Halfway Brook

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 [...]

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You ask the probable amount we would raise per Sabbath. I think we could raise $5 dollars per Sabbath for a season amongst ourselves…
At the place in which we live there is a school house in which we hold our meetings on every Sabbath on Halfway Brook, four miles from the Delaware and Hudson Canal. [...]

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Aida Austin was the sister of my grandfather Charles Mortimer Austin. In a letter she wrote to her brother Lon, she told about her 1880 Christmas in New York City with her Austin cousins—two of whom she mentioned—Ida and Ad (Addie).
Sunday January 23, 1881
Dear Brother Lon,
How did you spend your Christmas and New Years? I [...]

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Book 1, The Mill on Halfway Brook, starts off in the town of Lumberland, the main occupation of the people there relating to lumber.
Before 1880, when Book 2 starts, the work base has shifted to work on the canal, railroad, bluestone quarries and running boarding homes, though there are still some sawmills in the area.
The [...]

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Since the story of my Austin/Leavenworth ancestors, took place in the same location for almost 140 years, I began searching to find out the arrival of each family. The following timeline (give or take a couple years in some instances) seems to be correct.
Note: If you are wondering about your ancestors and they were in [...]

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