Hickok and Halfway Brook Falls

by Louise Smith Posted on July 24, 2022

1905: Hickok Falls and Old Water Wheel, Barryville, NY.
1905: Hickok Falls and Old Water Wheel, Barryville, NY.

1909 Halfway Brook Falls, Eldred. Artino post cards, NYC & Germany.
1909 Halfway Brook Falls, Eldred. Artino post cards, NYC & Germany.

Cut Glass Factory on Halfway Brook, Barryville, NY.
Cut Glass Factory on Halfway Brook, Barryville, NY.

I am quite excited to share my extensive collection of postcards from the Town of Highland over the coming weeks. The 2012 post on Real Photo Postcards may be of interest as you view these many postcards.

Real Photograph Postcards
Real Photo Postcards (RPPC) seem to have started in general use in the first few years after 1900. In 1903 Kodak introduced their No. 3A Folding Pocket Camera designed for postcard-size film. The photographs could be printed on postcard backs.

Other cameras were also used to make Real Photo postcards. Some used old-fashioned glass plates that required cropping the image to fit the postcard format.

It was 1907 before the Post Office would allow a postcard to have a message written on the same side as the address.

Also, by 1907 European publishers began opening offices in the U.S. for their millions of high quality post cards. Their cards made up 75% of all postcards sold in the United States. Germany’s printing methods were the best in the world.—usps.com; wikipedia.org.

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Eldred Sawmill

by Louise Smith Posted on July 10, 2022
Holloway Sawmill, Eldred, NY Postcard.
Holloway Sawmill, Eldred, NY Postcard.

Before I started researching and writing my Halfway Brook books, I ran across a site that posted postcards from the Eldred area, which included Mountain Grove, my Austin grandparents’ boarding home (where my father grew up).

Dad was living there, but got out safely, when the house burned down in 1935.

When I began writing and researching what became The Mill on Halfway Brook, I received permission to use the postcards in my books, from the owner of the site. My understanding is that the wonderful selection of postcards was later given to the Town of Highland.

I plan to post some of the postcards, some of which were not in any of my books. If they were in my books, they were black and white, unless, like the sawmill above, they were on the cover.

I find it interesting that the postcard above says Holloway Sawmill. I wonder if Holloway is a misprint of Halfway?

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Camp Shelby, Mississippi

by Louise Smith Posted on July 3, 2022
Camp Shelby Postcards.
Camp Shelby Postcards.

Camp Shelby is located 12 miles from the city of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It was built to accommodate 55,000 soldiers and is the second largest training camp. It cost more than $22 million.

Home of some 50,000 fighting men, Camp Shelby gets its name from a famed leader of men of Colonial days—Colonel Isaac Shelby. It was created during World War I days.
—Camp Shelby Flyer, 1942.

My uncle Bill Austin was stationed in Camp Shelby and sent his aunt Charlotte Leavenworth a postcard booklet of Camp Shelby photos.
—Farewell to Eldred, p. 260.

1942 Camp Shelby.
1942 Camp Shelby.
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The Flatiron Building

by Louise Smith Posted on May 30, 2022

The Flatiron Building in NYC, was one of the buildings I became interested in as I researched information for my Halfway Brook books. Here is a collection of my posts with the addition of a typical floor plan.

Typical floor of the Flatiron Building in Public Domain.
Typical floor of the Flatiron Building in Public Domain.
Old Postcard showing Madison Square Garden in the Austin Collection.
Old Postcard showing Madison Square and the Flatiron Building. Austin Collection.

Times Square Postcard

Postcard of the Flatiron Building sent to the Austins in 1908. Postcard courtesy of Mary A.

Flatiron Building Postcard 1

Flat Iron Building at night. 1908 postcard of Aida Austin courtesy of Mary A.

Flatiron building at night

Flatiron Building under construction, 1902. Photo: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division: Detroit Publishing Co., LC-D401-14278.

Flatiron Building, 1902

Flatiron building 1903. Library of Congress: 3c01814u.

Flatiron building 1903

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Roebling Bridge Collection

by Louise Smith Posted on May 22, 2022
Roebling Aqueduct cutaway. Original source unknown.
Roebling Aqueduct cutaway. Original source unknown.

Halfway Brook readers may remember I made several posts about the Roebling Bridge. You may enjoy reading this post from 2013 that I recently found: Roebling’s Delaware Aqueduct

Revisiting HWB posts on Roebling Bridge:
I’ve added an image and link from my collection of Roebling Bridge/Acqueduct Posts.

The slack water dam to the right of the Roebling Aqueduct. Photo taken around 1880 from the New York side of the Delaware, courtesy of Minisink Valley Historical Society.

Slackwater Dam 1880 Roebling Aqueduct

The aqueduct was converted to a private toll bridge. The towpaths were sawn off; the wooden trunk walls dismantled. Photo: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division; Historic Engineering Record: HAER PA, 52 LACK,1-11

Roebling Toll Bridge Revisiting Roebling Bridge III

Roebling Bridge. Library of Congress: HAER PA, 52, LACK,1-8.

Old Roebling Bridge Photos

View of the Roebling Bridge from the Delaware House in Pennsylvania. Photo: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division: HAER, PA, 52-LACK,1-23

View from Delaware House

1998 Roebling Bridge

Looking downstream at the NY shore. The Delaware Aqueduct, Spanning the Delaware River. Jack E. Boucher creator; LOC: HAER PA, 52-LACK
Looking downstream at the NY shore. The Delaware Aqueduct, Spanning the Delaware River. Jack E. Boucher creator; LOC: HAER PA, 52-LACK.

Old Roebling Bridge Photos 2

Delaware & Hudson Canal, Delaware Aqueduct, Spanning Delaware River, Lackawaxen, Pike County, PA. LOC: HAER PA,52-LACK,1–1.

Roebling Bridge Photos 3

Delaware & Hudson Canal, Delaware Aqueduct, Spanning Delaware River, Lackawaxen, Pike County, PA. LOC Prints and Photographs: HAER PA, 52-LACK, 1–24, 140694.

Revisiting Roebling Bridge I

DELAWARE & HUDSON CANAL, DELAWARE AQUEDUCT, SPANNING DELAWARE RIVER, LACKAWAXEN, PIKE COUNTY, PA. LOC: HAER PA, 52-LACK, 1–26: 140696pu.

Revisiting Roebling Bridge II

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Abby Smith and Her Cows

by Louise Smith Posted on May 16, 2022
Frontispiece in Julia E. Smith’s book, Abby Smith and Her Cows.
Frontispiece in Julia E. Smith’s book, Abby Smith and Her Cows.

In 1876 Julia Smith published Abby Smith and Her Cows, a collection of newspaper articles, letters, and speeches regarding their taxes and a woman’s right to vote. The book also included one of their court cases.

“There were seven cows in all, at the first sale at the Sign-post. Of these, three have since been disposed of. The four others represented in the frontispiece—named Daisy, Whitey, Minnie, and Proxy, with one other, have been driven to be sold at the Auction Block, this Centennial year; a fine commentary on the doings of our Forefathers, a hundred years ago.

“One of the calves represented belongs to Proxy, and came while the mother was shut up to be forced to the Sign-post, and was named Martha Washington, by a young friend and near neighbor, shortly before her death. The other calf is Whitey’s, and is called Abigail Adams.”—Julia E. Smith, Abby Smith and Her Cows; With a Report of the Law Case Decided Contrary to Law, July 1876.

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The Misses Smith, 1874

by Louise Smith Posted on May 15, 2022

Susan B. Anthony was a friend of Julia and Abby Smith. Mathew B. Brady, Sarony & Co., ca. 1870. LOC: 58269.
Susan B. Anthony was a friend of Julia and Abby Smith. Mathew B. Brady, Sarony & Co., ca. 1870. LOC: 58269.
“We repaired to the Misses Smith where we were to spend the night and part of Sunday. It is a wide, roomy, hospitable mansion, with old-fashioned fireplaces, old-fashioned pictures, and most of the furniture of an ancient date.

“Two bay windows have lately been added to the south side of the house, and these, filled with plants, make things look bright and cozy.

“We had a large, pleasant room assigned us for the night, which was made warm and cheery with its crackling hickory fire.

“Over our heads hung the picture of Miss Julia Evelina Smith; at my left side, Abby Hadassah; and in other parts of the room, Laurilla Aleroyla, Hancy Zephina, and Cyrinthia Sacretia…

“On Sunday morning I saw the far-famed Alderneys in their barnyard peacefully chewing the cud of contentment, totally oblivious of the commotion they had stirred up from one end of the land to the other.”—Correspondent for the Hartford Times, who visited the Smiths with Susan B. Anthony, in February 1874. Continue reading →

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Abby’s 1874 Speech on May 15, 2022

by Louise Smith Posted on May 9, 2022
MAY 15, 2022 • 3:30 • MUSEUM ON THE GREEN, GLASTONBURY, CT • 1874 REENACTMENT
MAY 15, 2022 • 3:30 • MUSEUM ON THE GREEN, GLASTONBURY, CT • 1874 REENACTMENT

• May 15, 2022 • 3:30
• Museum on the Green
• Glastonbury, CT • $5
• Bring lawn chair

Reenactment of the April 1874 events (below) when the Smith sisters went to Town Hall to plead for the right of women to vote

What’s the Trouble Now?
Glastonbury’s town leaders held two meetings a year in their red brick Town Hall.

On Monday, April 6th, Abby, followed by Julia, stepped down from their carriage and walked into the hall. They wanted to request an equal voice with male taxpayers.

The meeting moderator, a Republican said, “This is an elector’s meeting. Voting cannot be stopped…You will have to wait until Fall.”

As the sisters left, they heard a suggestion that they could talk “outdoors as well as in the hall.” Seizing the opportunity, the sisters, undaunted, climbed (with help) into an old ox cart on the south side of the Town Hall.

Farmers, laborers, idlers, young men, and two newspaper representatives (all strangers except two men) gathered around the cart.

Oxcart Speech: God’s Laws Are Fulfilled by Love
Julia sat on the wagon bench. Courageous Abby stood as she drew her speech from her pocket. The group quieted down and listened respectfully. In a strong, clear voice Abby appealed to her fellow citizens to treat each other as family who loved their town.

The sisters wanted to discuss and settle the tax “difficulty” as “brothers (the town) and sisters (Abby and Julia) of the same family,” so both sides would be happy with the conclusion…

“If the brothers agreed, without consulting their sisters, to take property from their sisters whenever they chose, and as much as they chose, and made it a law, are their sisters bound by such a law?”

The sisters did not “mind sharing the expenses of a large family (the town),” but they were “not willing for irresponsible town men (whose interest it was to take their property) to help themselves to as much of their property as they wanted by force.” Continue reading →

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