Reading stories from century-old newspapers can be fun, interesting, and informative. It is anticipated that these "lost" stories will bring back memories from past eras and provide a contemporary and factual account of what happened at various points in time at selected sites on South Bass Island, Lake Erie, Ohio. <P>
Lost Stories--Yesterday and Today at Put-In-Bay is a collection of previously printed accounts revealing past happenings, for the most part, on those properties now owned by the State of Ohio at the village of Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island. These articles, printed in the book from their original source, appeared as early as 150 years ago in newspapers published in Sandusky, Ohio. The principal source is the Sandusky Register, a daily and weekly newspaper that has appeared under various other names since its establishment in 1822. The majority of the articles are from the 1890s when Miss Lydia Jane Ryall was Put-in-Bay's news correspondent to that paper. <P> Miss Ryall's articles were written under her pseudonym, Theresa Thorndale. Theresa Thorndale's articles described activities at the Hotel Victory, the Lighthouse, the Cincinnati Fishing Club, the United States Fish Hatchery, and the Forest City Ice Company. All of these venues have been acquired by the State of Ohio. Miss Thorndale also wrote on the activities of the first biological survey of plants and animals in Lake Erie waters, which was conducted from the United States Fish Hatchery, and gave a vivid description of Peach Point after taking a tour of that peninsula in 1894.
Ronald L. Stuckey graduated as valedictorian from Lykens High School in 1956, earned a B.S. cum laude in Biology from Heidelberg College, Tiffin, OH, in 1960, and his Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1965. From 1965-1991 he served as Professor of Botany at the Ohio State University, Columbus, where he taught courses in Local Flora, Aquatic Flowering Plants, and Plant Nomenclature. <P> Stuckey is an internationally recognized authority on the identification and geographical distribution of aquatic and wetland plants in North America. He has also written extensively on the botanical history and exploration of eastern North America. Stuckey is past president of the OSU Chapter of Sigma Xi, the Ohio Academy of Medical History, and the Ohio Academy of Science. Stuckey is a recognized authority on the contributions and lives of the botanists of Ohio. Stuckey is the author of more than 100 scientific journal papers and several books.
