History truly came alive this past Sunday in the Oak Hill Cemetery as Tri Kappa hosted their 6th Annual History Walk.
Under beautiful sunny skies five citizens buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery and who helped build Plymouth and Marshall County told their stories to visitors interested in learning a little bit of history.
Christopher Bollman (1832-1920), a civil war soldier who was in Sherman’s March to the Sea was portrayed by Bob Pickell. Bollman was married twice and fathered 14 children although several did not survive infancy. After four months in the service he contracted a severe case of pneumonia and was sent home. His passion was farming, baking and children. At nearly 88 years of age, on November 24, 1920 he was walking and seemed to be disoriented and was clipped by a box-car train which severed his left arm and leg. His last words were “Everything is out of the way and I’m ready to enter the pearly gates.”
Samuel Schlosser (1874-1938), was instrumental in the success of two Plymouth businesses’ Schlosser Brothers Creamery and the Plymouth Foundry. Ken Houin portrayed Schlosser who had married in New York and moved to Bremen. He was the youngest of 9 children and was in the first graduating class at Bremen High School. As a young man he was assigned to take milk cans west to pick up milk and bring it back to the creamery where the cream would be removed and then he would take the milk back the next day. In 1920 Schlosser Brothers Creamery was the largest in the State of Indiana. Sam decided to venture out and purchased the Argos Foundry, diversifying because so many family members were involved in the creamery. Eventually they moved the foundry to Plymouth where it still remains in the family. The creamery merged with Hawthorn Melody.
Hannah Burden was a WWI nurse whose name appears on the Gold Star Memorial in Oak Hill Cemetery. Although she wasn’t in the military, and after being denied by the American Red Cross three times because of a weak heart she volunteered to care for soldiers at Camp Sherman in Ohio when the 1918 flu epidemic spread around the world. Portrayed by Cindy Flagg, Burden lived in Plymouth and died after contracting the flu from the soldiers she was serving.
Flagg gave a bit of history on the monument which was paid for by the Marshall County Chapter of American War Mothers of WWI Dead. It cost $3000 and stands 16 feet tall weighing 25,000 pounds. She also told of Jesse K. Lee, born 1893 in Tyner, he served in France and died at the age of 25. He was buried in France and then his family have to pay to have his body brought back state side where he was buried with full military honors.
Sam Boys (1871-1966) owner and publishers of the Plymouth Chronicle which later would be the Pilot News was portrayed by his grandson the Reverend Dr. Sam Boys. Born and raised in Kansas Sam went to college in Albion Michigan and then to law school at the University of Michigan. He didn’t like the unethical business practices of being a lawyer and decided to go with his passion of reading and writing and started his journalism career. He purchased a paper is Shoals Indiana for $1,000 and then in 1904 bought the Chronicle in Plymouth for $2,400. At that time there were 3,000 in the city and 6 newspapers, 3 republican and 3 democratic. After obtaining a couple competitors Boys decided to move from a weekly paper to a daily although he didn’t charge an additional fee to those who were already subscribers.
Mandy Metsker portrayed Lora Thornburg who discussed the interesting history of her late husband Willis, the postmaster of the railroad. Willis came to Plymouth from Van Wert Ohio in 1862. He and his first wife Kathryn had two children. They lived where the South Side Grocery used to stand. Thornburgs were a well to do family and purchased a mausoleum at a cost of approximately $20,000. Willis’ daughter took her own life and is buried under the step of the mausoleum.
After his first wife died Willis asked Lora to marry him but there was a 20 year age difference and she asked him to reconsider not wanting folks to think she was after him for his money. There were married in 1954 and spent 8 wonderful years together. The family home at the corner of Pierce and Michigan Streets was left to Lora who died in 1980. Although she is not buried in the mausoleum, in her will she left $2,000 to the city for the care and upkeep of the mausoleum. There is to be a Christmas wreath on the doors for the holiday and flowers planted in the urn by Memorial Day. At this time Felke Florist still cares for the graves.
