In the Fall of 1951 Police Chief Douglas Bowman decided to set up a traffic light at Sanger Ave and Oxford Road. It was one of the newly-designed
portable traffic lights built by Harders Engineering company in Chicago.Tally-Ho 2003
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Issue
December 2003
December 2003
Table of Contents
December Program
Coupeville
Condolences
Response To Delinquent Dues Notices
Early History And Reminiscences
Police Chief Douglas Bowman
Senn Made Honorary Member
Welcome New Members
The Rogers Textile Story
The Chenango Turnpike
"….And The Band Played On" The History Of The Citizens Band
Test Your Holiday Knowledge
More From The Diary Of H. H. Hopkins
‘Tis the Season to Be Jolly’ so plan to attend our Holiday Party at the Adult Dining and Recreation Center on Sherman Street in New Hartford on Thursday, December 4, 2003. Punch, cheese and crackers at 6:30 will be followed by a covered dish supper. Bring a dish of your choice and your own place settings. Beverage and dessert will be provided by the Society. Also appreciated would be a donation of canned goods or money to the Food Bank.
Bob and Jeanne Jones have graciously said they would provide some entertainment and we all know just how entertaining they can be! So be prepared to listen to some stories and sing along with festive music.
From one of our new members, Merlyn Cardosa, we unearthed where the name Coupeville originated in Washington Mills.
The land at the bottom of Oxford Road near where the trailer park is now located was owned by two families, Coupe and Kowalsky. These properties were on a map of the subdivision filed in the Oneida County clerk’s office on September 7, 1909. That area became known as Coupeville. Thus we have one mystery cleared
Now, does anyone know where Schotville was? That place was mentioned in the Sauquoit Valley News of December 14, 1894 in an article about a bakery wagon horse that was in an accident, tipping over the wagon and throwing the driver out. The horse started running away in Schotville. He continued going down the street to the railroad tracks . Could these be the Washington Mills tracks or the Chadwicks tracks? It would be very interesting to find out. Or could Schotville and Coupeville be the same place?
We offer our sympathy to the Rev. Arden Coe and his family on the loss of his wife, Mary, on November 15, 2003. Arden and Mary have been active members of the Society since October 1, 1979. Arden was president of the New Hartford Historical Society in the early 1980’s and has offered the invocation at many of our annual dinner meetings. Our thoughts and prayers are with him now.
RESPONSE TO DELINQUENT DUES NOTICES
The first of October we sent out 90 reminder cards to people who have not renewed their dues to 2004. Approximately 36 people responded with bringing their membership up-to-date. It is still not too late for the rest of you to renew. So dig up that postcard or check the label on this newsletter. It should read June 30, 2004. Send renewals to The New Hartford Historical Society, PO Box 238, New Hartford, NY 13413.
EARLY HISTORY AND REMINISCENCES
By Henry Hurlburt
(An excerpt from 1888 memoirs)
General Joseph Kirkland lived on South Street; also in the house on the main street, now occupied by Francis Butler. He removed to Utica at an early day and became one of the most prominent men of the place. He was a man of courteous manner and dignified bearing, interested in everything that pertained to the welfare of the town, and ever ready to assume any burdens his fellow citizen might impose upon him. He was chosen to be the first mayor of the city of Utica, and while holding this office, the dreaded Asiatic cholera made its first appearance here. The citizens generally fled in terror to other places. All business, excepting that of the physician and apothecary, was suspended. But General Kirkland stood manfully at his post through the dread ordeal, and issued daily bulletins for the information of those who were away form the stricken city.
General Kirkland was blest with a large family. His oldest son, Charles P., was a prominent lawyer, both in Utica and New York City. William, another son, devoted his life to the cause of education, and four of the daughters married men in the law profession, three of whom were afterwards Members of Congress, and one also a Judge of the Supreme Court of this State.
In the rear of Mr. Lothrop’s residence, on the high ground, on the back road to Clinton, stands the house long occupied by the Rev. Noah Coe, pastor of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Coe was a man who commanded general respect for his unswerving integrity, dignified manners and devotion to his master’s service. His wife was the sister of Professor Goodrich of Yale College who married the daughter of Noah Webster, the celebrated lexicographer.
Charles, the eldest son, was a schoolmate of mine. He was remarkably bright –but so high spirited he could not brook the restraints of home and took a sudden departure for the west, to the great grief of his parents and friends. The only news they ever had of him afterwards was that his clothes were found torn and scattered in the wilds of Wisconsin, leading to the conclusion that he had been killed by wild beasts. Frederick the younger son, was of a more sedate and thoughtful character and he, in the course of time became a highly esteemed and useful lawyer in the city of New York. Elizabeth, the daughter, grew up to be a beautiful woman and married her cousin, a son of Professor Goodrich of Yale College.
In the Fall of 1951 Police Chief Douglas Bowman decided to set up a traffic light at Sanger Ave and Oxford Road. It was one of the newly-designed
portable traffic lights built by Harders Engineering company in Chicago.
This 263 pound light was powered by a storage battery which was charged by plugging an electrical cord into the nearest outlet. The cost was $595 as compared to the $1,400 plus it would take to install a new regulation light. It rolled on 10 inch wheels and was easily maneuvered. The light freed Bowman so he was available to help the youngsters at the Point School when that school was in session.
Doug Bowman was a 27 year old World War II veteran who served in the Quartermaster Corps of the U. S. Navy, a member of the New Hartford Fire Department, a former New Hartford High School football star who lived in Chadwicks when he was offered the job as police chief after the resignation of Harold Shepardson. He lived in Chadwicks and, by law, had to establish residence in New Hartford after he was hired. Looking in vain for an apartment in New Hartford, the Bowman’s— Doug, Doris and daughter Gayle, finally bought land on Root Street and built a home. During the interim, in order to comply by the law, Mayor Ambrose D. Eldred offered the Bowman’s space in his home until their new house was ready.
Doug’s duties were varied. He doubled as constable, prosecutor, clerk, wailing wall, race driver, and also fireman. He was also a Utica College student in criminology and sociology. He operated one motorcycle while performing his police duties. At one time he tagged 30 motorists in one month.
By 1965 there were five men on the force—Chief Bowman, George O. Williams, Bernard Wood, William Freiberger, and Russell Billings. They bought their jackets with personal funds.
Some of the crimes investigated during Doug’s tenure as police chief were hardly different than today, with one exception—very little traffic in drugs.
Motorists were issued traffic tickets—$1.00 for overtime parking; $5.00 for running red lights; $5.00 for speeding. One year Christmas wreaths were stolen from the homes of Henry T. Dorrence, 14 Oxford road and Raymond Mellen, 18 Oxford Road. And a resident on Pearl Street had a wreath taken from her front door.
Two youth were captured at pistol-point near the State Infantry Armory. They had stolen a car in Clinton, abandoned the machine in New Hartford where they were fired upon by Chief Bowman, but escaped. Utica police were notified and spotted the car at Oneida Square. As the youths stopped for a light at Steuben Park, they were captured.
December 1, 1951 Doug resigned from his police officer job. He was succeeded by George Peck.
New Hartford Police Car 1988
Doug went on to become a United States Deputy Marshall and he, and his wife, performed many services for the government in that
capacity. One of the jobs was transporting federal prisoners from one state prison to another.
Douglas died in 1992
Roy Senn, the very capable computer operator at the New Hartford Public Library, has been a great deal of help to several members of the New Hartford Historical Society. Insignias and pictures have been put on the computer for our use in making, for example, new stationary and note cards. With his ability with the scanner the images have been made clear and reprintable. He also puts the "Tally-Ho!" on the library web site every month that it is published. In recognition of his help we have made him an honorary member to June 30, 2005. Thank you, Roy.
The web site is www.newhartfordpubliclibrary.com When you reach that site look on the left hand side of the page for Historical Society and click on that. That should bring you to our site. The last time we looked the newsletters for this whole year were still on the web, so if you have misplaced an issue you can read it on your computer.
Doris Bowman—New Hartford
Marie E. Cirillo—Chadwicks
Sharon Goodenow—New Hartford
Evelyn Warren—New Hartford
(This article ran in the March 1980 edition of the New Hartford Historical Society Newsletter)
From the days of its early settlement until well into the twentieth century the Sauquoit Valley was the scene of a busy and prosperous textile industry. Thousands of spindles and hundreds of looms turned out cotton, woolen and silk cloth, both plain and printed.
Machinery developed, invented, and manufactured at the famous Willowvale machine shop of Amos and Oliver G. Rogers in the first half of the nineteenth century revolutionized the textile industry of New York State. In 1818 Amos Rogers, Sr. with his son Oliver G. Rogers took over the old John Mosher tannery across the road from Rogers Glen in Willowvale and converted it into a machine shop. The business was continued by Oliver’s son, Amos, until a fire destroyed the shop in 1866. At one time the plant employed as many as three hundred workmen. Oliver G. Rogers was the draughtsman and genius of the enterprise.
There is an interesting story about Oliver G. Rogers's pilfering plans for some of the early machinery from a manufactory in England. Mrs. Pamela Hemmel of Paris Road, New Hartford, a descendant of Oliver Rogers, furnished us with some notes found in an old family Bible; as follows:
"Mary Rogers Wood’s grandfather went to England and worked in a print factory. Brought plans of machinery (in his head) to America. Invented machines and made first print calico in America. Sold for 50 cents a yard. Made at Burrstone Mill in New York Mills. England sent men over to arrest him. Wife hid him in a cupboard, so that they did not find him."
Harry C. Rogers in his History of the Town of Paris (1881) gives a more detailed and somewhat different version of the story:
"A few years after the War of 1812, in one of the manufacturing towns of England, suddenly appeared a young American. He was apparently half witted, the butt of the superintendent and operatives of the mill, but good-natured and harmless, ready to help at any odd job of lubber-lifting without other reward than the small gratuity handed him. He gradually won his way into the good graces of the master and into the cotton mill, from which all but the trusted operators were rigidly excluded, for fear that the secret of the manufacturer of cotton goods—(then jealously guarded by the English as the Russians do their secret of the manufacture of sheet iron) - should be disclosed to other nations, and their growing monopoly of those fabrics be destroyed.
Months glided by; the supposed stupid helper was granted the freedom of the mill. In the privacy of his boarding-house room, far into the night, he, with tireless patience, transferred to paper full and accurate drawings of that most intricate and wonderful machinery which he each day furtively studied. His carefully locked room during the day excited the curiosity of one Paul Pry among the boarders, and through the keyhole he was discovered in his nightly role of draughtsman.
The game was up, he was reported to the superintendent, but before the matter culminated in his arrest, his suspicions, ever on the alert, were aroused, and hastily gathering up his drawings, he fled to the coast. And securing passage on a small sailing vessel, sailed for America, ere he could be intercepted."
(from the September, 1982 edition of the New Hartford Historical Society Newsletter)
At the twenty-fourth session of the New York State Legislature on March 30, 1801, Chapter 92 of the laws of that year was passed creating the Chenango Turnpike Company. Joseph Kirkland, Jedediah Sanger, Isaac Foote and several others were designated as the original officers and directors. They were named "for the purpose of making a good and sufficient road from the dwelling house of Benjamin Wilson in the town of Oxford in the County of Chenango, the nearest and most direct route as far as circumstances will admit of, through the towns of Norwich, Sherburne, Hamilton, Sangerfield and Paris to intersect the Genesee Turnpike road at or near the house of Jedediah Sanger, esquire, in Whitestown, and shall be and hereby are created and made a corporation and body politic in fact and in name, by the name of President, Directors and Company of the Chenango Turnpike Road."
The part of the proposed road within the village of New Hartford is now Oxford Road. It has been known at various times over the years as The Oxford Turnpike, the Road leading from New Hartford to Bridgewater, the South Road, and South Street. Jedediah Sanger’s house used to stand at the southeast corner of Oxford Road and Genesee Street.
"….AND THE BAND PLAYED ON" THE HISTORY OF THE CITIZENS BAND
The newest history paper in our series is now ready for distribution. Copies of the paper "...And the Band Played On", compiled by Barbara Munde, will be available at the Holiday Party on December 4th. The booklet is free to members or $3.00 if purchased by non-members.
The paper contains pictures of the very first band complete with the names of most of the people in the group. Also many of the past directors are pictured as well as a recap of the life of Francis A. Myers, the conductor of the original band.
2. What gifts did the Three Kings bring to the manger?
MORE FROM THE DIARY OF H. H. HOPKINS
Excerpts from the diary of Harrison Henry Hopkins, Nancy Kelly’s (Mrs. Kevin Kelly) great-grandfather, who served as an officer in the Civil War in the 148th New York State Regiment, Company B, stationed at Camp Swift, near Geneva, NY.
The response to the question of whether you wanted more letters printed was very positive. Therefore we are continuing in this issue.
May 14, 1864
Saturday, this morning at 7:00 a.m., formed in line and advanced a short distance to a pine woods where we remain until near night. Three days’ rations and ammunition issued, at dusk we advanced to the front, our men do the most of the skirmishing, the Rebs driven into their fort. We lay flat on the ground tonight, the enemy’s bullets passing just over our heads.
May 18 Operation Bermuda Hundred
This morning ordered to fall in ready for action at 8:00 a.m. the regiment go out and work on fortifications, other regiments at work on right and left. Our line of fortifications extensive and designed to be strong. Lieutenant now. Captain Cooley assigned to command Company E and assumes command today. I go on picket at night, an attack hourly expected on our lines.
May 25
Some rain last night, very pleasant and quiet this morning, this afternoon telegram from General Grant, Lee driven back from the North Anna river and thought to be falling back on Richmond. Our regiment go out on picket at 5:00 p.m. in a heavy thunderstorm.
March 29
We are marched to the boats and embarked down the James, arrive at Fort Monroe at 6:00 p.m. halt for a short time, then start for West Point, a novel way for me to spnd my birthday.
June 3 Battle of Cold Harbour
Before daybreak our men are awaked and ordered to move forward and advance on the enemy’s works on our front. Our regiment takes the advance as skirmishers and flankers, a severe fire. Many wounded and some killed. Charles White killed and buried today. Captain Cooley wounded and sent to hospital.
June 5
Before daylight our regiment called out and changed positions. We enlarge our trenches, strengthen our works. The Rebs make a severe attack on our left with infantry and artillery, and as usual were badly repulsed. After the charge the Reb band gave us some music, their playing very good. They have religious exercises, compliments exchanged between our and their pickets.
June 6
At 2:00 p.m. cessation of hostilities, flag of true for each party to bury its dead.
June 10
This afternoon some shot and shell thrown from our batteries at the Rebs. A shell from the battery in our rear exploded near our trench, one piece passes into the bank near my head and another piece killed Jas. E. Wooden, sitting near me. Invoice of his personal effects: U.S. Treasury notes, $5.15, 3 cent postage stamps, 16=48 cents
June 15
Before daybreak, called to draw and distribute 3 days’ rations. At sunrise resume our march across the Appomattox on the pontoon bridge and return towards Petersburg. Advance to within 3/4 mile of the fort, are deployed on the left of the brigade, then thrown out and forward as skirmishers to our right resting on the river and without any support. A general attack at dusk, the fort take, some prisoners, and 15 guns. Captain Gage wounded tonight.
June 18
We move forward at 6:00 a.m. About 9:00 a.m. engage the enemy with skirmishers. About 12:00 noon make a charge, a long run, quite a number killed. We take about 60 prisoners, the Rebs retreat to their main line. At 2:00 p.m. we make a charge on the main line in our front. A large number killed and wounded in action in our regiment.
June 22
President Lincoln said to have been here yesterday. Captain Cooley returned to company today. We remain in the trenches, brisk cannonading and considerable musketry at night.
Note: during the summer of 1864 General Butler’s troops bottled up in the triangle of land near the James River called Bermuda Hundred.
August 24
This afternoon talked and exchanged papers with Rebs. Also traded tobacco for coffee and sugar. We were relieved from the trenches about 11:00 p.m., went to camp and got ready to march.
August 27
We are close to the Reb lines, no picket firing on the line, occasional communications between the men, they get news of a great victory and re-taking of the Welden railroad.
August 30
Received orders to take 3 men and go to Norfolk to get the regiment’s knapsacks. A detachment is sent by the brigade of 5 officers and 15 men. We arrive at Norfolk near sundown.
August 31
We get orders from quartermaster to get our baggage, get a barge in readiness to load, do some shopping. This evening went to the theater, play "The Temptation" - very poor.
September 14
The first day of the last year of service for our regiment. Battalion drill this afternoon.
September 29
At 1:30 a.m. we started on a march and crossed the James on a pontoon bridge just before daylight. Advanced north to a large open field, there the column are formed en masse by divisions, threw out skirmishers and flankers, and advanced. We soon met the enemy’s skirmishers and drove them steadily before us to their stronghold at Chaffin’s Farm. Our regiment gets stuck in the swamp for a short time.
September 30
Last night changed our position, came down in front of Fort Harrison, formed a line and threw up breastworks. About 9:00 a.m. the Rebs opened on us from their gunboats and batteries, after two hours’ vigorous shelling they charge our lines and are repulsed. Again they charge and are repulsed with heavy loss in killed and wounded (around 1,000) and prisoners. Our loss during the day very light.
October 5
A friendly interview today with the Rebs, papers exchanged and agreement to cease picket firing. Flag of truce boat comes down from Richmond tonight. Rebel officers from Richmond in our Fort today. Prisoners to be exchanged.
October 19
Major Holmes arrived in camp and pays the regiment. Self receives $643.85, six months extra pay as commander of company, still due $60 per month. General Grant, Butler, and Farragut visit our fort and lines today. Rebs continue to come into our lines on our front. Sent to wife $520 by George B. Stoutenberg to express at City Point.
October 15
Ladies walking on the parapets of the rebel works today.
October 20
Inspection and review this afternoon. News of Sheridan’s victory. Great hurrahing and a shotted salute fired along the line.
October 26
Regiment roused at 4:00 a.m. with orders to pack up and be ready to march at 6:00. Orders to prepare 8 days cooked rations.
October 27 Battle of Fair Oaks
At 5:00 a.m. we set out to march past Deep Bottom to the Williamsburg Road. Thence toward Richmond. Action at 2:00 p.m. commences on our immediate front, lines of battle are formed, the Third Brigade including the 148th are formed in the rear. We charge line of battle and then are ordered forward to charge the enemy’s words. Met with a withering and destructive fire from artillery and musketry and fail to carry the work. Captain Gage falls mortally wounded near me in the midst of the charge. Our loss in wounded and captives considerable. We retreat, marching very slowly through the mud and storm which was severe. About half of those who went forth with our regiment in the morning are with us at night.
October 28
We retreat to our former quarters at Fort Harrison, now Fort Burnham. We commence return very tired, sore, and exhausted, having had a severe time. We are without rations or quarters, and no Sutlers or commissaries within reach. Self in command of regiment.
November 2
At 10 pm we get orders to draw 3 days rations, cook them, and be ready to march at a moments notice.
November 5
We go aboard the screw steamer "Cumbria", take on some horses and near night set out for New York, with a good boat and comfortable quarters.
November 7
This afternoon transferred to a steamer and taken to Fort Roichmond. Draw three days’ rations, two to be put in the haversacks, and be in readiness to fall in at a moment's notice.
November 8
We board ferry boat and at length arrive off Castle Garden.
November 11
We land at Fort Richmond again and take quarters.
November 24
Turkey etc. arrive for Thanksgiving dinner. We eat together at our headquarters. A contrast between the scenes of today and one year ago when I was at my home table.
November 29
Most of the troops busy preparing winter quarters. Rebs seem to be doing the same.
December 10
The Rebs make their appearance along our front in force, threatening an attack more or less skirmishing during the day. Forces said to be Longstreet and his corps of 600 to 1000 men and 2 batteries.
December 20
Reported surrender of General Hood’s army in Tennessee.
December 25
A pleasant Christmas morning and quiet Sunday.
November 2003
Table of Contents
November Program
To Our Readers
Copies Of "Jedediac" Needed
Welcome New Members
New Hartford Public Library Showcases
Book Store
Diary Of H. H. Hopkins
Great Truths About Life That Little Children Have Learned
Joint Meeting
Thursday, November 6, 2003
Held at the Clinton Historical Society
1 Fountain Street, Clinton, NY
7:30 PM.
Speaker: Cheryl Pula
Cheryl's slide and lecture show will be on "Civil War Battlefields". She will emphasize Oneida County regiments and the major battles in which they participated, from Harper's Ferry in 1859 to Appomattox in 1865
Cheryl has an associates degree from MVCC, a bachelors of arts degree in Russian from SUNY at Oswego, and a masters in library science from the University of Michigan. She has done numerous other history lectures in the area including programs at the Mohawk Valley Institute for Learning in Retirement at SUNYIT in Marcy. She is reference librarian at the Dunham Public Library in Whitesboro.
Many of us have heard programs done by Cheryl for our Society and know how well researched and interesting they have been. Plan to attend and support this fellowship with Clinton as they have supported us in the past.
Today New Hartford enters upon a new era, that of a weekly newspaper. It is with much care and thought that the attempt is being made to produce this new enterprise.
The publishers fully considering the fact that Utica is such a near neighbor and producing so many papers, that to publish such a thing so closely is something that requires a union of action among the people, and those in publishing. We will aim to make this weekly visitor more valuable to the people of this section for "home news" than any publication that has been circulated in this vicinity.
We appreciate the kind and encouraging words of the people. We thank them for the financial aid thus given by way of subscription; taking into consideration that we were strangers and that the paper was not yet in existence, we can but admire the feeling expressed by the people in extending their aid to the proposed enterprise, and showed how many take interest in their town and home affairs.
We trust that with age this paper will become a valued addition to the Sauquoit Valley and vicinity.
New Hartford is now on the advance, and is beginning to show its self how other towns do that strive for reputation, by making their needed improvements.
Years ago business seemed to boom in this locality until the transpiring events partially put a stop to its growth.
The settlement of this town commenced in the 1788 by Jedediah Sanger who bought 1,000 acres which now comprises the whole of this village. In 1789 Mr. Sanger erected a saw mill and in the following year a grist mill. The enterprising emigrants started the foundation of our village and made rapid progress in population and wealth. Until the year 1820, when the Erie canal was completed, this village was said to be larger than Utica was at that time. The navigable privileges thus offered made Utica a City and left us in the background.
(editior's note: Unfortunately the rest of this article is so torn and smudged that it cannot be deciphered. Further down on this page was the following;)
A misfortune occurred in this office early last evening just as we were about ready to place the type in the form for this issue. A large galley filled with type that had been carefully placed on the table slipped off on to the floor of its own accord and thus was rendered useless for this occasion. This will cause a great change in our paper now, as considerable news and other matter will have to wait to be sorted out of the wreck. If you discover errors please remember that it is night work, our whole force being employed nearly all night. The Yorkville news and some from Capron are among the missing.
The "home" news from New Hartford and Chadwicks read like this:
Chadwicks
Mr. Dan Bell, who sprained his ankle a few days ago, is at work again.
A. J. Gibson, contracting engineer of Utica, was in town a few days ago.
Charley Goff, who has been suffering from a very bad cold, is out once more.
The Willowvale Bleachery is to be lighted by electricity in the near future. Why cannot they put in a plant large enough to light the whole town?
Eugene Porter, who has been near death's door so long with typhoid pneumonia, is slowly recovering. He has two children down with the same disease, one of them being very low.
Burglars seem to be thick in this vicinity. A few nights ago they tried to effect an entrance into the house of Mrs. Lucy Chadwick Morris. Only for the alarm given by the electric bells they would have succeeded. Mr. Morris began firing at them, but they made good their escape. Tuesday night an attempt was made to break into the house occupied by Dan Cavanaugh in Willowvale. They were frightened away, but came again later in the night. Mrs. C ran to the bleachery, where her husband was employed, but nothing more was seen of them.
New Hartford
C M Gridley is at Madison, NY
Mrs. Pratt's house on Paris street is nearly completed.
The blanket ballot will probably be used used for voting next year.
The New Hartford Canning Company is trying a new labeling machine that works nicely and is said to label 50 cases of corn per hour.
Some of our farmers and gardeners have been plowing the past week. It is not every December that will admit of this kind of work.
Any reliable boy who would like to learn the printing trade will be informed where he can by calling at this office. None under 15 years of age need apply.
The mission of the Passionist Fathers was held at the Church of St. John the Evangelist last Saturday evening.
Miss Lottie Jones who has been visiting for several weeks at Fort Plain and Little Falls has returned to her home on Pearl Street.
Our Crow Hill correspondent writes that there are plenty of pole cats on the hill.
Robert Hague who has been sick for the past 10 weeks reported at his home on Paris street is improved, under the care of Dr. C. R. Hart.
An interesting item from the same paper follows:
A hot roll napkin is now considered one of the indispensable for the breakfast table, and a beauty-loving housewife will appreciate a gift of this sort. Take a piece of white linen half a yard square, fringe the edges and hemstitch; in two of the corners work sprays of wheat, and in the other two, "Hot rolls." It is pretty worked either in pure white or corn-colored filo silk. Fold so that the four corners will come together.
This ad also was in the paper.
The New Hartford High School yearbook, "Jedediac", has been printed each year since 1942 and is a valuable research source. Our Historical Society's collection is missing many copies. We seek your help in obtaining the following issues:
Terence & Mary Lou Coughlin, New Hartford
Katherine Schafer, Holland Patent
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As a result of the mailing that went out reminding members that their membership had expired, we received notification that Charles Mellen of Aurora, Ohio had passed away in 2002. We extend our sympathy to the family.
NEW HARTFORD PUBLIC LIBRARY SHOWCASES
Check out the Historical Society display in the showcases at the library for the month of November.. It has pictures and excerpts from the new history paper, "...And The Band Played On, a History of the New Hartford Citizens Band" compiled by Barbara Munde. This paper will be available free to all members at the December meeting or to non membersfor the cost of $3.00.
The following are in our book store. These make wonderful Christmas gifts. They will be available at the December 4, 2003 meeting which will be held at the Adult Dining and Recreation Center in the form of a covered dish supper and Holiday Celebration. Burke Muller would be happy to answer any questions you may have about these books. He can be reached at 735-8652.
Books
History Papers
Tapes
Excerpts from the diary of Harrison Henry Hopkins who served as an officer in the Civil War in the 148th New York State Regiment, Company B, stationed at Camp Swift, near Geneva, NY.
Harrison Henry Hopkins was Nancy Kelly's (Mrs. Kevin Kelly) great-grandfather. In 1995 Nancy gave a copy of the diary to the New Hartford Historical Society. The following is only a fraction of this very interesting personal account of the Civil War in the United States and it would be fascinating reading for any one interested in history.
Monday, Sept. 24, 1862
Left camp about 9:00 a.m. Left Geneva between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Had a very warm, dusty march from camp to boat. Crowd very great. Many anxious friends and many tears shed at parting. Last saw wife and friends at corner of Water and Castle Streets. Could only wave an adieu. Had a beautiful ride on lake to Elmira.
Sept. 27
Marched in line, passed the Capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue, then to the landing, a march of 4 1/2 miles without halting, through a dust almost suffocating, and darkness dense.
(They go to Fortress Monroe and then to Suffolk.)
Oct. 1
Pickets sent out for first time. Cavalry reconnaissance met the enemy within twelve miles and are driven back.
Oct. 4
Last night we were called out to go and defend a line of breastworks, remained during the night and today at dark were called in. Last night the first of sleeping on the ground without anything but our arms. No enemy appeared.
Oct. 6
Towards sunset a funeral of a lieutenant in an adjoining regiment, a very impressive scene. The slow march to Pleyel's hymn, and "Heaven Is My Home", so beautifully played by their band.
Oct. 14
Captain Clapp gets a pass from Colonel to go to Harpers ferry to see the grave of his brother Alfred
Oct. 16
Five privates brought in by Guard. Sentence of Court Martial each. Charges, marauding. Specifications, accused have taken sweet potatoes from an adjoining field. Plead guilty, were fined by Court Martial five dollars each to be deducted from their pay.
Nov. 4
Our business it to hold and examine boats passing by, mostly oyster boats. Had an invitation to supper not far from my station. Well received in a good house. For supper plenty of oysters, tea and coffee, no milk and little sugar, warm biscuits, butter, and excellent plum sauce. This was the first I had been in a house to a meal since leaving home.
Arrested and sent to town under guard, after searching, William Mehemiah, said to be a banker in Portsmouth, very rich and also a Rebel, on his return fro Richmond. Was disguised, came as a poor market man in a cart with a few vegetables for market. Found large sums of confederate money on his person.
Jan 1, 1863
New Year's Day, a holiday, no drilling. Company officers all notified to report at the Colonel's quarters at 2:00 noon. We marched to Norfolk to pay the compliments of the season to General Viele and lady. At Norfolk the negroes celebrated the day which to them is the dawn of Freedom by forming in procession of 4 to 6 thousand, marched to General Viele's house to pay their compliments. He made them a short speech. The President's Proclamation has made this day a day long to be remembered, in the hearts of the colored people and in the annals of history. Would that it might prove to be the beginning of the end of Rebellion and the restoration of a nation's peace and prosperity.
Jan. 25
We went to the Navy yard, took a boat and went out in the stream to the Wee hauken. She has the appearance of great strength, her guns look formidable. We were able to go aboard the Iroquois and politely shown about the boat by one of her officers. She carries 7 cast guns and 1 brass piece, 2 thirteen inch guns, the rest smaller. Her officers expect to go on a cruise for the pirate Alabama. The Iroquois claims to be one of the fastest boats in the service, making 16 miles per hour.
Apr. 9
There is news that a Rebel raid is expected to be made here tonight.
Apr. 14
A severe battle said to be in progress at Suffolk. The appearance of an extensive fire is seen tonight.
Apr.18
Our gunboats keep the Rebs from abridging and crossing the Nansemond.
Apr. 20
Rebs driven back last night. 150 prisoners taken today.
May 29
Went to Norfolk this forenoon. Today is my 37th birthday which I cannot realize, time moves so fast. At 5:00 p.m. the paymaster arrives. The different companies are called in and paid off. The amount paid to myself $205.24.
June 30
Appointed officer of the picket guard. An attack by guerillas expected.
July 4
News today of an engagement between General Lee and Meade. Meade reported successful. The battle still rages.
July 11
This afternoon 2nd lieutenant of Company A of Ist Regiment of Virginia, Colored volunteers, was shot down by a citizen of Norfolk while marching through the streets at the head of his company. Much excitement in consequence.
Sept. 14
This is the first day of our second year's service for the government, as we were mustered in the U.S. service at Geneva, New York September 14, 1862, for 3 years unless sooner discharged.
Oct. 3
Am detailed for Cape Henry to take command of the Lighthouse. Find most of the men anxious to be relieved.
Oct 5
Numerous sails in view. Here we are mostly removed from the noise and bustle of the world and listen only to Old Ocean's continuous roar. We are 6 to 7 miles from the nearest inhabitant, a barren waste of sand surrounds, and half a mile to our rear an extensive and heavily timbered swamp abounding in wild game and fruit. This evening went out to see them draw their nets. One large net with 8 men drew 150 bushels of fish. Spots are the principal fish caught and by the fishermen are highly prized not only for their excellence for eating but for their superior quality for pickling.
Oct. 13
We leave for Norfolk on the City of Hudson steamer arriving at Fort Monroe, we get our papers and start for Yorktown where we arrive at 12:00 noon. Find our regiment in camp inside the fort.
Oct. 17
I'm officer of the brigade guard today. Go about and observe more fully the strength and defenses of the fort. We were complimented by the General for duty.
Nov. 6
I go to Fort Monroe to be mustered out of service as 2nd lieutenant and to be mustered in as 1st lieutenant.
Nov. 15
A review today by General Wistar. Howard's Battery, 16th New York Heavy Artillery, 11th Connecticut, 148th New York, and 6th Regiment of Colored troops reviewed.
(He is granted a leave of absence and goes home to Geneva from Nov. 16 to 28th.)
Nov. 30 Arrived at Fort Monroe at 7:00 a.m. At 1:00 p.m. we left on the steamer for Yorktown.
Dec. 16
Our regimental hospital removed today. About 8:00 p.m. it takes fire, is burned, and communicated fire to several buildings adjoining. The bakery and guard house are burned, also 3 brick buildings which were used for ordnance depots and filled with stores. A new magazine just completed and filled was blown up, large quantities of stores were destroyed. 6 to 8 men wounded.
Jan 20, 1864
General inspection today by an inspecting officer. Inspection in the forenoon, afternoon drill and review, firings by blank cartridges at the drill. Sergeants put under arrest for the firing of pieces in their quarters after drill.
Feb. 6
Leave our camping ground at 8:00 a.m. Near Williamsburg halt nearly 2 hours to arrange and form the army corps for marching. An order from General Wistar is here, read to the different regiments in the corps admonishing them that to be successful they must make rapid marches, endure privations, and probably do calm and steady fighting. The corps consisted of Colonel West's brigade, 2 colored brigades, 4th New York Battery L, 4th Rhode Island Battery, preceded by from 2,000 to 3,000 cavalry under Colonel Spears. Marched 16 miles without stopping, then marched to the New Kent Court House where we arrived at 2:30 a.m. on the 7th. The soldiers feet were quite generally blistered.
Mar. 7
We form a line to the field to witness the execution of Private Abrams of the 139th NY. Crime, furnishing information to, also advising and abetting, the convict Boyle with such information as to enable them to defeat the expedition of February 1st. At 11:30 the Provost Marshal with the prisoner and guard made their appearance and in a few moments the prisoner was no more.
April 15
Two deserters shot from the 2nd New Hampshire at 9:00 a.m. Troops coming in from the south.
Apr. 22
We leave Yorktown at 2:00 p.m. and march towards Williamsburg and near sundown encamp not far from Fort Magruder. Orders this evening to reduce baggage to the least possible amount and at once to prepare for active field service.
May 6
Action begun near sundown, Six hundred men with officers detailed for fatigue duty to fall timber and prepare to plant artillery. Engagements to the front during the day. The Rebs driven back. Wounded brought in.
May 9
This morning moved out by sunrise and find where the enemy is posted about noon. A warm engagement this afternoon. Infantry firing very rapid at times. Our regiment held in reserve and assigned to support the 5th Battery of regulars. Shells from the Rebel battery explode near us, some go over us, several attacks made by the Rebs during the night. They were severely repulsed.
May 12
Formed line soon after daylight and marched out. After several miles marching through some of the worst pieces of wood to get through I ever saw amid a furious thundershower, we came upon the enemy. The skirmishers drove them some distance when their batteries opened on our line. One regiment only halted in a wood, another regiment on our left charged and drove the Rebs back. Night comes on dark and stormy. We sleep on arms in line of battle through the night.
May 13
Several batteries with 3 or 4 brigades about us, the enemy one mile in front entrenched. Fighting today, skirmishes and artillery. At 9:00 p.m. self with 12 men are detailed by General Wistar to make a reconnaissance to the front to learn whether the enemy were in force or falling back. The object attained, Major of the 10th New Hampshire badly wounded. General Grant's victory announced today.
Start for West Point, a novel way for me to spend my birthday.
Editor's note:
Please let me know if you would like to have more of this journal in the next newsletter. It goes to May 1, 1865. It contains a lot of very interesting firsthand accounts that make for good reading.
GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT LIFE THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED
October 2003
Table of Contents
October Program
A Century Ago Water And Coal Made The Town Go
Welcome To New Members
Last Reminder For Dues
Spuds Plenty, Laborers Few…
Female Vs Male
October Program
Thursday, October 2, 2003 7:00 pm
Train Station—Kellogg Road, New Hartford
Middle Settlement & J.K. Lumber History –Fellow member Kevin Kelly, Speaker
J.K. Lumber , established in 1937 on the Seneca Turnpike, has been in the same family since its beginning. Started by Kevin Kelly’s father, then to Kevin and his brothers, and now to sons of the Kelly brothers, the business has been a vital part of the town of New Hartford. The surrounding Seneca Turnpike area is rich with history, also, and we will hear about that during Kevin’s talk. Kevin moved to New Hartford with his family when he was in fourth grade and has lived here ever since. As a community-minded person, he supports many local enterprises, in particular the New Hartford Public Library. We guarantee an interesting evening for all who attend. Hope we see you there.
A CENTURY AGO WATER AND COAL MADE THE TOWN GO
By Kenneth Fuller
Reprinted from the May, 1982 edition of the Tally-Ho
What was it like along the Sauquoit Creek in the Town of New Hartford a century ago, in the late 1870’s? How different things were from to-day! Think of working for ten cents an hour and buying sirloin steak in
Dixon’s store in the village for sixteen cents a pound! There were almost no telephones; there were no automobiles; there wasn't even an electric trolley to Utica, though there were the slow horse-drawn street cars. Genesee
Street was a mud hole when it rained. The town and its industries were quite separate and removed from their neighbors in Utica and Whitesboro—an hour or two either way. Many small, and several substantial locally owned and
operated industries flourished. It was long before the day of the chain store and the branch factory. Hometown people ran their businesses, determined their policies, and took pride in their crafts. They did not miss electric
light and power, gas engines, fast communication, and shopping centers because they had never seen nor had them.
The industrial revolution, however, was already under way and beginning to be felt. The water power of the Sauquoit creek, which had been the great force in developing the industries in the early days, was beginning to give way to steam. The creek was smaller due to denuding of the hills whence the water came, and the steam engine was replacing the water wheel. The Utica and Chenango Branch of the D.L.&W. Railroad, the New York & Oswego, Midland Railway and the Chenango Canal hauled in King Coal from Pennsylvania to fire the steam boilers, and hauled away the products of the mills.
The old dams and mill ponds still remained, many until well into the twentieth century. They were like a series of steps along the creek, tailrace to dam, and tailrace to dam from New York Mills to Cassville for the seven or eight miles of the valley. In the town of New Hartford alone a dozen or more factories hummed with looms, spindles, sewing machines, hammers, forges and grinders, converting cotton, wool, grain, iron, trees and leather into underwear, stockings, sheeting, textile machinery, farm implements, flour and lumber—and even Scotch caps and Switzer cheese.
Let us imagine a walk along the creek in about the year 1889 from the Upper Mills of the Walcott & Campbell Company in New York Mills to Chadwicks on the other side of town, a distance of about three miles. There would always have been a whirring factory within sight or sound.
The Upper New York Mills of the Walcott & Campbell Company were situated at the intersection of the Burrstone Road (then known as Asylum Street) and Main Street. One of the buildings, originally a burrstone grist mill, was located right near the present bridge across the creek. Some of this mill’s old payroll books are in the archives of the Oneida Historical Society at Utica and show wages of operators in the late 1860’s at from $8.00 to $12.00 a week for six eleven-hour days. It is interesting to note that some of the wage computations were still being made in shillings.
Next up the creek we come to the Utica Cotton Company, known as the Capron Mill, among whose founders were Dr. Seth Capron of Oriskany and the Sewards of New Hartford This mill employed 125 to 130 operators, had 156 looms and 7056 spindles, turning out some 46,000 yards of unbleached sheeting per week.
A little father along, within the village of New Hartford, was the knitting factory of Armstrong and Baker. This building had previously been occupied by Thomas and Ezekiel Williams as a tannery, and today is a portion of the Partlow Corporation. Armstrong and Baker a century ago employed about fifty hands and put out 500 dozen underwear shirts and drawers a week. The mill pond of this factory was formed from the tailrace from the McLean grist mill flowing from some distance south across Genesee Street. That tailrace went across Genesee Street under bridges. One of the bridges for the sidewalk is illustrated in this article and was located between the building of the former Wanamaker Furniture factory and the recent Leather Bottle restaurant. (ed. Casa Too Mucha now occupies that building.) On the north side of Genesee the stream ran about where the Paris Cinema now stands.(ed. This is no longer an operating theater)
After crossing Genesee Street on our journey south we would go along a lane, past the village lock-up and come to McLean’s Grist Mill, a large frame structure still operating by water power. This mill was established by Jedediah Sanger in about 1789. It was located where one enters the Sauquoit valley Arterial from Oxford Road and about a hundred yards beyond the old (reputedly Sanger) barn which is across from the Baptist church. (ed. The barn is no longer there)
Now if we followed the line of the grist mill pond southerly behind the present Central School Athletic Fields we would come to the large factory of The New Hartford Cotton Manufacturing Company. There was a fine stone building at the lower end of what is now Daly Place, then known as the Lane. This was an old enterprise, established in 1815-1816 by a stock company. As late as 1878 and somewhat later it was run by water power. W. S. Bartlett was President and John W. McLean was Vice President. It then employed about 80 operators, had 92 looms and 4428 spindles producing some 29,000 yards of sheeting a week. At the dam which diverted the water of the creek to this mill were water gates known, even in this writer’s early years, as "Head Gates" a quarter of a mile or so up the creek from the mill. The water works from Head Gates through the mill, thence to the grist mill and across Genesee Street through the Armstrong & Baker mill and back to the main creek formed a narrow island about a half mile long.
Following the creek a short way above Head Gates we would have come to the plant and mill pond of Huntley & Babcock’s Hoe and Fork Factory at Washington Mills. This was situated on the easterly side of the creek west of Oneida Street and north of Kellogg Road, approximately where Ferraro’s landscaping establishment is now located. (ed. That business is no longer in existence) The company manufactured forks, hoes and agricultural implements known as the "Queen City" brand.
Then in Washington Mills just across Kellogg Street near the bridge over the creek stood the large building of the Stewart Woolen Mills. This business employed 120 operators at one time. Later it became the Standard Silk Company. This enterprise was originally started by Frederick Hollister who had a drug store in Utica called the "Checkered Drug Store". He painted his mill with large checkers which for years gave Washington Mills the name of "Checkerville."
In Willowvale there was the Rogers & Butler Foundry and Machine Shop with a large factory for the manufacture of cotton and woolen mill machinery, castings and general machinist’s work, and not far away was the N. Douglas Saw and Plaster Mill, and there was a saw and grist mill on the creek.
Chadwicks was a substantial industrial center, the site of the G. W. Chadwick Cotton Mills, also known as the "Eagle Cotton Factory". This was an old business established in 1809 by Abner Brownell, John Chadwick and Ira Todd who put up a stone mill. A young man named C. E. Macomber had been visiting in the valley and noted the fine water power available. He wrote to his brother-in-law, Abner Brownell of Otsego County about it. This led to Brownell’s coming here to form a company and build the mill. In 1878 this mill employed about 150 operators, had 214 looms and 9000 spindles producing 60,000 yards of yard-wide cloth a week. At that time it was still using water power.
These mills along the creek provided livelihood for many hundreds of workers in those days. Most of the big mills also provided long rows of modest frame houses for many of the employees at low rental. Some of these "mill houses" can still be seen along Burrstone Road in New York Mills.
Besides the big mills there were in the town a number of smaller manufacturers such as:
John Baner who made batting, boots an shoes,
P. Hoffman who made Switzer cheese,
Cook, Northrop & Peckham who made Scotch caps,
Johnson & Lockhart who made carriages and sleighs,
William H. Gladwin who made bobbins and spools.
Roger and Chris Potcki - New Hartford
If your mailing label does not read June 2004, you are behind in your dues. Any questions, call Barb Munde, 737-8216
(This article is from an October 23, 1965 edition of the Observer dispatch)
George and John Humphreys, operators of the Humphreys farm on Tibbitts Road In New Hartford, couldn’t find enough laborers to harvest their 40-acre potato crop this year, so they looked elsewhere to solve their problem. They bought a $10,000 potato harvester.
The machine digs and loads two rows of potatoes at a time. About six workers are needed, however, to separate stubborn stones that sometimes get stuck in the harvester’s tilting chain belt. The machine automatically places the potatoes on the conveyor belt, and buries the inedible part of the plant.
The men and machine harvest about 1,600 bushels a day. Some of the crop is sold to retail outlets in the area, while some is sold to producers of frozen French fried potatoes. The bulk of the crop, however, is shipped to Florida where it is used as seed. Because the potatoes will be used for seed, the crop is inspected at least three times a year by the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the Certified Seed Growers Coop. The potatoes must be free of all disease.
George Humphreys said the potatoes grown on his farm are
"Sebago" - an Indian name taken from the name of a lake in Maine, where the original crop was planted years ago.
The potato harvest season in the Oneida County area begins in late September and ends the third or fourth week of October. A fast-working crew of laborers can harvest as much as 3,000 bushels of potatoes a day, Humphreys said. Almost twice as much as the harvester. The New Hartford grower added, however, that the machine was more dependable since on some days laborers only pick as few as 200 bushels a day.
His men and machine harvest about three acres a day.
If Laurie, Linda, Elizabeth and Barbara go out for lunch, they will call each other Laurie, Linda, Elizabeth and Barbara. If Mark, Chris, Eric and Tom go out, they will refer to each other affectionately as Fat Boy, Godzilla, Peanut-Head and Scrappy.
When the bill arrives, Mark, Chris, Eric and Tom will each throw in $20, even tho the bill is only $32.50. None of them have anything smaller and none will actually admit they want change back. When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.
Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed. Women somehow deteriorate during the night..
September 2003
Table of Contents
Annual Dinner
It Was A Great Day for a Walk
The Gingerbread House On Oxford Road
Election Of Officers And Trustees
Point School Commencement
Welcome To New Members
Butler Hall
Little Known Facts
First United Methodist Church
105 Genesee Street, New Hartford, NY
September 4, 2003
Speaker: Allan Foote
6:00 P.M. Cheese and Punch 6:45 P.M. Roast Beef Dinner
Allan Foote is no stranger to the New Hartford Historical Society. In March of this year he presented a program on Baron Von Stueben for us. This time he will talk about his book, "Young Liberator: Experiences of an American Soldier during the Second World War" (in the European theater), co-authored by Ken Thayer, with a lecture program and photos. Allan has a life-long interest in military history and has written several books that include the Revolutionary War and the battle of Oriskany. He is President of the Northern Frontier Project.
A big thank-you to all the people who participated in our Historic Homes Tour on Sunday, June 8, 2003. More than 90 people arrived at the starting point in front of the Wedgewood Apartments to be met by Tom Blackstone who conducted the walk. A brochure with text and pictures of the various stops on our route was distributed.. The tour ended at the New Hartford Public Library where punch, coffee, tea, and cookies were enjoyed by all. It was a very satisfying afternoon according to all the conversation overheard at the library.
THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE ON OXFORD ROAD
By Doug Preston
(continued from June, 2003 issue)
[This article originally appeared in the April 1985, Number 3, Volume VIII edition of the Tally-Ho!]
About 1889, Morgan Butler retired from farming, leased his farm and house to Charles S. Green of Utica, and moved to a house on the present site of the Oxford Road school in order to be able to personally supervise the construction of Butler Hall. Morgan Butler passed away in 1892, but Mr. Green continued to lease the farm. Charles Stewart Green (1835-1903) was a son of the Rev. Beriah Green of Whitesboro, the famous abolitionist. Young Charles did not follow in his father’s footsteps, however, but gained fame of his own as a trainer, driver and dealer of race horses. He lived on Long Island for many years until about 1878 when he returned to Utica, and leased the old Utica Driving Park. When that was sold to become the site of the Masonic Home, he leased the Butler farm. He laid out a half-mile track on the flat land across Oxford Road from the house, and, according to one newspaper account, "in the barn had everything that a first class horse could wish for." He gave up the farm and returned to Utica about 1900.
Following Mr. Green’s departure, it appears that Morgan Butler’s widow gave the old place to William E. Dewhurst, the Butlers’ hired man/coachman/gardener for may years. Mr. Dewhurst died in March of 1913 and in June his widow sold the farm to Christopher and Minnie Hoffman, owners of the next farm south on Oxford Road, which also included a Gothic collage, now located at the corner of Beechwood Road.
The exact history of the house at 116 Oxford Road (as its address had come to be listed after being simply "South near limits" is somewhat unclear through the 1920s and 30s. It appears that, soon after purchasing the Butler farm, the Hoffmans built the house known today as 112 Oxford Road (across Hoffman Road) , lived there and tried to sell the big old house. At least two other families, the Vincent Callaghans and the Everett Whitmyres, are understood to have lived there during this period, during the late 1920s and about 1932, respectfully.
Nevertheless, tradition has it that it was Minnie Hoffman who applied the extensive wall stenciling throughout the house (mostly now masked by layers of paint), who commissioned the small mural of a Scottish castle in the front hall, and who—as a sometime dealer—filled it with antiques. In 1924, the Hoffmans sold practically all of the farm but the property now remaining with the house to the Hugh R. Jones Company of Utica which began the development of "Oxford Heights" including a new street, named Hoffman Road. A map made at this time includes a detailed outline of the old house and shows an extension to the rear which has since been removed, as well as several farm buildings.
A picture from the 1970 Firemen’s Convention and New Hartford Centennial in August shows Queen Rosemary Kukowski atop a New Hartford fire truck.
Queen Rosemary with John Leach, Betty Cook, Dorothy Eddy, Gladys Ornday, Peg Sherwood, Harold Eddy, Bill Leach, Stuart Cook, and Charles Pace
.Christopher Hoffman died in 1935, and Minnie in 1953. At this time, the property passed to a niece whom they had raised from childhood, Sophia Corinne Hoffman. Miss Hoffman -known to her friends as Corinne—was a teacher in the Utica Public Schools. Miss Hoffman did not live in the house but she did use it to entertain the D.A.R. and other groups to which she belonged, and she rented the rooms on the north side to another Utica teacher, Miss Martha Gates. It is probably for this reason that the house was not subjected to any "remuddling" (modernization) in recent years. The house was opened to the public at the time of the Village centennial in 1970.
Miss Hoffman died March 29, 1977. The late Leo A. Buskey of Utica conducted a sale of the contents, including many beautiful antiques, in the fall of 1977. We purchased the house from Miss Hoffman’s estate in January of 1978. Since then, we have partitioned off a laundry room from the garage previously created in the back wing, installed insulation in the attic, purchased storm windows, installed a new electrical service entrance and performed innumerable minor repairs and adjustments. The most visible change came in the summer of 1980 when we decided to have it painted cottage red with two-tone olive green trim inspired by a Gothic house we had admired in Fayetteville. This color scheme is more characteristic of the 1870’s than the 1840’s, but it is more appropriate than the white with green trim the house wore for many years, and we like it. We know we will never run out of projects like brightening up the interior and introducing a reasonable amount of modern conveniences. We’re sure Mr. Butler would approve.
The Village of New Hartford has enjoyed many economic and cultural advancements over these One Hundred Years and developed as an outstanding progressive village of which all its residents may be justly proud.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND TRUSTEES
At our June meeting the following officers and trustees were elected:
| President | Barbara Zogby |
| Vice-President | Burke Galer |
| Secretary | Barbara Couture |
| Treasurer | Ken Kazanjian |
| Trustees to 2006 | Elaine Kelsey, Bob Jones |
Continuing as Board Members are Jim Spellman, Judy Wenner and Burke Muller.
Honorary members are Bob Anderson, Nellie Kazanjian and Bob Dicker.
Our thanks to John Pitarresi and Arthur Baker for their support during their tenure.
POINT SCHOOL COMMENCEMENT
May 20, 1979
Printed below are excerpts from a School Board Report given by Ken Kanzanjian at the commencement..
On Friday evening, September 5, 1902, the Dedication Exercises of the New Hartford High School Building took place. The program included the following:
On Tuesday, June 20, 1905 at 2:00 PM the Third Commencement of the New Hartford High School was held. The program included the following speakers:
The first minutes of the New Hartford High School that are available are for August 9, 1904. At that time, the Board of Education consisted of Messrs. Hodges, Pres.; Allport, Lasher, Mallory, Osborn, Bolton, and Spicer. The principal was A.M Scripture. The Clerk of the Board was John Miller. Charles Hunziker was the janitor and W.E. Durrenbeck was the attendance officer.
According to a report issued by A.M. Scripture on July 16, 1906, the New Hartford High School was established in 1899. There were thirty-eight graduates from between 1899—1906. On July 16, 1906 the school’s revenue was $9088.76 and its payments were $8678.26. Balance on hand was $410.50. There would be a tax decrease of $103.80 for the 1906-07 school fiscal year. Seventy-four years later the projected budget of the New Hartford Central School district is unofficially, at this time, since it has not been voted upon by the Board for submission to the voters, approximately $8,800,000. The local tax to be raised may be in excess of $3,700,000.
On April 30, 1910, Professor Baldwin is appointed as principal and resignation of A.M. Scripture is accepted in August, 1910. On May 5. 1911, Prof. Baldwin’s resignation is accepted and on May 20, 1911, Mr. H.D. Hopkins is appointed principal at a salary of $1,400. On April 3, 1928, H.D. Hopkins submits his resignation and it is accepted. Mr. D.E. Grove is appointed principal. On July 13, 1937 Principal Grove is released from active duty due to illness and until such time as his physician approves his return. However, the matter is to be reviewed in July, 1938. Meanwhile, it appears that Marvin Gibson is carrying out Grove’s duties as an acting principal. On April 29, 1938, Mr. Gibson is appointed Vice-Principal and teacher. On April 30, 1938, Dr. Leon Westfall is appointed Supervising Principal. On August 4, 1947, Marvin Gibson resigned as Vice-Principal. At the same meeting, Dr. Leon Westfall submitted his resignation. Further, the Board made the following appointments: Ralph Perry, Acting Supervising Principal; Miss Eloise Daly, Acting assistant Principal; and Raymond Benjamin, Acting Assistant Principal. On June 12, 1944, Ralph Perry was appointed to replace Mr. Herman Lybarger as Elementary Principal. In June, 1972, Mr. Hughes was succeeded by Robert Myles who served till his death in January, 1974. Robert Evans was then chosen as the last principal for the Point School. On February 2, 1948, Ralph Perry was appointed Supervising Principal and when he retired in 1970, he was succeeded by the present Superintendent, Dr. James Meyer.
The front or old section of the Point School was erected in 1901. On November 8, 1910, reference was made to overcrowded conditions at the eighth grade level. On January 12, 1914, the Board appointed a committee of two to secure an option on a site for the Branch School—-later to be referred to as the Sunset Ave School. On September 3, 1914, at a Special District Meeting it was voted that no property be bought or contracted for by the Board without condemnation proceedings. Another vote taken showed 96 favored the Sunset Street properties and 86 against. The two properties were to be secured for a price of $3,6000 each. Then a vote approved the raising of $20,000 for construction and granted authorization to draw plans. On December 1, 1914, a Special District Meeting was held and a vote was taken to condemn properties for the branch School since the Board was unable to agree with owners upon a reasonable price. The vote was Yes 66 and No 46. The new school was to be opened on September 7, 1915, but on that date the Board rented two rooms at Butler Hall for school purposes for $50.00 per month.
On December 20, 1918, reference was made for need for larger school accommodations. On January 29, 1919, the Board agreed to seek six months option on the J.G. Hoffman property for $10,500. On April 19, 1919, voter approval for the purchase of property and the construction of a fireproof school building at a cost of $95,000 was granted. In the late 1920’s references were again made to overcrowded conditions and a need for a new school. On June 15, 1928, the voters approved the purchase of property on Oxford Road for $25,000. On May 7, 1929 voters approved the purchase of a parcel of land from the Methodist Church. On November 11, 1929, the architects were appointed for the new school. Records later show that a special election was to be held on January 12, 1931 to vote on a $250,000 school construction proposition. No record shows the vote, but obviously it was approved.
In recent years there have a been several proposals to eliminate the Point School as instruction buildings. Following a $2.9 million bond defeat on December 10, 1974, the Board of Education was faced with the choice of renovating the school to meet the deficiencies listed by the State Education Department or relocate classes in the Oxford Road, Myles and Hughes Schools. The later option was followed in 1975 when the School Board established a central kindergarten in the new section of the Point School. Then in 1977, the kindergarten classes were returned to their respective elementary buildings. On September 26, 1978, the Board of Education voted to put the Point School up for sale. On January 9, 1979, the Board of Education voted to sell the Point School to the Village of New Hartford for $85,000. District offices located in the Point School will be transferred to the Oxford Road School early in the summer of 1979.
New Hartford High School c. 1949
Phil and Betty Pearle—New Hartford
Charles Cole—Sauquoit
Rita & Carol Sator—New Hartford
Carol & Don Ryan—New Hartford
In the May 13, 1890 dedication of Butler Hall it is mentioned that about 300 books were purchased by gifts from Mrs. Harriet C. Wetmore, Mrs. George Buch, Miss Sophia D. Butler, Mrs. Henry Butler and Mrs. Frank A. Parker in memory of Truman K. Butler, Mrs. Hannah Brown and Henry Butler. There is a inference that this was to start a library.
Apparently they were placed in the ‘reading room’. Mrs. Terry, daughter of Francis Butler and Harriet Sherrill provided subscriptions for the Reading Room to: The International Quarterly, The North American Review, Harper’s Monthly, Scribner’s Magazine, The Cosmopolitan, Outing, St. Nichola’s. Harper’s Young People, Harper’s Weekly, Littell’s Living Age, Public Opinion, The Nation, The Voice, and Scientific America. Also to newspapers: Utica O.D., Press and Herald; New York’s Tribune, Times, Sun, Mail, and Express; Albany’s Evening Journal’ Chicago’s Tribune, and the New York Independent.
A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
The fingerprints of koala bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene.
Beelzebub, another name for the devil, is Hebrew for Lord of the Flies, and this is where the book’s title comes from..
The ship, The Queen Elizabeth 2, should always be written as QE2. QEII is the actual queen.
The correct response to the Irish greeting, "Top of the morning to you," is "and the rest of the day to yourself."
June 5, 2003 Program
New Hartford Town Crier
The Gingerbread House on Oxford Road
Steele Brook Farm
Welcome To New Members
May Program Well Received
Slate Of Officers To Be Presented At The June Annual Meeting
Do You Remember When?
SHOW AND TELL
Thursday, June 5, 2003 7:00 PM
Community Building (Train Station) - Washington Mills, NY
"’Tis Spring’ finally and you all know that means Show and Tell time at the New Hartford Historical Society. It is also the time for our annual meeting and election of officers and trustees for the year 2003-2004. And you can pay your dues for next year at that meeting also. So, how can you not come!
It really is a fun time and every year someone brings something that stumps the experts. So rummage around in your attic for something grandma and grandpa left there. Or maybe you have some old pictures taken at various places around New Hartford that show how the town used to look years ago. Or some of your ancestors may have brought something old with them when they came to this country. If you look, you will find. But come and listen, even if you don’t bring anything. The important thing is to come and support your society.
Published by Ed Juergensen and Ted Gurley
From April 14, 1939 edition
This week’s hobbyist is Robert Kellerman, Allport Place; who devotes his leisure time to the operating of an amateur radio station (W8NTX), which consists of a 3 tube transmitter on an 80 meter code. Bob, who is the only amateur now operating in New Hartford, communicates with other radio enthusiasts from various parts of the country. A few of the short wave stations that he has picked up are from Texas, Missouri, New Jersey, Maine, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Hampshire, West Virginia, and Connecticut. He has received amateur broadcasts from far away India, and has also communicated with William Orchard of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Short wave broadcasting is not the only radio work that Bob does. His latest invention is an electric eye burglar alarm. Whenever a person comes in contact with the beam of light on the contrivance, the circuit is broken, and a bell is sounded.
Our hobbyist has engaged in this interesting radio pastime for five years. He is a member of the American Radio Relay League.
From an April 21, 1939 edition.
This week’s hobby devotee makes use of his leisure time by indulging in a very interesting and unusual hobby. He is Mr. Bruce M. Souter, Oxford Road, who finds much enjoyment in collecting various pictures and objects pertaining to the circus world. Mr. Souter collects autographed pictures of ring performers, posters, and magazines of the big shows. He also has three model circus wagons, one of which was made by Howard Matty. It is one of the finest circus parade wagons in this vicinity. An autographed picture of Clyde Beatty, famous animal tamer, is another prize exhibit of our hobbyist.
Mr. Souter takes in every circus he possibly can. Last year he attended 8 shows. His acquaintance with many ring performers enables him to obtain their pictures and autographs. A picture of every member of the Great Ringling Brothers--Barnum and Baily Show is an outstanding exhibit in his unusual collection.
Mr. Souter is a member of the Circus Fans Association and also of the Circus Model Builders Association. The former is a club composed of 450 circus enthusiasts from all sections of the country. Mr. George Baker, Utica Florist, is also a member. The club, whose motto is "Pay As You Go", meets once a year at one of the big ring shows. At that time a banquet is held for the performers of the circus.
Mr. Souter also finds enjoyment as an active member of Al Sittig’s famous band.
From an April 28,1939 edition
Mr. R. E. Codner, Sanger Avenue, spends his leisure time collection old and new American pennies. His collection, consisting mostly of Lincoln head pennies, ranges from 1909 to 1938. He has 67 of the 82 different varieties of American "one cent pieces"; his goal being 50 coins for each year since 1909.
Mr. Codner offers us some interesting information concerning the place of manufacture of these coins. A penny with the letter D underneath the date signifies that it was made in the Denver mint. The letter S denotes that the coin was made in San Fransisco, where another United States mint is located. If there is no letter below the date, Philadelphia is the "birthplace".
Eagle pennies, made of copper and nickel, were put out from 1856 to 1858. Indian head pennies (composed of metal and copper) circulated from 1859 through 1864; and from the latter date, up until 1909, were made of copper. Lincoln "one cents" came into
existence about 1909. They were designed by Victor D. Brenner, whose initials (V.D.B.) may be distinguished by means of a magnifying glass on the 1909 and 1917 pennies.
Mr. Codner finds much enjoyment sorting out these various coins. He says that he will eventually buy a new typewriter through his "one cent" savings.
From a June 2, 1939 edition.
This week’s hobbyist devotes his leisure time to the building of trolley lines. He is Robert G. Gurley, 40 Hartford Terrace, who is the owner and operator of the SAUQUOIT VALLEY TRACTION COMPANY. It is a miniature interurban trolley line, built to 1 1/4" scale, which operates in the cellar of Bob’s home.
The entire line boasts over 200 feet of main line trackage, and 25 feet of yard tracks. It is divided into two sections -- a double track suburban division, and a single track interurban division.
Unlike the average miniature railway, this little pike uses a regulation overhead wire to obtain it’s power, and is in every way possible an exact counter-part of the familiar street railway.
At present, three power cars are in operation, and two more are under construction. Interurban equipment consists of two combination passenger and express cars, and a deluxe parlor car, to handle local business on the suburban division, and a freight locomotive.
Both divisions of the railway are independently controlled so that several cars can be operated at the same time without danger of collusion.
Model railway fans are extended a cordial invitation to visit the SAUQUOIT VALLEY TRACTION COMPANY.
Bob, in addition to this interesting hobby, collects photographs of abandoned as well as modern street car lines.
Also from this same issue
E. Wanamaker & Son, furniture manufacturers, will move their place of business from the present plant at 8 Oxford Road, to the plant formerly occupied by the American Emblem Company, 13 Genesee Street. Machine, cabinet, spring and upholstery departments are included in the plant.
Almost 20 years ago Doug Preston submitted this article to the editors of the Tally-Ho. The information is still as interesting as it was back in 1984 and is worth re-printing.
THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE ON OXFORD ROAD
"...my grandfather built the house in which I was born, and have always lived, and in which I still live..." - Morgan Butler, quoted by the Rev. I.N. Terry, 1890
Our home at 116 Oxford Road is known formally in the pages of Wood and Stone: Landmarks of the Upper Mohawk Region as the "Butler-Hoffman house" and less formally to may area residents as "the gingerbread house on Oxford Road." Ever since we moved into this fascinating old home in the winter of 1978, we have tried to piece together its history. We still haven’t tied up every loose end, but I believe that we can give a fair account at this time.
The story begins in 1789 when Eli Butler, Sr., of Middletown, Connecticut, first came to the Sauquoit Valley to purchase farms for his three eldest sons. He himself did not remain at that time, but he would be back. In 1792, another pioneer, Solomon Kellogg, purchased a 50-acre farm on the west side of today’s Oxford Road and, according to local tradition, he built "a small frame house." Eli Butler, Sr., returned to this area in 1793 and purchased Kellogg’s farm (and house) and settled with his wife, seven daughters and youngest son. Eli Butler, Jr. Again, tradition has it that he enlarged the house to accommodate his large family, and he lived there until his death in 1802. He also acquired 50 additional acres across Oxford Road.
Eli Butler, Jr., inherited his pioneer father’s farm and in 1805 brought to it a wife, Rachel Kellogg, daughter of Solomon Kellogg’s brother, Truman. Their first son, Morgan Butler, was born in the family homestead in 1807. Eli Butler, Jr., died in 1832 and Morgan Butler in the next few years acquired sole ownership of the farm, being the third generation of Butlers to own the place. In 1841 he married Marianne Howard of Frankfort. They had no children but still their household was large, with Mr. Butler’s mother, several unmarried sisters and hired help in residence.
The early history of the house itself is very sketchy, but based on structural evidence, a few documents, local tradition passed down by Morgan Butler’s niece, Mrs. I.N. Terry and by the late Laura Day Cookinham, and particularly on the statement of Morgan Butler quoted at the beginning of this article, we surmise that it first consisted of the central 2 1/2 story portion facing Oxford Road, without any wings. This section is framed of hand-hewn timbers in the Connecticut style and originally had one massive central chimney and no central hallways. The large rear wing parallel to Hoffman Road may be what Eli Butler, Sr., added to accommodate his large family.
Sometime prior to 1857, when an illustration of the house in generally its present appearance was published on a map of the Town of New Hartford, it appears that Morgan Butler had the old homestead remodeled into the then-fashionable Gothic Revival style. The Gothic Revival was one of a series of romantic architectural styles that swept America in the mid-nineteenth century. With its emphasis on "natural" colors and materials, its integration of building and landscape, and in many cases its asymmetrical plans and fanciful details, the Gothic Revival house was a dramatic contrast to the formal, white miniature temples of the preceding Greek Revival style, or the simple styles brought from New England by the pioneer settlers of Central New York. Gothic Revival was popularized in the 1840’s and 50s by the writings and publications of plans, notably by Andre Jackson Downing, but also by Calvert Vaux and others. Their pattern books not only made it possible for local builders to erect new houses and other buildings in the new style, but, as in the case of the Butler house, to update (in the words of Calvert Vaux) an "old, simple wooden homestead... altogether too solid and substantial to be pulled down...(around which) ...linger ... many interesting associations and family reminiscences...(and) which has been, perhaps, the home of the father’s and grandfather’s childhood."
In the case of the Butler house, the renovations involved the removal of the original central chimney and fireplaces, the creation of the present front-to-back central hallways upstairs and down, and the building of the present staircase, probably to replace a steep, narrow staircase originally located just inside the front door. Two new chimneys with shallow, coal-burning fireplaces with Gothic-style cast-iron surrounds were constructed (and contorted in the attic to fit between existing rafters). One-and-one-half story additions were built at each end of the house, facing Oxford Road. Each addition contains a single room downstairs, connected by doors to the front and back rooms of the original house, and a large, walk-in closet upstairs for each front bedroom. Each of the four bedroom - two on each side of the center hall - also acquired a small closet next to the fireplace in the room, probably at the same time. The additions are distinguished externally by oriel windows with leaded glass panes and French doors downstairs and circular windows upstairs. Underneath, they are even more readily distinguished by their rectangular, sawn floor joists (as opposed to the rough-hewn log joists of the main part of the house).
A huge gable was added in the front of the attic, featuring a characteristically Gothic lancet window (and sawn rafters as opposed to the hand-hewn wooden-pegged rafters of the main roof). It is also possible to see in the attic where the original chimney had passed through the center of the roof and to detect traces of mortar from the chimney on the collar beams that tie the rafters together about six feet (good head-bumping height) above the attic floor. Porches were added front and read, the eaves of the main roof were widened, and the whole house was given a liberal treatment of scroll-sawn bargeboards (the proper term for the "gingerbread") along the eaves. The final touches were a finial at the peak of the front gable and wooden battlements along the edge of the front porch roof, the latter removed sometime after the mid 1950’s.
Morgan Butler, the man responsible for transforming a house which was a relic of the post-Revolutionary "Yankee Invasion" of Central New York into a model of Victorian high fashion, was a figure of considerable prominence in the history of Oneida County. As a farmer, he was noted for his keen interest in new methods, new machines and new breeds of livestock. When other farmers were still cutting their hay and grain with scythes, Morgan Butler owned the first mowing machine in Oneida County, and he promoted it with demonstrations on the field opposite his house and as a sales agent. He was a dealer in and a judge of fine cattle. In 1870 he was a founder, and later for many years the president, of the Central New York Farmers club.
As a young man, Morgan Butler was a member of the militia and it trained on the same field opposite the old homestead where he would after show off his mowing machine. When the militia escorted Lafayette during his visit to the Mohawk Valley in 1825, it is said that Morgan Butler was the bugler.
Morgan Butler is best remembered today for his gift to his native town and village of Butler Memorial Hall on Genesee Street, where his portrait is still displayed just inside the front door. Butler Hall was considered a model community facility when it was dedicated in 1890. It originally housed a library, the post office, town and village offices, and a large assembly hall. The assembly hall was the meeting place of the Good Time Club, and the site of school plays, agricultural expositions, and political meetings complete with flamboyant oratory. The building cost Mr. Butler $20,000, a very considerable sum in those days.
Baptized a Presbyterian, Morgan Butler later became an Episcopalian. He served for many years as senior warden and treasurer of the St. Stephen’s Church on Oxford road.
Given Mr. Butler’s interest in always being up-to-date, his comfortable circumstances, the fact that he brought a bride to his consolidated property in 1841, and the fact that fashionable architects of the 1840’s encouraged the recycling of old homesteads into Gothic cottages, the reconstruction of the house a 116 Oxford Road does not seem as unusual as it might at first glance.
About 1889, Morgan Butler retired from farming, leased his farm and house to Charles S. Green of Utica, and moved to a house on the present site of the Oxford Road school in order to be able to personally supervise the construction of Butler Hall. Morgan Butler passed away in 1892.
(to be continued in September)
An excerpt from farm histories compiled by Barbara Couture.
Steele Brook Farm is a 143-acre farm located on Snowden Hill road near the junction of Gulf Road. The farm derives its name from the Steele Brook creek that runs through the anterior part of the property.
Four generations of Elizabeth Fehr Thomas’s family have owned and operated this dairy farm owned by Robert and Elizabeth Thomas.
In the 1850s through the 1890s the farm produced hops for the eight breweries in Utica, Waterville and Sangerfield. At that time there was only one barn. The present day house, built around 1887, has a very large dining room because the large dining areas were needed to feed all the people who picked the hops. It is decorated with a chair molding and wainscoting typical of farmhouses of that era.
In 1890 Mrs. Thomas’ grandfather, Frank Deck, bought the farm. One of his daughters, Elizabeth Deck (Mrs. Thomas’ mother) was born in 1896 and as a young girl picked hops for her father. She married William Edward Fehr and they had two children; Bernard and Elizabeth. In 1917 William Fehr bought the farm for $6500 from his father-in-law. By this time the farm had become a dairy farm. Mr. Fehr started his herd with 14 milking cows. Due to the storage of hay that first year, he fed the cows straw once a day along with the hay in order to stretch his hay supply. In the spring of 1933 a "Barn Raising" event was held and with the help of neighbors and friends an additional barn was built for $2300. Some of the large support beams for the new barn were taken from a barn being torn down on Oneida Street across from Calvary Cemetery. The rest came from large timber trees located on the farm property. William Fehr, who was not only a dairy farmer but also an accomplished carpenter, completed the barn.
In 1942 Elizabeth Fehr married Robert Thomas and they rented and ran the farm from 1938 to 1960, when they purchased it. A large structure was built to connect the two barns and provide housing for heifers. Also a pole barn was built to house farm equipment. In 1964 the Thomas’ purchased an additional 40 acres. They built a new milk house to accommodate the bulk tank for pipeline milking and integrated purebred Holstein cows to improve the quality of milk. During their early years on the farm, Bob and Elizabeth worked with the Oneida County Extension Service investigating and traveling to see various new farming techniques in the Midwest and elsewhere. They brought a new level of dairy farm efficiency to New Hartford and Oneida County.
Bob and Elizabeth’s son Richard now runs the farm.
Peter Bleiberg, New Hartford
Rita Madden, New Hartford
Ron Potempa, Utica
On May 1st a standing-room only audience came to hear Carl Stone’s program about the windmills on his farm property. The evening was a pleasure as his well presented, interesting and humorous presentation unfolded. As a bonus, we were treated to some of his poetry that he wrote while all the construction was going on.
By the comments heard at the conclusion of the evening and from remarks made by people at various places during the week following, everyone present enjoyed the program.
SLATE OF OFFICERS TO BE PRESENTED AT THE JUNE ANNUAL MEETING
President - Barbara Zogby
V.President - Burke Galer
Secretary - Barbara Couture
Treasurer - Ken Kazanjian
Trustees for 3 years - Bob Jones and Elaine Kelsey
The above slate of officers and trustees for the year 2003-2004 will be presented and voted upon at the annual meeting on June 5, 2003 meeting in the Community Building, Kellogg Road, Washington Mills, NY. Nominations may be presented from the floor.
All the girls had ugly gym uniforms?
It took five minutes for the TV to warm up?
Nearly everyone’s Mom was at home when the kids got home from school?
When a quarter was a decent allowance.
Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces?
Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box?
5 cents bought a pack of baseball cards with that awful pink slab of bubble gum?
May 1, 2003 Program
Town Crier Of New Hartford Yesteryear
Welcome To Our New Mayor
Keep June 8, 2003 Free For Our Walking Tour
How Our School Has Changed
Cool Cats
Early History
New Hartford Tattler 1935
Tradition Of The Bell
Another Bell In The News
Welcome New Members
Duh
"THE WINDMILLS OF MADISON COUNTY"
Thursday, May 1, 2003
Community Building (Train Station) - Washington Mills, NY - 7:00 PM
The New Hartford Historical Society will feature Carl Stone and his program on the windmills of Madison County. The windmills are the PG&E National Energy Group’s commitment to advancing wind technology into a commercially competitive, low-cost, renewable source of clean energy. They are visible from Route 20 and are an awesome sight. There are 218 steps from the base to the hub of these towers that have a total weight of 235 tons.
There is much more to be learned about these windmills, all of it presented in a interesting, down-to-earth manner that you will find enjoyable. Come join us, and bring a friend. Let’s fill the train station and support the program and the New Hartford Historical Society.
TOWN CRIER OF NEW HARTFORD
YESTERYEAR
Published May 26, 1939 by Ed. Juergensen and Ted Gurley
The New Hartford Fire Department was organized in 1901, with Albert Goddard as chief.
In 1902 the company purchased its first hook and ladder truck for $350.00 C.O.D. It was a hand-drawn vehicle equipped with a 10 inch gong that operated by the revolving of one of the wheels. The apparatus had as equipment several ladders, a pickhead fire ax, a wire basket between the footboards, and 6 fire buckets.
The alarms were sounded by the Presbyterian Church Bell.
The first fire was the Billingham barn where Sear’s Service Station is now located. (Genesee St. below the Floral Shop)
Richard Davis was President of the village when the company was organized.
In 1884 a special election was held in New Hartford to determine whether the clock in the tower of the Presbyterian Church should be put in order and kept running at the expense of the village corporation.
The first town meeting in New Hartford was held April 24, 1827 at the home of King Strong. At that time, a town clerk, assessors, overseers of the poor, commissioner of highways, and inspectors of schools were elected.
The second church organized in New Hartford was of the Universalist faith. It was located on Genesee Street, opposite Higby Road.
St. Stephens Episcopal Church was organized in 1824, the church building being built the following year. Judge Sanger gave the lot for the church, and in his will left an annuity of $250 to aid in supporting a minister.
Five years before Oneida County was cut off from Herkimer and organized, the first newspaper published west of Albany was issued in New Hartford.
Its name was the Whitestown Gazette, and its proprietors were Jedediah Sanger, Samuel Wells, and Elijah Risley, with Richard Vandenburgh, printer.
The first issue was dated July 11, 1793, but the paper lapsed the following winter and was resumed in May, 1796 by Samuel Wells, with William McLean as printer, who soon became proprietor, and moved the office to Utica in July 1798. The paper was renamed "Gazettean Cato’s Patrol".
The New Hartford Historical Society is pleased to welcome Don Ryan as the new mayor of the village of New Hartford. We are much indebted to the village for the support they have given us since we organized in 1976. Without their assistance we would be hard pressed to keep up the types of programs and exhibits that we have presented for the people of New Hartford.
So thank you, New Hartford village. And Mr. Ryan, we hope you will have a long and rewarding tenure in your new office.
KEEP JUNE 8, 2003 FREE FOR OUR WALKING TOUR
Tom Blackstone and Judy Wenner have been working very hard to make our New Hartford Village walking tour a pleasant experience on June 8, 2003.
The walk will start at the Wedgewood Apartments and end at the New Hartford Library, an easy two mile walk. Each participant will be presented with a brochure with lots of historical information and our guide, Tom Blackstone, will add more as we amble along.
There will be more information in your June Tally-Ho!. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have a 100 people show up for this tour. Why not aim for the stars?
The New Hartford Schools were centralized in 1946 when there were four schools accommodating the community’s youths. They were the Sherman Hills school with one room; the Washington Mills School, two rooms; the elementary school at the Paris Road-Genesee Street intersection, and the high school on Oxford Road.
Because of the growing population and ages of the Paris Road school and the obvious traffic hazards presented, the citizens of the school district voted to erect a new school on the site of a 27 acre plot adjacent to the Oxford Road school. The original bond was for $1,635,000.
Baird drew the architecture plans and the actual construction began in the spring of 1950. George E. Williams and Son was the general contractor. Subcontracts were awarded to Keller Electrical Company, Atlas Plumbing, and Brandeles Heating.
The general plan called for the closing of the Paris Road school, and for the transfer of all its pupils to the Oxford Road school. The Oxford Road school would be changed into an elementary school and a new kindergarten added. The Sherman Hills and Washington Mills school would remain in operation.
In 1947 there was a pupil population of 1,178 including a four-year-old kindergarten.
In 1952 the senior class numbered 80. There were 65 teachers.
Today the total pupil population is 2748 and teachers number 245.
COOL CATS
150,000 Guest and One Fight
The following article was written in August 1970, about one month after the New Hartford centennial observance. It was penned by Mrs. Richard Hatch.
In these hot-tempered times when a potential riot is just one incident away, what does a village police chief with a full-time staff of three do when he learns it’s his job to cope with the crowds at a centennial birthday blast with no limit on invitations?
That’s the task Chief Monroe Fox of New Hartford had to face. When the results were in, more than 150,000 persons had come to the party and not one major incident occurred.
There wasn’t even a sign of a fight until Thursday evening when one small skirmish was quickly squelched.
"Our only complaints were three missing wallets; one lady’s wristwatch, a class ring and a pair of glasses lost. And we recovered two of the wallets, one completely in tact," said Fox.
"In fact, six sets of car keys and two pairs of glasses were turned in and only one set of keys has been claimed."
A record like this didn’t just happen. A lot of careful planning began almost a year ago in September of ‘69.
Fox met with the centennial board headed by Robert Wanamaker with Steve Scanlan as his co-chairman, and suggested one policeman be named to head up both the crowd and traffic control. The chairmen agreed and promptly named Fox to the job.
"This was certainly a major concern of mine," said Mayor Norton Stanton. "We had lined up wonderful cooperation from all the area service clubs and enough support from the business community to put on the whole centennial by ourselves without outside professionals. "Yet if any major trouble occurred, we might have had to close down. So the village agreed to pick up the cost for police protection. I feel it was money well spent." (The final figure came to $4465.)
Chief Fox’s first problem was to estimate the number of people expected. With no centennials to compare it to he used two other large gatherings, a firemen’s convention held early in the 60’s and the 1968 Oneida County American Legion convention. He also talked to many of the area police chiefs about problems they had had in keeping events under control at a recent firemen’s field days.
"Surprisingly, I discovered that in eight out of nine field days, the same names kept coming up as trouble makers. I made it a point to get to know who these people were and be able to recognize them. I also made sure my men knew who they were."
When any of these people did show up at Centennial Field, they were watched carefully and asked to leave at the first sign of trouble.
He also sought and received the cooperation of Utica Police Chief Murray Ladd, asking if New Hartford could use some of the city’s off-duty policemen who were experienced and good at crowd control. Ladd agreed, and altogether some 40 members of the Utica police force lent a hand at different times.
"We couldn’t have done it without this excellent cooperation," Fox explained.
"In addition, the four part-time men on the New Hartford force really did a job. Three even took a week’s vacation from their regular job to give full-time attention to the Centennial."
Even with all the planning, not everything went well. Fox had worked out an elaborate radio communication system which involved two cars on the sheriff’s- band radio, two on citizen’s-band radio, and seven walkie-talkies plus a base station on Centennial Field. The Friday before the celebration everything checked out perfectly and continued to work until Tuesday evening just before the torchlight parade.
"Then all the radios started dying and we ended up with only two cars on the sheriff’s band. So we had to go back to the old system - run ahead and yell. But it worked," he added.
Fortunately whatever had caused the disturbance disappeared the next day and the system functioned well for the rest of the week.
The day of the big parade, when both the Centennial and Oneida county firemen’s convention were combined, and more than 100,000 people came to the little town of 22,000, a major problem was clearing the parade route. Fox’s force was out at 6 a.m. to close off the streets, setting up barricades (obtained from Niagara Mohawk) and detour signs. The parking lot at St. John’s Church was to be free for the floats which were to end up there.
Then he discovered someone had scheduled a wedding at the church at noon. So a special detail was set up to be sure just the wedding guests used the lot and that they were all out of there by 1 p.m., well before the parade started.
It was initially estimated that the parade would take four hours, but it was so well organized, according to Fox, that it only took two hours, despite the fact that only four floats and two fire companies were "no shows."
"We had a few ‘lost parents’ during the week at Centennial Field, but the children amused themselves with lolly pops and bubble gum while waiting for Mom and Dad to show up."
The pressure eased a bit in the
middle of the week and Fox and his men had a chance to hold court at Haybale Theater. the star "defendant" was Tony Pontonero owner of the Village Coffee Shop.
The chief had convinced him to run a "chicken and biscuit" special the week before, and then with the help of Fire Chief Edward Roman, had planted a live chicken on the premises. With the squawking evidence in hand, Tony was "charged" with chicken stealing. He was ‘arrested" at noon time (after his mother and sister arrived to fill in) and taken to a New Hartford businessmen’s luncheon where he was arraigned before Judge Jerome Madden.
The next Wednesday evening, during the Centennial, Tony was first "sentenced" to hang and then the sentence was suspended if he promised to serve one of his best customers free coffee for the remainder of the year.
Others were "arrested" for failure to purchase "no shaving" permits.
Even Chairman Bob Wanamaker was arrested, tried and found guilty of desertion for being out of town on business just prior to the celebration. The earliest he got home that week was 1 a.m. and the final night he arrived home at 4 a.m. after putting in a 97-hour week.
"It’s hard to believe. We sold more beer - 305 kegs - than some restaurants sell in a year. Yet we had so little trouble. Our police were all in uniform but I asked them not to carry clubs, and it turned out there was no need to. I think that helped some to set the tone of things." he reflected.
Would he do it again?
"I doubt that I’ll have to worry about the next Centennial but I’m darn glad I didn’t miss this one," he chuckled.
Early in 1990 we corresponded with Gaylord Paine, a resident of New Hartford, Ct. An excerpt from some of the material he sent us is reproduced for you here.
"As I indicated in a prior letter, the Marsh genealogy states that Solomon and Phineas Kellogg removed to New York in the years 1785-1798 where they "founded New Hartford, New York." This is a bit before 1790 when Mr. Sanger purchased the 1000 acres there. Subsequently I managed to see a 2 volume set of the Kellogg Genealogy at a local library. In that book I found some interesting information with respect to Solomon and Phineas Kellogg. I quote "Solomon Kellogg born 12/10/1715 married in 1733 Ruth Kellogg (a distant cousin); he died 9/13/1799; she died in 1845, aged 96; she lived then on Oriskany Creek near Oneida Castle. He removed from New Hartford, Ct. ca 1797 to Paris, NY when the only house in Utica was a log cabin. Their nearest white neighbors were 21 miles distant. They crossed the Mohawk by swimming their animals which drew their wagon by a bed cord hitched to the end of a tongue. He later moved to the Oriskany 2 miles south of Clinton where be bought lands of the Indians. He also secured farms at Sempronius and Manilus and at Salina. He revisited Ct. and purchased suitable kettles and returned with them to Salina where he was the first to engage in the business of boiling salt brine. Later he located a farm in Syracuse."
Here now are the quotes as to Phineas. "born 6/7/1756 married in 1778 Olive Frazer; he died in New Hartford, NY 12/2/1835. He removed from Ct. to New Hartford, NY and settled on a farm about a mile south of the village. He and wife admitted to Presbyterian Church in New Hartford, NY in 1803. Was a Revolutionary War veteran with extensive service from Boston to the surrender of Cornwallis. He was given a pension in 1818. His second wife was Ruth ? who died 10/12/1833. His daughter Keturah married General Oliver Collins. They both died in New Hartford in 1838 and 1856.
The following tidbits are from a page called "Typing Ticklers" from the 1935 Tattler printed by New Hartford Central School
In chemistry class, Mr. Gibson was displaying a chemistry book which he said was published in 1816. On complimentary pupil inquired if it was the book published when Mr. Gibson attended school.
The history class was doing a test on true and false statements. However, one section of the test was selection. The statement read:
The N.R.A (National Recovery Act) has (1) prevented child labor, (2) ended the depression, (3) prevented strikes, and (4) provided work for all the unemployed. The pupil called upon answered, TRUE. This certainly would be wonderful news for President Roosevelt.
Miss Daly: Do you think paper can be used effectively to keep warm?"
Ed Samson: "I should say so! The last repot card I took home kept the family hot for a week."
TRADITION OF THE BELL
by Anne Lawson
(Reprinted from The Tattler, New Hartford High School, Volume XL, Number 4, March 2, 1960.)
Most New Hartford students are familiar with the old bell, located above the new entrance to the auditorium. The bell was situated in the Point School for many years and was rung daily to denote the opening of classes until the early 1930’s when building inspectors advised that it be removed from the belfry as a precautionary measure. The school authorities put the bell in the nearest and most convenient storage space, the attic of the school where it remained untouched and unnoticed until the evening of Nov. 21, 1949 when it was uncovered and rung to signify that the taxpayers of the district had voted overwhelmingly to build a new school. (Ed. note: Another version of the story states Mr. Perry, the supervising principal, said that during the Second World war when scrap iron was in demand, one of the janitors of the Point School put the bell in an inconspicuous corner so it would not be taken.)
It bears the following inscription:
"Presented to the New Hartford Union School by the pupils and faculty of 1896-1897, Frank B. Spaulding, Principal".
The bell also contains the names of the five teachers, then constituting the faculty: Grace H. Dryden, Laura P. March, Mary H. Coolidge, Julia A. Saltsman, and Sarah O. Chapman.
In 1952, the bell was put into use again. Frank K. Wenner, then President of the Board, suggested that the bell be rung when the new school opened.
Four industrious men of the school then undertook the task of removing the bell from the Point School and bringing it to the new school on Oxford Road. They were: Mr. Ralph Perry, Mr. Elliot Hughes, Mr. Frank Wenner and Mr. Edward Masel. Mr. Perry commented that Mr. Masel, being quite young and strong, carried most of the load along with Mr. Wenner.
On April 21 of that year the bell was rung for the first time at this school. Mrs. Elizabeth Fitzgerald had the honor of ringing the bell twenty-six times before an assembly of the student body. It was decided that from then on the bell would have an important position in the new school and would be rung on occasions when New Hartford was involved in something outstanding.
Some of the occasions for which the bell has been rung include Mike Nasso’s record breaking mile run in 1952; Dick Wenner’s outstanding achievements in the field of Mathematics, and most recently for 1957’s undefeated football team and 16 scholarship winners.
In the past few weeks another great privilege was bestowed on New Hartford. It would seem fitting to ring the bell for the 24 State Scholarship winners. This is the greatest number of scholarships New Hartford has won and it is a truly outstanding achievement. Our New Hartford swimming team should also merit this for the extraordinary record over the past two years.
The tradition connected with the bell is a fine one and should be encouraged in future years. The present underclassmen should remember this and keep the tradition alive during their years at New Hartford.
The article below is from an April 5, 1942 Observer Dispatch. We are indebted to Burke Galer for unearthing this and submitting it to the Tally-Ho!.
OLD NEW HARTFORD FIRE BELL SCRAPPED FOR WAR SALVAGE
New Hartford’s fire bell, nearly a ton of chilled iron, akin to steel, suspended for 30 years in the cupola topping the fire house, was moved yesterday for the first time since 1925, Mayor A.D. Eldred announced.
Worth its weight in metal for bullets or armor, the old bell was sold as junk as the first step toward returning it to usefulness. It was bought by Abe Nathan, waste metal dealer.
The bell was purchased in 1911 from the Utica Fire Alarm Company, now defunct, and was installed with a telephone alarm system operated from the New Hartford exchange, Mayor Eldred said.
In 1925 a siren superseded the bell, but since the siren could not function when the electricity failed, an air horn, battery-powered, was purchased three years ago with a box system of alarms similar to that used in Utica.
The outmoded siren has been sounded only as a blackout signal, and the bell has not been rung in 17 years.
This ton of metal is the village’s second contribution to the salvage campaign. A few weeks ago two unused jail cells were turned in, salvaged for defense.
The bell’s removal not only provides a contribution to the war effort, but eliminates a possible hazard, since the bell’s supports atop the firehouse were believed weakening, Eldred explained.
Much interest in the bell was shown by members of the Utica Salvage Committee, which was augmented yesterday by the appointment of Lester Murphy and Mrs. Priscilla Marble to the group by Thomas M. Burton, county chairman.
Harriett Cutter - New Hartford
Lou Parrotta - Utica
I live in a semi-rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the Deer Crossing sign on our road. The reason: Too many deer were being hit by cars and she didn’t want them to cross there anymore.
At a good-bye luncheon for an old and dear coworker who was leaving the company due to "downsizing", our manager commented cheerfully, "This is fun. We should do this more often."
April 4, 2003 Program
Historic Homes Project Report
In Memoriam
New Hartford To Sell Jail, Offer Steel For Defense
OCHS News
A Theater Remembered
Visit Our Book Table At The April Meeting
Is Your Membership Current?
Thank You, Rodger Reynolds!
Folks At Home
Household Words
Cheryl Pula
Community Building, Washington Mills
Thursday April 3, 2003
7:00 Pm
Cheryl Pula is a librarian at the Dunham Public Library in Whitesboro. Along with her many library chores she heads the History Club which meets every month. Her newsletter for that club is always very interesting. She has written an article on the Irish immigrants that was included in the Utica area book "Ethnic Utica" published by Utica college in 1994. She also provides slide and lecture programs for MVILR at SUNY IT for the Elderhostel program on famous mysteries which are worthy of anyone's time and effort to attend.
We asked Cheryl to do her mystery program on Amelia because of the famous flyer’s New Hartford connection. Come and find out what that was!
Over the past 37 years the older and architecturally significant homes of the village and town of New Hartford have been the object of study by four different committees or individuals from the New Hartford Historical Society. A number of old homes have been identified, described, photographed and in some cases, a history of ownership has been obtained. The objectives of each of these studies have varied somewhat. Because there was no continuity between the various studies, the methods used for each case has varied. In this report previous work will be reviewed briefly, as a basis for making recommendations for future activity.
In 1965 -6 the Oneida /Herkimer Counties Historical/Architectual Landmarks Survey identified homes of interest in the area. In August 1970 an historic heritage tour was organized in which 8 homes were visited (four of which no longer exist).
In 1976-7 an Historic Sites committee was chaired by Treva Wood, Carol Kolb and Rosemary Bennett with at least 14 members. Each member of the committee was requested to complete a survey of one home using a Building Inventory form distributed by the Division for Historic Preservation of the NYS Parks and Recreational Assoc.
In all 25 families were contacted and 14 survey forms were completed in varying detail. Very few photographs were obtained. A news story appeared in Utica Observer Dispatch on July 6, 1977.
From 1992-94 an historic homes study was conducted by Dr. A. Dewitt Brown who was an active board member at that time. He sent out letters to various home owners inviting them to participate in a project "to preserve the memory of historical properties in the town and village of New Hartford".
In the year 1999-2000, Dr. Arthur Baker, a new board member, was asked to assume responsibility for the historic homes project. At that time a proposed plan of action had these objectives:
(1) Correlate existing data and photographs
(2) Explore ways of updating
(3) Search for homes not previously listed.
A listing of homes by address and present owner was attained. The town assessor’s office cooperated by supplying the recorded date of construction.
We now have photographed 24 homes on Pearl Street, nearly all constructed before 1900. On Oxford Road 24 homes built before 1900 have been photographed. A similar effort has been initiated for Paris Road, Genesee Street and Sanger Ave, but is not yet complete. Interviews were conducted with the current home owners to obtain a history of home ownership.
It was envisioned that "historic homes" could be identified with a plaque or medallion affixed to the home and a sample plaque was prepared. A sample letter to the home owner and an acknowledgment of permission for placing the plaque was also prepared. However, at this point the cost, extent and feasibility of this effort was questioned and no further action has been taken. In conclusion, Dr. Baker has made the following recommendations:
(1) An Historic Sites committee should be reconstituted with membership drawn from interested members of the New Hartford Historical Society.
(2) Specific objectives should be determined, approved by the Board and publicized to the town and village boards as well as the community at large.
Anyone interested in participating in this significant project is urged to call Dr. Baker at 735-2332.
This winter we lost two members of the Historical Society, Floyd Smith and Mair Owens.
Floyd died on February 19, 2003. He had been active in the Society for many years, serving on our Board and as Treasurer. He belonged to many other organizations including the Oneida County Historcial Society, Utica Camera Club and the Adirondack Scenic Railway where he was one of the original conductors and, subsequently became Head Conductor. We will miss Floyd’s quiet manner and expertise that he applied to any job he tackled.
Mair Owens passed away On March 6, 2003 at the Presbyterian Home where she resided for a few years. Some may remember her as the lady who always wore a very stylish hat to the meetings. Born in Wales, she came to the United States at an early age. She was a lady of many accomplishments, serving as organist and choir director at some of Utica’s finest churches. She also enjoyed playing Scrabble and liked to beat Barb Munde in a game or two.
For Floyd and Mair we ask,
"Give rest, where sorrow and pain are no more, but life everlasting."
NEW HARTFORD TO SELL JAIL, OFFER STEEL FOR DEFENSE
From a February 19, 1942 article in the Utica Observer Dispatach
New Hartford’s contribution to the victory effort will include one empty jail, slightly used, complete with two iron cots,
To finance a bomber, a tank or gun, or any part thereof, the city fathers offer their only lock-up, which will be removed tomorrow from the cellar of Butler Hall, where it was installed in 1909. It will be sold as scrap, in response to the government’s appeal for old metal. In the space thus left empty, salvaged paper will be stored for future sale.
It was recorded in the minutes of the New Hartford trustees’ meeting of June, 1909, that the board that day authorized the purchase of a "two-cell grating cage from the Champion Iron Company of Kenton, Ohio." In February of the following year, according to the records, the trustees voted to sell the old lockup.
This earlier jail was a frame building located behind the spot where Wanamaker’s Furniture Store stands, at 13 Genesee. It measured 16 by 24 feet, had accommodations for three prisoners, and also contained the Village Board room. Built in 1885 at a cost of $265, it was sold in March, 1910, to O. E. Baker & Son for $60.05.
Meanwhile, the new cells of iron bar construction were erected in the basement of Butler Hall. As Mayor A. D. Eldred remembers, the cage cost about $600, and never housed any desperate criminals.
"The 1900 residents of New Hartford," the Mayor says, "are good people. But they needed a jail to take care of boisterous wanders from other parts."
Old-timers recall bowling in the cellar of Butler Hall, and sharing refreshments with such guests as the jail occasionally accommodated over night. Until 1915 the telephone company operated a switchboard in the building. Since removal of the switchboard, there has been no one on all-night duty there, and so it has been unlawful to confine offenders there. Also, there no longer is any provision for heating the subterranean chambers, which contain the furnace, storage rooms and coal bins. For the last 27 years persons arrested in New Hartford have been brought to Utica for detention.
On Sunday, March 16th, 2003 the Oneida County Historical Society exhibit commemorating the area’s role in World War II opened. It features an array of artifacts from the era, including photographs, news clippings, uniforms, flags, firearms and personal documents that capture the flavor of the county, country and world during those years.
Why not put a visit to the Oneida County Historical Society on your calendar and show your appreciation for the time and efforts of this fine organization?
The following article from a 1988 edition of the "Tally-Ho" was written by Toms Smith, editor.
In a recent issue of the Tally-Ho we asked if anyone remembered a movie theater on Genesee Street where Cavallo’s restaurant is now located.
Mr. Bill Martin called me and remarked that he can remember going there often as a kid, sixty-five years ago. (Ed. note: Now, in 2003 it is 80 years ago.) It was called the "Family Theater". Mr. Martin said that a favorite trick was to gather a group of kids to go to the movies. One would step up to the ticket booth, buy a ticket and go inside. Once inside, he would then go to the side door, open it, and let all the rest of the kids in for free.
We have since talked to several other people, and gather this was not an uncommon activity, and was certainly not limited to the Family Theater. Your editor’s mother mentioned the same thing from her childhood years.
After the theater closed Helen Inglis ran a book store there for a while, and then the site became the Lyon Furniture store, and was so until the building burned in 1934. This brought an end a bit of New Hartford’s history.
We might editorialize a bit here, but it does bring up the point made by Walt Cookenham, as he spoke of some of the items he brought to share with us. He mentioned some items he had thrown out a number of years ago because he felt at the time they were just "junk". Now he said he realizes that they were significant and he is very sorry for having discarded them.
How many of us have pictures at home which we never got around to identifying? The point is that most kids growing up never think of something like a movie theater as being a major piece of history, and yet here is an example of just that sort of thing coming up as a question and no one at the time knowing the answer.
Walt admonished us not to throw things away, and, while we would not go quite that far, there is a good point to be made that if something is old, before you throw it out, why not ask someone if it is important enough to become a part of the Historical Society? We do not have a great deal of room for the luxury or generic items, but if you have something that does have some connection with New Hartford, please don’t throw it away until we at least have a chance to look at it.
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The above article still applies to this day. During spring cleaning, take the time to think about some of that "junk" and let us know if you would like to have someone look at New Hartford related memorabilia. Your "junk" may become our "added treasure of knowledge of old New Hartford."
VISIT OUR BOOK TABLE AT THE APRIL MEETING
Burke Muller is doing a very good job of supplying us with books and setting up at each meeting in a very user-friendly manner. We have several additions to our collection. There are three books by Mailo Cardarelli
"For the Common Good: 200 Years of the Utica Public Library" $16.00
"Utica’s Mother Lavender -I’ll See You in Heaven" $16.00
"The King Who Cancelled Christmas" $ 5.95
Also we have:
"Mist Fairies & Leprechauns of the Adirondack Mountains" by Jim Parker $10.50
Take a minute to browse after the meeting.
IS YOUR MEMBERSHIP CURRENT? CHECK YOUR MAILING LABEL. IT SHOULD READ JUN 30, 2003
In January, Rodger Reynolds announced that he would not seek another term as mayor of New Hartford when his term expired in March. For the past 24 years, Rodger has conducted village business as a member of the village Board and then as Mayor from 1997 to 2002.
Rodger is an prime example of civic responsibility and is certainly a role model for anyone considering politics as a career.
The New Hartford Historical Society wishes to say "Thank-you" to Rodger for a job well done! We are sure he will continue to be very active in the life of New Hartford.
Excerpts from an article written September 6, 1953 by Edna R. Coe in the Utica Observer Dispatch.
Mallory Road was a country route to Norwich Corners, spaced by a few farms, a few years ago. Now the townsfolk are climbing its hill; old buildings are being converted into modern dwellings and new buildings are being erected along its course.
Descendants of the man for whom the road was named, one Ashbel Mallory, who was born there in 1826, are among the residents. There is Mrs. Walter Williams, who was a Mallory. Her husband, a peace justice, was a Willowvale Bleachery executive for years. And there is Howard Mallory Jr., whose Father, Howard A. Mallory was the son of the pioneer farmer Ashbel Mallory.
The man who heads the New Hartford school system, Ralph W. Perry, was born in the house where the Trimbey family lives now. He liked the site so well that he and Mrs. Perry came back to the road to live. They call their home "Breezy Knoll." Their white house is all of 100 years old, but they only took possession nine years ago.
"There was a potbellied-stove and a hand-pump in the kitchen then," Mrs. Perry recalls. There are hand painted white cupboards in the pleasant kitchen. Mrs. Perry , the artist, painted a motto on the doors: "Life’s riches other rooms adorn, but in a kitchen, the home is born," she has printed in firm letters. The stove and pump have been replaced by shining white equipment, but the classic form and lines of the room and of the entire house have been retained.
The Perry’s older son, Jack, is a senior in Cornell Agricultural College; the daughter, Janet, is a senior at St. Lawrence; the younger son, Dick, will enter New Hartford High this Fall. His hobby is his riding horse, "Tex".
Miss Marcy C. Giblin and her brother, Paul Giblin, a former newspaper man, live at No. 3, the first house on the left hand side of the road, going up hill. "Smudge", the black cocker, keeps close watch of the premises and of any callers who get passed the tree-stump circled by scarlet runner beans, nasturtiums and perennial sweet peas. It was Miss Giblin who gave us the names of some of her neighbors, as we started a brief tour of the territory.
It was between eight and ten years ago that William Wadsworth started work on No. 5. Every bit of the attractive stone house was built by him. He chiseled the stones for the walls, steps and some of the floors; he made a pine-walled study; he laid the fireplace; he rounded the stone steps to the patio which fronts toward Sauquoit Creek and the open country behind the home Five years ago, in May, he and Mrs. Wadsworth moved in. Mrs. Wadsworth says she was born "Just around the corner," so it is home to her.
Up at the Trimbey’s, (Mr. and Mrs. Stanley W.) there are three youngsters, all musical. Janice, at 13, is organist in the Congregational Church in Washington Mills; Carole, at 11, plays piano and clarinet and Rosemary 9, is an accordionist. Bill, just four, is the appreciative listener, so far. The Irish setter, "Rusty," roams the fields and woods.
The Walter Cutter house is the one with the sun deck. They built it 17 years ago, and he and she have a common hobby, which is growing fruit trees. They drew the plans for their home, and he built quite a bit of it himself. One daughter, Marjorie, is a senior at New Hartford High, and is studying voice with a Syracuse University professor. The other daughter, Carolyn, a St. Lawrence University graduate, is a high school teacher in Brushton.
Thirty years ago Mr. and Mrs. Will Chapman, oldest residents, saw the beginning of the trek from town to the county. They live on the corner of Oneida Street and Mallory Road. They think there should be a street sign there. By the way, Chapman Road was named after them.
The cream-colored house with the maroon trim belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Fremont W. Lockwood. The rolling fields belong to their cattle, Angus and Hereford and "just plain mixtures." And to saddle-horse, "Honey Belle," and their two cats, "Whitey" and "Spotty." Mallory Road was a dirt road when they moved in 18 years ago. The view from their windows is spectacular.
Up above them, a half mile or so, is the California redwood home of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Payne. They built it themselves and Mr. Payne became proficient in use of hammer, nails and carpenter tools.
There are other families on the road, but they will be due a visit some other time. Mean while, if you want to take a pleasant trip in the country, take the Mallory Road turn off on Oneida Street. Maybe you will want to live there, too.
BABY RUTH Many people think this candy bar was named after the famous ball player Babe Ruth (1895-1948), but, in truth, the Curtiss Candy Co. named their 1920 candy bar after the charming daughter of President Grover Cleveland.
FAHRENHEIT In 1714, German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) invented the mercurial thermometer we know so well.
FORSYTHIA This harbinger of spring was named for the English botanist William Forsyth (1737-1804)
March 2, 2003 Program
Some Old New Hartford Residents
History Of The Fork And Hoe Company In Washington Mills
The Trolley Cars
"Retired" Ralph Perry Tireless Volunteer
Fire Department: Leader In New Hartford
Old School Of New Hartford
Rotary Club
Duh
"Major General Baron De Steuben:
From Palace Court To Freedom’s Field"
Allan Foote
Community Building, Washington Mills
Sunday, March 2, 2003
2:00 PM
Allan Foote has a life-long interest in military history. He is president of the Northern Frontier Project and the author of "Liberty March:The Battle of Oriskany", "The Young Liberators; Experiences of an American Soldier during the Second World War" and "Valley of Liberty: A Guide to the Upper Mohawk Valley on the American Revolution". He has served as president of many community organizations and in 1993 was named "Person of the Year" by the Mohawk Valley Chamber of Commerce. Presently he is Vice President for Fine Jewelry & Marketing with the Harris Brothers of the New Hartford Shopping Center.
SOME OLD NEW HARTFORD RESIDENTS
At one time New Hartford had a resident who was a member of the Boston Tea Party. He was Thomas Williams, who with his brother Ezekiel, moved to New Hartford in 1790 and ran a tannery and farmed.
The Tea Party story was that Thomas and his brother-in-law, Thomas Dana Jr. went to the house of Thomas Dana’s father in Boston to disguise themselves as Indians. The raiding party members were disguised before they met so that if any were detected afterwards they could claim that they did not know the others if the authorities pressured them for information. After the Tea Party they returned, refusing to aid in sacking the house of a Tory on the way. We presume that neither was detected.
Thomas was also a minuteman and was called out from his home in Roxbury after the Lexington skirmish to harry the returning British.
Thomas and Ezekiel ran the tannery until 1810 when Thomas went to Cazenovia. In 1816 Ezekiel moved to Vernon but returned to New Hartford in 1829 and repurchased the house they had built and jointly occupied as one family. (The brothers had married sisters, Susannah and Sarah Dana.)
Four of the five sons of the brothers were tanners also and scattered to other communities. The fifth was William Williams, the locally famous printer, editor and publisher and son of Thomas. Thomas’s daughter Suley married William McLean who in 1794 started the "Whitestown Gazette" in New Hartford. His daughter Martha married Asahel Stewart, son of Col. Nathan Stewart, and became a partner of William Williams and director of the cotton mill at Capron. Ezekiel’s son Ezekiel Jr. ran a tannery at Middle Settlement from 1804-1814. His daughter Sally married Noah Porter who kept the New Hartford Hotel from 1825 to 1850. Another daughter, Nancy, married Lewis Sherrill and her sister Dicea married Huntington Sherrill.
In the New Hartford Cemetery was buried Thomas Dana, died 31 August 1817 age 95. He may have been the father of the Dana sisters, or, if the date of death was misread, we may have had two Tea Party Indians living here instead of one.
The above information was compiled by Bob Anderson from an article by George Huntington Williams in the New England Historical & Genealogical Register, January 1880 and July 1882.
HISTORY OF THE FORK AND HOE COMPANY IN WASHINGTON MILLS
(This information is from an obituary found in a notebook of the Messiah Congregational Church in Washington Mills)
In the obituary of Charles H. Philo who was born in 1845 and died in 1910, it is stated that in 1885 he purchased an interest in the Utica Tool Company located in Washington Mills. (Ed. note: The mill was located on Oneida Street past the four corners going towards Utica about across from Glencrest Village. Two mini malls occupy the space today.) The enterprise was founded in Unadilla Forks in 1840, when Henry H. Babcock began the manufacturing of hoes by hand on an anvil. Later Charles B. Brown and others became interested with him, and in 1865 the business was moved to Washington Mills where the works were enlarged and forks and rakes added to the production. In 1871 Porter S. Huntley and Mr. Babcock, under the firm name of Huntley and Babcock, became sole owners and continued the business until 1883, when the Huntley and Babcock Agricultural Company was incorporated. This firm continued until 1887 when the name was changed to Lewis and Babcock Manufacturing company and in 1892 it was changed to the Utica Tool company. The works covered an area of 10 acres and employed from 75 to 100 skilled mechanics. The mechanical appliances and equipment of the factory insured rapid and perfect production which was shipped throughout the United States and to all parts of the world. The Utica Tool Company achieved a wide reputation for the excellence of its coke, coal, oyster, manure, spading, barley, hay and stone forks; planters, cotton, street, mortar, field, onion, weeding and cultivator hoes; many kinds of lawn rakes, potato hooks, drags, clam hooks, corn knives, garden cultivators, and all kinds of garden utensils. The active management was under Mr. Philo until the plant closed in 1909.
From Our Country and Its People, a Descriptive Work on Oneida County, New York edited by Daniel E. Wager, published in 1896, comes the following.
"A hoe and fork factory was established here in 1865 by Babcock, Brown & Co. The firm was afterwards Huntley & Babcock. The product for some years reached $1,000,000 annually. The property is now owned by the Utica Tool Co. on which CH Philo and Ladd J. Lewis are prominent, and a successful business is carried on."
Ed. note: In 1913 the building was replaced by a new building operated by Richo Manufacturing Co. E. C. Richards, John G. Slau son, L. D. Hooker of Utica were owners. This building burned in January, 1923.
Grey Gurley from Kissimee, Fla, who spent his youth in New Hartford, sent us the following:
Anything with wheels has always fascinated me and those big trolleys which took us to Clinton or downtown Utica had eight wheels, wheels that did not always act as they should. For instance, there were rare occasions when a car tried to turn into Richardon Avenue and found itself with four front wheels headed down the avenue and the four rear wheels headed toward New Hartford.
But the most fun was when a sticky snowstorm hit, because the trolleys had a difficult time. First, the trolley pole wheel would spit out colorful sparks or jump off as contact was trying to be made with the overhead wire. As the snow piled higher and higher there came a time before the track sweeper arrived that the snow would pack up to the point where the helpless trolley would head for the curb, oblivious to the tracks.
At noon or between classes the older boys at the old high school on the point would hide in a store alcove or alley and as a trolley would pass would dash across the street behind the trolley and pull down the trolley pole. This would stop the car and then the motorman would cursingly run back and put the pole back on the wire so he could proceed.
It was always fun to bend a bare copper wire into the shape of eye glasses, lay it on the track and let the trolley flatten it to our liking. Or did you try to ride you bike across the track and end up on the ground?
(Ed. note: New Hartford might have gotten its nickname, "Monkeytown" from those boys who harassed the poor motorman by pulling the pole off the wire. He would mutter, "I’d like to get those monkeys in New Hartford.")
"RETIRED" RALPH PERRY TIRELESS VOLUNTEER
Many New Hartford people remember Ralph W. Perry as principal and then superintendent of schools in New Hartford. The following is from an Aug. 8, 1971 edition of the Observer Dispatch
Ralph W. Perry has had a distinguished career as an educator, and in his younger days, as a semi-pro basketball player.
Now, following his retirement as supervising principal of the New Hartford Schools, he is adding another career milestone to his busy life.
Forty years of work entitles any man to rest.
"If I retire now, some will say it’s too bad I’m leaving. If I wait longer, someone might say, "Why doesn’t that old guy leave," Perry said.
His retirement comes at a time when the school leads the county in the number of Regent’s scholarship winners. The school’s band and choir received A plus 6 ratings in a recent state competition. It has one of 3,000 National Merit Scholarship winners.
As chief school administrator, Perry has overseen five building programs. He saw the construction of the Oxford road High School, Clinton Road Elementary, Higby Road Elementary, the junior high school and its addition.
When he became supervising principal, Perry had a faculty of 48 and 1,192 pupils. Today, there are 240 teachers and 4,350 pupils.
Graduated in 1917 from New Hartford High School, Perry took a post graduate course before going to Hamilton College. An honor student when he graduated with the class of 1922, he had brought prestige to his alma mater as a baseball pitcher. For his first teaching job in Kingston High School, Perry taught one class of Latin, five classes in early European history, coached the varsity baseball team and advised the debating club for an annual $1,400 salary. Two years later he transferred to Englewood, N.J. where he carried on the same program while taking graduate work at New York University and Columbia.
Perry returned to New Hartford in 1942 and taught for a brief period in Chadwicks High School. He became principal of the elementary school in 1944.
One of the highlights of his career was the 1968 anti-smoking campaign in which Perry met Jackie Robinson. "It was one of the best and most effective campaigns that I have been involved with," Perry said. "I consider smoking such a critical health hazard that I wanted somehow to convey the seriousness to the students." What resulted was a 16 day campaign.
The same drive which made Perry the outstanding pitcher for Cooperstown and Oneonta is propelling him to be a vigorous cancer worker. And when he talks about wiping out cancer in your lifetime, he is more than "sloganeering".
Perry is convinced that early detection and treatment of cancer is the best way to tip the odds in your favor -- and until there is a breakthrough in cancer research, it is probably the only way.
The evidence is on his side.
"Twenty years ago, we could only save one out of four cancer victims. Today we are saving one out of three," says Robert Nash, director of public education for the New York State Division, American Cancer Society.
"The pity is that we could save one out of two, if we could only get our message of early detection and treatment across to more people," Perry said.
A sound and pragmatic educator, Perry is trying to get that message across by going to the schools.
"If we can convince the kids, we are doing two thing. One, we will get them to make a habit of having a yearly check-up when they are adults. We can get them to stop smoking, or not start smoking. And we can get them to nag their parents into having yearly check-ups and stop smoking if they are." he said.
Since last January he has developed and introduced programs which have reached an estimated 14,000 students and adults. He has conducted anti-smoking programs and smoking withdrawal programs in New Hartford, Chadwicks, Notre Dame, St. Francis DeSales, Utica Catholic Academy, Rome Catholic High, New York Mills and the 22 public schools in Utica. He has conducted anti-smoking programs, and smoking withdrawal programs for adults.
He has been meeting with the nurse-teachers of 24 schools in Oneida County to urge them to conduct breast self-examination programs. Many of them will in the fall.
He was involved with the development of the area’s first cancer day program for high school students interested in a career in medicine, dental or the paramedical field.
And, says William Ribyat, the new president of the Oneida County Unit, American Cancer Society, "he keeps coming back for more."
Perry is now a member of the public education committee of the division.
He is still pitching strikes.
FIRE DEPARTMENT: LEADER IN NEW HARTFORD
The following is taken from an article in the Observer Dispatch of July, 1970.
The New Hartford Fire Department is probably one of the oldest community organizations in New Hartford.
The Fire Department is a volunteer organization with the first meeting held in January, 1901 in Butler Hall with about 20 members present. The first president elected was Dr. A.C. Morgan and the first fire chief was A. Goddard.
The first piece of equipment was a two wheeled horse cart drawn by the firemen and the first fire alarm was the bell on top of the New Hartford Presbyterian Church. The department has been located in it’s present quarters since 1902 and has experienced many changes in the building and equipment. The first mechanized equipment was purchased in 1916 from the American LaFrance Co. In 1925 the village board purchased a ladder truck which increased the efficiency of the department and provided better protection for the people of New Hartford.
The Fire Department boasts a membership of 75 active members and has some of the finest fire fighting equipment in this area. We have two pump trucks, a ladder truck and a salvage truck which is being replaced with a new and better equipped salvage truck this year. The department averages over 125 calls a year. They are negotiating with the village board for a new house to replace the present quarters which are inadequate.
Edward Roman is Chief and Harold Lewis is President.
The following is from a speech made by Henry Hulburt at the June 2, New Hartford 1888 Bicentennial Celebration
There is another institution - and one the youngsters of my day will not easily forget - and that is the old village schoolhouse. When it was erected, I know not, for it was long before my early school days. It stood on the south side of the village "green" and next to the lot cornering on South Street. It was a plain wooden building, two stories high. The lower story was for the boys and the upper for the girls. In those day, the good old maxim of King Solomon, "Spare the rod and spoil the child," was not only believed in, but literally applied. The schoolmaster seemed to regard it as one of his necessary duties to inflict corporal punishment for even slight transgressions, by way of asserting the dignity of his office, and inspiring his trembling pupils with a proper sense of his authority.
When I went to school there, James McElroy, a kind and courteous gentleman out of school, swayed the scepter of authority. This scepter was generally in the form of a well-seasoned birch stick. If a boy was caught whispering to the one next to him, the master caught him by the ear and marched him to the middle of the room - or made him hold out his hand to receive a few strokes from the ferule. If he repeated the offense, he not only had a like infliction, but was made to stand there a while to be gazed at by the other scholars, as a terror to evil doers. If, however, his offense was of greater magnitude, such as throwing a wad of paper across the room, or making other boys laugh, he was called out to the teacher’s desk and had inflicted upon his back and legs a goodly number of strokes from the aforementioned birch stick well seasoned in ashes. While I was at that school there were not many scholars that escaped at least one flagellation each term - a term consisting of twelve weeks; which cost the parents one shilling per week - whipping included. So severe were these punishments at times, the marks of the stick were visible long afterwards. I have, even at this late day, a vivid recollection of one of the scholars coming into the school-room one morning with his pants rolled up above his knees, to show the horrid marks upon his flesh of the work of the rod the day before. But "the good old times" of such impressive instruction have happily passed away, and teachers now seek more to win than to worry their scholars - to rule by love rather than by fear.
The old school-house after serving its day and generation, finally gave way to a more substantial structure of brick, and this has been succeeded by a school of much higher grade in the fine old mansion of Judge Sanger. (ed. note - This refers to the house converted to a school on Pearl Street about where Allport Place is now.) But we boys of the olden time have some tender recollections of our school boy days. We cannot soon forget our sports on the village green, summer and winter evenings, and the friendships there formed that have lasted through all the years of our earthly pilgrimage and made us feel as though there were few others so dear to our hearts as the friends of our youth.
(The following was printed in the July, 1970 edition of the Observer Dispatch.)
The New Hartford Rotary Club is part of a World Wide Organization of 654,000 men in 146 countries. Its object is to encourage and foster the development of: personal acquaintance; high ethical standards in business and professions; service to the community,; and the advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace.
The New Hartford Club was founded in 1961 and has traditionally had regular meetings each Wednesday at noon. It has had a membership of about 30 members all of whom take an active part in club projects.
Community service projects have included: support of the local Boy Scout Council; building picnic tables for the Town Park; sending crippled children to summer camp; joining in a Christmas party annually at Children’s Hospital; and financial support of other charitable agencies. A Vocational Service has been developed culminating in a "Rotary Career Day" for local High School boys.
Two main projects have been adopted in the field of International Service. One is strong support of the Rotary Foundation which sponsors graduate study for students all over the world with the stipulation that they must study in a country other than their own. The other is a high school student exchange program. The club has entertained a student from Australia for one year and has nominated local students for study abroad.
The primary public fund raising project is a "Pancake Day" held early in the fall. This affords an opportunity for all Rotarians to put their own time and energy into support of the projects mentioned above.
I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked, "Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?’ To which I replied, "If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?’
She smiled knowingly and nodded, "That’s why we ask."
My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the person behind the counter for "minimal lettuce." He said he was sorry, but they only had iceberg.
February
2003
Table of
Contents
February 2, 2003 Program
They Used To Call At The Kitchen Door
Harold Howe Interview
Additions To The Archives
Correspondence
Some Farm Histories
Church Signs
ANTIQUE VALENTINES
A program by Evelyn Edwards
Sunday, February 2, 2003
2:00 PM
Kellogg Road Community Building
Evelyn will show antique valentines and some valentine postcards, including a few done by Ellen Clapsaddle. She will also give a short history on the origin of valentines.
Please note the date, time and place. For February and March we are meeting on Sunday afternoon in the community building on Kellogg Road. We tried this last year and had favorable comments from our members. Please attend and support YOUR organization.
THEY USED TO CALL AT THE KITCHEN DOOR
Excerpts from an article by H.E. Whittemore from the Observer Dispatch. No date, but it must have been written in the 1950’s because milk was still being delivered door-to-door
.Our butter-and-egg man has disappeared from our neighborhood. He hasn’t been around for weeks and we’re afraid another of the vanishing Americans has vanished.
Butter and eggs we can get from the supermarket. The friendly butter and egg man is more difficult to replace.
Some of us were sitting around recalling the days when door-to-door salesmanship was a part of the American scene. Some recalled the vegetable man who would make the rounds several times a week, his usually dilapidated wagon groaning with the load of fresh fruits, vegetables and sometimes a little hardware on the side. His tinkling bell was unmistakable, even from two blocks away and the housewives would gather on the curb.
Then there was the ice man, a great favorite with the youngsters on the block. He and his horse drawn wagon would come lumbering down the street, water streaming from the melting ice. He carried huge tongs to lift the blocks to the scales and then he’d have a big chisel to chip off the ice and bring it all down to the weight required by the housewife. Then, with a big leather pad on his shoulder, he would lug the ice to the backyard and slide it through an opening into the ice box (for Now generations, ice boxes were forerunners of refrigerators.)
Remember the coal man? If you were fortunate enough to have a driveway next to your house, he’d set up his portable chute and slide the coal into the cellar with a tremendous roar and a cloud of dust. No driveway meant that he’d have to lug the coal in bags from the truck to the cellar window and then dump it down the chute.
The bread man was always a favorite. They must have been the most patient guys in the world. We can remember the times when the breadman would come to the door with a variety of breads, doughnuts and cakes on a tray, only to have the housewife ask for the one loaf or cake that he’d left on the truck.
Other old standbys were the rag man who’d shuffle along, sometimes pulling his own wagon or cart and who’d buy old clothes and other stuff for a few cents, the Jewel Tea man who seemed to sell other things besides tea, the Raleigh man famous for his spices and extracts, and the Cook Coffee man with premiums if you bought so much coffee.
The milkman still delivers, although not with a horse drawn wagon. And we still get mail delivered door-to-door but only once a day. Can you remember when they made twice daily deliveries? Man, that was living!
Excerpts from an interview with Harold Howe on April 14, 1986. Interviewers were Nellie Kazanjian and Harriet Cutter
Nellie: What is your full name?
Harold: Newton Harold Howe.
Nellie: Where did you live as a child?
Harold: In Utica and Whitesboro. When we lived in Whitesboro my father had about 2 acres of land. It was nice loose soil to work. But it was full of quack grass. He used to plant vegetables and he would get down on his hands and knees to weed and his health improved so that he wanted a bigger place. So around 1910 he bought a farm on Mallory Road in Washington Mills.
Nellie: Did you have any brothers or sisters?
Harold: Yes, I had two brothers and two sisters. My oldest brother was Clinton; Mary, my sister was next and Olive was the third child and I was the fourth. I had a younger brother, Gordon Howe.
Nellie: Where did you go to school?
Harold: I went to Francis Street School in Utica. From there I went to advanced school on the corner of John and Elizabeth, and after ninth grade I went to UFA. I went to Whitesboro High School for about six months and then my family sent me to the School of Commerce.
Harriet: Can you remember any school activities you took part in?
Harold: Well, when I was at School of Commerce the students wanted to give Professor Reissinger a present and they asked me to make the presentation speech. I was scared to death. My mother told we what to say and I wrote it out and learned it by heart. The day I was to give the speech we went into the professor’s office , the kids all behind me. I was so nervous I wanted to get through with it quickly so I started rattling it off. He said, "Just a minute. Start over." Well that gave me a chance to get my breath and I was all right after that. When I graduated from School of Commerce I was Vice President of the class and got a gold medal for penmanship.
Nellie: Do you remember how much your father paid for the farm in Washington Mills.
Harold: I think he paid about $9,000. It had 75 acres and had a house, a horse barn and a cow barn. He bought it from Frank Mason who used it as a summer home and rented the land. He didn’t farm it.
He rented the land to Frank Sessions who ran a millinery store and owned a farm on Sessions Road. He had quite a big operation and had a lot of hired help. I think he also owned the Guido farm on Roberts Road.
Nellie: Did you all work on the farm?
Harold: No. I worked at a couple of offices in Utica as assistant bookkeeper. One was at A. H. Williams Wholesale Drugs on Bleecker Street and the other in Oneida National Bank on the corner of Genesee and Bleecker.
Nellie: What was it like on Mallory Road in 1910?
Harold: Well, we had a telephone and electricity. You see, Frank Mason, who we bought the farm from worked for the telegraph company in New York City. He had this house for a summer home and he ran electricity from Washington Mills up to his farm He owned the line. We also had a telephone with 8 or 9 parties on the line. When we bought the farm we bought the lines and poles from Mr. Mason. After a while there were two or three others who wanted electricity so the electric company bought the line off my father. Then we had all these poles and wire. We had so much wire we didn’t know what to do with it. We used some of the poles for corner posts and fences.
Harriet: How did you get your mail?
Harold: We had mail delivery from New Hartford. There was a post office in Washington Mills in Jim Davis’ store on Oneida Street across from Mallory Road. Everybody bought groceries at Jim Davis’ store and he sold shoes, rubbers and everything.
Nellie: Did you go to New Hartford very often?
Harold: No. We went to Utica more often because we knew more people there. But I remember they called Oxford Road South Street then and it was a very nice street with lots of trees.
Harriet: Did you walk down to his store?
Harold: Sure. We didn’t think anything about walking to Washington Mills or to Utica. Of course we always had a horse and carriage.
Nellie: Tell us about when you farmed the property.
Harold: Well I had some prize Holstein cattle.
Nellie: What church did you attend?
Harold: Messiah Church in Washington Mills. That one burned and we have a new church further up Oneida Street now.
Nellie: What were some of your outside activities?
Harold: I went to the Utica YMCA a lot. I loved the Utica Y. The
first one I went to was on Bleecker Street. Then they built the building on Washington Street that had been used for a girls school. There they had a big auditorium.
Nellie: When did you meet your wife?
Harold: In 1919 when I was 29 years old. Fern was teaching school in the Utica Free Academy. We were married in 1924. And we had a son and a daughter - Chris and Fern.
Harriet: When did they pave Mallory Road?
Harold: Well I remember we all went over to a meeting in town and they said they couldn’t get teams enough to draw the gravel from the Sauquoit Creek up there, as they couldn’t afford to pay them. So a couple of us farmers, Trimbeys’ and others, said we would furnish the teams. So that is how it happened. They paid us a little money for our teams and a good road was put down. They’ve kept improving it since that day of course.
Nellie: Do you remember the quarry?
Harold: Well they used to draw the stone to Utica for building and they used chips from the quarry for the roads. They built a new road there on Oneida Street near the cemetery and somebody had a little political pull and they got the stone that they dug up on that Oneida street road near the top of Proctor Blvd, near the old Forest Hill Cemetery, drawn up on the Mallory road, so we had a good macadam road here. They used the quarry a little bit during the panic, the financial panic, when FDR started the WPA and they wanted to make jobs for the people who were out of work.
Nellie: Are kids any different today then they were in your day?
Harold: When I was being brought up kids were supposed to be seen and not hear. Now they’ve heard and seen about everything and take part in things much earlier than we did. We were kept busy working and doing things. Now many of them have too much time on their hands and they’re tempted by drug pushers and alcohol and they think it is all right to drink and smoke because it makes them one of the crowd. I can remember fathers told their sons if they didn’t smoke or drink until they were 21 they would give them $25.00. It wasn’t a problem in my family because my parents didn’t smoke or drink and they didn’t have it in the house, so none of us children drank or got the alcohol habit because they preached against it.
Nellie: Well thank you so much Mr. Howe. We really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us.
Harold: You’re welcome.
We have, in response to an appeal made during our farm display in the New Hartford Public Library showcases, two more New Hartford Dairy milk bottles donated by member Stephen Carl. They are from the Hogan farm that was located on Oxford Road. One has a large H in the middle of the bottle and the other says Oxford Farms on it. Also we have a cardboard bottle cap with Roberts Jersey Dairy, New Hartford printed on it with the phone number 2-6944. How many of you can remember when telephone numbers were like that? I can.
In addition, Steve gave us a copy of an undated obituary of Mrs. Martha Dakin Foster, the widow of Sanford Foster. Mr. Foster had died in 1888. They lived in the house on Oxford Road from 1834 to 1894 that is now the Carl home and raised and sold produce to stores and the public, The house was sold to Christopher Hoffman in 1915. In 1918 Phil and Sarah Hogan purchased the 26 acres and raised cows and sold milk for local delivery. Mr. Hogan sold most of the land off in 1945 to William Morris who developed the Beechwood Road area. Steve and his family now live in the old house.
Our thanks to Steve for this contribution!
We also received from Betty Eastman some materials forwarded to her several years ago by Alice Hackett, granddaughter of John E. Burton. John E. Burton was an early resident of New Hartford who took those wonderful pictures of streets and homes of the village, some of the earliest photographs, c. 1865, that we have on file. Alice forwarded old pages from a scrapbook that her grandfather kept. The items are not in good condition but are readable. One is a program from a twenty-seventh anniversary program presented by the New Hartford M.E. Sunday School in 1867. Several members of the Buton family participated in this recital program. Also there is a program from the Whitestown Seminary Anniverary Exercises of 1865 in which John Burton took part. He belonged to the Philomathesian Society of Cazenovia College and several programs of their events are also included.
All of these are a welcomed addition to the file we have on John E. Burton. Our thanks to Alice and to Betty Eastman for seeing that we received this information.
And we must thank Libby Hughes and Fern Fuller who have given us much material from the history files of their respective husbands, Elliot Hughes and Ken Fuller. The Tally-Ho has published quite a few articles from this information.
In December we received a letter from Dick Williams, President of the Clinton Historical Society, who gave us some additional information about Joseph Kirkland, the man who owned the home that we spotlighted in our December issue.
Joseph Kirkland was a nephew of Samuel Kirkland. He was born in Norwich, Connecticut in 1770 or 1772, the son of Joseph and Hannah Perkins Kirkland. He married Sarah Backus and had 12 children, 10 of whom lived to adulthood.
After Yale graduation in 1794 he studied law and moved to New Hartford in 1794 where he was a member of the State Assembly, district attorney, US Congressman from 1818 to 1829. In 1832 he was the first mayor of Utica having moved there in 1813. (the article from which we printed our information stated he moved to Utica in 1830.) His home was across Genesee Street from the Stanley Theater.
He was mayor during the cholera epidemic in 1832-1835. Later he was involved with the Oneida Glass Factory, the New Hartford Manufacturing Company, the Paris Furnace, and was a trustee of Hamilton College.
His son, Charles Pinckney Kirkland, born in 1797, was a Hamilton College graduate of 1816, a lawyer, and was Mayor of Utica in 1838.
Our thanks to Dick for this additional information.
SOME FARM HISTORIES
-- Compiled by Barbara Couture
ZEIGIBE FARM/POWER DAM
MOHAWK STREET BETWEEN MALLORY AND HIGBY
Abdo Zeigibe came from Lebanon at age 11 with his father and mother, Abdo and Stella Slade Zeigibe. They purchased the 101 acres from Geneva Jones, the widow of Harley Wadsworth in 1920.
The existing farm house was built of stone in 1801 and the barn was built in 1860. They had a Holstein dairy of 40 milkers and 20 young stock. The milk was delivered to Dairymen’s League. Corn, oats, hay and potatoes were the main crops.
In the 1930’s Abdo, using a team of horses pulling a scoop, dug out a dam. The dam was to produce water and electricity for the farm. A 16 foot waterwheel was purchased in Franklin Springs and transported by wagon to the farm..
Mr. Zeigibe also designed and made a gas powered ice cutter to cut blocks of ice from the pond. People came from all over the area to purchase blocks of ice.
In the summer people began to come to the dam to swim. The Zeigbie’s three sons, George, Dan and Herb decided to stand by the road when they were very young and charge 5 cents per person and 5 cents per car for the anxious city folks who wanted to swim. A dance hall was built in 1939 of lumber purchased in Utica, which had been icehouses. It was open every Saturday night and Wednesday night for square dancing. "Brownie Moyer" was the local band that called for the dancing. They could fit 8 squares at once on the dance floor and were open from 9 pm to 1 am. The dance hall was closed in 1954.
George worked on the farm until he joined the army in 1945. Upon his return he helped run Power Dam and was a lifeguard for 17 years. Herb and Dan ran the concession stand and also doubled as lifeguards.
George and his family built a home next to the stone house where Herb lives today. The farm has been sold off in large parcels: Herron Landing is a housing development where Power Dam once was; three other parcels have been sold for private homes. There are still 25 acres left which include the homestead stone house and George’s newer home.
FRIEND TIBBITTS FARM
TIBBITTS ROAD
Milton and Janette Tibbitts moved to Tibbitts Road in March of 1868. The road was then called "West Hill Road". The road was renamed by a group of residents in the early 1920’s. The men on the road were drawing stone with teams of horses and wagons to a crusher that had been place on the road to crush the stone for a firm foundation. They thought "West Hill Road" was not very original so they all agreed to name the road "Tibbitts Road".
The Tibbitts farm has been used for many different kinds of enterprises. At first it was used as a dairy farm with the milk going to a cheese factory. Then an apple orchard was established, producing in one year over 2,000 bushels of apples. Then for some years they had a herd of swine and grew dry beans for a cash crop. Both of these crops kept the women busy making lard and sorting beans.
Friend Tibbitts, Sr. managed a large maple syrup enterprise in the spring. During the early 1900’s quite a large flock of sheep was kept. The wool was taken to the local mills and the lambs were taken to the local butcher shops. The sheep were constantly being killed by local dogs and finally it caused the end of raising sheep.
After the sheep were sold Friend started a chicken business. He delivered eggs both wholesale and retail in Utica along with the apples and potatoes. He had one of the largest hatcheries in the area, with one incubator holding 6000 eggs.
Four brothers started to run the farm in the 1940’s after their father’s death. They turned it back into a dairy farm. Over the years the brothers changed to other interests and Friend and his wife Dorothy ended up running the farm. Friend Jr. loved to tinker with tractors and other equipment and even built a tractor at the age of seventeen.
Today the farm is no longer in business. Friend and his wife live in a house built on the farm and June lives in the homestead.
ROY TUTTLE FARM
OXFORD ROAD
The farm was located between Oxford road, Tibbitts Road and Kellogg Roads in the town of New Hartford. Today the entire farm is a housing development known as "Castle Estates." There were also about 10 acres on the corner of Oxford Road and Snowden Hill road.
The farm was originally owned by the Barnard family who grew fruits and produce.
Roy Tuttle married Martha Barnard in 1910. Roy and Martha worked the farm from the early 1900’s until 1958. Their children were Leroy and Barnard Tuttle.
A fine jersey dairy produced milk which was bottled and sold to residents in New Hartford. This was the only farm to produce jersey milk.