For the sheer fun of it… for the sheer learning of it… and for credit as part of the Winter 2010 GeneaBloggers Games… I have used Google Maps to map out three important locations for my gg-grandfather, John Brenner.
View John Brenner’s Youngstown in a larger map
John lived at 700 High Street for most of his adult life. He was the first Superintendent for the Mahoning Cemetery, which was later to become Oak Hill Cemetery. Later John was in the marble business. I am guessing that this began as selling tombstones. Perhaps it moved beyond that.
One serendipity in this process. As I was looking for the address of his marble works, I found a listing for John in the 1891-2 Burke’s City Directory for Youngstown, Ohio. His occupation was “sanitary policeman.” This was a new one for me. A brief web search helped me understand this occupation. Public Boards of Health were formed toward the end of the 19th (and even into the early years of the 20th) Century. Today we would call these individuals public health inspectors. In 1891, one of the apparent duties of a sanitary policeman was to quarantine homes where contagious diseases were present.
One description of the function of sanitary policemen