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.

 

 

 

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.

The Chenango Canal History & Lebanon Reservior

This history is on another of the many ponds and lakes that dot our beautiful Southern Madison County area, Lebanon Reservoir.  I am still a bit under the weather so will get back to you on the historic markers soon...more yet to come...but with the warm weather and summer folk arriving I thought I would put this piece up f0r you to enjoy!

Though located in today’s Town of Lebanon, the water that flowed from this reservoir makes its way via feeders to Eaton’s Leland Pond and Woodman Pond areas, where it is distributed to the canal.

This Reservoir has had two names, an old one that is very historic and a new one that is known by everyone. Kingsleybrook Reservoir is one such place. Today, we know this body of water surrounded by camps and homes as a sparkling gem, where fishing, swimming, boating and camping is enjoyed, as Lebanon Reservoir. Its original name and one still used on some maps however, is Kingsleybrook Reservoir.

Kingsley Brook, a fast-flowing stream, provides the water to this reservoir, a reservoir that once fed the Chenango Canal. The reservoir was added after the initial start of the proposed canal to insure that there would be enough water to run the canal during dry times. The dam was contracted in the fall of 1835, and scheduled to be completed by November of the following year. 

During the process, it was decided to raise the proposed height by 15 feet, it was noted that this would only take a small additional part of land, but would increase the capacity of the reservoir by 80 percent. The addition of the height was never accomplished.

After a horrible freshet occurred in April of 1843, the dam was breached and was severely damaged, estimates for the repair came to over $8,000 ( a pittance in our time). The canal engineers and commissioners felt that this dam and reservoir could be dispensed with, and consequently did not repair it.

By 1864, more water was needed to insure navigation on the canal because of leaking canal walls and decapitated locks, plus the addition of a proposed extension, so work was begun to rebuild the Kingsleybrook Reservoir. This time, the dam was raised the additional number of feet (15) and the dam was completed in 1867. The additional number of feet increased the capacity of the reservoir by over 100 percent. When the Chenango Canal no longer needed its water it became labels Lebanon Reservoir!

More Historic Markers - Georgetown Plank Road & Skaneateles Turnpike

Today little note is taken of a country road that wanders over hills and through dark valleys.   We no longer call them “Sunday drives” since our world has become so fast-paced.  Most of us have given up the back road for the two-lane highway that we can zip on our way with.  If we can’t do 55 miles per hour we are in a dither.  Back roads are now what we sometimes call short cuts from here to there in our daily lives.  But at one time these rural routes were considered fast highways that created the communities that we in rural America live in.  

These early routes were no more than paths through the great forest, some made by moccasin feet and some made by oxen and wagons, bringing settlers ever more westerly. Improvements on these roads were built as turnpikes or plank roads, and many collected a toll much like today’s New York State Thruway.   

One such early highway was the great Skaneateles Turnpike, once called the Hamilton-Skaneateles Turnpike.  Today, this once important east-west southern-central New York road is only denoted in a few places as the Skaneateles Turnpike with signs in the Town of Brookfield and one that was hanging by a thread in the Town of Fabius.  The road that once carried people west and goods east is a mishmash of roads with different names that in some places are on the exact route, and in other places just mimic it or run near where the old turnpike once was.

Many of these roads including the Skaneateles Turnpike and the Georgetown Plank Road were such toll roads.  Today they are only denoted by an occasional NYS Historic Marker such as this one on Route 26, a road which mimics a part of the Georgetown Plank Road. The Georgetown Plank Road was used to take goods and people from Georgetown to Peck's Port...once the largest port on the Chenango Canal. The Skaneateles Turnpike stretched from Richfield  Springs to Marcellus.  Of interest is the fact that it is the Morse family of Eaton were the main stockholders in the road.  They owned 51 percent and invested $30,00 in 1810.  The road never turned a real profit.  It did however, bring people to Eaton and supported the family businesses that stretched from Eaton, West Eaton, Erieville, to Fabius.

More Local History to Share while at Home....First on our Historic Markers!

Located equidistant from both Eaton Village and Hamilton, the ponds today are a vibrant part of NYS Fishing areas and are also a very early and important part of the Town of Eaton’s history. A NYS Historic Marker denoting its famous founding family, the family of Joshua Leland, today marks the site but of course, a marker cannot tell the full story.

Born in Massachusetts in 1741, “the Colonel” as he was always referred to, moved to the town of Eaton, then a part of Chenango County and a large tract of land called Hamilton. Leland settled first on English Avenue near today’s Eaton Village, but then moved to the current site of today’s Leland’s Ponds, then called Leland’s Lakes.

The Col. was a Revolutionary War Militia soldier and ventured out with family to find a new home and a fortune. Their removal to Eaton was not without troubles as when the Colonel after clearing land, went back home to get his wife and five children and their wagon got stuck in the mud at the very location they would eventually move to. The Leland’s also arrived so late in the year that they are recorded as spending their first winter in a three side hut with their animals.

An avid astronomer, hotel owner and miller, Leland was a favorite of the many Native Americans who fished the ponds and who regarded the Col. and his wife Waitstil with great esteem. The Leland Family also ran an ashery that made potash and in fact it is how the Col. died. When on a trip to Albany with this much needed commodity, Leland was killed when the barrel of potash they were carry on a wagon rolled off and fell on him as he was ascending a steep hill on the Cherry Valley Turnpike.

Leland is mentioned as Hamilton’s first Supervisor but at that time Eaton was part of Hamilton breaking off in 1795. At that time Leland became and important part of Eaton’s history and he actually owned one seventh of the landmass of Town of Eaton at one time. His heirs continued in their father’s footsteps’ becoming businessmen and the Leland family name is well remembered.

Leland’s Ponds was also the early fisheries of the Oneida Nation, and later was the site of the largest port on the Chenango Canal, Peck’s Port. Today its waters are a vacationers paradise and allow fisherman to revisit the quiet haunts of native fishermen.

For those who like cemeteries, the family cemetery lays 

near Mosher Farms, a short distance from the site of his home. Crow’s Hill, his property that he once gazed at the stars from, is today dotted with wind turbines, proving that Eaton is still a place where “history meets progress!”.

More on the Holocaust & Safe Haven and CNY History..

With all of the wrangling about immigration and the refugee problem I thought it would do us well to look to the past.  Our past has been clouded by bigotry for many years, as a matter of fact because of our quotas during WWII we acted selfishly in forcing our Allies and friends to take in refugees but failed to do it ourselves.  Here is a local story on history that you can learn about today and part of it took place at Christmastime.

One of the least known Christmas time stories from history happened on December 22, 1945, when the then President Truman issued his “Truman Directive” executive order. This order finally allowed the United States to fill immigration quotas with what were then labeled as DP’s, “displaced persons”.

This story had its immediate impact with the only refugee camp for DP’s in the United States, a camp at Fort Ontario in Oswego, NY, now known as Safe Haven.

This little known piece of history is an interesting look into the policies of the United States on immigration, (especially Jewish). A time when we set tight limits on the number of immigrants allowed entering the USA, because of the war that was on.. The fact remained that as the Allied Forces swept through Europe and Nazi Concentration Camps were liberated, the many people who lived through the horrific experience had no place to go. Though countries all over the world took in DP’s the, United States did not.

With much political pressure, Roosevelt finally in 1944 allowed 982 Holocaust survivors and political prisoners of war that were liberated or displaced to come the United States as his “Guests”. Interior Secretary Harold Ickes sent Ruth Gruber an assistant to escort these refugees to the United States and to record their stories..

The people who were chosen met a criteria that consisted of those who had helped in the Allied War effort, had lost relatives in the Holocaust, had family in the United States or had talents that could help run the American shelter. The selection also gave preference to those who had several family members with them. The catch was that after the war they would all have to return to their homeland – they had no standing; they were only regarded as guests of the President.

The group left from Naples, Italy on the troop transport Henry Gibbons under heavy escort; the ship also carried another 1,000 wounded service men. Ruth Gibbons in her book “Haven” which was made into a TV movie, chronicled the trip and stories of these refugees. It also showed how much pressure had to be used to get just this small group of mostly “Jews” to the United States.

As the war came to a close in 1945, these immigrants who had learned English, whose children attended school in Oswego, and who had become part of the American spirit were to be shipped back; many to homes that no longer existed and to a world devastated by war.

The “Truman Directive” issued while Congress was on Christmas holiday came in time to keep these people from this. The fact was however, that they had to leave the United Sates and then return with visas. Taking the refugees to the Rainbow Bridge in Canada, and then allowing them to reenter with visas accomplished this. Of the 982, only 100 chose to return to their homeland.

Today the Safe Haven Museum at Fort Ontario welcomes visitors and through beautiful displays and video helps tell about this dark time in American history, a time when we ourselves turned our backs on not only Jewish immigrants, but also on our own American Japanese citizens.

The fort itself  is trying to gain National Park status and it is my hope they succeed. The Safe Haven Museum located on its grounds is open year-round and for more information on its open times and directions go to www.oswegohaven.org.

Remembering the Holocaust, WWII and Local History...

With all of the hatred being spread daily on Facebook, via the airways, rethoric and beyond, I thought it was time to step back and review for a minute what hatred has wrought across the world.

This year ..Sunday January 27th, is Holocaust Remembrance Day.  It has a special message regardless of our faith … but because of our humanness as members of mankind.  We have celebrated the Emancipation Proclamation this year, and so we should take time to reflect on all oppression and all enslavement…faith based or otherwise… even including ignorance.

We receive daily messages on Facebook about hatred of gun control, abortion rights, Second Amendment rights… but none of it really brings home the story of mankind’s evil side.  That part of us that exudes hatred or extreme dislikes for anyone or anything that opposes our own view - whether it be religious or political.

We here in CNY seldom have an opportunity to revisit information on the Holocaust unless it is part of our family’s history, nor do we take the time to consider its implications in a way that perhaps could change how our children behave in adulthood.  We do however have a great resource if we wish to have a ‘hands-on” learning lesson… that resource is the Safe Haven Museum in Oswego.

The museum does not dwell on the horrors of the Holocaust…  though it is there, what it does is focus on is the USA and our response to the displacement of people as each of the WWII concentration camps were liberated by our troops.  The short 37-minute documentary actually allows children who lived through the Holocaust tell their story in a humanistic and sometimes humorous way…  they having been dropped from the horrors of war into a Displaced Person Camp at Fort Ontario.  It also gives us hope as they explain the kindness of the Oswego people and its children. 

The Super Bowl, CNY History, and Cooperstown!

Well the Super Bowl is here for this year, though I don’t watch it as I have no Television or Cable…. but I do "Remember" my favorite Super Bowl commercials ... the ones that make you cry or smile with the Clydesdale Horses.  My favorite was a real gem…the little horse growing up to become a Clydesdale Team horse for Budweiser….

Gussie and family

The tradition of the Budweiser Team was the brilliant idea of the companies founder Adolphus Busch’s grandson, August Anheuser-Busch …who used a team of Clydesdales pulling a Budweiser wagon to haul the first case of beer after the repeal of Prohibition down 5^th Avenue in New York City to Alfred E. Smith the Mayor, and another down Pennsylvania Avenue to President Roosevelt in the White House.

This symbol of Budweiser has been part of our American fabric for over 80 years now.

I guess part of my like for the commercials is the beautiful way they are put together …the videography is spectacular!  The plots are inspiring.  If I could do anything it would be to make a commercial like this.

Another part of the story is I also am fond of the Busch family’s ties to history and Central New York.  Yes history ties…does that surprise you?

Adolphus Busch bought a huge number of acres in Otsego County for the hops.  Otsego County at time was one of the largest producers of hops.  

He also built a family home and farm in Cooperstown called Uncas Farm.  If you have ever driven down the side road to Cooperstown you may remember seeing the metal makers or signs saying A. Busch or Uncas Cabin.  

Today “Farmlands”, a beautiful manor overlooks Otsego Lake on the near Three Mile Point.  Louis Busch Hager built it on the site of the home once occupied by Alice Busch Gronewaldt, his grandmother.   

Alice (Gussie's sister) has her own ties to history, as it is through her generous donations that we have the Glimmerglass Opera and Alice Busch Opera Theater, named in her mother Alice’s honor.

But of course that is just part of the Cooperstown story.  It would not be complete without BASEBALL.   

August Anheuser-Busch, “Gussie”, is remembered at the Baseball Hall of Fame in downtown Cooperstown.  Gussie was the owner that saved the St. Louis Cardinals and built the Busch Stadiums. He is well remembered by fans for riding on the Clydesdale team and wagon at the games …sporting a red cowboy hat!

See how things travel in circles…. History relates….

The Busch’s still own much property in Cooperstown…and we still love their symbol of many years ...the Clydesdales! Here's a good one....

A special history, a Stray, and Winston Churchill's love of Cats

Here the story of home and a famous cat called Jock!

Winston  Churchill’s mother was Jennie Jerome, a beautiful American who actually has great ties to CNY.  The Jerome Family farms were in CNY and the land that my family built its house on was part of the Jerome Farm…home of Jennie’s grandmother.  

Thoughts of the Jerome farm led me to ponder the fact that for Christmas one year I gave my brother the gold watch dad had given me...he had found the old gold watch in the family garden as a young man...a garden that would later become the family compound of homes.  Repaired and running, I thought it was a great family history piece and a great present.

Picture I took on a trip to London
of Churchill's statue with
Big Ben in Background

Churchill was supposed to come to speak at a family reunion in Syracuse once, but had to turn back because of the presence of U Boats...he did send a telegram to the family group assembled…a piece of history I learned from the Wood-Eaton sisters who visited me years back in Eaton.  They were relatives and were to be at the reunion and remembered the trip.   They had come to Eaton to visit their great grandfather Allen Nelson Wood’s house, the house I live in.  Isn’t it strange how life is full of so much serendipity?

Mr. Wood was named Allen Nelson Wood...Nelson for Lord Nelson a hero his family honored with the name for many generations…and then suddenly my grey cat Rascal jumped in my lap…hint …one o f Winston Churchill’s most famous cat’s  (grey) was named Nelson to honor Lord Nelson.

Churchill was a cat lover, actually an animal lover.  Winston and his wife Clementine signed their love letters to each other with little drawn pictures…he a dog (Pug) she his cat...and their daughter the PK or puppy-kitten.

His cat stories are famous and many can still picture him speaking with a drink in one hand and the grey cat next to him. One story I love is... after one of his famous speeches (he had a lisp as well as drank) a woman MP in Parliament said, “Sir, you are drunk!”  His replay was “Madame that may be true, but in the morning I shall be sober whereas you will still be ugly!”

His favorite cat in later life cat was a ginger-marmalade colored cat he called  “Jock”, named after Sir John Coville his secretary who gave it to him.  Churchill loved the color and the cat so much that after giving his home Chartwell to the National Trust… he stated in his will that it should always have a ginger colored cat in residence…and to this day it does…and always named appropriately “Jock”.

Great piece of history...please help find this new stray cat a home or its owner!

The Museum, World War I, Peace, Starvation and the Maria Dolens!

History is a mystifying seductress to some of us.  Everywhere we look we find a piece of history that we are curious about.  Myself  I am continually looking into the history of everything and many times finding that I know very little of the history of things at all..

Every year we all set goals for the next and this morning as  I am sitting drinking a cup of coffee I am doing just that, I have struggled, poured much energy and money into keeping the museum open and with this year's pie sale that was pulled off with a struggle and made a success in part on
Sunday sales... with local support, the question that came to my mind was,...”should I continue after more than 20 years?”  

I thought about the new year as most of us do and I tried to find something that would guide me.  I asked myself if you didn’t work on the museum...what would you do?  The answers were pretty simple since I try to do them now… 1. Help wipe out poverty!  2. Work to end all War and Hatred..

I am adamant that we are in a terrible time of class separation, I remember a line from a song…”The hands of the have not’s have fallen out of reach!”  They have and are becoming more so everyday...even though we are in the middle of a supposed boom economy here in the USA. We are also in a time of world war, causing starvation of millions and skirmishes that are killing thousands of innocent people...and for what....Religion and Power....Riches?

So with the recent celebration of the 100th Anniversary of WWI..."The War to end all Wars" I went online to find out what  has been said in the past...   Pope Francis...who signs everything just Francis…in his  New Years message a few years ago for the 48th anniversary of the Day of World Peace spoke in front of a screen that had the Maria Dolens bell ringing in the background.  The Maria Dolens? And so I was off on my newest history quest.

The Maria Dolens is the name of a bell that was cast from the bronze of many of the cannons - 19, one from each of the countries that participated in WWI.  It sits in Roverto, in today’s northern Italy and it rings 100 times each day in the evening to honor the fallen and to many to act  as a symbol for peace and an end to war.

The Bell was the idea of Don Antonio Rossaro,  called the Bell of the Fallen.  It was given the name Maria Dolens and placed on the Malipiero tower of Castello di Rovereto.  It has been recast many times because of fractures from ringing 100 times a day no doubt... but it has always been recast and returned to the tower where is nightly reminds the world of the price of war.  The latest recast was blessed by Pope Paul VI and on November 4^th, 1965 was placed on the Colle di Miravalle where it today rest above the city of Roverto.

On the bell, which is the second largest swinging bell in the world, were added at its recasting the statements of the Pontiff Pius XII "With peace nothing is lost. Everything is to be lost through war." John XXIII: "In pace hominum ordinata concordia et tranquilla libertas."

Today, as always, it rang 100 times at midday...in Italy as I am writing this..... just as it  was shown on the large screen in St. Peter’s square that day.

It is said that it tolls in the hope that Man, in the memory of the Fallen of every war and every nation in the world, may find the path that leads to Peace….

I say AMEN to that…!

Thanksgiving Pie Sale, World War I and Veteran's Day!

Winters cold has settled in for a bit with snow crystals making their debut this fall…strange how it seems to be imitating the World’s mood right now. Paris and all in Europe are celebrating Armistice Day, this year marking the 100th Anniversary of the end of the war touted as the "War to End All Wars", here we celebrate Veteran's Day. Many wars have come and gone since then, others still go on.

Meanwhile the radios are already blasting Christmas music and the stores have pushed their Christmas sales up to accommodate a crazy group of people who actually leave their family and Thanksgiving celebrations to haunt malls for deals on a day dubbed “Black Friday”... I am pretty sure the clerks that have to work aren’t happy or giving thanks for them.

When I was in retailing we were closed on Sunday and Holidays…CLOSED! 

Today we take for granted the ability to shop until we drop…but really should we?  I actually wonder if we ever as a collective society think about how lucky and wealthy we are.  By world standards even the poorest of poor here in the USA are better off than much of the world’s people.  

Our “Capitalistic society” has dropped most people into debt and into a stressful world of acquiring items we do not need and also forcing many to live up to the standards set by advertisers and by our neighbors who have this or that that is new and shiny.

So for this “Thanksgiving” I offer a suggestion.  For at least one minute of our day let us sit and reflect on the World, on our life, on our loved ones and above all on how lucky we are.  We have come along way from that first Thanksgiving day…but I fear we have long way to go until we can understand that for many just having a family that is alive, having some food of any variety to eat, having a roof over their head and some warmth, and having their health, is all that they need to be happy. Truthfully it should be enough for all of us.

Happiness is a simple thing that cannot be bought, cannot be acquired in a mall, but it can be shared and enjoyed in our hearts. So share the happiness you have with your loved ones and friends…sharing and caring in this cold world will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside… but only if you are thankful for what you have.

PS Support your local community and if in our area come to our Eaton Museum Pie and Bake Sale on November 17th, to be old Auction Barn on Rt. 26 in Eaton..9 - 4pm....tons of pies and bake goods for a good cause... the Old Town of Eaton Museum.

Hops, Fall is coming, Eaton & hops history!

 As they say.. everything old is new again...and that goes for the history of an area and its products. As I was getting ready to pick my hops plants I decided to blog on Hops....so here it is!

“In 1808 James D. Coolidge planted the first hops field in Madison County. By 1859 NY supplied 87 percent of hops grown in the U.S.”  

That is an unbelievable statement but it is true. Madison County grew hops and the crop was a bumper crop that made many of the farmers in the area, but it also destroyed some.

The Hop commodities market was actually moved to Waterville where hops were bought and sold with the fluctuating hops market.  Many an Eaton Farm grew hops and held hops to get the best value at market. They also welcomed the pickers in season because in town the money flowed from outside to in.

Many a farm put families up during the “season” and stories of fun and friendships made abound… a more simple time.  My own mother recalled taking the canal to Madison County where her family would pick hops.  She as a small child remembered hiding under her mother’s skirt on the trip.

The hop fields of Samuel Coolidge ran between Madison and Eaton near the Summit level of the Chenango Canal.  The field crops were called by some locals, as filled with “the Devil’s weed”… because of Hops addition to beer to make it bitter or to add flavor and aroma.

Hops would later disappear from the hills of Eaton and Madison County because of blight and because of white or blue powdery mold.  Another problem “Temperance” played a large part.

Another facet of hop production were the numerous attempts to patent labor saving devices.  A few out of Eaton and the area are pictured in the back of the book.

One was a “HOP-PICKER’S BOX” designed by Frederick A Fargo of Pine Woods, New York it was Patent No. 949,915 dated November 22, 1881. (Fargo Corners in Eaton today).  He states that: “My invention consist of a hop-picker’s measure or box having such construction that it may be easily taken apart for stowing away in small spaces and for transportation, and easily set up for use.”

Another interesting invention out of Morrisville is a Vine Trellis.  The Trellis was submitted by Andrew S. Hart and is Patent number 495,673, dated April 18, 1893. Hart says: “The object of this invention is to provide a trellis for training chiefly hop-vines, and which shall be permanently erect on the ground to afford ready access to the uppermost parts of the vines.”

The time of hops passed and became a time of cows and corn that have in recent time given back land to the cultivation of Hops in Eaton and in Madison County.  It is interesting to note that at Fargo Corners today you can see a new “hop field” located on today's  Mosher Farm.

Eaton's Annual Pie, Bake, & Gift Sale is coming!!

Michele Kelly and Barb Keough Have been workg on the apples for our sale.

The Annual Pie & Bake Good & Gift Sale is set for the Saturday before Thanksgiving…November 18^th from 10 until 2 pm or so and gives the museum an opportunity raise funds to keep it going.

The little museum has been striving for 19 years to preserve the history of this historic town. Eaton has its roots stepped in New England and the Mayflower and so I thought I would include a bit of history in our publicity to try and entice everyone to visit us or to support us on Facebook.

Few people realize The ties between the Stowe family, Harriet Beecher Stowe... and Eaton’s founders.  The museum helps preserve these links with displays and remembrances of the traditions from Natick … “Old Town” and Eaton.  From the book Old Town Folks by Harriet Beecher Stowe….

     On holiday food: “The pie is an English institution, which, planted on American soil, forthwith ran rampant and burst forth into an untold variety of species.  Not merely the old traditional mince pie, but a thousand strictly American seedlings from those main institutions to new uses.  Pumpkin pies, cranberry pies, peach pies, huckleberry pies, cherry pies, green-currant pies, pear pies, plum and custard pies, apple pies, Marlborough-pudding pies, pies of fanciful flutings and architectural strips laid across and around and otherwise varied, assisted the boundless fertility of the mind, when once let loose in a given direction.”

     The piece goes on to describe hundreds of pies put into an open back room that allowed them to freeze an be bought out throughout the holiday season and sometimes up until April.”

Sure enough we have tons of pie recipes here in Eaton and the museum put out a cookbook with tons of pie recipes and pictures from Eaton’s past that will be on sale from our Thanksgiving Pie Sale... along with pies of every variety that you can bring home and freeze today… in a modern freezer.  To give you a sample of old fashioned pies I thought I would include a recipe here….

PORK APPLE PIE

 8 to 10 tart apples, peeled, cored and sliced

 20 pieces of fat salt pork, cut the size of pies

 3/4 cups sugar (maple sugar preferably)

 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

 ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

 ¼ teaspoon salt

     Fill a deep dish with apples.  Mix salt pork, sugar, spices and salt and sprinkle the mixture over the apples.  Cover with pie crust.  Cut slits for steam to escape.  Bake in a hot oven (450 degrees F.) for 10 minutes; then reduce heat to moderate (350 degrees F.) and bake 30 or 35 minutes longer.  If crust becomes brown, cover with foil so that it will remain a golden brown.     While pie is baking blend a package of cream cheese with 1 tablespoon thick cream and allow to become firm in refrigerator.  Serve pie warm with slice of cheese.

Seems Old-time New Englanders used salt pork from soup to dessert.  This recipe is said to have made first by an old fisherman who used dried apples, salt pork and molasses.  His wife improved upon it, using fresh apples and maple sugar.  It became a popular dish, often served in Vermont homes for the Sunday evening meal.  Calvin Coolidge, in the White House, extolled its goodness. Pork pie has a more succulent flavor than ordinary apple pie. So we may not have Pork Apple Pies but we do have local pies made with local apples calling them rightfully... “Heirloom Apple Pies”. So come down and buy one!!!

More History on the "Old Madison County Home" a highly rated facility in its day!

What a week!  The weather has been nasty this weekend with wind chills in the minus range.  So once again stuck indoors I decided to catch up on some history.

Since so many have thanked me for information on the Old Madison County Home I thought I would add more to the story... 

The original site of the Home was a stone farm with many stone buildings including a stone hop house.  These structure probably pre-dated the 1806 Madison County forming.  The picture below in color is the "Home" made up of three sections that were joined.  Behind the building were two story outhouses.... The brick building that is still standing today was built after a fire...story below!

FIRE

It is on October 23, 1913 that the next chapter in the “Poor House Story” begins. One of the Curtis girls, who was musically inclined, left the building early as she often did to teach a music lesson.
Once outside, she noticed that the building was on fire. She ran into the building and alerted those on duty and rang the bell sounding a call of alarm to the sleepy village above. 

Though helped arrived from every corner of the county, the building turned into a raging inferno and burned to the ground. The pictures that we have of the “Home” at this time are directly related to the quick thinking effort of one of the help that threw her trunk of belongings out a window and who called for someone to come and take it. Other than that “All was lost.” 

From Mrs. Partridges booklet on the Infirmary dated 1878-1979:

“Although it was never proved the fire was thought to have started in the lavatory of the men’s dorm in the wiring. A few days earlier electricians had been making repairs there.

One elderly resident reported having seen blue smoke there behind some of the plumbing but was not aware he should report it.”

The fire actually caught the roofs of a number of town homes ablaze.

It is recorded that men were housed in an adjacent building while the sick, women and children were put up in homes in Eaton Village until the building was completed.

All in the community helped to keep the many people involved in this terrible tragedy safe and cared for.

The Alms House fire of 1913 and the death of S. Allen Curtis left an amazingly large job for the next superintendent of the poor. After Curtis’ death, Lew Burden was doing the superintendent’s job.

After the fire, however, Republicans were pushing heavily to have Lewis Close of Lebanon made his successor. (An interesting note: George Lathrop who had been S. Allen Curtis,’ assistant and he married one of Curtis daughters.)

The new “home” was to be made of brick and arrangements were made to start the project immediately as the former and new inmates were being housed all over the village and in temporary quarters on the grounds. The new project was to be completed in two years, and it was! 

One if the still standing early stone structures in Eaton New York, now empty!