Saturday Challenge- Mother's Day

The Saturday Challenge:
1)  This is Mother's Day weekend, so please go through the photographs you have of your mother and share one of your favorite photograph of her.  Just one.  Oh, tell us why it's one of your favorites, and tell us something about your mother, too.

Spring Cherry Blossoms

As my brother's will certainly tell you, I'm not always good about following directions. Today is one of those. My mother has hated the camera and for years will duck out of a picture or hide her face. It is hard to get a good picture of her unless it is a candid shot. She seems to hate every single picture that she is in. So, instead, today I am posting some of what were probably some of her mother's favorite pictures of the family. They were found in a collection of family pictures and were put together on one page as a collage probably by her, which is why I believe they were some favorites:

Collage from my grandparents collection

 In the upper left is a photo of my grandmother, Alice Jennings Wooster in middle-age. To the right is a picture of her husband, Marion J. Wooster and her son Kenneth. This was taken in November 1942 when Grandpa was serving in the SeaBees during WWII. The bottom oval is that of my mother, Alice Wooster Ward and her brother Lester as children.

Wordless Wednesday-- Hillside Cemetery Antwerp, New York

The Osceola Novelty Factory

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Half-shire society and mentioned that the area has a connection to circus performers worldwide. Osceola is a small town in the southwest corner of Lewis County and not far from Richland where Half-shire is located. It was first settled in 1838. Part of the Tug Hill plateau famous for the winter accumulations of snow. The population in the 2010 census was 229 people down from 265 in 2000 when it averaged out to a density of 3 people per square mile. All those statistics should indicate to you that this area has very few people and is fact more woods than anything else. So, how does this tiny town with almost no population have a connection to the circus?

At the turn of the twentieth century, many circus performers used wooden items in their acts for juggling and other performances. Before the mid 1900s, this was the material used for many items that we now make in plastic today.  Osceola Novelty Factory was in existence for just a short time, but it quickly became well known. It made items in the middle of the woods and marketed them all over the world to circus and other performers.

A sampling of the items at Half-shire Society

It was an ambitious idea when the factory opened in 1896. They lasted only a decade, closing their doors in 1906. However, the factory and its products live on in the memories of residents of the area, some of which remember stories of their grandparents and others working there. A few of the products are still around the area today and Half-shire Society has a few in their collections. While I was there, I was able to see these.

It was located on the south side of the Salmon River. Situated on the east side of the road, between the river and Cemetery Road. The list of products produced during its short run included dumb bells, bowling pins, tops, bowls and vases. All were made out of wood from the forests of Osceola and shipped out after completion. Today the area is known by most people as home of the Fiddler’s Hall of Fame and a great place for snowmobiling, but once it was the manufacturer of novelty items that were shipped around the world.

The photos of the factory and of its employees were taken from a book published years ago on the history of the area. This book and other books on the history of northern Oswego county and southern Lewis county are always available to researchers who visit the society. Those booklets that are still in print may also be available for purchase while you are there, as well as at their display at the Oswego County fair in the summer.

Age Span of Great-Great Grandparents-- Saturday Challenge

It’s time to catch-up on last weekend’s Saturday Challenge from Randy Seaver:

1)  We each have 16 great-great grandparents.  How did their birth and death years vary?  How long were their lifespans?  

2)  For this week, please list your 16 great-great grandparents, their birth year, their death year, and their lifespan in years.  You can do it in plain text, in a table or spreadsheet, or in a graph of some sort.

Lodema, the oldest of my gg-grandparents

GG Grandfather -

Ward               William                       1 Feb 1830           31 Aug 1902        72 years

Titus                Samuel H                    13 Oct 1825         10 Mar 1874        48 years

Brown             John Robert                 18 Nov 1835        24 Oct 1917         81 years

Ingalls             Joseph D                     19 Dec 1834        21 Aug 1894        59 years

Duff                James                          26 Mar 1836        26 Feb 1926        89 years

Wooster          Barclay                        29 Aug 1819        3 Mar 1895          75 years

Damery           James “John”            1812                     1896                    84 years

Jennings          Richard J                                                                              unknown

GG Grandmother -

Blackwell         Mary Ann                    14 May 1828       11 Aug 1902        74 years

Tobias             Lodema                       16 Oct 1831         28 Mar 1926        94 years

Wright             Anna S                        12 Dec 1836        13 Feb 1923        86 years

Fay                  Mary Ann                    11 Nov 1840        24 Jul 1906          65 years

Johnson           Mary Ellen “Nellie”   25 Dec 1847        12 Feb 1921        73 years

Tift                  Elizabeth Hannah        11 May 1826       24 Mar 1906        79 years

Wolfe              Elizabeth                      1823                     abt 1862               39 years

Fuller               Mary                                                                                    unknown

There is a couple in Ireland, as you can see, who I have no idea of their birth and death years. There is much research to do in that area, but few records that can be found from a distance. This is one of the reasons that every time it is announced about new Irish records available online, I hold my breath and hope that they are Protestant and more specifically Church of Ireland (Anglican) records.

The oldest and the youngest were both female at 94 and approximately 39 years. Elizabeth Wolfe probably died either in childbirth or shortly after the birth of her daughter, Sarah Damery, my g-grandmother.

The average age for males of that generation was 72.5 and females 72.85. It is remarkable how close together the averages came out.

Flower Memorial LIbrary

Name Flower Memorial Library

Address 229 Washington St, Watertown, NY 13601

Phone (315) 785-7705

Website https://www.flowermemoriallibrary.org/

 

Front Entrance

The Flower Memorial Library is the library for Jefferson County in northern New York. It is located just south of the major intersection of downtown Watertown on Washington Street. Surrounded by commercial and governmental buildings, it can be occasionally hard to find parking spots. However, I have often been able to find on-street parking in front of or very near the library. There are also public parking lots available as can be found on this map. The above shows the front entrance to the library; there is also an entrance on the right-hand side of the building that is accessible without any steps to climb.

Hours from their website:

Monday-Saturday: Noon to 4:00 pm

Or call us to make an appointment 315.785.7711

Sign in when you enter the local history room. Almost everything is available on open shelving and in old style card catalogs. These cards are being put into databases that will soon be available for in-house use. Last weekend I asked about the possibility of remote access to them, but it is not planned for at this time. Copies cost 20 cents each. While I imagine you can make copies yourself, I never have. Terry, who seems to always be there and eager to assist you, is very glad to make copies and knows the copier well. He is quite a treasure of the local history room, as he knows where everything is and a great deal of history of the area.

 

A view of some of the room

Although on a beautiful spring Saturday afternoon, my husband and I were the only visitors in the local history room, other parts of the library were busy. The Saint Lawrence chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) had been by for a personal tour of the room on the day before. Often volunteers can be found in there working on various projects as well.

This library was opened in 1903 and was built in the classic ornate library architecture. While being very modern with microfilm readers and computers for your use, many areas of the library look like they are still in the early 20^th century. Reading rooms and exhibit rooms keep their classic look. Rather than trying to describe the beauty, I will let you see for yourself in pictures that I took there on our trip through on Saturday:  

One of the best things I find in this library are the family files. If you’re lucky, your family has an entire loose-leaf notebook full of information on them. Several of my surnames from the area do. Many others are just a small envelope in a file cabinet. Although less information, these likewise have some very special gems in them. There is a notebook readily available that lists the surnames alphabetically with a code to tell you which place to look.

Wordless Wednesday- Evergreen Cemetery, Scipio, NY

Upon Leaving The Cemetery

Oblong Meetinghouse built 1764

 Upon leaving the cemetery, don’t head directly for the highway. If your ancestors are buried there, then very likely they lived around here as well. Drive around slowly and look at the area. Sure, things have changed in 100 years, but things have also stayed the same. The terrain is likely the same. Some of the houses and public buildings will still be standing. Maybe you can even find your ancestor’s home! Family stories, old pictures or a search through the county land records can all lead you to where your ancestors lived.

While traveling one summer, I found an old church (actually a Quaker Meetinghouse) built in 1764. Although the congregation ceased in 1885, it is still standing and open to the public. I was the only person there as I quietly entered the building and looked around. Looking at this simple building I felt a great sense of welcoming as if the former members were there smiling and wanting to say hello to their visitor. It felt calming and serene much like the reputation of their form of worship.

Fascinating to me was not only that this building still exists, but also some of the records that are left from here. This is perhaps the most important part of discovering this meetinghouse. I found out that in June 1793, a couple by the name of Jane Hoag and Gilbert Titus were married there. Later this couple moved to central New York and became the parents of my g-g-g-grandfather!

When visiting the area, don’t forget to check out what research places there are in the area. Even if you can’t stop now, you can add them to your list for future investigation. I keep two lists on my computer in a file. The first one is a sort of address book with information on research places. Besides the address and phone numbers, I also list directions on how to get there, hours they are open, and specific resources that are available. If I know there are good, inexpensive places to stay or a place to eat nearby, I will list them as reminders to myself as well.

Akin Library at Quaker Hill

The other list is a sort of “To Do” list arranged by repository and then surname. It lists specific areas that I need to research, either by person or families. For example, some of the entries are a reminder to look for somebody’s date of birth; others are leads on where a family grouping may have lived. This I keep in an Excel spreadsheet. As I find information I need to research, I add it to the list. One of them is items that can be located using the Internet. When I have some spare time, I will pick an item and start working on it to see if I can solve the problem or at least get closer to the answer. The repository pages are especially handy when I get an unexpected chance to go there. I look to see what I have wanted to research, but maybe have forgotten about. I then have a head start on creating a research plan for there!

This is especially useful if you have somebody like my husband in your life or perhaps even yourself. He will suddenly decide that this weekend we should head to this certain area and do some research. This is great, except that I haven’t thought about my research in that particular area in awhile and when he decides it is usually Thursday or even Friday evening and I have little to no time to prepare! Luckily my spreadsheet notes give me a good start and I don’t waste the opportunity.