Historical Wyoming County July 1956 - Old Fulton History

July 1956 Page 1? 5
A REVOLUTIONARY HERITAGE (cont.)
Pike's Robert L. Hurd, 1761+-1856, has no stone in Elmwood
Cemetery,-Pike Village, but one remains to his wife, Lydia Russell,
who died Feb. 26, 1823, in Pike, when sixty years old. Robert'Lane
Hurd, according to pension records, served as a Musician in Capt.
Page's company, Col. Walbridge's regiment of Vermont troops. Born
in East Haddam, Conn., he was pensioned in 1833 from Genesee County.
The Hurds had a son, Russell G., 1789-1860, who married first
Rebecca Sawyer. Vol. 129, D.A.R. Lineage Book, states that Robert
L. Hurd died in Genesee County, Michigan, but his' name has long
appeared on Pike's list of veterans.
(A REVOLUTIONARY' HERITAGE to be continued in a future issue)
—
We are indebted to Mrs. William P. Shumaker, Warsaw, for the
following interesting account of the results of good gardening.
"It was in the year of ltiJ+8 that Henry Baker and his wife
Rosena Powell Baker, came to Warsaw, N.Y., from a small hamlet near
Frankfort, Germany, and with them they brought some very choice
turnip seedc. All these long years there has been grown turnips
and seed from the seed brought with them. I visited Mrs. Oscar
Carlson of Delhi Road, Gainesville, in her well kept garden. ^he
told me just a little of the history of her fine plot of turnips.
She told me of the exceptionally fine quality of these turnips, and
how faithfully members of her grandfather's family had kept the
turnip seed in store.
'Her mother was Mrs. Alvin Wolcott, daughter of Henry Baker of
Wethersfield. Ever since her mother's death other members of the
family have enjoyed keeping the seed on hand. Mr. George Baker of
Orangeville, an uncle of Mrs. Carlson, who now lives at 16 North
Maple street, Warsaw, has also kept up growing these turnips as it
was his parents who brought the seed over from Germany. Mrs. Carlson
had a severe injury to her foot and was unable to get her turnips
growing. Last spring Mr. Baker's seed failed to grow so there was
a break in their long years of having turnips. Mr. Baker reported
his failure due to the drought. These families are outstanding
gardners. What an enjoyable story these seeds could tell if they
could start back from the little hamlet in Germany down through all
these 107 years and give us a true account of its life up to date.
"I took one of these turnips to the Fair in hopes I could give
it a good showing but my turnip was all by itself on a lone ; shelf.
My aim was to give these good people, the Bakers, credit for thrift,
faithfulness, and a true appreciation of an outstanding vegetable.
We could well get a lesson from this story as it was in a family
that took pride in their choice vegetables.
"Over fifty years ago a granddaughter of Henry Baker and I were
in Warsaw Union School and ate our lunches together. I never tasted
the like of brine pickles I got in exchange for small sweet ones my
mother made. This family excelled in brining their cucumbers, in
beans, and making perfect sauerkraut."