisoners on Johnson's island in Sandusky Bay. I suppose that those came from Grandma's maternal side (Remingtons) although they could be from her father's side. I have some very old photos of the Remingtons and another glass negative photo of a couple from the 1840's which I think may be related to the Remingtons (maybe The Whipples who were very close to my Grandmother's mother's (Remington) side of the family. They build the house in Sandusky known as the Stone House which is a restaurant. My grandmother lived there when her father passed away of diabetes in 1900.

Anyway, if you have any information to share (or more questions for me) please get in touch. The "Rit" in the blog must be one of my Ritenour relatives. My uncle was named McDowell the union general of the same name.

Regards,

David

Unknown said...

Dear Steve,

My name is John Donaldson. My grandmother was Esther - making Lorenzo my great-grandfather and David Donaldson my brother. I have a copy of the DAWN I'd love to e-mail to you. It is a copy of the original one which was blown away during the tornado.
jgonaldson@hotmail.com

Warm regards,

John

Anonymous said...

Dear Steve:
My name is Lee Anthony Clark and my father was Richard Lee Clark of Sandusky, Ohio. My fathers mother was Lucile (Woolsey) Clark. Her parents were Fred Woolsey of the Woolsey Wheel Co. and Ida (Anthony) Woolsey. Lorenzo would have been my great-grandfather. I have the original picture of the Dawn that was found in Lorain Ohio. I was also told by my mother that some of the antiques from the Anthony's ended up in the Alendorfs home through a marrige. One of those items was a desk that Dickenson used when he visited the Anthony home.
nclark54@hotmail.com