On organizing “Echo Hill and Mountain Grove”

by Louise Smith Posted on October 20, 2010


Organizing the boarding houses that will be in “Echo Hill and Mountain Grove.’

Since April, I have been working on Echo Hill and Mountain Grove, book 2 in the series, Memoirs from Eldred, New York, 1800 to 1950.

Echo Hill Farm House, owned by my Leavenworth relatives, and Mountain Grove House, owned by my Austin relatives, were just 2 of the many boarding houses of Highland, New York, located within 5 miles of the Delaware River.

Echo Hill and Mountain Grove covers the years 1880 to 1925 and includes many of the boarding houses/summer homes that were near Yulan, Barryville, Eldred, and Highland Lake (Venoge for a time). (EH&MG ends at 1925 and 400+ pages.)

Boarding houses continued to be a main part of the economy of the area until the 1960s and will be included in Book 3— 1925 to 1950.

The boarding houses changed names and owners through the years and brain boggle set in. The photo above shows my attempt at organizing the years, the locations, the names, and owners of the boarding houses. The different colors are not significant; they were the colors available at the time.

This project was/is powered by tea—the cup sitting on the table in the background highlights my new kitchen completed during the writing of The Mill on Halfway Brook.

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Eldred News, February 17, 1919

by Louise Smith Posted on October 10, 2010

Tri-States Union, Port Jervis Newspaper

Eldred February 1, 19197
It is a raw, cold day, so different from the spring weather of last week.

Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Clark came in town to spend Sunday with her parents last Saturday. They found plenty of mud on their way here in their car.

There was some excitement Tuesday evening over the law suit at Justice Eldred’s. Even the ladies turned out. Barryville was well represented as both parties resided in that place.

Mr. John Love lost one of his horses of paralysis. His mate is all right again and is being worked today.

Mr. A.T. Sergeant is slowly recovering from his severe illness.

Mr. Alvin Hill is getting better slowly. He does not like the “flu.”

Mrs. Web Labarr has been confined to the house for a few days.

Mr. N.B. Myers was hit by a limb on the knee in the woods the other day and has not been able to work since.

Mrs. M. Hoatson was ill a few days last week with Neuralgia. She is staying with Mrs. C.W. Wilson.

The singing class will meet Wednesday evening in Sunshine Hall. All are invited.
Continue reading →

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Robinson, Illinois, Febrary 6, 1918

by Louise Smith Posted on October 6, 2010

This is one of the Lone Scout letters written to my uncle McKinley (Mac) Austin in 1918.

Robinson, Illinois, February 6, 1918
Dear Mac,
Well, you did indeed answer that horrid, horrid letter. I hope you tore it up.

Today in algebra class, Mr. Hedden threatened to throw me out of the window because I never exercised my cerebrum getting three pages of algebra problems. Daddy says I am the leader of Mischief Makers in this town. But I just can’t help it.

The other day, one of the Seniors dared me to put a torpedo or something under the Professor’s chair and I did. I always take a dare, though I shouldn’t.

The result was that he (the professor) caught his trousers on fire and Sidney Beans, the boy who dared me to put it under there, burnt his trousers trying to save the professor.

Sidney ruined his trousers and also played part of hero so therefore, though he has about a dozen suits, a different one every day almost, the high school gave him money enough for a good pair of trouser, he bought a real cheap pair, black and white checked, and kept the rest of the money.
Continue reading →

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Election 1908

by Louise Smith Posted on October 2, 2010


These postcards were sent to my Austin grandparents in 1908.

William Howard Taft, Secretary of War and close friend of President Theodore Roosevelt was the Republican Party candidate for President of the United States in 1908.

The Democratic nominee was William Jennings Bryan. Bryan had been defeated in 1896 and 1900 by Republican William McKinley, but he was very popular with some in the Democratic Party.

“The full dinner pail for mine” most likely refers to the 1900 U.S. presidential slogan of William McKinley: Four more years of the full dinner pail .

William H. Taft was elected President.

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Porterville, California, January 6, 1918

by Louise Smith Posted on September 17, 2010

My dad’s oldest brother, Mortimer McKinley Austin (Mac) fought in WWI. Sometime around January 1918, Raymond Austin sent his brother Mac’s Chattanooga, Tennessee, address to the Lone Scout magazine asking for people to write Mac. Many girls wrote from all sections of the country wrote Mac. The following is one of those letters and was written from Porterville, California.

Mr. Mortimer Austin
Company F, 11th U.S Infantry
Military Branch, Chattanooga, Tennessee

My dear friend Mortimer!
As I am unknown to you, I have made up my mind to write you a few lines thinking perhaps you would enjoy a letter from a “Little California girl.” I have a kid brother; he was reading in a paper and your name was in the paper and I thought that I would write you as he asked me to. In other words, he dared me to. So here goes for some foolish stuff.

How long have you been training and how do you like it? Suppose you boys get awfully lonesome. A bunch of Porterville and Visalia boys were home at Christmas and New Year. We sure had some time. We had dances every eve; and of course we girls had all of the dancing we wanted in two weeks time.

In Visalia, they give the “Yama-Yama” dance. My chum and I dress in Yama Yama costumes (pink). She and I did the Yama first. We sure had some time.

My I hardly realize that I am in California and you in Tennessee. And have you ever been out here? If so, how do you like?

I finished my schooling in 1916. Suppose you finished before enlisting? And do they have good schools in Tennessee, and what kind of climate. I sure would like to go to some of those eastern states.
Continue reading →

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Laura Austin Clark’s Keepsakes

by Louise Smith Posted on September 15, 2010

Laura Austin Clark was the sister of my great-grandfather Henry Austin. My cousin Kathy T. is also a descendant of Henry Austin, and recently she shared some letters and other Austin memorabilia that her grandmother Lillie had saved.

Laura Austin Clark was born in 1830 and died in 1901. I found these pages included in a ledger like book of Laura’s that had mostly poems. They are hair curls from friends.
Continue reading →

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Echo Hill and Mountain Grove Update

by Louise Smith Posted on September 14, 2010

Echo Hill and Mountain Grove will be the second book in the series, Memoirs from Eldred, New York, 1800 to 1950.

This second book will tell the story of the many boarding houses in the Town of Highland, starting in 1880. Echo Hill Farm House belonged to my Leavenworth great-grandparents. Mountain Grove House belonged first to my Austin great-grandparents and then my Austin grandparents.

Some of the other families who are part of the story include: Bradley (Avery, Hazen, Horton), Parker, Schoonover (Parker, Britt and Waidler), Stevens, Mills, Boyd, Asendorf, and 4 or 5 Myers/Meyers families.

I’ll write more about the book as it gets closer to being printed (probably 4 to 6 months away).

I have lots of information, photos and postcards from a number of sources that is really appreciated and very helpful in writing the story.

Recently I received a box of Austin letters/information from my newly found Austin cousin, Kathy T. In my next post, I will include some pages from the memory book of Laura Austin Clark that is quite fascinating.

My mother saved a wealth of family information, including letters that girls from all over the U.S. wrote to my Uncle McKinley in World War I. I will post some of those letters as I have time.

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Timber Rafting the Delaware River in 1872

by Louise Smith Posted on August 30, 2010

The Delaware River Gap was a large break in the Appalachian Mountains. It was one of the very scenic places viewed by timber rafters as they floated their rafts to market on the Delaware River. Postcard of Aida Austin.

The Delaware River near Narrowsburg, New York, had originally been so narrow and with such a sharp bend, that there was barely enough room for a raft to pass through its sharp, rocky shoreline. By 1872, the Narrowsburg passage had been made wider and deeper and other places along the Delaware River had been made easier to navigate in the event of a low water freshet.

Even with improvements, timber rafting was still quite challenging in 1872. That didn’t stop men who were sixty and as old as eighty from helping raft lumber to market when the Spring freshet came.

Both single and double rafts were guided down the Delaware River to Trenton, New Jersey, where they were towed to markets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A single raft of sawed lumber contained about 75,000 board feet and required two or three men to steer it. Continue reading →

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