Old Onaquaga Historical Society Part of NYS Path Through History
Exploring the History Trail of Windsor and Colesville in the Susquehanna Valley
The Old Onaquaga Historical Society invites you to explore the trail of history in the Susquehanna Valley of Colesville and Windsor on Saturday, October 12 from 10 AM to 3 PM as part of the NYS Path Through History Weekend. Visit sites along the river from Nineveh to the Pennsylvania border and learn about the Haudenosaunee people of Onaquaga and the pioneers who settled here 230 years ago. A handout map of the historic sites will be provided at St. Luke’s Church in Harpursville, the Charles L. English Museum in the Village of Windsor and the old Grange Hall in South Windsor.
Step inside St. Luke’s Church in Harpursville, a 196-year-old structure that is home to the Historical Society’s Local History Museum. And go back in time with a tour of the Doraville Schoolhouse Museum right down the road. Hear OOHS President Eileen Ruggieri recall her experience in helping to facilitate the repatriation of human remains, accidentally unearthed in the valley in the 1960s, to the Oneida people at 2 PM at St. Luke’s. The Joseph Knight Ancestral Farm in Nineveh, home of the First Branch of the Mormon Church, will also be open.
Downriver at Ouaquaga is the historic Old Iron Bridge and kiosk of the History of the Onaquaga Valley. South of there, at the base of Ouaquaga Mountain, visit the memorial marker to Rebecca Kellogg Ashley, interpreter for missionaries at Onaquaga in the 1750s and read about the life of this remarkable woman. Learn all about the history of the railroad era in Windsor at the Charles L. English Museum. Heading downriver again, stop in for an Open House at the old South Windsor Grange and one-room schoolhouse building. Right nearby is the newly-installed historic marker to George Catlin, well-known painter of Native Americans in the 1830s, at the site of his boyhood home in South Windsor. The history of George Catlin and South Windsor will be on display at the old Grange Hall.
Sign-up Here for Field Trip September 14
Tour Historic Home of Preservationist Kurt Riegel
The Old Onaquaga Historical Society welcomes you to join us in a tour of Kurt Riegel’s 1799 house and
workplace in Sidney, NY. Kurt is a well-known professional historic preservationist who has been
masterfully restoring the one-room schoolhouse (pictured below) at Perch Pond Hill in the Town of
Colesville. He will also be restoring St. Luke’s beautiful front door in the near future.
We will meet in front of the Colesville Town Hall on Saturday, September 14, at 12:15 pm, and carpool to
his place. You’ll need to register for this field trip by contacting President Ruggieri at
erstoryteller@gmail.com or call her at 607-761-1956 if you are interested in reserving a place.
Please join us this upcoming Monday, 6/17/24, 6PM at St Luke’s to hear OOHS President, Eileen Ruggieri present stories of some important local women who have a special place in the histories of our two towns.
All are welcome to attend this free event. Hope to see you there!
The Joy of Discovery
Finding Amelia Keeler’s Gravestone
Two days before the Historical Society hosted a workshop on gravestone restoration on May 4, I was at Riverview Cemetery in Harpursville with Jan McKnight and gravestone restorers Joe and Laura Fiore. We were there to look at Amelia Keeler’s stone, or what there was of it. Only the base or bottom half remained with no engraving on it. We knew it was her stone only because its place or position in the cemetery was written down. It was assumed the top half was missing. Joe and Laura thought differently and did a little exploring of the ground behind the stone base. Just inches down, there it was, unmarked by the ravages of time, bearing the name Amelia and a beautiful tree motif within a circle. The Fiores will be working the gravestone of this 19th century Colesville poet and the community will have another piece of local history restored to them.
To commemorate the discovery, I was asked at the workshop to recite a poem of Amelia’s about the Susquehanna River she loved so well.
From the poem Riverside:
Awake, my Muse, awake the song!
A lovelier scene ne’er met thine eye—
Awake, for thou hast slumbered long,
And time is speeding swiftly by!
Soon, ah, soon, thou’lt be no more—
Another voice shall sing its praise;
And stranger feet shall tread the shore
Where now my airy vision strays.
Where peaceful waters gently flow,
Far—far from ocean’s troubled breast—
The Susquehanna, winding slow,
Mid banks with vernal beauty drest.
Fair, happy stream! Thou know’st no change,
Through wintry storms may swell thy tide,
Or summer suns around thee range,
Still onward thou shalt ever glide.
We are so grateful for the Fiores and Dale and Tina Utter who bring so much good into our communities with their amazing efforts in our old rural cemeteries. The Historical Society supports them and hopes that if you’re looking for a meaningful connection with Colesville and Windsor history, you will join us and them. Please contact OOHS President Eileen Ruggieri at: erstoryteller@gmail.com.
The Infamous Loomis Gang of 19 th Century Central NY Folklore
Town of Oxford Historian Vicky House will present one of her most popular programs on the story of the notorious Loomis Gang, on Monday, May 20, at 6:00 pm at St. Luke’s Historic Church in Harpursville. The Loomis Gang was a well-connected family of horse thieves and burglars who caused chaos and terror in Central New York and were arguably the largest family crime syndicate in America in the years surrounding the Civil War. It’s a rousing good tale from the folk history of New York state and Vicky is an excellent storyteller. All are welcome!
Workshop on Gravestone Restoration Well Received
19th Century Colesville Poet’s Stone Uncovered
Local History Honored Through Preservation
The Old Onaquaga Historical Society held
a workshop on Saturday to help get the word out
about the important work a small number of people have been doing in Windsor and Colesville
for a number of years now. Anyone who knows them knows how dedicated they are to restoring
gravestones—some 150 to 200 years old—and preserving their place in local history. We owe
our thanks to Dale and Tina Utter and Joe and Laura Fiore for bringing this need to our attention
so that the Historical Society could support them and encourage others to become involved in
this effort.
The Fiores and Utters spent the morning at St. Luke’s going into detail about how they work on
stones, the safe-practices they use in cleaning them, and how they have dealt with matters
involving permission to do restoration work. It was all hands-on in the afternoon at Riverview
Cemetery, and those hands made for a productive experience. Highlighting the workshop was
the discovery only a few days before of the top half of Amelia Keeler’s beautiful gravestone,
buried several inches under the ground close to the upright base. Amelia lived in Harpursville in
the early-mid 19th century, was the daughter of St. Luke’s minister at the time, and, most
importantly, was a poet. She has a place in Colesville history and now her lovely stone will
again, after more than 100 years beneath the ground, grace her final resting place.
If you missed the workshop but have an interest in this important community effort, please let us
know. Better still, you can also contact Joe Fiore at fiore358@gmail.com or Laura Fiore at
lfiore@gmail.com to find out how you can help.
PLEASE RSVP BELOW FOR THE MAY 4th EVENT!
Easter Greetings from the Past
A wish for a Joyous Easter from postcards sent to Miss Ruth Chapman of Wells Bridge in 1910.
The Historical Society has two scrapbooks of this young woman’s postcards from family and
friends. They were given to Old Onaquaga by Dorothy Earl of Windsor many years ago. This
collection of beautifully-colored embossed postcards is a real treasure in our museum and a
special way to wish all our members and followers a Joyful Easter.
The Villecco Family Legacy
Making Award-winning Cheese in Colesville
A number of years ago, Frank and Betty Villecco visited the Windsor History Room with a binder of
information documenting the arrival of Frank’s grandparents Vito and Nunziata Villecco in Tunnel, NY,
and the life they made for themselves here. Frank, who has since passed away, and Betty have lived
on Dunbar Road in Windsor for many years and wanted to make sure this important piece of local
history was preserved and shared. Here is a look at the early Villecco family and their significant
contribution to the growth and prosperity of Colesville.
Genoeffa Villecco Martuci was interviewed later in her life about her parents Vito (Billy) and Nunziata
(Nancy) Villecco. She said they both came from Italy—Vito from Salerno born in 1872 and Nunziata
from Naples born in 1888. Passenger records from the Ellis Island Foundation indicate that Vito came
to America in March of 1895 on the Italia and settled in Brooklyn, NY. It is there that he eventually met
and married Nunziata.
Not long afterward, the couple moved to upstate New York to begin a new life together. Their
destination was Tunnel where Vito—known as Billy—started to work for the Delaware & Hudson
Railroad as a trackwalker. Liking the country atmosphere, he and Nunziata—now Nancy—decided to
stay and start their family.
According to Genoeffa, her father originally worked at the Borden Milk Plant in Tunnel. At the time,
there already was a cheese factory in the hamlet, but it eventually went out of business. So, in 1908,
Billy started his own company, located in the first cheese factory. His specialty was Italian cheeses,
primarily provolone and ricotta. He also made pot and curd cheeses in large vats that heated the milk to
form curds, which were then scooped off the top and put into cheese cloth and hung from nails to dry.
The cheeses were packed in jars, then in large barrels surrounded by ice and sawdust, which
preserved them for transportation by train to New York City.
The Villeccos had a large family that included 15 children, 3 of whom died very young. Of the 12
remaining children, there were six boys and six girls. All of the boys eventually entered into the cheese
business with their father. Before then, Billy hired many local men to help with the cheese-making. His
provolone cheese was so popular both locally and in NYC that he decided to enter it in the 1923
Nationale Exposition in Rome, Italy, where it won the grand prize. He received a certificate that hung in
his factory for many years. With the increased production that resulted, Billy ran out of storage space
and had to “borrow” local basements in which to cure his cheeses.
In 1937, the Villeccos—having run out of space—purchased the old Borden Plant in Tunnel, located
right beside the railroad tracks. The train stopped at the factory, and a refrigerated car took their
cheeses to NYC twice weekly and daily on holidays. Billy passed away in 1939, and son Joe became
manager. He, along with brothers Frank, Louis, William, Anthony and Dominick, continued making both
provolone and mozzarella according to family traditions until the factory closed in the early 1960s when
Joe retired. And, though the business is long in the past, the place the Villecco family holds in Colesville
history is a lasting legacy to the contributions they made to the town they called home.
Remembering Fran Bromley
One of the Last Charter Members
Of the Old Onaquaga Historical Society
Once again this winter, we have had to say good-bye to another longtime OOHS member and woman of importance in the Town of Colesville. Harriet Frances (Whitmarsh) Bromley of Harpursville, passed away on February 14, 2024 at age 89. She was born in Center Village during a fierce blizzard in 1934. She spent most of her married life with husband Richard Bromley in Harpursville where they raised their two children, Rebecca VanDerHeide and Robert Bromley.
The list of Fran’s involvements and accomplishments in the Colesville community is numerous and meaningful, but none is more important in our eyes than her many contributions to local history. She was there in the mid-1960s when the Old Onaquaga Historical Society received its NYS charter and, within a few years, took ownership of St. Luke’s Church and established a local history museum in its basement. Over the years, she served in almost every office of the OOHS Executive Committee and was always on hand for projects involving the care and maintenance of the Church and Museum.
Among the many ways she added to the history of the Town was a book of collected stories about the people, places and events of long ago Colesville. Entitled “By the Way”, it is a record of the remarkable lives of some the Town’s most important elders. Fran was so dedicated to preserving these memories, she started tape recording many seniors in the Town, both at St. Luke’s and the Eastern Broome Senior Center in Harpursville, putting down their memories in their own words and voices. We are in the process of having these cassette tapes converted to CDs so we can better share them with Colesville people today.
Fran Bromley and other charter OOHS members have left us the legacy of a past well remembered. They were dedicated to collecting, preserving and sharing the history that shaped and defined both Colesville and Windsor. We owe it to them and to future generations to continue what they started over 50 years ago. Thank you for all you did Fran. Rest in peace.
Longtime Member Lida Bassler Passes Away at 82
One of our dearest longtime members, Lida Bassler, died on February 6 at her home in Afton, NY. A Colesville resident for many years, she left her mark on the community in ways that will long be remembered.
Lida MacAulay was born in Nova Scotia and at a young age moved to Troy, NY with her parents. She graduated from Russell Sage College in 1963 and earned a master’s degree in English from SUNY Albany. Soon afterward, she started teaching English at North High School in Binghamton, NY. In 1969, she accepted a position as the Chairperson of the English Department at Harpursville Jr. Sr. High School, and remained there until her retirement. Even then, she continued to share her love of teaching by mentoring and educating young teachers through New York State United Teachers.
Lida had a life-long gift for music and poetry. She was an organist for the Harpursville United Methodist Church for 32 years, playing right through the 2023 Christmas season. We in the Historical Society were so fortunate to have Lida play the small organ for our St. Luke’s Day Service of Thanksgiving every October at St. Luke’s Church. We sang a whole lot better when she was there.
Just as important was her gift of word—poetry. She wrote to commemorate “folks” and the special times in their lives. Her poem in celebration of the Town of Colesville’s 200th Anniversary captures both the history and the essence of the place she called home for over 50 years. This is her lasting legacy. Thank you Lida!
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, February 17, at the Harpursville United Methodist Church.
Vintage Clothing Put to Rest
Thanks to generous funding from the Colesville Rotary Club this past year, the Old Onaquaga Historical Society is now able to properly store the many items of vintage clothing in its collection. Many of the clothes, especially local women’s dresses, have been on display at St. Luke’s Church and in our museum. They are being wrapped in acid-free tissue paper and placed in storage boxes specifically made to hold old fabric. Here’s a few pictures of some of these treasures before they are put in storage again in the old choir loft.
Windsor’s One-Room Schoolhouses Remembered At First Knight Windsor
Windsor History celebrated New Year’s Eve at the Town Hall with a lookback at the many one-
room schoolhouses and the Windsor Academy where children in the town received an
education back in the 19 th and early 20 th centuries. Thanks to the efforts of Town Historian Rita
Saunders, along with help from Betty Villeco, an upstairs room in the Town Hall was
transformed into a mini one-room schoolhouse surrounded by displays of old school photos and
interesting memorabilia that keep the memories of how local children learned long ago alive
today. Here are a few pictures from First Knight Windsor at the Town Hall.
Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address
Greetings to the Natural World
The Historical Society held its annual St. Luke’s Day in early November this year. As we have done for the past 53 years, we celebrated the day with a Service of Thanksgiving at St. Luke’s Church in Harpursville. Fr. Geoff Doolittle from the Zion Episcopal Church in Windsor officiated. At one point in the service, OOHS President Eileen Ruggieri read parts of a translation of the Haudenosaunee People’s prayer of thanksgiving to the natural world. In doing so, we honor all of the people who have lived in this valley—in this place we call home. So, before turning our attention to the joyful season of Christmas, it seems fitting that we share these greetings of peace and thanksgiving that were spoken at the Oneida Village of Onaquaga over 250 years ago.
To the People
Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as people.
To Mother Earth
We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time.
To the Waters
We give thanks to all the waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms—waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of Water.
To the Food Plants
With one mind, we turn to honor and thank all the Food Plants we harvest from the earth. Since the beginning of time, the grains, vegetables, beans and berries have helped the people survive. Many other living tings draw strength from them too.
To the Animals
We gather our minds together to send greetings and thanks to all the Animal life in the world. They have many things to teach us as people. We are honored by them when they give up their lives so we may use their bodies as food for our people. We see them near our homes and in the deep forests. We are glad they are here and we hope that it will always be so.
To the Trees
We now turn our thoughts to the Trees. The Earth has many families of Trees, who have their own instructions and uses. Some provide us with shelter and shade, others with fruit and beauty. Many people of the world use a Tree as a symbol of peach and strength.
To the Sun
We now send greetings and thanks to our eldest Brother, the Sun. Each day without fail he travels the sky from east to west, bringing the light of a new day. He is the source of all the fires of life.
To Grandmother Moon
We put our minds together to give thanks to our oldest Grandmother, the Moon, who lights the night-time sky. She is the leader of women all over the world, and she governs the movement of the ocean tides. By her changing face we measure time, and it is the Moon who watches over the arrival of children here on earth.
To the Stars
We give thanks to the Stars who are spread across the sky like jewelry. We see them in the night, helping the Moon to light the darkness and bringing dew to the gardens and all growing things. When we travel at night, they guide us home.
To the Enlightened Teachers
We gather our minds to greet and thank the Enlightened Teachers who have come to help throughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we were instructed to live as people.
To the Creator
Now we turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit, and send greetings and thanks for all the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our best words of greeting and thanks to the Creator.
Caption for photo:
This is where some of the longhouses of Onaquaga would have been built hundreds of years ago. That’s Fordway Road looking west, with the Susquehanna River just beyond the trees that line the fields.
Our Wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving
This is the time of year in which we reflect upon all that we have to be thankful for in our lives. Even in a troubled world, we should seek out the good in each other, honor and cherish those we love, and remember that it is in our giving to others that we can truly receive the most important gifts in life.
We at the Old Onaquaga Historical Society are most thankful for the generosity of our members and supporters in the communities of Colesville and Windsor. We are also thankful for historic St. Luke’s Church, in which we have made our home for the past 53 years. And we are very much thankful to past historians who have preserved for us the stories of those who lived here long ago. The Old Windsor Academy publication Echoes from over 100 years ago penned the phrase “Let the Past Ever Speak to the Present”. And that is what OOHS does.
Eileen Ruggieri
Postcard caption:
This sweet Thanksgiving postcard from the early 20th century is from the Historical Society’s collection of vintage postcards belonging to Miss Ruth Chapman of Wells Bridge and donated by Dorothy Earl of Windsor.
A Veterans Day Remembrance
With Veterans Day (November 11) coming up, we thought it was a good time to remember how important it is to keep in mind those who have served their community and country in the US military over the course of American History. At the close of World War II, Windsor gave recognition to all its men who had fought in the war, some of whom never came home, with a memorial on the Village Green. Pictured here is a photograph that appeared in the Binghamton Press in 1946 of the display that was put up commemorating these local men. Let it remind us that, even though most of these people are gone, we are duty-bound never to forget them.
Photo caption:
“From America’s villages, from her valleys…” The roll of honor of America’s war dead is the list of the sons of her small towns, such as Windsor in the Susquehanna Valley.
This was the caption that appeared with the photograph in the Binghamton Press in 1946.
Join us for our annual St. Luke's Day of Thanksgiving Service on Sunday, November 5th at 1:00pm.
The service of prayer and hymns will be held at St. Luke's Church & Museum, 42 Maple Street, Harpursville, NY with Fr. Geoff Doolittle (parish Priest at Zion Episcopal Church, Windsor, NY) officiating.
Refreshments will be served after the service and tours of the building will be available.
All are welcome!
Connecting with Our Past
October Program
Celebrating the Many One-Room Schoolhouses of Colesville and Windsor
The Old Onaquaga Historical Society, along with the Colesville Historian Advisory Committee, Windsor History people and several Harpursville School District teachers are planning an eventful, family-friendly celebration of the numerous one-room schoolhouses that once dotted the countryside of both towns.
On Saturday, October 21, from 10 am to 2 pm, we will be displaying memorabilia at St. Luke’s in Harpursville that includes pictures of the 50+ schoolhouses throughout Colesville and Windsor, and some of the children who went there. Samples of old text books, children’s writing and artwork will also be on display. You can take a tour of the Doraville Schoolhouse Museum in Harpursville and check out a video of the day the schoolhouse was moved from Doraville where it had been for over 100 years to its present location behind the Town Hall. We have interesting oral history interviews with local people who remembered going to these one-room schoolhouses. There will be old-time games and other fun things for children to enjoy. So, mark October 21 on your calendar and join us for this memorable look at the good olde days.
Here are a few of the many old photographs of our one-room schoolhouses, the children who attended them and their teachers.
Thanks to all who came to visit us at the Corn Fest & Tractor Show this year!
History in a Trunk at
Windsor Corn Festival
The Historical Society will be at this year’s 5th annual Corn Festival and Tractor Show on Saturday, August 26, from noon to 5:00 pm at Klumpp Park in the Village of Windsor.
As in past years, we will have a display from our History in a Trunk program highlighting photos and other memorabilia from Windsor’s past.
Did you know that over 100 years ago, Windsor was known for its horse racing on what is now the Miller Farm?
We will also have local history books for sale. So, stop by and see what we have!
The Corn & Tractor Festival is brought to you by the Windsor Partners Inc.
History of Old Unadilla Settlement
Topic of Program at July 24 Meeting
We are pleased to announce that this month’s guest speaker is Patrick McElligott of Unadilla, who will talk about Old Unadilla—present-day Sidney—on Monday, July 24, 6:00 pm at St. Luke’s in Harpursville.
Old Unadilla or Johnstone Settlement was a white settlement along the Ft. Stanwix Treaty Line in 1777 when it was taken over by Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant during a period of time known as the Border Wars with the colonists to the east of the line. Onaquaga and Unadilla were in many ways closely associated, especially during the American Revolution. These connections make this speaker’s topic particularly important to us.
Patrick McEilligott’s July 24th presentation was recorded on YouTube and you can view it by going to: www.youtube.com Patrick McElligott speaks about the Iroquois and his conversations with Onondaga Chief Paul Waterman.
A simple wish for a glorious 4th!
Graduating Seniors in Windsor and Colesville
Receive Our 2023 Local History Awards
This year’s winners of our Local History Award have been chosen and we are pleased to announce them.
The Windsor High School recipient is Jonathan Fleming, son of Jonathan and Heather Fleming. Jonathan, who is quite a history buff, will be attending SUNY Cortland in the fall, pursuing a career in education as a high school history teacher.
The winner of the Harpursville High School Award is Allena Rowe, daughter of Krystal and Todd Rowe. She has a long family history in Colesville and has done extensive research on the Rowe’s. Allena is also an extremely talented artist and one of the Top Ten ranking Seniors in Harpursville Class of 2023!
The Historical Society has for many years given these awards to a graduating senior from both school districts who show a serious interest in history. Each winner receives a $100 check and automatically becomes a member of the chapter for the coming year.
Congratulations to both of this year’s winners!
Historian George Cummings on
George Washington’s Military and Presidency
Our guest speaker this month is George Cummings, well-known in the Southern Tier for his lively presentations of Early American history along the New York frontier and beyond. He will be speaking this time on General George Washington’s historic career in the military as Commander-in-Chief during the American Revolution and his subsequent role as first President of the Country. His presentation will include a reading of the first ever “State of the Union” address by Washington, which is quite short when compared with today’s speeches.
George Cummings’ presentation is on Monday, June 26, at 6:00 pm at St. Luke’s Church on Maple Street in Harpursville. The public is welcome and encouraged to join us for an evening of interesting American history.
This Memorial Day postcard from our museum collection has a postmark date of 1910, when the commemorative holiday was called Decoration Day. In 1868, three years after the Civil War, the head of an organization of Union veterans—the Grand Army of the Republic—established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Eventually, patriotic bunting and flags were hung on storefronts and homes all across America. Congress recognized Decoration Day as a federal holiday in 1938. People began referring to the holiday as Memorial Day following World War II, and the federal government adopted the name in 1967.
Legend of the Harpursville Gold Mine
The Gold Rush era of the mid to late 19th century impacted another family in Eastern Broome County well-known in West Windsor. According to local historians, James L. Roberts bought a 269-acre farm on top of a hill in West Windsor with “Gold Rush” money. He settled there in 1878 with his wife and four sons after returning from a successful venture out West. There is a legend, however, that gold existed somewhere in the Susquehanna Valley in the Town of Colesville. Here is what we know of it from a story written down by Grace Cook as told to her by Mr. (?) Weeks in 1951.
“There is a legend that a gold mine was located somewhere near a spring or stream of clear, cold water and close by the grave of an Indian chief. And so, we come to the story of the little old lady who lived at the foot of the hill.
“It was a red house with a stoop on the front. Just at the foot of Coles Hill, between the land of Clarence Craver on the one side and the old Nesbitt place on the other, a half- obliterated road leads out through the fields across a ravine and along the hillside towards Ouaquaga. The old road is out of repair now for many years and only used as a convenience for the farmers to reach their fields.
“Away back many years ago when the little old house was not very new anymore, a little old lady lived there. She had heard the legend of the gold mine. Perhaps her grandmother had heard it from her grandmother and passed it on to her when she was a child. Whatever the source of the knowledge, it had made a deep impression on her and as she grew older, she lived only to discover and claim that mythical mine.
“The little old lady was very poor but she managed to get together a little money now and then. There was a thriving village at the top of Cole’s Hill in those days with a tavern and she may have worked at cleaning there and perhaps helped with the washings.
“Whenever she could scrape together enough money to pay for a man’s labor she hired one or two men to dig for her in the spot where she was firmly convinced the mine was located. There is no possible way of knowing now why she thought the mine should be in that particular place.
“Until a new road was built in 1939-40, the hole in the ground could be plainly seen where she hoped to find the gold. Although saplings the size of a man’s arm had grown up in the excavation, it clearly showed that it was a man’s work and the work of the elements. It was quite out of sight of the highway over near the creek and nearly across the road from the old Nesbitt house. It is gone now, lost and brushed aside by the highway and soon the story, too, will be lost.”
The Fascinating Story of Unitaria in Colesville History
Starts Off OOHS 2023 Season on May 15 at St. Luke’s
The Hamlet of Unitaria had a short but significant history in the Town of Colesville thanks to two families who made it their home in the 19th century. Three famous horses were stabled there in the 1860s; trained by A. H. Rockwell and M.D. Hurlburt to be driven without reins or any other harness except a surcingle to fasten them to a carriage. They were shown in many states throughout the country running, trotting and turning, totally controlled by a motion of the whip in the hand of the driver.
Rockwell and Hurlburt took the team West during the Gold Rush era and made a lot of money sharing their reinless technique. They planned to return home with the gold they had made and put Unitaria on the map, but the ship they were on sank and they never made it back.
Longtime Colesville resident Amadeo Cimini, who lives in the part of town that was once Unitaria, will tell this fascinating story at the Historical Society’s first meeting of 2023 on Monday, May 15, at 6:00 pm at St. Luke’s in Harpursville. He has new information to share on the fate of the ship that Rockwell and Hurlburt and their wives were on. You won’t want to miss this program!
Caption
The famous team of horses—Tiger, Mazappa and Star—driven without reins by A.H. Rockwell in this 19th century sketch.
Old Onaquaga Historical Society President Eileen Ruggieri
Guest at Native American Repatriation Ceremony
A year-long effort by Cornell University’s Anthropology Department to return the skeletal remains of an ancestor from Onaquaga to the Oneida People culminated in a repatriation ceremony at Cornell’s Sage Chapel on February 21. Historical Society President Eileen Ruggieri was invited to attend the solemn event, having provided Cornell with the local history information necessary to begin the process.
In January 2022, the Old Onaquaga Historical Society was contacted by Matthew C. Velasco, Assistant Professor at Cornell in the Anthropology Department, requesting our help in providing information pertaining to human remains that were in their possession and identified solely by the name of the Historical Society.
We, of course, knew about the accidental unearthing of the remains in the summer of 1964 on the Springsteen farm in Windsor when the family was digging a ditch for piping water. They initially contacted the Broome Co. Sheriff’s Department, who visited the gravesite. Because the bones were located at the site of what was once the main Indian village of Onaquaga, it was determined that they could be Native American and Cornell’s Anthropology Dept. was notified of the discovery.
According to an article in the Windsor Standard dated August 20, 1964, Mrs. Leone Jacob, Town of Colesville Historian, contacted Prof. Allen R. Holmberg, then chairman of the Anthropology Department at Cornell, and he agreed to send a team from his department to make a thorough investigation.
Asst. Prof. Kenneth A. R. Kennedy arrived at the site several days later with two assistants and worked with diligence and great care to uncover the partially exposed skeletal remains and take them to Cornell for further study and safe-keeping. It should be made clear that the Springsteen family kept the gravesite secure by covering it with boards to protect against upcoming rain and by discouraging sightseers. They fully understood and respected the potential historical significance of these human remains.
Prof. Kennedy had custodianship of the skeletal remains from the mid-1960s until he passed away in 2014. In his papers archived at Cornell was information linking these remains to our Historical Society. One was a letter mentioning a report from the Anthropology Department on the human remains to be read at the Sept. 14, 1964 meeting of the Eastern Broome County Historical Society (now OOHS). Asst. Prof. Velasco wanted to know if we had that report. President Eileen Ruggieri searched for it at St. Luke’s for hours in the cold library, but could not find the report. She did send him copies of Windsor Standard articles from August and September of 1964 that provided the much-needed background information on exactly what happened.
Several weeks later, a research assistant to Prof. Velasco found the report and, being in poor condition, they had it transcribed. The Historical Society received a copy, which is now in our archives. Using a small bone chip, Prof. Kennedy had determined the remains were of an American Indian male age 25 to 30 years. The report went into greater detail about other factors that helped him come to this conclusion. Tribal affiliation had not been determined at the time. Prof. Velasco was looking to the Historical Society to provide further information on the burial site’s geographic location and other information we had pertaining to our knowledge of the history of Onaquaga. Working together, the Historical Society helped him gather the information needed to begin the process of repatriating the human remains to the Haudenosaunee People.
This, sometimes, can take years to complete.
In the meantime, Prof. Velasco and a colleague followed up on the initial findings of many decades ago, and took a closer look at what had been uncovered at the site. That’s when they discovered additional skeletal remains belonging to two subadults of indeterminate sex, one of whom was less than 20 years old and the other a four-year-old or possibly younger child. Approximately 22 associated funerary objects were also found, three of which were pottery sherds. Two of the sherds were sand-tempered and cord-impressed, making them very old and possibly predating the 17th century. This could also mean that the human remains were that old as well. Among other identified items were a piece of leather, one deer first phalanx, one deer radius fragment, one large mammal skull fragment, one large bird vertebra, one turtle scapula, one acorn, one black walnut, and five unidentified seeds.
OOHS President Ruggieri was pleasantly surprised when she heard from Prof. Velasco early this year that the repatriation process was complete and a ceremony honoring the return of the human remains to the Oneida Nation would take place at Sage Chapel in February. Attendance was limited to those who had been a part of the repatriation effort, and that included President Ruggieri, who gladly accepted the invitation.
In recalling the events of the day, Ruggieri says that meeting members of the Oneida delegation was by far the most consequential part of it for her. Before going into Sage Chapel, she had the opportunity to speak with Ray Halbritter, Oneida Nation representative who spoke on behalf of his people at the repatriation ceremony. She explained to him how important it was to the Old Onaquaga Historical Society that this day had finally come and that, for a long time, it has been the hope of the organization, as well as the Springsteen family, that the human remains be returned to the Oneida People. She also let him know that the history of Onaquaga, as far as local historians have understood it, has always been an important focus of the Historical Society. Their museum at St. Luke’s Church in Harpursville has a section on Onaquaga that was recently upgraded to include a more comprehensive look at its history and people.
Speaking on behalf of the Oneida Nation at the ceremony, Ray Halbritter said that these ancestors will be laid to rest in the tradition of their people. With repatriation, the Oneida Nation is able honor their lives in a dignified and solemn way. A special part of the ceremony took place when Dean Lyons, a member of the Oneida Turtle Clan, offered up a prayer in his native language, which he then translated.
“We in the Historical Society have never forgotten what happened here over 60 years ago,” says Ruggieri. At the time, every effort was made to do the right thing when the human remains were accidently uncovered. Law enforcement was notified, local historians were called upon to verify that the bones could well be from a time dating back to Onaquaga, and Cornell anthropologists were asked to help determine if indeed the remains were that of a Native American. It is important to remember that this occurred nearly 25 years before the 1990 federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act became law. At that time, no guidelines existed for what to do under these circumstances.
After the unmarked grave of the young man had been visibly disturbed, it would have been disrespectful to do nothing more than fill it back in.
The ceremony at Cornell in February brought together people who, in a united way, sought to facilitate the return of an Oneida ancestor to his sacred homeland; and who did just that! It marks the end of a long and difficult journey with the honor it deserves, and should be looked at as the way to move forward in our shared history of the Onaquaga Valley.
Old Onaquaga Seeks National and State Historic Status
The Old Onaquaga Historical Society has been busy this winter applying for the inclusion of St. Luke’s Church on the National Register of Historic Places.
A Committee led by Vice President Mary Kate DeVito has been working on an evaluation of eligibility which is needed prior to submitting a final application. The Historical Society hopes to have achieved this goal by summer.
The Committee has gone through the historic record of this 195-year-old structure, the second oldest Church in the Central New York Diocese of the Episcopal Church. It’s also the oldest church in Broome County still open to the public. The Historical Society rescued St. Luke’s in 1970, two years after the Church was forced to close its front door. We have been its owner and caretaker for over 50 years and kept local history alive in the museum downstairs.
Sounds to me like we qualify for being on the list.
Eileen Ruggieri
Season’s Greetings from the Old Onaquaga Historical Society
Wishing you a joyful holiday!
At this special time of year, we extend our warmest wishes to you, our followers. The Historical Society has had a most fulfilling 2022 and we look forward to the New Year and all that 2023 has to offer as we continue our pursuit of local history.
We will be concluding the year by participating in First Knight Windsor at the Windsor Town Hall on December 31, starting at 7 pm. Vintage clothing, visual displays, and old Town Band memorabilia—some of it from the Historical Society’s collections—will be exhibited throughout the Town Hall. OOHS member George Cummings will be presenting an interactive program at 7 pm on the history of our river valley before 1830 and the History Room will be open for tours from 7 to 10 pm. Windsor and Broome County history books will be on sale too.
Early 20th century postcard from
Historical Society collection
Historical Society Holds Service of Thanksgiving
Honoring Military Veterans at St. Luke’s Day on October 16
Rev. David Hanselman of Afton NY to Officiate
After two years of having to cancel the Old Onaquaga Historical Society’s St. Luke’s Day Service of Thanksgiving due to Covid, we are so pleased to announce that it will be held this year on Sunday, October 16, at 2:00 pm at historic St. Luke’s Church in Harpursville. The Rev. David Hanselman of St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in Afton will officiate.
This past spring, Rev. Hanselman led a memorial service for the late Patti Buckler, wife of Ron Buckler, at St. Luke’s Church where Ron and Patti were married more than 50 years ago. Ron Buckler is a military veteran now living at the NYS Veterans Home at Oxford. It was moving to see the church full of her family and friends, and Colesville community members.
I was reminded afterward of the important role that the local Women’s Relief Corps played in bringing about the establishment of this veterans’ home in the very early 20th century. Thanks to a Windsor woman named Florence Hurlburt, who was a charter member of the S.L. Judd WRC in 1911, the Windsor History Room has a hand-written Roll of Honor book of those who served in WWI from Windsor among its valuable military records.
At this year’s St. Luke’s Day, we will honor those who have served in past wars from both Colesville and Windsor. On display will be past local historians’ efforts to record the names of these soldiers going all the way back to veterans of the American Revolution who were among the first people to settle in the valley in the late 18th century. There is a legacy of serving the country here that deserves to be acknowledged. Please join us for this special day.
The late Chris Keeler of Windsor drew this special sketch of St. Luke’s in 1985.
The Historical Society has copies to sell for $5.00.
They will be available for sale at St. Luke’s Day or by contacting us at 607-775-1190.
Monday, September 19-
Town of Oxford Historian Guest Speaker to Share Story of Local World War I Soldiers
The Old Onaquaga Historical Society is pleased to share that longtime Oxford Historian Vicky House will speak at the Monday, September 19, meeting at St. Luke’s Church and Local History Museum in Harpursville. Her program is dedicated to those who served in World War I from Colesville and Windsor and those who cared for them when they returned home. Both towns have benefitted from the extensive research Vicky has done over the years in gathering more information on our WWI soldiers and the Women’s Relief Corps who supported them.
The Historical Society’s programs now begin at 6:00 pm with the meeting to follow after refreshments.
Coventry Woman Tells Story About Civil War Quilt
August 22, 6:00 pm, at St. Luke’s
The Old Onaquaga Historical Society’s guest speaker this month is Joyce Besemer, longtime resident of Coventry, NY, who will present an interesting program on a special Civil War quilt at its August 22 meeting at St. Luke’s in Harpursville. Please note that we are beginning this program at an hour earlier at 6:00 pm, with the meeting to follow it.
"Write this down” were the instructions given by the descendant of a slave to an investigative reporter – codes hidden in plain view, within the patterns of quilts, used to signal when and where to run, what was safe and how to escape to freedom. Come hear the story, learn about the codes and secrets of the Underground Railroad as told from the perspective of the slaves.
Joyce Besemer has lived in Chenango County for over 50 years, 28 of them in Coventry. She has been a member and officer of the Coventry Town Museum Association for many years. Through it, she got interested in Civil War history and re-enacting.
She also has a real interest in the music of the Civil War and has sung many of the songs of that era.
Join us for a memorable evening.
Have a happy and safe Fourth of July!
The Historical Society rededication of the DAR memorial marker to Rebecca Kellogg Ashley on June 11 was special in so many ways.
We wanted to further honor this woman who lived at Onaquaga in the 1750s and had the name Wausaunia—“the bridge”—bestowed on her by the Onaquaga people by creating a sign telling her remarkable story.
There will be more photos of the day in next week's post.
New Sign Installed at Rebecca Kellogg Ashley Memorial Marker
Now anyone stopping at the memorial stone to this woman, who was an interpreter for missionaries here at the Indian settlement of Onaquaga in the 1750s, will learn about her remarkable life and better understand why the Iroquois who lived in the valley called her Wausaunia—“the Bridge”.
Please join us if you can for the rededication this Saturday at 11 am, and afterward at Historic St. Luke’s Church & Local History Museum for a New York Frontier history talk by George Cummings and a special artifact collection from the Onaquaga Valley that’s not been put on display before now.
~~Eileen Ruggieri
In Memory of “Wausaunia”
REBECCA KELLOGG ASHLEY
On
Saturday, June 11, the Old Onaquaga Historical Society is rededicating the memorial marker to Rebecca Kellogg Ashley placed by the Tuscarora Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1909 at the site of the Indian Village of Onaquaga, now in the Town of Windsor. This event will take place at
11:00 am at the site of the marker on the corner of Dutchtown Road and Fordway Road in Windsor, followed by an
Open House at the Historical Society’s Local History Museum at Historic St. Luke’s Church in Harpursville from noon to 3:00 pm.
Rebecca Kellogg Ashley, born in Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1695, was at Onaquaga as an interpreter for Christian missionaries from 1753 to 1757. She died and was buried here, making her the first known White woman to live in the place that would one day be Broome County. Why was her knowledge of these people and their language so extensive? And why did she choose to spend the final years of her life here in the Susquehanna River Valley among people who had great affection for her, giving her the name “Wausaunia”? Come to this historic event on June 11 and find out about this extraordinary woman’s life story.
And join us afterwards at St. Luke’s Church at 42 Maple Street in Harpursville for more on the history of the Indian Village of Onaquaga. Historical Society member George Cummings will talk about Onaquaga and the history of the New York Frontier from the time of the French and Indian War to the American Revolution. Indian artifacts from the Onaquaga Valley will be on display as well and tours of the Local History Museum will take place.
In tribute to Rebecca, the DAR once said, “We cannot do full justice to her life and work, spent for and among a people who had changed all the currents of her own life. Her life evidenced a great capacity for selfless devotion. A woman of lesser inward greatness could never have been Rebecca Kellogg Ashley”.
For more information, contact us at: onaquagahistoricalsociety.org or call 607-775-1190.
Directions to rededication site: Take Rt. 79 north from the Village of Windsor (Exit 79 off Rt. 17) or south from Harpursville (Exit 6 off Rt. 88). Go to Hamlet of Ouaquaga. Make right turn at Historic Bridge sign going north from Windsor, left going south from Harpursville. Go over bridge and head straight down Dutchtown Road 2 to 3 miles to “T” at the end of the road and you are there.
For more details, contact onaquagahistoricalsociety.org or call 607-775-1190
George Catlin—Painter of American Indians—Revisited
At March 14th Colesville History Meeting
Old Onaquaga President Eileen Ruggieri is doing a program on the pioneer painter of Native American people, George Catlin, at the Colesville Town Hall on March 14 at 7:00 pm. George grew up on a farm in South Windsor at the very beginning of the 19th century, He was the son of Putnam and Polly Catlin, transplants from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Young George spent his childhood roaming the hills of the Susquehanna Valley collecting Indian artifacts for his treasure cabinet. More importantly, it was where he met the first of many Native Americans in his long life; an experience he remembered many years later as impacting who he would become.
Here are just a few of the images from the power point presentation Eileen will be giving. George Catlin painted over 500 portraits of Native people in the 1830s, some of which are still on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. She will also tell the boyhood story of George’s meeting with the young Oneida father Onogongway and his search for a kettle of gold.
Vintage Postcard Book on Sale Now!
Happy 200th Town of Colesville!
This historic year has been overshadowed by the lingering threat of the coronavirus, but that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate the occasion in meaningful ways.
The Historical Society is very pleased to announce that the Vintage Postcard Book of Colesville is available NOW!
More than 100 pages long with over 300 photos, it’s a memorable look-back in time to late 19th and early 20th century Colesville.
The book may be purchased at the Colesville Town Clerk’s office at 780 Welton Street, Harpursville, NY
OR at the Windsor Town Clerk's office, 124 Main Street, Windsor, NY.
The cost is $25.
Remembering Colesville’s One-Room Schoolhouses
The Historical Society had planned on hosting an Age of Homespun Festival this summer at St. Luke’s to highlight the early years of settlement in Colesville, but with so much uncertainty we thought it best to put off such a big event until 2022.
To still be able to celebrate this historic Bicentennial year, we are planning a special event in September (date tba) to commemorate the many one-room schoolhouses that for so long were the foundation of the educational system in Windsor and Colesville. A few are still standing and some even continue to serve their communities, like the Doraville Schoolhouse Museum in Colesville and the Schoolhouse Creamery in West Windsor. We have pictures and stories and other
memorabilia to share, and events and activities that will bring those early school days to life.
It should be fun for the whole family.
