Others in 1915

by Louise Smith Posted on December 20, 2012
Sarah Clark, daughter of James and Cora Clark. Photo courtesy Kathy T.

Joseph Meyer, a glass cutter, and his wife Florence Van Eastenbridge had a son Raymond. Florence was the daughter of Mary van Eastenbridge Bosch and Mary’s first husband.

Alexander and Ida Wait had two children. His mother Mary Wait lived with them. Alexander, a carpenter, and his cousin Floyd Boyd would soon have a garage in Eldred called Wait & Boyds.

In 1915 Maggie Dunlap, a widow, and her sons: Charles, George, and Harold, lived in the area. Harold would one day have Dunlaps Restaurant on the southeast corner of Eldred.

Webster and Ida LaBarr farmed. Elbert Clark, an Austin cousin, was a stone mason. Harry Wormuth, a sawyer, was married to Mary Kyte, a granddaughter of Felix Kyte.

Fred and Margery Schwab who had had a boarding house in Barryville, were listed as farming.

Charles and Lottie Bradley Colville and their 3 children lived in Barryville. Charles farmed. Their daughter Ruth would soon write letters to her friend McKinley Austin. Ruth had a sister Esther and a brother Leslie. Continue reading →

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Mountain Grove House 1915

by Louise Smith Posted on December 17, 2012
Mountain Grove House, 1915. Mort and Jennie Austin and their family moved here after their Homestead Cottage Boarding House burned down.

Homestead Cottage Burns Down
The Homestead Cottage on Collins Road that Mort and Jennie Austin ran, burned down in 1915 or 1916.

Mort and Jenny then purchased Mountain Grove House, which seems to be the Austin house on Proctor Road which was built around 1894.

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Eldred News, March and August 1915

by Louise Smith Posted on December 16, 2012

Abel A. Hazen has purchased a new automobile of the Studebaker type. Mr. Hazen is learning to operate his machine and will use it in carrying his summer guests from and to Shohola station. Mr. Hazen’s boarding house is finely located on Washington Lake and is an ideal retreat for many city people.

Miss Margaret Metzger, daughter of Supervisor Metzger, is the newly appointed Postmaster of this place…

We are informed that A.A. Bradley contemplates making additions to his dwelling by way of enlarging it and adding a bath and a toilet.

Messrs. Colville and Weber acting as appraisers and Supervisor Metzger as administrator, have made a complete inventory of the personal effects of the late Mrs. Bodine. We understand that a public sale of the above goods will take place some time the coming month.

We are glad to say that Mrs. Lawrence Crandall is quite well again.

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Tether intend leaving their farm at Washington Lake and will make their future home in Hawley, Pa. They have worked hard all their lives and have earned a needed respite from the pressing activities of life. Their son Walter Tether of Barryville will quit his present occupation at that place and settle down on the old homestead to till the soil. May peace and prosperity attend them one and all in their new relations in life.
—Republican Watchman, March 24, 1915

Mock Wedding
Brooklynites were among the guests to take first honors at the masquerade which was held this week at Metzger’s Hall. The guests of the Park Hotel at Washington Lake went in body and presented a mock wedding…

Boarding Houses in the area
Lake House, Park Hotel, Washington Lake House, Bradley House, Echo Hill Farm.—Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Aug. 15, 1915

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Eldred News, February 23, 1915

by Louise Smith Posted on December 11, 2012
Abel Sprague Myers. “Sunday was A.S. Myers’ 80th birthday.” Photo courtesy of Chuck M., a grandson of Abel.

Mr. and Mrs. J.R. [Jackson] Myers spent Wednesday in Port Jervis.

Sunday was A.S. [Abel] Myers’ 80th birthday. He had two pretty birthday cakes and many expressions of good will from his many friends.

Many were remembered with cards from Mr. and Mrs. Clinton Rohman. They were married in Port Jervis last Wednesday.

Dick Schroder is making arrangements to have his barn rebuilt as he is anxious to get his stock home once more.

Mrs. Alvin Hill and daughter made quite a long visit with her mother, Mrs. Edgar Sergeant.

The sleighing is fine now. So many are logging again.

Louis Basque attended store while J.R. [Jackson] Myers was in Port Jervis and his many friends were glad to see him in his old place.

The Scouts met in Sunshine Hall Saturday night after their business meeting and exercises. Mrs. Archie Myers [Minnie Sergeant] served cocoa and cake to them.

Wilbur Foster started Saturday for Connecticut to work in the powder factory. Leo Dailey accompanied him. Mr. Foster’s family remains here for a while.
—Republican Watchman.

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Indian Motorcycle Company

by Louise Smith Posted on December 9, 2012
Ed Bosch on his motorbike.

In the summer of 1911, the race team for the Indian Motorcycle Manufacturing Company (originally called the Hendee Manufacturing Company) took the first three places in the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy.

Over in Highland Lake, Ed Bosch drove his very own Indian Motorcycle that had been built around 1911. The Hendee Company (George Hendee and Carl Hedstrom) had produced the first American motorcycle in 1901.
—indianmotorcycle.com.

More to the story: Ed put his motorcycle in storage when he entered the army in WW I. The motorcycle was stolen at some point before he came home.

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R.M.S. Lusitania

by Louise Smith Posted on December 5, 2012
Drawing created for the New York Herald and the London Sphere, shows the “R.M.S. Lusitania” as a second torpedo hits behind a gaping hole in the hull. Photo: Library of Congress: LC-USZC4-13285.

On May 7, 1915, the R.M.S. Lusitania, an ocean liner owned by the Cunard Line, was torpedoed by a German U-boat, 8 miles off Kinsale, Ireland. The Lusitania sank in 18 minutes, and 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard were killed; 128 were Americans.

The Lusitania was carrying ammunition for the Allies to use against the Germans. The U.S. threatened to sever diplomatic relations, and the Germans re-imposed restrictions on U-boat activity.—wikipedia.

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9 Cousins

by Louise Smith Posted on December 5, 2012
Charlee Hirsch as a young girl.
Bob, Raymond, and Bill Austin.
Anna, Jim, and Clara Leavenworth. Photo courtesy of Cynthia.
Clinton (Goldie) Leavenworth. Photo courtesy of Cynthia.
Art Austin with his St. Bernard dog, King.

C. Raymond Austin 1900–1983
William S. Austin 1903–1979
Clara Leavenworth 1907–1967
Clinton Leavenworth 1909–1983
Arthur L. Austin 1913–1991
Anna Leavenworth 1913–1974
Robert C. Austin 1915–2008
James Leavenworth 1922–2003
Charlotte Hirsch Schroedel
1924–November 27, 2012

I was saddened to hear that Charlee Hirsch Schroedel, who once lived in Echo Hill Farm House, had passed away. Charlee was the last of the 9 Austin/Leavenworth first-cousins around whom the Memoirs from Eldred, New York Series has been written.

My grandparents Charles Mortimer Austin and Jennie Leavenworth had 4 sons that lived into adulthood. Raymond married Gladys, a descendant of Abel Myers (and his first wife) who had long lived in the area. Art (my dad) married Mary Briggs whose family moved to Barryville in 1934.

Jennie Austin’s brother Garfield married Phebe Ella Sergeant (the Sergeant family had been in the area a very long time). Garfield and Ella had 4 children. Clinton, better known as Goldie, married Stella Clark whose family were long time residents; Anna married Bill Meyers (who also had relatives in the area for some time), Clara married Lee Hansen (a boarder from Brooklyn), and Jim married Gisele who was born in France.

Jennie’s sister Christina and her husband Anthony Hirsch were the parents of Charlee who married a boarder at Echo Hill Farm House, just as her mother had done.

I did not realize it at first, but including the history of the Sergeant, Clark, Meyers/Meyer, (Abel) Myers families in my story along with my ancestors/relatives—Austin, Leavenworth, Eldred, Hickok, and Myers (Martin and Jane Ann Van Pelt Webb), made it possible to tell the story of not only my ancestors, but that of many others who lived in the 5 villages of the Town of Highland.

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