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The Mill on Halfway Brook
Stories of Families Who Settled Near Halfway Brook in the Town of Highland, New York, 1800 to 1880
At the end of 1815, James and Polly Eldred and their family arrived in the Town of Lumberland and settled on two acres with a log cabin and a sawmill near Halfway Brook. The Eldred property—four miles from the Delaware River—later became the southeast corner of Halfway Brook Village which is now Eldred, in the Town of Highland, New York.
The Mill on Halfway Brook tells of the Eldred, Austin, Myers, and Leavenworth families, their neighbors, friends, and kinsfolk that settled in what was once the Town of Lumberland, in the villages of Halfway Brook (Eldred), The River (Barryville), Ten Mile River (Tusten), and South Lebanon (Glen Spey).
The narrative weaves vignettes of townsfolk, preachers, churches, regional and national events with historical information, land documents, censuses, an 1875 biography, Congregational and Methodist Chruch records, over 300 photos and postcards, old and new maps, and at least 200 family letters (1845–1880).
The Mill on Halfway Brook is fully indexed with names of over 900 people, places, and events. It is the first in the series, Memoirs from Eldred, New York, 1800–1950.
“The Mill on Halfway Brook” is in final final editing stages before being sent to the printer. It is about 280 pages long. Here are the chapter titles.
Chapter 1: The Town of Lumberland, 1798–1815
Chapter 2: The Mill on Halfway Brook, 1815–1825
Chapter 3: Life in Lumberland, 1825–1831
Chapter 4: Reverend Felix Kyte, 1832–1834
Chapter 5: The Mill on Blind Pond Brook, 1836–1849
Chapter 6: The Bubbling Spring, 1839–1850
Chapter 7: Near Hagan Pond, 1851–1860
Chapter 8: Letters from a Soldier, 1861–1865
Chapter 9: “Your Loving Cousin,” 1866–1871
Chapter 10: Emma Goes to College, 1872, 1873
Chapter 11: Return to Eldred, 1974–1877
Chapter 12: In Kansas Bright as Fair, 1878
Chapter 13: The Journey’s Length, 1879
Emma Austin was a sister to my grandfather Charles Mortimer Austin and my great Aunt Aida Austin. This next letter seems to be written from New York City where the Austin Cousins lived.
January 1, 1877
Dear brother Lon,
Holidays of all descriptions are dull days with me and this which began so pleasantly this morning, that I thought it was going to prove an exception to holidays in general is certainly dark and stormy enough to make one feel dull this afternoon. But it gives me some leisure for writing…and wishing you with all love and sincerity, A “Happy New Year” I will proceed with my answer to your letter.
Mother is very well and apparently enjoying her visit as much as me. O if we were all here. It was a shame not to bring poor little Do (her youngest brother). I will send a box directed to Father to Shohola Thursday. I suppose it will be there Saturday…
You will find a little but not much for you. I did not have much to give though Santa was pretty good to me. I got seven books, a whole set of Scotts’ novels beautifully bound and a history of the Centennial. Ida got four books and Addie gave her a work box and a box of perfume and a nice tie. You will think it pretty late for a Christmas box, but better late than never I suppose. I could not get it ready before, there was so much sewing to do.
Write me soon, Lon, best wishes from all from your
Emma
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 had a very good time each day and got some nice presents. We had a little Christmas tree for the children and I dressed up as old Santa Clause. My hair which I had for whiskers, I caught on fire, but Ida and Ad put it out so quick that it did not do much damage. The children were greatly pelased and believe faithfully in Santa Clause.
We did not receive calls New Years. Harry and I went to the Park in the evening to skate, but there was no skating, so we came back and stayed at Mrs. Braisteds until ten o’clock. I have a splendid pair of skates, but cannot skate very good yet.
Write soon. With much love, I remain your affectionate sister,
Aida
Partially because of the cholera epidemic in New York City, in 1832, Felix Kyte and his family sought a new location and by the end of the year were living in Lumberland.
Cholera must also have been in Lumberland as Almira Austin Hooker (sister to my great-great-grandfather Ralph Austin) and her son died from Cholera in August of 1832.
Cholera, also called Asiatic Cholera, is caused by a bacteria. It is an infectious gastroenteritis transmitted to humans through contaminated food or water.
Cholera was originally found in India. The disease spread by both land and sea trade routes to Russia, then Western Europe, and on to North America.
John Snow (1813-1858), a physician and self-trained scientist, found the link between cholera and contaminated drinking water in 1854.—wikipedia
1832 Preventatives of Cholera!
Be Temperate in eating and drinking.
Avoid Raw Vegetables and Unripe Fruit!
Abstain from COLD WATER, when heated, and above all from Ardent Spirits, and if habit have rendered them indispensable, take much less than usual.
—1832 Hand bill from the New York City Board of Health
In 1832, the Congregational Church of Halfway Brook had been without a pastor for six years—since Rev. Stephen Sergeant had left and gone to the Presbyterian Church. The congregation was meeting in the small school house at Halfway Brook, known as The Village, and the membership had dropped to 50.
The deacons, including James Eldred and Sears Gardner, had taken over the pastor’s responsibilities, and thought the church needed a full time pastor. Sears Gardner, had seen Felix Kyte’s advertisement for a position as minister of a Congregational Church in the New York Observer, and encouraged James Eldred to respond to the ad.
Felix Kyte, a schoolteacher from Lydd, England, was living with his wife and two sons in New York City, where there had been many deaths due to the cholera epidemic. Left with fewer students to teach, Felix was considering leaving.
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In 1799, Isaac Sergeant helped organize the Narrows Falls Congregational Church, which eventually became the Congregational Church of Eldred. In the early years, the church met in log cabins, barns and sawmills.
From 1816 Stephen Sergeant, son of Isaac and Mary Sergeant, held revival services in the barn of Asa Hickok. In 1818, Stephen was asked to be the pastor of the Lumberland (former Narrows Falls) Congregational Church.
Stephen and his wife, Anna Penney had five sons in 1818. The descendants of their son Ethel are part of this story, and some grew up or still live in the town of Eldred. In 1826, Stephen Sergeant left the Congregational Church for a Presbyterian Church.
The Congregational Church of Lumberland was still struggling without a preacher in 1830, when, circuit riding preachers from the Methodist Episcopal Church, traveling mostly on foot or horseback, began teaching in areas and villages on both sides of the Delaware River.
Mr. Grace and Mr. Street, came every two weeks to the town of Lumberland, preaching in homes or public places. Services were conducted every night and visitations made during the day time.
There was still no good way to travel on land in 1828. Whether you walked or rode a horse, the roads were rough and through the wilderness.
Whether by foot, horseback, canal or all three, Doctor Perkins left Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1829, and managed to arrive in Lumberland, where he would be the only physician for over 300 square miles. Fortunately, the people were usually healthy.
Doc Perkins treated disease with one of five or six prescriptions—if he could find the description in his book. He did not like the homelike, superstitious ideas, and notions that prevailed at the time.
Doc Perkins first boarded at Robert Land’s house at Beaver Brook, four miles back from the river and canal. The fun loving, agreeable doctor, always wore a suit of heavy winter clothes, and traveled on horseback without a padded saddle or coated stirrups.
“Thus for 24 years, he traveled many thousands of miles over the rough highways, the narrow timber roads, the cow paths; over hills and through valleys, through dark, dense wildernesses and groves of lofty timber, during night and day, amid sunshine and storm, cold and heat…”
Doc Perkins charged twenty-five cents for a visit to the village or the area nearby, with the option to pay or not. A visit to Ten Mile River from Barryville (eleven miles through the woods), was seventy-five cents. One family of 5 children and a mother, he contracted for $5 a year. Some families never paid the doctor, though he had called on them for 18 years.
The good doctor married Comelia Dabron in 1832, and they moved into the old Hickok farmhouse, two miles from Barryville on the way to Halfway Brook Village.—Johnston, Reminiscences, pp. 340, 342, 343
Book 1, The Mill on Halfway Brook, starts off in the town of Lumberland, the main occupation of the people there relating to lumber.
Before 1880, when Book 2 starts, the work base has shifted to work on the canal, railroad, bluestone quarries and running boarding homes, though there are still some sawmills in the area.
The boarding homes will be a main feature of book 2 as my Leavenworth great grandparents ran Echo Hill Farm House and later my Austin relatives had a boarding home called, Mountain Grove.
Hence the name of Book 2: Echo Hill and Mountain Grove. It will cover years 1880 to 1935.
There were many other boarding homes in the area, many of which seem to be much larger than the Leavenworth and Austin homes. I am planning on including these homes also.
I have photos/postcards of some of the homes, thanks to my mom, Cousin C., Mrs. M., and Mr. & Mrs. R. But I can use more, and don’t have all of the homes.
If you have information, interesting stories, memorabilia, or postcards on any of these homes, that you would like to share, please contact me at this site, or email me: weezy at halfwaybrook.com or weezy at weezy.info
Does anyone know when Abel Sprague Myers’s boarding home (I think called Orchard Terrace), which became a school, was built, and if he built it?
Also, does anyone know anything about Gallaghers on the 1870 Beer Map.
Thank you.
Ever Your Cousin,
Louise
