Halfway Brook

JULY 1881
Monday 18
Maria and I had a letter from Lon today. It has been so cold today that I had to put my saque on even in the middle of the day, when I was outdoors. Mother and I went upon the hill to pick huckleberries this morning at ten and it was one when [...]

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Great Aunt Aida Austin was living with her Eldred-Austin uncle, aunt and cousins in New York City in January of 1881. This is an excerpt from “Aida Austin’s 1881 Diary,” the second edition of which is available, having been updated with correct info and ‘new’ old photos of the Eldred-Austin cousins.
If you are interested [...]

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Aida A. Austin, my great aunt, was the daughter of William Henry and Mary Ann Eldred Austin. Aida never married, but she wrote a diary in 1881 and several in the 1940s. Aida saved many letters and photos over the years that helped to tell the story in The Mill on Halfway Brook and the [...]

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Augustus Austin and his wife, Maria Eldred Austin.
Photo courtesy of cousin Kathy T.
The Mill on Halfway Brook tells the story of the January 1916 birth of Phebe Maria Eldred just 10 days after her parents, James and Polly Mulford Eldred arrived and settled in a log cabin near Halfway Brook in the Town of Lumberland, [...]

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Aida A. Austin lived in New York City with or near her Eldred-Austin relatives during the winter months. In the summer, Aida and her New York City cousins travelled 95 miles to the village of Eldred, New York, and stayed with Aida’s parents, Henry and Mary Ann Eldred Austin.
“A bad beginning makes a good ending?” [...]

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Original scan of Aida’s 1881 diary.
In the summer of 2005, I raided my mom’s treasure chest of old photos and family memorabilia. In it was a small, about 2.75 inches wide and 4 inches long, diary that belonged to my great aunt Aida Austin. Great Aunt Aida was 19 years old when she started writing [...]

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Aida Austin was the sister of my grandfather Charles Mortimer Austin. In a letter she wrote to her brother Lon, she told about her 1880 Christmas in New York City with her Austin cousins—two of whom she mentioned—Ida and Ad (Addie).
Sunday January 23, 1881
Dear Brother Lon,
How did you spend your Christmas and New Years? I [...]

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