The Old Town of Eaton Museum will be open this Sunday from 1 to 3! Come down and enjoy the Day and learn some history you never knew about Eaton!
Well... is anyone tired of the election yet????? I am! This whole thing has gotten out of hand..and this back and forth, back and forth, without any real information or with information that changes depending on the day.... has really got me. Can we Mail in ballots or noT? I remember an interesting story that I was spouting at dinner about Grover Cleveland and the R & R thing..I remembered a Republican minister with local ties who went to fill a speaking engagement for another person who had to cancel. His name was Dr. Samuel Dickenson Burchard and he got up and gave the usual preacher long winded speech.. in - part off the cuff ..when he interjected the words...an alliteration actually...Rum, Romanism & Rebellion! A reporter who was half asleep pick up on it..and the rest is history!!!! I quote here from the website Rum, Romanism and Rebellion...
"Days before the election, James Blaine visited the crucial swing state of New York, attending a morning meeting in a New York City hotel. During a speech made by Presbyterian minister Samuel Burchard, the Democratic Party was assailed as the party of “Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion.” In many ways, this phrase singled out Irish Catholics, many of whom lived in the large urban centers like New York and Boston. The phrase catered to the stereotype of the drunken Irishman and demeaned the Catholic faith. Most all Irish were Roman Catholic."
"The term “Rebellion” was a typical post Civil War Republican ploy of “waving the bloody shirt,” reminding voters that it had been the Democrats who were responsible for the great bloodshed and connecting them to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. "
"Catholic priests took to the pulpit the weekend before the election and urged church members to vote against the Republicans. When it was all over, Cleveland carried the state."
Well Dr. Samuel Dickenson Burchard was from the famous Burchard family of Pecksport in Eaton. His brother was the famous Sylvester Burchard who brought the first breeding herd of Holsteins to the USA and who was also a famous judge of the breed. Sylvester was married to Ali Morse of the famous Morse family of Eaton.
What is interesting is that I have some things of Dr. Burchard's in the Old Town of Eaton Museum. One is the story told by his niece that after the election Grover Cleveland (who also had ties to Eaton - his brother was the minister of the Eaton Congregational Church)- invited Burchard to the White House to thank him for his remarks and laugh..Burchard said he didn't want to be seen doing it for obvious reasons, so the President sent a coach with curtains drawn for him and brought him to the White House in secret!
In fact though..Blaine also lost that election because of Republicans who jumped sides and became known as "Mug Wumps"!
A humorous side note!!!!
When asked about the loss, James Blaine was reported to have said: “I should have carried New York by 10,000 votes if the weather had been clear and Dr. Burchard had been doing missionary work in Asia Minor or China.” Blaine’s great mistake had been not distancing himself from Burchard’s comments."
Today here in Eaton we say Eaton Day or “History Day” as we originally called it and celebrate it on Memorial Day, but for many years it followed the tradition of a
“community day” every year on the 4th of July.Today of course, Hamilton has stolen the 4th
as their big day… but in the past it was Eaton’s Day and people came for miles
to strut their stuff and catch up with the community and it people.
In those days the event even included horse racing at
breakneck speeds through town and across.The local stable was a noted hang out to “star” horses and one of its
‘overnight” guests was the incredible horse Dan Patch.Flora Temple once graced the small paddock on
what was then the Hamilton Skaneateles Turnpike, a road whose cost the Morse
family of Eaton half paid for in 1811.
The Eaton Band and the Military Band beat the drums and
blared martial music as the merchants (then many) put out their wares. The
bandstand was located next to the place we hold Eaton Day each year on what was
then the Skaneateles Turnpike today’s route 26.The spot we set up is actually the spot
where Samuel Chubbuck invented the key and sounder for SFB Morse’s Telegraph! It is his equipment that sent the first
message. Chubbuck’s father was noted for running a hotel and more than one
Tavern.
The ladies aid put on supers and the lunch business
thrived.A dance and suppers were often
held in the Masonic Hall, a building that is dilapidated today but still
standing in town with a roof that once extended over gas pumps.
The ladies of the churches
put on meals for visitors… and their famous preachers including Grover
Cleveland’s brother, and Nathaniel Kendrick… would have tried to tone down the
activities. One of Eaton’s historic churches still stands with its historical
marker out front. Families of the Churches would have included the famous
missionaries to be, Emily Chubbuck Judson, Jonathan Wade, Andrew Bigelow Morse,
and more.
Wood. Taber & Morse's new Steam Engines would be there in front of the factory...all shined up ready to impress, Melville Landon "Eli Perkins" might be up from New York or Washington to summer and relatives from far and near would return to enjoy the community they sprung from.
Gone is Davenports Store that was noted for its wares and
for its owners who were loved by the population and were successful for many
years.That store is still standing is
now a residence with its large white pillars on the side…. not in the front!
Paddy Miles firing not a cannon but his anvil for many years
jolted the town awake.Yes, an Anvil…. that
had a hole in it where black powder was poured and a fuse lit.Today we have Jim Monahan and his cannon crew
who dress in Revolutionary War era costume and fire a real cannon on
occasion.This tradition being brought
down since the majority of founding fathers served in the Revolution.
And for the holiday itself, the Eaton Cemetery is spruced up
and over 200 flags grace the graves of men and women who served their country
in all conflicts of the past including some that were at Bunker Hill, Lexington
and Concord.
Old times and memories to be sure, but pieces of history
that should be celebrated, and people who should be honored for their service
in this the 221st year of the community.In order to protect their history and the artifacts that remain… we the
Friends of the Old Town of Eaton Museum... beg you to come out and enjoy the day. Talk
to each other, eat, get involved in the raffles, bake sale, white elephant sale…
join the "Friends" and support a museum that preserves the history of the area
and the “Community.”
Today is a special day in Eaton, it
is the day the current Eaton Church was dedicated on June 6th
in 1833. Its the historic sight I see while having coffee in the morning.
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.
The step which bore the inscription
still sits in front of the church, but has been broken up and can no longer be
read. But the churches history has followed that of the Eaton Hamlet and has in fact helped the
history of the United States.
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, a
friend of Gerrit Smith and a noted abolitionist. 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.
The church still today houses a
historic Meneely Clock and Bell, and the churches windows which bear the names of some of
Eaton’s greats... still grace its interior; an interior that sports 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.
Eventually, the Congregational Church
became part of the Federated Churches of Eaton and then later became a
Community 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 build that is used
today for youths to play basketball and games and to host special functions.
One of the best stories I have about the church is one
that ended up involving me. Melville
Landon wrote a story on Mr. Wood and the Rev. Cleveland for one of his books. In
the story Mr. Wood is hawking hymnals for sale in the back of the church while
Rev. Cleveland was announcing the following weeks Baptism Service for
children. Wood only had one child and so
when the minister said for the parishioners to bring their children… Mr. Wood
piped up, thinking he was talking about the hymnal that “they could have as
many as they wanted for 50 cents each.”
I wrote about this story for the Mid-York Weekly newspaper
and the next week I received a package from Pennsylvania…it was the sermon
handwritten that Rev. Cleveland delivered that day!...
History always returns to Eaton…so visit the museum soon
and see the document for yourself…we are going to be open on Sundays 1-3 pm in
the summer.
