The Shohola-Barryville Bridge completed in 1856. Lookout Mountain, Shohola, Pennsylvania, in the background.
After Abby Smith and her sister Laurilla arrived back in Glastenbury, Connecticut, Abby and Mary Ann exchanged letters.
In one of her letters Mary Ann might have mentioned to Abby that finally, in 1856, there was a bridge across the Delaware River. The bridge replaced the crude rope-guided ferry which Abby and Laurilla had to ride to cross the Delaware River, after they had arrived at the Erie Railroad Depot at Shohola, Pennsylvania.
The suspension bridge designed by John Roebling (of N.Y.C. Brooklyn Bridge fame) was poorly built, at a cost of $9,000.
—John W. Johnston, Reminiscences, 321, 349.
Abby Smith wrote to Mary Ann in November 1854 and again in January 29, 1855. Many events happened in Glastenbury and the Town of Highland before Abby’s next known letter to Mary Ann, in 1866.
—Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann, pp. 177–179.
The Crystal Palace with the Latting Observatory, 1853. The view from the Latting Observatory telescope at 300 feet, included Queens, Staten Island, and New Jersey. Etching & engraving: Capewell & Kimmel. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division: 03602.
Justus and Mary Wells Hickok
Abby and Laurilla stayed in Barryville with Justus and Mary Wells Hickok, and their family. Abby mentioned their sons Robert and David Hickok in her letters to Mary Ann.
Abby and Laurilla had to stay longer at Justus and Mary’s home than they had expected because the train did not arrive on time. Mary Wells Hickok, we find out later, was not happy.
Abby and Laurilla’s Visit Ends
Finally, the train did arrive. The route to New York City (where Laurilla hoped to visit the Crystal Palace) offered some spectacular scenery (including the Hawk’s Nest) and an impressive view of the Delaware River. But Abby was not feeling well, so Laurilla helped her home to Glastenbury.
The New York Crystal Palace
In 1853 the first United States World’s Fair, “Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations,” opened in New York City.
In May 1854 a re-inauguration had featured abolitionist orators: Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and Elihu Burritt (who had visited the Smiths in 1836).
The Crystal Palace showcased marvels of science, art, and industry; paintings from Europe and America; and machinery and inventions.
Latting Observatory, a 315-foot-high wooden tower next to the “Palace” featured a 40- to 60-mile telescope view, which included Queens, Staten Island, and New Jersey.
In October Abby and Laurilla were able to explore the Crystal Palace. After the visit Laurilla went home and Abby went to the Water Cure Clinic at Oyster Bay.
Note: The Crystal Palace burnt down in October 1858.
The stage on Old Brook Road with Halfway Brook on the left. After the ride across the Delaware River on the rope ferry, the Smith sisters took a stage four miles north on the road shown in the photo. Photo in Aida Austin Collection.
Abby and Laurilla Smith were welcomed by Hannah Hickok Eldred, her daughter Mary Ann Eldred Austin, and her three daughters (ages one to four): Mary Henrietta, Edith Emogene (Emma), and Maria Adelaide Austin.
(In thirteen years Abby Smith remembers the first and middle names of all three little Austin girls when she replies to a letter from Edith Emogene.)
Though quite thin and not feeling well, Abby seemed to enjoy meeting her Hickok relatives. The sisters met Hannah’s husband James Eldred, Mary Ann’s husband Henry Austin, and possibly Henry’s parents Ralph and Fanny Knapp Austin.
Abby was very impressed with James Eldred. She grew very attached to Hannah Hickok Eldred and found her “perhaps most interesting.” Laurilla (age sixty-five, the same age as Hannah Eldred) was “the most interested” in Mary Ann because she seemed like their mother with three young daughters so close in age.
Charles C.P. Eldred and his wife Effa showed Abby and Laurilla around their new home, including the room with the Lumberland Post Office.
—Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann, pp. 170–172.
Susquehanna River at Owego Narrows, N.Y. Abby and Laurilla Smith boarded the Erie Train at New York’s Owego Union Railroad Station, fifteen miles north of Louisa and Reuben Hickok’s Pennsylvania home. Glass Negative, Detroit Publishing Co., 1900. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division: 4a07757.
Abby Smith and her sister Laurilla Smith were brought up to think more of the Hickok relatives of their mother Hannah Hickok Smith, than their father’s. In 1854 Abby (age 56) and Laurilla (age 65) left their Glastonbury, Connecticut home, to visit their mother’s remaining Hickok first cousins. We join them after their visit with Louisa and Reuben.
On a summer’s day in 1854, Laurilla and Abby Smith said goodbye to their second cousins Louisa Hickok and her brother Reuben, in Pennsylvania.
The sisters then rode fifteen miles north to the Union Railroad Station at Owego, New York.* Abby and Laurilla planned to travel by rail to meet and reconnect with their mother’s other first cousins: Hannah Hickok Eldred and Justus Hickok, who lived in the Town of Highland, New York.
The one-hundred-twenty-mile, picturesque excursion to Shohola, Pennsylvania, first followed (mostly east) alongside the meandering Susquehanna River; then switched to the scenic route beside the winding Delaware River, as they traveled southeast.
On arriving at the Shohola Railroad Station, Abby and Laurilla walked to the nearby Delaware River to ride the old rope-guided ferry across the river to Barryville, New York.
Justus Hickok lived near Barryville, one of the five hamlets in the new Town of Highland. Hannah Hickok Eldred lived in Halfway Brook Village, four miles northeast.
Once on the New York side of the Delaware River, Abby and Laurilla climbed into one of the waiting stages which took railroad travelers to their destination.
The stage bounced and rattled northeast on the dirt Brook Road which paralleled Halfway Brook. After two miles the sisters passed the old 1812 Hickok Homestead of their mother’s uncle Asa Hickok and his family.
In another two miles they saw the 1830 Eldred home and sawmill. The stage soon turned right at the four corners of Halfway Brook Village, and proceeded southeast.
As they bumped along, they noticed the Congregational Church on the right. Felix Kyte was still the pastor. Close by were the Eldred barns. Opposite the barns, on their left, was the home of C.C.P. and Effa Eldred with a room for the Post Office.
The rough, miserable ride was almost done. After crossing the bridge over Halfway Brook, Abby and Julia soon arrived at the Austin home.
—Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann, p. 170.
* This is a possible scenario of Abby and Laurilla leaving Pennsylvania and traveling to visit their New York Hickok relatives.
The 1838 Lumberland Map, courtesy of Sullivan County Historical Society.
Lumberland Towns and Sawmills
In 1838 the Town of Lumberland included what are now the Towns of Tusten, Highland, and Lumberland.
The map shows Lumberland’s many sawmills on Halfway Brook, Beaver Brook, Ten Mile River, and other streams. The Delaware & Hudson Canal was completed in 1828.
The Lumberland Post Office (labeled Eldredville) was also the home of James and Hannah Hickok Eldred. Barryville is located where Halfway Brook enters the Delaware River.
Spring Freshet, 1832
During the winter, large quantities of lumber from the Halfway Brook mills were drawn to Barryville, made into rafts, then taken several miles down the Delaware River to Handsome Eddy. There they waited for the spring freshets.
At Handsome Eddy, considered a safe place for rafts at any water level, rafts were combined into larger rafts. The usual was a double raft created by lashing two single rafts together. Three rafts lashed together was known as a six-handed raft. The rafts were then anchored and lashed together while they waited to be launched into the Delaware River.
In early spring 1832, at least 2,000,000 board feet and 20 to 25 double rafts of sawn lumber sat at Handsome Eddy, ready to float to market. The water level of the river remained low through the first week of May, which was unusual.
The raftsmen were uneasy because floating their rafts to market on the Delaware River in low water would be difficult.
Starting May 8, 1832 it rained violently for three days and nights. The Delaware River, a raging flood, was covered with the valuable lumber and rafts which had been anchored in Handsome Eddy. Only one raft was saved.
The “May flood” was the highest known until the floods of 1869 and 1895, which was 16 inches higher.—from Johnston’s Reminiscences, 276; Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann, p. 144 and The Mill on Halfway Brook, p. 34.
Overlooking sailboats on the Hudson River. West Point (ten miles south of Newburgh) and mountains in the background. Painter: Geo. Cooke; Engraver: W.J. Bennett; Publisher: Parker & Clover, New York, c.1834. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division: 00210.
The Library of Congress was a source of many of the images in my books. Often I could find an image with a date that corresponded with the time frame of a chapter. Sometimes it took several different word combinations to find what I was looking for. And sometimes, I had to search elsewhere.
Along with Photos, Prints, and Drawings, Library of Congress offers searches for maps, books, manuscripts, notated music, newspapers, periodicals, web pages and more.
Preview: “Look Inside” of Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann.
How to order Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann is a Print On Demand (POD) book, meaning they are printed one at a time by the printer (BookBaby).
You can purchase Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann directly from BookBaby or send me a check. Please allow two to three weeks to receive your copy.
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Click on “BUY NOW” on the page above titled “How to order Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann.” (You don’t have to purchase the book to see the covers and a 9-page preview.)
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The cost is $60 and includes media mail shipping.
Send me an email with your name and address to: halfwaybrook at protonmail dot com or add the information on the Comments Link at the top header. (I view every comment and won’t post that information.) I will email you an address to send your check.
Signed Bookplate
If you purchase Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann and would like a signed bookplate, send me an email with your name and address at: halfwaybrook at protonmail dot com or add the information on the Comments Link at the top header. (I view every comment and won’t post that information.)
I would like to hear suggestions as to what you would like me to post on this site: continue with excerpts from Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann; more posts with excerpts from the Halfway Brook books; or other suggestions! Thank you!
“See Inside” and/or order Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann by clicking on “BUY NOW” under the cover in the right column. (You don’t have to purchase the book to see the covers and a 9-page preview.)
Now through March 31, 2022, save $20 off the regular price of $70 (plus shipping and tax) with Coupon Code: ALMA22
Once you are on the Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann page, when you click on the link to purchase the book, the new screen will have a box to put the coupon code in. After typing in ALMA22 the cost of the book will show $50 (plus 4.99 shipping and tax). You can use PayPal or a credit card.
A different preview “Look Inside” is also under the cover of Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann in the right column.
Signed Bookplate
If you purchase Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann and would like a signed bookplate, send me an email with your name and address at: halfwaybrook at protonmail dot com or go to “Comments” above and send the information that way (I view every comment and won’t post that information).
Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann front cover. Dear Halfway Brook Friends,
I am excited to inform you that I have found a new printer and that Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann will be available for purchase soon.
Included in its 356 full-color pages printed on 80# glossy paper are:
150 sidebars
2 family trees
a 330-year timeline
35 poems
320 images (including 14 letters, 14 old and new maps, and 7 journal pages)
14 pages of endnotes
1,500 people, places, and events listed in the index
With a coupon code Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann will be available to Halfway Brook readers for $50 plus shipping and tax.
I will post the link to purchase Abby, Laurilla, and Mary Ann (along with a coupon code) as soon as the book is available.
