SEARCHING FOR OUR ROOTS --Carol Smythe, Neversink Historian
The nuggets of history often begin with thoughts and conversation. Recently a George Elias question sent my thoughts drifting back to the earlier days. George asked “Is there anyone who collects old scythes and sickles? Where did they come from?” I’m sure that Eric Sloane speaks of hand forged steel for early scythes and even surer that a Sears Roebuck catalog from the 1910-20 era offers for sale mass produced implements for hand cutting hay and grass. These items, rusted but sound, can still be found in woods, meadows and even in stone walls. It was John Perrella who first spoke to me of finding broken pieces of early iron farm equipment used in building stone walls. Our earlier generations were very thrifty. They rarely threw something away if they could use it for any purpose. Of course some items were without use and because disposal of unwanted items was so difficult, a nearby gully might well be used as a receptacle for farm throw-a ways. If the item was too big it was sometimes just discarded and left to be disguised as small trees and briars grew up around it. Perfect example is a piece of highway equipment that can still be seen if one wanders to the left entering the Grahamsville Fairgrounds and goes back far enough past the tennis courts. My husband speaks of a canoe trip on the Allagash River as a teen where he saw the reused remains of a steam locomotive just driven into the woods and left there when the logging operation using the locomotive was over.
Jack Denman tells of an earlier time when his father sold cars. An old car was simply replaced by a new car. Guess where the old car went when it was no longer drivable.?!
George wasn’t content to wonder just about old scythes and sickles. We spoke of migration paths and why people would migrate here for one generation on hillside, hardscrabble farms. He had read how when the Hudson River froze over, people would use that time to cross and come to the western side of the river. We forget that there were no bridges just waiting for migrants to cross over the Hudson.
There have been several interesting events held at Town Hall recently. On July 1st, approximately sixty-five people took part in a reception for those interviewed for the CD “Voices from the Valleys”. The eleven interviewed were: Jack and Bruce Denman, Raymond Muthig, Raymond Hornbeck, Clara Knight Smith, Margaret Smith Dolan, Marie Gorton Dean, Leo Bertholf, Carl Carlsen, Amy Garber and Gene Fuller. Certificates of Appreciation were given out, refreshments were served and the new CD was played so that attendees could listen to it.
The other event took place on July 8th. High school students and adults participating in a month long project called “Mountain to Tap Trek” visited the historical exhibits about the reservoirs and had an opportunity to talk with Margaret Dolan about her memories of living in and experiencing the move from the Rondout Valley. I welcomed the group on behalf of the Town of Neversink and the Time and the Valleys Museum. The twelve students and the adults accompanying them had picked us as their first stop in the project. They were just to begin three weeks hiking and boating their way from the High Peaks region of the Catskills to New York City to spotlight the connection because of the watershed between the mountains and the city.
We hear from the volunteers of the Old Stone House in Hasbrouck that a broken water pump seriously depleted their funds. This wonderful stone house was built over 200 years ago. Susan Welch reports that volunteers will be holding a bake sale on Election Day. She says “This year it is really important for us to do well and replace some of the money we spent on the pump. If we don’t we might have to close the house for the winter. We could use everyone’s help either as bakers or buyers.”
Richard Lodge of central Massachusetts is looking for information on Reuben Cross. He is particularly interested in the period from Rube’s birth in 1896 to the time he met Theodore Gordon, which was around 1915. Lodge has interviewed Reub’s niece, Versa Amback, in Roscoe. He is writing a book about this famous Catskill fly tier.
Jack Denman just referred me to a deed drawn from Nellie Childs Smith to Riley Curry and Laura M. Curry in 1923. The property being transferred is along the present Rt 42 outside of Grahamsville heading toward Liberty. The language of the deed is unusual in that it refers to the roadway as the “N & D plank road”. The N & D stands for Napanoch & Denning, which was officially put into use April 13, 1865! I’m wondering when that road was first paved.
