Harry Byers Fisheries records

Collection – Box: 1

Identifier: MS-0266

Staff Only

Collection Overview

Abstract

The Harry Byers Fisheries records date from 1937-1944 and include financial documents, monthly reports, and documents of legal restrictions and regulations governing the fishing industry. The collection also includes a smattering of correspondence, a subject file related to Byers' service with the Signal Corps during World War I, and unidentified photos.

Dates

Creation: 1917-1944
Creation: Majority of material found within 1937-1944

Extent

0.46 Cubic Feet (1 legal size archive box)

Creator

Byers, Harry Edgar, 1888-1981 (Person)

Scope and Contents

The heart of the collection lies in the financial documents of Harry Byers Fisheries of Port Clinton, Ohio. These documents cover the years 1937-1941 and include business ledgers, bills for fishing supplies and equipment, and invoices for fish delivered. These documents provide an excellent source to the researcher interested in the financial status of the company, the profitability of such a company during this era, as well as the types and availability of fish in Lake Erie. Also significant in the collection are reports and legal documents concerning the company. These include, primarily, monthly reports for April and May of 1940 and 1941 of the number and kinds of fish caught by the company. The legal documents include fishing licenses, trailer registration cards, a sheet detailing the rules and regulations of fishing in Lake Erie, assignment authority, and a sheriff's deed. These documents are significant for the information they provide concerning the legal requirements of fishing in the region, the success of fishing in the region, and the restrictions regulating the fishing industry during this period.

Also included in the collection is a minimal amount of correspondence, a member list of a battalion of the Army Signal Corps. during World War I, and a book on the history of Scottish Rite. The most important of these, the correspondence, includes letters and telegrams from Harry Byers Fisheries to T.W. Mitchell Company, Inc. concerning shipments and sales of fish.

Biographical / Historical

Harry Edgar Byers was born on June 11, 1888, to John and Sophia Byers. He married Ada Frick (b. October 26, 1892) in Sandusky, Ohio, on November 6, 1923. Harry was a self-employed commercial fisherman operating out of Oak Harbor, Ohio. He is listed as a fisherman as early as 1917 and operating the fishing company through the 1930s and the early 1940s. Later he was a machinist with the Erie Proving Grounds in Port Clinton, Ohio, retiring in 1950.

Byers was a long time member of several masonic organizations and the American Legion. Ada died in July 31, 1977 and Harry died on June 7, 1981.

Conditions Governing Access

No known access restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers using this collection assume full responsibility for conforming to the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright, and are responsible for securing permissions necessary for publication or reproduction.

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Additional Description

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The records were donated and transferred to the Center for Archival Collections in 1982 through the cooperation of Dorothy Krantz of Bucyrus and with the assistance of Paul Yon.