The history of Eaton Village
and the Town of Eaton have continued now for 220 years, in a way it is just a
pebble in the sand of time.
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| Old History book and the new! |
The horses and the wagons
that carried people to this once a wilderness, have disappeared and in their
place have sprung up horse facilities and horse farms of all variety…but these for
more pleasant enterprises than hauling people and their belongings up the steep
old trails.
The hills that surround the
town are still steep but huge tractor-trailers wiz over them with little
thought of the heavily burdened ox carts that once served the same
purpose. The wood fires are still
burning yet coal, wood pellets, and oil have overtaken their importance.
The memories of the town’s
famous inhabitants have now faded, and the young do not have to time to
remember their wonderful historic roots.
It seems it is not until they reach the age of retirement that they are
suddenly filled with the nostalgia needed and the wish to find out about their
past genealogy.
The cell phone and Internet
have brought the outside world to a place where young Samuel Chubbuck stood
testing and developing the pony key and sounder for S B Morse’s telegraph, an
invention that would change the way news was transmitted across the world in
the 1800’s.
Gone is the factory of Wood,
Taber and Morse who developed four-wheel drive equipment that we think little
of today as we watch huge John Deere’s plowing the fields using the sisters of
the first 4-driver traction engines they developed.
The church is still standing
and open… seeming to follow the historic past, but all the many denominations
have spread out of the small villages and into the surrounding area, where
stood three now stands one. Famous
preachers are now replaced with musical groups who tour to raise spirits in the
ever more connected and depressing world.
Missionaries like the Deans, Emily
Judson, and the Wades have faded... but some still go out via the local churches as
missions, but it is not the same.
The promise of gas lights and
heat at a cheap rate has gone away, though today there are more gas heads and
gas lines crossing the town than ever before… yet no gas is delivered to a majority
of its rural population.
Cows are really no longer
family with pictures and names that are revered…now they are part of a
mechanical business we call production.
Herds that once roamed free have expanded to hundreds in barns feeding
and milking, many - three times a day.
Children can no longer walk
to school and return home with lunch pails in hand talking about their day to
their friends along the way. Local
education that was the pride and care of the community has disappeared…
replaced by central schools and huge buses that runaround the town mostly empty…
back and forth, back and forth.
Yes things have changed, we
now drive miles to stores rather than walk “over town” to shop locally. We
spend our money at institutions run by millionaires and foreign countries
rather than keep our money local helping the butcher, baker and candlestick
maker.
Doctors no longer make house
calls and you can’t stop at Mrs. Chase’s for a remedy or liquid cure…now we now
have specialists and travel to big complexes in Syracuse. Our children leave
for college and a better way of life to never return in many cases…but sometimes
I wonder… are we really better off in the modern world? Only history will tell.
For a piece of history you can purchase the new Eaton History Book at Dougherty's Pharmacy in Morrisville...
small town fun.....
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