History of the Famous Eaton Church

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.

The Museum is Open on Saturday!

The Old Town Museum on River Road in Eaton, will be open on Saturday from 1 - 3 pm.  Come Down and learn some History!....

You know history does march to a different drummer in Eaton.  I live here and marvel at the fact that on every corner of the Hamlet... once called “Eaton Village”… history lived.

The very spot where we usually host our event on Memorial Day Monday - Eaton Day…and our lectures…is one of the town’s historic places…a place  of national importance actually…for it is the site of the birth of the Camelback Key and Sounder for Morse’s telegraph!  Yup.. in old Eaton, New York.

Early Sounder

If you go behind the old auction barn building you will find the spot where Samuel W. Chubbuck did all his experiments … a place that was his father’s Mechanic Shop.  Samuel Chubbuck and his family moved to Eaton, then called Log City, very early and his son Samuel it was said could fix anything.

Samuel eventually became noted for his many ideas, which include not only telegraph equipment but also the modern battery post used in our cars, lift bridges, and so much more.  If an idea came to him in a dream he took no patent on it as he believed in came from God.

His camelback key is actually patented to his cousin Charles Chubbuck?  I have always wondered if he gave it to Emily Chubbuck’s father to give him some income… (His family was very poor.) Oh yes did I mention Emily Chubbuck Judson…the missionary known also as the famous writer “Fanny Forrester”… was his cousin. And yes, the brook that wanders behind Samuel’s work spot is the brook that she made famous in her “Alderbrook Tales!”

Anyway Samuel went on to become a very famous and rich man who gave lectures all over the USA as Professor Chubbuck.  It is interesting to note that one of the men he influenced with his theories on “electricity” who gave him credit was Thomas Alvah Edison.  Chubbuck’s company made all of the early equipment for Morse’s Telegraph…something that modernized news and communication.

A humorous piece on his family is noted in Luna Hammond’s history of Madison County:

“After the Skaneateles turnpike went through, there was need of better tavern accommodations; Mr. Samuel Stow, therefore, built and kept a tavern on the corner opposite the lower hotel. Samuel Chubbuck, living opposite to him, carried on a blacksmith shop. These two men had by some disagreement become violently opposed to each other. In a spirit of competition, Mr. Chubbuck was a staunch Democrat, and this was a time soon after the war of 1812; so upon one side of his attractive sign board was displayed the dying words of Commodore Lawrence, as a motto, --- "Don't give up the Ship!" --- and on the other side, "Free Trade and Sailor's Rights!" Mr. Stow immediately erected another blacksmith shop to match Chubbuck's, which stood very near where Coman's store is, and swung out his sign directly opposite to Chubbuck bearing these words: "Don't give up the Shop!" and on the reverse side, "Free Trade and Mechanic's Rights!" --- alluding to his neighbor's giving up blacksmithing for tavern keeping. Those unique signs hung out for many a year. “

PS   If you didn’t ever hear of this piece…it was because S F B Morse was and ego-maniac and took credit for everything he could!

Historic Travel videos for Mohawk Valley Talk

Here are a bunch videos you can view to plan your trip along the Mohawk

and if you. click subscribe you can see all of my blogs on the talks we gave.

Here are a bunch videos you can view to plan your trip along the historic Mohawk Vally trail.... 

Palatine Church part of the Mohawk Valley History

This week has been busy with stacking wood and getting ready for winter & our upcoming Talk on the Mohawk Valley at the Old Auction Barn next to the Eaton Post Office on Route 26 in Eaton at 6pm..  In In my heart however, I wanted to be on the road again visiting my favorite places for fall travel...The one I love the most is the old Palatine Church on the historic Mohawk trail to Albany near Nelliston.  I take people to it whenever we are driving by.... it is probably the most notable German Palatine structure in upstate New York.

Rising off the highway it stands on a hill near a spot that was once the settlement of Fox’s Mills. The limestone church dates to 1770 when it was erected by the subscription and the labor of a number of families in the area. The Garoga Creek, which flowed near by, provided waterpower for a number of mills and businesses in the small community, now gone which is today called Palatine Church.

Most notable among the families of the area was that of Hendrick Nellis who not only donated the land it stands on, but helped build the church with other community members.

Nellis and his grandson however remained loyal to the Crown at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War and had to flee to Canada. Other members of the family remained so typical of the division of loyalties at that time.

History has it recorded that in October of 1780, when the Tory forces under Sir John Johnson dropped down from Canada with the allied Native Americans to burn the farms and harvest of the valley, the church was saved by a British Officer who stopped it saying he had promised Nellis.

The site is also a historic marker site as it was the camp of the American Army under General Van Rensselaer after winning the Battle of Clock’s Field retreated to this site to make camp. Van Rensselaer refused to pursue the Tory forces, an act for which he was later tried for treason.

Today the church has been restored including its famous raised pulpit with sounding board and has had its organ rebuilt by noted organ builder Robert S. Rowland. Rowland built it in the style of old colonial organs. The inside has many historic artifacts on display as well as a rare 13 star American Flag that was found during the renovation.

Visitors from all over the world come to what is today call “The Shrine of Lutheranism in the Mohawk Valley”, and all passing it on Route 5 still admire its Colonial beauty! I love it!

The timeless beauty of Fort Klock Reminds us of our Historic Past

I did a talk last week on the Battle of Oriskany and thought about all the wonderful remnants of that. period of our settlement,  That night I thought about the burning of the Mohawk Valley and all the wonderful history day trips we can all take to celebrate our 250th year.

A trip to Old Fort Klock near Johnsville on Route 5, is a great way to revisit New York States historic “past.” The L shaped stone farmhouse served as a Fort in two different Wars, the French and Indian as well as the American Revolution. Built in 1750 by Johannes Klock one of the many Palatine Germans who populated the area, Fort Klock actually saw one of the last skirmishes of the Revolutionary War on October 19, 1780 at the Battle of Klock’s Field, also referred to as “The Great Raid”.

The Fort and grounds have been restored and new farm buildings erected in the Dutch style so that the Fort Klock Restoration, the group that now runs it, can keep it open yearly from Memorial Day to Columbus Day for visitors to learn of its unique history.

It is written that many famous personages of the time including Chief Joseph Brant, General Clinton, Alexander Hamilton and King Hendrick, were all guest within its walls at one time or another.

Fort Klock, was built on a hill overlooking the Mohawk River and just above the King’s Highway (now the railroad bed). For protection against raiding Indians it contained “loop holes” so that it could be fortified by long rifle from within its walls during raids. It served as protection for other settlers in the area during these times. Its formidable stonewalls that are two feet thick could ward off munitions as well as fire.

The story of the many raids that took place from Canada are featured in the book “The Burning of the Valley” by Gavin K.Watt”, a wonderfully researched book with a story and maps of the famous “Burning of the Harvest at Klock’s Field”. Humorously, the book gives us the view from the British– Canadian raiders side. So few of us realize that many of the Mohawk Valley settlers who remained loyal to the Crown had to flee to Canada, leaving their homes behind and that many of these settlers participated in these burning raids as retribution.

Fort Klock (actually there were more than one) was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, being listed as – “A site of exceptional value in commemorating or illustrating the history of the United States.” And as that, it truly is a place worth visiting!

  

Day Trip to Old Fort Johnson

Take a Trip back in time to 

                 New York's Colonial Past!

Old Fort Johnson located on Route 5 near Amsterdam, New York

A writer for the Rome Daily Sentinel in 1930 wrote that people in their automobiles are traveling miles to see and visit historic sites of the American Revolution such as Valley Forge, Lake George etc. when all they have to do is take a ride down old Route 5 from Utica to Albany. Today that statement is as true.

For a wonderful history lessen a trip down old route 5 today will bring you to historic sites including Fort Stanwix, (Schyuler), Fort Klock, Fort Hunter, and Old Fort Johnson.

Damaged by a flood, the National Historic Site reopened on August 11, 2012 and greets visitors with a history that spans time from 1743 to today.

The Fort was built by Sir William Johnson who came to America to help his Uncle Peter Warren with his land dealings... eventually becoming the “Superintendent of all the affairs of the Six Nations and other Northern Indians.” Johnson occupied the Fort until he built Johnson Hall. The Fort was the site of Indian treaties; it saw the meetings of the great tribes and Sachems of the Iroquois Nations.It is the home that he occupied with Molly Brandt and the place that Joseph Brandt would leave to go to the white man’s school.

The block style home has a varied history as it passed from William Johnson who then passed it to his son Sir John Johnson. John Johnson had married (Mary) Polly Watts who came from a distinguished family of Colonial times. It had a progression of owners until in 1905 when the home was purchased by Mary’s relative General John Watts de Peyster and was presented as a gift to the Montgomery Historical Society... who still own it today.

A French spy traveling the area in the 1750’s gives us a wonderful description of the old fort. “Col. Johnson’s mansion is situated on the border of the left bank of the River Mohawk; it is three stories high; built of stone, with port holes (crenelees) and a parapet and is flanked with four bastions on which are some small guns”.

Today the Fort still has its colonial nature and still stands as a reminder of our colonial past. Its shining demeanor invites us to “step back in time” with a special grace that few spots do today, and a visit is a great way to learn about a man who worked tirelessly to keep upstate and the Mohawk Valley in the hands of the British.

The Deaf White Cat that came in from the Cold!

                                                                        Whitie

 I have had so many cats that have wandered in to get a free meal and in many cases help, I can't remember them all.!  One such cat is "Whitie", he is mostly white and is mostly deaf.  He wandered in with blood on him and was starving. Nobody claimed the poor fellow and all he wanted was food and a place to sleep!  It was the dead of winter this past year and I found he would hide on the back porch under the chair,,,it was freezing out there.  

This summer he has turned into a good looking white cat but only wants to eat and be in the house, which is driving my house cats crazy.  What I need is  to find a home for him.  He is fixed now and someone would have a great, friendly, and very gentle cat.  Humorously, Whitie is the opposite of my blind black cat Willie... so I wondered if maybe we should start a "disabled cat ranch" down here!

Please if you can find a home for White you will have no trouble... only a food bill and I can have a happy home again in my kitchen!  The thing that worries me the most is the upcoming winter weather as once again the porch will be freezing cold and an electric heater will be unaffordable with this years  electric rates.

It reminds me of  "The Cat who came to Christmas" by Cleveland Amory.  I am the "Curmudgeon" that seems to always gets stuck feeling sorry for them, mumbles under my breath, and then finds love from them...  Animals unlike people who want everything...new cars, fancy phones, overpriced houses... only want a home and food...and I might add "...they show much love back.

This is the reason we founded our "not for profit.  4 Community Cats Inc".  This is our way of helping to control the animal population in our little area and to put a website out with information on vets, neutering and spaying, and health tips..Please help us help the community and cats like White!

4CommunityCats.Inc.   We have a go Fund Me Page or you can mail check to 4 Community Cats Inc in care of 5823 Brooklyn Street, Eaton, NY.   https://gofund.me/7356f605 

We are a NYS and Federal Not for Profit Charity!