O. C. Duke

Entrance to the Medina County Career Center (MCCC).

Every fall hundreds of Medina County High School students head off to classes at the Medina County Career Center in pursuit of educational training.



How many of them pass by or enter the OC Duke Agricultural Building without knowing anything about the man the building is named for?

Sign outside the O.C. Duke Building

The O.C. Duke Building at the MCCC.

Wild Life Center at the OC Duke agricultural Center at MCCC  December 4, 2015 Cleveland






O.C. Duke, or more formally, Orland Charles Duke, was born in 1901 in West Virginia to John F. And Nellie (Daniell) Duke. He was the second son of the farming couple. He graduated high school and attended college in Kentucky for a year before following his brother to Ohio State University in Columbus.

"O.C." as he was most often known, studied agricultural science and thrived at OSU! He was a founding member of the Tau Gamma Phi agricultural fraternity, which later became Alpha Gamma Sigma.

TGF

In this 1924 Ohio State University "Makio" Yearbook picture, O.C. is with his fraternity brothers. O.C. is in the upper right row, circled in red.  Yearbook photo courtesy of Ancestry Library Edition.

The "Makio" yearbook was created by O.C. Duke especially for the OSU students that graduated in December. 

Upon graduation, Duke was hired by the Medina City School Systems. His 1925 OSU graduation picture is the same one used for the 1925 Medina High School Yearbook.

1925 Medina High School Yearbook

In 1927, O.C. married his wife, Lauraette, in 1927, and they soon settled down in their East Friendship home and started their family, son Ronald, and daughter Marilyn.

O.C. was a man of action and took on many responsibilities, besides teaching. Among his accomplishments are:

• Started teaching in Medina in 1925. MHS had the only agricultural curriculum in the county. Important in a then predominately farming community. He was the only AG teacher until 1950.
• Taught Vocational Agriculture at Medina High School for 42 years – till 1968. Nicknamed “Mr. Agriculture” His classes featured:
• Frequent field trips 
• 10-day summer excursions to Canada, the State Fair and New York City. 
• Opened up the local chapter of Future Farmers of America (FFA) to girls long before the national organization did.

1965 Medina High School Yearbook

• Served Adults & young farmers in the area. Started a farmer’s club
• Promoted the welfare & social activities of farmers and city dwellers with his involvement in:
• Medina County Farm Bureau 
• Medina County Agricultural Society
• Medina County Extension Service
• Agricultural Stabilization Committee 
• Medina County Fair Board – 50 years 
• Izaak Walton League 
• Montville Grange 
• 4-H Extension Advisory Committee member 
• 4-H Club adviser 
• Cleveland Farmers Club 
• Medina County Park System 
• Medina City Uptown Park – promoted the building of the Gazebo that is a city landmark today. Weeded flower beds.

O.C. Duke presenting an award to Joy Anderson, the first young woman to receive the State FFA degree.
Medina Gazette 23 April 1975 page 13.

• Advocated for the development of the Medina County Joint Vocational School District – now the Medina County Career Center.
• His 100th birthday party thrown by the Medina Kiwanis Club in 2001. He was then the oldest active Kiwanian in the world. He was a member for 75 years!
• Long after his retirement, he was a resource for people as he fielded their questions.
• At his East Friendship home, he kept bees, raised chickens planted fruit trees
• Wrote a column for the Medina Trading Post & Mid-Ohio Farmer magazine.

O.C. in front of the building that carries his name with two unknown people.
Photo on FindAGrave.

O.C.'s many accomplishments did not go unnoticed. Throughout his long career, he received many, many awards, some of which are listed here:

• Bob Drake Award (Former Plain Dealer Farm writer) 1965
• John T. Tobin Award from Izaak Walton League – 1978, 3rd in country to receive it.
• Building named in his honor in 1980 Was at the rededication after renovation in 2000.
• Scholarship presented to an agricultural student each year in his honor.
• In 1981 awarded the OSU Alumni Association Citizenship Award in honor of his community service.
• 1984 named of the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame.
• Medina High School Hall of Fame 2001
• Medina Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame
• Awarded the George F. Hixon Fellowship Award from the Kiwanis 

As O.C. neared his 100th birthday, everyone wanted to interview him and get his insight into life. John Gladden, Sandy Fahning and Sam Boyer all talked to O.C. Here are a couple of his pearls of wisdom:

“I attribute my long life to good DNA. I didn’t drink, I didn’t smoke and I didn’t run around with the wrong kind of women.”  on the occasion of his 100th birthday

And my favorite: 

“Don’t judge people, love everyone, and it's all about helping people the best you can.”  on the occasion of his 100th birthday.

From OC's obituary in the Medina Sun, 16 May 2002, page B3.

SOURCES:

• Boyer, Sam,“O.C. has a hundred years of memories to share”,  The Medina Sun, 23 August 2001, page A 3.
• “Duke’s long, active life comes to an end’, The Medina Sun, 16 May 2002, page B3.
• Gladden, John, “’Mr. Agriculture’ dies at 100”,  The Medina Gazette, 14 May 2002, page A-2.
• “’Historymaker’ O.C. Duke third in nation to get award” Medina Gazette, 18 May 1978, page 2.
• The Medina Gazette 23 April 1975 page 13.
• “Orland C. Duke”, The Medina Gazette, 15 May 2002, page A-2.

While taking photos at the O C Duke Agriculture Building,
this Monarch butterfly stopped by.

Aerial Photographs at the Medina Library

This type of aerial photograph was popular in the 1950's and 1960's.
Potential customers were contacted, and if interested, could have an
aerial photograph of their homestead, for a price.

Aerial photographs were briefly mentioned in the 17 December 2015 post on Historic Home Research.

But today we are going to look more closely at the historic aerial photographs in the Franklin Sylvester Room at the Medina Library.

All of the aerial photos belonged to the Natural Resource Conservation Service/Farm Service Agency (FSA) USDA. When they moved their offices back in the seventies they were going to throw them out and the Soil and Water Conservation District saved them. Later, they did not have a place to store them so the Library took them off their hands. The FSA uses on line aerial now and newer images can be purchased at their web site Farm Service Agency

The photos are useful to researchers because they can help pinpoint how a piece of land has been used over the years or narrow down when a particular house or development was constructed. If the scale is large enough, you might be able to make out details of buildings.

As an example, we will take a look at a particular street in the city of Medina - West Park Boulevard - which happens to be where I live.

With this type of research, as with family history research, you want to start with what we know now and work our way into the past.

HOWEVER, today, we will start with a look at what the neighborhood looks like today and then jump to  the oldest record, 1937, and work toward the present.

For comparison, we will look at the street today using Google Maps.

In this screen shot from Google Maps, West Park Blvd. is right above the red line. It is south west of Medina Square and runs between South Court Street on the east, and Oak Street on the west. It is an older tree-lined neighborhood.

This is the satellite view of the area:

The oval in the upper left is the track at the fair grounds. While there is a 2018 copyright date on this photo, I know for certain that it is at least 1 year older than that. If you look at the Street View, it  is from July of 2013.

So that is how the neighborhood looks today.  And with Google Maps you can zoom in very close.

But how did it look in the past? City and county directories and plat maps can only give you a map. The aerial photographs give you a picture!

Aerial Photographs

The Medina Library has Aerial Photograph sets that cover these years:

• 1937
• 1950
• 1958
• 1965
• 1973
• 1979

Notice that there is nothing from the 1940's? America was busy fighting a war from 1941-1945. IF any photographs were taken, it is likely they would have been destroyed or classified, so they couldn't get into enemy hands. More likely, they just weren't taken.

Each set has a Key that is a map of Medina County. Handwritten across the map are numbers that correspond to the appropriate photograph.

Here is the key for the 1937 set:

By looking at the area on Google Maps and comparing it to the Key, we know to look for the

photo marked 12-1087.

The actual photo measures 9 inches X 9 inches, so if you didn't bring a magnifying glass with you, ask to borrow one from the Library.

Here is the area of West Park enlarged:

As you can see, the area is mostly farmland with veryfew landmarks to help orient ourselves.

By careful comparison with current maps, the red line indicates approximately where West Park Blvd. is today.

81 years ago, the City of Medina was concentrated around the Square and a few blocks in any direction. The area that is now in the West Park neighborhood was still part of Montville Township and was predominately farmland. You can even see the dotted patches of the apple orchards that older residents say were in the area.

Here is the same area from the 1950 set of Aerial Photographs:

West Park is a relatively new street here with just a few houses on it. Oak Street, on the western (left) end of West Park has a lot more houses, but seems to lead into an area of construction. There are still plenty of agricultural fields both to the north (above) and the south (below) West Park.

The photograph from the 1958 set:

Nearly all the houses that are currently on West Park are visible in this photo, so we know the approximate dates they were built, 1950-1958.

But notice the gap under the red X?  According to the Medina County Auditor's web site, that house was built in 1966.

There is still a lot of open space east and west of Circle Drive. And look at the open field south of West Park!

Here is part of the key to the 1965 set:

It is only by comparing the surrounding numbers that we are able to make out that the photo for the West Park neighborhood should be marked 3-87.

There aren't a lot of changes visible in this photo, but just out of the frame, below the word "Park" there is a major addition - The Ella Canavan Elementary School. The school opened in 1960.

The 1973 and 1979 sets are 2' X 2' and share the same Key. Originally, someone had handwritten the numbers across the map. Then someone else covered over the handwritten key codes with raised letters. The letters have started falling off, but you can still read the handwriting underneath.

An excerpt from the 1973-79 key indicating that the photo we want is I-6.

Here is a blow up of the West Park neighborhood from the 1973 key:

Notice the development to the north of West Park and to the East of Circle drive. Medina, and this neighborhood, were definitely growing!

This is a blow up from I-6 Photo from the 1979 Set for the West Park Blvd. area with some of the familiar landmarks typed in.

Combine Aerial Photograph research with city and county directories and Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps and you can get a pretty detailed picture of the development of neighborhoods and cities.

The U.S. Geologic Survey has historic aerial photographs online at Earth Explorer. However, today this message appeared:


The Department of the Interior and the USGS have requested a Federal Advisory Committee to review USGS’s current free-and-open policy for user access to Landsat data.

This USGS web page provides a synopsis of frequently-asked questions and answers about the ongoing review.

The Next Generation

Photo courtesy Wikipedia. 

All family historians struggle with how to engage the next generation of genealogists so that the family legacy can continue.

I say, "Get 'em while they're young!"

And the following books can help you accomplish that.

The first three books explore the local history of Medina County and they are appropriate for  younger children, from infancy, when a parent is reading to them, up to about the 4th grade.

A portrait of Captain Martin Van Buren Bates and his wife,
Anna Swan Bates. Photo courtesy of the Medina Library's
collection. 

Most Medinians know the story of Captain Martin Van Buren Bates and his lovely wife, Anna (Swan) Bates, more commonly known as "The Giants of Seville." The couple were once well known throughout Europe, all of America, as well as in Medina County, Their story can serve as an introduction for young readers into the fascinating circle of local history.

The GIANT of Seville a "Tall" Tale Based on a True Story
by Dan Andreasen.

This first book is a little older, 2007, and focuses on the story of how Captain Martin Van Buren Bates chose Seville, Ohio as their home away from the circus. Wonderfully illustrated, it is a fictionalized account of how the citizens of Seville went out of their way to make the Giant feel comfortable in their small town.

Here, Captain Martin Van Buren Bates enjoys stack after stack of
flapjacks at a fictional boarding house. Later in the tale, he crashes
through the floor during a square dance. The illustrations are not to scale!

The True Tale of a GIANTESS by Anne Renaud is a new release and focuses on the life of Anna Swan who married Captain Martin Van Buren Bates and became part of the largest married couple in the world during the 1800's.

It is beautifully illustrated and sticks a little closer to reality. Anna was born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada and this book follows her as she grows up and leaves the farm to become celebrated across Europe and the United States. It ends with the couple settling down in Seville.

Soon coming to the Medina Library collections, this September 2018 copyrighted book will
delight any young reader. The will be thrilled to learn that GIANTS actually lived in their county!

In this charming illustration, Anna is coaxing her pet monkey, Buttons,
 out of the tree on their Seville Ohio farm.

Also, a little older book, Olden Days of Medina a Children's Guide to Medina History by Mollie Wilson and Susan Lucht gives a child-sized introduction into the history of Medina County. This title is harder to obtain, as all of the remaining copies are "FOR IN-LIBRARY-USE" only. You could contact the publishers, History Galls Publishing at 8344 West Smith Road in Medina.

Cover of the Medina history book for children, Olden Days of Medina.

Entry on Letha Morse House. Besides the foundation that still bears her name, there is also a county park named for her.

The last title is National Geographic Kids Guide to Genealogy by T.J. Resler. This book came out just spring of this year and is geared towards an older audience, grades 3-6 and is an introduction to genealogy.

This book is packed full of all the information a promising young genealogist will need to start their quest for their family history.

It is nicely illustrated and includes tips and trivia along the way. 

Did you know that Benedict Cumberbatch, the actor who plays Sherlock Holmes on the TV show, is a 16th cousin, twice removed of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the creator of the character?!

And if you want to know what it means to be a cousin twice removed, be sure to investigate  this book for yourself.

This would make a perfect gift for a budding genealogist. And if you don't believe me, check it out and see for yourself!

Honoring the Past...

Eugene Bosnavits
1940 Brunswick High School Yearbook,
the Aurora.

It started as a simple request. Someone needed a Brunswick yearbook photo from the late 1930's.

The Medina Library does not have the Brunswick High School Yearbooks. The Brunswick Library has some, but none from that time period. Luckily we have built relationships between the libraries in our county and the various historical societies.

The Brunswick Historical Society had what the member needed and scanned and emailed it to us within 24 hours. But there was so much more to the story...

Eugene's family moved to the Brunswick area in 1932, when Eugene was only about 11 years old.

His father, Eugene Bosnavits Sr., a machinist,  came to the United States from his native Hungary in 1907, just two years after his father, Joseph, immigrated.

Records on the family have been hard to track down because of their eastern European name. Eugene, or "Bossy" as he is dubbed in his high school yearbook, nearly always used  BOSNAVITS. But earlier generations used a variety of spellings, such as: BOSNAVITZ, BOSNYAKOVITS, BOSNYAKOVITZ ,BOSNYAWOVITS, and once, BUHSNAKOVITS (in the  1910 Census). Generally, after the family's move to Brunswick, it was Bosnavits and before that it was Bosnyakovits. And Bosnyakovits is the spelling used in the 19th century Hungarian  baptismal records.

I had trouble locating  a birth record for Eugene. It might have been  because of the name or because of a gap in the records but it wasn't available online. A trip to the Medina County Health Department was revealing.

This copy of Eugene's birth certificate show the spelling as "BOSNAKOVITS" and his birthday was
21 October 1921. It shows his parents names and birthplaces of Hungary. BUT...

Eugene's father filed this amended birth certificate in 1945. Why did he bother?

Eugene was an only child. And from his yearbook listings and the few newspaper accounts, he was popular with his fellow students.

Eugene with fellow cast members from "Everybody's Crazy"
Medina Gazette 18 Nov 1938, page 8

Eugene with red square around his head with the cast from the senior class play.
Medina Gazette 7 May 1940, page 8.

The Class Will from the yearbook reads: "Eugene Bonavits leaves his singing ability to Ed Morlock." 

And under class prophesies, "Eugene Bonavits was seen behind the footlights in Grand Opera."

He must have had quite a voice!

After graduation, Eugene got a job as a "shipping and receiving clerk".

But then...

In what must have been a late edition, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin announced the attack on Pearl Harbor.
President Roosevelt declared war and the United States plunged into World War II.

Eugene was not among the first enlistees who couldn't line up fast enough to defend America.

No, it wasn't until September of 1943 that he enlisted.

Medina County Sentinel 30 September 1943, page 8.

As a son and grandson of immigrants who left Europe in the early part of the 20th Century, Eugene was probably discouraged from joining the war effort. His relatives would have seen first hand the horrors of war.  Also, on his Enlistment Record, it says that Eugene was "Single, with dependents" Quite likely his parents, particularly his father, depended on Eugene.

Eugene was assigned to the United States Army Air Force - the precursor to today's U.S. Air Force. And he was trained as a tail gunner for the B-17, going over to England in August of 1944. D-day had passed and Allied forces were slowly winning the war. But they still had to push the German armies back from the occupied territories.

B-17 bombers from the Department of Defense web site.
The B-17 was THE bomber for the U.S in Europe during World War II.

Uncited photo of a tail gunner on a B-17. It was an extremely vulnerable position, but also the aircraft's best
defense against enemy aircraft approaching from the rear. If the gunner had to bail out, he had to first
crawl out of his position and then crawl toward the front of the aircraft.

Just a month into his tour overseas...

Eugene Bosnavits went missing on 12 September
Cleveland Plain Dealer 5 Oct 1944 p. 1.

And almost year after that...

Medina County Gazette 31 July 1945, page 1.
It was shortly after he was declared dead that his father filed the amended birth certificate.
The family needed to prove that he was their son to received benefits.

Eugene's parents had to have been devastated. 

Fold3 has 28 pages of documents on Eugene Bosnavits, Jr., testimony from his crew mates and other witnesses to what happened to the B-17. It was hit with enemy gunfire and the left wing caught fire, eventually igniting the gas tank. The aircraft went into a dive. Some of the crew were able to parachute out. But not Eugene. His last recorded words were "Bombs away!" after the plane had delivered its payload -- i.e. - dropped their bombs. It was believed that Eugene was killed when enemy aircraft fired repeatedly across the aircraft tail. He went down with the plane. A German witness on the ground said that five bodies were pulled from the wreckage. Five out of a crew of 10. 

Not only was Eugene the only Bosnavits son. He was the only grandson. The only one who could have carried the surname on into the future. 

A search for the surname BOSNAVITS/BOSNAVITZ/BOSNYAKOVITS in Ohio directories, turned up 0 names.

The request for Eugene's yearbook photo came from Teresa Hirsch of Indianapolis, Indiana. She volunteers to help the  Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, the Netherlands.

By Rudolphous [CC BY-SA 4.0 
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)],
from Wikimedia Commons

They have created a program called "The Faces of Margraten" to honor the American soldiers, sailors and airmen who lost their lives freeing their country of its Nazi occupiers:

"Unique to the cemetery is the connection with the Dutch people. Since 1945 members of the local community have adopted the grave sites of our fallen. They bring flowers to the cemetery and research the life of the service member as a way to honor their sacrifice. Today, the Foundation for Adopting Graves at the American Cemetery Margraten manages this program. With a similar intention the Foundation United Adopters American War Graves created a program known as The Faces of Margraten. This group collects photos of our fallen, and sponsors a bi-annual event at the cemetery during Dutch Memorial Day weekend. More than 3,000 photos are on display that weekend next to headstones and the Walls of the Missing, bringing visitors face-to-face with their liberators."

The Bosnavits parents must have found a measure of comfort in the visit
of Miss Stoots from Margraten.
Medina Gazette 11 June 1948, page 7.

Indeed, the program had its inception immediately after the war as this article shows:

Eugene's parents lived on, visiting friends and relatives and going on vacations.

Medina County Gazette 12 Sept 1958, page 5

Eugene Sr. died in 1958. Notice in his obituary that it says he had "crippling arthritis" for over 40 years. Yes, Eugene Jr.'s father depended on him.

Medina Gazette 1 July 1963, page 1.

Eugene's mother lived til 1963, dying in a car accident:






























I want to thank my co-worker, Renee Dunn, for bringing this request to me.

And I particular want to thank Teresa Hirsch, not only for bringing this story to my attention and helping bring it alive, but also most especially for her volunteer work with the   Netherlands American Cemetery.

Thank you, ladies!