Once again on the week of Christmas I find myself lost amid old memories, problems of the present... and the difficulties of living in this (at the very moment) place in history where in seconds news is flashed, reflashed, dissected and rehashed within the blink of an eye.
So.. I decided to try and go back to a much nicer time, a time when life was simple and the holidays were something to look forward to...times to remember in your heart with joy! Here is a repost from past years...but some things to think about. I question...are we living in better times with better leaders???
I painted the above picture for a Christmas card in 1995 and wrote the poem to go with it. The story came from discussions with the old members of our little community group who shared their remembrances of "Christmas Past".
They are all dead now... but like on old clock I have turned my mind back to that year and leave the poem to you as my Christmas blog and my hope for a quiet and warmer future built on love...not hate....on families....not presents and shopping...and on love for your neighbor!
This year has been unbelievable here in our area. Winter's on and off cold and deep snow which caused a number of building fires that have consumed a number of our locally historic buildings such as the The Old Union School on Brooklyn Street, the home of John Rockwell on Eaton Road, and the former Cramphin House on Landon Road and new fire on Rt. 26.
This December has been horrible....THE COLD HAS MADE IT DIFFICULT FOR EVERYONE INCLUDING THE ANIMALS. I have been struggling to get everything together for my house, the museum, and now our poor unfortunate animals.
As usual the cat population has grown because many strays have been dumped or acquired and not fixed. People move or dump them when they are not fixed because they have kittens and are producing so many offspring. The food situation including mice, birds and other creatures is down because of the winter, spring flooding, summer heat, birds of pre and chemicals in the, water and so this situation is worse for even feral cat,,,,this story plays on and on until we can gain control of the cat population.
We have received many phone calls from people because of our little not for profit...but we are unable to help... we do not get funding that can cover the outrageous over $200 to $300 it costs to fix one cat. If you contact SANS Syracuse https://www.spayandneutersyracuse.com/ which is $85 male $115 female...you can make an appointment and take the cat there in the morning for less... but must pick it up by 4pm. We did fix all the budget allowed of needy cases in the Eaton area, but that funding comes in as $25 donations for the most part, we did not reach our Go Fund Me goal, and we still have a few aninals on line for spring and need funds.
Our website at https://4communitycats.org/ can give you information on health, cat stories, Vet information, and more... so visit it...enjoy the stories that I have written and help our small not for profit group raise some funds to neuter & spay more cats. Last year with donations and our Cat Gift Shop we raised money for this purpose, but now we have depleted this fund and need to fill this account in. We will be having a bake sale in the Spring. Please share this information.
Until you have picked up a starving to death animal that was somebodies pet "throw away" or an innocent kitten and have it die in your hand, you cannot believe the pain that is felt.
In this cold keep your cats or dogs or whatever in a place where they are protected from the cold.... feed them if you can, but don't ignore a situation that can be changed and helped for the future! If you get an animal have it neutered or spayed, by doing this you are helping your community get control of this heart wrenching situation and will be lessening the multitude of strays and feral cats. You can write to our Representatives to ask for local help with funds to neuter or spay. You can adopt a pet in trouble...you will be blessed for caring!
You send a check to 4CommunityCats Inc at
c/o M E Messere 5823 Brooklyn Street, Eaton NY 13334
There are so many Revolutionary War veterans including Col. Joshua Leland who served under George Washington and purchased a large land tract that became Eaton, to the man he purchased it from… Col. William Smith, and his wife Abigail Adams Smith (daughter of President Adams). Smith himself having been the adjutant to George Washington, and who settled the area still called Smith’s Valley today.
The Morse Boys and their father Captain Joseph Morse and his men made up of White, Black and Praying Indian who were at Lexington and Concord and Bunker (Breeds( Hill. Men who came here to start a new life in Freedom without rule of crazy King George.
Other notables include Major Sinclair who purchased the land owned by Col Leland, now with a historical marker for the Dunbar Farm. Sinclair kept a tavern and stable on that property for travelers.
Jonathan Bates who came to Eaton and purchase land just below the Old Town of Eaton Museum, his grave on the side of the road is marked today with a large bronze plaque on a boulder. Bates had served with the well known Patriot Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys.
Benjamin Morse brother of Joseph Morse, Major Elisha Haden, Nicholas Byer who had been a member of Burgoyne’s Hessians, Simeon Chubbuck, grandfather of Emily Chubbuck and Myles Standish! yes Myles Standish.
Mr. Standish was a direct lineal descendant of his illustrious namesake, Captain Miles Standish of the Mayflower, one of the most distinguished of the colonists who landed upon Plymouth Rock in 1620.
Captain Standish had been hired as the military protection for the early colony, and in true military fashion Miles Jr. was a soldier as well.
Corporal Myles Standish was born in 1748 at Duxbury, Plymouth County Massachusetts, moving to Eaton where he died on July 22, 1818 at the age of 70.
Myles Standish, Naomi Standish, and Daniel Standish were members of the Second Baptist Church of Eaton, and appear in the US Census of Eaton, Madison County.
Myles, was always called Myles by all who knew him, and took up the farm once owned by Adin Brown near Pierceville, living there for many years. Standish was an energetic businessman who invested in the Skaneateles Turnpike, and he built and kept the first old turnpike gate, which stood in the early years opposite the famous Alderbrook gristmill. It is so interesting to see both national and local history meld seamlessly together this way.
Even more amazing is that today people will be marching on our modern No Kings Day! Our fore bearers fought for freedom from military rule....yes read about the era before the Revolution... a good book on the day the fist shots were fired at the "Bridge" on April 19, in 1775 is "The Day The American Revolution Began" by William Hallahan...then realize Eaton's forefathers who lived here in some cases, were at the bridge.
I wonder what they think laying in their graves overlooking the Town they founded to get away from the military craziness of King George and his Taxes "Tariffs on Coffee and Tea and spices!"
Remember.... this weekend is Fall Festival History Weekend and our special event for History Day. Sunday, Oct. 19th... the Old Town of Eaton Museum will be open from 1 to 3pm followed by a lecture at the old Auction Barn on Rt. 26 at 3:30 pm.
The lecture will be on the historic Eaton Cemetery and will offer a virtual tour of its history!
Please realize that the history of all our small areas and cities is contained in the final resting place of it former inhabitants who have now passed! Eaton's Historic Eaton Cemetery is no exception and really has some wonderful stories to tell. I love to give the tour because some of the stories are so entertaining and some so sad!
From the "Mean Men Stories" of Melville Landon, to the Revolutionary War stories of Veterans from Eaton who served like Miles Standish lll, and the remarkable founding families of Morse and Leland. You will learn about their connections to the Battle of Bunker Hill, connections to the Mormon history that flows down the hill from the Bonney Farm. Did you know that John Brown and his men rode through Eaton where his niece lived.
The history in our EatonCemetery includes many of the founders of the Eaton Museum as well as some of its most remembered citizens...so mark it on your calendar and come to the Auction Barn next to the Eaton Post Office, I guarantee you will enjoy a special Sunday afternoon with Backstreet Mary and the museum gang!!
As a special treat this Fall, the Eaton museum will be holding a lecture and virtual tour of the cemetery tour on Sunday, October 19th at 3 pm at the site of the Old Auction Barn on Rt. 26 in Eaton. The talk and tour are free with a hope that you will donate something to the Cemetery Association and the Eaton Museum. The Old Town of Eaton Museum will be open from 1 to 3 pm with refreshments at both!
The Fall is coming on us quickly, and while getting ready stacking wood and thinking of our next museum event, " Fall History Weekend...I dug this up and thought you might enjoy reading it again! Many of our original settlers in Eaton date back to the Mayflower and the settlers of Natick especially the Morse, Leland, Kent and Stowe families. Eaton followed much of the tradition of Natick so I thought I would include some wonderful history on Thanksgiving and Governor Bradford who Grandma Clark was a direct relative of.
Fall and the first Thanksgiving was truly different from what we see portrayed today on TV and in the movies.In actuality, the Pilgrims who had invited the Indians over to thank them for their help in cultivating corn, in fishing and in hunting, and for basically keeping them alive for the first year, were stunned when the Indians arrived for the feast in numbers far beyond what the Pilgrim’s could feed.So, the Indians left and hunted for deer and fowl and returned with the food necessary for the feast to last three days…yes, three days.
This occasion was unusually frivolous for the stern Pilgrims and comprised of continuous eating, the marching of Myles Standish’s little band of soldiers, bow and arrow competition etc…The feast meanwhile was tended to by five of the eighteen women who survived the first terrible winter.Imagine trying to fix a feast for 140-150 people over an open fire, and then stretch it to three days.
The great Governor Bradford delivered this prayer on the first Thanksgiving and I thought I would include it for us:
" Oh give thanks unto the Lord; sing unto him; sing praises unto him, for the precious things of heaven for the dew, and for the deep that couches beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth from the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the everlasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and its fullness.Let everything that has breath praise the Lord, Praise ye the Lord."
Of interest, I think, are a number of passages from “Of Plimouth Plantation” by Governor Bradford, which mention the colony’s success only by acts of what he referred to as “God’s divine providence”.
Bradford mentions windfalls of corn from unexpected quarters, a mysterious voice that warned the colonials of a store-house fire, showers that came just in time to save the crops, even the turning back of a ship that would foreclose on the colony.These quotes show the success of the colony having been squarely laid on the cornerstone of faith.
This faith led Bradford to guide the colony through all of its terrible trials and gave him the moral capacity to do what was right for all without wish for personal gain.From his first election in 1622 until 1639, he received nothing for dining the court during their monthly sessions.One comment I received after the piece on the “Common Good” read “too bad things could not be like that today!”To this I say, “Amen!”The word “altruism” is too seldom used to describe our modern leaders.
The key word in our pursuit of the history of the Pilgrim’s is DEMOCRACY.Democracy, is the basis for the Pilgrim’s government, carried through both the church and the state, something we need to concentrate on today I think.
Put your sound on and listen to and oldie and a fall favorite from a past Fall History Weekend theme!
Sometimes a cemetery is historic for a number of different reasons as well as for the famous people buried in it. One such cemetery is the Eaton Village Cemetery which occupies a hill outside of the Hamlet of Eaton and contains the remains of many famous and near famous people.
As a special treat we will be holding a lecture and virtual tour of the cemetery tour on Sunday, October 19th at 3 pm at the site of the Old Auction Barn on Rt. 26 in Eaton. The talk and tour are free with a hope that you will donate something to the Cemetery Association and the Eaton Museum.
Backstreet Mary will be giving the lecture for Fall History Day. On Fall History Day the Museum will be open from 1pm until 3 with the lecture to start at the auction barn site at 3.30. The museum is a stones throw away on River Road in walking distance. Refreshments will be served to celebrate Fall and all the local history of many colors!
M E Messere
The cemetery itself dates to before 1800, on a piece of property donated by Squire Eldred. It rests on the side of the Old Indian Trail and a recently discovered map shows that the early road was exactly where the current road is.
Little care or attention was given the site for a number of years with cattle roaming it and overgrowth covering it, but in 1852, George Morse, grandson of the famous Joseph Morse, bought a piece of property next to the cemetery which started him on a labor of love keeping the grounds for his lifetime.
Morse took care of the grounds planting trees & planting the myrtle that still covers the hill today. Morse also installed fences to keep the cows that roamed nearby out. Other early pieces of property that added to the cemetery's size belonged to J. T. Whitney. In 1884 the present Eaton Village Cemetery Association was formed, an association that still cares for the cemetery today.
Buried within its borders are the founding Morse family, the Landon Family members including the famous Eli Perkins (Melville Landon) who is buried at the top of the cemetery steps. There are Chubbucks, including the father of Samuel W. Chubbuck inventor of the camelback key and sounder for Morse’s telegraph and siblings of Emily Chubbuck Judson, the author and missionary.
Many Civil War veteran's including Col. Henry Bagg Morse of the famous 114th Regiment of NYS Volunteers and relatives of Charles Grandison Finney who once attended school in the one room school house that was located in the cemetery. In a special section lies the first female physician of Madison County Diedamia Button Chase and beside her is her famous daughter, historian Luna Chase Hammond. Near the front of the cemetery lies Allen N. Wood founder of the world famous Wood, Taber & Morse Steam Engine Works, and many more.
So take a short hop on the NYS Scenic Highway Route 20, and visit the historic Eaton, For more informatio on the Old Town of Eaton Museum you can email backstreetmary@yahoo.com.
June 6th is an important date in Eaton as it is the Anniversary of the founding of the Eaton Church founded on June 6th, 1833 and is the sight I see each morning while writing this blog. At that time it was the Congregational Church, its founding members included two of the original incorporators of the Baptist Theological Seminary that became Madison University and today's Colgate University.
In 1848 the church hosted the Congregational Society’s yearly northeast meeting at which time the Congregational Society officially adopted an anti-slavery stand. Some information on this is in the Cornell College Library.
The church had many noteworthy pastors including its first installed minister the Reverend E D Willis. I became interested in Willis because he lived in my house, a house that Allen Nelson Wood and his wife would buy on their return to Eaton.
The church’s members at that time included Allen Nelson Wood founder of the Wood, Taber & Morse Steam Engine Works and both his partners Loyal Clark Taber and Walter Morse.
Other famous Eatonites who attended services were Melville Delancey Landon and his family. Landon became a well known as both a writer and as a lecturer. Many rich and famous people attended the church during the Victorian era during what time Grover Cleveland’s brother; the Reverend William Cleveland was its pastor. E D Willis the first installed Minister was a friend of Gerrit Smith and married the Tiffany Family members.
The church still today houses a historic Meneely Clock and Bell that were paid for in 1848 by Ellis Morse son of Joseph Morse founder of Eaton. and the churches windows which bear the names of some of Eaton’s greats... still grace its interior; an interior that sported hand turned pillars turned by Allen Wood himself.
During the Civil War the Eaton Churches banded together and held services attended by each other patrons during the week to pray for the wars end. Prayers were also read during the Wars that followed.
Eventually, the Congregational Church became part of the Federated Churches of Eaton and then later became a Community Bible Church under the Pastor Thomas Clark who improved not only the building, and but helped institute a fabulous AWANA program. During the time he was pastor the congregation also built a large activities building that is used today for youths to play basketball and games and to host special functions. The Church located on Brooklyn Street is the focal point of a new display at the Eaton Museum.
