Halfway Brook

Trees on the Leavenworth Homestead. Photo: Gary Smith.

My great-great grandparents, Sherman B. and Charlotte Leavenworth, had four sons. Sherman S., Hezzie B., and Atwell B., were in the Civil War. Son John E. was too young to fight in the Civil War, but fought out West with Custer.

The story is told that a tree was planted for each of the Leavenworth sons that went to war. The tree would be cut down if the son did not come back from the war.

In the photo above, the trees on the right are said to be where the original four trees were planted. The two trees still there were for the two sons that lived—Sherman Stiles and John Ellis Leavenworth.

United States Fractional Currency notes were issued by the U.S. Government during and after the U.S. Civil War due to the hoarding and shortage of coins in gold, silver, and copper in denominations of 3, 5, 10, 15, 25 and 50 cents. These notes were in use until 1876 and were redeemable by the U.S. Postal Office at face value in postage stamps. This is an 1874–1876, 10 cent Fractional Currency with an image of William Merideth, Secretary of the Treasury (1849-1850). Collection of M.B. Austin.

Confederate money in the collection of M.B. Austin.

A circa-1860s advertising note for Drake’s Plantation Bitters. From the collection of M.B. Austin.

Chapter 8, Letters from a Soldier, lists some of the men of the Town of Highland, New York, that fought in the Civil War. A number of the men are mentioned in Sherman S. Leavenworth’s letters home.

56th Regiment
July 16, 1861
George Eldred, 25, enlisted at Newburgh, to serve three years; mustered in as a sergeant, Co. B; discharged for disability, November 2, 1863, at Beaufort, S.C., 56th Regiment Infantry.

Ira Austin, 20, enlisted, at Newburgh to serve three years; mustered in as private, Co. B, August 17, 1861; re-enlisted as a veteran, February 29, 1864; mustered out with company, October 17, 1865, at Charleston, S.C., 56th Regiment Infantry.

August 3, 1861
Sherman Leavenworth, 18, enlisted at Newburgh, to serve three years; mustered in as private, Co. B, August 17, 1861; re-enlisted as a veteran, February 29, 1864; promoted to corporal, July 13, 1864; mustered out with company, October 17, 1865 at Charleston, S.C., 56th Regiment Infantry.

March 30, 1864
Hezekiah Leavenworth, 18, enlisted at Deerpark, to serve three years; mustered in as private, Co. B, March 30, 1864; died of chronic diarrhea, April 25, 1865, at Sparrowbush, N.Y., 56th Regiment Infantry.
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The Martin D. Myers family settled east of the Austin property, underneath Hagan Pond’s thumb, but on the south side of Hagan Pond Road, close to Collins Road.

Map showing Hagan Pond (Highland Lake) and Round Pond (Lake DeVenoge). Halfway Brook Village (Eldred) was to the west. Map drawn by Gary Smith.

Chapter 7 in The Mill on Halfway Brook covers the years 1851 to 1860 and the arrival of my Myers and Van Pelt relatives from New York City who settled near Hagan Pond. The following photos of Hagan Pond or Highland Lake as it is called today) are courtesy of my cousin Cynthia.

The oldest letter in the family collection was from my great-grandmother Mary Ann Eldred in 1845. It is excerpted below.

Included in the old letters was an 1845 newspaper clipping about a mortgage sale for land of Abraham Mulford Eldred that was sent to James Eldred from Orange County, NY. On the back of the newspaper clipping was an ad for Mc Alisters All-Healing Salve that Mary Ann talked about in her letter. Mary Ann was staying at her sister’s home in Middletown, Orange County, NY.

Middletown, June 19, 1845
Mr. James Eldred, Lumberland
Dear Parents,

I am quite well at present and hope these few imperfect lines will find you enjoying the same blessings…

At the top of the McAllister Ad was this Milliner Ad.