World War II Honor Roll

by Louise Smith Posted on October 8, 2012
May 5, 1944 Honor Roll Program, courtesy of Mary A.

I have recently pulled together the diaries and letters from 1942 to 1945, to form the skeleton of the text for the years of WWII. The following is a list of the Service men and women that I gleaned from 4 sources, including the Honor Roll Program shown above.

If anyone has name corrections or additions, please leave them either in the comment section or email me: info (at) halfwaybrook (dot) com. Note: Those listed with the same last name are not necessarily related.

Also if someone listed is your relative and you know the branch they served in, the country they were in, and the years they were in service, it’d be great to have that info, too. Thank you so much!

Anderson, George
Austin, Arthur L., Robert C., Wallace, William
Balaban, Emil, William
Bartle, Franklin
Bodin, Paul
Bosch, Henry
Boyd, William
Bradley, Clarence
Briggs, Mary
Burgess, Adga Jr.
Campbell, Russell, Walter
Cantwell, John C.
Clark, Orville Continue reading →

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1910 Boarding House Owners

by Louise Smith Posted on September 29, 2012

Near Highland Lake
Mort and Jennie Austin
Wilhelm and Mary Nellie Bosch
George W.T. and Martha Mills Myers
James and Margaret Mills Boyd
Elizabeth Gillespie Mills
Augustus Myers
Maria Middaugh
Stephen and Charlotte Myers
Mary Mills Wait

North, Central, and West Eldred
Greigs
Becks
Abel and Maria Myers
Fred and Juliana Straub
James Y. Parker
Sherman and Maria Leavenworth
Erwin and Norah Bradley Avery
Fred and Mary Bradley Myers
Joseph Maier

Washington Lake/Yulan
Atwell Bradley
Abel and Viola Bradley Hazen
Alfred and Sophia Kaese
Herman Barber
Adele Bodine Continue reading →

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Caruso and the Victor Talking Machine

by Louise Smith Posted on September 24, 2012

In 1910 Enrico Caruso, the famous singer, had been making recordings with the Victor Talking-Machine Company for 6 years.—wikipedia.org.

Aunt Aida heard Caruso sing and told me that all the things she had heard about what an objectionable person he was could hardly be credited, because anyone who could sing like that could not be a really bad person.—Melva B.

Victor and Edison Talking Machine Ad from “New Rochelle Pioneer,” July 1910.
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1910 Occupations

by Louise Smith Posted on September 20, 2012
1908 Postcard of Moonlight on the Delaware, Barryville, N.Y. From the collection of Aida Austin, courtesy of Mary A.

One of several items I am working on (besides getting ready for a daughter’s wedding in October—hence the fewer posts) for book 3 are the jobs the Town of Highland residents held in the 1920s.

Echo Hill and Mountain Grove lists occupations from the 1910 Census.

They included: Butcher, operator, hotel owner, clerk, realtor, laborer, boarding house owner, stone mason, livery, general store, blacksmith, school teacher, soft drinks delivery man, merchant, painter, engineer, clerk, fireman, lumberman, farmer, worker at glass factory, bridge worker, artist, bookkeeper, dressmaker, fireman, cabinet maker, machinist on farm, retired, sawyer at mill, ice cream parlor worker, and housekeeper, which, as we all know, involves a number of skills.

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Dr. F.I. Smith

by Louise Smith Posted on September 17, 2012

On the night my great-grandfather William Henry Austin died in April of 1909, my grandmother Jennie Austin caught a terrible cold going to get help from a neighbor. Grandma developed pneumonia and was cared for by Dr. F.I. Smith. Years later, her son Raymond wrote about Dr. Smith.

The doctor who attended Mother was Dr. F.I. Smith of Shohola, Pa., a railroad station about six miles from where we lived at the time—about a
mile east of Eldred, N.Y.

Dr. Smith was the first doctor I can remember and he practiced in the locality for thirty years, more or less. He was one of those dedicated men who earned for the country doctor the high reputation they so genuinely deserve.

There is no doubt that he brought to that rural community, the most
modern medical skill and knowledge of his time and practiced it with all conscientiousness and devotion that a human being is capable of.

He was without mercenary motive, and his leniency with people who were so poor they had difficulty meeting their bills, certainly must have resulted in the doctor being victimized by some of the unprincipled element who never pay for anything if they can avoid it.

Dr. Smith, in my opinion, was unquestionably the most useful and valuable citizen that our community knew in my time there.

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1908 Cochecton, New York

by Louise Smith Posted on September 3, 2012
Photo taken from High Rock, Cochecton, New York, August 4, 1908. Postcard to Anna Leavenworth, Eldred, N.Y., from her friend, Lizzie Kruck. Postcard courtesy of Mary A.
“McKinley, this is I where I attend church this winter. Anna Leavenworth.” Lillie Austin sent a postcard just like this one to her mother. “How do you like the calf? Lillie Austin.” Postcard in the collections of both Mary A. and Katherine T.
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Blueberries

by Louise Smith Posted on August 31, 2012
The Briggs family and friends pick blueberries. Photo courtesy of Mary A.

I really like living in Arizona, but sometimes I miss picking my own fresh fruit: peaches, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, apples, pears, or as in the case of the photo above—blueberries.

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Young Charlotte Leavenworth

by Louise Smith Posted on August 28, 2012
Young Charlotte Leavenworth. “She is a very nice girl indeed.” Photo courtesy of Mary A.

Charlotte Leavenworth, my great aunt, taught several generations of children in Eldred. Charlotte was referred to in a letter from 1908 when she was 19. Charlotte started teaching in 1908 in Fosterdale. She walked 1/4 mile to school and taught 8 grades with 50 students for $540.

E.M.S., Fosterdale, N.Y. to Lillie Austin, Cortland, N.Y.
October 13, 1908
My dear Lillie,
I can’t go anyway for I have whooping cough not very badly, but enough so that I should stay away from people who might
take it.

Charlotte Leavenworth, you may have heard, has the school and is with me. She is a very nice girl indeed. I like her personally very much and hope that she may do well with the school. If she will only be sufficiently “ugly.”

Miss Bush is going to walk out and stay with us tomorrow night and get a little acquainted with Miss L., that she (Miss B.) may not feel so entirely alone when she is among an Institute of York State teachers.

All of Angie’s children have the cough. Also Mary and myself who are old enough to be immune. Also Edna and all the Edlemens, Harold, and an assortment of younger Magans, and the Wormuths. And now the well part of the school has been exposed, including Miss L. who has never had it. Continue reading →

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Sun All

by Louise Smith Posted on August 27, 2012
Postcard with Jennie Austin and her horse Sunall courtesy of Mary A.
Sun All photo courtesy of Mary A.

One of my favorite photos of my grandmother Austin is a postcard from September 2, 1908.

Jennie Austin is standing with her horse, Sun All, who was named for a famous horse at that time.

The postcard was addressed to Miss Mary Kyte. Mary Alice Kyte, a granddaughter of Rev. Felix Kyte, would marry Harry Wormouth. Aida Austin would write about Mary Wormuth in her 1940 diary.

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