Thanksgiving 1898

by Louise Smith Posted on November 24, 2011

Addie Thompson, N.Y.C., to Mary Ann Austin, Eldred, N.Y.
November 24, 1898
Dear Aunt Mary,
At last I seat myself to scribble a few lines to you. It is snowing quite hard now. We expected company today, but it has snowed so nobody came and we ate our Thanksgiving dinner alone.

I don’t see why you did not get in that barrel and come down. We would have been very glad to see you. It seems as if I would never be able to get up to see you, try as I will.

The winter has sot in very early this year. I hate to see so much snow fall before Christmas. The winter seems so much longer when we have snow so early.

I have had a fearful cold on my lungs and a gathering in my head’ have not got over it yet, although I am better, but the weather is so changeable every one seems to have colds

Ida Clinton was here the week before Thanksgiving. All were well then. How is Aida and Lon getting along?

But it is half past 11 and I am very tired and guess you are too. So I must say good night sweetheart and hope to hear from you very soon again.

Ever your affectionate Addie

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Thanksgiving 1888

by Louise Smith Posted on November 23, 2011

Maria Austin, N.Y.C. to Aida Austin, Eldred, N.Y.

Dear Sister Aida,
Well, I didn’t spend all Thanksgiving eating as you did.

But you may think I spent it worse when I tell you I was reading “Mignon.” I think Mignon perfectly hideous, but I blame her husband more than I do her. Although he was a splendid man, no woman could love nor respect him. I had no patience with him. But I was just in love with Leo and Olga. I am so glad they are married for they are just lovely. You had oughta read the book.

The tall man and the short man are boarding at Net’s. I haven’t seen her yet. Ida goes to Philadelphia tomorrow to spend the week.

My pencil is only about an inch long and my hand is tired of holding it so I will stop writing.

Ever your loving sister,
Maria

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Thanksgiving, 1881 (New York City and Kansas)

by Louise Smith Posted on November 22, 2011

N.Y.C., Wed., Nov. 23, 1881
Very cold a little snow this morning but it soon turned to rain and is rainy yet tonight.

N.Y.C., Thursday, Nov. 24, 1881
Thanksgiving Day. All home to dinner. Mort, Mary, Uncle Gussy, Aunt Maria here this evening. And Harry, Mr. Clinton and I have been playing checkers. Very cold.

The above was from Aida Austin’s 1881 Diary.

Sutherland, Abilene, Kans., to A. Austin, Cuffey’s Cove, Calif.
November 24, 1881
Friend Lon,
Today is Thanksgiving. The stores have closed from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. I am now working for Sterl and Zahner of this city. Have been here a week or ten days.

There is going to be a Grand Ball here in Abilene tonight. I am staying at present at Mr. Merchant’s Hotel here. I would like to go to the Pacific Coast next spring and hope to hear from you occasionally between now and then.

I am not making as much money here as in Solomon, but I had a racket with Arthur and would rather work for less here, but if I stay, I will try and get a raise. I have to put in long hours here, about 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

The weather has been very nice for this time of year. Have hardly any snow or ice yet. The boys in Solomon are getting along in the same old way. Henry Whitley has built a nice bridge over the “race” for to cross his carriage or wagon.

If I would come out to California or Oregon, do you think I would have much trouble in finding work at good or fair pay? I would like to strike a good position in a bank.

Write soon.
From your friend,
Wm. G. Sutherland

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Halfway Brook Books Review 2

by Louise Smith Posted on November 20, 2011

An appreciative thank you to John Conway, who featured Echo Hill and Mountain Grove in his recent weekly Retrospect historical column for the Sullivan County Democrat. The complete article can be read at Retrospect by clicking on “New Book on Local History…11/18/11.” An excerpt follows.

    Where “The Mill on Halfway Brook” chronicled the main occupations of the community at the time, including lumbering, timber rafting, canalling and bluestone quarrying, “Echo Hill and Mountain Grove” focuses on the tourism industry in the upper Delaware Valley. This is a fascinating subject that has received too little scrutiny over the years.

    Although much overshadowed by the massive resorts and the international renown of the Borscht Belt, the tourism industry along the Delaware River has been vibrant and strong beginning in the later years of the 19th century until the present day. And much as the O&W Railway provided the impetus for the resorts that flourished along its route, advertising that “Doctors say, ‘Go to the mountains!’” the Erie Railroad was largely responsible for creating the tourism industry in the upper Delaware, promoting the region as “a sportsman’s paradise.”
    —Retrospect November 18, 2011

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Halfway Brook Books Review 1

by Louise Smith Posted on November 20, 2011

Recently both The Mill on Halfway Brook and Echo Hill and Mountain Grove were featured in the River Reporter. A special thank you to Sandy Long for her review: Books bring Community Stories to Life. An excerpt follows with a link to the original article.

    The first book, “The Mill on Halfway Brook,” features stories of families who settled near Halfway Brook in the Town of Highland between 1800 and 1880. The second, “Echo Hill and Mountain Grove,” features stories of families and boarding houses in the Town of Highland between 1880 and 1920.

    The substantial tomes are generously sized at 8 by 11 inches, making for easy viewing, with page counts of 273 for “The Mill,” and nearly 500 for “Echo Hill.” Replete with historic and current photos, maps, postcards, correspondence, genealogy charts and even poetry, the hefty volumes are treasure troves of local lore.—Sandy Long, River Reporter, 11/16/11.

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Boarding Houses, 1895 to 1898

by Louise Smith Posted on November 13, 2011

Crest Hill Cottage, Barryville
1-1/2 miles from Shohola Station; Health resort; elevation 1,600 feet. Superior rooms and board. Send for circular. Mrs. Greig.
—Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 23, 1895.

Highland Cottage, Yulan
On Washington Lake; near Shohola Glen, on Erie R.R.; elevation 2,000 feet; boating bathing, fishing; beautiful scenery; overlooking 15 miles; fine drives and good bicycle roads; terms $6 to $7. A.E. Grove.
—Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 23, 1895.

West Farm, Yulan
Pleasant location; high altitude; good table; pure spring water; airy rooms; boating, fishing and bathing; four miles from Shohola Glen, Pa. Theodore West.—Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 23, 1895.

Mount Pleasant House, Barryville
Large cool rooms; plenty shade; pine grove; adults $5 to 6 per week; children according to age. Send for circular. Wm. Wolfe.
—Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 5, 1896. Continue reading →

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Pelton Soda Bottle Factory

by Louise Smith Posted on November 9, 2011
A. Pelton, Soda Pop Bottle, Barryville. Courtesy of Kevin M.

Less than five miles east of Zane Grey’s future property was an old D&H Canal office building in Barryville that Asher and Carrie Pelton had turned into a Soda Factory. The Pelton Company made their own bottles and filled them with their own soda and shipped them on the canal to the city.

The William Kerr family lived next door to the Pelton Factory.

Directly opposite this [Kerr] house…beside the tow path, is the spacious dwelling house once of the Canal Company, and quite recently sold to a man named Pelton. It stands midway and opposite lock No. 71 [lock numbers have since changed], and on the side of the original lock house…

It was erected in 1869 as a residence for the superintending foreman of the company and as a stopping place for the higher dignitaries connected with the company…It was inhabited by James H. Quick until sold to Pelton…It is rather a desirable place.—Johnston, p. 324.

In 1900 Asher Pelton was a carpenter. He and Carrie had two sons: Edward and Howard, who were day laborers.

An October 4, 1900 land deed stated that Carrie Pelton, Ashur’s wife, bought the property from the D&H Canal Co. for $1,000.

In 1836 that property (one boundary of which was “along a line of white pine trees”) had been sold to the D&H Canal Company by Robert and Phebe Johnston. James Eldred (my great-great grandfather) was the commissioner at the time.

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Boarding Houses, 1890 to 1894

by Louise Smith Posted on November 7, 2011

Bradley Farm Boarding House, Eldred
Isaac M. Bradley, Proprietor
6 miles from Shohola. Conveyance, $1; 5 single, 12 double rooms; adults $6 to $8; children $4 to $5; servants $5 to $6; $1.50 per day; discount for season. Centre of trout, perch, and pickerel fishing; boats free; deer hounds and setters furnished; croquet grounds; headquarters for sportsmen; guides at hand; pine shade; 100 feet of piazza. Reference, Mr. James Smith, Cashier, Astor House, New York City.—Farmer, L.P., Picturesque Erie Summer Homes, N.Y., L.E., & W. R.R., 1890.

Wm. Hickok, Barryville
1 mile. 5 single and 6 double rooms; $6 per week; $1.50 per day; discount for season. Livery; good fishing.—Farmer, L.P., Picturesque Erie Summer Homes, N.Y., L.E., & W. R.R., 1890.

Ira M. Austin, Barryville
1 mile; 5 single, 3 double rooms; adults, $6; children, $3; servants, $5; $1 per day. Good livery and fishing; boats free.—Farmer, L.P., Picturesque Erie Summer Homes, N.Y., L.E., & W. R.R., 1890.

Lake View House, Highland Lake
Boarders wanted for September and October; fine locally; good fishing and hunting; terms moderate. For particulars address Myers, Mills & Co.—Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 4, 1892.

Continue reading →

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1894 Sullivan County’s Shawangunks

by Louise Smith Posted on November 4, 2011

Sullivan County has of late years almost been annexed to Brooklyn, so large is the Brooklyn exodus which sets in each year with the heat of summer for the crests of the Shawangunks and the picturesque valleys beside the sparkling Sullivan County streams…

Sullivan County is near and accessible. It gives mountain air, freedom, good fishing and charming rural drives at reasonable rates. Brooklyn men of moderate incomes can establish their families in a farm house there for the summer, visit them over Sundays and for their own vacations about as cheap as they could stay at home, and without the fatigue or annoyance of long railroad journeys.

The railroads have been important factors in bringing this region into popularity [with their] admirable volumes on Summer Homes along their lines…Another cause of popularity is the excellence of the farm board offered…

Dr. Bowdish Writes: “…Let me urge business men, bankers, brokers, merchants, mechanics and ministers, wearied in body and worried in mind, to halt. Rest, and try this trip. Get the health that will surely come to you in this mountain summerland.”

At Eldred: the Twin Lake House, the DeVenoge Mountain House, C.M. Austin & Co.’s Mountain Grove House, John Wait’s, and Mrs. Rebecca C. Eldred’s boarding houses…—Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1894.

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Kaese’s Lake View Farm House View

by Louise Smith Posted on October 31, 2011
Old Oak Tree at Kaese’s in Yulan, New York. Postcard courtesy of Kevin M.

This was the scene looking out the window of the Kaese home. Washington Lake is in the background.

From 1886 to 1894, an Edward Prange is mentioned as owning Lake View Farm House, a boarding house.

    Accommodate 20; 13 rooms; adults $7; children $3; servants $5; transient $1.25 per day. Discount for season. Transportation, $1. Raises vegetables. Plenty fresh milk, butter, eggs and poultry.

From 1904 to 1910 I found an A. (Alfred?) Kaese advertising Lake View Farm House, possibly the same as Edward Prange’s, in newspapers. I found ads again in 1934.

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