y o m i n q by Harry S. Douglass - Old Fulton History

April 1954
CURRIERS THROUGH THE YEARS (cont.)
Page 79
During Civil War days, Spencer & Davis of Arcade ran a stage
service to ^ttica, on alternating trips through Curriers. These
"U. So Daily Mail Coaches" were advertised in l86ij. as "new, elegrant
and easy." Other stages came through Curriers and on to Java Village,
Strykersville and to East Aurora, Mrs. Orpha Rosier, born in
i860, recalls the stage horn sounding as it approached the Corners,
tells how children walking to school scrambled to the roadside to
keep out of the way of the lurching vehicle as it passed by in a
whirl of dust or a shower of mud. One day, a kindly driver halted
the stage, pulled the children up to the driver's seat and gave them
a thrilling ride home.
In 1900, rural mail service came to the farms about Curriers?
telephone service came over from Arcade in 1899, and for some years
the old Erie-Wyoming Telephone Co., Chaffee, serviced most of the
area. Electricity arrived In 1926. Curriers Grange, No. 1273, which
presently occupies the old Currier store building, was organized
July 10, 1912, with 52 charter members. For several years it met In
the school hall, where in 1930, Pomona Grange conferred Its degree
upon a class of 153s to that date the largest such class in Pomona
history. When the Grange acquired its present home, the west wing of
the building was torn away and the structure remodeled.
Use of the present cemetery goes back to pioneer days, the
oldest stone being that to an infant daughter of Ira Kibbe, who died
in 1819. For many years indifferent care was given the plots it was
surveyed in l865j and some fifty years ago, through the cooperative
efforts of lot owners, the grounds were graded. In time, more land
was acquired. The site is now fenced and in excellent condition.
More than 600 burials have been made.
Curriers has had at least three doctors, Dr. Lucius Peck, there
around l866j Dr. Samuel S. Miller, long resident therej and Dr.
William Leslie, active in the early years of the present century,.
Congregational Church
The present Congregational Church was instituted in May 18511,
at a meeting in the old schoolhouse, as the "Congregational Church
of West Java," with twenty-five constituent members, twelve of whom
had received dismissal from the Arcade church. Rev. Gilbert L0
Northrup, Strykersville, who became first pastor, and Rev. L. Ac
Skinner, presided, articles of faith and the church covenant were
adopted. Ira Kibbe and Ephraim Fisk J-re were the first deacons and
upon incorporation of the church, Jan. 11, 1855, the trustees were
Mr. Kibbe, Mr. Fisk and Gordon D„ Fox. The site for the present
church was obtained of Lucius Thompson early in l855*and the meeting
house begun during that year although not dedicated until the summer
of 1856. The contractor, Calvin Rogers of Strykersville, had the
reputation of climbing to the highest part of each building he
erected, and there standing on his head. When the frame had been
assembled, it was found that through an oversight a long and important
timber was lacking. Two men went to the woods, selected a
straight and tall red beech and during the course of the afternoon,
cut and hewed the desired piece. During the night of May 8, l855s> a
(continued on page 80)