Monday, November 20, Lee and Jim went to the movies at Monticello. Thursday was Thanksgiving Day. The Leavenworths feasted on a goose dinner.
President Roosevelt had moved Thanksgiving to one week earlier than normal. The thinking was that it would help bolster retail sales. This was protested and after 1941, Thanksgiving took place on the fourth Thursday of November.
Thursday, the last day of the month, the Leavenworth family was together and celebrated a second Thanksgiving (on the original day) upstairs at Clara’s.
Art Austin in front of the Eldred Post Office 1934 or 1935 when he worked for Emily Stevens, the Postmaster.
Garfield was still helping his father-in-law Frank Sergeant with his wood at the beginning of November. Clinton went hunting.
At the end of the first week, there was a half-inch of ice on the pails in the entry way. Ella put the carrots in the cellar. She paid the October electric bill of $3.74.
Clinton voted for the first time on November 8, election day.
Franklin Roosevelt was elected President by a large majority. Because the Democrats were now in the majority, the Postmaster would change when Roosevelt was inaugurated.
Emily Parker Stevens would be the Eldred Postmaster again.
Friday Ella bought 20 bushels of potatoes from the A&P at 49 cents a bushel. Saturday Ella started crocheting a rug for Jim’s bedroom. Jim, Clinton, and Bill Meyers went to the pictures.
Sunday, November 20, Laura Avery and her children visited with the Leavenworths. Anna went for a walk with Laura.
Tuesday Ella sold five turkeys and four chickens to Claude Angell, the butcher, for $17.48.
Wednesday Anna and Clara went to town and got a bowl from Henry Von Ohlen for 49 cents. Thursday Clinton had to work so the Leavenworths had their Thanksgiving dinner at night.
In September 1939 children in London were evacuated to areas considered free from air attack. 1,500,000 evacuees (827,000 schoolchildren and their teachers; and 535,000 women expecting babies or with children under school age) were moved in three days.
Each child was labeled with name address and school number and carried a gas mask, night clothing, toothbrush, comb, soap and towel, spare underwear, handkerchief and overcoat if available. The children were left at railway stations and issued blank tickets with no destination given. The parents would be informed where they were as soon as possible. [I can’t imagine.]—World War II Day by Day, p. 15.
The moving of the children to the country was the backdrop for one of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia stories, which my dad Art Austin read to us.
The Doellers and Mr. Fischer bought Handsome Eddy from Agnes Schwab.
Today I had the pleasure of meeting the Doeller sisters who live in Arizona. Handsome Eddy Farm, Pond Eddy, the home of Doris and Marion at one time, is one of the houses featured in Farewell to Eldred.
Old photo of Handsome Eddy Farm.An old photo of Handsome Eddy, but newer than the previous photo. Photos courtesy of Marion.
Jane Ann Myers House photo in the Austin Collection.
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.
Posted inBoarding Houses|Comments Off on Jane Ann Myers’ House
Bob and Art Austin during the summer season. Photo courtesy of the Austin Family.
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 →
My great-great-grandfather Ralph Austin.John W. Smith, great-grandfather of Gary.
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.
Envelope addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Mahlon Clark in Halfway Brook, Sullivan County, New York.
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.]
Marriage Certificate of Mahlon and Laura Austin Clark, p. 1.Back of Mahlon and Laura Clark Austin’s wedding certificate.
