Sebring Ohio Historical Society
126 North 15th Street
Sebring, Ohio 44672
330-938-6920  
William Henry Sebring
Eva Huston Sebring
1870-1904  Born in East Liverpool, December 29, 1869.  
Owned Sebring Pottery Company with his brother Frank.  He
was the accountant of the family.  He attended a meeting in the
Sebring Pottery Company's office and left a few minutes before
the others.  The fact that he was deaf might have partially
accounted for the fact that he misjudged the speed of a train.  
He was killed by a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train at the
15th street crossing, December 9, 1904.  First secretary of the
Buckeye Building and Loan Association, est. 1899.  Treasurer
of the Sebring Pottery Company, Limoges China Company and
the Sebring Land company.  His wife was Eva Huston Sebring,
and he had two children, Earl E. and Virginia.  Earl E. Sebring
died at the age of 78.
Their Home, 256 West Ohio Avenue
Family moved in on Halloween of 1901.  It was the second mansion of the
Sebring brothers.  That day, the leaded glass entrance was installed, but one side
did not fit properly so it was boarded up for the night.  In the middle of the night,
there was a loud bang when the boards were knocked down.  The two men who
entered left their tracks up the freshly varnished stairs.  Awakened, Will gave the
customary trouble signal, by shooting out the window with his revolver, but not
shooting at a team drawn buggy as it raced past the house and around the corner.  
Finding the upstairs doors closed and evidently urged on by the sound of the
shots, the men ran down the back stairs, out the back door and across lots to be
picked up by the buggy.
Three busy years later, Virginia Louise arrived on May 29, 1902.  On December
7, 1904, Will attended the annual stockholder's meeting, of which he was
secretary, in the evening at the office of the Sebring Pottery Company.  He left a
few minutes before the others to hasten to tell his wife he had been voted a
substantial increase in salary.
It had been snowing hard and being partially hard of hearing from a bout with
typhoid fever, he misjudged the speed of a train at the unguarded Fifteenth Street
crossing.  It caught the belt of his overcoat and threw him against an experimental
mail catching device, crushing his spine and life.  Although conscious, he lived
only a couple of hours.  This was the first major disaster to strike in the new
town and for two days, a steady stream of mourners filed through the parlor.
The widow and children lived in the house until September of 1910, when she
married Reverend H K. Bright and moved away.
Charles Leigh Sebring rented the house for a number of years, until he bought the
George E. Sebring home.  There were several renters after that, including Mr.
Deemer, the local newspaper man.
In 1922, Earl graduated from the Ohio State University and returned to Sebring.  
With his wife Dorothy Jean Hills Sebring and infant son William Arthur Sebring,
they established their home for the next ten years.  Winifred Ann was born
October 20, 1926 and Robert Earl, July 3, 1929.
Tragedy struck again March 12, 1932 when a car skidded out of control on the
ice at Ohio Avenue and 17th Streets, jumped the curb and instantly killed
Bill and his sled riding companion as they sat on their sleds.  Again the parlor
was the scene of a steady flow of mourners as a now much larger town and wider
territory seemed to be totally grieved.
In 1944 Earl moved to Los Angeles.  In over forty years, the home had the good
fortune not to have been damaged by fire, serious accident or death within its
walls.  
Dr. E. T. McCune refurbished it to become a physician's office until his death.-  
Much of this is transcribed from a tape dictated by Earl E. Sebring, May 1, 1975.
William Henry Sebring1970-1904
Married Sept., 1898 Eva Huston,
1875-1965
Children:
Earl Eugene Sebring 1899-1978

Earl's Children:
Robert Sebring
Winifred Bryarly