Aunt Sal

by Louise Smith Posted on April 22, 2010

Sherman S. Leavenworth talks about Aunt Sal in his Civil War Letters home. Whether she is an aunt, I do not know. She had a number of daughters and there is a Sarah (nickname is Sally) in the 1850 Lumberland and 1860 Highland Census.

In 1850, Abraham and Sarah Ingersol had four daughters. One daughter had died in 1849. Another daughter died in 1854.

In 1860, Abraham and Sarah Ingersol have seven daughters and a son. In The Mill on Halfway Brook, I had written up the names as 2 sons, but I have recent information that says there was only one son.

For history trivia folks, I will include some more information about the possible Aunt Sal forwarded to me by my cousin Cynthia.

In 1870, the Ingersol family was in LaSalle, Illinois. One daughter, a son, and possibly a nephew lived with Abraham and Sarah.

In 1880 Abraham was a widower and lived with his daughter Emma’s family in Pleasant Ridge, Livingston, Illinois. Sarah had died in 1873.

Sarah (Sally Ann) Ingersol’s maiden name was Swartout. She was the daughter of Geradus Swartout and Matilda Whitehead.

Abraham Ingersoll was the son of Alpheus Ingersol and Sibel Adams.

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Crazy Quilt from Chapter 5

by Louise Smith Posted on April 15, 2010

Chapter 5 is about my Austin family’s arrival in what is now Eldred, New York, and I included a black and white scan of an Austin crazy quilt coverlet that I have always loved and admired. I remember as a child admiring all the variety of stitches, the rose, the rose branch, the wheat with the golden threads, and the exquisite glove. Here are two colored images of sections of the small crazy quilt which is framed and hangs above my computer desk.

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1861–1865 Town of Highland Enlistments

by Louise Smith Posted on April 13, 2010

Chapter 8, Letters from a Soldier, lists some of the men of the Town of Highland, New York, that fought in the Civil War. A number of the men are mentioned in Sherman S. Leavenworth’s letters home.

56th Regiment
July 16, 1861
George Eldred, 25, enlisted at Newburgh, to serve three years; mustered in as a sergeant, Co. B; discharged for disability, November 2, 1863, at Beaufort, S.C., 56th Regiment Infantry.

Ira Austin, 20, enlisted, at Newburgh to serve three years; mustered in as private, Co. B, August 17, 1861; re-enlisted as a veteran, February 29, 1864; mustered out with company, October 17, 1865, at Charleston, S.C., 56th Regiment Infantry.

August 3, 1861
Sherman Leavenworth, 18, enlisted at Newburgh, to serve three years; mustered in as private, Co. B, August 17, 1861; re-enlisted as a veteran, February 29, 1864; promoted to corporal, July 13, 1864; mustered out with company, October 17, 1865 at Charleston, S.C., 56th Regiment Infantry.

March 30, 1864
Hezekiah Leavenworth, 18, enlisted at Deerpark, to serve three years; mustered in as private, Co. B, March 30, 1864; died of chronic diarrhea, April 25, 1865, at Sparrowbush, N.Y., 56th Regiment Infantry.
Continue reading →

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The Goose Lot and Stone Walls from Chapter 8

by Louise Smith Posted on April 8, 2010

In one of the letters John Leavenworth wrote to his brother Sherman on the Civil War battlefield, he mentioned the stone walls on their property. Here are some photos of the walls and the goose lot taken in 2009 by my cousin Cynthia.

The goose lot was a large area surrounded by stone walls with a space that was left for a gate. The geese had one wing clipped so they couldn’t fly over the stone walls. The Leavenworths raised geese for their meat and eggs. Their feathers were used for stuffing pillows and comforters.

The walls were probably built in the Civil War era. Atwell Leavenworth was working on stone walls before he went to war and probably the goose lot was
part of that too.

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Chapter 7: Round Pond

by Louise Smith Posted on April 6, 2010

Southeast of Hagan Pond, where the Martin David Myers family settled, was Round Pond, a lake fed entirely by underground springs, and 60 to 80 feet deep at the center.

Today Round Pond is called Lake DeVenoge. The DeVenoge family from France was listed in the 1855 census. And Aunt Aida Austin wrote about going to see Dr. Leon DeVenoge in her 1881 diary.

The DeVenoge Family apparently had plans for a vineyard in the area, but the climate did not cooperate. Dr. Leon, encouraged people that the area would be helpful for those with tuberculosis, and ended up owning quite a bit of property.

Sometime after 1916, a golf course was created on what had been Dr. DeVenoge’s land. That golf course would play a part in World War II.
Photos courtesy of my cousin Cynthia.

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Chapter 7: Near Hagan Pond

by Louise Smith Posted on April 5, 2010

The Martin D. Myers family settled east of the Austin property, underneath Hagan Pond’s thumb, but on the south side of Hagan Pond Road, close to Collins Road.


Map showing Hagan Pond (Highland Lake) and Round Pond (Lake DeVenoge). Halfway Brook Village (Eldred) was to the west. Map drawn by Gary Smith.

Chapter 7 in The Mill on Halfway Brook covers the years 1851 to 1860 and the arrival of my Myers and Van Pelt relatives from New York City who settled near Hagan Pond. The following photos of Hagan Pond or Highland Lake as it is called today) are courtesy of my cousin Cynthia.

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1845: Mc Alisters All-Healing Ointment Ad

by Louise Smith Posted on April 3, 2010

The oldest letter in the family collection was from my great-grandmother Mary Ann Eldred in 1845. It is excerpted below.

Included in the old letters was an 1845 newspaper clipping about a mortgage sale for land of Abraham Mulford Eldred that was sent to James Eldred from Orange County, NY. On the back of the newspaper clipping was an ad for Mc Alisters All-Healing Salve that Mary Ann talked about in her letter. Mary Ann was staying at her sister’s home in Middletown, Orange County, NY.

Middletown, June 19, 1845
Mr. James Eldred, Lumberland
Dear Parents,

Yours, dated June 13, came to hand June 15. I perused its contents with pleasure and I was happy indeed to hear from you both. I attend school every day regular when I am well.

I have lost eight days on account of my being sick with the hives. I caught a bad cold and then was sick to my stomach. I purchased me a box of McAlister All-Healing Salve and think it has helped me.

I am quite well at present and hope these few imperfect lines will find you enjoying the same blessings…

At the top of the McAllister Ad was this Milliner Ad.

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Chapter 6: 1845, 1848 Letters

by Louise Smith Posted on April 2, 2010

In my mother’s wonderful eclectic collection of family treasures were letters from 1845 and 1848. The letters were folded into an envelope, and then addressed. The contents of the letters are typed out in Chapter 6 in The Mill on Halfway Brook.

The last letter in this post was written in 1845 to James and Hannah Eldred, from their daughter Mary Ann Eldred, my great-grandmother. You can see the address sideways on the left. Perhaps of interest is that James Eldred was the Postmaster of Lumberland from 1831 to 1851. The post office was one room of James and Hannah Eldred’s home.

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The Bunkhouse from Chapter Five

by Louise Smith Posted on March 30, 2010

Sherman B., or Buckley, as Sherman Buckley Leavenworth was called, was one of those lumberjacks. Buckley’s wife Charlotte, according to the family story, was the cook for the lumberjacks who lived in the bunkhouse.


Possibly the old bunkhouse on the right. Old photo courtesy of my cousin Linda.

The early bunkhouses for lumbermen were small with dirt floors. Their later living quarters were usually in a larger building.

The ground floor contained a room for the cook (who could be a woman, as in the case of my great-great-grandmother Charlotte Ingram Leavenworth), and a dining room. Meals were served on long board tables, and the crew were only allowed in the room at meal time. A “men’s room” was at the end of the room where the crew could relax, read, grind their axes, or tell stories in the evening.

A ladder went to the attic where there were tiers of bunks for sleeping. A one story log building was used as a barn for the horses and a storehouse for hay and oats.

In the above old photo of the Leavenworth home, the larger building on the right (which is no longer there) and the small one story building in front, seem to match the description of the loggers’ living quarters mentioned in this post.

When it was in use, the first floor of the larger building (on the right) was the family’s summer kitchen and the upstairs was the servant quarters.

Source: Fox, William Freeman, “A History of the Lumber Industry in the State of New York”, published in the Sixth Annual Report of the New York Forest, Fish, and Game Commission, 1901.

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Chapter 5: The Mill on Blind Pond Brook

by Louise Smith Posted on March 30, 2010

Between Beaver Brook Mills and Halfway Brook Village, was Blind Pond, which had a brook of the same name. A mile or so southeast of Blind Pond was a sawmill powered by Blind Pond Brook.


Blind Pond Brook. Photo courtesy of my cousin Cynthia.


Stonewalls where the old mill used to stand. Photos courtesy of Cynthia.


The Posts that at one time were vertical. Photo courtesy of my cousin Cynthia.

    A sluice was created utilizing the large vertical posts placed
    vertically in the brook. Horizonal boards would be raised or
    lowered against the posts. In this way the flow of water to the
    waterwheel could be regulated.

Visible from the sawmill was a bunkhouse built by a lumber company
(perhaps the nearby St. John-Dodge operation), as living quarters for
the lumberjacks that worked for them.


View from Blind Pond Brook near where the old sawmill was. The
bunkhouse most likely was to the left of the house. Photo courtesy
of my cousin Cynthia.

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