The best remembered and photographed times in Eaton were the “field days” held yearly to celebrate the Fourth of July and now Memorial Day! This community, born out of Revolutionary blood felt it was a duty to put on big yearly celebration. These founders came from mostly Massachusetts and served in the Revolutionary War before their move here to New York
In keeping with those days the Old Town of Eaton Museum will be hosting Memorial Day and the 250th Anniversary of America...and we are trying to make it a special day that will bring people together as a community! It is indeed needed in these times of trouble for the poor, the elderly, workers and the many. Let us celebrated the past and look forward to better times, honoring the War Veterans of all our wars.
In those days "The big day" usually started with cannon volley, which in later years is remembered as Patty Miles “firing” his anvil. This was done by filling the hole in the bottom of the anvil with black powder and setting it off. Any late sleepers would be awakened if their children had not already forced them out of bed in their excitement to get downtown.
Horse racing was part of the day and baseball games were played in different fields around town, big rivals for Eaton’s team was the Bouckville Bucks. Food was available everywhere from the churches where the ladies aid put on a dinner, to the food stands on Main Street (front street) and the hotels, some brought their own lunches, but everybody ate.
The "Town" filled with music with people listening, especially when the Eaton Military Band played. In the evening there was always a dance that was well attended at the opera house in town, and the Rebekah Lodge usually served coffee to the attendees, with the dance continuing until midnight.
By the 1920’s, the world was at war; the steam engine plant was closing, water power had given away to electricity, woolen mills were closed, the Chenango Canal had ceased to be a transportation route and was only used to fill the Erie Canal, the “Great Depression” was on and the march to the city for work began.
No more does the anvil fire, and only once every three years is there a parade in Eaton on Memorial Day, (instead of Field Day on the Fourth of July). In Eaton, however the memories live on in this rural community, remembered most of all for its once glorious past replete with famous Eatonites, famous inventions and stories of the wars. Eaton like so many of its rural counterparts has gone to Sleep!
This year the annal Memorial Day Monday {Parade will be in the Hamlet of Eaton! This a special one since it will mark 250 years of America!
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. Mechanics ib those days fixed wagons, hitches even pots and pans.
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, and or museum..... is the brook that she made famous in her “Alderbrook Tales!”
Anyway Samuel went on to become a very famous and a 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!
So come out and visit " on Memorial Day...get a bit of history and envision what was a once bustling town!
Certainly among the most famous woman buried in the Eaton Cemetery is Eunice Bigelow Morse of the famous Stowe-Bigelow -Morse families of Natick, Massachusetts.Eunice came with her husband Joseph, and young children to a place that would become not only home to her but to generations of her family.
A relative Harriet Beecher Stowe in a book titled “Old Town Folks”, forever immortalized Eunice’s family.Many believed the story was written by Harriet's husband Calvin Ellis Stowe for his family… the Stowe’s… However, when Harriet married Callvin she married into the same family as her grandmother. * It is interesting to note that the Eaton Museum has the first edition of Hearth & Home with the first installment of that book inside…a newspaper kept untouched by Eunice Morse.
The museum also has Eunice’s rocker and the cradle she used for what became the famous Morse brood.The Natick crowd (Old Town Folks) also included other Morses…crab (Hezekiah Morse”, Grandpa Stowe of Eaton’s Stow Tavern…. and many more.
From Luna Hammond’s History in part:
Joseph (Eunice) removed to Eaton in 1796 from Natick… Joseph Morse was the founder of Eaton village, and his sons have been identified with nearly all of itsbusiness interests. These sons were named as follows: Ellis, whose biographical sketch appears in the chapter relating to Eaton, Joseph, who moved to Pennsylvania served in the Legislature of that State, and also became judge of the County Courts; Calvin, who was an elected member of the Legislature from Madison County in 1842, and has held municipal offices in town and county; Alpheus, who has been a merchant and scientific farmer, and for many years past, manufacturer, being proprietor of the Alderbrook Woolen Mill; and Bigelow, who was a respected citizen of Fabius, Onondaga County. Eunice, the eldest daughter of Joseph More, married Dr. James Pratt the pioneer physician of Eaton.After her husband's death, she with her family removed and began pioneer life again in Palmyra, Mo.She was a woman of indomitable will and great energy of character.
The descendants of Joseph (and Eunice) Morse have, many of them, distinguished themselves in various positions. Gen. Henry B. Morse entered the late war as Captain of the 114th Reg. N. Y. V., was promoted to the office of Colonel, and subsequently, for meritorious services, was breveted Brigadier-General in the army of the southwest. He is grandson of Joseph Morse; as also is the Rev. Andrew Morse, who as a young man was a missionary to Siam and then become the Chaplain of the U S Treasury and friends with Abraham Lincoln,. Gardner Morse, who was member of the Legislature in 1866, Walter, a member of the manufacturing firm of Wood, Tabor & Morse, George E., a prominent citizen interested in the schools and who founded the Eaton Village Cemetery Association, and Alfred, who bravely gave his life for the Union cause at the battle of Winchester,Va. ; all these being sons of Ellis Morse. Darwin and Frank B. Morse, merchants at Eaton village, Allie Morse Burchard whose husband formed the Chenango Breeder’s Association, Children of Bigelow, are grandsons of Joseph Morse. Two grand-daughters, Belinda and Eliza, daughters of Calvin, have been conspicuous as teachers, the latter being now assistant Principal of Vassar Female College.
Hezekiah Morse, the third of the pioneer brothers, came toEaton in 1806. His children are scattered and many of them dead.One of his sons. Alpha was for many years a prominent manufacturer of Eaton.Another son, Elijah, who is now dead, was awealthy farmer of Eaton. A grand-daughter is wife ofRev. John Raymond, President of Vassar Female College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Albert H. Morse, a prominent citizen of Eaton is also a grandson, being son of Elijah. H. B. Morse, youngest son of Hezekiah, is a scientific and successful farmer of Norwich, N. Y. (and this is just and excerpt)
What a family… and that isn’t all of them and their accomplishments.The very road today’s Eaton Village Cemetery is located on (Landon Road) was once the Great Skaneateles Turnpike a road that it is claimed would not have been built except for Joseph and Ellis who controlled 51 percent of the stock investment… an investment they made of $30,000 in 1810… think about it.
*Interestingly Luna Hammond the historian and her famous mother Deidamia Button Chase (the first female physician of Madison County) and her famous brood are also buried in the cemetery. Almost all of the Morse family is buried in the Eaton Cemetery including the Morse – Motts. Did you know that Luna's brother Julius was the historian for the US Treasury in Washington DC
.Come out to Eaton Day on Memorial, Day Monday… tour the cemetery…buy a book, make a donation to support Eaton's Old Town Museum.... Friends of the Old Town of Eaton Museum, c/o 5823 Brooklyn Street. Eaton NY 13334
The James Pratt house, which for almost 70 years had sported a historic marker, is no longer there.. The house located on today's Route 26 once sat on the hill next to the Great Skaneateles Turnpike... on lands once owned by Joseph Morse.
Morse was considered by many to be the father of Eaton because of his expansive business empire. Its builder, Dr. James Pratt, came from Massachusetts in the early1800’s and became the first physician in the Town of Eaton and the town’s first teacher, moving to teach in the early days in rotation to three different sites within the town.
The house which had fallen into disrepair over the years was called a two story home, but in the early 1800’s when built, it was described by noted artist Carlton Rice as a white one-story building. Rice would come to Eaton with Pratt’s cousins to visit his Rice relatives who also lived in Eaton.
The Dr. once owned interest in the Eaton Woolen Mill with Joseph Morse and others marrying Laurency Eaton, the daughter of James Eaton one of Eaton’s first settlers. (*Please note Eaton was not named for James but for Gen. William Eaton of Tripoli fame.)
After his first wife’s death Dr. Pratt took Joseph Morse’s daughter Eunice as his wife, in one of the most notable wedding ceremonies ever held in the village.The wedding took place on the first of June, of 1814, at the Morse’s new Stone house in the Village of Eaton. (Also marked by and historic marker) and among its guests were some of the notables of Madison County’s history including Col. Lincklean, Col. Angel DeFerrier and his wife Polly, Peter Smith and his sons Gerrit (the abolionist) and Peter Skenandoah Smith, Joshua Leland’s widow Waitstill and an entourage of Native Americans, the Stowes, the Cramphins and many others, basically anyone who was anybody.The couple were married by the Rev. Jonas Thompson.
Eunice Morse had come to the then wilderness of which became Madison County, with her father, the son of Capt. Joseph Morse and mother Eunice, who was of the famous Bigelow family of Natick, immortalized in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Old Town Folks. Young Eunice attended school under Dr. James Pratt, and was exceedingly friendly with the Indian children of the area, often inviting them in to warm by the fire. (The Morse family always left the “latch spring” open for their native friends.)
After her father’s death, Ellis, a brother who also came with them, would take the businesses of Eaton over from his father and his brother Joseph Morse Jr. Joseph Sr. upon his death had bequeathed Eunice $600 to be paid by Joseph Jr. in 3 years from his death, and a lot. Eunice continued her education going on to graduate from Clinton Academy in 1810 – the last graduating class before it became Hamilton College.
The family was on a move to Palmyra, MO. Where a son James by his first wife found prosperity and died, his grave has never been found. Eunice moved west, some believe perhaps in hopes of finding him. She never did. Dr. Pratt and Eunice’s children and Dr. Pratt’s grown children from his first wife settled near Knox, where Eunice lived until her death. She was considered by all a remarkable woman for her time, she had served the earliest period of our county’s history.
An interesting side note is that Dr. Pratt’s will created quite a storm when he left money to fight an ongoing lawsuit with the Congregational Church he was such a part of. During this period Charles Grandison Finney, the Evangelist of Oberlin fame, had favored the congregation standing to sing and sitting to pray. Dr. Pratt believed this wrong and spent much of his fortune fighting this practice. He sued the church.
Thechurch that, ironically, that was in the community where Charles G. Finney lived as a boy. Finney lived in early Eaton Village, then Log City, with his aunt and uncle the Cyrus Finneys. This house today has a historic marker on the corner of route 26 and English Avenue. Cyrus Finney's wife's father was a preacher who lived with them....Rev.Heminway!
Charles Grandson Finney as a preacher introduced anxious seats he used in his conversions.
Please help us put on a special 250th Anniversary Parade.! Contact any one of our group... Jen Calois, Michele Kelly, Barbara Keough, Sharry Woodcock or me..you can email me at backstreetmary@yahoo.com. or go to
This week I have been reviewing the book I did for the Eaton Village Cemetery as a “fund Raiser” I had the opportunity to think about a great number of women who survived the arduous journeys from other Northeastern areas to Eaton in the times of settlement.Women, who bore children, took care of the family and worked side by side with their husbands clearing land and starting a new life.
Certainly among the most famous is Eunice Bigelow Morse of the famous Stowe-Bigelow -Morse families of Natick, Massachusetts.Eunice came with her husband Joseph, and young children to a place that would become not only home to her but to generations of her family.
A relative Harriet Beecher Stowe in a book titled “Old Town Folks”, forever immortalized Eunice’s family.Many believed the story was written by Harriet's husband Calvin Ellis Stowe for his family… the Stowe’s… However, when Harriet married Callvin she married into the same family as her grandmother. * It is interesting to note that the Eaton Museum has the first edition of Hearth & Home with the first installment of that book inside…a newspaper kept untouched by Eunice Morse.
The museum also has Eunice’s rocker and the cradle she used for what became the famous Morse brood.The Natick crowd (Old Town Folks) also included other Morses…crab (Hezekiah Morse”, Grandpa Stowe of Eaton’s Stow Tavern…. and many more.
From Luna Hammond’s History in part:
Joseph (Eunice) removed to Eaton in 1796 from Natick… Joseph Morse was the founder of Eaton village, and his sons have been identified with nearly all of itsbusiness interests. These sons were named as follows: Ellis, whose biographical sketch appears in the chapter relating to Eaton, Joseph, who moved to Pennsylvania served in the Legislature of that State, and also became judge of the County Courts; Calvin, who was an elected member of the Legislature from Madison County in 1842, and has held municipal offices in town and county; Alpheus, who has been a merchant and scientific farmer, and for many years past, manufacturer, being proprietor of the Alderbrook Woolen Mill; and Bigelow, who was a respected citizen of Fabius, Onondaga County. Eunice, the eldest daughter of Joseph More, married Dr. James Pratt the pioneer physician of Eaton.After her husband's death, she with her family removed and began pioneer life again in Palmyra, Mo.She was a woman of indomitable will and great energy of character.
The descendants of Joseph (and Eunice) Morse have, many of them, distinguished themselves in various positions. Gen. Henry B. Morse entered the late war as Captain of the 114th Reg. N. Y. V., was promoted to the office of Colonel, and subsequently, for meritorious services, was breveted Brigadier-General in the army of the southwest. He is grandson of Joseph Morse; as also is the Rev. Andrew Morse, who as a young man was a missionary to Siam and then become the Chaplain of the U S Treasury and friends with Abraham Lincoln,. Gardner Morse, who was member of the Legislature in 1866, Walter, a member of the manufacturing firm of Wood, Tabor & Morse, George E., a prominent citizen interested in the schools and who founded the Eaton Village Cemetery Association, and Alfred, who bravely gave his life for the Union cause at the battle of Winchester,Va. ; all these being sons of Ellis Morse. Darwin and Frank B. Morse, merchants at Eaton village, Allie Morse Burchard whose husband formed the Chenango Breeder’s Association, Children of Bigelow, are grandsons of Joseph Morse. Two grand-daughters, Belinda and Eliza, daughters of Calvin, have been conspicuous as teachers, the latter being now assistant Principal of Vassar Female College.
Hezekiah Morse, the third of the pioneer brothers, came toEaton in 1806. His children are scattered and many of them dead.One of his sons. Alpha was for many years a prominent manufacturer of Eaton.Another son, Elijah, who is now dead, was awealthy farmer of Eaton. A grand-daughter is wife ofRev. John Raymond, President of Vassar Female College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Albert H. Morse, a prominent citizen of Eaton is also a grandson, being son of Elijah. H. B. Morse, youngest son of Hezekiah, is a scientific and successful farmer of Norwich, N. Y. (and this is just and excerpt)
What a family… and that isn’t all of them and their accomplishments.The very road today’s Eaton Village Cemetery is located on (Landon Road) was once the Great Skaneateles Turnpike a road that it is claimed would not have been built except for Joseph and Ellis who controlled 51 percent of the stock investment… an investment they made of $30,000 in 1810… think about it.
Come out to Eaton Day on Memorial, Day Monday… tour the cemetery…by a book, make a donation to support the Eaton Village Cemetery Association and help Eaton celebrate History and “Happy Mother’s Day” to all of those pioneer women whose husbands and children made our area a wonderful piece of rural Americana!
*Interestingly Luna Hammond the historian and her famous mother Deidamia Button Chase (the first female physician of Madison County) and her famous brood are also buried in the cemetery. Almost all of the Morse family is buried in the Eaton Cemetery including the Morse – Motts. Did you know that Luna's brother Julius was the historian for the US Treasury in Washington DC.
All the history Eaton has cannot be covered at the Eaton Museum... but we can try!! So please help us put on a meaningful day on Memorial Day Monday and Donate!
Go to Go Fund Me and type support Eaton's 250th Memorial Day Parade! or mail a donation to Friends of the Old Town of Eaton Museum c/o 5823 Brooklyn Street, Eaton, NY 13334 ...we are a 501 3c
The Old Town Museum has gotten its new windows...they are part of the sprucing up to get ready for the up coming 250th Celebration of American Freedom! The Museum and community will be celebrating on Memorial Day Monday, May 25th , as usual with a parade and community activities!@
Eaton was formed out of the Revolutionary War (War of Rebellion) by Revolutionary Soldiers who settled it when the land became open after the Treaty at Oriskany. This allowed land to be sold in parcels legally, though the area around our museum, was visited and inhabited in 1788. A marker for that rests just down the road marking "The Bark Hut".
George Washington's Adj. Col. William Smith, whose wife was President Adams daughter, purchased this land. Smith had sent someone to scout it out, his scout lived with travelers, trappers, and Indians in the Bark Hut. Smith and a number of his family members bought parcels here in Eaton and today's Lebanon, and hence today this area is call "Smith's Valley"!
A huge parcel that became a good part of Eaton was sold to men like Jonathan Bates, Benjamen Morse and many more. Eaton was bought by Col. Joshua Leland who came to the land with the Morse boys...and many Revolutionary Veterans and Militia men who served at Breed's Hill (Bunker Hill) and were present at the Concord Bridge the day..."the shot was heard around th World".
So lets come out and honor all the veterans buried in the Eaton Cemetery as well as all those who have who given their life from all the Wars, Past and Present!
Let us also as a community take the time to remember the past... a time when small communities gathered together to support each other, and to partake for one day of remembrance of the freedom that we all enjoy today!
If you would like to participate, you can email me at backstreetmary@yahoo.com or talk to one of our organizers... here is our letter request!
Greetings Friends,
Now that the days are getting longer and warmer the 2026 organizers of the local Memorial Day Parade, scheduled for Monday May 25th in Eaton, cordially invite you and your group to participate.
America is celebrating it’s 250th anniversary and after this past cold and challenging winter our goal is to bring the community together for a pleasant gathering.
Organizations of all ages, sizes and purpose are encouraged to join in the fun. Unfortunately due to insurance rules we cannot have horses in the parade.
Some of the details are still being worked out but the parade will begin at 10am with staging and line up on Brooklyn Street starting at 9am. Following the parade there will be a short ceremony at the cemetery.
Cash prizes will be awarded in the following three categories:
-Best hometown feel
-Most upbeat vibe
-Most co-ordinated group
Prizes will be announced and handed out after brief remarks near the post office after the cemetery ceremony. The Eaton Museum will be open for visitation.
Needed are entries of floats, marchers, and an assortment of vehicles (ie emergency, tractors, classic, ultra modern and anything in between).
Spend some time following the parade route, then visit with friends and neighbors for a while.
Contact Jen Caloia soon via phone, message, or text at 315-956-5551 to sign up. Kindly respond by May 1st for planning purposes.
Thanks for supporting this initiative. Your parade organizers for 2026 are Back Street Mary, Michele Kelly, Sharry Woodcock, and Jen Caloia.
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!
