Tragic Thursday: Sandusky Bay Drowning

I am still determined to find out what happened to Friedrich Ermisch, who I have been posting about recently. I have searched all Sandusky papers available online and none include the year of 1858, the year in which he drowned. I know I will need an exact date in order to have the library or a volunteer search the newpaper archives, and was feeling a little defeated.

However, I decided maybe all was not lost. I went back to "Sandusky Einst und Jetzt" on Google Books and decided to search for the word "ertrunken" (drowned) and see if there were any other mentions of drownings in 1858. Voila! In the biographical section there was a John Bickel who drowned on June 28, 1858. It may be a mere coincidence, but I am hoping both of these men may have drowned on a ship together and maybe there is a connection. At least I have a date to work with, if nothing else.

I will be searching for descendants of John Bickel, and seeing if I can get a lookup in the Sandusky papers for the days immediately following June 28, 1858. I am hoping I won't hit a dead end, but refuse to give up yet! This is too interesting to not pursue!

EDIT: Scratch that! I read the book some more and found a more lengthy bio on John Bickel. Apparently he drowned by bathing in the entrance to the Sandusky Bay. No shipwreck. Well - I'll have to find another clue!