July 4th's Gone By..From my Book EATON!

 Eaton 4th of July Field Days in a Bustling Town

The best remembered and photographed times in Eaton were the “field days” held yearly to celebrate the Fourth of July.  This community, born out of Revolutionary blood felt it a duty to put on big yearly celebration. 

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 and “History Day” is now 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!

Happy Fourth America!  Every community needs a Band!

The Eaton Museum will be open on Sunday 1-3!!!

Joseph Morse and his Distinguished Family

                                                              Early Photo of Morse Sawmill & Gristmill Building

History is a fickle friend that changes its mind as new and different information surfaces from the long ago past. Many times this occurs when a new tidbit of information comes from and old newspaper article somebody clipped and stuck in the back of a book.  Such an occurrence is common.  

 

While going through a number of early clippings I found an article put out for the Centennial of Madison County in 1906.  The information would have come from a reliable source as the Morse family still resided in Eaton and always loaned history out for research.  The article lists itself as the first in a newspaper…but what paper I do not know. I include a part here.

 

“The silver cup referred to in the first installment of this paper and presented to Joseph Morse in 1819 by the Madison County Agricultural society, was one of the most attractive relics in the exhibits at the centennial exercises by Prof. Briggs at Eaton Union School March 21^st, 1906.”

 

I would love to find out where this silver cup is…the museum would love to have it since Joseph Morse is considered the founding father of Eaton.  The article goes on to give us a picture into Joseph.

 

“At his death, at this time of need in the new country, while he was yet in the prime of life and in the midst of usefulness, became a personal loss to the inhabitants, who individually mourned him as a father, brother and friend.  Together they had striven through many a crisis and conquered supreme difficulties.  He was of a generous nature, yet he helped men to help themselves and so strengthened the spirit of independence.”

 

Joseph was born in Sherburne, Massachusetts and married Eunice Bigelow in 1768, on April 24^th.  Four children were born to them before their removal from Massachusetts, and four were born in Eaton among them Ellis and Eunice that I have written about.

 

Ellis assumed the role that his father played to the community and inherited the Stone House… once considered the showplace of the area.  Ellis also sold and owned the controlling stock in the Hamilton Skaneateles Turnpike that passed by his house.  Ellis as a boy worked in the Morse Distillery that produced a vast amount of revenue and booze that supported the community both in jobs and in cash. He was self-educated with some schooling at the log school located then, near the cemetery and friends with Charles Grandison Finney who also attended that school. Ellis made sure that each of his children including his daughters was educated.

 

The second son of Joseph Morse was Joseph Morse, Jr., who removed to Pennsylvania and was there several times returned to the legislature of that state and also became judge of his county’s courts.  Calvin, the third son, was an extensive farmer and held responsible offices frequently.  He was elected to the state legislature in 1842. (The museum has some of his count books) Having no sons Calvin’s daughters became conspicuous as eductors.  The eldest, Belinda, was the wife of Andrew Cone, manufacturer; the second daughter, Miss A. Eliza, was assistant lady principal at Vassar College during the life of Dr. John H. Raymond, the first president of Vassar…I have written about her life and her famous ”Locust Hill” cottage.

 

Alpheus, the fourth son Joseph Morse, lived in Eaton until his later years.  He was a merchant, scientific farmer and a large manufacturer, being many years proprietor of the Alderbrook Woolen Mill, known first as the Morse & Brown factory and later wholly in Morse’s name. His interesting early businesses included make cast iron plow blades, growing asparagus that until recently grew in the wild around the cemetery and investing in silk production.

 

Bigelow, the fifth and youngest son of Joseph Morse, became a prominent citizen of Onondaga County. He became a wealthy farmer in the Fabius area… this because of The Skaneateles Turnpike that passed in front of it allowing him to take his cops to market. I learn from other letters that he

Bigelow had terrible headaches and died young most likely from a brain tumor.  His daughter Allie moved to Eaton and lived with his brother Calvin. His two sons, Frank B. and Darwin, under the name of Morse Bros, became Eaton’s long time reliable merchants.  Frank B. was the postmaster at Eaton most of his life for more than forty years. The museum is lucky enough to have info and beautiful pictures of his children. 

 

*of note… Many of Joseph’s Sons were Town Supervisors and that Joseph was in charge of the building of the Court House in Eaton after its move from Cazenovia, his son Ellis was in charge of building of the second and his son George was in charge of building the third today know as Madison Hall.

 

 

Eunice Morse Pratt, Pioneer Woman

It is so interesting to find history in your mailbox.  I received a note from a lady in Missouri who was looking for information on her family members who arrived from Eaton in the early 1830’s.  Since I do history on the Morse family it proved to be an interesting relook at history for me.  Her relative was Eunice Morse, Joseph Morse’s daughter.

 

Eunice received a good education starting as a child in Eaton under the tutorship of Dr. James Pratt our town’s first teacher.  He taught school early on and the school rotated from Col. Leland’s to Joseph Morse’s and on to the “Center” as it was called near todays Morrisville.

 

Pratt was married to Laurancey Eaton, who died and left him to fall for one of his students, daughter of Joseph Morse.  Their wedding was the first at the Old Stone Morse Mansion and was attended by anyone who was important from Gerrit Smith and his father to Mrs. Leland who arrived in a carriage guarded by other guests, the Native American friends of area.  It is said they came in full native regalia on impressive horses.

 

She and her husband eventually moved on to find a new home and follow others from their family and area to Missouri.  Unfortunately, on a trip west he was killed.  Undaunted she decided to follow and look for the truth.

 

I have copies of some of the letters she sent back from there and they are so interesting I thought I would do a series of articles on her, her time, and Eaton.  Included here is an excerpt from - Palmyra Marion County Missouri in October of 1836.

 

“Dear brother - We arrived safe in Palmyra in five weeks and one day from the hour we left home had a very pleasant journey most of the way.  We had some difficulty to get through the mud, which we should not have had if we had started sooner.  

 

When we came to the first bad road we had to walk some and ride some.  We found a man with a four-horse wagon without a load.  We hired him to carry us and our load to Indianapolis 36 miles then we found roads very good until we came to the first prairies in Illinois here these roads were very good a few roads then a slough so deep it was almost impassable.  It was nearly dark and we were nine miles from a tavern.  David was sick with a headache.  We began to be afraid of being stalled in the sloughs.  We soon saw two horsemen a coming towards us one of them road forward to show us the way.  He offered to put in his horse and ride and let David ride our smallest horse, which was very tired.  

 

We got along very well until a little after dark.  The horses then mired in a slough and after making many unsuccessful attempts to extricate the wagons the horses fell and they had to hold their heads out of the muddy water till they could clear them from the wagon and as a last resort we left our wagon and rode two on a horse near three miles.  We then arrived at this young mans house that helped us.  

 

We had every attention that poverty joined with kindness could bestow.  They went with James in the morning and got the wagon.  We hired one of them to go with us with his horses ninety miles.  We then came to the stage road, which was very good.  We did not like Ohio nor Indiana as well as Illinois the land is good and very handsome but unhealthy.  They can raise grain with very little labor.  When we arrived Galen was absent.  Two Mr. Wrights his wives brethren were a boarding at his house.  They received us with as much pleasure as if they were brothers.”

 

It is so interesting, and such a long journey for a widow from Eaton who became a pioneer much like her mother who came to Eaton in 1796 by oxcart with husband and children, Eunice Bigelow Morse.

 

 

 

The Removal of the Courthouse from Eaton

By the late 1880’s a cry had raised up, from the northern, more populous part of the county, asking that the location of the courthouse be changed to the north.  The main complaint was that travelers to the clerk’s office or the courts could not easily get to Morrisville by train.  The train that passed through the town of Eaton, by-passed Morrisville, and travelers had to go over steep hills to get to the county buildings at Morrisville from Morrisville Station.  Other complaints included a lack of adequate accommodations for visitors.  This fight was the most divisive struggle in the history of Madison County lasting for almost 30 years.  This struggle had a polarizing effect that is even evident in many ways today.

It is interesting to note that in 1893 a petition was passed by the people of Eaton Village to have the courthouse relocated there.  Eaton had the rail stop and had many more amenities than Morrisville at the time.  This was blocked by H. B. Conan who protested this move, using the fact that if the courthouse was moved the land would revert to the former owners, a fact that later effected the property when it was to become part of the state agricultural school.

The towns of Lenox and Oneida kept the fight going for more years through self-interest, each one wanting the county seat to be located in their towns.  Petitions for removal stated that Morrisville was 2 ½ miles from the nearest rail terminal, that it was too expensive to pay mileage for jurors, that the jail was condemned by State authorities and that it took a whole day to reach Morrisville from any other point in the county.

The compromise was choosing the current courthouse’s location in Wampsville and the village was basically created (incorporated as a village on September 25, 1907) to hold the county seat.  Wampsville was located on the main line of the New York Central and the West Shore Railroads where twenty-four trains stopped daily.

     

Finally on November 5, 1907 this issued was turned over to the voters and the county seat was changed from Morrisville to Wampsville by a margin of 756 votes.  Of interest is that 10 of the 16 towns actually voted against this, the north winning because of its larger population.

The New Courthouse

The next step was acquiring the land in Wampsville to build on.  It is here John Wesley Coe enters the picture.  Coe had been the foreman of the Madison County Jury for 14 years and was one of the supporters of the relocation of the county seat to Wampsville.  It is said that he was tired of his lengthy commute to Morrisville, especially in the winter season.  Coe originally from Madison County, had become wealthy in the oil fields of Ohio and Pennsylvania.  Coe returned to Madison County with that wealth, buying a 78 acre farm to retire on as a gentleman farmer.  Coe had been partners in the oil fields with President James A. Garfield and remained a close friend until his death.  Coe put up orchards on his property and later sold two strips of his property to two different railroad companies, which effected the decision to move to his lands.

     Coe originally wanted to be paid for his prime parcel of land near the railroad, but later on February 12, 1908, he decided to deed the land to the county for just $1.  When the county asked him for more land he sold the county land for the jail and let the county rent land for vegetable gardens.  John Wesley Coe refused to sell his house however, stating that he “brought the house to live and to die in”, and that he did.  This house later was purchased by the county and had to be removed to build new county facilities.

     So on July 16, 1908 ground was broken for the start of a new Courthouse in the newly formed Village of Wampsville.

James Riley Gordon designer of the new Courthouse

The Madison County Courthouse in Wampsville was designed by the famous architect James Riely Gordon, who is also the architect of the Cortland County Courthouse.  Gordon worked for a time for the Irving Corner Company of New York before moving to Texas.  Texas, which has more courthouses than any other state (225) was a ripe field for Gordon, who is credited with building over 60 courthouses across the United States, 16 in Texas alone.  If you go on line to http://www.waxahachiechamber.com you can learn about the construction of the Waxahachic courthouse that was described by James A. Michener in his book Texas.

Gordon’s style of architecture was considered Richardsonian Romanesque and among his most memorable building accomplishments was the Texas Building for the Columbian Exposition of 1897.

Ellis Morse, one of Madison County's Early Leaders.

Exchange Hotel

Certainly one of the most notable members of Eaton’s Morse family was Ellis Morse.  Ellis, born in 1789 in Natick, Mass. was the eldest son of Eunice Bigelow and Joseph Morse, came with the family from Sherborn as a very young boy.  He helped his father build the early mills and houses and completed the families fine Stone Mansion on Route 26, when his father died at an early age. As a young man, after his father's death in Massachusetts, Ellis brought his father's corpse home to Eaton in a ox cart.

Though a “Tee-totaller” throughout his life, he ran one of the largest distillery businesses in central New York.  In its “hey day,” 350 bushels of grain were distilled every day.  (Ellis had learned distilling by working at his father’s distillery as a boy.)

Ellis, in his efforts to bring prosperity to Eaton, also paid for and was in charge of building the first plank road (now Rt. 26).  This road became the known as the Skaneateles Turnpike.  Other endeavors included the building of the Exchange Hotel and many of the businesses in the downtown Eaton area.

His father, Joseph, had played an important role in bringing the County Court House to Morrisville and had been in charge of building the first court house, Ellis upon “it’s” razing was in charge of building the second county court house.  Curiously, when the building also burned, Ellis Morse’s son, George Ellis, was in charge of building the third, which stands today and is now called Madison Hall.

Morse House

Ellis Morse, who received his education from the first teacher of the area, Dr. James Pratt, also financed a private academy in Eaton, in an effort to improve the community.  One of its notable teachers was Reverend Eels, who later went on to Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ellis was also a strong supported of the church and the Theological Seminary that is today's Colgate.

Few men had the impact on young Madison County that Ellis Morse did, and few had children who in some cases eclipsed their father’s fame and greatness.  Among his children were Civil War hero and Judge- Colonel Henry Bagg Morse, missionary to Siam, Reverend Andrew Bigelow Morse, New York Assemblyman Gardner Morse, Alfred Morse (who was killed at the Battle of Cedar Creek), and Walter Morse, who was a member of the firm of Wood, Taber and Morse.

Ellis was a high-masonic leader who  served as a Quarter Master in the 65^th Regiment in 1820.  He is buried with his large family in the Historic Eaton Cemetery.

Memorial Day and the History Roots of Eaton

Memorial Day this year is missing the parades, flag ceremonies and large gatherings of the past, perhaps that is good.  The quiet of town cemeteries will allow us to think on what the service of the men who fought to keep our country the democracy that it is today, and are responsible for the freedoms that we all enjoy. So as our Memorial Day tradition goes, we are here today to honor all our veterans and as our custom... one special veteran.  I decided to choose a Revolutionary War Veteran.

There are so many Revolutionary War veterans who first settled Eaton and the vicinity that it would be hard to honor to choose one.  From 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.

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.

Others include 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.

Others include 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 many more. To choose one to honor was hard.

So I decided to go back in the history of our military men and choose a known historic name, 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.

So on this unusual Memorial Day let us remember all of the men and women buried in this cemetery and in all cemeteries around the world, all those who fought for our country from the Revolution onward to today including our National Guards men and women fighting our new invisible enemy.

Missing Markers..Chenango Canal - Reservoirs - Pecksport

Missing Markers that were stolen or destroyed!

As soon as the Erie Canal was finished and the different stops along the canal gained great prosperity and as communities along the way garnered great wealth, the cry for additional lateral canals was heard across the state.  It was proposed that canals running north and south would bring goods, coal, raw material… as well as settlers to the expanding landscape of the State of New York.

One such canal was the Chenango Canal.  The canal was proposed to bring coal to the central area of Chenango and Madison Counties and commerce out to the Erie Canal at Utica.

Some feel the hesitation on the part of the legislature to OK such canals was the realization that the railroad was quickly becoming a better source of travel.  Some of the drawbacks to the canals were that much of the time these canals would freeze over in the winter.  

Finally, after much political pressure and wrangling, the Chenango Canal appeared on the horizon, a canal that would run from the Erie Canal to Pennsylvania… the home of coal.

The survey of the canal was done by two sources – one was James Geddes, one of the original engineers of the Erie.  Geddes laid the canal out and noted that the natural landscape of Eaton at the summit level could be dammed to hold enough water to feed the canal.

The total cost of construction and improvements came to $4,789,470.58.  The unfortunate fact was the collection tolls and superintendence and repairs were $2,081,738.85.  The loss in operating costs ran to $1,337,711.74.  Another factor that hindered its success was that it did not have a number of Weigh locks like the Erie to check load capacity.  

The total revenue derived from the canal was only $744,027.11.  In 1868, the canal had its greatest tonnage of 112,455 tons.

In April of 1863, an extension of fifty miles was authorized.  This was to extend the North Branch Canal to Pennsylvania.  In 1865, the work was started but was never completed, although $1,600,889.19 was expended.

By the 1870s, there was much public sentiment for the discontinuance of many of the state canals.  This was due primarily to three factors: fraud, administration of the canal cost of maintenance, and, of course, the success of the railroads.

So in 1874, a constitutional amendment was authorized permitting the sale or abandonment of all canals operated by the state except the Erie, Champlain, Oswego, Cayuga and Seneca canals.  A law of 1877 authorized the disposal and sale of the Chenango canal and on May 1, 1878, it was discontinued. 

The making of the canal and the importance of the Eaton area, however, created a scenic area that continued to prosper for many years because of the many reservoirs that were established to make the canal a reality. 

Wood, Tabor & Morse, Allen Wood & 4 Wheel Drive Tractors

 

Eaton is the home of Wood, Taber & Morse Steam Engine Works the maker of agricultural steam engines, The company also made and sold steam engines that worked the fields.

The first four-wheel drive traction engine transmission that used metal gears like today's models  was the brain child of Allen Wood and his engineer Loyal Clark Tabor.  They had a  wish to make this unit available to pull traction engines into the field with all of its equipment.....in other words the precursor of today's tractor.  Yes it meant man rode on it into the field for the first time. To accomplish this, Tabor invented and patented its design with all its gears...

Allen Nelson Wood founder of the company was born in the community of Middleport, one of the stops on the Chenango Canal just below Eaton. His mother and father named him after the great Lord Nelson. Captain Allen Wood Sr., Allen’s father, was a Revolutionary War veteran and a well-known Freemason. His death recorded on March 16, 1823, resulted in the largest Masonic funeral in Madison County history up until that time and for some years to come, because of the decline in Masonry after the William Morgan incident.

Allen Wood Sr. married Lucinda Newcomb of Lebanon, they had five children - Alonzo born in 1808, (he married Lydia Hodges), Olivia, born in 1810, (she married Oliver Whitaker), Tirza (married David Smith of NYC), Polly Hale (married Dr. Orson Gregory of NYC) and Allen Nelson Wood, born on August 14, 1818.

Mr. Wood was a respected member of the area, the Congregational Church, and the business community. Wood was a director, and one of the largest stockholders of the First National Bank of Morrisville as well as director and a major stockholder of the Hamilton National Bank. In 1880.  Allen Wood was the also the main stockholder of the Morrisville National Bank, owning personally sixty-five shares. He traveled as the business agent of the company that had offices in Chicago, Augusta GA. and of course, Eaton, NY.

Through his records of stock found in Cornell's Olin Library it was evident that Mr. Wood invested in many banks across America.  Mr. Wood was also instrumental in bringing the Midland Railroad to the area. To bring the railroad in, Eaton agreed to bond for $150,000.

The railroad, of course, allowed an easier and wider distribution of the steam engines and parts, as well as affording the company an easier way to bringing the needed iron ore from the Clinton area to Eaton for use in the foundry, and the coal from Pennsylvania. A foundry, we might add, which made all the parts for the engines - even to casting all of the needed gears.  Wood and company also employed many through the deepest depressions of the post Civil War period and set up and sold rights to the Oneida Royal Company.

Mr. Wood's great granddaughters visited the Wood House on Brooklyn Street in 1996, and took pleasure in telling of how... their great grandfather, Mr. Wood, who was considered the larger than life pillar of the community... Mr. Wood was on the Board of Directors or Trustee for the banks, the Eaton Congregational Church where he was also a Deacon and Sunday School Superintendent, he was Trustee of the Eaton Village Cemetery Association, and an abolitionist whose house was and Underground Railroad stop and of course – the founding member and co-owner of the famous Wood, Taber & Morse Steam Engine Works... stood only 5 foot three inches tall.


For more information on Mr. Wood, Wood, Tabor and Morse, Patents for the machines visit the Old Town of Eaton Museum on River Road in Eaton.  For information visit their facebook page >>> Old Town of Eaton Museum.

*An interesting side note for genealogists is Lucinda's sister Jerusha, who married their father's brother John Newcomb, lived and is buried in Eaton. One of Lucinda's brothers Daniel married Anna Clark of Eaton.

Morse House, NYS Historic Markers & History

The Stone Morse house dates to 1802 when it was built by Joseph and Eunice Bigelow Morse who came to Eaton (Log City) from Sherburne, Mass. in 1796. At Joseph’s death the house passed by will in 1819 to Ellis Morse his eldest son.

In 1869 Ellis Morse died leaving it to his second wife, Adaline Bagg Morse, and his children by both wives.  All the children quitclaimed to Adaline at this time. 1874 in went from Adaline Bagg Morse by will to all living children of both wives.  So Jane Morse, the daughter of Ellis and Lora Ayres Morse, the only unmarried child living, occupied the house until her death in 1908.

Then in 1923 on October 13, Adaline Morse Mott, daughter of Walter Morse, who was a son of Ellis, became sole owner as all possible heirs quitclaimed and the deed was recorded.  In December 7, 1923 by deed, Walter Webster Mott and Rowena Mott, children of Adaline Morse Mott became joint owners. In 1946 by deed, the house passed from Rowena Mott to Walter Webster Mott and his wife, Josephine Holcombe Mott. They became the owners who in 1963 also became the occupants.  The house was vacant from 1908 to 1946, and then only occupied on vacations and weekends until 1963.

Over the years the house changed from a one-story house with outside wall fireplaces to the structure we see today.  The main alterations coming in 1846, when Joseph’s oldest son, Ellis Morse, who had inherited the “home place” from his father, remodeled the house.  In a letter, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Mott, written April 29, 1846, by Adaline (Ellis’ wife) to her “Aunt Dana” in Princeton, Massachusetts, we can get a glimpse of that work.

Adeline wrote, “We are now on the eve of great changes.  Mr. Morse proposes… to make alterations on the house, to tear out chimneys and take down the battlements and finish with a cornice, remove the bedroom from the east end of the house to the west end and have folding doors between the two rooms on the south side, a piazza on the east end with four large columns…. (He) is expecting something like thirty men in less than a month from now and designs to prosecute with vigor until finished…”

They made all these changes as planned, and many more also.  The fireplaces and chimneys were removed.  A chimney was built between the northeast room (now parlor) and the southeast (now library) wall with a fireplace in the southeast room.  In it is a Franklin “set in” with a handsome mantel and hearth.  Unusual feature of the mantelpiece is a panel in the pilaster-like projection at either side of the entablature under the mantelshelf that contains a picture frame complete with glass for pictures of “latest dear departed.”  A chimney that is now used by the furnace was built from basement to roof on the west wall of the northwest rooms.  The chimneys had stovepipe holes in all rooms to accommodate the small iron stoves provided in lieu of fireplace.  Four of the little stoves still existed at the time of this survey.

Today the house remains vacant and neglected not even the lawns are clipped and vines have overgrown one of the most beautiful colonial homes in Southern Madison County. As neglected, with a large gash in the roof, is the old land office from 1802 that sold scripts for the Skaneateles Turnpike and acted as a firehouse for the main house called then a manor. The old hose reel it contained is gone like all of the past occupants.

A video of the Stone Morse House when owned by the Morse Family!

Morse Mills & Alderbrook History...More Markers

Alderbrook Mill & Morse Mills History 

This Article says it well...from a very old newspaper in the 1900's

This mill is one of the old landmarks which our citizens will regret to see pass away.  Some 35 years ago, an old saw mill stood upon the site, which was purchased by Alpheus Morse and John Brown.  They also obtained land of Simeon Chubbuck , …land upon which to erect and build bogs and to flow water into the pond.  In 1849, they built and put into operation the well-known Alderbrook Woolen Mills.  

It was a wooden structure four stories high.  They built a fine boarding house, a cottage or two and the Long Block, a long building.  The factory was in the shadow of the northern mill, a very pretty location.  The Mill employed some 75 employees and manufactured some of the best quality cashmere and doeskin.  

In 1856, the firm failed, after which Alpheus Morse effected an arrangement and continued the business.  During the war, he made the army and navy blues, his goods being in such demand in the early years of the war that much of the time the works were run night and day.  Mr. Morse ran the mill with the cooperation of different individuals with varied success until 1874 or ‘75, during which time he built three cottages on the terrace overlooking the sheet of water.  

In 1876, the premises were purchased at a mortgage sale by Messrs. Lakey & Co., who sold to D.E. Darrow and Philo Walden in 1879.  Darrow and Walden soon after removed two stories of the upright part of the mill, putting in a new roof and otherwise repaired it.  The Long Block had become a ruin nearly ready to fall when they removed it. 

 

In 1883, they leased the mill to John Klock from St. Johnsville, N.Y., for paperboard manufacture.  Later, James Healey from the same place became associated with him.  Last year, Klock and Healey sold their interest to Messrs. Howe and Son.  

The cottages on the terrace have all been sold to different individuals, and now all of the buildings belonging to the mill property, all that is left, are the wool house and the boarding house.  

Fifty years ago, before there was ever sound of factory bell, hum of wheels or clash of looms in Alderbrook dell, it was the delightful home of Emily Chubbuck, the gifted “Fanny Forester.”  Here with her father and mother, her brothers and sisters, she lived her free joyous childhood – amid the wild picturesque beauty of nature, inhaled the breath of poetry…and wrote some of her most charming stories.  

The stories of busy enterprises silenced the Muse and for more than a third of a century held away.  The actors in the drama and their works are low in the dust; and should the pristine romantic beauty and poetic atmosphere of Alderbrook return to it, then this third of a century is simply bridged over by the force that evolves destiny; a period, a scene, fallen into oblivion…dead and buried.

My Words of Thanks and this year's Hope for History!

What a beautiful morning...the reds and purples greeted old Eaton as the sun came up...could it be summer is about to pull this foggy, wet, dreary gause from her eyes???  I sure hope so.

This has been a cycle of four bad years for me and I too feel like something has been lifted from my eyes... as sickness and poverty have taken their toll.....but incase you wondered where my new blogs and I have been I can fill you in...terrible fall, cancer and now concussion that has lifted a bit.  So this years history and summer are eagerly awaited.

This horrible winter and spring have managed to tax everyone with heat and electric bills, car and house repairs, and lord knows what else.  But a  renewal begins....This year the museum will be hosting a number of new events and the whole crew is awaiting the arrival of our new display building, the lecture series and pie sale.  Though we have gotten a grant to help from the Mid-York Foundation...we still need money to stay open and continue repairs on the little building that has seen all of Eaton's history over the past 220 plus years.

The museum is also in need of helpers so that we can hold it open more often.  It really is easy since all of the displays have been outfitted with written explanations and a quick primer will give you many stories to tell visitors.  We also have some items to sell to raise money for the cause.

The new website is up at www.historystarproduction.com.... which is the company that has promoted Eaton history for over 20 years....and if you google Friends of the Eaton Museum it will come up with both names.

A beautiful rendition of the Eaton Church has been donated by Doug and Diane Chilson... which is gorgeous and shows this historic building as it originally looked.  The building still contains hidden from view -  a Andrew Meneely clock and bell that was donated in its early days.  The Meneely Carillon Company is one of the worlds best known companies.

So if you can help us in ant way email me at backstreetmary@yahoo.com or visit the museum.  You will be able to see the dates it is open by looking for our new sign on front street or infront of the museum. Also listing on our website or out facebook page..Friends of the Eaton Museum. We are a Charity listed as a 501-3.

There are so many thank you needed..... but I will list a few here....Michele Kelly and Barb Keough for seeing me through my illnesses...I have had to stay with gracious Michele.  Our little group ... Jen Caloia, Doug & Diane Chilson, Shirley Zimmer, Barb Keough, Michele Kelly, and importantly Jim Monahan.

 Jim has let us use his old Auction Barn Building for our events and pie sales....it has been a blessing...thank you!

Please stay tuned into history by supporting our local museum... that contains so much of it.... both national and regional... that learning about it will surprise you!

The Shakers, Canterbury Village, a vacation trip & a Simple Gift

I was thinking about summer and vacation this week and I remember one of my last vacation trips, which was only 48 hours or so long, but it managed to do something special to me, something I will always remember and I look back on with fond memories.  

The trip was business in a way…and payment to a volunteer helper Barbara Keough… who had become enamored by the Shakers after viewing a video I owned by Ken Burns.

Ironically, the story of this year’s speaking engagement was on William Pryor Letchworth and the Shakers played an important role in his work, so I had planned to do this year’s lectures on the Shakers.

To prepare for the trip I had bought Barb a wonderful (used) book by June Sprigg called “Simple Gifts”.  It was a charming look at her college summer job for three years as a tour guide at Canterbury Village in New Hampshire.

The summer was magical for her as she became an adopted “granddaughter” in a way, of the old Shaker woman who were left and who had opened the village officially to tours as a way to educated and to preserve the rich cultural heritage of those that toiled before them in the religious sect known as The United Believers in Christ’s Second Coming…better known as “Shakers”.  The women lived in a belief that June not only came to understand, but also came to accept in an enlightened way…though not becoming a Shaker.

As she described her arrival at Canterbury Village and her view of the dusty road that led to a place that had once been a vibrant community of “Believers”…working, living, and dying in their beliefs you fell in love with Canterbury yourself.  That summer she came to understand herself and what she longed for…her “Spiritual Awakening” you might say.

As a novice guide she worked with a young man of only 13 who was the tour guide the previous year.  His father worked as a caretaker for the community and lived with his two boys in the village… it is his father before him who took people through and explained the Shakers as well as Canterbury’s history to visitors for many years…The young man's name was Darryl…someone she had become fast friends with even though he was younger.  It seems anything she wanted to know about the Shakers he shared with her, knowledge he had gained as having lived there at Canterbury for much of his young life.

The day we arrived, we were a bit hot and tired since we had gotten lost and were running behind schedule. But as we approach the village... June’s words seemed to come to life…there before us was the dusty road with a clearing at the top of the hill… lined with white and colored clapboard built structures dating from almost 200 years ago!

We bought our tickets and just caught a tour that had started a few minutes earlier.  We walked to a grove of trees where the guide gave us the story of their plantings… it seems each tree was planted by a child who lived in the village and it was their responsibility to water and nurture it… the one we stood before he said was his.

                                       

At that moment… like in the movie Field of Dreams…” all the cosmic tumblers fell into place”…Darryl of the book was our tour guide…but 30 years older.  As he spoke with so much love and knowledge of the women who in the book he called his “grandmother’s”, he made you part of that love and of their story.  His history knowledge of the Shakers was enormous and he was a fascinating speaker and guide.

As he closed the tour and left us to wander and explore on our own… he stepped out the building’s side door.  I followed him and called him by name asking him about June Sprigg who he said was now a librarian at Berkshire College. He said she was a wonderful writer…I said, “I know”. We spoke for a while of the two new Shaker converts at Sabbath Lake Maine.  

As we ended our conversation, I thanked him and said that I was so glad he was our tour guide.  He smiled and put out his large warm and firm hand for me to shake.  With his touch I felt I had been transported back through the years and knew all the people who had come before…  I was now part of them and the pages of their dusty and once glorious past.

Now as I write this I have a feeling that perhaps I left a piece of me there at Canterbury Village… in the past…now a part of it... I wonder?

***Barb and I have visited a number of Shaker Villages that are now being restored and the Hancock Shaker Village, which is in my opinion too commercial.  So I recommend if you want a trip into understanding and wish to see a Shaker Village, visit Canterbury.  It looks and feels as if the Shakers just had just left it there for us to find and become part of.

To make the trip complete… read the book “Simple Gifts” by June Sprigg… perhaps Daryl will step out of the pages of it to take you on a trip back to a much more simple time….

Here is a quick video I did of our trip... ut on your speakers & enjoy!

Summer, Camps Pond and the history of today's Hatch Lake..

This first week of summer has brought some wonderful weather to our area.  The summer folks who gather around our many lakes and reservoirs have arrived and camp cleaning and summer dinning are evident in the area near the ponds, lakes and reservoirs. From Leland's Ponds in the east to Hatch Lake in the west the Town of Eaton still sparkles in the summer sun!

The history of these bodies of water are an interesting reminder of what was accomplished by men who did not have earth moving equipment... only rudimentary tools and horses.  Some of these are a marvel when you think about the years they were engineered and the success of the idea of a canal feeder and its feeders materialized.  One such pond, which was just that a pond, was expanded to be one of the most beautiful summer get-a-ways for people....in the old days it was called Camp's Pond and today we call it Hatch's Lake.  Have been a bit under the weather this week but figured you might enjoy a trip into history!

Camps’ Pond

Today’s Hatch’s Lake, in the corner of the Town of Eaton, once fed the historic Chenango Canal but dates its original name, Camp’s Pond, back to the late 1790s.

Dr. Abner Camp was an early resident of what he named Camp’s Hill, a man of great humor and interest in the local community.  Tales of his adventures hunting and with his efforts to stop the local Native Americans from peering into his cabin at all hours still exist in the area.  He once set about to scare the local intruders by threatening to raise a company of men to run them off after they threatened a war party to get even with him.  He won when he and two other men shouted about like a troop of men and put a bullet over the head of a sleeping old Indian, scaring him almost to death.  The man ran away back to his village thinking a whole troop of men was after him.

Camp’s Pond gave way to Hatch’s Pond when Peter Hatch took the property over in the early 1800s.  By 1833, and the opening of the Chenango Canal, the pond was enlarged as part of the feeder system of canal reservoirs and is today named Hatch Lake.

At one point, the lake’s outlet at the southwestern end was dammed so that the water would no longer flow to the south over the Tioughnioga River and instead would flow to another man-made reservoir, Bradley Brook Reservoir.

Today, the level of the lake and its outlet are controlled and summer camps dot the shores, a great fisherman’s paradise.  This part of the Chenango Canal’s feeder system still feeds the Erie Canal far to the north, at its end starts a man-made reservoir called Bradley Brook. Bradley Brook Reservoir, constructed also in 1835 and '36, covers an area of 134 acres.