By C. Kihm Richardson Walking from Strykersville ... - Fulton History
By C. Kihm Richardson Walking from Strykersville ... - Fulton History
By C. Kihm Richardson Walking from Strykersville ... - Fulton History
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VOL. XXIV<br />
NO. 4<br />
Cheesebox and Barrel Factory on <strong>Richardson</strong> Road. Phototaken about 1885.<br />
<strong>Walking</strong> <strong>from</strong> <strong>Strykersville</strong> into Buffalo and back<br />
around 1850 was not such an unheard of thing as it<br />
would be today, especially if a tub of butter were<br />
being carried on the head. When I travel now at 55<br />
miles an hour over hard-surfaced roads all the<br />
way and go the thirty miles to Buffalo in threequarters<br />
of an hour, many thoughts turn over in my<br />
mind of the changes between then and now. Much<br />
of this change I know of <strong>from</strong> written information,<br />
but some I have come by <strong>from</strong> incidents handed<br />
down by my family, for both my father's and<br />
mother's families lived in the area for several<br />
generations. It is this close contact with actual<br />
events that stirs my interest and gives me a different<br />
feeling of the past than just something read<br />
<strong>from</strong> a book.<br />
It was my maternal grandmother (Lena Sloand<br />
<strong>Kihm</strong>) who related that her mother, Margaret<br />
Hyman Sloand, would take a tub of butter on her<br />
head and start out for Buffalo at 2 o'clock in the<br />
morning in order to get a few extra cents for it in<br />
Buffalo.<br />
<strong>By</strong> 1850, the United States had more than made<br />
<strong>By</strong> C. <strong>Kihm</strong> <strong>Richardson</strong><br />
APRIL 1978<br />
WARSAW, NEW YORK<br />
up the 100 years by which they were reported to<br />
have lagged behind Europe in 1800. The gap had not<br />
only closed but the United States economy was progressing<br />
at a rapid rate. The United States had been<br />
instrumental in the development of the high pressure<br />
(30 psig) steam engine and boiler in lieu<br />
of the atmospheric steam engine invented and used<br />
in England. This opened up the possibility of its<br />
use for mobile equipment such as boats and railway<br />
engines since it was much lighter. A railroad ran<br />
<strong>from</strong> Buffalo to Attica by 1843, to East Aurora by<br />
1867 and on to Olean by 1872. Atoll road, completed<br />
in 1849, plank on one side, ran <strong>from</strong> Buffalo to East<br />
Aurora. This was protected by the state against any<br />
parallel road until 1900 and was in existence until<br />
1904. In its earliest years it must have had much<br />
traffic <strong>from</strong> the hauling of produce, hay, grain,<br />
butter, cheese, etc., for the original cost was paid<br />
off in two years. The railroad probably caused it<br />
to fall on hard times because in later years bonds<br />
were sold just to maintain it and these were never<br />
paid off.<br />
(continued on page 86)
PAGE 86<br />
Historical Wyoming is published quarterly by<br />
the Wyoming County Historian's Office, 76 jj<br />
North Main Street, Warsaw, N.Y. 14569.<br />
Editor: John G. Wilson, County Historian; Ij<br />
Assistant Editor, Mary Wilson. Annual sub- |<br />
scription rate is $3.00. Subscription year<br />
runs <strong>from</strong> July 1 to July 1 and those subscribing<br />
during that period will be sent all<br />
back issues for that year. Cost for extra back<br />
issues is $1.00 per copy. Checks should be<br />
made payable to Historical Wyoming and sent<br />
to the County Historian's Office. Secondclass<br />
postage paid at Warsaw, N.Y. 14569.<br />
Postmaster send forms 3579 to County Historian's<br />
Office, 76 North Main Street, Warsaw,<br />
N.Y. 14569.<br />
Memories of Java and <strong>Strykersville</strong> (continued)<br />
However, this progress had not raised the standard<br />
of living of the imigrants who had little or no<br />
money to start with and were trying to pay for land<br />
as well as raise a family, which was the situation<br />
with my great-grandparents on my mother's side.<br />
My grandmother told also of remembering her<br />
parents cutting, hauling and burning trees to clear<br />
land and then some peddler would come along and<br />
barter with some needles or other small items they<br />
needed in exchange for the ashes. Ashes were<br />
leached with water, the water boiled off to get a<br />
more concentrated lye solution often used in homemade<br />
soap. Meat was not on the daily diet, except<br />
maybe for a little on Sunday. I suspect that they<br />
did not consume a great deal of dairy products<br />
themselves as this was needed to bring in some<br />
cash.<br />
On the other side of the family, things at that<br />
time were different. My great-great grandfather,<br />
Charles <strong>Richardson</strong>, had paid off some purchase<br />
agreements and gotten title to some of his land but<br />
was paying on some more. The books of the<br />
Farmers Loan and Trust Co. (successor to the<br />
Holland Land Co.) now in possession of the Genesee<br />
Co. Historical Society, show that he made payments<br />
of 7 or 8 dollars every 6 months on a purchase<br />
contract. The records show this was sometimes<br />
in cash and sometimes in cattle. From what I<br />
have heard, life was much easier for him, as it<br />
was for many who had gotten an earlier start and<br />
maybe had some financial help <strong>from</strong> their families<br />
who settled earlier in New England or some<br />
other parts of the country.<br />
ABOUT MY GRANDMOTHER<br />
To get back to the reason that I think some families<br />
did not live too well, my maternal grandmother<br />
had her teeth out at an early age, early twenties.<br />
Now this wouldn't have been because of too many<br />
sweets, for the large scale refining of sugar hadn't<br />
APRIL 1978<br />
come about by that time, and it wasn't some thing<br />
that would have been purchased anyway. She related<br />
having her teeth pulled in the 1870's with<br />
only a couple of shots of whiskey which the dentist<br />
suggested that she had better take. She told how<br />
she kicked her feet on the chair and after he had<br />
pulled about half the teeth he stopped and went at it<br />
again and pulled the rest. Whether they had nothing<br />
better than alcohol to deaden the pain of pulling teeth<br />
or whether nothing else was used in order to save<br />
money, I do not know. The use of ether had been<br />
discovered in the 1840's for making patients insensitive<br />
during operations and dental work. In<br />
later years Dr. Moore came to <strong>Strykersville</strong> one<br />
day a week <strong>from</strong> Holland. In 1931 he was still practicing<br />
in Holland using a foot peddled drill.<br />
As with many young and not very well educated<br />
girls, my grandmother worked in East Aurora doing<br />
housework and cooking and later married Peter<br />
<strong>Kihm</strong> who was a woodworker, more specifically, a<br />
wagon-maker or wheelwright. At that time (about<br />
1875) many, probably most villages had a place<br />
where wagons and buggies were made but it was<br />
changing fast and they were being made in larger<br />
quantities in cities. It was necessary to change to<br />
something more in vogue, railway passenger cars<br />
for the Pullman Co., for whom he worked prior to<br />
his death in 1889 at an early age, leaving a wife<br />
and six children, one still unborn. He had worked<br />
up to the time he was so ill that the boys had to<br />
draw him to work in their wagon. Had he been<br />
working for such a company in this day and age,<br />
he would have been covered by disability and life<br />
insurance by the company, as well as by Social<br />
Security for the six children, and life would have<br />
been fairly easy. At that time there was no income<br />
<strong>from</strong> any source except what they could earn doing<br />
the most menial tasks. Things were rough for<br />
about 10 or 15 years until her oldest boy Charles<br />
was able to support her and then later her youngest<br />
son, Peter. With all this struggle to raise her<br />
family alone, she lived to be 103 years old. Her<br />
last years were hard when she lived with my mother<br />
Ida <strong>Kihm</strong> <strong>Richardson</strong>, because she could no longer<br />
do anything for I truly think that she liked to work.<br />
When it became necessary to send a message<br />
<strong>from</strong> <strong>Strykersville</strong> to Buffalo in 1888 of the death<br />
of Lewis Sloand, there was no simple means even<br />
though the telegraph became a reality by 1848 and<br />
the way to make a telephone had been discovered<br />
by 1875. I have a copy of the telegram delivered<br />
by the Buffalo telegraph office which indicates<br />
that it was sent <strong>from</strong> the Arcade Western Union<br />
office. Actually it says <strong>from</strong> <strong>Strykersville</strong> via<br />
Arcade. I find no reference to any telegraph office<br />
at <strong>Strykersville</strong> and speculate that the closest<br />
telegraph <strong>from</strong> up the Perry Hill Road would have<br />
been North Java at the Attica and Arcade railway<br />
station. The railroad had been completed in 1880<br />
and an item in a local newspaper of 1885 makes reference<br />
to a telegraph operator there; he was not<br />
necessarily the first operator. On this subject of<br />
(continued on page 87)
APRIL 1978<br />
Memories of Java and <strong>Strykersville</strong> (continued)<br />
communication a system of four telephones is reported<br />
to have connected <strong>Strykersville</strong>, Java, Wales<br />
Center and Portageville in 1894.<br />
If a farmer back around 1890 had boys or girls<br />
of working age it was considered a big help. Of<br />
course they had to be fed, but they did not spend<br />
as much time as now going to school or watching<br />
television and were considered an asset. Shortly<br />
after my grandmother was widowed with three<br />
boys old enough to work and had been moved back<br />
to <strong>Strykersville</strong>, some man stopped and asked her<br />
to marry him. She told him to get out and threatened<br />
to throw boiling water on him if he bothered<br />
her anymore. As I remember hearing this, he<br />
didn't even get off his wagon to make this proposal,<br />
but the boiling water incident suggests that he must<br />
have been off the wagon.<br />
Because my mother's father died when she was<br />
only seven years old, life may have not been much<br />
easier than for her mother, but I think she did get<br />
more education and worked for someone when she<br />
was sixteen to learn tailoring. At seventeen, she<br />
did housework in <strong>Strykersville</strong> and later in East<br />
Aurora. My father, Charles Gilbert <strong>Richardson</strong><br />
got to go away to the equivalent of high school in<br />
the winter. Some of the time it was at Perry where<br />
he could stay with an aunt. He never said much<br />
about the school part but he had to go with his girl<br />
cousin or cousins to dancing class. I can't believe<br />
it was the dancing that he compained about, just<br />
who he had to take because he later loved to dance,<br />
driving quite some distances around the area.<br />
MY FATHER'S FAMILY<br />
When I worked on the history of Java for the<br />
Bicentennial, I copied <strong>from</strong> the histories of several<br />
families and did some interviewing on others but<br />
did not put in about the <strong>Richardson</strong> who came to<br />
Java, <strong>Strykersville</strong> area around 1820. This was<br />
partly because I didn't want it to sound too personal<br />
and partly because I didn't know very much about<br />
them. Charles <strong>Richardson</strong> apparently articled land<br />
where Leonard Holmes now lives and built the front<br />
part of that house.<br />
From what I read in Beers and old deeds he<br />
also had his hand in other businesses such as the<br />
grist mill at Java Village. As happened so much in<br />
those times, his wife died young and he returned<br />
two more times to New England to remarry. From<br />
what Leonard Holmes' father told him, there was<br />
evidence in the front center part of the house that<br />
there had been three fireplaces downstairs and<br />
two upstairs. This was probably the only means of<br />
heating the house at that time. At the southeast<br />
corner was a wing for processing milk, later<br />
moved out back for storage. He must have articled<br />
land running on north up into <strong>Strykersville</strong> in the<br />
town of Sheldon as he donated land for the Baptist<br />
Church, and as he sold off lots along the road, he<br />
retained a strip of land so that he could walk to<br />
PAGE 3<br />
church on his own land. Sounds as though he were<br />
a little something or other but that is what the<br />
old deeds say.<br />
His oldest son, Charles H. <strong>Richardson</strong>, was born<br />
in 1823 (supposedly in that house). He apparently<br />
was in business around Java Village. Either he<br />
and/or his father had land other than the homestead<br />
because some of his children were born in other<br />
towns in the area.v He had married Mary Balcom<br />
in 1845. They had 13 children born between 1846<br />
and 1868. When his father died in 1867, he took<br />
over the homestead farm. Since he had this large<br />
family, I would assume that at that time, the large<br />
addition was made at the rear but it could have been<br />
earlier because his father liked to have meetings<br />
of religious and political groups. In any case, when<br />
the house was remodeled, probably around 1860<br />
or 1870, apparently fireplaces were not the up-todate<br />
thing to have, and all five were torn out and<br />
also the chimneys so that the front area could be<br />
used for a hall and a stairway to the second floor.<br />
Leonard related that when he was doing some<br />
remodeling, he found a letter in a partition written<br />
in 1826. Someone was dunning my great-great<br />
grandfather for money overdue on a mortgage or<br />
note.<br />
My grandfather, Fayette <strong>Richardson</strong>, also ran<br />
the farm for a time before it was sold to Ernest<br />
Holmes, but most of his life he had run a cheesebox<br />
and barrel factory at Java Village in partnership<br />
with his father and/or his brother. My father<br />
operated the mill for the last several years before<br />
it was abandoned. The last year that it amounted to<br />
much was 1914. There were two or three reasons<br />
that it was no longer practical to operate. It was<br />
an old mill and was equipped to do the special<br />
operations to make parts for cheeseboxes and<br />
barrels. To just saw lumber wasn't economical.<br />
A second reason which has always been a drawback<br />
for the area was that although there was<br />
still a market for cheeseboxes not being on a<br />
railroad was a disadvantage and it wasn't possible<br />
to compete with mills better located. Third, the<br />
barrel business had all but disappeared for the<br />
apple buyer wanted apples packed in baskets, not<br />
barrels.<br />
DOCTORING IN THE EARLY DAYS<br />
At one time when he was young, my father had a<br />
job driving for Dr. Fromholtzer in <strong>Strykersville</strong>.<br />
As I remember, the doctor had two teams so that<br />
with bad roads and a lot of territory to cover, they<br />
could spell the horses. The doctor had a driver so<br />
that he could get some rest between calls. What a<br />
doctor could do to help people then seems small because<br />
they had practically none of the many drugs<br />
now available. As late as 1931, I remember a second<br />
cousin died in his home of a certain type of influenza<br />
for which the doctor had no type of treatment.<br />
It was the later 30's when the drugs that really<br />
gave the doctors some weapons came into use.<br />
(continued on page 88)
PAGE 88 APRIL 1978<br />
Memories of Java and <strong>Strykersville</strong> (continued)<br />
In 1909 my father's leg was broken when he<br />
jumped <strong>from</strong> a buggy because the horses were<br />
running away. Both bones below the knee were<br />
twisted off. I had always assumed that he was taken<br />
to a hospital in Buffalo because that is what would<br />
have happened anytime in the last 50 years. I discussed<br />
this with Dr. Anthony Sloand who was born<br />
and raised in Java. He thinks they would have set<br />
this locally because the transportation to a hospital<br />
would have been difficult under any condition<br />
and especially with a brokenleg. Itwouldhave been<br />
by horse drawn vehicle to East Aurora and then by<br />
train to Buffalo. He feels that even if he had been<br />
in Buffalo, they would not have used X-ray. It had<br />
been discovered in 1895 but was not used very<br />
much because of the expense at that time. Only<br />
the large bone ever mended. Had this happened<br />
even 20 years later it probably would have been<br />
medically possible to handle this problem.<br />
WELLS AND PUMPS<br />
At the house on the north edge of Java where<br />
my grandmother lived for many years there was<br />
a dug well, walled up with stone. This was in the<br />
woodshed and had a wooden pump over it. One<br />
time her boys came home and found the pump<br />
frozen so they pulled it up and took it in and put<br />
it on the top of the kitchen stove to thaw. Such a<br />
pump was made <strong>from</strong> a square piece of wood about<br />
6"x6" with about a 2" hole. Itstoodup about 4 1/2'<br />
and probably extended down 6 or 8'. If this was not<br />
deep enough to reach water a pump log was added.<br />
They were joined by a male and female taper as was<br />
a wooden check valve at the bottom. Kenneth Suttell<br />
tells me that the checkvalve at the bottom was a<br />
piece of weighted leather in a wooden housing. The<br />
handle worked a wooden plunger wrapped with<br />
leather. <strong>By</strong> the early 1900's the sucker rod going<br />
to the plunger may have been steel but on the first<br />
wooden pumps it was probably wood. On this pump<br />
the outlet screwed to the side of the pump was<br />
cast iron but earlier would have been wood. There<br />
was another early type of pump with a crank which<br />
was made of steel. A sprocket at the top engaged a<br />
chain with a series of disks about 2" in diameter<br />
which were pulled up through a cylinder which<br />
could be wood or metal. This sytem required no<br />
check valve and ran down after each time that it<br />
was used; in fact the crank flew backwards and<br />
hit you if you weren't careful. This pump was<br />
housed in a wooden box about 5"xl5"x4' high.<br />
THE HORSE THIEF<br />
There have always been people who coveted<br />
other people's property and sometimes took it.<br />
Before the time of the car thief, there was stealing<br />
of horses. There are stories of stolen horses<br />
being dyed, etc. Sometime around 1915 a man who<br />
had been imprisoned for stealing horses, escaped<br />
or was released. When it was heard that he was<br />
out of prison and headed back to the area, two<br />
fellows moved a team of horses <strong>from</strong> a barn on<br />
the west side of Route 78 near the Congregational<br />
Church in <strong>Strykersville</strong> to a little used barn on the<br />
east side of the road. Only one man saw them do it<br />
and he didn't say anything to anyone. The news<br />
spread like wildfire that the horse thief had struck<br />
again. When it dragged on and the horses were<br />
not found, the two fellows who had moved the<br />
horses became quite worried because horses can<br />
not go for as long periods without water as some<br />
other animals.<br />
STORIES MY FATHER TOLD<br />
Life was harder in some ways 75 years ago than<br />
today, but there was less traveling about and more<br />
sitting and talking. One true story that my father<br />
told always gets a laugh. The fellows were sitting<br />
around talking at a store, blacksmith shop or what<br />
have you. They were talking about having carbuncles<br />
and how painful they were. One of the fellows<br />
who was known for not sticking to the facts said,<br />
"You can't tell me anything about how painful they<br />
are, I had one right here on my arm and it was<br />
terrible." He pulled up his sleeve and looked at his<br />
arm top and bottom^ then said, "It must have been<br />
the other arm," and after looking at that arm he<br />
said, "Come to think of it, it was my brother Joe."<br />
Another story my father told of his uncle who<br />
had a rather sour outlook on most things, was regarding<br />
his razor strop. This was after my grandfather<br />
moved down to run the homestead farm. His<br />
youngest brother stayed on there as he had before<br />
his father died. It seems the boys didn't have a<br />
razor strop or one as good a one as their uncle's,<br />
so they borrowed his. Not being very experienced<br />
yet at stropping a razor, they cut a nick in it.<br />
When George noticed this he flew into one of his<br />
spells and cut the strop in 2 or 3 pieces. Well, the<br />
boys couldn't let it go at that so they cut the whole<br />
strop in pieces about a half inch long and one<br />
eighth inch wide (now we should say 13milimeters<br />
long and 3 milimeters wide) and they put some in<br />
every pocket of every piece of clothing he had.<br />
THE ARMY WORMS<br />
When army worms got started back in 1914 and<br />
devoured one field after another, there was apparently<br />
no way to stop them until their cycle ran<br />
its course. All they left of a field of grain was a<br />
stalk here and there. They marched across a dirt<br />
road until there were no wagon tracks left, only<br />
thousands of their tracks. Apparently this was not<br />
solved for some time for I learn they struck as<br />
late as 1963 up on Perry Hill Road. Farmers have<br />
problems now but have not had that one for several<br />
years, thanks to modern chemistry.<br />
THE COMING OF THE AUTOMOBILE<br />
(continued on page 89)
APRIL 1978 .<br />
Memories of Java and <strong>Strykersville</strong> (continued)<br />
I was born in 1908 but I don't remember even<br />
seeing an automobile until about 1914. Some automobiles<br />
had ventured out to the Java area before<br />
that but roads into Buffalo had only recently been<br />
hard surfaced, side roads were not even good<br />
gravel. Moving of materials such as gravel onto<br />
roads had to be accomplished with horse and wagon.<br />
Such things as auto agencies, gas stations, garages<br />
were practically non-existent in the country. Sears<br />
Roebuck had earlier sold automobiles by catalog;<br />
this was a buggy wheel type delivered by railway<br />
car to the local area. The first gasoline pump I<br />
remember was a one gallon piston and cylinder<br />
type. The garage mechanic had rigged up a rod to<br />
push a ball bearing over into a hopper on each<br />
stroke so there could be no mik up on the amount<br />
pumped. Another early pump had a glass container<br />
of 5 to 10 gallons on top of the pump where the<br />
gas was pumped and measured, then drained into<br />
the automobile tank.<br />
Gasoline was used for stationary gasoline engines<br />
before automobiles madetheirway into this area, so<br />
gasoline and kerosene were delivered by horse<br />
drawn vehicles. The various different shaped one<br />
gallon cans had not yet been produced. Syrup cans<br />
were avilable at any hardware store, in fact, made<br />
at Java Village. This resulted in their being used<br />
for many purposes such as lubricating oil as it was<br />
called then rather that motor oil. This resulted in<br />
some problems, one I know of when syrup was inadvertently<br />
added to the crankcase of the first<br />
small dump truck bought by the town where I lived.<br />
As soon as the syrup and oil mixture was heated,<br />
the syrup candied and after the engine had been<br />
stopped and allowed to cool the pistons were stuck<br />
solid. Only by steaming the disassembled engine<br />
was it possible to use it again. Of course the cause<br />
of the trouble was not known until they had this<br />
engine all torn to pieces and the problem was traced<br />
back to the syrup.<br />
Automobiles were not nearly so dependable as<br />
in later years. Broken axles were not uncommon,<br />
engines were overhauled every 3 or 10 thousand<br />
miles; did they need it? I have always had a question<br />
in my mind. After being overhauled they were<br />
towed because the rings, pistons and bearings were<br />
set up so tight. Bearings were of babbeted type,<br />
scraped to fit.<br />
The automobile manufacturers by 1912 began<br />
experimenting with methods of starting other than<br />
by crank. There were other methods than with an<br />
electric motor, such as compressed air and a<br />
combustible gas stored in a cylinder. The cheap<br />
cars did not go in for this added feature for some<br />
years but for one well known make you could buy<br />
a rachet and a cable that could be pulled <strong>from</strong><br />
inside the car to give the engine a quarter turn,<br />
this would have been in the 20's. 1912 saw the<br />
start of enclosed cars, but open cars with their<br />
side curtains continued to predominate for many<br />
years.<br />
PAGE 89<br />
Headlights were probably originally oil but the<br />
first I remember were acetyline supplied <strong>from</strong> a<br />
cylinder on the running board. The first electric<br />
lights that I remember ran off a magneto, and if<br />
the lights were too dim, you released the clutch<br />
to let the engine speed up to give a burst of light.<br />
Tires were a problem, I mean really a problem,<br />
until they started making what they called cord<br />
tires about the time of the first World War; even<br />
these left some thing to be desired. The cemented<br />
fabric type that woulci heat and fail because the<br />
layers were not vulcanized to each other continued<br />
in use for a time after that. Earlier cars were advertised<br />
as equipped with a tube patching outfit. A<br />
trip of any distance like 50 miles was expected to<br />
include patching tires.<br />
In the early 20's a great achievement with a car<br />
was being able to go up a hill such as the one to<br />
Java Center in high gear. This was what is now<br />
called Pitt Road, at that time the only road to<br />
Java Center. The new road was built in about 1928<br />
following some of the route that had been planned<br />
for the electric railway of about 1900.<br />
Pictured is Mrs. Lena <strong>Kihm</strong> the maternal<br />
grandmother of the author. '<br />
The four wheel brakes and actuation by hydraulics<br />
came along in the 20's. Of course when they first<br />
came out there were those who argued that having<br />
brakes on the front wheels would never work out.<br />
Automobiles have improved since the 20's with<br />
higher compression, better tires, lower suspension<br />
because of better roads, but the advancement<br />
there has been small compared with the airplane,<br />
television, travel to the moon, electronics,<br />
etc. These have all made greater and greater use<br />
of fossil produced energy in lieu of the sweat of the<br />
human brow or animals to raise the standard of<br />
living. Who knows how long this will last?<br />
(continued on page 90)
PAGE 90<br />
Memories of Java and <strong>Strykersville</strong> (continued)<br />
FOOD MEMORIES<br />
It is indeed unfortunate that by the time a man is<br />
able to afford to buy and eat anything his heart<br />
desires, he can't afford the calories. I don't know<br />
that I was ever terribly hungry after eating a meal,<br />
but I could always have eaten more up until I was<br />
about 30 years old. I doubt if this was a situation<br />
peculiar to myself only. Some of the memories<br />
related to food in my younger years were visiting<br />
a farm at lunch time and having a full dinner with<br />
more ham than I could eat, my mother buying a<br />
basket of grapes or peaches <strong>from</strong> a man with a<br />
hayrack full of fruit he had picked up <strong>from</strong> the<br />
fruit country (about 1924) watching my grandmother<br />
stand at the wood stove finely chopping hash while<br />
it was frying, a stick of hard summer sausage in<br />
the cupboard of her pantry, sliced roast beef sandwiches<br />
on bread made by my aunt, a wiener <strong>from</strong><br />
the meat wagon, and beef soup made by my mother<br />
with rice and a small amount of meat, the pork<br />
sausage given us in the fall when the neighbors<br />
killed a pig. The wiener <strong>from</strong> the meat wagon was<br />
remembered more for the lesson learned <strong>from</strong> it<br />
than for the food.<br />
THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME<br />
For a week or two each summer in my early<br />
teens I would visit my grandmother and uncle in<br />
<strong>Strykersville</strong>, and among other things go on the meat<br />
route a couple of times. This started out <strong>from</strong> the<br />
market near the small creek that crosses Route 78<br />
in the center of <strong>Strykersville</strong> with a box on the back<br />
of a Model "T". After we had gone a distance, my<br />
uncle Peter <strong>Kihm</strong> asked me if I wanted a wiener.<br />
The first time this happened I said, "I don't care."<br />
My uncle said, "Well, if you don't care (and he<br />
knew I did) you don't get one, if you want one, say<br />
so." He only had to tell me that once.<br />
In conjunction with these visits there were also<br />
trips into Buffalo to pick up meat. Atone time meat<br />
sold in Buffalo was generally grown locally and<br />
slaughtered in Buffalo. Then in the late 1840's<br />
herds were being driven in <strong>from</strong> the west and in<br />
the late 1860's meat was being shipped in refrigerated<br />
cars <strong>from</strong> Chicago. So in the 1920's Buffalo<br />
had only a trace of stockyards and slaughter<br />
houses. There was a slaughter house behind the<br />
meat market in <strong>Strykersville</strong> which until the advent<br />
of reliable automobiles and tires had been used to<br />
slaughter much of the meat sold at the market.<br />
Going back to before my uncle's time the butcher<br />
made sausage.<br />
There was also an icehouse behind the meat<br />
market for storing ice for the meat cooler. At the<br />
time of my visits there was an occasional slaughtering<br />
of a cow. Of course this meat <strong>from</strong> an old<br />
cow did not compare with the young beef slaughtered<br />
in Chicago. The cow was killed by tying its<br />
head down, shooting it, cutting its throat, putting a<br />
APRIL 1978<br />
spreader between the hind legs and hauling it up in<br />
the air with a hand operated windlass, skinning<br />
it starting at the hind legs, as it was raised by<br />
degrees. When the hide was off the head was cut<br />
off, it was gutted and was left hanging overnight<br />
to cool off. This was in the summer and there was<br />
no protection <strong>from</strong> flies.<br />
Ice was taken every few days <strong>from</strong> the ice house<br />
to resupply the meat cooler. Sawdust was removed<br />
<strong>from</strong> over the ice and the amount to be used was<br />
removed and the sawdust replaced. After the ice<br />
was washed off, it was raised to the top level of the<br />
cooler again with a hand windlass and put in place<br />
through a door near the top. I never was present<br />
when the ice house was being filled but I have been<br />
told ice was cut by hand <strong>from</strong> the mill pond down<br />
Mill (Sanders) Road and hauled by horse and sleigh<br />
to the ice house. I can imagine what a hard task<br />
this was to lift, haul and raise all this ice up into<br />
the ice house. The blocks were all separated by<br />
and covered with sawdust.<br />
At an earlier date some places, on a railroad,<br />
made a business of cutting ice and storing it for<br />
shipment into cities in the summer. They were<br />
put out of business by large ice making plants<br />
in the cities. Of course, they in turn became obsolete<br />
with the development of the modern refrigerator<br />
for the home operated by gas or electricity.<br />
WATER POWER<br />
The last water power used in Java Village was<br />
probably sometime between 1904 and 1915. A gasoline<br />
engine had been installed in the grist mill<br />
there in 1904 but I believe this only supplemented<br />
the water power at that time. The flume for bringing<br />
water to that mill <strong>from</strong> up Beaver Meadows<br />
Creek was removed for the lumber in the early<br />
1920's, reported to be in excellent condition and<br />
used for building silos. The sawmill and grist mill<br />
at <strong>Strykersville</strong> on Sanders Road (or Mill Rd.)<br />
operated with water power until about 1929. In<br />
fact, I can remember seeing them build a new<br />
concrete dam to replace the wooden dam. This<br />
would have been about 1922. Unwashed gravel was<br />
used for this but a greater problem seemed to be<br />
that the dam did not go far enough into the banks<br />
and down into the stream bed, and water washed<br />
around it; Buffalo Creek really gets quite wild<br />
when there is a cloud burst or fast thaw. Electricity<br />
came to the area about 1926 and an electric motor<br />
was installed in the grist mill. The mill burned<br />
about 1932.<br />
Electric refrigerators did not come to the area<br />
until about 1930. This made it necessary to use<br />
different foods and to store them differently. Ice<br />
boxes were not as common as in the cities; more<br />
use was made of cellars. A cellar to me is different<br />
<strong>from</strong> the modern basement with its concrete<br />
walls and floors. Cellar to me in those days meant<br />
stone walls and no cement floor. This made for a<br />
cooler and probably damper environment and was<br />
(continued on page 91)
APRIL 1978<br />
Memories of Java and <strong>Strykersville</strong> (continued)<br />
used for storing foods for short periods and was<br />
especially good for storing vegetables and potatoes<br />
for long periods.<br />
MEMORIES OF MY YOUNGER DAYS<br />
As a youngster one of the most exciting things I<br />
remember was the traction engine usually drawing<br />
the threshing machine. The sound of the steam and<br />
the rest of the machinery <strong>from</strong> this was more interesting<br />
than the railway train, perhaps because<br />
I could get closer to it without feeling any fear.<br />
These engines were also used to run portable sawmills.<br />
The use of portable sawtmills operated in the<br />
winter gets back to the difficulty of transportation<br />
and because of this transportation problem there<br />
would, many times be a camp near the mill where<br />
the men could stay and stable their horses, because<br />
to go home and back was a problem. One of the men<br />
would be the cook and probably helped at other<br />
things also. He might not be a real experienced<br />
cook and know that beans swelled up when soaked<br />
and cooked, so in order not to get ribbed about<br />
preparing too many, the beans could be disposed<br />
of under the floor of the cook house where no one<br />
would spot them.<br />
An operator of such an engine retired it in about<br />
1918. He had a gasoline or kerosene fueled internal<br />
combustion engine for a time before that.<br />
Blacksmith shops were always interesting. Within<br />
my memory there was one at Java Village and<br />
two at <strong>Strykersville</strong>. They were more interesting<br />
than a garage for there was the forge, hot rods<br />
being pounded, animals being shod, the heating and<br />
shrinking of iron rims on wheels. There might<br />
even be a celebration of the end of World War I<br />
in the center of the road by putting some gunpowder<br />
in the hole of an anvil with a trail of powder<br />
running out to the side by which it could be exploded<br />
with a long rod, red hot the end. It made a<br />
loud noise because a second anvil had been placed<br />
over the first, confining the powder.<br />
A stove in my grandmother's woodshed used for<br />
summer cooking that burned kerosene was something<br />
I grew up with and was taken for granted<br />
by me as something not worth mentioning until I<br />
found out how much that had impressed my daughter<br />
who was used to an electric or gas stove. I<br />
rather imagine that the outside plumbing was sort<br />
of a surprise too but she didn't specifically mention<br />
it. These oil stoves for cooking usually had 3<br />
burners. They had a round wick, a steel chimney<br />
coated with colored ceramic material and a door<br />
with isinglass for lighting and observing the flame.<br />
The supply tank holding about a gallon was inverted<br />
over a second tank and when the level in the lower<br />
tank reached the desired level tofeed the wicks, the<br />
outlet of the upper tank was covered and since no<br />
air could get up into the tank, no more kerosene<br />
came down until the burners required more.<br />
INTERVIEWS<br />
PAGE 91<br />
I talked over what I had written with Helen<br />
Sloand and Alton Hyman. Her father spelled the<br />
name Schlund early in his life; his grandfather<br />
spelled his name Heimann. Helen feels that people<br />
in earlier times had more confidence that they<br />
could sope with any opportunity that was offered<br />
them; had more nerve to tackle things and not<br />
appeal to the poormaster. On the farm they had to<br />
work hard but they had most of the food they<br />
needed and through drying, salting, smoking, etc.,<br />
little went to waste and they had the food they<br />
needed throughout the year. Every so often a pig,<br />
a calf, or cow, was killed. They churned butter and<br />
did many other tasks such as pumping water for<br />
cattle. Maple syrup, butter, eggs, etc. were bartered<br />
at the store for clothing and shoes. Milk was<br />
taken to the creamery but they kept plenty for<br />
themselves.<br />
They were glad to see a drummer come along<br />
and to look at what he had to sell because life was<br />
not that full of the extra ordinary events.<br />
They had very little store candy. Sometimes<br />
Mr. Foster, in a store where the laundromat is located,<br />
would give them candy on a break <strong>from</strong> the<br />
two-mile walk home <strong>from</strong> school. Helen showed<br />
me a book written in German that belongs to<br />
Margaret Sloand Marzoff dating back to the 1840's.<br />
She believes her first ride in an automobile was<br />
in 1913 with Charlie Dehlinger to East Aurora and<br />
remembers how her father hung on to the side of<br />
the seat ready to jump out if necessary. Also how<br />
in 1919 they had their own car and went to Hamburg.<br />
There were many stops for water and to fix tires.<br />
She was very glad to get home.<br />
She also noted that the doctors at <strong>Strykersville</strong><br />
following Dr. Fromholtzer were <strong>By</strong>rnes, McCall,<br />
Faller and then Valente. The town supported a<br />
veterinarian called Doc. Paul, and also a shop for<br />
repairing harnesses.<br />
Chub Hyman, now 82, could remember workingon<br />
the first concrete road between Java Village<br />
and <strong>Strykersville</strong> when he was sixteen years old.<br />
He had to' be at work by 7 a.m. and with an hour<br />
off at lunch time he had to feed and rest his<br />
horses, then worked until six o'clock for fifty cents<br />
an hour for the team and horses. That was $30.00<br />
a week for six days of work, 60 hours. (I remember<br />
when I first worked in Buffalo, it was 9 hours<br />
for 5 days and 4 hours on Saturday). There was<br />
no being late or quitting early or taking it easy<br />
on that road job. He said the supervisor was tough<br />
and rode a horse to cover all parts of the job<br />
There was no union or grievance committee. Wagons<br />
were loaded by hand and the driver had to dump<br />
his own load.<br />
The story that came down to him similar to the<br />
one about my great grandmother carrying the tub<br />
of butter, as told by his grandmother (Elizabeth<br />
Hyman), same generation as my great-grandmother,<br />
is that she also had a basket of eggs in<br />
(continued on page 92)
PAGE 92 APRIL 1978<br />
Memories of Java and <strong>Strykersville</strong> (continued)<br />
each hand. He recalls that Watson who had a store<br />
at the corner of Route 78 and Mill Rd., also had<br />
an early car, maybe as early as 1910. "He would<br />
get some people in for a ride to Java Village.<br />
They would get about as far as Shearings and it<br />
would quit so they had to push it back. Sim Petz<br />
had a blacksmith shop across Route 78 <strong>from</strong><br />
Mill Rd., Brass had one about in the center of town<br />
(those I remember), but he also remembers<br />
another further north. He expanded on the ice<br />
house information, hotels, the creamery, the<br />
brewery and some individuals who had ice houses.<br />
There would be work for a couple of months during<br />
the winter filling them. They might get as<br />
many as three cuttings on the ponds that they<br />
used for ice.<br />
He believes that the dam on Mill Rd. was rebuilt<br />
with concrete about 1921. When that went<br />
out, or even before, about 1929, the sawmill was<br />
abandoned. Electric power was installed in the<br />
feed mill when electricity came to the area in<br />
approximately 1926.<br />
The horse thief mentioned earlier was remembered<br />
as being Bubby Roe who had previously<br />
stolen 2 or 3 teams. In the case of the army worms<br />
that I remember occuring at Java Village in 1914<br />
also occured up on Perry Hill as late as 1963. He<br />
recalls that they would hear the whistle of the Java<br />
Village Mill up there on Perry Hill. When the mill<br />
was abandoned, my father saved the brass whistle<br />
and an injector for the steam boiler. When I was<br />
in my teens I foolishly gave or loaned the whistle<br />
to a friend for a fountain. I wish I had it now to<br />
give to the museum.<br />
This was not intended to be and isn't a complete<br />
history of the area but more of the things that<br />
were of interest to me and that I thought I could<br />
weave into something of interest to others.<br />
ABOUT THE AUTHOR - C. KIHM RICHARDSON<br />
Mr. C. <strong>Kihm</strong> <strong>Richardson</strong> is a retired engineer<br />
who spent much of his early childhood in the Java<br />
Village-<strong>Strykersville</strong> area.<br />
Although he moved away in later years, he and<br />
his wife still maintain a summer residence in<br />
Java Village.<br />
Mr. <strong>Richardson</strong> is a member of the Java Historical<br />
Society and enjoys writing articles on local<br />
history.<br />
He was a contributor to the Town of Java <strong>History</strong><br />
published in 1976.<br />
NECROLOGY<br />
J. Earl Blakeley, 83, of Arcade, died in Batavia<br />
on February 14, 1978. An Arcade native and a Navy<br />
veteran of World War I, he was employed for 27<br />
years by Arcade Central School in several capacities.<br />
Calvin (Tap) Haggerty, 44, of Curriers, died at<br />
Warsaw on January 9, 1978. He was self-employed<br />
as a carpenter and was a member of the Curriers<br />
Community Church. In recent years at Easter<br />
time, he directed an ecumenical choir made up of<br />
singers <strong>from</strong> many choirs in the southwest part<br />
of the county.<br />
Hayden H. Dadd, of Attica, chairman of Wyoming<br />
County Board of Supervisors, 1961-68, died February<br />
28, 1978, at Wyoming County Community<br />
Hospital. He was 69 and served as County Attorney<br />
<strong>from</strong> 1961-1977, and received the New York State<br />
Bar Association award for outstanding contributions<br />
in the field of civil rights in 1962. Active in<br />
Wyoming County politics for many years, he will<br />
be rememberd among other accomplishments, for<br />
creating the current weighted voting systems<br />
adopted in 1976 by the County Board of Supervisors.<br />
His son, Mark, is Wyoming County District<br />
Attorney.<br />
Thomas E. Hess, 79, Bliss Fire Chief for twenty<br />
years, died February 8, 1978. He was honored at<br />
Wyoming County Fair in 1977, for his fifty-eight<br />
years are volunteer fire fighter of Eagle Hose<br />
Company, the oldest active member.<br />
Roland G. Wise, 69, Attica Publisher, died February<br />
8, 1978. He founded the Attica Penny Saver and<br />
operated the Wise Press and Stationery Store.<br />
George W. Blodgett, 86, Perry Civic leader, died<br />
January 28, 1978. He was mayor of the village<br />
1941-1942; past president of the Board of Education<br />
and Rotary Club; former chairman of Wyoming<br />
County Republican Committee and operated the<br />
George W. Blodgett Bean Company of Perry Center<br />
for fifty years.<br />
CORRECTIONS FOR ST. JOSEPH CEMETERY<br />
PUBLISHED JANUARY 1978 ISSUE<br />
ALLEN<br />
Margaret M. Roche, 1900-1971<br />
CONAWAY,<br />
Blake S., 1903-1960 (instead of CONWAY)<br />
FAY<br />
Catherine, 1853-1907 (omitted)<br />
ROCHE<br />
William G. 1868-1932<br />
TWOHIG<br />
Jeremiah A., 1888-1976 (omitted)<br />
Pebble R., wife, 1890-1977, mother of Marion L.
APRIL 1978<br />
THOUGHTS ON<br />
PIONEER LIVING<br />
AND THE ROLE OF THE<br />
PIONEER WOMAN<br />
...<strong>By</strong> Robert M. French<br />
PROLOGUE<br />
For many years I have marvelled at the hardships<br />
suffered by the early settlers, and particularly<br />
at the work demanded of their wives and daughters<br />
in the early days of Pike and the Holland<br />
Purchase area. One New England author, Alice<br />
Morse Earle, in her "HOME LIFE IN COLONIAL<br />
DAYS" gives us many interesting details of pioneer<br />
living in the places where our settlers originated;<br />
other accounts I relate have come <strong>from</strong> John<br />
Minard of Hume, an Allegany county surveyor, and<br />
<strong>from</strong> Julia Tarbell Merrill's "RUSHFORD CEN-<br />
TENNIAL." I also rely on personal recollections<br />
of stories told by my grandparents.<br />
What the historian Earle recounts, however, is<br />
predicated on a colonial way of life as it was in<br />
Massachusetts about a hundred years after the<br />
arrival of the pilgrims. The soil there had been<br />
cleared around the cabin many years before, so<br />
that in most cases each home had a garden patch<br />
well cultivated for their needs.<br />
EARLY PIKE FAMILIES<br />
Not so for the first settlers of the Holland Purchase.<br />
They had virgin soil to tame, and it was<br />
conceded to be the work of the housewife to do it.<br />
The first housewife in Pike was the wife of<br />
Asahel Newcomb. The Newcombs had at least two<br />
grown children when they arrived, Asahel Jr. and<br />
Susannah. Susannah soon married another early<br />
settler, Eli Griffith. Eli built a log cabin on the<br />
site of Pike's first town hall. Griffith started one<br />
of the first saw mills and also a grist mill. Perhaps<br />
the first in the Holland Purchase. Many were<br />
built about the same time.<br />
The Newcombs lived nearby in a "shanty." (Our<br />
first Pike historian, Carlos Stebbins sketched it<br />
about 1835. This sketch has been mounted and can<br />
be seen in the Pike Library).<br />
FIRST FRAME HOUSE<br />
Perhaps the first Griffith child was born in the<br />
cabin, but Griffith with the aid of his saw mill<br />
erected one of the first planked frame houses in<br />
PAGE 93<br />
Wyoming County Pioneer House built around 1808<br />
by Eli Griffith located at Wyoming County Fair<br />
Grounds. Now in process of restoration.<br />
the Holland Purchase, which still rests on its original<br />
site. This house, being gradually reconstructed<br />
by the Wyoming Fair Association, is now the gateway<br />
to the Wyoming County Fairgrounds. It is a<br />
showplace to recreate pioneer living for the benefit<br />
of thousands of fairgoers every summer. Eli<br />
Griffith later became one of the first judges in<br />
Allegany County. (Pike was in Allegany Co. until<br />
1846).<br />
According to Minard, v "the first settlers in Hume<br />
walked five miles every week to get their bread."<br />
They were bachelors, and had to go to the Griffith<br />
house where Susannah did the baking. It is futile<br />
to speculate whether she could have used a yeast<br />
starter or made salt rising bread. In the absence<br />
of a local brewery, either one required the same<br />
labor. It is probable that it was part rye and part<br />
cornmeal bread. Early wheat plantings did not<br />
always ripen well.<br />
Without doubt the pioneers brought with them<br />
<strong>from</strong> New. England various seeds and probably<br />
seed potatoes. These when planted the first season<br />
insured food for the year ahead also. The settlers<br />
might be thirty miles or more <strong>from</strong> a store or<br />
civilization. After the seeds were planted the<br />
family must wait three months or more for harvest,<br />
meanwhile living on fish and game, Indian<br />
fashion.<br />
The garden was in a clearing close to the house.<br />
Women, as a rule, had a minor role in clearing<br />
the land, but my great grandmother, Clarissa Lord<br />
Thornton, often pulled one end of a two-man<br />
cross-cut saw when other males were unavailable.<br />
There were "log-rollings" often at one farm or<br />
another, at which time neighborhood women got<br />
together for chats and served communal meals.<br />
Kettles were hung on cranes in the open fireplace,<br />
such as the one you can see at Fair-time<br />
in the old Griffith house. When apples were avail-<br />
(continued on page 94)
PAGE 94<br />
Thoughts on Pioneer Living (continued)<br />
able, women would have "apple paring" bees. The<br />
apples were cooked in brass kettles, sour apples<br />
on the bottom and sweet apples on top. Sometimes<br />
quinces were added for flavor. Molasses, boiled<br />
with apples, made pungent "apple molasses" and<br />
was stored in the cellar.<br />
In the earlier days, butter and churns were<br />
rare. When milk and cream were available, the<br />
buttermaking was always left to the good wife.<br />
Even women of wealthy families expected to take<br />
over the churn.<br />
The apple was used in countless ways by the<br />
pioneer housewife. There was apple slump, apple<br />
chowder, apple tarts, apple pies, apple puff and<br />
poached apples. House-pies used the leavings of<br />
the apples and was given to the children. Some<br />
apple pies in country places were made of apples<br />
neither peeled nor cored. Apple pies were served<br />
throughout the year. When fresh apples were no<br />
longer to be had, the dried ones took over. It was<br />
the evening meal for children. The crust of these<br />
pies, however, was "something else." It was said<br />
that the crust "could be broken only if a wagon<br />
wheel went over it."<br />
Pumpkins were plentiful and easy to keep in<br />
dried form. Yet the pioneers did not welcome<br />
this item with relish. According to one account,<br />
"we have pumpkins at morning, pumpkins at noon.<br />
If it were not for pumpkins we should be undone!"<br />
Pumpkin bread made of Indian meal was not recommended<br />
for its flavor. The Indians dried pumpkins<br />
and strung them up for winter, as did the<br />
settlers.<br />
Squash was likewise a native vegetable. Beans<br />
were grown abundantly. The Indians baked them<br />
in earthenware pots, as we do now. Peas, parsnips,<br />
carrots, huckleberries, blackberries and<br />
wild strawberries were seasonal delicacies. Always<br />
at least one berry was left on the stem for<br />
natural seeding. Grapes also, were found wild.<br />
Apple trees were always planted as soon as the<br />
family settled, as well as pears and quinces.<br />
Mill Stone in Pike located in front of the Wyoming<br />
County Pioneer House.<br />
OLD TIME UTENSILS<br />
APRIL 1978<br />
From Merrill's account in the RUSHFORD<br />
CENTENNIAL: "The housewife worked under many<br />
difficulties; pancakes were baked in a spider with<br />
legs three or four inches long. Bread and johnnycakes<br />
were baked in an iron bake kettle or brick<br />
oven. To bake in these ovens, they would build a<br />
fire, and when the stones or bricks were hot, they<br />
would rake out the coals, sweep out the oven, then<br />
put in their meat, bread or cake, and shut it up.<br />
A crane with its hooks adorned the fireplace.<br />
Meat hung <strong>from</strong> iron hooks, with a dish underneath<br />
to catch the "drippings."<br />
"Brooms were made of swamp birch or hickory;<br />
the piece of wood cut into splints, the splints turned<br />
up and tied, then turned down and tied again. Often,<br />
however, hemlock or pine branches were used.<br />
For a mop, a piece of board was utilized, about a<br />
foot in diameter, hewn down at one end, through<br />
which auger holes were bored and rags tied thru<br />
them - the other end of the board shaped at the end<br />
for a handle.<br />
"In place of soda, or saleratus for use in baking,<br />
the housewife burned corn cobs, poured hot water<br />
over the ashes and used the lye to raise her bread<br />
and cakes. Money was scarce, and about the only<br />
way of obtaining it was selling black ashes. Trees<br />
were felled, piled and burned; then <strong>from</strong> the ashes<br />
a lye was made, until it crystallized into a hard<br />
substance called black salts - or later, pearl ash.<br />
"Sap troughs were used as cradles for babies,<br />
and small wooden troughs used in place of dishes<br />
on the table. Many times there would not be enough<br />
stools for all to sit down; the children would stand<br />
around the table, taking their rye bread or johnny<br />
cake, and dip into the central dish of venison, or<br />
whatever it happened to be.<br />
"The first potatoes were brought to Rushford<br />
by Holton Colburn in a pair of boots slung over his<br />
shoulder. They were blue potatoes, and considered<br />
a fine variety for many years<br />
"Many times when the larder was nearly empty,<br />
a circuit rider stopping in for the night had nothing<br />
to eat but stewed pumpkin and milk. When blackberry<br />
bushes sprang up the settlers were much<br />
pleased, as they enjoyed the fruit.<br />
DEER WERE PLENTIFUL<br />
"Venison formed the chief article of diet, but<br />
some men were not good hunters. David Vaughn<br />
(of Rushford) was a "mighty hunter," and often<br />
neighbors, when hard pressed for meat, would<br />
get him to go hunting for them. All he asked was<br />
that they work on the farm in his place The<br />
deer were so tame they were often seen near the<br />
houses, and at the "deer licks" sometimes a long<br />
line of them could be seen. The skins of deer were<br />
used for whiplashes and for clothing.<br />
"When the settler owned a cow he was well off.<br />
The cows were pastured on common ground and<br />
(continued on page 95)
APRIL 1978<br />
Thoughts on Pioneer Living (continued)<br />
usually wore a bell so they could be found. To<br />
churn the butter, the cream was put into a large<br />
bottle or jug and shaken, until they had butter.<br />
Neighbors who owned cows would put their milk<br />
together to make cheese. It was pressed into a<br />
four quart or peck measure according to size,<br />
and for a press it was placed under a log.<br />
"It was often a long time before a barn was<br />
built, and some men would get up nights and chase<br />
their cows around so they would not freeze."<br />
SPINNING AND WEAVING<br />
"Nearly all cabins raised a small patch of flax.<br />
The women spun and wove it into cloth for clothes<br />
and general use. Sheep were soon bought, and then<br />
woolen clothes were also made, but wolves were so<br />
numerous that at first it was difficult to keep<br />
sheep.<br />
"Women spun tow (flax), wove it and then made<br />
into bags, for which they received twenty-five<br />
cents each. They also braided whip-lashes; David<br />
Vaughn bought a horse for sixty dollars and paid<br />
it all by selling whip-lashes.<br />
"Deer hides were made into braided lashes of<br />
six or seven strands each. A settler's daughter<br />
braided and sold enough whip-lashes to buy a silk<br />
dress.<br />
"A Mrs. Weaver made a coat for a neighbor, receiving<br />
one dollar for it. She bought a bushel of<br />
wheat with it; her husband cleared off enough land<br />
to sow the whole of it that year.<br />
"The washboards of early years were simply<br />
pieces of boards. With a paddle, called a "battle,"<br />
they pressed out the dirt.<br />
' 'The time of day was told by cutting notches on<br />
the door sill if it was on the south side of the house.<br />
This would answer well when the sun shone so they<br />
could keep track of the shadow."<br />
RECREATION - SOCIAL LIFE<br />
We must not think of the pioneers as being discouraged;<br />
they were doubtless as happy as we are<br />
today. Their social life combined healthy exercise<br />
with fun; log-rollings, husking bees, spelling<br />
schools, barn or house raisings, besides evening<br />
visits. We are told that after log rolling, when<br />
supper was over they would sing hymns and songs<br />
and sit and visit. Their nearest neighbor might be<br />
three or four miles distant; they had no conveyance<br />
but an ox team and sled; no roads but blazed<br />
trees, yet they would go for the evening. Oftimes<br />
there was little to offer a guest, but they did not<br />
worry; they had as good as their neighbors, sometimes<br />
only potatoes and salt.<br />
Mrs. Chapman Brooks often told of the first<br />
time she was invited out to tea; it was at Samuel<br />
Persons' who then lived where Dr. Bixby's house<br />
now stands. The Persons family were considered<br />
well-to-do and had the best things of any around.<br />
PAGE 95<br />
wmmmm .nj*<br />
Miss Kathy Rice of Perry working at old loom<br />
in Wyoming County Pioneer House in Pike.<br />
Thelma Robinson of Castile copking up a stew for<br />
Fair visitors in the Wyoming County Pioneer<br />
House.<br />
They had wooden plates and wooden forks and<br />
some pewter dishes. For supper, there were<br />
johnnycakes, sage tea and fried pork. The pork<br />
was fried, cut in small pieces and put on the<br />
pewter platters in the center of the table. There<br />
was no butter. Each would reach over, take a<br />
small piece of pork as a relish for the johnnycake.<br />
A lump of (maple?) sugar was suspended by a<br />
string and hung over the table. Each in turn would<br />
take a bite as it swung to and fro.<br />
Cowcabbage, called poor-man's cabbage, was<br />
cooked and eaten. Sometimes they had little else.<br />
The first hen on record here (Rushford) was<br />
brought by a woman on the Centerville Road.<br />
Someone had given her the hen and fifteen eggs.<br />
She set the hen and raised the first chickens in<br />
Rushford.<br />
RELATIONS WITH INDIANS<br />
The Indians of the Holland Purchase that<br />
came into contact with the settlers, were usually<br />
amicable. Under the terms of the Pickering Treaty,<br />
the Indians agreed to move into the various reservations<br />
in New York State, but could move <strong>from</strong><br />
(continued on page 96)
PAGE 96 APRIL 1978<br />
Thoughts on Pioneer Living (continued)<br />
one reservation to another at will to hunt and fish.<br />
This treaty permitted the Indians to visit their<br />
cousins without paying border fees.<br />
In this early period^ if an Indian happened to<br />
be enroute to another reservation and was stranded<br />
by darkness, he could pull the latch string<br />
and enter the log cabin and lie down next to the<br />
banked fireplace as the settler slept. Of course<br />
the Indian stayed for breakfast. We have the story<br />
that one Indian did not wait for breakfast. He<br />
started to lift the stewpot, whereupon the pioneer<br />
matron grabbed her butcher knife and made the<br />
Indian sit down and wait his turn.<br />
My forebear in Hume started to erect a frame<br />
house. He hired two Indians <strong>from</strong> the Caneadea<br />
Reservation to help raise the frame. After the<br />
raising, the settler offered cash for their help.<br />
The Indians refused. No! No! The Indian plucked<br />
at Aaron's wedding shirt. So Aaron gave them his<br />
two shirts, and the Indians danced with glee.<br />
THE "IMMORTAL" MARY<br />
Finally, we have the story of the most famous<br />
pioneer woman of our area, Mary Jemison, <strong>from</strong><br />
the pen of Dr. James Seaver. Mary's life was one<br />
long recital of hardships, and she always lived<br />
close to the land. With her Scotch-Irish background,<br />
she had the foresight, when the 1798treaty<br />
was being negotiated, to demand that her land<br />
(the Gardeau Reservation) was to include all of her<br />
"potato patches."<br />
Mary was a diligent farmer. Along the "Grand<br />
Canyon of the East," after the spring flood had<br />
run off, Mary and the squaws went down to the<br />
damp ground along the river to plant their crops.<br />
No iron hoes - with crooked sticks they punched<br />
holes in the soft ground, dropped in the seeds<br />
and closed the hole with their heels. These garden<br />
spots extended here and there along the river, and<br />
when the reservation was surveyed these potato<br />
patches extended in places for twenty miles.<br />
The canyon being 600 feet deep, Mary's<br />
patches escaped the killing frosts of the "year<br />
without a summer." The spring following, (1817),<br />
my great grandfather, Obed Thornton, and others,<br />
were glad to walk for miles to buy her seeds. Her<br />
thrift and foresight saved many <strong>from</strong> starvation<br />
that year.<br />
Many episodes regarding the work of pioneer<br />
women must necessarily have escaped recorded<br />
history for lack of a contemporary reporter.<br />
From these fragments that have been handed<br />
down to us, however, we must conclude that<br />
those who survived were a hardy breed, and<br />
have left us a goodly heritage.<br />
PHOTO CREDITS<br />
Front page: courtesy of Java Historical Society<br />
Page 89: courtesy of C. <strong>Kihm</strong> <strong>Richardson</strong><br />
Page 95: courtesy of Java Historical Society and<br />
Bonnie Sheer<br />
Page 101: courtesy of Harry Douglass<br />
MILESTONES<br />
L. Erwood Kelly, Perry supervisor and Wyoming<br />
County Board Chairman, was elected fourth vicepresident<br />
of the State Association of Towns at<br />
their annual meeting in February. He was the only<br />
Western New York official elected to office at this<br />
meeting. In January, Mr. Kelly started serving his<br />
eleventh term as chairman of the County Board of<br />
Supervisors. Congratulations, "Woody!"<br />
Miss Gertrude Copsey, a charter member of Attica<br />
Historical Society, celebrated her ninety-ninth<br />
birthday quietly at the home of Rev. and Mrs.<br />
Addison Conrad in Attica in February. She came<br />
to this country <strong>from</strong> Lowestoft, England at the age<br />
of three. She had her own dressmaking shop in<br />
Attica, where she was known for her "fine" work;<br />
later, she switched to a career as librarian at<br />
Stevens Memorial Library until her retirement<br />
at the age of eighty-eight.<br />
A 32,000 acre tract including all of the town of<br />
Bennington and parts of Attica, Sheldon and Orangeville,<br />
has received tenative approval for designation<br />
as Wyoming County's fourth agricultural district.<br />
It has been described as some of the best<br />
agricultural land in Western New York and particularly<br />
suited to dairy farming. The area will<br />
include 122 farms. Wyoming County's three other<br />
agricultural districts include about 72,500 acres.<br />
According to the Federal Environmental Protection<br />
Agency, the results of a recent study shows<br />
that Wyoming County stands alone among 10<br />
Western New York counties for clean air. The<br />
other counties, Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua,<br />
Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Niagara, Orleans and<br />
Steuben under study showed air containing more<br />
than the minimum amount of pollutants.<br />
The Arcade Area Chamber of Commerce gave<br />
Wyoming County Republican Chairman Robert Bentley<br />
the "Citizen of the Year Award" at their<br />
February meeting. He was honored "in recognition<br />
of his long years of service to the community<br />
in government, business and social affairs." His<br />
former boss, State Senator Majority Leader Warren<br />
Anderson presented Mr. Bentley with the<br />
stool on which Bentley had sat in the State Senate<br />
Chambers behind the senators, for whom he had<br />
been legal counsel for 30 years. Bentley began<br />
his law practice in Arcade in 1944 and has been<br />
county Republican chairman for 15 years. He became<br />
legal counsel in Albany in 1947 for state<br />
Senator Austin W. Erwin.
APRIL 1978<br />
AMONG OUR SOCIETIES<br />
THE CASTILE HISTORICAL SOCIETY had one<br />
of the largest turnouts in years at their March<br />
meeting. One hundred members and guests enjoyed<br />
the tureen dinner at the Masonic Temple meeting<br />
rooms. The program was given by John Morgan of<br />
Pike, on the subject of old decorated stoneware. He<br />
brought along with him many handsome examples<br />
of this art which flourished during the early days<br />
of the Erie Canal, and explained how they were<br />
made.<br />
Paul Schroeder conducted the business meeting<br />
in the absence of the president, Jay Carmichael.<br />
Reports were made by Ruth Schroeder, secretary,<br />
and Mildred Anderson, treasurer.<br />
Mr. Morgan told of the new building to be erected<br />
at the Wyoming County Fairgrounds adjacent<br />
to the Pioneer house, which will provide space for<br />
antique agricultural implements and other collections<br />
of historical interest, whether as gifts<br />
or loans. It will be fireproof and provide maximum<br />
security. Owners of collections are invited<br />
to display them when the building is completed.<br />
If you happen to be going by, stop in and see our<br />
Historical Display. We chose for our theme two<br />
facts about the early history of Castile - its Spanish<br />
name and early transportation before the automobile.<br />
Martha Reed, and her son Roger left<br />
Easter Sunday for Old Castile, Spain. They will<br />
take with them one of our Anniversary booklets<br />
which tells why Sally Gilbert Hurd wanted us to<br />
have a Spanish name. Part 1 of our display is in<br />
the Living Room, Part 2 is in the Office. Children<br />
love the dolls that just came <strong>from</strong> Guatemala,<br />
showing how the people there dress. The oxen<br />
are Castile oxen belonging to <strong>By</strong>ron Fuller. Incidentally,<br />
our staff is getting a stiff course in<br />
Spanish history, Harriett Scott is back after having<br />
been away since before Christmas. And A1<br />
Ogden just loves to do the research necessary.<br />
We understand Spain will have elections sometime<br />
in the next few weeks - the first in 41<br />
years. We are making a study of the Celts who<br />
were around 3000 years before Christ and started<br />
to make real history 700 B.C. Nothing to do with<br />
us? How about Hallowe'en? There are people in<br />
England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales that are<br />
proud of their Celtic ancestry. Katharine Barnes<br />
THE MIDDLEBURY HISTORICAL SOCIETY was<br />
invited to the first program of the newly organized<br />
WYOMING GASLIGHTERS YORKER CLUB, at Wyoming<br />
Central School recently. Mrs. Bertha Nicolazzo<br />
entertained with folk songs accompanying<br />
herself on the zither. Mrs. Norma Spencer and<br />
Donald Parmele are advisors; Cheryl <strong>Richardson</strong><br />
is president and Robin Kaczmarek is secretary.<br />
This would appear to be the first Yorker Club in<br />
Wyoming County.<br />
THE ARCADE HISTORICAL SOCIETY recently<br />
PAGE 97<br />
received letters <strong>from</strong> Mr. Wilson McKerrow of<br />
North Carolina and Mrs. Charlotte Wilson Orser<br />
of Ohio containing extensive recollections of their<br />
homes and families, and their West Main Street<br />
neighborhood while they were growing up in Arcade<br />
in the early 1900's. These letters will complement<br />
the society's research into the buildings and neighborhoods<br />
of Arcade. Many of the architectural<br />
items were researched by Mr.Arthur Prey, using<br />
title abstracts obtained <strong>from</strong> the owners or <strong>from</strong><br />
the County Clerk's office.<br />
The society in March viewed a movie about the<br />
Alaska pipeline, and in April, Mrs. Arietta Slocum<br />
discussed and displayed her collection of American<br />
glass candy containers.<br />
THE ATTICA HISTORICAL SOCIETY held their<br />
spring meeting and dinner at St. Paul's United<br />
Church of Christ on March 7th.<br />
After a delicious dinner served by the ladies of<br />
the church, a short business was conducted by the<br />
President, Mrs. Carrie Beaumont. John Wilson,<br />
County Historian, explained the projected "Heritage<br />
Resource Team," apossibleC.E.T.A. project.<br />
Angelo Corcimiglia, Attica Mayor, was introduced<br />
and responded with a few words as did<br />
August Petri, Attica Supervisor.<br />
Following the meeting, the President introduced<br />
Dave Dyviniak, of Alden, a free lance photographer,<br />
who presented a very interesting slide show.<br />
His slides covered a wide range of subjects <strong>from</strong><br />
art forms to visits to historic museums. The program<br />
was greatly enjoyed by a large group.<br />
THE JAVA HISTORICAL SOCIETY will have its<br />
museum open to the public every Wednesday evening<br />
throughout the summer months. Hours will be<br />
<strong>from</strong> 7-9 p.m.<br />
Regular meetings will be held the first Wednesday<br />
of the month. Visitors are welcome to come<br />
and browse. There will be members of the Society<br />
present to assist anyone wishing to do research<br />
and students are encouraged to come if help is<br />
needed on school related history projects.<br />
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Pingetore will be back<br />
with us in the near future to present a candlemaking<br />
demonstration. Guest speakers will discuss<br />
various topics of historical interest.<br />
The Town of Java <strong>History</strong> Books are still available<br />
at $5.00 per copy. You may send to Mrs.<br />
Ronald Sheer, 2081 Perry Road, North Java, N.Y.<br />
14113. Please make checks payable to Java Historical<br />
Society and include 30? for postage.<br />
THE WARSAW HISTORICAL SOCIETY has sent,<br />
a progress report to their members outlining the<br />
renovation work now going on at the Gates house<br />
as a result of a CETA grant received in the amount<br />
of $8,700. The "blue" room and the main meeting<br />
room have been redecorated and some repairs<br />
made throughout the two-story building. Eventually<br />
(continued on page 100)
PAGE 98<br />
Waite house in Java Village located across <strong>from</strong><br />
|Mill on Route 78 and old bandstand in rear 1909. Hogan's.<br />
- - - : "MMBBI<br />
Cheese Factory and Creamery that burned in 1891<br />
<strong>Strykersville</strong> in 1907.
APRIL 1978 PAGE 99
PAGE 100<br />
Among Our Societies (continued)<br />
all the windows will be scraped and painted, the<br />
roof reshingled and the other three sides of the<br />
building are to be painted if funds permit. This<br />
should put the historic old Gates house in prime<br />
condition before the end of summer.<br />
A similar project was planned to extend to other<br />
historical society properties throughout the county,<br />
but finally has been postponed because of lack of<br />
funding.<br />
The Warsaw building renovation project has<br />
been under the supervision of Stewart Gay, president,<br />
and Kenneth Cole, trustee; assited by John<br />
Bracken, Mitchell Alegre, James DeAmnesy and<br />
the curator, Lewis Bishop. Th^ museum housed<br />
by the building has been the result of years of<br />
dedication on the part of Mr. Bishop, who is both<br />
Town and Village Historian.<br />
THE COVINGTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY is<br />
planning a "Springtime Supper" to be held May 4.<br />
Mrs. Ruth Cromwell of LeRoy will show slides of<br />
her trip to Peru at the April 15th meeting.<br />
AT THE OFFICE<br />
It has been a busy winter at the office. Hardly a<br />
day goes by without a new genealogy search<br />
reaching our desk. Along with these tasks we have<br />
prepared a booklet containing the Perry Center<br />
Cemetery records which is for sale at $2.00 per<br />
copy. Also we have been working on name indices<br />
for HISTORICAL WYOMING. We now have for<br />
sale indexes for Volumes 21,22,23 at $1.50 per<br />
copy. If you are binding the issues by volume,<br />
these indices are indespensible for reference<br />
work.<br />
Our thanks go to Francis Hoy, Town Historian<br />
for Orangeville for his valued help in preparing<br />
these indices.<br />
It may make us appear to be a book store but<br />
there is still a good supply of the Beers reprint<br />
of the HISTORY OF WYOMING COUNTY available<br />
at the office. We also have available some reprints<br />
of HISTORICAL WYOMING VOL. XI No. 2,<br />
January 1958, which contains the story "The<br />
Immortal Mary Jemison." Whether it is to purchase<br />
something or just to visit, do stop by the<br />
office.<br />
APRIL 1978<br />
WYOMING COUNTY<br />
NATIVE WAS FAMOUS<br />
ASTRONOMER<br />
From an unknown source in Craig, Colorado,<br />
comes a clipping <strong>from</strong> the ELPASO TIMES, dated<br />
June 16, 1976, bringing to our attention another<br />
distinguished native of Wyoming County hitherto<br />
unrecognized, to join the ranks of "Famous Sons<br />
and Daughters."<br />
The clipping is titled: DISTINGUISHED AMER-<br />
ICAN WOMEN, and is about Sarah Frances Whiting,<br />
(1847-1927) who pioneered in the study of both<br />
physics and astronomy:<br />
"Born in Wyoming, N.Y., her interest in experimental<br />
science began when she helped her<br />
teacher father in preparing demonstrations for<br />
his science classes. (Middlebury Academy)<br />
"Graduating with an A.B. <strong>from</strong> Ingham University<br />
in 1865, she was advanced in Greek, Latin<br />
and Mathematics. She taught at Ingham and later<br />
the Brooklyn Heights Seminary, where she attended<br />
lectures and visited labs of new equipment.<br />
"When the founder of Wellesley College, Henry<br />
F. Durant, was looking for a teacher of physics<br />
for the all-female faculty in 1875, he chose her,<br />
one of the few trained women in the subject. He<br />
had her attend classes at MIT to learn lab methods.<br />
"Miss Whiting then set up a lab at Wellesley,<br />
purchasing and installing the equipment herself.<br />
She sometimes 'found it nerve-wracking to be in<br />
places where women were' really not expected to<br />
be, and to do things which women had not done<br />
before.'<br />
"Thus in 1878 she opened the second undergraduate<br />
physics lab in America. In 1879 she was<br />
chosen to view applications of physics to astronomy,<br />
including the use of the new spectroscope<br />
in investigation of stellar spectra.<br />
"She introduced the study of astronomy at<br />
Wellesley in 1880, teaching it for two decades.<br />
In 1900, Whitin Observatory was completed <strong>from</strong><br />
her plans, and enlarged in 1906.<br />
"From 1896-98 she spent sabbatical years<br />
abroad at Edinburg University, bringing back the<br />
beginnings of modern physics. One of her famous<br />
pupils was the famous Harvard astronomer, Annie<br />
Jump Cannon.<br />
"Miss Whiting retired <strong>from</strong> Wellesley in 1912 to<br />
devote herself to astronomy, then retired as director<br />
of Whitin in 1916. - CMV"<br />
EDITOR'S NOTE: To make it more mysterious,<br />
the name of John Deja, Oakfield, N.Y. is written<br />
across the top of the newspaper clipping.
APRIL 1978 PAGE 101<br />
A HISTORICAL SKETCH<br />
of the<br />
MERLE FAMILY<br />
READ AT THEIR FIRST REUNION,<br />
AUGUST 22, 1925<br />
...<strong>By</strong> William J. Merle<br />
Zion Evangelical Church, South Attica. Built 1869,<br />
closed in 1970.<br />
The Merle-Marley families represented at our<br />
Reunion today are the descendents of John George<br />
and Anna Maria Merle, who came to America 81<br />
years ago.<br />
Our family history is full of interest and even of<br />
peculiar and singular events. To us who believe in<br />
the Providence of God, we may see his guiding<br />
hand in the various events of our history.<br />
In tracing our history we shall go back nearly<br />
300 years and begin with the religious persecutions<br />
in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries.<br />
Before we speak of these persecutions in their<br />
possibly remote connections with our family history,<br />
we want to ascertain the national or racial<br />
origin of our name.<br />
In the Geneological Department of the Grosvenor<br />
Library of Buffalo where I spent several hours in<br />
making a search for the origin of the name Merle,<br />
I found a volume written in the French language in<br />
which no less than 17 families were given under<br />
the name Merle with a description of their "coat<br />
of arms." Not being able to read French I was<br />
unable to translate these descriptions.<br />
"Merle" is the French name of a blackbird, so<br />
several of the coat of arms had the ensign or insignia<br />
of a blackbird.<br />
The coat of arms was a tunic that was formerly<br />
worn by the order of Knights over their suit of<br />
armor. To belong to the order of Knights was a<br />
title of honor. It was a military order of the ancient<br />
nobility.<br />
In connection with the foregoing, let me refer<br />
to a noted author and professor or church history<br />
in Geneva, Switzerland by the name of Jean Henri<br />
Merle (1774-1872). He wrote a <strong>History</strong> of the<br />
Reformation in Europe in the French language. His<br />
ancestors were French Protestants. His <strong>History</strong> of<br />
the Reformation in 5 volumes has raised a monument<br />
to his name. It has been translated into the<br />
German, English and other languages. (I have the<br />
5 volumes of his <strong>History</strong> in my library. The first<br />
volume contains a well executed portrait of the<br />
author).<br />
In those days the custom was common in Geneva<br />
and in many French provinces to join the wife's<br />
family name to that of herhusband. In harmony<br />
with this custom Jean Henri Merle affixed his<br />
mother's family name - D'Aubigne (do-been-ga)<br />
to his name. As an author he is known to us as<br />
"Merle D'Aubigne." The family name of his ancestors<br />
was Merle. This, with the geneological<br />
record found in the Grosvenor Library in Buffalo<br />
would prove thatour name was of French origin.<br />
Another question we shall try to answer is this:<br />
what connection, or relation has the history of the<br />
Merle family with the persecutions and the dispersion<br />
of the Huguenots of France in the 16th<br />
and 17th centuries? The answer may be found in<br />
the fact that our ancestors migrated <strong>from</strong> Holland<br />
to Germany, probably a century of more before<br />
their coming to America.<br />
I remember well of hearing grandmother Merle<br />
tell that the ancestors of grandfather Merle came<br />
<strong>from</strong> Holland to Germany. Now there is a strong<br />
presumption, although we cannot offer actual proof,<br />
that our ancestors were descendents of the Huguenot<br />
refugees who fled to Holland during the religious<br />
persecutions in France.<br />
We may assume, or claim as an historical fact,<br />
that during these persecutions our ancestors with<br />
thousands of others fled to Holland.<br />
It may be of interest to us if our attention is<br />
called at this time to two great occurrences in<br />
France which caused the persecuted Huguenots to<br />
flee to all parts of Protestant Europe. They found<br />
refuge in England, Holland, Germany and Switzerland.<br />
The first persecutions began with the terrible<br />
massacre of St. Bartholemew's night, August 24,<br />
1572 when 12 to 13 thousand Huguenots perished<br />
in Paris alone, and in the whole of France <strong>from</strong><br />
(continued on page 102)
PAGE 102<br />
A Historical Sketch of the Merle Family (continued}<br />
70 to 100 thousand.<br />
The second persecutions followed the Revocation<br />
of the Edict of Nantes in 1585. (The Edict of Nantes<br />
gave religious freedom to the Huguenots. It was<br />
signed in 1598 by King Louis the XIV). A century<br />
later (1685) this Edict was revoked. It was the<br />
death-knell of the Huguenots in France, when upwards<br />
of 300,000 refugees fled <strong>from</strong> France to<br />
save their lives, and to be able to worship their<br />
Creator according to the belief of the reformed<br />
religion.<br />
A home was offered to the persecuted Huguenots<br />
in every part of Protestant Europe, especially in<br />
Holland.<br />
France lost more than a half qiillion of her most<br />
industrious and trust worthy citizens.<br />
It has been stated on authority that when the war<br />
between Germany and France broke out in 1870<br />
there were in the German army no less than 34<br />
generals and 65,000 soldiers of Huguenot descent.<br />
Coming back to our family name we know further<br />
that the name "Merle" is not racially connected<br />
or derived <strong>from</strong> the native family names of Holland.<br />
It also remains a fact, based on grandmother<br />
Merle's statement that the Merles were originally<br />
not <strong>from</strong> Germany. What the motive was which led<br />
our forefathers to emigrate <strong>from</strong> Holland to<br />
Germany we do not know. Nor do we know how long<br />
they lived in Holland. They may have lived a century<br />
or longer in Germany before grandfather<br />
Merle's time. During their residence in Germany,<br />
they of course, intermarried with the Germans, so<br />
that the larger percentage of our immediate ancestry<br />
became racially German. Grandmother<br />
Merle's maiden name was Kurtz -- a purely German<br />
name. Physically our forefathers were tall of<br />
stature and of robust strength. Uncle George was<br />
the tallest of the seven brothers, and grandfather<br />
Merle, as I remember him was at least as tall as<br />
Uncle George.<br />
Grandmother Merle used to relate an incident<br />
about the physical strength of some of our ancestors<br />
in Germany: A barn hard been filled with<br />
hay. Several loads were still to be moved away,<br />
but there was no room in the barn. Then two<br />
Merle brothers succeeeded in putting all the hay<br />
that remained in the barn.<br />
Grandfather Merle's given name was John<br />
George. He was born April 12, 1799 in Dietterschaussen,<br />
Kreis Ziegehnain, Hesse Cassel. Grandmother<br />
Merle was born in March 2, 1799. Grandfather's<br />
property in Germany consisted of 50 acres<br />
of land which made him a man of considerable<br />
means in those days.<br />
In the year 1844 - - 81 years ago - - they came<br />
to America. The family at the time theyemigrated<br />
was composed of one daughter, Mary, and seven<br />
sons -- Walter, Henry, William, John, George,<br />
August and Jacob. Aunt Mary, the eldest was about<br />
20 years old. Uncle August, the youngest, was<br />
about 3 years old.<br />
APRIL 1978<br />
They took ship <strong>from</strong> Hamburg, a seaport town of<br />
Germany and landed at New York City, where for a<br />
brief time they stopped with relatives by the name<br />
of Losokomm. Mr. Losokomm was a tailor by trade.<br />
One of the grandfather's boys -- Uncle John -about<br />
12 years of age remained with the Losokomm<br />
family where he learned the tailors trade. Uncle<br />
Walter -- about 18 years old -- also stayed in New<br />
York for a short time.<br />
Grandfather with the rest of the family, after a<br />
parting "Lebemohl," started on his journey for the<br />
west. Their railroad tickets were purchased to a<br />
place in the state of Ohio. But how often our plans<br />
miscarry, "Man proposes, but God disposes."<br />
Oftentimes "Our disappointments are God's appointments."<br />
Before the train arrived in Batavia,<br />
grandmother Merle was taken seriously ill, so<br />
that she had to be taken off the train at Batavia.<br />
We may imagine the difficult and perplexing dilemma<br />
in which they were placed. Strangers in a<br />
strange country - - unable to speak English - - no<br />
home, no place to go, grandmother sick, with a<br />
large family depending upon a mother's care.<br />
Grandfather Mele walked the streets of Batavia,<br />
not knowing where to go or what to do, when he<br />
met a German by the name of Merkle, who told<br />
him a place where there was a German settlement<br />
in South Attica and Orangeville. Mr. Merkle was<br />
the father of Joseph Merkle of South Attica, and<br />
grandfather of Henry Merkle also of South Attica.<br />
On hearing this welcome news, grandfather and<br />
a man by the name of Miller, who with his family<br />
came with them <strong>from</strong> Qermany started for South<br />
Attica. It was in the month of August. Farmers<br />
were harvesting their grain. Grandfather was favorably<br />
impressed with both land and people. He<br />
bought the farm now owned by Peter Schlenker. As<br />
soon as grandmother was able to travel they came<br />
<strong>from</strong> Batavia to Orangeville. The dwelling house<br />
not being vacant, they moved for a few weeks into<br />
a barn owned by Adam Clor at the Dutch Flats.<br />
Let us remember that this was in the year 1844.<br />
It seems a strange co-incidence that 81 years later<br />
in the month of August, three generations -- the<br />
second, third, and fourth -- are having their first<br />
reunion on the 22nd day of August.<br />
Grandfather, probably did" not live more than 3<br />
or 4 years on the farm in Orangeville.Duringtheir<br />
residence there, Aunt Mary was married to Uncle<br />
George Werner. Soon after their marriage Uncle<br />
Werner decided to go west. Grandmother became<br />
homesick for her only daughter. She had no rest<br />
until grandfather sold his farm and followed Uncle<br />
Werner to the state of Illinois, where they settled<br />
in a section known at the time as ' 'The Queen Ann<br />
Prairie," northwest of Chicago.<br />
Uncle Walter, who was married about that time,<br />
or soon after, did not accompany them. During<br />
their residence in Illinois, gold was discovered<br />
in California in 1848.<br />
One of the sons - - Uncle Henry - - was induced<br />
by a Gold Mining Company to go to California, as<br />
(continued on page 103)
PAGE 103 APRIL 1978<br />
A Historical Sketch of the Merle Family (continued)<br />
a gold miner, probably about 1850. He never came<br />
back, but died there, the result of an accident.<br />
After living a number of years in Illinois, Uncle<br />
Werner returned to the State of New York. He<br />
bought the farm in 1853 now owned by August<br />
Richert and William Eastman. My father<br />
William -- also returned with Uncle Werner.<br />
The following year, probably in the fall of 1854,<br />
grandfather sold his farm in Illinois and returned<br />
to the town of Attica, where he bought in 1855 the<br />
north end of the farm, then owned by Uncle Werner<br />
-- now in possession of William Eastman, whose<br />
wife is a granddaughter of grandfather Merle.<br />
Grandfather owned a valuable team of horses on<br />
his farm in Illinois, that he would not part with,<br />
so Uncle John drove the team <strong>from</strong> Illinois to Attica,<br />
a distance of over 600 miles. The home that<br />
grandfather bought on his return <strong>from</strong> the west,<br />
became the "Old Homestead" for his children and<br />
grandchildren. Here he died on the 24th of March<br />
in 1863 at the age of 63 years 11 months and 12<br />
days. At this home, grandmother Merle continued<br />
to live with her three younger sons for a number of<br />
years. Here her children and grandchildren came<br />
for their oft-repeated visits to see "grandma."<br />
Some of us still remember those visits to see<br />
grandma. We shall always remember grandmother's<br />
"Kuchen" and the fine cut "noodles" she<br />
used to make.<br />
When the Civil War broke out in 1861 Uncle<br />
George enlisted and served three years in defense<br />
of his country, and the Preservation of the Union<br />
of States.<br />
After the three younger sons were married,<br />
grandmother made her home with Uncle Jacob at<br />
whose home she died on December 14th, 1879 at<br />
the age of 80 years 8 months and 23 days. Here I<br />
would mention that the date of her death on her<br />
tombstone is incorrect. She died in 1879 and not in<br />
1880, the date on her tombstone.<br />
Of the first generation Aunt Barbara is the only<br />
one left, who is with us today. We are glad that<br />
she is with us at this reunion. While Aunt Barbara<br />
is the oldest, and only remaining member representing<br />
the first generation, Mary Louise Flagler<br />
of Buffalo is the youngest member of the fourth<br />
generation present at this reunion.<br />
Had it been possible for all to be present at our<br />
reunion today, the attendance would have been<br />
over 200.<br />
This historical sketch would not be complete<br />
unless we would answer the oft-repeated question,<br />
"Why do some give their family name as Marley,<br />
and others as Merle?" Who changed the name<br />
<strong>from</strong> Merle to Marley, and which is correct? It is<br />
both embarrassing and unfortunate that we have<br />
two ways of writing our family name. Before attempting<br />
to answer these questions, I shall give<br />
the rule for transferring family names <strong>from</strong> one<br />
language to another. The rule is that family names<br />
are not translated, but transferred, retaining the<br />
same letters are were used in the original name,<br />
that is, the spelling of the name should remain<br />
unchanged. For example, the family name "Zimmerman"<br />
should not be written Carpenter when<br />
transferred <strong>from</strong> the German to the English<br />
language. A man by the name of Koch does not<br />
become an English Cook when he comes to America.<br />
The rule is to write family names in any<br />
language with the same letters that were used in<br />
the language of the country in which they originated.<br />
The original spelling of our family name was<br />
"Merle." Grandfather always wrote his name<br />
Merle. In the baptismal certificate that father<br />
brought <strong>from</strong> Germany the name is written Merle.<br />
Uncle Walter, the eldest of the family, always<br />
wrote his name Merle. So we ask again, who<br />
changed the name <strong>from</strong> Merle to Marley? The<br />
change came about in this way: the three younger<br />
sons -- George, Jacob and August, were of school<br />
age, and attended the Public School. Mr. Carmi<br />
Lindsay was their school teacher. He apparently<br />
was ignorant pertaining to the rule governing<br />
family names when transferred to another language.<br />
Mr. Lindsay changed the name <strong>from</strong> Merle to<br />
Marley. He changed the German e to an English a<br />
and added a y to make two syllables in the name.<br />
We shall forgive him, for we believe he did it<br />
ignorantly and "without malice aforethought," but<br />
it was a most unfortunate occurrance. Everyone<br />
fell in line and began to write their name Marley,<br />
except Uncle Walter. This continued until about 40<br />
years ago, when a large number changek their<br />
names <strong>from</strong> Marley to Merle. In so doing they<br />
simply corrected an error that had been made in<br />
the spelling of our name.<br />
The change was made and started by cousin<br />
Henry and myself at the time we entered the ministry<br />
of the Evangelical Church in 1886. Today the<br />
majority have gone back to the original spelling of<br />
the name.<br />
It is also a fact worthy of notice that on every<br />
tombstone, marking the last resting place of our<br />
departed relatives you will find the name Merle.<br />
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Rev. Wm. J. Merle, eldest<br />
son of Wm. Merle who prepared the historical<br />
sketch of the family, which you have just read,<br />
entered the ministry of the Evangelical Church<br />
in 1886 and continued in this work until his death<br />
in 1930, at which time he was serving the Tonawanda,<br />
N.Y. Church.<br />
EXCERPT FROM JULIA TARBELL MERRILL'S "OLD TIME<br />
CUSTOMS" IN RUSHFORD CENTENNIAL, (1908), pages 36-40:<br />
Concert for Wolves - "A young man by the name of WiIson<br />
living at Caneadea came to Rushford to see a Freeman girl<br />
whom he afterwards married. He was a fiddler and often ployed<br />
for dances. Going home one night after a dance he was chased<br />
by wolves; he took refuge in a deserted old hut and the wolves<br />
followed. Wilson began playing, and was obliged to play until<br />
daylight, when the wolves slunk away."
PAGE 104<br />
SUPPLEMENT TO THE<br />
ORIGINAL MERLE-MARLEY<br />
FAMILY HISTORY<br />
It is nearly one hundred years since the first<br />
Merles came to Attica. The first German settlers<br />
came to this section in about 1843. As you have<br />
heard in the previous talk, Mr. and Mrs. John<br />
Henry Merle, my great-grandparents, came to<br />
America <strong>from</strong> Germany in 1844 with their family<br />
of one daughter and seven sons. It was with some<br />
difficulty that they obtained permission to make<br />
the trip to this country. The boys were nearing<br />
the age of conscription - military training in<br />
Germany being then, as now, compulsory. Germany<br />
would, of course, feel the loss of many<br />
families of this size. Therefore, they gave as their<br />
reason for leaving Germany that they wanted to<br />
visit relatives in America; so leave was granted<br />
by the German authorities.<br />
Although two of the boys learned "trades" after<br />
coming to America, all the children in the second<br />
generation, with the exception of Henry, eventually<br />
became farmers in this locality; and Mary, the<br />
only daughter married a farmer. (Rev. Merle<br />
considered this the first generation). Here it is<br />
considered the second. Let us note where they<br />
settled in and around Attica.<br />
Mary married George Werner and they bought<br />
the farm now owned by August Richert on Exchange<br />
Street.<br />
Walter Merle, who married Magdalena Bauer,<br />
purchased the farm known as the Kropp Farm,<br />
which is near Peter Schlenker's home.<br />
William Merle, a shoemaker by trade, worked<br />
for a time for the late Andrew Krauss and also<br />
for Mr. McCabe of Bennington Center. He married<br />
Ellen Meeder and lived for a time on Exchange St.<br />
Road, near the present Lydia Eastman farm. He<br />
later purchased the farm now owned by Floyd<br />
Merle, his grandson.<br />
John Merle, a tailor by trade, worked for a time<br />
for a man by the name of Losokomm in New York<br />
City. He, too, came to Attica; married Elizabeth<br />
Meeder, sister of Mrs. William Merle; and bought<br />
the farm now owned by Robert Eck.<br />
George Merle served in the Civil War in the<br />
160th infantry, Company G, as a sergeant, <strong>from</strong><br />
August 30, 1862 to November 1, 1865. After the<br />
war he married Barbara Glor and purchased the<br />
farm now owned by his sons, Elon and Robert<br />
Merle.<br />
Jacob Merle married Emma Hacker. He, too,<br />
bought a farm, part of which is now owned by<br />
APRIL 1978<br />
August Richert and Mrs. William Eastman, a<br />
niece.<br />
August Merle, who married Margaret Richert,<br />
purchased a farm now owned by Mrs. William<br />
Eastman, his daughter. Later he purchased the<br />
farm now owned by Frank Marley, his son.<br />
This accounts for all of those in the second generation<br />
whose occupations were principally farming.<br />
Henry, who was also of this generation, went<br />
to California with several others, at the time of<br />
the gold rush in about 1848, making the trip with<br />
a team of oxen. He was the only one of the children<br />
who didn't marry. He died as the result of an<br />
accident, suffering a broken neck, when he fell<br />
<strong>from</strong> a load of hay.<br />
Starting with the third generation, there were<br />
many who took up professions other than farming:<br />
the Rev. William J. Merle, eldest son of<br />
William who prepared the historical sketch of the<br />
family, in the foregoing article, entered the ministry<br />
of the Evangelical Church in 1886 and continued<br />
in this work until his death in 1930, at which<br />
time he was serving the Tonawanda, N.Y. Church.<br />
Henry, son of John, entered the ministry at the<br />
same time, and, while he has retired <strong>from</strong> active<br />
service, he is still serving as a supply pastor at<br />
the Batavia, N.Y. church.<br />
Otto, son of August, also studied for the ministry,<br />
but died before he could complete his training.<br />
The three entering the ministry went out <strong>from</strong><br />
the Zion Evangelical Church at South Attica. At the<br />
time the church was built in 1869, several of the<br />
children of John and Anna Kurtz Merle, who as<br />
stated previously came to America in 1844, donated<br />
much of their time, as well as lumber <strong>from</strong><br />
their own farms in the building of the church.<br />
In the nearly 71 years the church has been built,<br />
the name Merle has been on the membership record,<br />
and at the present out of the total membership<br />
of around 45, about 17 are Merles.<br />
When both William and Henry entered the ministry,<br />
their sermons were given in German. Gradually<br />
they gave up the German preaching, but for those<br />
of the older generation who still wished it, they held<br />
a German Service besides the service in English<br />
every Sunday.<br />
Elizabeth Merle, daughter of George, studied<br />
medicine and is at the present time practicing in<br />
Rochester, N.Y. (1940)<br />
Julius, son of John, is a practicing dentist in<br />
Detroit, Michigan.<br />
Clor Merle, son of Rev. William Merle, was a<br />
practicing dentist in Batavia until the time of his<br />
death during the flu epidemic in 1918.<br />
Others in the Merle-Marley family have fitted<br />
themselves for teachers, nurses, undertakers and<br />
for secretarial positions. However, there are still<br />
many Merles and Marleys in the third and fourth<br />
generations who are engaged in farming. Of the<br />
farms purchased by the men of the second generation,<br />
two are still owned by their children and one<br />
by a grandson.<br />
(continued on page 105)
APRIL 1978<br />
Supplement to the Original Merle-Marley<br />
Family <strong>History</strong> (continued)<br />
It seems to be characteristic of the Merles and<br />
Marleys to stick pretty closely together. Take for<br />
example, the Exchange Street Road. From Peter<br />
Merle's home to the Village of Attica, a distance<br />
of 4 1/2 miles, there are thirteen families, who<br />
are either Merles or Marleys now, or were before<br />
their marriages.<br />
At the present time there are 28 direct descendants<br />
of John Henry and Anna Merle in the third<br />
generation living. Of these 23 are now living in or<br />
near Attica; while the fourth generation have 53<br />
members of the family, in the firect line, living<br />
in this locality. In the fifth there are about 23 and<br />
in the sicth, there are two - Beverly Ann Brei<br />
and Judy Gay Clor.<br />
The committee on historical data of the Attica<br />
Historical Society has prepared a chart showing<br />
our family through the fourth generation.<br />
As prepared by:<br />
Frances Merle Dresser - March 1940<br />
QUERIES<br />
Livingston County American Legion is searching<br />
for the grave of William E. Hart, d. Nov. 1874,<br />
Civil War Medal of Honor winner who was born<br />
in Rushville, N.Y. He married Irena Flint, sister<br />
of George Flint, both of Gainesville. Irena Hart's<br />
death reported in the WESTERN NEW YORKER<br />
under Gainesville News Jan. 23, 1913, but place<br />
of burial not given.<br />
Descendants of John Maxon, veteran of War of<br />
1812, would like to know his relationship to Joel,<br />
(d. April 26, 1833) and Lucretia Maxon, (d. Mar.<br />
16, 1825). They are listed in Maxon Cemetery,<br />
Attica. Joel was a Revolutionary War soldier<br />
<strong>from</strong> R.I. The story goes that John was commissioned<br />
by his dying "buddy" on the battlefield,<br />
to deliver a ring to his wife. John later<br />
married the widow, Lydia Sweet.<br />
Information requested concerning Lewis Vosburgh.<br />
He was thought to be either a Baptist or<br />
Methodist minister living in or near Warsaw<br />
in 1913. Help would be appreciated in order to<br />
trace the family. His first wife was Katherine<br />
Christman.<br />
An Alden resident would like information regarding<br />
Horace Kyser. It is believed that he was<br />
born in Pike, N.Y. May 18, 1824. He died April<br />
10, 1880 and is buried in Elma, N.Y. Can anyone<br />
furnish the names of his parents.<br />
PAGE 105<br />
A Warsaw correspondent requests help with<br />
research on the Barber family, who lived in Allegany<br />
and Wyoming Counties. Her great-great<br />
grandfather John had seven children: Sarah Louise,<br />
born April 1864- m. Charles Waterman; William,<br />
born 1865- m. Nettie Belle Colley; Julia Ann, b.<br />
1853- m. Fred Howard; Frances, m. Joseph<br />
Meyers; and John, Emma and Frank. Any information<br />
regarding the above will be appreciated.<br />
EARLY LETTERS FROM JAVA<br />
The two following letters, written in 1833 and<br />
1835, contain some of the earliest known descriptions<br />
of life in Java, and are contributed by Harry<br />
S. Douglass. They were written by Jacob Morse,<br />
to his friend, Capt. Artemus Stevens, who was the<br />
Great Grandfather of Mr. Douglass. Apparently<br />
Jacob was a shoemaker and did farming to supplement<br />
his living. Morse was a former neighbor<br />
of Capt. Stevens in Massachusetts. Capt. Stevens<br />
came to Java in 1835, and resided there until his<br />
death in 1877. Isaac Friend was a boyhood friend<br />
of Capt. Stevens in Dracut, Mass. The former<br />
came to Java in 1821, and was a very successful<br />
farmer, owning at one time 1000 acres in the<br />
area. (The spelling has been modernized and<br />
corrected and punctuation added.)<br />
JACOB MORSE, JAVA, JULY 6th, 1833, TO CAPT.<br />
ARTEMUS STEVENS, SUNCOOK, NEW HAMP-<br />
SHIRE.<br />
Dear Friend,<br />
JAVA, July 6th, 1833<br />
I now take my pen in hand to write a few lines<br />
which I ought to have written to you before to you<br />
as I promised to do. But I hope you will receive<br />
these few lines in friendship and forgive me in my<br />
neglect in not writing before.<br />
My family is all well at present and been ever<br />
since I have been here and I hope these few lines<br />
will find you and family enjoying the same blessing.<br />
I am myself rather lame but still on the gaining<br />
hand. You wrote I should write to you what the<br />
prospects would be here for you; for my own<br />
part I think if you can get here with 200 hundred<br />
dollars that you will be better off than you are now.<br />
Mr. Friend thinks you will do well to come here as<br />
farming can be run with one half of the Labor than<br />
you can with where you are as they do any of their<br />
plowing with one yoke of oxen and their plows is<br />
heavier than yours are. It is more work to clear<br />
the land here than it is with you as we have all our<br />
brush to pile before we can burn it up, but a man<br />
can chop 1 acre in a week and chop it up in one<br />
(continued on page 106)
PAGE 106<br />
Early Letters From Java (continued)<br />
week fit for loging and then 4 hands and 1 yoke<br />
of oxen will lay up one acre in one day. The land<br />
is generally of good quality; there is but very<br />
(little) waste land here. It is excellent for grass<br />
and any other thing that you want to put on it, it<br />
being so new a place that it looks rather hard to<br />
a new commer but several have been to Mishagun<br />
and Ohio and have come back and purchased here<br />
for they say that they think it is a better country<br />
here than it is there.<br />
The winters here is much milder here than they<br />
are with you but the summers is cool night but<br />
warm days which makes better for wheat but it is<br />
not country for corn. Fruit does well here and it<br />
will be very plenty here as everyone is trimming<br />
to see which one is first. According to the look<br />
now there will be some Swenmure kind this season,<br />
on trees that have been set out more then 3 years<br />
hung full. They don't pretend to keep any of th. . .<br />
cattle but they have oxen and horses and there is<br />
none of them that keep more than one yoke of<br />
oxen; most of them keep 3 or 4 horses, some keep<br />
4 cows, some 8 and some 12, and young stock in<br />
preportion and one-half of them keeps on brouse<br />
through the winter. The grass and s . . . starts in<br />
the very early in the Spring. They turn their young<br />
cattle in the woods by the first of April and let<br />
them run till they get their fields clean of their<br />
crops. There is all kinds of roots and herbs over<br />
in the woods here Sometimes there is a<br />
flock of wolves come along that make the woods<br />
ring with their howling but they don't stay but a<br />
little while with us as there is no ledges here for<br />
them to burrow in and the Indians here<br />
about till they go off, and the owls give us a little<br />
musick in the evening so that we are not without<br />
musick if we are in the woods.<br />
The Indians come round to visit us once in<br />
awhile but they are very peaceable. Mr. Friend<br />
(Isaac) has got to be pretty forhanded; he has<br />
200 hundred and 20 acres of land and 100 hundred<br />
under improvement, and keeps 60 head of horned<br />
cattle and 5 horse .... and 80 sheep and lambs<br />
and 10 hogs and he milks 12 cows and he presses<br />
his cheese in a 1/2 bushel every day. He killed 20<br />
hogs. Last Fall he told me that he turned off 300<br />
hundred dollars worth of sheep last fall for which<br />
he took part cash and part term in towards his<br />
land, and he says he can turn off this Fall 500<br />
hundred worth of sheep and have enough left for<br />
his own use. My land lays joining him on two sides<br />
within forty rods of his house. He is a man that is<br />
much set by here in this place. The probability is<br />
that he will cut 100 hundred tons of the first rate<br />
of hay this season as there is now other kinds cut<br />
here. Wheat is coming in very heavy this season<br />
and there is gravel on the ground. Corn is rather<br />
low now but it has a good color so I am in hopes<br />
that we shall have a good crop yield.<br />
APRIL 1978<br />
I have not room to write no more on this sheet.<br />
I have wrote to John Osgood and Murthuey Goutt<br />
and I want you should put your letters all together<br />
and sit down together and read them and one then<br />
some of you write to me as soon as convenient.<br />
Give my best respects to your family and Mr.<br />
Linevag (?) and Mr. Chandler. This <strong>from</strong> your<br />
friend,<br />
JACOB MORSE<br />
Artemas Stevens<br />
Little is known of his family or of his personal<br />
history. Capt. Artemas Stevens, native of<br />
Dracut, Massachusetts, came to Java in 1835,<br />
and resided there until his death in 1877. Isaac<br />
Friend, a neighbor and friend of Capt. Stevens<br />
in Dracut, moved to Java in 1821, died there<br />
in 1883, and was progeniture of a numerous<br />
family, some of whom still reside in the town.<br />
JACOB MORSE, JAVA, N.Y. LETTER WRITTEN<br />
JANUARY 5th, 1835, TO CAPT. ARTEMAS STE-<br />
VENS, SUNCOOK, NEW HAMPSHIRE, LETTER<br />
HAS BEEN EDITED.<br />
Java - January 5th, 1835<br />
Dear Friend,<br />
I now take this opportunity to write a few lines<br />
to inform you that I received your letter this day,<br />
dated November the 2, and I received it with so<br />
much pleasure as I should 5 dollars in money as<br />
I began to think that you had all forgotten me. We<br />
are all in good health at present hoping these few<br />
lines will find you enjoying the same blessing.<br />
I am getting along here as well as can be expected<br />
considering how I came here. I have had a<br />
good run of Customers this winter at Shoemaking.<br />
1 have made 42 pairs of -boots and 53 pairs of<br />
shoes in 3 months so you may guess whether I have<br />
worked or played. I have let out 2 1/4 acres of<br />
timber to chop this winter and have paid for it in<br />
shoemaking. I have made boots for one dollar and<br />
25 cents . . . some made for 1 dollar and some<br />
have been one dollar and 50 cents. I bought<br />
(meadow?) land last Fall and give 15 dollars and<br />
then I took a job clearing 3 acres of land after it<br />
was chopped and burnt for 15 dollars and I done it<br />
in 13 days, and split the rails and put up 24 rods<br />
of fence on the same and I have bought four sheep,<br />
2 of paid in shoemaking at 1 dollar and 50 cents<br />
per head. 2 I paid for in (geese?) that I raised last<br />
summer. And I have got 3 shotes. I have got 6<br />
acres cleared on my place and 2 acres of wheat;<br />
(continued on page 107)
APRIL 1978 PAGE 107<br />
Early Letters From Java (continued)<br />
have the rest of it sowed with wheat and oats and<br />
rye. Last Spring I have got 51 apple trees sat out.<br />
It is (a) great place for trees in this place although<br />
we had no fruit last season on the account of a lot<br />
of frost. Our crops was very good last season except<br />
potatoes which were light in some places.<br />
You wanted I should write to you about the climate<br />
and production of the place and I will try to inform<br />
you as well as I can. The soil is as good as in any<br />
other place; it will produce <strong>from</strong> 20 to 25 bushels<br />
of wheat per acre on new land, and on old land we<br />
don't have what it will produce but I think<br />
it will be first rate of land for wheat when the<br />
stumps get rotten out so we can plow it well; corn<br />
in good seasons will yield on new ground <strong>from</strong> 25 to<br />
40 bushels to the acre and on old ground considerable<br />
more. Oats <strong>from</strong> 40 to 60 bushels per acre;<br />
potatoes <strong>from</strong> 3 to 4 hundred bushels to the acre;<br />
grass <strong>from</strong> one to 2 tons per acre. The climate<br />
differs <strong>from</strong> yours; our summers are not so very<br />
hot and our winters not for all it set in about the<br />
first of November and continues till the middle of<br />
March. . . . have never known the ground to freeze<br />
more than 4 inches deep. Since I have been here<br />
we put our potatoes in a pile of 50 to one hundred<br />
bushels and then put on a little straw and then put<br />
on 4 or 5 inches of dirt and they will lay all winter<br />
without freezing.<br />
Wheat is worth 1 dollar with the farmers; oats<br />
18 to 25; apples when plenty <strong>from</strong> 13 to 18 per<br />
bushel; corn 50 cents. Salt in buffalo 150 cents<br />
per . . . which has 5 bushels in Tea 50<br />
cents per pound; maple ; molasses 62 1/2<br />
cents per gallon; shirting 10 cents ... the land is<br />
uneven here it has been selling for 3 1/2 per acre<br />
on 4 years credit. We expect it will come down to<br />
2 dollars this spring. It is very healthy here, the<br />
water is as good as it ever was then and a plenty<br />
of it. I want you to be sure to come here before<br />
you go any further. We have a good market at<br />
buffalo which is 28 miles <strong>from</strong> us; we can get the<br />
cash for any that we have to sell at some price or<br />
other, potatoes are selling at 34 cents; oats at 26<br />
cents; pork at 3 1/2 and 4 1/2; beef at 3 1/4 and<br />
Dale Cemetery Association was<br />
organized November 29, 1873 with<br />
the following trustees: Isaac Chase,<br />
Zadock Nichols, Howel Jones, Charles<br />
Thomson, E.S. Smith and Orrin<br />
Smith. A right-of-way leads <strong>from</strong><br />
the Pflaum Road to the cemetery<br />
grounds. It is less than a half mile<br />
<strong>from</strong> the Dale Pioneer Cemetery,<br />
which is on the main Dale Road.<br />
The present directors are: Elmer<br />
DALE CEMETERY<br />
Bagg, president; Frank Kessler,<br />
Lewis Gay, Velma Thomson, Wayne<br />
Dersam, Bernita Wombwell, and<br />
Mildred Belt. We sire indebted to<br />
Lewis Gay, secretary, for up-dating<br />
these records, which include the<br />
1955 records compiled by Charles<br />
Pflaum. Some interments <strong>from</strong> the<br />
Pioneer Cemetery in Dale have been<br />
removed to the present cemetery.<br />
ANDREWS<br />
4 dollars; poultry fetches a good price at any time<br />
of the year; butter various prices, cheap grade 8<br />
cents.<br />
I have nothing more that I can enclose here.<br />
Tell Esq. Goult that if he goes to the west to be<br />
sure to come here before he goes any further.<br />
Give our best respects G. . . and family; give<br />
our best respects to J. H. Osgood & Mr. Morgan<br />
& Mr. Leanon, Miss Parker and all other . . .<br />
friends. This <strong>from</strong> your friend,<br />
A, StEVENS J. MORSE<br />
Note: I think that if you are prudent that you can<br />
come here for about 50 or 55 dollars with your<br />
family if you come in the way I did.<br />
MOTHER SHIPTON'S PROPHECY<br />
East Aurora, May 2<br />
Carriages without horses shall go<br />
And accidents fill the world with woe.<br />
Around the world thoughts will fly<br />
In the twinkling of an eye.<br />
Water shall yet more wonders do,<br />
Now strange, yet shall be true.<br />
The world upside down shall be<br />
And gold be found at root of tree.<br />
Through hills man shall ride<br />
And no horse or ass be by his side<br />
Under water men shall walk<br />
Shall ride, shall sleep, shall talk.<br />
In the air men shall be seen,<br />
In white, in black, in green.<br />
Iron in the water shall float<br />
As easy as a wooden boat.<br />
Gold shall be found 'mid stone<br />
In alland that's no unknown<br />
Fire and water shall wonders do,<br />
England shall at last admit a Jew,<br />
And this world to an end shall come<br />
In eighteen hundred and eighty-one.<br />
These lines are said to have been published in<br />
England in 1486.<br />
Gus, no dates<br />
ATWATER<br />
Eugene, 1850-1923<br />
Rosetta J., 1852-1929<br />
ARMSTRONG<br />
Thomas, 8/24/1797-7/18/1853<br />
Betsey, 1804-1897<br />
Sylvester, 1820-9/22/1901<br />
Sophia, 4/21/1825-12/30/1900<br />
James, 1850-4/24/1936<br />
(continued on page 108)
PAGE 108 APRIL 1978<br />
BROWN<br />
DERSAM<br />
Dale Cemetery (continued) Gordon, 1893-1966<br />
George, 1904-1972<br />
Ella Whaley Armstrong, 1884- BURNHEIMER DOTY<br />
6/25/1927 Olive Van Buren, d. 1953 Mary, d. 7/5/1926<br />
Sophronia, 1811-1897 BUSH George, d. 1/7/1928<br />
AUSTIN Norman, 1913-8/5/1975 DRING<br />
Stanley, 1901-1929 CARLTON Mabel, 1860-1954, wife of Henry<br />
Fred, d. 1927 Albert E., 1849-1932 Henry, 1868-1957<br />
Ora Lindsey Austin, 1874-1961 De-Elsie-Ona Carlton, 1853-1941, Forest, 1913-1971<br />
Charles, 1872-1950 wife of Albert DUSING<br />
Burnis, d. 1931 CARMODY Reginald, 1904-1975<br />
BABBITT Patrick, 1839-1924, of Co. C, 61st DUTTON<br />
Catherine, 1870-1939 N.Y. Inf. Willie, 1878-1879, son of Phillip<br />
Nora, 1878-1953 Catherine, 1848-1923 & Libbie<br />
Henry, 1875-1967 CARTER Harley, 1888-1895, son of Phillip<br />
Lloyd, 1887-1919 Frederick, 1909-1/31/1948 & Libbie<br />
John, 1836-1928, son of Nathan & CHAFFEE Phillip B., 1850-1911<br />
Sophronia Halloway Nellie, 1873-1944 Libbie, wife of Phillip, 1853-1928<br />
Emma Adell, 1841-1929 George, 1868-1934, son of Charles Alanso, 1843-1911<br />
Carrie A. Babbitt, 1862-1930, dau. Chaffee Louisa, 1850-1933, wife of Alanso<br />
of John CHASE Lessie, 1872-1894, wife of Walter<br />
Alice, 1858-1922 Leander, 1852-6/1/1930 Judd<br />
Emma, 1854-1873 Almeda, 1853-1942 Pearl, 1880-1896<br />
Amelia Slater Babbitt, 1832-1886, Mary, 1846-1924, wife of Oscar Irving, 1876-1953<br />
wife of Jerome Oscar, 1838-1910, son of Issac & Alice, wife of Irving, 1880-1964<br />
Jerome, 1823-1906 Sally Edwin E., infant, 1900-1901<br />
Carrie, 1841-1859 Esther Hixon Chase, 1879-1949 Pearl, 1898-1899<br />
David - no dates Ray, 1878-1946 Erwin, 1895-1896<br />
Sophronia, 1810-1887 Isaac, 1811-1885 Rosabelle, 1860-1923<br />
Nathan, 1808-1890 Sally, wife of Isaac, 1813-1865 Edwin, 1856-2/6/1936<br />
BAKER CHOATE Amos, 1800-6/7/1881<br />
Jacob, 1852-1880 Rowley D. d. 6/25/1930 son of Louise, d. 10/9/1885, aged 66y 7m<br />
BAUER Horis Choate 27d, wife of Amos<br />
Laverne, 1910-12/9/1976 Margaret, d. 5/3/1929, dau. of EASTLAND<br />
BECKER Howel Jones Lewis, d. 1913<br />
Maude Kelly, 1896-1917 Wallace M., 1848-1910 Ora, no dates<br />
BENCHLEY Rosetta, d. 1929 Roy, 1884-1943, brother of Ora<br />
E. Augusta, 1849-1939 CLARK Delia Spaulding, mother, no dates<br />
Merritt, 1847-1925 Marvin S., d. 3/7/1946 ELY<br />
Mary L., 1812-1892 Alida M., 1869-12/1944, wife Fannie, 1881-1972<br />
Nathan, 1809-1865 Irving, d. 12/28/1949 EWELL<br />
BEY Earl, 1888-1966 Albert,.1844-1923<br />
Harold, 1905-1906 Schuyler, d. 3/24/1900, 35y9ml4d Phidenia Miller Ewell, 1840-1915<br />
Fanny, 1876-1960 CLEMENSHIRE Clayton, 1874-1965<br />
William, 1876-2/12/1945 Charles, 1843-1932 Dora, 1873-1926<br />
BIDLACK Phena, his wife, 1856-1908 A.E. no date<br />
Margarette, 1830-1912 Alanson, 1878-1955 FILKINS<br />
BLAKESLEE Elizabeth, his wife, 1880-1967 Lester,-1813-1897<br />
Amzi, 1889-1965 CLOR Lorinda Mead, 1830-1899<br />
BOOTH Kevin, infant son of Arthur & Nellie, d. 1935<br />
Charity, 1830-1906 Eileen Clor, 1970-1971 Almira, d. 1927<br />
Ambrose, 1833-1910 COFIELD Elvira, d. 1927<br />
Fred, d. 1920 Rosetta Perkins (Coefield), 1874- Samuel Mead, 1791-1885<br />
Paul, 1931-4/13/1932, son of Grant 1941 FIRMAN<br />
Booth George Cofield, 1866-1948 Emma, 1858-1938<br />
BOOTHE Elizabeth, wife of P.H. Cofield, FOGARTY<br />
Gaity (Guitry), 1835-1924 1829-1887 Delia, 1882-6/21/1949<br />
James, 1835-1924 John, 1915-1971, son of George FREEMAN<br />
Getta, d. 1924 Clifford, 1901-7/3/1974, son of Edith Shattuck, 2/27/1909-6/7/<br />
Webster, d. 1928 George 1977<br />
Flora W., 1869-1905 COLLARD FULLINGTON<br />
Otto P., 1876-1954 Nettie, 1856-1899 George, 1883-1950<br />
BOVENSKI COMSTOCK Jane, 1878-1919<br />
Agusta, 1903-1970 Doris, 1903-1970 GAY<br />
BOYKI Beverly, 1927-9/6/1948 Elisha Gay, 12/15/1835-12/4/1913<br />
David, 7/1944-1960 (by drowning) CROSS son of Samuel Gay<br />
BROTHERTON Ralph, 1897-1971 Harriet Smith Gay, 4/27/1833-9/<br />
Lucy, mother of Walter J. Spauld- DAVIS 29/1911<br />
ing, 1827-1902 Ina, 1883-1910 (continued on page 109)
APRIL 1978 PAGE 109<br />
Dale Cemetery (continued)<br />
Carl, 1/31/1871-11/1/1947<br />
Mary Embt, 7/23/1875-6/5/1958<br />
Elmer, 1/5/1862-7/7/1926, son of<br />
Elisha<br />
Lena Sikes Whaley Gay, 7/7/1876-<br />
2/12/1962<br />
GESSINGER<br />
Elic, d. 1905<br />
GOETZ<br />
Emma, 1857-1886<br />
GORMAN<br />
J.N. 1815-1901<br />
GREEN<br />
Cassius, 1900-2/8/1977<br />
GUERMONPREZ<br />
Emile, 1868-1952<br />
Jenny, 1871-12/30/1945<br />
GUSSETT<br />
Gottlieb, 1866-1947<br />
Ella M. 1871-4/23/1932<br />
HAIN<br />
Susanne, d. 1876<br />
Edna, 1976-6/2/1976, daughter of<br />
Henry N.<br />
Charles, 1914-1959<br />
HAMMOND<br />
Elizabeth Dutton H., 1853-1928<br />
HAWKINS<br />
Vance, 1900-1965<br />
Gladys, 1902-<br />
Giles, 1847-1903<br />
Alice Judd H., 1850-1908<br />
Leon, 1874-1/3/1948<br />
Melody, 1949-1965<br />
Annabel, 1879-1968<br />
HAY<br />
Delos, d. 1914<br />
HAYES<br />
Margaret, 1829-7/20/1934, aged<br />
104y<br />
HERON<br />
Mabel Kelly H., 1888-1966, wife<br />
of Richard<br />
Richard, 1886-1964<br />
Richard, infant, d. 5/20/1915<br />
H1GGINS<br />
Sophronia, 1811-1897<br />
Adelia, 1826-1909<br />
Clinton, 1831-1909<br />
Francis, 1864-1904<br />
Edith - no dates<br />
L.L. Higgins, 1/25/1832-5/6/1914<br />
Abbie, 3/29/1832-12/21/1892, wife<br />
of L.L.<br />
Leora, 1873-1875<br />
Harlow, 1856-1887<br />
Smith, 1824-1888<br />
Adell, 1836-<br />
HILL<br />
Mary, d. 1970<br />
HOGLE<br />
John, 1804-1888<br />
Polly, 1809-1883<br />
Susann, 1848-1891, dau. of John<br />
& Polly<br />
HOWARD<br />
Rufus - no date<br />
Kathy Ann, 1817-1897<br />
Elias, 1806-1888<br />
Elizabeth, 1875-1958<br />
Alvin, 1870-9/14/1948<br />
Jennie - no dates<br />
Harriet - no dates<br />
HOWES<br />
Ezekiel, 1827-1904<br />
Elizabeth F&rrer H., 1829-1867,<br />
wife of Ezekiel<br />
Frank,1855-1926<br />
John V., 1858-1926<br />
Emma C., 1857-1945<br />
George M., 1852-1936<br />
JENKS<br />
Ralph, 1903-1953<br />
JOHNSON<br />
Emily Swan J., 1833-5/13/1885;<br />
wife of William<br />
JONES<br />
Samuel, 1806-1896<br />
Rachel, 1818-1900<br />
Catherine, 1794-1882,wife of Wm.<br />
William, 1797-1854<br />
Rowena Smith, wife of Howell,<br />
1832-1918<br />
Howell, 1831-1888<br />
Fannie, 1871-1874, dau. of Howell<br />
& Rowena<br />
Sarah, 1841-1892<br />
John, 1839-1913<br />
William, 1811-1878<br />
Elizabeth, 1806-1878<br />
J. Arthur, 1875-1937<br />
Barbara Kebler J., wife of J.<br />
Arthur, 1872-1911<br />
Paul, 1902-1922<br />
JUDD<br />
Caroline, 1835-1909,wife of Stephen<br />
Stephen H., 1832-1910<br />
Charles, 1856-10/3/1926<br />
KEEBLER<br />
Ina Smith K., 1864-1904<br />
Frank, 1863-1933<br />
Kate, 1841-1902, wife of John K.<br />
John, 1839-1910<br />
George, 1873-1893, sot of Kate<br />
& John<br />
KELLEY<br />
Russell, 1813-1891<br />
Rhoda,1818-1896<br />
William H., 1860-1883, sonofRussell<br />
KELLY<br />
Judson, 1830-1906<br />
Betsey, 1825-1910, wife of Judson<br />
Orlando, 1801-1889<br />
Rhoda, 1803-1887<br />
Clara Smith K., 2/27/1860-6/7/<br />
1914<br />
Edwin O., 1860-1946, sonof Judson<br />
Otis, d. 6/22/1923, son of Russell<br />
Simeon, 1886-1915<br />
Simeon O., 1843-1915<br />
Eliza Jane, 1845-1895, wife of<br />
Simeon O.<br />
KENT<br />
David, 1806-1869<br />
Susie, 1802-1888<br />
Adelia, d. 1/18/1893; age 53y<br />
KEPLER<br />
John, 1893-1977, husband of Julia<br />
of Tonawanda<br />
Julia. 1893-1976<br />
KEPPEN<br />
Helen,1852-1905<br />
William, 1850-1908<br />
Amanda, 1890-1921<br />
KESSLER<br />
Hazel, 1902-12/8/1918<br />
Lawrence, 1906-11/26/1935<br />
Emma, 1876-6/15/1920<br />
Frank, 1877-1943<br />
KORNOW<br />
W. 1912-1959<br />
LANE<br />
Luana, d. 1913<br />
LARMORE<br />
Burt T., 1872-1908<br />
LESTER<br />
Flora, 1883-1946<br />
LOOMIS<br />
Dora L., 1853-1883, wife of H.M.<br />
Loomis<br />
Herbert M., 1856-1938<br />
J. Morrill, 1828-1904<br />
Mina M., 1828-1905<br />
LYON<br />
Frank,1853-1946<br />
Jane 1851-<br />
MALLISON<br />
Alden, d. 1932, son of Solomon M.<br />
Catharine, 1820-1902<br />
---wife of Alden, d. 1926:daughter<br />
of Anson & Sarah Miller Cole<br />
Solomon M., 1818-1887<br />
Harriet, 1823-1897<br />
George, 1827-1912<br />
Clarissa, 1826-1903; wife of George<br />
C. Leon, 1882-1917<br />
Frank,1856-1920<br />
Alida Marie, 1832-1907<br />
John R., 1831-1914<br />
Marybelle, 1870-1938<br />
Fred E., 1862-1952<br />
P.M., d. 4/18/1932<br />
---wife of P.M., 3/18/1932<br />
H.W., no dates<br />
MATTERN<br />
Thomas, 1899, Easter Sunday 1944<br />
(flag)<br />
MAURER<br />
Peter, 1876-1896<br />
Kate, 1859-1940<br />
George, 1855-1941<br />
Elizabeth, 1839-1914 ~<br />
Phillip, 1826-1887<br />
Linda, 1872-4/23/1938, wife of<br />
Philip J.<br />
Philip J., 1865-1941<br />
Anna May Mallison, 1892-1970<br />
Clarence H., 1890-1949<br />
MEAD<br />
Samuel, 1791-1885<br />
MEEDER<br />
Hugh, 2/24/1913-3/2/1965<br />
MERTZ<br />
(continued on page 110)
PAGE 110<br />
Dale Cemetery (continued)<br />
Lawrence, 1918-1965<br />
MC CADDEN<br />
Mary, d. 1913<br />
MC CAFFERY<br />
Ruth, 1898-1950<br />
MAC DONALD (MC DONALD?)<br />
William, 1844-1922<br />
Sarah, 1843-1916, wife<br />
MILLER<br />
Pearl, 1910-1972<br />
Wilber, 1863-3/20/1934<br />
Hattie, 1870-1950<br />
Alanson, 1830-1915<br />
Mrs. A., d. 9/2/1875, wife of<br />
Alanson<br />
Ralph, 1900-1969<br />
Clara Nichols Miller, 1/31/1869-<br />
9/12/1960<br />
Dwight, 1867-9/9/1948<br />
Russel, 1825-1908<br />
Eliza, wife of Russel M., d.<br />
12/28/1927<br />
Mary S., 1834-1924, wife of Russel<br />
M.<br />
Elva, 1852-1955<br />
Floyd, 1876-1956<br />
Lewellen, 1856-1927<br />
MONROE<br />
Milo, 1887-1898<br />
Sidney, 1804-1884<br />
George, 1863-1945<br />
Sarah Thomson M., 1834-1914, wife<br />
of Edson B.<br />
Edson, 1833-1916<br />
Harriet Kemp M., wife of Sidney,<br />
1812-1900<br />
MULLEN<br />
Marion (Dutton), 1907-1969,dau. of<br />
Irving & Alice D.,wife of Warren<br />
ren<br />
Warren, 1906-1976, husband<br />
NICHOLS<br />
Samuel, 1820-1913<br />
Fidelia D., 1819-1896, wifeofSamuel<br />
Eugene S., 1855-1907<br />
Samuel, d. 1914<br />
Julia, 1830 - 7/1 /1884,wife of Zadock<br />
J. Henry, 1826-1907<br />
Zadock, 1824-1893<br />
Lewis, d. 1897<br />
Clarence, d. 1900<br />
Calista, 1822-7/21/1839, dau. of<br />
Zadock & Malina Marvin<br />
Louisa, wife of J.Henry, 1837-1926<br />
NESBITT<br />
Henry,1882-1950<br />
Merle, 1909-1939<br />
OTT<br />
Grace Weber 0., 1877-1969<br />
Orrin, 1880-1955<br />
Barbara O., infant 1963<br />
OWENS<br />
John, 1868-1910<br />
Mae Fettis O., 1884-1960, wifeof<br />
John<br />
PARMENTER<br />
Juliette, 1839-1910<br />
Julius, 1875-1887<br />
Rufus - no dates, buried about 1900<br />
Mary - no dates, wife of Julius O.<br />
PAQUETTE<br />
Yvonne, 1898-1976<br />
Bertha, 1893-1974<br />
PECK<br />
William B. 1806-1877<br />
Permelia, 1802-1879<br />
PERKINS<br />
William, 1828-1898, his wife 1828-<br />
1918<br />
PFLAUM<br />
Edwin, 1897-1969 children<br />
Clara, 1892-1963 of August Pflaum<br />
Lilly, 1863-7/17/1937, wife of<br />
August<br />
Christof, 1824-1900<br />
Johanna, wife of Christof, d.<br />
11/15/1885, age 59y 7m 13d<br />
Eva, 1889-1918, step. dau. of John<br />
Pflaum twins, buried 1911<br />
Carl, 1890-10/28/1975<br />
Bessie P., wife of Carl, 1892-<br />
1/24/1975<br />
August, 1863-1/31/1945<br />
Mary S., no dates, wife of John<br />
Henry, no dates, stepson<br />
(Mrs. P.), d. 7/20/1927<br />
John Pflaum, d. 1/4/1931<br />
PHILLIPS<br />
Levi, 1807-1879<br />
Sarah, 1812-1879, wife of Levi<br />
Adelia, 1842-1884, dau. of Levi<br />
& Sarah<br />
John, no dates<br />
PLOWE<br />
Elizabeth, 1904-1937<br />
Fred, 1872-1945<br />
Katherine Fay, 1932-1953<br />
Margaret, 1870-1946<br />
George, 1896-1965<br />
POSTE<br />
Charles W., 1900-1932, son of<br />
George G. & Kate (Dutton)<br />
George G., 1872-1936<br />
George A., 1899-1971<br />
Katie D., 1874-1935, wifeof George<br />
G.<br />
Infant, died 1944<br />
Charles W., d. 1954<br />
QUALE<br />
James, 1787-1853<br />
Mercy, 1788-6/21/1860, wife of<br />
James<br />
Moses, 1828-1836, son of James<br />
& Mercy Q.<br />
Marianne,1845-1862,dau. of James<br />
& Mercy<br />
Julia A. Moore, 1816-1889<br />
John W., 1812-1892<br />
Merritt H., no dates<br />
RAUH<br />
John d. 1949<br />
RAUPP<br />
Infant son of Gary & Dorothy Raupp<br />
RIX<br />
Lewis, 1849-4/12/1881<br />
APRIL 1978<br />
Elizabeth, 1853-1883, wifeof Lewis<br />
R.<br />
Mabel Smith Rix, d. 1962, dau. of<br />
Loren Smith<br />
Carl, 1876-1944<br />
RONAN<br />
Margaret, 1900-1952<br />
RUTHERFORD<br />
Frank,1909-1970<br />
SCHENCK<br />
Lee, 1882-4/16/1947<br />
SCHNECKENBURGER<br />
Ruby Meade S., 1894-1971<br />
Ruby GayS.,2/25/1858-11/17/1938<br />
dau. of Elisha Gay<br />
John, 1858-12/17/1922<br />
Ray S., 1891-1919 twin children<br />
Roy S., 1891 -1892 of John & Ruby<br />
SCHRANZ<br />
Mrs. (?), d. 2/8/1946<br />
SCHREIBER<br />
Mary Smith, 1873-<br />
SHATTUCK<br />
Orrin M., 1830-1909<br />
Cora Webster,10/9/1857-1/1/1937<br />
Artemus, 10/7/1853-12/25/1932<br />
George Webster, 1883-1909<br />
Lysander, 1828-1886<br />
Anna, 1830-1909<br />
SHAY<br />
Maude Cross, 1886-1966<br />
Kenneth, 1878-6/2/1935<br />
SHEPHERD<br />
Infant son of Henry Shepherd,d. 1971<br />
SMITH<br />
Curt and Baby, children of Romanzo<br />
Smith<br />
John, 1868-1905<br />
Charles, 1865-1939<br />
Mary A. 1839-1926<br />
Lamont, 1827-1906<br />
Warren-1817-1904<br />
Caroline, 1819-1906<br />
Artie, no dates<br />
David, no dates<br />
Lovel E., 1874-1920<br />
Henry, 1870-3/13/1873, son of J.<br />
Monroe"& Frances<br />
Fanny, d. 3/16/1884, age 76y, wife<br />
of Hawley Smith<br />
Mary L. Schreiber, 1873-?<br />
J. Monroe, 2/12/1831-1915<br />
Frances Johnson, wifeof J. Monroe<br />
Lydia, 1806-1/19/1882, wife of<br />
Henry, mother of J. Monroe<br />
Henry, 1801-1867 (both were removed<br />
<strong>from</strong> old cem. 11/1874)<br />
Charlotte, 1852-12/1/1930, dau. of<br />
M. Loomis<br />
Edgar, 1850-4/13/1932, son of Orrin<br />
Smith<br />
Allie Vader Smith, 1858-1923<br />
Loren,1853-1923<br />
Orrin, 1824-1884<br />
Lucinda, 1836-1889<br />
Irving, 1861-1864 (moved <strong>from</strong> old<br />
cem. 11/1874)<br />
Edwin,1835-1920<br />
(continued on page 111)
Dale Cemetery (continued)<br />
Elizabeth, 1838-1919, wife of Edwin<br />
Fanny Bailey Smith, 1808-1884,<br />
wife of Hawley<br />
Hawley, 1806-1884<br />
Bert, son of Francis S.<br />
Francis, 1845-1936, 18thN.Y. Battery<br />
d. 2/24/1936, son of J. Monroe<br />
& Frances J.<br />
Rosavil Austin S., 1848-8/6/1907,<br />
18th N.Y. Battery Y<br />
Frank E., 1858-1941, son of Edwin<br />
Ida Bolton S., 1858-1960<br />
Franklin R. Smith, (moved <strong>from</strong><br />
old cem. in 1874)<br />
Rettie, 1858-1940<br />
Charles W. 1858-8/24/1931<br />
George W., 1826-11/12/1888<br />
SMYTHE<br />
Don, d. 1968<br />
Mildred, 1898-1962, wife<br />
SPAULDING<br />
Walter, 1848-1917<br />
SPINK<br />
Arthur,1882-1963<br />
Rosabelle Weber, 1884-1959<br />
STARR<br />
Rev. L.B.1822-8/18/1875,husband<br />
of Mary B. Starr<br />
STONES<br />
Miral Burdette, 1902-7/15/1931,<br />
veteran of WWI, Hdq. Co. 108 Reg.<br />
Inf.<br />
Lawrence, d. 1956<br />
SWAN<br />
Clara Benchley, 1883-1977<br />
Merton, 1866-1955<br />
Lucy Chaffee S., 1845-1920 (wife<br />
of Joseph)<br />
Joseph B., 1839-1926<br />
Eliza Chaffee Swan d. 4/2/1876,<br />
age 71y<br />
Alonzo, 1823-1907<br />
Emeline, 1826-1890<br />
Amos, 1801-1875<br />
William, d. 11/16/1911<br />
Eliza Chaffee Swan, wife of Amos S.<br />
Charles, 1870-1924<br />
Frances, 1844-1921<br />
Henry A., 1842-1902<br />
C. Milan, 1878-1961<br />
Alberta, 1912-1913, du. of Clara<br />
Swan<br />
George H., 1883-1918<br />
Elizabeth, 1885-1965<br />
Clifford, 1903-1905<br />
TABOR<br />
Charles H., 1843-1916<br />
Alice Loomis Taber, 1849-1924<br />
Roy, 1884-1968<br />
George, 1853-1944"<br />
Minnie Tabor Perry, dau. of George<br />
T. 1880-11/19/1947, wife of Charles<br />
Perry<br />
Ida Tabor, 1859-1924<br />
Bertha, 1885-<br />
TAKACH<br />
Stella, 1888-1960<br />
John, 1888-1964<br />
THOMSON<br />
Charles D. Thomason, 2/12/1837-<br />
4/14/1907<br />
Art Eliza Spring Thomson, d. 4/2/<br />
1929<br />
Edward Thomson, 10/6/1859-1/8/<br />
1896, son of Charles & Art Eliza<br />
S.P.<br />
Isabelle Miller Thomson, wife of<br />
Edward T., d. 1894<br />
Florence Gay T., dau. of Elisha<br />
Gay - no date<br />
George, 2/17/1879-9/25/1961<br />
Clarence, 2/5/1882-6/15/1975<br />
Grace Bush Thomson, 11/28/1886-<br />
1965<br />
Jeffrey Thomson, infant - 1970<br />
Everett T., son of Ray, 4/24/1912-<br />
1/29/1953<br />
Elsie Danforth T., 7/30/1887-1965<br />
C. Ray Thomson, 5/16/1885-10/<br />
26/1974, son of Edward<br />
Ithai, 6/9/1832-12/20/1921<br />
TIEDE<br />
Mrs. Katherine 1912-<br />
Henry, 1910-1969<br />
UNDERWOOD<br />
Flora Smith Underwood, 1865-<br />
8/30/1938, wife of George<br />
George .Underwood, 1862-1921<br />
Minerva L. Clark, d. 6/25/1883,<br />
age 57y 9m 47d, wife of Schuyler<br />
VADER<br />
Flora, 1860-1941<br />
Frank, 1860-1926<br />
Floyd, 1881-1918<br />
Julia Ann, 1830-1914<br />
Julius, 1830-1918<br />
VAN ALLEN<br />
Lutte (Swan) VA, 1826-1894<br />
VAN BUREN<br />
Florence, 1901-1965<br />
VANDERHEYDEN<br />
Daniel, 1833-1913<br />
Chloe, 1839-1921, wife of Daniel<br />
VORMONG<br />
Lois, 1877-12/13/1949<br />
WALDRON<br />
Katherine. 1856-1940<br />
William, 1860-1947<br />
WEBER<br />
Glenna,1891-1959<br />
Edwin, 1891-1967<br />
Frank,1/9/1888-9/3/1888<br />
George P., 1858-1893<br />
Harvey, 1875-10/26/1948<br />
Florence, 1874-8/14/1946<br />
Henry, 1847-3/1919<br />
Infant son of Henry W. (no date)<br />
Wilhelmina, 1834-5/1/1890, wife<br />
of George<br />
George,1828-4/30/1890<br />
Irving, 1876-1961<br />
Irma. 1881-1960<br />
Lillian, 1915-1962<br />
Charles, 1817-1901<br />
Catherine, 1818-1888<br />
Charles, no date<br />
Arthur, 1884-1965<br />
Ruth, 1918-1961<br />
WEBSTER<br />
Jane Smith W., 1824-1874<br />
John M. d. 1874, both moved <strong>from</strong><br />
old cem. in 1874<br />
Grant & Elmer, twin sons of Jane<br />
S. & John, d. of scarlet fever<br />
(Grant 5/30, Elmer 7/5/1875)<br />
Adelia Shattuck W., 1846-1876<br />
Eulalia J., dau. John M. & Sarah<br />
Jane, d. 8/1/1856, age 12y lm<br />
WHALEY<br />
Charles M., 1822-1888<br />
Eunice, 1818-1890, wife of Charles<br />
Melvin, d. 1938<br />
William, 1816-1878<br />
Emma E., 1851-4/7/1915<br />
Remington, 1851-1885<br />
George, 1826-1875<br />
Jane, 1825-1904, wife of Simeon<br />
Hiram B., 1835-1896<br />
Nettie Miller, 1864-1941, wife of<br />
Hiram, parents of Bessie W.<br />
Pflaum<br />
Mary Ruth, 1890-1947 dau.<br />
George B., d. 4/30/1890, age 62y<br />
WHEELER<br />
Bertha Smith Wheeler, 1877-1957,<br />
wife of Henry<br />
W. Henry Wheeler, 1878-1958<br />
Monroe Wheeler. 1912-1922, son of<br />
Bertha & W. Henry W.<br />
Edith, no dates<br />
Forest, no dates<br />
WIDMER<br />
Alvine (Alaime ?), 1887-1904<br />
WILKIE<br />
Albert, 1906-1969<br />
Infant daughter of Ida and Albert<br />
Wilkie - no date<br />
WINCHESTER<br />
Charles W., 1856-1927<br />
Luella R., 1856-1932<br />
Kate, 1880-1921<br />
Noel, 1883-1939<br />
Leon, 1881-1927<br />
Evaline, 1906-1927<br />
William, 1875-1958, Spanish Am.<br />
War Veteran<br />
Dora Schenck W., 1880-1962<br />
Alice Shattuck W., 1883-1/22/1974<br />
WINNEY<br />
Lewis B., 1850-1925<br />
Rose Judd W., 1858-5/3/1933, wife<br />
of Lewis<br />
Emily, 1828-1898<br />
Henry, 1818-1875<br />
WILSON<br />
James, 1903-1976<br />
WOLCOTT<br />
John, 1851-1919<br />
Mary, 1856-1932, wife of John<br />
Mary, 1886-1886, dau. of John &<br />
Mary W.<br />
Florence, 1910-<br />
Harry, 1888-1942
PAGE 112<br />
SUBJECT INDEX TO VOL XXIV<br />
Attica Historical Society. 40th .75-76<br />
Avery, Susan Look 57-64<br />
Ayer, Oliver, Missionary Journal 19<br />
Barber, Raymond 80<br />
Barnes, Katherine 97<br />
Bennington, Bee Hive 7-8<br />
Bishop. Lewis H 40-41,44-49<br />
Bliss, Rural Delivery. 11<br />
Castile Historical House 97<br />
Castile Historical Society, 25th 38-39<br />
Civil War Letters, Java 77-80<br />
Cemeteries<br />
Dale, newer 107-111<br />
Restoration 9,42-43<br />
St. Cecilia's 20-28.49-50,80-81<br />
St. Joseph 80-84,92<br />
Varysburg 53-56<br />
Colton, Rev. Chester, Missionary Journal. . .18-19<br />
Covington<br />
Schoolhouse 1, 65<br />
Historical Society, 25th 36-38<br />
County Historian's Office 9-10, 39, 80.100<br />
Danley's Corners 7<br />
Douglass, Harry S.<br />
Early Rural Schools 1-7<br />
Early Letters <strong>from</strong> Java 105-107<br />
Foote, Glenn 11<br />
French, Robert M 93-96<br />
Griffith Pioneer House, Pike 93-95<br />
Hillside, Avery Family 59.62,64<br />
Photos 70-71<br />
Historical Societies<br />
Arcade 8.97<br />
Attica 8,75.97<br />
Castile 38,75,97<br />
Covington 1, 36, 100<br />
Java 8,97<br />
Middlebury 8, 64, 97<br />
Holland Purchase Journal 18-20<br />
Indians<br />
APRIL 1978<br />
Iroquois Myths; 51-52<br />
Medicinal Plants 12,17<br />
Java, Memories of 85-92<br />
Jemison, Mary, pageant 38<br />
Jeffres, Thomas 75<br />
Kirk, Jane 57-64<br />
Lyon, Florence 17<br />
LaGrange<br />
Baptist Church 1, 65-69<br />
Schoolhouse 1 -7, 74<br />
Merle, Rev. William 101-105<br />
Middlebury, Amzi Wright's Tavern 12<br />
Hillside 59. 70-71<br />
Milestones 11 -12, 76. 96<br />
Moag, Imogene 36-38<br />
Mother Shipton's Prophecy .107<br />
Murphy, Mr. & Mrs. J.L 75<br />
Necrology 8-9,39,77,92<br />
Oatka, Settlement (Warsaw) 29-36<br />
Baptist Church 29-31<br />
Paddock, Earl 72-74<br />
Pike, Pioneer Living 93-95<br />
Portageville Flood 9<br />
Queries 10,-77,105<br />
<strong>Richardson</strong>, C. <strong>Kihm</strong> 85-92<br />
Schools, District & Early Rural 1-7,13-16<br />
Smallwood, Estelle L 51-52<br />
Spencer, Norma C 29-36<br />
Steel, Samuel, of Java Village 80<br />
<strong>Strykersville</strong>, Memories of 85-92<br />
War of 1812 40-41,44-49<br />
Welker, A.B 7-8<br />
Whiting, Sarah, Wyo. Co. Famous Astonomer. .100<br />
Wyoming County, 1st Saw Mills 76-77<br />
Fair 17<br />
District Schools 1 -7,13-16<br />
Pioneer House 93-95<br />
Wright, Amzi; Daybook 12<br />
Wyoming Gaslighters Yorker Club 97