New York State was home to 4,370,846, people. Lumberland: 1,065 townsfolk. Highland township: 958 townsfolk; 260 lived in Barryville.
Halfway Brook Village included the post office at C.C.P. Eldred’s house, a sawmill on Halfway Brook near C.C.P. Eldred’s house, two stores, a hotel, a school, and two churches—Congregational and Methodist.
Charles C.P. Eldred, a farmer, and his wife Effa (Emma’s uncle and aunt) lived near Halfway Brook and west of the Austin family). Their daughters daughter Sarah Jane, 18, and Becca, 27, a teacher were mentioned in Chester’s letters.
Their son George W. Eldred (also mentioned in one of Chester’s letters) and his family had moved to New York City, where George worked as a carpenter.
In 1870 Emma Austin’s family lived in the triangle created with Collins Road on the east—possibly 260 acres. Emma, a teacher, lived at home with her eight siblings, ages 1 to 19: Henrietta, Maria, James Eldred (Ell), Alonzo (Lon), Aida, Charles Mortimer, Henry Ladore, and Randolph. Her father Henry Austin, 46, a farmer, worked in New York City part of the year. Emma’s mother Mary Ann, 43, kept house and was busy with their nine children.
Hagan Pond
Chester mentions Hagan Pond, now Highland Lake, in one of his letters.
Martin D. and Jane Ann Myers lived near the corner where Hagan Pond and Collins Roads met. Chester mentioned their daughter Maria Myers, who was 16, in 1870.—Excerpted from The Mill on Halfway Brook, p. 146.
Previous Posts
1. Is that the New Teacher?
2. The Math Tutor
3. Chester Beers to Friend Emma, Correspondence Continues
4. What is the News? October 29, 1869
5. The Merry Laugh of the Village School
6. Teaching Advice in a Poem
7. I Would Not Wait for Erie’s Train
