Civil War vet's life celebrated in Struthers Saturday


story tease

By Graig Graziosi

ggraziosi@vindy.com

STRUTHERS

After 27 battles and more than 800 miles of marching, Alexander Frankfort – then called Frankforther – finished a two-year stint with the Union Army.

The American Civil War was over, and after marching from Hocking County, Ohio, to Atlanta, Ga., the former resident of Struthers was headed home.

Frankfort became Struthers’ oldest living Civil War veteran, dying at age 88 in 1930.

In modern day, the Struthers Historical Society – headquartered in the house Frankfort built in 1884 for his family – will celebrate “Alexander Frankfort Day” on Saturday to remember his life and celebrate Struthers’ history. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The historical society is at 50 Terrace Drive. Parking is available in the gravel lot next to the historical society.

The celebration began last year as a way for the historical society to appeal to a broader range of individuals and to help in their efforts to receive a historical marker for the Frankfort home.

Alongside access to the more than 130-year-old house, the celebration will feature food, infantry and firearm demonstrations from local Civil War re-enactors, American Indian artifacts, a rope walk – where participants learn to braid their own lengths of rope by hand with a process commonly used in the 1800s – and storyteller Steffon Wydell Jones will recount the story of how the teddy bear got its name. The event is free.

The event is put on almost entirely through the efforts of the three women who helm the historical society; Marian Kutlesa, the historical society’s founder; Linda Skrinyer, the society’s president; and Denise Collingwood, the society’s vice president.

Though the society is funded by Struthers Community Chest and the Rotary Club, this event is the work solely of the women and a group of volunteers.

The trio has compiled binders full of information on Frankfort, going so far as to make a map documenting each of the battles Frankfort fought in during his two years in the Union Army.

“Could you imagine marching all that way,” Kutlesa said, looking at the map with pinheads forming a trail from Struthers to Atlanta. “And with only one uniform?”

The women originally sought out the research in an attempt to receive a historical plaque for the Frankfort house – which was successful; they’ll receive their marker in the spring – but decided to use the story of Frankfort and his wife and daughters to stir historical curiosity among the city’s residents.

“Having a day like this educates people on where they and their city come from, and it helps to build interest in the past,” Skrinyer said.