One House’s Story: The Stocksdale Family

Never let the size of a house fool you into believing there is no history to be found. The home of Elisha and Sarah Stocksdale is the perfect example of just such a house.

William Stocksdale (1819-1894), a cooper by trade, and his wife Margaret (1831-1915) moved to Dover, Ohio in the 1850s. They started their family there, a family that included six children by the time the 1870 census was recorded. William eventually purchased a farm, by 1875, in the Beaver Dam Valley area of Goshen Township where the family lived when the 1880 census was taken. Among the family’s children was their eldest son, Elisha Cook Stocksdale (1857-1946), who was trained as a stone mason.

Elisha married Sarah Stemple (1859-1913) of Fairfield Township in February 1884 and the couple took up residence near Elisha’s family home in Goshen Township. Based on Elisha’s later work, it is probable that he had a thriving business cutting and creating headstones along with his typical masonry practice. It was likely shortly after the death of his father in 1894 that Elisha, Sarah, and their young son moved from the Beaver Dam Valley into the city of New Philadelphia just east of the Fair Street Cemetery.

There Elisha and Sarah they built a modest home the Beaver Dam Road near the, then, eastern terminus of Fair Street. The home they built was a gable-ended, story-and-a-half version of the very simple, and very common, American Folk style with a full-width front porch and not much else to distinguish it. The smallness of the Stocksdale family did not require any significant additions to the home, though there were some additions made over its lifetime.

Elisha became active in a number of citywide fraternal organizations and the fire department. He was eventually appointed the chief of the fire department, while expanding his masonry work in the city as well. During the first decade of the 1900s, Elisha was paid for the construction of vaults and making repairs to the Fair Street cemetery buildings and grounds. Elisha was popular enough in the community that he was put forward for the Ward 3 city council seat in 1907, though he lost.

Sarah Stocksdale, after suffering for nearly fifteen years with a cancerous tumor in her abdomen, died in August 1913. Elisha Stockdale sold the small house on Beaver Dam Road and moved in with his son’s family a couple of blocks east. His civic activities did not cease though and, in addition to serving frequently as the fire chief, was appointed the City Cemetery Superintendent around 1915. His responsibilities included the overall care of the cemetery, internments, and managing the city’s finances related to the city’s cemeteries. Undoubtedly his masonry skills and his personal and political connections made him a perfect choice for the role.

Elisha continued to serve as the City Cemetery Superintendent for over twenty-years, retiring from the role in 1935. Elisha’s son died in November 1944 after suffering a two month bout with pneumonia, but Elisha continued to live with his son’s widow until his death in April 1946. Both Elisha and Sarah Stocksdale are buried in the East Avenue Cemetery. Their little house still stands at the intersection of Beaver Avenue Northeast and Fair Avenue Northeast in the city of New Philadelphia.

© Noel B. Poirier, 2024.