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History of Valley icons unearthed at cemetery tour
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
For decades, Wick, Tod, Lanterman and Maag have been household names in the Mahoning Valley, but many residents probably know little about the families’ history and contributions to the region.
That’s where Steffon W. Jones comes in.
“He talked about controversial issues, talked about things in the news no one talked about, and he didn’t care,” Jones said, referring to William F. Maag Jr., who was The Vindicator’s general manager, publisher and editor for more than 40 years before his death Feb. 29, 1968.
Jones, a local historian, talked about Maag, along with several other industrialists who are buried in Oak Hill Cemetery during a one-hour tour Sunday afternoon in the cemetery, 344 Oak Hill Ave., on the South Side.
About 30 people on the tour learned more about Maag, who was instrumental in establishing a pension plan for employees at the newspaper. Maag also attended The Rayen School, where he began and edited the school newspaper before getting started in radio in 1939.
The call letters of 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, were chosen after him.
Jones, a former Civil War re-enactor who’s spent 21 years working on various historical projects, discussed several members of the Tod family, including Henry Tod and his son, David.
“He comes from a very wealthy family,” Jones said of David, who was Ohio’s second governor during the Civil War.
President James K. Polk selected the elder Tod to serve as ambassador to Brazil in an effort to help end the war between the U.S. and that country, Jones noted. Henry Tod also insisted his children receive a solid education, was a big name in the coal-mining business and was philanthropic, giving to numerous charities, the historian continued.
Later, the younger Tod, who also was an attorney, had aspirations to run again for political office, but illness short-circuited those plans, Jones said.
Also discussed was Robert McCurdy Jr., who was born in June 1842 in Ireland before coming to the Valley as an infant.
McCurdy had neither the wealth nor the power and prestige of the Tods, and he had to earn all of his money. Later, though, he carved out a lucrative career in banking, having become president of the First National Bank, later renamed the Second National Bank, Jones explained, adding McCurdy was a member of the YMCA and a trustee with The Rayen School.
Another area mover and shaker was P. Ross Berry, a New Castle, Pa., native who helped build the first Rayen School on Wick Avenue, as well as the Opera House, Jones noted.
“He was the first black man to have black and white workers under him,” he said, adding Berry was a strong proponent of education.
Richard Hall, a historian who assisted with the tour, talked about Dr. Timothy Woodbridge, who was the Mahoning County Medical Society’s first president and is said to have been the first doctor born in the Connecticut Western Reserve.
Dr. Woodbridge had a few stints in the Army, attended medical school in Philadelphia and set up his practice in the Valley, which later included his nephew, Dr. John E. Woodbridge, who received a patent in 1887 on a machine that would be used to perform colonoscopies, Hall noted.
Hall also discussed Daniel Sheehy Jr., who, after having fled Ireland, joined the Revolutionary Army, owned businesses in the area, including a tavern, and became a justice of the peace.
Sheehy also owned about 400 acres on the East Side and 600 acres on the South Side, but he lost the larger amount of land in a business deal with John Young, who was instrumental in establishing Youngstown and who sold it to another man, Hall said. Also, Sheehy served a brief sentence in jail for threatening Young’s life regarding the deal, he added.
“He was the third owner of Lanterman’s Mill in Mill Creek Park,” Hall said of German Lanterman, who, in addition to owning about 300 acres in the park, had property in Brier Hill and off Poland Avenue.
The tour ended at the grave marker of Col. James Hillman, who served in the War of 1812 and came to the Valley from Northumberland County, Pa.
Hall told the story of how Hillman, while sailing on the Mahoning River, investigated a nearby campfire at which he saw John Young, who traded his bed for a jug of whiskey Hillman had.
Hillman later became a justice of the peace and sheriff of the Western Reserve, Hall added.
The next such tour will explore the contributions of the Mahoning Valley’s military personnel and industrialists, though the time and location have yet to be announced, Jones said.