1873 Sunday afternoon

by Louise Smith Posted on April 17, 2016
Sunday afternoon on the West Point Road. Travelers resting on a dirt road through a mountainous region with a distant view of a river or lake. Artist: Eglau; Pub.: Kaufman, 1873; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division; chromolithograph; LC-DIG-pga-01727.
Sunday afternoon on the West Point Road. Travelers resting on a dirt road through a mountainous region with a distant view of a river or lake. Artist: Eglau; Pub.: Kaufman, 1873; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division; chromolithograph; LC-DIG-pga-01727.
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Hickok Gravesite & Questions

by Louise Smith Posted on April 10, 2016
Hickok Grave in the Eldred Cemetery. Photo courtesy of CLB.
Hickok Grave in the Eldred Cemetery. Photo courtesy of CLB.

Do any of my Halfway Brook readers know the first names of the Hickok family members buried in this enclosure in the Old Eldred Cemetery.

On the “New Book” tab above, I have listed names of families who at one time lived in Woodbury, Connecticut who are a part of my new book. I am in search of family stories from the 1700s or even 1600s.

I think I have mentioned this before, but both the Hickok family and later the Leavenworth family who settled in Lumberland (later Highland) lived in Woodbury, Connecticut, before 1700.

I think John Leavenworth the miller during the Revolutionary War was the grandfather of Sherman Buckley Leavenworth. But I can not match John’s wife or parents with any of the names I found.

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Stagecoaches, etc.

by Louise Smith Posted on March 26, 2016
An Adirondack Stage. Detroit Photographic Co.; LOC 4a11238u.
An Adirondack Stage. Detroit Photographic Co.; LOC 4a11238u.

I know of no place that seems pleasanter to me or agreed more with my health than Lumberland.*
—Abby Smith, Nov. 1854.

In 1854 Abby and Laurilla Smith from Glastenbury,** CT, visited Hannah Eldred and her daughter Mary Ann Austin in Halfway Brook.

The Smith sisters were second cousins of Mary Ann Austin as their mother Hannah Hickok Smith (1767–1850) was a first cousin of Hannah Hickok Eldred. Both Hannahs were born in Southbury, CT—22 years apart. Hannah Eldred and Laurilla Smith were the same age—65.

After the visit Abby Smith corresponded with Mary Ann Austin. There are about ten letters in the years 1854–1869.

I have been working on a book using the family information Abby mentioned in her letters; and research—which includes journals*** of Hannah Hickok Smith and her father David Hickok; and very helpful input from Melinda Elliott fellow researcher in Southbury, Connecticut.

The story/book will cover the 1635 arrival of William Hickocks in the New World. Currently it ends in 1886 when Abby Smith’s sister Julia died.

My Hickok family—Asa and Esther Hinman Hickok, their six adult children (including Hannah) and at least one grandchild were in Lumberland, New York, by 1812. It has been fun for me to include and intersperse chapters about my Hickok family in Lumberland—using The Mill on Halfway Brook as a resource.

So what does this have to do with stagecoaches you ask? Well, initially I went in search of stagecoach images, thinking that Abby and Laurilla traveled by stagecoach to visit Hannah and Mary Ann. I don’t know how they arrived, but in a closer reading of the letters, they returned to Glastenbury on “the cars” which were running late. I assume that was the railroad. Continue reading →

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1907 Mott Street, New York City

by Louise Smith Posted on February 28, 2016
Mott Street where C. Soule Bok lived. Postcard in Aida Austin’s Photograph Book.

This is the color postcard of Mott Street where C.S. Bok, a friend of my grandfather Mort Austin lived.

Grandfather Austin met C.S. Bok at Centenary Collegiate Institute (Hackettstown, NJ) in 1891.

1896
1327 Fifth Ave., New York, Sept. 5, 1896
My dear Mort,

I send you today some new tea which I think will meet the taste of most of the American people, so I want you to try it to see whether your opinion is coincident with mine. Though it is a better tea than those we had had, yet I can get this at the same price.

I also sent you some Chinese Lichee nuts and some sweet meat that you may have something to entertain the people in the house.

Next Tuesday, I shall go home, that is to East Orange, New Jersey, to stay over night with my people, whom you saw in the 14th St., the time when you were with me.

Then I shall go on the next day to Hackettstown with my friend Vincent. How I wish that you can arrange to go too, that we may have a good old time together in CCI [Centenary Collegiate Institute.] for two or three days. I may go to Orange to live after my return from H’town. Remember me to Mr. Boyd.

Your old friend,
C. Soule Bok

C.S. Bok letter March 11, 1899

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Barryville School House

by Louise Smith Posted on February 21, 2016

Postcard of the Barryville Schoolhouse in Aida Austin’s photograph album.

Barryville Schoolhouse Postcard in Aida Austin’s photo album.

In 1867 a one-roomed school house was built in Barryville. Behind the school house were falls known at one time as Fish Cabin Falls. Grades one through eight were taught there from 1867 until 1949. The building is still in use, but not as a school.—The Mill on Halfway Brook, p. 136 and 137.

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1908 Calendar Fan

by Louise Smith Posted on February 14, 2016

1908 fan in the Austin Collection

Several people commented on the Methodist Church photo (shown here) in The Mill on Halfway Brook, 1800–1880 as looking so stark. I recently found the photo with August 1908 written on the back—I think by Aida Austin.

I learned later that the Methodist Church would not have had a steeple until after 1880. The Congregational Church may have had a steeple in 1879.

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1884 Autograph Book

by Louise Smith Posted on February 7, 2016
Inside page of 1884 Autograph Book.
Cover of Mort Austin’s 1884 Autograph Book.
Autographs of Aida, Mort’s sister; and Nellie, granddaughter of CCP Eldred, Mort’s uncle.

Mort Austin Returns to Kansas
In the winter of 1883–1884 my grandfather Mort Austin returned to work for his brother Ell who ran Henry Parmenter’s farm in Saline County, Kansas. Before Mort left, he had family and friends sign his autograph book.
—p. 92; 453–455, Echo Hill and Mountain Grove.

Note: These are the only color scans I have of Grandpa’s Autograph Book with colorful stickers on some of the pages.

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Eldred Main Street 1920

by Louise Smith Posted on January 31, 2016
Looking northwest, little girl in front of the Von Ohlen Store on Proctor Road. Photo courtesy of Chuck M.

Proctor Road View
This is the view the Austins (my dad, his brother Bob, and sister Elizabeth) had on their way to school. The Eldred Schoolhouse on the left; Von Ohlen’s store on the right.

Part of Charles Wilson’s (later his son Arthur Wilson’s) store can be seen in the middle of the photo. Slonek’s House is the one in the distance on the hill.

Not shown in the photo: The Austins would already have passed Sunshine Hall—soon to be Sunshine Free Library; and the Congregational Church set back from the road. In the distance on the north (right) side of the road was the Methodist Church.

Not easily seen in the photo: On the other side of the Von Ohlen Store: Fridolin and Juliana Straub’s Straub Hotel; and the William H. Wilson Store.

Notes: Photo shown on page 2 of Chapter 1 Most Pleasant Time of All; Farewell to Eldred.

Randolph’s Royal Scarlet Grocery Store and Andrew Parker’s Store replaced the VonOhlen-Myers Store—Photo from the 1950s.

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