Wordless Wednesday: WIllard Chapel

 

Wordless Wednesday: Auburn's New Emergency Center

 

Dry Creek

 

Dry Creek. Sounds like a pretty safe place to be. Well, not always— spring rains come down, snow melts off and the creek becomes anything, but dry.

Dry Creek is the name of the stream that meanders through Fillmore Glen State Park in Moravia. The stream makes many of the beautiful spots that draw people to the park. Follow the gorge trail through the park and you are walking beside Dry Creek most of the way. Large pieces of shale line the bottom of the creek in spots. Waterfalls, both small and medium-size are abundant along the trails when the water flows plentifully. Wooden bridges meander back and forth across the stream. Hiking to the far point of the trail or driving to a parking lot nearby, you can see the dam that was created to hold the water back and form a pond that has beavers living there. You can even walk across the top of the dam to the head of the hiking trails from the end that comes down to the pond from the parking area. Yes, a lot of Dry Creek is anything, but dry.

Nearer the front of the park, a driveway dips down and fords the creek on the way to a parking lot for picnickers and hikers. Kids enjoy riding their bikes down through the water. As a kid, I nicknamed it “the bike car wash.” There is a footbridge beside it if you don’t want to get your shoes wet, but still want to cross from one side to the other. Just beyond this, the creek separates campsites from camping cabins. A bridge in the camping area carries cars and RVs to the farther side with a rumble that sounds like thunder. A great thrill to listen to especially for young children.

Upon the hill behind the campground is Dry Creek cemetery. It can most easily be reached along the trail that leads from the campground to the back playground at the nearby elementary school. This cemetery is no longer in use. It was the first burial ground for the village of Moravia. Many of the earliest settlers are buried there along with their families. There are some sad rows of stones where whole families of children are buried, some with death dates within days or weeks of each other. Obviously, with dates like this, some illness swept through this family and perhaps the village as well. Although many recovered, many apparently didn’t.

Why was the cemetery abandoned? A severe storm in August of 1863 caused flooding across the state. Dry Creek was certainly no exception and flooded. It flooded so bad that it took about an acre of soil at a depth of twenty feet that was swept away from the cemetery! Along with this dirt, sixteen coffins were swept away into the torrent of water. As they were tossed about, many of the coffins struck against branches or each other causing them to open and expose the body within; which was then swept up into the water as well. Amongst the corpses was that of Lieutenant Stoyell, a prominent citizen that was recently deceased. About half of the coffins and corpses were recovered by the next day.

After having a number of smaller floods before this massive one, the citizens of Moravia were tired of dealing with this problem. Samuel Ely Day donated land to the north of the village, high on the hill, for a new cemetery. And thus Indian Mound Cemetery was created where local citizens are buried to this day. Ironically, the first burial in the cemetery was that of Mr. Day, himself.

Quakers in New York

Nine Partners Meeting House

Who were the Quakers? The Quakers is officially the Religious Society of Friends, but were nicknamed Quakers because they said to “Quake insight of the Lord”. It is a Protestant denomination. There is, like all churches, a long list of beliefs if you really dig into it. Some of the basics are their belief in peace— they were the original Conscientious Objectors— and simplicity. In the early days, the women often wore more somber colors in their dress such as grey and deep plums and such. You would not see a Quaker woman with a lot of lace about her clothing or much jewelry either. In modern times they have gotten away from different styles of dress, but will often opt for simpler options and less jewelry about them. Another difference in the early days was their way of speaking. Grammar was different then and “you” was considered formal and spoken to your superiors. “Thee” and “Thou” were used with your equals. As they considered everybody equal, they used thee and thou in speech. Over time our speech changed, and this was dropped from their vocabulary as it was from everybody’s until now it is a quaint idea that nobody follows.

Where are there any today?
Your backyard! Even if you don’t live in this state, there are likely some around you, and you don’t realize it. They really aren’t any different from any other religion. Yes, Quakers believe in peace and simplicity, but so do a lot of other people. They aren’t a religion that tries to set themselves apart from others and keep themselves separate.

Here are the places that I’ve discovered relatives in New York State:

Long Island. This was probably the first settlement of Quakers in New York. They were there starting about the late 1600s or into the early 1700s. Their main meeting house and most of their population centered around the present-day city of Hempstead. From there, some of them went to New York City for work and moved into the city.

From Long Island, many Quakers migrated over to the Hudson River and north. Other large settlements were in Dutchess County and what is now Putnam County. Do you happen to remember the property dispute between Connecticut and New York late in the 17th century? Probably not, as I know in my classes, it was quickly glossed over if it was even mentioned. It produced a piece of land not quite 2 miles wide running the length of the Connecticut border, about 60 miles, called the Oblong. The Oblong Meeting House has a bit of history. The land was donated for its building, much like other denominations’ churches. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this was one of the most thriving Quaker communities in the country. During the Revolutionary War, the pacifist Quakers were called on for help. Their meeting house was used for sick and wounded soldiers of General Washington’s Army.

There were other meetings around the area, Nine Partners and Crum Elbow amongst them.

Some ancestors came from New England and settled north of Albany in the White Creek area of Washington County. Seth Chase, whom I wrote about not long ago, was a Quaker owning a tavern in that community. That family later migrated farther north to Peru in Clinton County. where another Quaker Community was.

From Dutchess County, some went to central New York and established meetings at Scipio and Union Springs in southern Cayuga County. That is as far west as I know my Quaker families to have gone. Some moved farther west, but they are not of my direct line. For many of them, subsequent generations left the religion and joined other Protestant denominations. My great-grandmother, Maria Titus was born a Quaker, but as far as I know she didn’t follow the religion as an adult and neither did her offspring.

One thing that stands out for me is that Maria Titus did not follow the Quaker faith, at least not too strictly. In her adulthood was an event that occurred upon her death. First, she and her husband, John Ward are buried near his family at Evergreen in Scipioville. Not a Quaker burial ground. Second, when the heirs split up some of her belongings, they put all kinds of teacups on a table and allowed each grandchild to choose one. The first choice went to the youngest grandchild who was 8 at the time. He told me that he was attracted to the gaudiest cup on the table and chose that one— a white cup with bright gold trim all over it in an abstract design!

Lodema Tobias Titus, my last direct Quaker

Wordless Wednesday: A Winter Wonderland from the 70's

Wordless Wednesday: Second Christmas

 

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas Lights

 

Wordless Wednesday: Autumn Leaves

 

Titus House

The Titus House

Where did people stay when they traveled in the early United States? People were traveling by land in stagecoaches and wagons as well as on foot and horseback. Some people were migrating and others were moving about on business. Many could not reach their destination in a day. Some would camp out along the route, but this was very uncomfortable, especially in wet or cold weather. Thus, inns sprung up along the trails and routes that crisscrossed through the wilderness to settlements, towns and cities. Many were spaced the distance apart of a days travel. Others were placed near where travelers would stop such as the edges of cities, near ferries or even just before a toll bridge.

One such inn was known as the Titus House. It was on the Genesee Trail going across New York State. Originally situated fairly near the ferry on that road, it was an ideal place to wait. The ferry took travelers across Cayuga Lake at the north-end, just short of the swampy area that leads into the Montezuma Marshes. Later the long bridge was built near this ferry as a replacement. It was at one time the longest bridge in New York State. How near to the bridge was the Inn? A traveler looking out the front windows of the could gaze out over Cayuga Lake and slightly to the north, the bridge. It would take less than one minute to reach the east-end of the bridge from the front door of the Inn.

It had various owners over the years, however the most well known was David Sands Titus. Born in Dutchess County of the Quaker family of Gilbert and Jane (Hoag) Titus, he migrated westward in 1829. His somewhat unusual name comes from a son of a Presbyterian minister. The original David Sands joined the Quakers at Nine Partners meeting in Dutchess County and was instrumental in the founding of Cornwall monthly meeting in Westchester County. Many Quaker boys were given the compound name of “David Sands” in his honor. It was not unusual for a Quaker to settle in Cayuga County. A meeting, their name for a church, was just south of Cayuga in the village of Union Springs. In fact, they later moved the Oakwood Seminary (a Quaker boarding school) from Dutchess County to Union Springs.

David Sands was a farmer originally, but had also been a butcher while living in Beekman in Dutchess County. Here he opened the inn, but was often absent from there.He also had another job collecting tolls on the Erie Canal at nearby Montezuma. While gone from the tavern, his wife, the former, Julia Coapman, and son, Hiram would run it. He also held office in a training regiment for the district for about three years.

A story that has been told about the determination of Julia is the following: David Sands was going to Albany on business and wife, Julia, wanted to go with him. Now, David Sands Titus was a strong-willed man and didn’t hesitate to tell her “no.” He left without her, went to Weedsport and caught a Canal boat to Albany. Checking into the hotel at Albany, he opened his hotel room door to find sitting there, waiting for him, none other than Julia who had arrived earlier by train!

Hiram who helped in his father’s tavern, became a farmer as an adult. He owned a great deal of acreage in the town of Aurelius. He raised prize-winning cattle and horses, His home, a house on the Genesee Road with massive columns across the front, still stands today,

An older brother, Daniel Titus, was postmaster in Aurelius, from 1835-1841. Primarily a farmer, he owned land in Aurelius. He was killed in a rather grizzly railroad accident when tried to race his horse and buggy across the tracks late at night as a train approached. The train was much closer than he apparently realized. The Cayuga Chief newspaper printed the story of his demise in detail and blamed alcohol for it. They later retracted some of the blame which leads me to believe that a weary Daniel was trying to reach home and urged his horse on thinking he had more time than he did. Daniel was 53 when he died, leaving his wife Maria (Lockwood) Titus to care for their 9 children ranging in age from Samuel, 24, down to Marion, three. Samuel was my great-great grandfather.

Hiram Titus' Home

Who Is Copper John?

Many people who live in, work in, or frequently visit Auburn don’t know Copper John. Yet there he stands looking over the city, Where is he? He is high above the city at the entrance to the prison, When going down State Street, pause near the entrance and look up and you will see him, a Revolutionary Soldier standing guard.

In fact, that is one of the things about Copper John. Anybody in Auburn can see his face except for one large group— prisoners within the walls of Auburn Correctional Facility. They cannot see his face, as he is gazing towards the outside and there is only a small open space between the administrative building and the outside wall.

He has stood guard at the top of the administrative building since 1821, although the original statue was wooden. It was in 1848 that a new soldier exactly like the original was created in the prison’s metal shop out of copper. This is where his nickname comes from and what he has been called ever since. Copper John is about 8’ 8 1/2” tall and with his rifle stands over 11’ in the air.

Copper John was refurbished in 2004. The corrections department decided to smooth out his physique. Let’s just leave it at he is now less endowed and more of a “Ken doll.”

The prison itself was built in 1817. This would be New York State’s second prison after Newgate in New York City. Massive blue and gray limestone walls face State Street, Wall Street, and Washington Street. The fourth side goes along the Owasco River and a little tiny street called Tehan Avenue.
The building of the prison brought about rock quarries and a water system in and around the growing city of Auburn.

The prison itself is a maximum-security prison and the original of “The Auburn System” of running prisons. Based on hard labor and silence at all times. Eventually, overcrowding in prisons made the silence unenforceable and things deteriorated into lax and corrupt routines by the guards. This system ended implementation in 1900. The stereotypical uniform of black and white stripes was developed under this system. Products produced in the shops were sold on the outside to help support the prison. Workshops of various kinds existed over the years. Perhaps the most well-known is one that continues to this day— producing license plates. At one time women were housed there as well in a separate building on the prison grounds.

Executions were done at Auburn prison. Do you know who “Old Sparky” is? That would be the nickname for the original electric chair. The first execution by electric chair was done in Auburn prison. A local bar has a chair that is said to be the original one.

It has been rumored that there was a choice between getting the prison and the Erie Canal in Auburn. Auburn chose to get the prison over having the Erie Canal come through the city. The path of the canal, however, does not support this story. It runs several miles north of Auburn through Weedsport and Port Byron. It would have had to have been diverted south to go through Auburn and would have added many miles of digging to do so.

Another rumor is that it was a choice between the prison and the state capital. Although possible, the state capital had long since been established at Albany by the time the first prisons were built in New York State. Would the state have gone to the trouble of moving the capital? I find that doubtful.

Wordless Wednesday: Antique Truck

 

Wordless Wednesday: Grandma & Grandpa & Family

 

Wordless Wednesday: April Showers Bring May Snow?