New Signs Needed - Samuel Winchester Chubbuck

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

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

Early Sounder

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some old style equipment

Eaton, Fall Festival History Weekend, Lectures and Me...20 years of history!

Old Auction Barn on Rt. 26 in Eaton.

For me here in “Old” Eaton …Saturday, Sept. 24^th… is a special day, it marks the 20^th year I have been promoting a special Fall History Day.  I called it Fall Festival History Weekend.  It was my attempt to get people to tour the small lesser-known museums that could never be open every day of the week.  Those that you pass on your travels who never seem to be open when you drive by.

The day evolved to over 20 sites and museums across 3 counties and ran for 8 years.  During that time I had the pleasure of writing the history and meeting the people involved with all of the participating museums.  We became friends who met in our yearly lunch get –together.  I was so happy to see one of our original group this past week, a hard working historian and writer from Chenango County…Rose Wellman.

I promoted actively a day to cover the whole state where by societies and history museums would allow people to enter for free and would encourage families to celebrate history.  Well 20 years later it has evolved into an event that is national.  This Saturday is the Smithsonian Magazines History Day Live.  If you go to their website you can down load a ticket to visit any participating museum for free…and so the Old Town of Eaton Museum on 2776 River Road in Eaton will be open…for free…as always.

Old Town of Eaton Museum on River Road.

The museum, like almost all small museums needs money and so after a years hiatus of illness and troubles I will be speaking to promote history, raise money and be part of a small celebration we call Fall Festival History Weekend Revisited.

Of great interest is the fact that I will be delivering 2 lectures one on Thursday night at 7pm, and one on Saturday at 2pm.  The location of the talks will actually correspond with the first lecture on the lesser-known history of Madison County… history that you probably do not know.  The site is of not only national importance but also international importance… and yet we pass by it daily with out a second look.  It is here that Samuel Chubbuck invented something that brought the world together.  There are a number of sites like this that I think should be recognized and so the talk will cover some of Madison County’s.

So come down to Eaton the Hamlet… to the old Auction Barn on Rt. 26… and enjoy history, and take the time to visit the Old Town of Eaton Museum just a hundred yards or so away.

Support your local museums as they are the “Keepers of the Fire” for your community and are our personal link to the past.  If you can’t come out to buy a bake good or hear a lecture… send a donation.

Future generations looking to revisit their families past and the future community will thank you for it. 

Also remember everything that happens today is tomorrow’s history!

Morse's Telegraph, Samuel Chubbuck, Emily Chubbuck, Eaton, and Memorial Day Monday...Eaton Day!

Early Sounder

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

The very spot where we will be hosting part of our event on Memorial Day Monday - Eaton Day…serving up an Ice Cream Social, Bake Goods, Book Sale etc.…is one of the town’s historic places…a place  of national importance actually…for it is the site of the birth of the Camelback Key and Sounder for Morse’s telegraph!  Yup.. in old Eaton, New York.

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

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

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

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

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

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

****So come out to Eaton Day on Memorial Day Monday…visit the Old Town of Eaton Museum and enjoy the front street (Rt. 26) activities and savor history!

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

Some old style equipment