It was interesting to discover that my dad was the Treasurer of the 1934 Eldred High School Alumni Dramatic Society.
If you grew up in the Halfway Brook area, you may recognize the names Charles MacIntyre and Joseph Vogt.
If you have read any of the books in the Memoirs from Eldred, New York, you may have some idea of the massive amounts of information and photos that I have had access to. I thought I had returned everything last week. But I continue to go through files and will soon have another envelope to send back to my mom.
This is one of my favorite photos (I have many favorites). I remember when Mom sent it to me and I didn’t know that it was the home of my great-great-grandmother Jane Ann Van Pelt Webb Myers. Click on the photo if you would like to see a larger image.
I always looked forward to the time when school would be out, for I never was too fond of studying and, besides, my parents ran a small summer boarding house to which a few families brought their children year after year.
The summer season was the most pleasant time of all, for then the school bell did not interrupt the baseball games or the hours spent swimming with my city friends.
—Arthur Austin.
It was the last day of school and the start of the anticipated summer season in the picturesque Town of Highland, New York.
Arthur Austin, 7, his sister Elizabeth, 9, and his brother Bob, 5, walked home from the Eldred Schoolhouse near the southeast corner of Eldred. It was less than a half mile walk (Bob and Elizabeth probably ran) east towards the Austin Mountain Grove House.
Art, Elizabeth, and Bob Austin weren’t the only children looking forward to a time uninterrupted by the school bell. Youngsters in the Town of Highland’s five hamlets—Eldred, Highland Lake, Barryville, Yulan, and Minisink Ford—also had counted down the days to the best of all seasons and visits from their city friends.
Who would not look forward to uninterrupted fishing, boating, and swimming (called bathing); ice cream socials; church bazaars; fourth of July sparklers and fire crackers; catching lightning bugs; making slingshots; playing baseball; and countless other delights of summer.
The adults were geared up for summer visitors. Reservations had been made ahead of time. (Some families continued to vacation in Highland for two and three generations.)
Ice had been cut and packed in sawdust in the winter months and stored in the ice house for the summer. In the spring the gardens had been planted as many of the boarding house owners also farmed—so there was fresh produce for the guests. Continue reading
A number of people have asked me, “What are you going to do now?”
Well, the major goal is to reorganize my neglected house, including my office—both the massive paper and computer files.
While reorganizing, I am also researching (my preferred goal) the siblings and father of my great-great-grandfather Ralph Austin and Gary’s great-grandfather John W. Smith.
Ralph Austin’s father (according to my family story) was Joshua Austin, born 1748 in Suffield, CT. Those of you who have researched your family understand the challenges of locating recorded information and figuring out what to do with conflicting reports from different sources.
What does Ralph Austin’s father Joshua have to do with Halfway Brook? As many of you know, there were two Austin families who stayed in the Town of Lumberland, now the Town of Highland. It would be interesting to find out if Ralph Austin was the uncle of Benjamin C. Austin, father of Ira Austin, grandfather of Austin Smith (not me), the Town of Highland historian for many years.
And wouldn’t it be “icing on the cake” to find out that John W. Smith (who first shows up in an 1870 census as a boarder in Illinois) but family information indicates he was from Livingston County, NY, had some connection with Halfway Brook, Town of Lumberland/Highland.
Hello Halfway Brook friends,
I am happy to tell you that Farewell to Eldred is now available from Halfway Brook for $42.95 which includes $5.50 shipping and handling.
Gary added a “Look Inside” which includes the 30-plus pages of the index so you can see if your family or favorite boarding house is mentioned.
Gary also added links to Aida Austin’s 1881 Diary and Grandma and Me with “Look Inside,” though neither book has an Index.
Any questions, feel free to email me at info (at) halfwaybrook (dot) com
While I wait (and that not terribly patiently) for the second proof of “Farewell to Eldred” arrive, I have been organizing my computer records which go back to 2008 (sometimes earlier) in to one file (it will take a while).
Also I packaged up almost all the remains of the loaned information (I still have your 1917 map Ed) and have sent it back to the respective owners. In the batch of recently returned letters, was an 1860 envelope addressed to Halfway Brook Village, Sullivan County, New York. This is the marriage certificate of my great-great-aunt Laura Austin Clark. And it was fun to see that my Austin great-great-grandparents Ralph and Fanny Austin (Laura’s parents) and Laura’s grandmother Hannah Hickok Eldred, her brother James Austin and sister-in-law Mary Ann Austin attended the ceremony and according to the Justice of the Peace George Stage, “all of said town of Highland attesting witness.” [Click on the letters and you can see a larger version.]
“If you are raised on Halfway Brook water, you will always come back.”—Bertha Boyd Wilson to Melva Austin, 1943.
Farewell to Eldred resumes the narrative of Echo Hill and Mountain Grove, in the year 1920. Over a hundred years have passed since Charles Mortimer (Mort) Austin’s grandparents James Eldred and Hannah Hickok first settled near Halfway Brook in what was then the Town of Lumberland.
Almost ninety years previous the Leavenworth grandparents of Jennie Austin had put down roots near Blind Pond Brook, west of Halfway Brook, in what became Eldred, in the Town of Highland.
Farewell to Eldred, the last book in the Memoirs from Eldred, New York, 1900–1950 Series, continues the story of the Town of Highland’s five hamlets: Eldred, Highland Lake, Yulan, Barryville, and Minisink Ford; and the descendants of the original settlers—relatives, friends, and neighbors—first read about in Book 1, The Mill on Halfway Brook.
When Farewell to Eldred commences in 1920, Mort and Jennie Austin, my grandparents, managed Mountain Grove House on the east side of Eldred. Jennie’s father and three of her siblings resided at the Leavenworth’s Echo Hill Farm House on the west side of Eldred.
In the next thirty years newcomers, often from New York City, join the story. Some run Boarding Houses which continued to be the backbone of the area’s economy. Work was also available at the Erie Railroad, bluestone quarries, and private sawmills. And most unfortunately there is another war.
A phenomenal amount of photos, letters, postcards, diaries, old newspapers, and first hand stories from family and friends, tells the story of daily life—its joys and sorrows—in the Town of Highland from 1920 until 1950. Soon after 1950 my parents would depart from the home of my Hickok, Eldred, Leavenworth, Austin, and Myers ancestors.
Please join me as we return to Halfway Brook in 1920 and say a long farewell to the descendants of the original settlers and the newcomers in the Town we have come to love.
Hello Halfway Brook friends, Hopefully in a week “Farewell to Eldred” will be available for purchase. There were some changes that needed to be made to the first book proof. A new file was uploaded and a second proof copy should arrive within a week. I thought you might enjoy seeing the back cover. Louise
The year is 1920. Mort and Jennie Austin managed Mountain Grove House east of Halfway Brook. The Leavenworths resided at Echo Hill Farm House on the west side of Eldred, near Blind Pond Brook.
Farewell to Eldred concludes the story of the descendants of the original settlers introduced in The Mill on Halfway Brook, and newcomers (often from New York City) who lived in the Town of Highland’s hamlets: Barryville, Minisink Ford, Yulan, Eldred, and Highland Lake. Boarding Houses (first featured in Echo Hill and Mountain Grove) continued as the mainstay of the Town’s economy. The Erie Railway, Barryville Glass Factory (for a short while), and (later) Narrowsburg Lumber also offered employment.
Farewell to Eldred overflows with reminiscences of stills, baseball teams, radio KDKA, the arrival of electricity, flooding, the search for employment, and World War II, in the Town of Highland, 1920–1950. Daily life—its joys and sorrows—told through 1,100 photos, postcards, and documents, 150 letters, and four diaries (shared by over 100 contributors), is interwoven with World, National, and Local News; and Boarding House Ads.
Book 3, Farewell to Eldred, the culmination of the Memoirs from Eldred, New York, 1800–1950 Series, includes original maps of boarding house locations, an extensive Appendix (with 1920, 1930, and 1940 Censuses), and a 30 page Index of some 2,550 people, places, and events.
Farewell to Eldred concludes the story of the families who settled on either side of Halfway Brook, in the Town of Highland, New York, first read about in The Mill on Halfway Brook, and continued in Echo Hill and Mountain Grove.
Through the eyes of her Austin and Leavenworth relatives, Louise Smith weaves an account of the daily lives of the descendants of early settlers (Austin, Leavenworth, Eldred, Myers, Bodine, Bradley, Bosch, Clark, Gardner, Hallock, Mills, Boyd, Horton, Parker, Greig, Stege, Sergeant, and Tether) who still lived in Eldred, Highland Lake, Yulan, Barryville, and Minisink Ford—the five hamlets of the Town of Highland (originally Lumberland).
We meet newcomers (Frey, Hensel, Theuer, Pankow, Hainzl, Bertram, Lorphelin, and Mellan), often from New York City, who purchase and run established boarding houses still vital to the area’s economy. The Erie Railway, Barryville Glass Factory (for a short while), and (later) Narrowsburg Lumber also offered employment.
Some 50 first-person reminiscences tell of stills, baseball teams, radio KDKA, the arrival of electricity, boarding house life, destructive flooding, the Depression, the search for employment, and World War II, in the years 1920 to 1950. Daily life—its joys and sorrows—is told through 1,100 photos, postcards, and documents, 150 letters, four diaries (shared by over 100 contributors) interwoven with World, National, and Local News; and Boarding House Ads.
Farewell to Eldred, the culmination of the Memoirs from Eldred, New York, 1800–1950 Series, includes original maps of boarding house locations, an extensive Appendix (with 1920, 1930, and 1940 Censuses), and an Index of some 2,550 people, places, and events.
(There will be a post announcing when Farewell to Eldred is available. Thank you for your patience.)
