Gallery

Waiting for Santa Claus

While looking for historical items that date back to the one-room schoolhouse era, I found this handmade Christmas booklet by a student at the Langdon Schoolhouse in Kirkwood No. 3, which was part of the Windsor School District at that time in the early 20^th century). The holiday booklet was created by Margaret (Ostrander) Harmon, a 4^th grade student in 1917. My favorite part was the poem “Waiting for Santa Claus” alongside a drawing of a decorated Christmas tree. Note the lighted candles perched on its limbs. This was just before electricity came into more common use.

Here is the poem 9-year-old Margaret Ostrander put in her Mistletoe and Holly booklet over one hundred years ago. Eileen Ruggieri, OOHS President

Waiting for Santa Claus

I.

I’m waiting up for Santa Claus

I hope he’ll be here soon.

He may be rather late because

There isn’t any moon.

My nightgown is too short for me

I’m cold, that’s why I shake.

Won’t Santa be surprised to see

A little girl like me?

II.

I’ve hung my stockings over there

Where he can see them best.

Of course, if they won’t hold my share,

The tree is for the rest.

Our chimney isn’t very wide—

It’s full of dirt and smoke.

I wonder if he crawls inside,

Or if that’s just a joke.

III.

Maybe he’ll go right up the stairs

Like any other friend.

I wonder if the beard he wears

Is pointed at the end.

I suppose his cheeks will be quite pink

From traveling so far.

I ought to be in bed, he’ll think

Where other children are.

IV.

I’d better speak at once, and say,

“Good morrow, Santa, dear.

Thank you for coming all this way

To bring me Christmas cheer.”

But s’pose he says, “When children spy

I’ll punish them instead.”

I really, really think that I

Had better go to bed.

--The Youths Companion

ECHO—the Old Windsor Academy Alumni Publication

I was recently asked if the Historical Society had the first annual publication put out by the Windsor Academy Alumni Association in 1885. Very few copies, if any, still exist, but I knew we had about a dozen or so copies of the newsletter-like publication in our collection donated by the Elliott family many years ago. I was so pleased to discover that we did have the 138-year-old document, several pages of which we’re sharing here. The Windsor Academy (synonymous for High School today) was established in 1845; the nearest other Academy being in Franklin, NY, in Delaware Co. It was very clear that Windsor made higher education a priority in the 19^th century, laying a strong foundation for the future. Below is an article written by a former student that appeared in the first issue of the Echo. It reflected a new way of looking at how to best educate all young people that is still applicable today.—ER

The New Education

by Giles H. Stilwell

Among the many changes of the last half century, none is more important than the change to ideas of education. The schoolmaster of fifty years ago held sway in a rude building, whose rooms were low and smoke-blackened, and whose desks and seats were models of inconvenience and torture. Teacher and pupil looked upon each other as antagonists. No one thought that the boy was to learn for the love of learning, but rather from fear of the master. No one expected he was to go out of school with a desire for knowledge, but rather with a hatred of everything resembling school work. Boyish activity was something to be suppressed, and boys and girls were to be molded by an iron hand into miniature old men and women.

The old education was an education by force, with cheerful surroundings and helpful encouragement sadly wanting. It was very much like taking a tender plant, placing it in the scanty soil of some mountain side, subjecting it to every rude blast, and then expecting it to grow. If it fails to grow, beat it; withhold its nourishment and leave it to die, unless it has vitality enough to overcome all its hindrances. No wonder our grandfathers thought that the three R’s were all that was advisable to attempt to teach the boys and girls.

The new educator says, cover the walls with pictures, give the child plenty of air, exercise and light, make his surroundings as healthful and cheerful as those at home. Remember, it says, that the mind takes pleasure in activity, and that if the proper subjects can be presented at the proper time and in the proper way, learning will be a delight, and the child will leave the school with a desire for knowledge that will go with him though life. It tells us that youthful activity is not to be suppressed, but directed, and that the most potent way to form character is not by harsh words and blows, but by kind and noble deeds, and kind and encouraging words.

It is pleasing to all friends of the old Academy that Windsor shows so well, in the new building and in her generous support of the school, a desire to keep step with every advance in educational thought.

Teaching in the One-Room Schoolhouses of Yesteryears

This is the continuation of Joan Edwards’ interview of her Aunt Dena Mallery about her many years of teaching in Windsor’s one-room schoolhouses over a hundred years ago. It appeared in the May 7, 1970, issue.—ER

“My first experience at teaching at a more modern school was at Acre Place. By then I had completed training courses and had gone to Summer School, so I had Permanent Certification. At this school there were two teachers so I only taught the first four grades. We had a piano so I no longer had to rely on my pitch-pipe.

“I asked her, now that she was a well-experienced teacher, did she at last have job security? ‘No,’ she said, ‘security was still pretty hard to come by. Although I was never wanting for a teaching job, one year I was bumped because the trustee had a daughter who wanted to teach. Well, I accepted another position, but the following year the Superintendent of Schools and the parents were all begging me to come back. So back I came.’

“Did you ever have any discipline problems, I asked next. ‘Oh, no real problems. The boys and girls were always so good. You know, some of these students when they got up to the 8 grade were bigger than I was, but they always showed respect. Oh, sometimes I would make one of them sit under the knee-hole of my desk, but there were no problems.’

“She was thinking again and she just seemed to beam. ‘I’ve taught at West Windsor, Sherwood Valley, and Conklin but Brookvale [in Kirkwood] was a school that always had a place in my heart. We would have programs for all the holidays. Our Christmas celebrations were so nice. One time we asked the Superintendent of Schools to come to visit and he did. Everyone came, young and old. We’d work for days on our decorations, the program and the trimmings. Sometimes so many came we couldn’t fit everyone in and they’d stand at the doorways or outside.’

“There were no busses and the children had to walk to school. Sometimes they would be pretty cold when they arrived. I had a two-burner stove and we decided that we’d have hot lunches. Sometimes at night when I got home from school I would fix a big kettle of soup or macaroni and cheese ready to take to school the next day for all the children and me. The children seemed to like that so we had volunteers who would bring something to put in the next day’s pot. We’d plan menus and everyone would chip in. We had a real active PTA.

“I asked her if she could remember any of the games the children played. “During the winter months,’ she said, ‘the children usually made snow men or forts or played Fox and Geese, but with the spring weather they would love to play Red Light, Anti-Anti Over, jump rope and of course we usually had a ball game going. You know, back at Acre Place School we had modern equipment for the playground and someone was always getting hurt or getting in a fight. But at Brookvale the children made up their own games and they would all play together, boys and girls, little ones and the big. It was like a big happy family.’

“Then Aunt Dena said, ‘You know modern education is wonderful. Now children learn so much more than they ever did before. But if you have never gone to a One Room School House, you can never imagine how wonderful it was.’ She thought for a moment and then said ‘But if you have never TAUGHT is a One Room School House you will never know what fun, love and laughter you have missed’.”

Remembering the One-Room Schoolhouse

In the Words of One of Its Teachers

More than 50 years ago, Windsor native and local history advocate Joan Hughes Edwards shared the teaching experiences of her Aunt Dena Mallery in an article in the April 30, 1970 issue of the Windsor Standard. Dena Mallery spent all of her adult life devoted to teaching Windsor children in many of the town’s one-room schoolhouses. Here is part of that article.

“The One-Room School House—with its big heating stove in the middle of the room, the kerosene lamps, the hard wooden desks that never seemed to fit, the chalk board (if you were good, you got to clap the erasers outside), the old wooden bucket for drinking water with the long-handled dipper, the outhouse; but most of all, the One-Room School House with its love, fun and laughter—have all but disappeared. But to some of us the memory of those days will always linger.

“I came across some pictures of such an old schoolhouse as described above. One is the Old Occanum school house [pictured here] taken in 1913. The teacher was Miss Dena Mallery [pictured here with her class], a young, enthusiastic woman who chose to give a lifetime to teaching.

“Miss Mallery was Aunt Dena to me and all the kids on Pine Street [in the Village of Windsor] where she lived for more than 50 years. I got her talking one day of her teaching experiences in a one-room schoolhouse. She told me she started teaching in 1910 in a school up in Edson. Some of her students were Wealthy Barton, Morton Stannard, Nelson and Edith Pulz, Leonard Frost and Virgil Grey.

“Aunt Dena and her family were living at the Outlook Farm then and she would walk from there up the hill to the schoolhouse in Edson and be ready to greet the boys and girls before school started at 9 a.m. In bad weather, she would stay with a family who lived right next door to the school. She taught the first six grades at the time."

“Miss Mallery’s second school was at South Windsor. Again, she would walk to school, even though she had a horse called Old Grey Mare. Miss Dena said it was a nice school building and such nice children. She had a startling experience there one day when she went out in the woodshed to get some wood and there curled around a beam over her head was a big black snake.

“Getting back to the Occanum school house, Aunt Dena remembered how much the children loved Christmas time. She said the Christmas decorations were just the nicest and they would work for days during recess making them. Then, when Christmas was almost there, the boys would head out for the woods to bring back just the right tree. There would be Santa and presents.

Aunt Dena would get each child a present.   

(to be continued)

Remembering the Late Mabel Brink

Longest Living Employee of the Windsor Whip Companies

I had the pleasure of going to the Brink family home on Piper Hill Road about 15 years ago to

interview Mabel Brink about her experience working for two of the three whip-making

businesses of Windsor in the early 1930s. At the age of 95, she had vivid and engaging

memories of life when she was young and growing up in Windsor.

Mabel Brink was one of a number of long-time Windsor people I audio-recorded as part of a

project known as Living History of Windsor in the early 2000s. They include Charles English,

Rev. Lewis Payne, Joan and Gerry Edwards and Elinor Danton. These special people may have

passed, but their memories live on in their own words.

Mabel Brink was the longest living employee of Windsor’s Whip Companies, working at the

Empire State Whip Company on Chapel Street at age18 and later at the Windsor Whip Works

on Main Street. She, like other young Windsor women, ran the whip-making machines. It

required speed and dexterity and involved working long hours, and at a pay far less than the

men working at these companies.

A highlight of the interview was when Mabel told me she had asked Jimmy Elliott for a well-

deserved raise, and had been turned down. She set about looking for another job and found

one in Binghamton that paid her well. Wanting her to come back to Windsor Whip Works, Jimmy

offered to pay Mabel the raise she asked for, but she declined.

Come to our special event celebrating the 100-years of making whips in Windsor and learn

more about the people who established and worked for the whip-making businesses that

brought prosperity to the town. Saturday, September 9, from 10 am to 3 pm at the Community

House in the Village of Windsor.

~~Eileen Ruggieri

Thanks to all who came to visit us at the Corn Fest & Tractor Show this year!

Looking Back at Window on the Arts Festival

I look back fondly on the years I was involved in Windsor’s Window on the Arts Festival.  Art, music, local history, good food and more were celebrated at this day-long Saturday event in September. I coordinated the local history part of the festival. I’ll never forget the year Charlie English was our guest speaker at the Presbyterian Church on the Village Green, talking with such knowledge of and compassion for the many Windsor men who served in the Civil War. It was a moving moment.

Another special year at WOTA for local history was when we held an Indian Artifacts Exhibit under a big tent at Klumpp Park. The numerous collections of arrow heads, points, pottery shards, and trading items with the British and French drew quite a crowd. The late Don Straub, OOHS member, and at the time its Vice President, gave demonstrations in flint-knapping and talked about the many times he took part in archeological digs in this part of the Susquehanna River Valley. His passion for remembering the Native American people who lived here long ago through the artifacts they left behind, was inspiring.

I recently found these four signed WOTA posters carefully filed away in the Windsor History Room. Each year, an artist was commissioned to do a painting that would represent the festival in all its promotional materials. They capture some of Windsor’s best known historic features.

Eileen Ruggieri

140-year-old Story of the Harpursville Country Store

We are so fortunate that some of the buildings that were an important part of the history of Colesville and Windsor are still standing today; some of them still serving their communities in very meaningful ways. Among them is the Country Store located for the past 140+ years at the intersection known as the Crossroads of Harpursville in the Town of Colesville.

According to OOHS charter member Fran Bromley’s book “By the Way”, the old building sits on the site of the sawmill built in 1793 and operated by Lemuel Badger, one of the Town’s first settlers. Sometime between 1876 and 1883, James B. Frasier bought the property and moved a nearby building to the site of the mill using “45 yoke of oxen” and opened a store.

In 1884, William E. Knox bought the store and sawmill and operated the Harpursville Furniture Store until 1904 when he established the New York Cash Store, which sold food and other household goods. James E. Knox took over the business in 1904 and advertised himself in the Harpursville Budget newspaper as “Knox the Merchant”.

In 1926, James and Clarissa Knox sold the business to Ray King, who made many improvements to the building. He added an apartment over the store, put in gasoline pumps and installed the first refrigerated meat case. At one point, he renamed the business the Arrowhead Store. Since he was Town Clerk for many years, you could get a hunting license when you went in to buy a bottle of milk. Ray’s business was “a gathering place for the townsmen.”

Ray sold the business in 1951 to Max and Paula Hagedorn who operated the store for 31 years, living in the upstairs apartment. “Dress Your Whole Family at Hagedorn’s” was their motto. In 1982, Mrs. Hagedorn sold the store to Ron and Patty Buckler. They added the ice cream shop and other improvements, and named it the O.J.J. Grocery. Neale Farrell bought the store in 1993, when became the Bread and Butter Country Store.

Since then, this wonderful old store has had other owners, and through all these years, it has been at the heart of the Harpursville. As it continues to serve the community, let’s always remember the story it tells of life here long ago.

Eileen Ruggieri

100 Years of Windsor Whipmaking & the Westfield MA Whip Mfg. Co.

In early July, Carol Martin, President of the Westfield Whip Manufacturing Co. in Westfield, MA, met with OOHS President Ruggieri in Windsor to discuss plans for a September 9 event in the Village of Windsor to commemorate the 100-year history of whipmaking in the community. Westfield, known as The Whip City, was considered a trailblazer, leading the industry in this country and around the world. The City’s whipmaking industry had a particularly close association with whipmaking businesses in Windsor, namely the Coburn Whip Co. and the Owen-Comstock Whip Co., sending here both whipmaking machinery and people skilled in its use. Whipmaking put Windsor on the map in the second half of the 19th century.

The past will repeat itself on September 9 at 1:00 pm when Carol Martin, who also heads up of the Westfield Historic Industries Preservation Project, presents a visual demonstration in the Windsor Community House of how whips were made back in the 1800s. Another highlight of the day is the display of an amazingly well-preserved salesman’s satchel of whips from the Empire State Whip Co. of Windsor; a treasure well over 100 years old. Broome County Historian Roger Luther will be bringing the satchel of whips, which is stored in the vaults of Roberson Museum by the Broome County Historical Society.

More to come on this special event!

Remembering Murdock’s Shady Rest on Old Route 17

In days gone by, Murdock’s Shady Rest in Windsor was the only truck stop between Binghamton and Roscoe on a busy Route 17C. Located along the Occanum Creek a little west of the Village, Murdock’s got its start in the 1920s when the original owner, William Crory, cleared brush away and created a picnic area. He later built a house on the property and put in a gas station.

In the mid-1940s, Jess and Ruth Murdock took over the business, calling it the Shady Rest Service Station. They expanded the picnic grounds, put in a bridge over the creek, and built little cabins on the other side.

Back in those days, there was no Route 17. Truckers used the Old State Road (17C) that took them right past Murdock’s. Business grew to the point where they had 14 pumps and sold a number of brands of gas, including Texaco, Esso and Atlantic.

In 1952, Bob and Rose Sanford became the Shady Rest’s new owners. They soon opened the Shady Rest Diner with business cards reading “Good food—reasonable prices—open 24 hours.”

Jess Murdock stayed on after selling the business, remembered by many local children who were treated to a piece of bubble gum he always found for them in his pocket. He was remembered as saying many times about whet he did for a living, “You don’t make much money but you have a lot of fun doing it.”

The Sanford’s son, Larry, and Jim Slack co-owned the business for a short time around 1980. In mid-1981, members of the Forbidussi family of Windsor took ownership of the gas station and garage and renamed it A.R.S. Auto, Inc.

So Where Was Cole Tavern Located?

Last summer when the Historical Society was at the Corn Festival in Windsor, someone stopped by our tent asking if we knew about the old Cole Tavern up on Cole’s Hill. This person was particularly interested in where it was located, explaining that he had found an old Cole sign on property just down Watrous Road on the right. I’ve always assumed that Cole Tavern was on the southeast corner of the intersection on Colesville Road with Watrous and Martin Hill Roads.

Now, I wasn’t so sure.

And then I came across the hand-drawn map of Colesville by long-time resident Lloyd Badger. It’s not dated, but my guess is that he drew it in the early part of the 20^th century. If you look at the Cole Hill part of the map below, you will see a short spur off of State Road (Colesville Road) to the right where it meets up with Watrous Road south of the intersection. And there is Cole’s Hill Tavern on that corner. Lloyd indicates in writing on the back of the map that his great grandfather Peter Martin owned many acres in the Valley toward Ouaquaga. He had to have been very familiar with the area.

So, I ask, can any one tell us more about just where Cole Tavern was located? It was demolished almost 100 years ago, so we might not ever know for sure.



Eileen Ruggieri

Remember the Old Autograph Book?

If you grew up in the early to mid-20^th century, you might remember having an autograph book in which family and friends wrote their well-wishes to you. Mine had a zipper on three sides and was a pretty special possession for many years. When Sharon Warnock gave the Historical Society an autograph book she found at the long-time home of the late Gerry and Joan Edwards when she had the opportunity to browse through and select old items, I was taken with it and many of its entries.

The book belonged to an Edwards family member named Ella and the entries date back to the early 1880s through 1900. They often liked to quote poets or write about this world and the next in those days. Some entries were quite humorous. Here are a few!

Eileen Ruggieri

Hand-painted, Old-time Calling Cards & Carrying Case

I discovered a small leather case in the Historical Society’s library and research room at St. Luke’s this past winter. Inside was a dozen little cards that would have been used as calling cards for local people over 100 years ago.

What’s so special about some of these little 1-1/2 by 2-1/2-inch cards is that they appear to be hand-painted by whoever was giving them out. Many of the names on the cards are very faint and therefore difficult to read; but a few legible ones, like Roberts and Welton, indicate that these cards are from Colesville and Windsor. Some served as calling cards with names only, while others were little love notes and tributes to friendship. It was very common to see drawings of flowers and birds on these cards. Here are a few of them!



Eileen Ruggieri

Drilling for Oil in Onaquaga in 1880's

Early Historical Society member Anne Herbert, author of the book Robert Harpur’s New York, wrote a column many years ago for the Windsor Standard on the Enterprise Prospecting and Mining Company of Ouaquaga (Limited). She wrote that she had before her a book containing the minutes of all their meetings, starting in March of 1886. More than 50 years later, I’m looking at the same book filled with the amazingly beautiful penmanship of a person writing in the late 19^th century. Here are some interesting excerpts from her article.

~Eileen Ruggieri

“The company was formed by an enthusiastic group of Ouaquaga citizens. Their office was the southwest corner of D.D. Badger’s general store in Ouaquaga. In the late 1800’s oil was found in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and oil fever appears to have struck people all through the area. The thought of riches coming in on a gusher was enough to sell about 320 shares in the Ouaquaga company at $12.50 per share.

Eighty-two parcels of land were leased, totaling about 7500 acres. Bids were taken on lumber to build the rig. A decision was made to call in an expert to locate the well, but at a later meeting of the directors [which must have been an interesting one], they not only reversed that decision, but voted to go out that very night and locate it themselves! Robert A. Kerr of Barker Valley was hired to drill the oil well.

The minutes of these directors’ meetings are masterpieces of brevity. However, during the first year or so, meetings were called every few days, and page after page in the book are occupied with the mechanics of parliamentary procedure. Elections seem to have been held frequently, though the same men remained in control, in one office or another. Those men included Aris Lull, who remained as president, and B. B. Badger, who was secretary. T. H. Doolittle was treasurer and director, but resigned before the first year had passed. J. H. Brownell was elected to take his place.

Not a great deal was said about the actual drilling prospecting operations. Burton Doolittle and Fred M. Porter were hired to guard the derrick in March 1887 and a month later, Doolittle and Brownell were appointed to measure the hole. They reported it was 2017 feet deep. [I understand the rig was located on Sage Creek.]

According to the 136-year-old book, the next word of the state of affairs was in September 1887 with the announcement of a shareholders’ meeting in October. It was called to “take under consideration the advisability of increasing or decreasing the capital stock, or dissolving said Company.” No decision was made then, but in February 1888, an effort was made to sell more stock and use the proceeds to drill 200 feet deeper.

With great difficulty, more stock was sold, but as one turns the pages of the record book the optimism of the directors dwindled to nothing. In March 1893, the derrick was ordered sold and the company was disbanded in March 1899.

Colorful Dash Plaques from the Onaquaga Region A.A.C.A. Car Show in Windsor

Another treasure uncovered in recent years at the Historical Society’s library/resource room at St. Luke’s were a dozen and a half metallic dash plaques commemorating the years when Windsor hosted the annual Onaquaga Region A.A.C.A. (Antique Automobile Club of America) Car Show. The Historical Society has plaques dating from 1989 to 2004. Town of Windsor Historian Rita Saunders found several picture pages of the car show in old Windsor Standard newspapers. Antique car enthusiasts came from far and near for this popular annual event.

Windsor will once again host a Car Show at the Windsor Town Fair this summer. It will take place on Sunday, August 20, at the Palmer Elementary School parking lot.

Eileen Ruggieri

Remembering Windsor Historian Bernard Osborne

My first foray into local history was a Village of Windsor Cemetery tour led by the late Town Historian Bernard “Barney” Osborne in the summer of 1985. He and Marjory Hinman used gravestones, some well over 150 years old, to tell the story of Windsor’s earliest and most well-known people. After that day, I visited Barney and his wife Helen at his ancestral home in Occanum to absorb as much local history as I could, knowing that the files he kept there on family histories in particular were among the most comprehensive records in Broome County. Many years later, those hand-written files would end up in the Windsor History Room in the Town Hall and be used extensively to help people track down their family’s past in the town.

So, when I found a newspaper clipping on Barney in a Sunday edition of the Binghamton Press from September 1978, I had to share it here. Written by freelance writer Hal Smith of Windsor, it sheds more light on who he was and why the town’s history was so important to him. Here are some excerpts from the article “Windsor Farm Mechanic Is Tuned Into the Past,” and a few photos to remember him by.

“Bernard Osborne, a 62-year-old former dairy farmer, fixes machinery by day and  hunts missing persons, mostly dead, by night. He’s not a part-time detective, but the official historian for the Town of Windsor.

“An amateur genealogist, in 1975 he was asked to take on the job of answering the steady trickle of correspondence the town receives from all over the country from people trying to trace long lost ancestors. But unlike those of us who know little more of our family history than what our grandparents cared to tell us, Barney Osborne is immersed in history, his own and that of his community.

“Much of Barney’s research involves primary sources, from graveyard markers, old newspapers, histories and diaries to general store account books and conversations with old timers. The Windsor area, rich in Revolutionary War lore, nurtured the roots of many families that multiplied and dispersed over the last 200 years.”

[Barney said:] “I’ve been doing this genealogy stuff for a long time. I got started looking up my own folks. My ancestors and relatives married into so many families in Colesville and Windsor, it was easy to pick up all the rest of it.”

Hal Smith’s article said Barney Osborne did “all the rest of it” through extensive correspondence with other genealogists across the country. Many, if not most, of the family files in the Windsor History room contain valuable information compiled by Barney in his familiar handwriting. Just as important, he was responsible for seeing that all of the surviving issues of the Windsor Standard, the 100-year-old weekly town newspaper (in 1978) were microfilmed. Barney was a founding member of the Old Onaquaga Historical Society and its president in 1973-74. What a lasting legacy he left for the people of Windsor.

Eileen Ruggieri

The Old St. Luke’s Bell Remembered

With the Easter Holiday upon us, the thought of church bells ringing on Sunday morning reminded me of the beautiful old bell that still hangs in the belfry of St. Luke’s Church in Harpursville. It was transported here from Troy, New York, by ox-sled in 1870. The bell was cast by Jones & Company Foundry.

Years ago, when Broome County Historian Roger Luther was putting together a pictorial book of places of religious worship in the county, he asked to take pictures of St. Luke’s. He was particularly interested in going up into the tower and photograph the bell. Thanks to his efforts, we have these pictures to share with you.

The bell has not been rung in decades, but its presence in this historic local church, which has been home to the Old Onaquaga Historical Society for well over 50 years, is a memorable link to the past that resonates for many in the community.

Eileen Ruggieri

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.

A Lookback at Harpursville Railway Mail Clerk Lloyd Badger

In the museum at St. Luke’s is a formal photograph of a young Lloyd Badger, dressed as he would have appeared in his position of Railway Mail Clerk in the early 20^th century in Harpursville. He would hold that job from 1910 to 1950 and live many more years in the town he grew up in.

Lloyd Badger was a descendent of the Badger brothers—Lemuel and Nathaniel—who were among the earliest settlers in the valley, arriving in 1786. Lloyd was born in an upstairs bedroom of the Belden Tavern in 1886 and raised in Ouaquaga.

In order to become a railway mail clerk, Lloyd had to show he could sort mail on a moving train. He obviously passed that test. Mail was hung in a mailbag at the train stations along the D & H Railroad line. It was grabbed by the clerk in the moving mail car as the train passed by. The sorting began immediately.

In a Windsor Standard article dated September 24, 1970, in which Lloyd was being honored for 60 years of membership in and serve to the Free Masons, he spoke about how his many years as a railway postal clerk made him quite a traveler. He reminisced about having “traveled in 46 of the 50 states in the nation.” The then 84-year-old said he had traveled over 2 million miles by rail and over 2 million miles by highway.

Lloyd found the time as a young man to enjoy playing the trumpet. He was good at it and joined the Windsor Town Band when it was in its heyday.

The Historical Society is fortunate to have items of significant railroad history thanks to Lloyd Badger, including his practice kit for sorting mail on a moving train. Also among his written memorabilia is a historical leaflet from 1973 on his reminiscences of Colesville people and places (mainly hotels), and a hand-drawn map of the town as he remembered it with some very interesting information on it. More to come next week!

Eileen Ruggieri

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

Rare Eldorado House Token Coin

Gifted to Historical Society by Huyck Family

Last spring, family members of the late Clifford Huyck met with OOHS member Jan McKnight to donate a rare piece of Colesville history to the Historical Society. It was a token coin from the old Eldorado House “good for 10 cents in trade.” And, like many of the special items gifted to us, the token had a story of its own.

Longtime Harpursville resident Charlie Paddleford worked as a caretaker at the Riverview Cemetery in Harpursville in the mid-20^th century. He was a neighbor of Clifford Huyck, and, back in the early 1970s, Charlie gave Clifford a brass token coin from the long-gone Eldorado House in exchange for work done. Clifford kept this rare coin for the rest of his life, and, upon his death last March, gifted it to the Old Onaquaga Historical Society.

The Eldorado House has a special place in Harpursville history. It was built in 1835 by Harmon Tyrell at the busiest intersection in the town. This was one year after the turnpike between Harpursville and Chenango Point—now Binghamton—was completed.

The Eldorado House was referred to as “the beauty spot and pride of Harpursville” for most of its nearly 100-year history. According to OOHS member Fran Bromley’s book on Colesville By the Way, the Eldorado House “continued to prosper as the social center of the town”.

Beginning in the 1870s, a horse drawn, two-seated surrey with “fringe on top” met incoming trains and transported guests who sought food and lodging at the picturesque Eldorado. Stagecoach horns sounded before its entrance and partiers gathered before its huge open hearth on Christmases long ago. Its great downstairs ballroom had served as a dance hall and dancing school.

Sadly, it all ended on September 15, 1933, in the early morning hours when the building caught on fire and burned down. Today, the Harpursville Fire Station is located on the site of the long-gone Eldorado House; and few people, if any, remember its heydays. But thanks to the late Clifford Huyck and his family, we have a very special memento of this historic Harpursville establishment. And for that, we are most grateful.

Eileen Ruggieri

Pettus Hill Preserve in West Windsor

A Legacy of Land and Love

In May of 2019, the Waterman Conservation Education Center officially opened the Pettus Hill Preserve in West Windsor, a 103-acre nature area that was once long ago a hilltop farm. For many years, it was home to Charles “Chuck” Pettus, a man who was well-known and highly regarded in both his professional and personal life.

The retired IBM Physicist and Engineer—as well as longtime musician and naturalist—spent the latter years of his life on his hilltop property on Abbey Road. Starting around 1990, Pettus attempted to make his property the “highest point in Broome County” by building a “pyramid” of soil and rock at the highest elevation on his hilltop. He fell short of his goal, but the pyramid peak is still there and so is the Vernal Pond from which soil for the pyramid was excavated. The overlook and north-facing views are impressive from the preserve’s lofty summit. There’s a 100-year-old stone farmhouse foundation as well.

Wanting to share his beloved hilltop with the community and anyone with a love for nature—especially young people—Chuck Pettus bequeathed his land to the Waterman Conservation Education Center in his Will. There was one provision, however; it must be kept “forever wild” for the education and enjoyment of all.

Chuck Pettus passed away in 2013 knowing that in the future many others would be able to experience the natural beauty and serenity of his woodland property. And in the past four years, that is just what has happened. The trails are maintained by Preserve Stewart Scott Clarke of West Windsor. He’s pleased to note that this year, members of the Triple Cities Hiking Club will be including the Preserve in their hiking schedule.

The Pettus Hill Preserve is open year-round for hiking, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. There is an attractive shelter with benches along the main trail, thanks to Eagle Scout Phillip Card of Windsor’s Troop 68 under the mentorship of the late Ron Rambo.

No motorized vehicles, hunting or trapping, campfires, pets or littering are allowed.

For more information, contact Waterman Center at www.WatermanCenter.org or call them at 607—625-2221. You can also call Scott Clarke at 607-775-4166.

At the close of Black History Month, it is most fitting that we remember Chuck Pettus for who he was and the wonderful gift he gave us all.

Eileen Ruggieri

OOHS President

A Lookback at a Longtime Windsor Couple

I first made the acquaintance of Joan and Gerry Edwards back in 1997 when they took part in an oral history project I did with 4^th graders at Alice Freeman Palmer Elementary School for the Village of Windsor’s Centennial celebration. They talked to the students about what it was like growing up in Windsor back in the 1930s and 40s—Gerry on a farm in Damascus and Joan in a big house on Pine Street overlooking the river valley. The children were very engaged in the experience because the Edwards’ brought the past to life in such a meaningful way. I’m in the process of converting the interview from an old cassette tape to a more up-to-date electronic format so it will be easier to share.

Four years later, at my son’s graduation from Windsor High School, I watched as Gerry received his high school diploma. Like so many young men of his generation, Gerry went off to serve his country in World War II before officially graduating. Now, I wish I had had the chance to sit down and talk with him about that experience. But thanks to my friend Sharon Warnock, the Historical Society has a small scrapbook that Joan started many years ago when she and Gerry were first married. There aren’t more than a half-dozen pages of newspaper clippings, but in them is the story of the beginning of a life-long relationship and an accounting of just how heroic Gerry was during the war.

Joan’s love for Gerry was very apparent to the community when she hosted a dinner and theater party for him before he left to begin training in the U.S. Army in 1943. Soon afterwards, they were engaged when Gerry was stationed with the U.S. Air Corps at Atlantic City, New Jersey. According to one of the newspaper clippings, “A rather unique wedding took place in Gulfport, Mississippi, when Miss Joan Arlene Hughes, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin A. Hughes, married Pfc. Henry Gerald Edwards, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lyle B. Edwards at the Post Chapel at Gulfport Field.”

Joan would eventually return to Windsor as Gerry went off to war. The few remaining scrapbook clippings had to do with honors Gerry received for his air service during the Normandy Invasion. One newspaper article said that Cpl. Henry G. Edwards was a member of the 438^th Troop Carrier Group which was cited for making 131 powered aircraft sorties against the enemy on June 5, 6, and 7 of 1944. Gerry personally received a distinguished service citation award for action in the Normandy beachhead invasion in France.

The final entry in the scrapbook reads as follows; “Cpl. Henry G. Edwards, whose wife Joan resides in Windsor, has been awarded his fifth bronze battle star. The latest decoration is significant of service in five major campaigns in the European Theatre of Operations.”

Both of these special people are now gone, but thanks to the memories of them that were preserved in this scrapbook and to all of the many history articles Joan wrote about life in Windsor, they will not be forgotten.

Eileen Ruggieri
OOHS President

Two Treasures from the Old Onaquaga Historical Society Museum

All the way back at the opening of our Local History Museum at St. Luke’s Church in 1969, Elizabeth Spaulding Hotchkiss donated the horse-drawn carriage and sleigh that are still on display today. Elizabeth was the daughter of Renna Z. Spaulding of the Spaulding Bakeries family in Binghamton and Edgar James Hotchkiss, a great, great grandson of David Hotchkiss, founding pioneer of Windsor. Elizabeth and Edgar had a home on Binghamton’s South Mountain, which became the Racquette and Riding Club in 1965.

The carriage was the last one made by the Sturtevant & Larrabee Company of Binghamton. That might also have been where the sleigh was built. Elizabeth, like many women of her time, was an accomplished horsewoman, having had horses since she was a young girl. We are so thankful Elizabeth thought to give the Historical Society these treasured possessions 54 years ago.

Eileen Ruggieri 

An Invitation to Old-time Events in Colesville & Windsor

For many decades, these invitations to dances and other events in long-ago Colesville and

Windsor have been on display in our museum at St. Luke’s in Harpursville. They speak of a

different time when rural towns had community events that brought people together regularly;

namely to dance.

There were many dancehalls in both towns, the most formal of which was on

the second floor of the Eldorado House in Harpursville.

One of the earliest ballrooms was at

Cole’s Tavern where it took up the whole front of the building on the second floor and even had

a bandstand.

Newly Found & Acquired Old Treasures

I have wondered for many years about a photograph taken in the early 20^th century of a group of “Old Timers” from Windsor at an outdoor event. The back of the photo and the file folder it was in had no identification of who and where they were. Such a special picture of old-time Windsor folks, but with no story.

I’m not sure where it came from, but a few months ago another copy of the 8-inch by 10-inch photo appeared on the table in the Windsor History Room. It was remarkably well-preserved for a picture over 120 years old. Best of all, it came with the following descriptive passage:

As nearly as their memories could recollect, Mrs. Bennett and Mrs. Gadow, in 1966, were able to name the following prominent persons attending this outing at Columbia Grove: (probably at the turn of the century)

Luther Smith—3^rd from right, last row with white whiskers

Dr. I. C. Edson—6^th from right last row

Hiram Spour—on Dr. Edson’s right

F. L. Goodenough—1^st from left, first row

Persis Brown—1^st row, 2^nd from left

H. S. Williams—18^th from left, with grey handlebar mustache

Charlie Hotchkiss—15^th from left, with black handlebar mustache

Leverett Russell—1^st row, 8^th from right

Another newly-acquired gem is a rare Julian Campbell postcard entitled Below the Mill, Windsor, N.Y. This postcard came from a series of original photo prints made by Campbell, who took hundreds of images in towns along the Susquehanna River in the 1910s, including over 100 photos of Windsor.

Enjoy these glimpses of the past we are so fortunate to have in the History Room collection and share with all.

Eileen Ruggieri

The Gift of Sharing Local Family Histories

I had the pleasure of meeting Steven Watrous last November at the Nineveh Library along with other OOHS members. He had come east from Utah with his wife Sandy to donate items of family history to the Historical Society. They included numerous photographs, family diaries going all the way back to the late 1850s and several genealogical charts of the Ruland/Comstock family of which Steven is a descendant. He is the grandson of Adeline “Addie” Ruland Watrous, and she was the daughter of Amenzo P. Ruland and Jennie F. Comstock. Born in 1897 in the Town of Colesville, Addie’s birthplace and home was on “The Plains” near Nineveh. She married Watson R. Watrous in 1920.

Addie Ruland had an older sister Julia who taught in the one-room schoolhouse in District #6 on Perch Pond Hill in the early 20^th century. One of her best students was Mabel Rowe, who went on to teach for 45 years in local schools, including the Center Village School in District #20.

Thanks to Steven Watrous and his thoughtfulness in donating family history memorabilia, we have added information on life in Colesville from 100+ years ago. We encourage anyone who is the keeper of family history from Windsor and Colesville to please consider contacting us. Even if you don’t want to donate items to the Historical Society, we can photograph and/or scan them to add to our collection. This is how we keep local history alive in the words and pictures of those who lived it.

Eileen Ruggieri

Mourning Dress in Older Days

In creating two picture books of history in the towns of Colesville and Windsor, I have looked through hundreds of old photographs and picture postcards from the late 19^th century on. One of the many things I noted was how frequently women, particularly older women, were dressed in black. Among the vintage clothing we discovered at St. Luke’s Local History Museum last summer were two black dresses, fairly unadorned except for a lace neckline on one of them. More recently, one of our members put a picture on Facebook showing a young couple from the Civil War era on their wedding day and the bride was wearing black.

After talking about this with Holly Gardinier in the Windsor History Room, she shared an article on the evolution of mourning wear from the Journal of Antiques & Collectibles. It seems the custom of wearing unadorned black clothing for mourning dates back to Roman times. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, black mourning attire was worn only by royalty and aristocrats. All mourning dress was heavily regulated and monitored to fit a strict dress code. Things changed in the 18^th century when wealthy merchant families and a growing middle class in Western Europe started mimicking royalty by wearing black and adopting the fashion of mourning dress.

The wearing of black for mourning reached its peak during the reign of Queen Victoria, who upon the death of her husband Prince Albert wore black for the remaining 40 years of her life. Her mourning for Albert influenced mourning etiquette among almost all classes and established a set of rules governing bereavement rituals. Woman bore the brunt of this, with widows expected to observe a period of mourning dressed appropriately in black for no less than two years. To change ones’ clothing earlier than that was considered disrespectful.

It’s not at all surprising that the young bride mentioned above was dressed in black since more women would have had formal clothing in black and few, if any, would have had a formal white dress or could have afforded it.  

The popularity of picture postcards came about at the end of the Victorian Era when much of the same mourning protocol was practiced here in this country as well. Hence, the many Windsor and Colesville women of the past dressed in black to be photographed. Here are a few of them.

Eileen Ruggieri

Reminiscing About the Old Windsor Inn

The Windsor History Room recently received a copy of the 2002 picture book “Southern Tier Memories—Volume II—The 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s”. The images come from the Broome County Historical Society’s wonderful collection of old photographs. And amongst them were these two of the Windsor Inn as it looked in the mid-20^th century. It was a popular spot back then with a tavern and restaurant, and rooms upstairs. Still standing today as apartments, the building was the oldest hotel or inn in the town, dating back to 1855. Over the years, I’ve heard many local people speak fondly of the old inn years ago. If you have a memory of the place, let us know.

Eileen Ruggieri

Vintage Postcard Books from Windsor and Colesville

Make Special Holiday Gifts

These picture-postcard books from the past are great gifts for the Holidays. If you live nearby, you can get the Colesville book at the Town Clerk’s office and the Nineveh Library. Both books are available at the Town Clerk’s Office in the Windsor Town Hall. To have it mailed to you, leave a message at onaquagahistoricalsociety.org and we will get back to you.

Remembering Local Historian Anne Herbert

Author of Robert Harpur’s New York

When you’ve been digging through local history as long as I have, it’s not uncommon to see the names of certain people appearing frequently in bylines of old newspaper clippings and other written historical sources. Both Windsor and Colesville have long lists of dedicated historians in their pasts who kept local history alive. Many are standouts, which is a topic for another time. One name has stood out recently while I’ve been engaged in programs with the Local History class at Harpursville High School. I’m speaking of the late Anne Herbert of Ouaquaga, and all that she gave to the history of this valley. Her crowning achievement was the publication of her book, Robert Harpur’s New York, but there was so much more to who she was and what she accomplished.

Here's what the Historical Society had to say about Anne Herbert: “The Old Onaquaga Historical Society Museum IS Anne Herbert. She was a charter member when she lived in Ouaquaga. With a degree in architecture and design, she volunteered her talents and created a temporary museum in St. Luke’s basement for the many artifacts Windsor and Colesville people had been donating for some time. She laid out exhibit panels and salvaged parts of old local buildings that needed to be preserved. The Episcopal Church was so impressed with what the Historical Society had done with St. Luke’s, they deeded the church to the OOHS in October 1970.”

In addition to her involvement in local history, Anne Herbert served on the Board of the Broome County Historical Society. I know her best by the many local history columns she wrote for the Windsor Standard. I’ve found them in history folders and scrapbooks, and they are numerous. Thanks to Anne, I learned that Emerson Demeree, owner and editor of the Harpursville Budget weekly newspaper in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, interviewed Harpursville old timers about the past and then write columns about the early history of the town and hamlet. This is an excellent example of passing history on to the next generation.

The Old Onaquaga Historical Society honored Anne Herbert at a book signing on November 17, 2003, at St. Luke’s. Robert Harpur’s New York was just off the press and it was time to celebrate. Anne had meticulously researched Harpur’s life for over 25 years in order to capture the story of the important roles he played in New York State after the Revolutionary War. The book is considered a definitive work on Robert Harpur’s life.

In December 2003, Valerie Zehl of the Press & Sun Bulletin wrote an “Our Towns” article about Anne entitled “Woman’s Will Overcomes Travails”. It was a tribute to Anne, who had terminal cancer at the time and yet lived her life fully with many meaningful “projects” finished and more lined up. Anne passed away in early 2005. We will always be indebted to her for her fierce love of local history and her passion for sharing it.

Eileen Ruggieri

President

Old Onaquaga Historical Society

Virginia Woodruff Morley

A Look back at One of Windsor’s Remarkable Women

The name Virginia Morley appears frequently in Windsor History dating back to the turn of the last

century. She was best known for her philanthropic efforts in the village. Recently, I came across a rare

picture of her in the Alice Freeman Palmer Memorial Edition of The Echo from December 1924. Here are

excerpts from the article written about Mrs. Morley.

“The death of Virginia Frances (Woodruff) Morley in the latter pat of 1911, nine days before her seventy-

sixth birthday, removed from Windsor one of its most cultured and prominent women. She was a

protagonist in every worthy civic and charitable movement, a philanthropist and, what is of especial

interest to “Echo” readers, she practically assured the annual publication of our magazine for many years.

“Virginia was born in Windsor, New York, on October 11, 1835, the only daughter of Simeon and

Phimelia Woodruff. Her childhood was spent in her native town, where she attended the old Windsor

Academy, followed by two years at a private school in Philadelphia. She was married in 1856 to James

Henry Morley, a civil engineer employed by the Erie Railroad Company. A monument to his life and

labors, perpetuating his genius, stands near Windsor today—the Lanesboro Viaduct (which, at the time of

its completion, was the finest structure of its kind in the United States). Shortly after her marriage, Mrs.

Morley removed to Missouri, where most of her married life was spent. The Morley’s had one child,

Frances Virginia, who died at the age of twelve years.

“Mrs. Morley was a woman of many accomplishments; among them music, painting and needlework. Her

home in Windsor, where she spent the latter part of her life, was filled with her artwork, as well as objects

of art collected on her extensive journeys throughout the United States. Her interest in the aspirations of

young people was intense and sympathetic, and she made it possible for many to receive the benefits of a

higher education. In the civic and religious life of her native village she was always a leading figure.

Theater seats and the fire-bell in the Town Hall, and the drinking fountain in front of the Village Green

were donated by her, and her gifts to the Episcopal Church, of which she was a member, were many.”

I recently found a Windsor Standard article from the early 1900s that credited Virginia Morley with

being instrumental in forming and naming the Tuscarora Chapter of the Daughters of the American

Revolution in the 1890s. She most likely had a lot to do with the memorial marker the chapter dedicated

to Rebecca Kellogg Ashley in Windsor in 1909.

Virginia Woodruff Morley was buried in the old Village Cemetery on Chapel Street. She even donated

land adjacent to the original cemetery so there would be more space for the future. She’s a Windsor

woman from the past, one of many, worth remembering here. More to come!

Eileen Ruggieri
President

Old Onaquaga Historical Society

The “Coffin Man” Gravestone

A good many years ago, the late Erwin Kahn—who was a member of both the Old Onaquaga Historical Society and the Colesville Historian’s Committee—was assessing the damage at Harpur Cemetery on Rt. 79 prior to a restoration project. He came upon a pile of stones in some high grass which had been broken and seemingly discarded. He could see that the pieces were parts of a stone for a very young child named Watrous, so he put the pieces of stone together under a lilac bush until they could perhaps be repaired.

In 1980 a woman named Mary Dexter was researching small local graveyards for stones which were carved by someone called the “Coffin Man”. His real name was Jonas W. Stuart and he was an itinerant stone carver from New England who engraved many headstone in this area. His identifying mark was a tiny coffin carved in the stone. In the case of the Watrous gravestone, it was two tiny coffins at the bottom of the stone.

While looking through Harpur Cemetery, Mary came upon the pile of broken stones under the lilac bush and saw the tiny engraved coffins on one piece. She knew at once she had found a Coffin Man gravestone. When pieced together, the stone read:

Here lies 2 Twins

Daughters of John H.

and Rintha Watrous Marian

Died Feb. 28, 1818 Age 3 w

Susahann Died March 8, 1818 Age 4 w

Years passed. When Harpur Cemetery was reclaimed, the pieces were set aside under a tree. In the late 1990s, Harpursville High School librarian Pat Dalpiaz received a grant from the NYS Archives & Records Administration to fund a project to inventory local cemeteries. She worked on this with High School History teacher Ron Henry and students from the Local History class that they both taught. And that was when they came across the pieces of the Watrous gravestone.

Ron Henry later recovered the pieces from the cemetery and removed them to his home for safe-keeping with the intent of repairing and returning the gravestone to its rightful place in the cemetery. Time passed again. Both Ron and Pat retired and the twins’ gravestone pieces were returned to Harpur Cemetery.

Then, in July 2013, Erwin Kahn and a young man named Kurt Riegel, who is a gravestone conservator, were at the cemetery doing some restoration work. When Kurt saw the pieces of the Watrous stone, he volunteered to make a new gravestone to replace the broken one. A beautiful wooden box was made for the original stone which is now appropriately on display at St. Luke’s. 

Duty and Sacrifice in WWII—a Windsor Soldier Gives All

On Sunday, the Historical Society held St. Luke’s Day—a time of reflection and thankfulness. We chose this year to acknowledge those who have served this country in times of war, particularly those from Colesville and Windsor. This was our prayer:

We are so thankful to be gathered here today in each other’s company to reflect upon the past and all the men and women from this valley who have given their best when called upon to serve and protect their country. We thank them for their unselfish service in the continual struggle to preserve our freedoms and ensure our safety, for all of us. We remember those who lived and served in times long past, many of whom are buried in old cemeteries throughout the Towns of Colesville and Windsor. We honor our veterans, worthy men and women, who often live with the scars of war. We pray for their well-being and are thankful for their presence in our communities. We pray for peace eternally, so that good men and women will not be lost to us in war.

Just a few days ago, the Town of Windsor History room received old documents, letters and photographs from a descendant of the Jasper Edwards family, one of the first families to settle in Windsor after the American Revolution. Among the items was a binder about Pvt. John O. Edwards, great, great grandson of Jasper who enlisted in the army during World War II in 1941 and ended up in the Philippines. He was stationed at Corregidor on May 6, 1942, when the Japanese Army captured it and, along with tens of thousands of prisoners of war, he was forced to endure the Bataan Death March. He survived the torturous march, but we know very little of his years in captivity which must have been extremely harsh. Tragically, John was killed in action on December 15, 1945, while being transported by ship to another Japanese prison camp during the American invasion of the Philippines. He was 30 years old.

John’s mother, Mary Edwards, kept many of the letters he wrote to her from before he was taken captive, together with pictures of him from boyhood through his soldier years. There are also newspaper clippings of his having gone missing and then being declared a prisoner of war. She must have suffered deeply, like so many mothers of lost young soldiers. Mary Edwards passed away in November 1944, over a year before her son’s death.

John was one of many soldiers who made the greatest of sacrifices in war. It is why we local historians have the responsibility to make sure that his story is not forgotten—that we remember him and all who have given of themselves in service to their country. 

100+ Year Old Satchel of Windsor Whips No Longer a “Mystery from the Vault”

I had the pleasure of meeting a mother and her daughter from Gilbertsville at the Windsor Town Hall this month when they came in to see what information the Windsor History files had on the Waller family. OOHS members AnnMarie Hill and her 90-ish mother Darlene Waller Hill brought photos, postcards, family records and a wedding album from the 1950s to share with us as well.

The earliest Waller in the valley was Nathan Waller of South Windsor. He knew George Catlin, famous painter of Native Indians in this country in the 1830s. I also remembered a vintage postcard picture we shared in one of our first Throwback Thursdays of William Waller and his young son Donald posed outside of their home on Pine St. AnnMarie said seeing that picture on Facebook was what had her get in touch with us.

Toward the end of their visit, Darlene showed me an old 8x10-inch photo of the work floor inside the Windsor Whip Works on Main St. in the Village and pointed out her father, who was working there for James Elliott at the time the picture was taken in the early 20^th century. She then asked me if I knew what had happened to the whips that were found many years ago in the attic of the house on Pine St where her grandfather William and then her father Donald lived—the house where she and her brother Bruce had also grown up. Darlene thought the whips had been given to local history people but didn’t know for sure.

I knew right away what had happened to those whips and went immediately and got our copy of the Broome Co. Historical Society book “Mysteries from the Vault”. A colorful two-page spread showed assorted whips made by the Empire State Whip Company, which began in 1911. They were kept in a canvas satchel with leather straps and a leather handle and used by salesmen when they went from store to store taking orders. The satchel of whips is part of the Broome Co. Historical Society collection and is kept in a vault at Roberson Museum, where the Historical Society is a constituent group.

It made sense that William Waller, AnnMarie’s great grandfather, would have had this satchel of sample whips. According to a 1937 obituary for William in The Windsor Standard, he was “an employee for many years in various whip factories in the Village of Windsor and was thus employed when overtaken by an illness which resulted in his death”. He was also a significant person in the community, serving as president of the incorporated Village of Windsor for 12 successive years and, for 30 years, was a member of the Windsor School Board, serving 12 of those years as president.

This amazing satchel and its contents were on display a number of years ago at St. Luke’s Church and Local History Museum when the Old Onaquaga Historical Society invited County Historian Roger Luther to bring them to one of our meetings. I’ve often wondered where this special artifact came from. Now I know and it was a wonderful discovery. Thanks Darlene and AnnMarie!

Eileen Ruggieri

Celebrating the 125th Anniversary of the  NYS Veterans Home at Oxford

 and the Role Played by the Women’s Relief Corps 

Town of Oxford Historian Vicky House presented a great program at the Historical Society’s September 19 meeting on the 125^th anniversary of the formation of the Veterans Home at Oxford. She spoke at a similar program here for the Windsor Civic Club in April 2018 on the significant contributions made by the Women’s Relief Corps, which existed in both the Towns of Windsor and Colesville in the early 20^th century. Many people do not appreciate the work these women did in caring for and about the men who served in the military and their families.

Thanks to Vicky House, we have important documentation on the efforts of the S.L. Judd WRC in Windsor and the Reuben Lovejoy WRC in Colesville in the years leading up to World War I. The woman of Windsor formed their WRC group in April 1910, a few years after the S.L. Judd GAR surrendered its charter, which was formed right after the Civil War. These women, actively engaged in their community, worked closely with local war veterans and their families to provide much needed support. It was the WRC women who, as World War I approached, saw the “increasingly apparent necessity for assuming some of the responsibilities which that conflict would thrust upon them,” as quoted at the time by WRC member Shirley Bond.

One woman’s name stands out—Florence (Mrs. J.E.) Hurlburt, one of the first members of the S.L. Judd WRC #193. She served as its president early on and initiated bringing the American Red Cross to Windsor. Her efforts, however, went far beyond that, and we have the history to prove it. Among the items in the Windsor History room is a 100+ year old Service Roll of Honor Book she compiled in which she writes about the men of Windsor who served in WWI. In beautiful, handwritten detail, she names each man, when he enlisted, where he served, and either when he died or was mustered out of service. This was a labor of love in that she had to seek out much of this information in order to properly record it.

Town of Oxford Historian Vicky House, in anticipation of the 100^th anniversary of World War I a number of years ago, focused her in-depth research on those who fought in the war and the issues they faced. She detailed how WRC groups in this part of New York played an important role in the formation of the New York State Veterans Home in Oxford, founded in 1897. And in recognition of Florence Hurlburt’s efforts, she compiled a large binder of information entitled “Florence Hurlburt: the History of Windsor’s Role in the Great War.”

In times of war, it is those who step up and help out in meaningful ways who exemplify the true patriotic spirit. Florence Hurlburt was one of those people, and we shouldn’t forget her!

I found a copy of the following Windsor Standard article in the Windsor History Room files. It was dated Oct 3, 1940 and spoke about one of the oldest cemeteries in Broome County—the Cole Hill Cemetery in the Town of Colesville. I went there yesterday and took these pictures. After 82 more years of weathering the elements, the gravestones are still standing; a further testament to the quality of local stone. To think that many of them are over 200 years old.

~~Eileen Ruggieri

Native Stone Slabs Mark Graves of Early Pioneers at Cole Hill Cemetery

“Situated atop a hill in the Coles Hill section of the Town of Colesville, near the Cranberry Marsh school, is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, cemeteries in Broome county. In this cemetery are about twenty-five or more grave markers of native stone, some of them erected thee when Broome county was little more than a wilderness.

“Surviving the ravages of time, these slabs of native stone mark the last resting places of many forbears of present inhabitants of this section. Many of the markers are beautifully inscribed and engraved—undoubtedly the work of a master at the art. A majority of the inscriptions are italics or script style of lettering, some are old-style lettering with fine lines.

“Anyone who is in doubt about the quality of stone obtainable in that section of the town, and particularly those who have questioned the lasting qualities of stone from the county quarry situated not a great distance from the cemetery, will marvel at the fine preservation of these markers, some of them which have stood all kinds of weather and storms over 130 years.

“Among names mentioned on the markers are Jesse Wilmot, died 1810; Daniel Crofut, Isaac Ruggles, John Ruggles, Nathaniel Cole, Lieut. Isaac Tyrell, Titus Humaston, Betsey Knox, Deborah Ketchum and Marsh.

“First settler to arrive on Coles Hill were forced to travel over roads which were little more than blazed trails. Native American Indians inhabited some sections; deer, bears, wolves and panthers roamed the hills unmolested. Later, this wilderness trail became an important stage route in southern New York state, and beside it a tavern was built to accommodate weary travelers.

“This way-side inn, known as Coles Hill tavern, stood until a few years ago as a memorial to these sturdy pioneers who settled Broome county. Nearby was a parade ground where the rookie privates trained for regular army service during the early part of the 19th century. A short distance away stood Oliver Merchant’s saloon where neighbor met neighbor to chat after the day’s work was done.”

George Catlin Indian Portrait on Cover of Smithsonian

Recently, member Sandy Straub donated several items to the Historical Society—one of them being a copy of  Smithsonian from December 2002 with one of George Catlin’s most well-known American Indian paintings featured on the cover. It came from the collection of her late husband Don Straub, who served as vice president of our organization and curator of our Native American artifacts collection at our museum at St. Luke’s.

The magazine article was drawing attention to an exhibit of Catlin’s works at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery in late 2002. What’s so special about it is a picture of the first Smithsonian exhibit of Catlin’s Indian Gallery from the 1880s. Catlin’s collection of 450 portraits and some 160 artifacts from the 1830s was given to the Smithsonian Institution in 1879.

The article points out that Catlin was not considered an extremely accomplished painter in his time, but he was very good at portraiture and had the ability to capture the vitality and humanity of the Native American’s he painted. His empathy for them was historically uncommon in the 1830s and put him at odds with Congress, who he was hoping would purchase and preserve his Indian Gallery. It never happened.

The article in the magazine, like the story of George Catlin, begins in the Susquehanna River Valley on a 200-acre parcel of farmland in what would one day be South Windsor. It was there in about 1805 that a young George met an Oneida Indian in search of a kettle of gold and formed a short-lived but meaningful friendship with him. An experience that may well have shaped George Catlin’s lifework.

Have a happy and safe Fourth of July!

I was recently talking with OOHS member Doug Miller about the gravestone ceremony held earlier this summer at Knox Cemetery in Windsor for Colesville Civil War veteran Eli E. Watrous. It was clear to me that Doug was very instrumental in gaining the recognition that Pvt. Watrous so rightly deserved. Here is how it all came about.

-Eileen Ruggieri   

Civil War Veteran Pvt. Eli E. Watrous Recognized

With Gravestone Ceremony at Knox Cemetery

On Saturday, July 2, Civil War veteran Eli E. Watrous, who was living in the hamlet of Ouaquaga with his young family when he enlisted in 1862, finally received a well-deserved new headstone marking his grave at Knox Cemetery. According to OOHS member Doug Miller, who is President of the Knox Cemetery Association and a veteran himself, the story began when he was contacted by Jackie Ruttinger, a retired college professor, who was asking if Eli Watrous was buried at Knox Cemetery. Doug told her there were no records of him being buried there, but records at the cemetery weren’t kept until 1911 and Eli died in 1907. Jackie also pointed out that Eli’s wife Mary Jane and his son were buried there, as well as his parents and her parents, all in adjoining plots. Plus, she had a document from Coventry, NY, where Eli was living at the time of his death, stating that his body had been sent to Ouaquaga.

When Doug discovered that Eli’s name was indeed on a Knox Cemetery map, he was ready to seek out a long-overdue headstone for this Colesville man who had served in Company F of the 137th Regiment of the New York State Volunteers. Jackie sent Doug an application from the Department of Veterans Affairs for a free headstone for the Civil War veteran and now that headstone marks the place to the left of Mary Jane where Eli’s earthly remains rest.

Doug acknowledged the help provided by Jackie and Ron Decker, descendants of Eli, in compiling the facts needed to secure the headstone. On July 2, 2022, Pvt. Watrous was honored for his service to country by military historian John Goodenough and members of the 137th NY Volunteers Reenacting Organization.

During the July 2^nd ceremony, John Goodnough, 137^th Regiment historian, read a biographical history of Eli Watrous.

Here are excerpts from it.

In the summer of 1862, Eli Watrous was a 29-year-old farm hand with a wife and two young children living in Ouaquaga, when word came that a new regiment was being recruited for service in the Civil War. Patriotism was strong in the rural regions of New York state. Money was hard come by and bonuses the size of a year’s pay were being offered to join up. Eli signed up for 3 years. He, along with two brothers, went to Camp Susquehanna in Binghamton to train as soldiers in the 137^th under the command of Col. David Ireland.

Men in the 137th were assigned to Harper’s Ferry and thus spared the battle of Fredericksburg in January 1863. But they couldn’t avoid the deadly fight against the diseases of typhoid, dysentery and malaria that infested the military encampments around Harper’s Ferry. Pvt. Watrous was one of its victims. Unable to recover, he was discharged by a physician’s certificate for disability in March 1863. In a deposition of Eli E. Watrous in 1883, he stated that he had been plagued by chronic health problems ever since the war.

Every soldier of the 137^th NY, where ever they lie today, lies in ground made hallowed by their service. Up to now, nothing so identifies this lovely spot here in Ouaquaga. But, thanks to the efforts of those assembled here today, we commemorate Knox Cemetery as Hallowed Ground as we dedicate this monument to Private Eli E. Watrous, Company F, 137^th NY Volunteers.

May he now rest in peace.  

Vintage Clothing Found in the Choir Loft of St. Luke’s

A group of Old Onaquaga Historical Society members spent a day not long ago going through old department store boxes found in St. Luke’s choir loft that were filled with vintage clothing, much of which dated back to the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Some of the items were so special, we decided to display them at our Monday night (July 18) meeting. We will keep them on display for the Sunday, August 14, Open House from 2:00 to 5:00 pm, and at our Monday, August 22, meeting and program. Here’s a sampling of the clothing on display.

THE WINDSOR TOWN HALL

A Century+ of Serving the Community

In 2004, the Windsor Town Hall celebrated its 100^th anniversary. In honor of the occasion, an article copied from the 17^th volume of “The Echo” magazine appeared in the Windsor Standard. The Windsor Academy Alumni Association published the article in 1904. Prominent Windsor attorney H. S. Williams wrote the piece. After 108 years of serving the community, this venerable old building is in need of repairs. Its history is long and its story unique. Here are some interesting excerpts from the article that give us a very good idea of how important the Town Hall building was and always has been to the people of Windsor. ER

“The new brick building situated on the East Side of Main Street with heavy, massive front and sides, high tower and arched windows, slate roof and ‘span-new’ appearance is the Town Hall. It is the finest structure, and best adapted to the uses designed by any building in the state.

“It has a good opera house, with seating capacity of 368 separate opera chairs, a stage 14 by 38 feet with two dressing rooms, one of each side of the stage, a large commodious court room, Town Clerk’s office, fire and hose rooms, offices for town and village offices, and a convenient room for caucuses and elections, High School exhibitions, graduations, debates and all other public gatherings. The basement will furnish ample room for lockup and jail for the disobedient.

“The architecture and general design were closely studied by a committee of our townspeople, thereby saving the town and village $250 for an architect. The committee was composed of T.V. Furman, J.S. Chase, J.M. Chafee, M.A. Tompkins and George W. Cook, who were assigned by C.A. Comstock and Albert Davis in patiently and carefully carrying out the plans in its construction.

“Sometime in April 1902, Hon. Isaac C. Edson conceived the idea that a Town Hall for town and village purposes would be a great public convenience and arranged a trust in his will whereby he devoted the sum of at least $4,000 [a very large amount of money back then] for this purpose. At about the same time or a little later, the Hon. J.H. Brownell thought he would purchase and dedicate the Bennett log for a site for the same purpose. Both parties met and the result was that the matter was submitted for a vote of the town to ratify their ideas and to raise the sum of $900 to purchase a lot of George W. Cook and build a foundation. The amount for the superstructure was set at $4,600. Nothing was arranged for heating, lighting, seating or furnishings. The building committee advertised for the lowest bidder of the foundation and superstructure, which was awarded to F.L. Goodenough at $5,160. The work commenced in July 1903 and was completed the following year.

“It is a splendid monument to the memory of its promoters, and is a continual commendation to the generosity of the Hon. I.C. Edson, the Hon. J.H. Brownell and to the many others who have so liberally given their time and talents to its successful accomplishment. It is an adornment to the village and town and will always be to its public spirit and generosity.”

The years have brought many changes to the Town Hall since its dedication in 1904. In 1915, silent movies began to be shown in the opera house, and in the 1930s the first sound movies were introduced. The old opera house soon became known as the “Park Theater”. The bowling alley was installed around 1930, a door being cut into the building on the south side for entrance to it. It remained there for over 30 years. A more complete remodeling of the interior was done in 1972, with more alterations taking place in 1999.

There is no longer an opera house, movie theater, bowling alley or police or fire station in the Town Hall, but this fine old building continues to be a hub of town government and is now home to the Windsor History Room where almost all of the town’s historical records are housed and open to the public. Its conception and construction are solely the result of people coming together in the community to make it happen. We should never forget this legacy.

The Windsor Town Hall is truly a historic landmark!

Old-Time Summer Days at Columbia Grove

This past Sunday, Historian Gerry Smith wrote a column in the Press & Sun Bulletin about the summer community in South Windsor known as Columbia Grove. The article included a great colorized photo of two boats on the Susquehanna River near Columbia Grove. At the turn of the last century, the many ponds, lakes, and rivers of this region drew people from near and far seeking summer homes and boarding arrangements.

Columbia Grove had its beginning in 1895, when a group of people from northern Susquehanna County bought six acres from the John Hupman Farm. Later, more land was bought and about a dozen cottages were built. There was even a small hotel for a short time. Two steamboats made regular trips up the river to Columbia Grove from the Lanesboro and Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, areas. Construction of new summer homes began to slow down about 1900. The area, though, continued to be a popular location for visiting vacationers well into the 1920s.

And thanks to the popularity of postcards at that time, we have these pictures of Columbia Grove from around 1910. They help us keep the memory of the place alive.

Eileen Ruggieri

Valley Under Water in the Flood of 2006

Many Windsor and Colesville people can remember all-too-well the storm of June 27-28, 2006, when the rain came pouring down and wouldn’t stop, and flooding devastated much of the towns along the Susquehanna River. I was writing for the Windsor Standard at the time and knew firsthand the serious emergency towns like Windsor were facing.

The Town Supervisor at the time was Randy Williams had this to say: “On June 27 and 28, the Town of Windsor experienced its worst flood ever. The damage was everywhere—roads all of the town were flooded, bridges were closed, and people’s home and properties were devastated. I also saw a community respond to this disaster—local fire companies mobilizing an emergency response, the school district offering shelter for evacuees, churches providing for people in need, and townsfolk just plain helping each other out.”

Soon afterwards, people from all over Windsor started sending in photos to the Town Supervisor showing the damage this record-breaking storm had done. There were enough pictures—over 500 of them—that the decision was made to make a book out of them. “Windsor Under Water—Remembering the Flood of 2006” was printed in 2008 and sold out within a year.

Here are some of the many images that were preserved in the book so that we never forget what the community went through and how it came together during this terribly difficult time in our town’s history.

Independent Historian Terry McMaster at OOHS June 20 Meeting

Presenting An Illustrated History of Onaquaga

The Old Onaquaga Historical Society is continuing its efforts this month to recognize the

importance of the Iroquois settlement of Onaquaga by having guest speaker Terry McMaster at

its June 20 meeting with a presentation on the illustrated history of Onaquaga. It will take place

at St. Luke’s Church and Local History Museum at 42 Maple St. in Harpursville, NY at 7:00 pm.

Onaquaga was the southern-most Indian settlement in Oneida territory during the 18th century.

Colin Calloway, Professor of Native American Studies at Dartmouth College, called it “the

cosmopolitan Indian town of Oquaga.” A refuge of Native people from diverse tribes, a

crossroads of trade, a missionary station and later headquarters of Joseph Brant, the Canajoharie

Mohawk and self-proclaimed war chief who led a violent border war for the British cause against

the rebellious Americans during the Revolutionary War, a path which led to the settlement’s

destruction in October 1778.

Terry McMaster is an independent historian whose ancestors lived in the upper Susquehanna

Valley for seven generations. His sixth great-grandfather Rev. William Johnston and family

founded the Johnston Settlement in 1772 at present Sidney, were run out in June 1777 by Brant

and the next year escaped the terror of the Cherry Valley Massacre in November 1778. Terry’s

5th great-grandfather was Capt. James Knox, an early settler in Windsor, and his father Arthur

was born there in 1915. Terry is a historian of the 18th century Scots-Irish immigrants of the

western frontier of New York, esp. Cherry Valley and the upper Susquehanna watershed.

The Historical Society’s meeting are open to the public free of charge.

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.

A Look Back at

Chief John Gray & the Windsor Police Department

The Windsor Police Department was formed in 1956 by resolution of the Village Board. John J. Gray was appointed as Police Chief. A few years later he was appointed Police Chief for the Town of Windsor. For a quarter of a century, he led a local police force that served the community well.

Pictured here are some of the Windsor Police vehicles that cruised Village streets and Town roads from the 1950s to the 1970s. I’m sure many long-time Windsor people have memories of John and his policemen and one policewoman keeping the local peace. More stories and pictures of those who served the Town in law enforcement to come in future weeks.

A number of years ago, Beverly Gray, John’s wife, donated two amazing binders filled with pictures and newspaper clippings of her husband’s many years in local law enforcement. The family also expressed an interest in seeing a display cabinet put up in the main hallway of the Town Hall that would feature items of historic interest about Windsor. Windsor History recently purchased a glass-fronted display case and hopes to have it installed by summer. You can be sure that memorabilia from the days of Chief John Gray will be the first of hopefully many local history displays on view in the historic Town Hall.

Easter Greetings from Long Ago

One of the many treasures from the Old Onaquaga Historical Society Library at St. Luke’s is an album of holiday postcards in full color from over 100 years ago. It was put together by Miss Ruth Chapman of Wells Bridge, NY, and contains many postcards addressed to her from 1910 to 1913. Dorothy Earl of Windsor, NY, donated the album to the Historical Society many years ago, and rather than keeping these beautiful postcards hidden away, we are sharing them here with you a few at a time. This week’s postcards are our way of sending best wishes to all for this holy holiday of Easter.

~~Eileen Ruggieri

A Little History on the Town of Colesville’s Namesake

Nathaniel Cole Sr. was a Revolutionary War veteran when he arrived here from New Milford, Connecticut in 1795 with his wife Abigail and their seven children. They settled on Cole’s Hill that very year and by 1800 had established the Cole’s Hill Tavern on what would be known as Farm to Market Road (now Colesville Road). Most sources say it was Nathaniel Jr.’s tavern. In 1821, the Town of Colesville was formed from the Town of Windsor, and the first official meeting took place the next year at Nathaniel Cole Sr.’s home. It was at this meeting that the town was named in honor of this consequential man. Nathaniel Sr. died on the Hill in 1832 at the age of 85. Nathaniel Jr. died in 1843, and his son Henry Cole, at age 26, took over the tavern. He closed it in 1863 and moved to a farm because he didn’t want to raise his children in a tavern.

There’s only one known photograph of Cole’s Tavern taken when it was well over a hundred years old and in serious decline. But in its day, the Tavern on the Hill was a hub of activity. Harriet Cole Turner, granddaughter of Nathaniel Sr., described the building as follows, “The tavern was two stories in height and was painted red. The front door opened into a large hallway with a bar room on the right and a parlor on the left. Next came grandfather’s room and opposite it on the other side of the hallway was the Post Office. A wide staircase led to the second floor where there was a huge ball-room across the front of the building and bedrooms in the back. She remembered a race track for harness horses on the property. The State Militia also trained on the flat, green pasture lot. Harriet said, “The officers dined at a long table set in the big hall. One day there had been six pans full of rice pudding prepared for them. We children were to have some saved for us. I shall never forget our disappointment when we found it had all been eaten.”

Daisy Hurd Decker had fond memories the old Cole Tavern building when the Jewell family owned it at the turn of the last century. Her favorite room was the ball-room. She said this of it, “There was a fiddler’s stand with a bench on a raised platform and steps on each side. The walls and woodwork were done in old hill red pine. Some of the boards in the wainscoting were 36 inches wide, and few knots, if any”. Daisy said Mrs. Jewell would let the children play games like “the needle’s eye” and “London Bridge is Falling Down” up in the wide-open room.

Nathaniel Cole not only had the town named after him, but a beautiful county park as well. He and much of his family are buried on top of Cole Hill in a cemetery not far from where the old tavern once stood.

Letters Home to a Little Girl During WWII

I’ve been thinking so often lately of the special moments in the Windsor History Room I experienced with the late Town Historian Linda Pierson. One of the best was when she invited her long-time friends Dick and Nancy Beauman for a visit to our second-floor home in the Town Hall. Nancy brought a packet of letters her Uncle Chick had sent to her while he was serving in the U.S. Army as a chaplain during World War II. He was Charles Sutton, brother of Nancy’s mother. Nancy was just 5-years-old and living in Scranton, PA, when Uncle Chick started writing letters to her and, as you can see here with the few that I’ve included, they were quite special. Town of Windsor History is now in possession of these wonderful letters, along with the pocket-sized copy of the New Testament her uncle carried with him and a leather note carrier for his correspondences.

Dick and Nancy have lived in Windsor for over 50 years and we historians are most grateful to Nancy for sharing these family treasures with us. Now, we are sharing them with you, and hoping that they help us all to see that there is light in the darkest, most difficult of times.

Eileen Ruggieri

Owen Comstock’s Photo Album of Old Windsor



One of the very few goods things to come out of Covid was the alone time it allowed me to hunt down history at the Historical Society’s library at St. Luke’s and in the History Room at the Windsor Town Hall. It was at St. Luke’s that I found a small photo album of Windsor pictures taken at the turn of the last century. I loved the artwork drawn around each one. And thanks to the diligence of the Historical Society in meticulously listing each of its acquisitions for the local history museum, we know that it was donated to us by Owen Comstock in 1966. He was the youngest son of Charles Comstock, owner of the Comstock Whip Co. in Windsor from 1889 until the “whip trust” known as the U.S. Whip Co., closed the business down in 1893-94. Here are photographs from the album—some of which are not in the Windsor Postcard Book.

Eileen Ruggieri

George Catlin—Painter of American Indians—

Revisited At March 14^th 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 19^th 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.

Old Indian Trails and Stone Piles in the Onaquaga Valley

Harvesting Ice in the Old Days Hard and Dangerous Work

Agriculture dominated all other industries in Windsor and Colesville in the 19^th and early 20^th century, with dairy farming accounting for much of it. Milk was perishable and needed to be kept cold, especially during the warm weather seasons. Back then, ice was the only answer to this problem of keeping the product cold enough until it reached its final destination. Bodies of water as large as the Susquehanna River and as small as a farm pond provided the necessary sources. But the work of cutting ice and transporting it to an insulated ice house was labor intensive and potentially dangerous.

Weather was a huge factor in determining if enough ice could be harvested to meet a quota. In 1901, the winter was so mild in Windsor it was feared the river would not freeze over enough to supply the year’s ice for the Village. The Windsor Standard recorded that it finally did freeze, encouraged by “an ingenious method, partly artificial, of stretching a rope across the river, catching and holding the anchor ice which quickly froze solid and thickened.”

Here are two different examples of local ice cutting—one in the Village of Windsor for the Empire State Dairy and the other on a dairy farm in Colesville. It will have you looking at your refrigerator/freezer with a whole new sense of appreciation.



Eileen Ruggieri

Looking Back in Thanksgiving

One of the most rewarding parts of being involved in local history is finding stories from the past that are well worth telling. Thanks to past historians, many of these memories have been put down on paper and preserved in the histories of Windsor and Colesville. Long-time Village of Windsor resident Joan Hughes Edwards left us with a collection of stories about growing in Windsor in the early to mid-20^th century. This is one of my favorites and perfect for the season of thanksgiving—a time to reflect on our blessings.
It took place in 1943, when a young Windsor mother—Mildred Poole Jones—died of cancer, leaving five children on their own.

Eileen Ruggieri

“My father Ben Hughes was Town Supervisor and manager of the Park Theater. He was a very caring person and took the village and its people to heart. One night, Dad came home early from the theater with five children with him. He told Mother, “Rena, we have a job to do. These children’s mother has just died and no one knows where the father is, and they need help. Their mother was only 28 and everyone on Main Street assumed their father was dead because no one had ever seen him around. Mother got the children something to eat and got ready to bed them down for the night.

“The next morning, Dad was up very early, ready for the job of finding a home for Ethel, Emogene, Herman, Jimmy and Ronnie Jones; all such bright children. Ethel, the oldest girl, had already decided to live with the Clendennings in Susquehanna. Dad got on the phone and started calling. He wanted to make sure the children would be taken care of only by honest and loving families, and that they were Windsor families so the children would be near each other.

“Well, Herman went to live with Doug and Midge Bowman in North Windsor, and later to the Tom Patton farm to work. Emogene went to the Jimmy Cosantini family upstairs in the Community House. Ronnie, the youngest, went to live with Maurice and Wealthy Mallery down toward State Line. And Jimmy stayed with us on Pine Street; a new addition to our family.”

Joan goes on to tell us about the years that Jimmie lived with the family, but a better story still came from Jimmy Jones himself many years later when he returned to Windsor in the autumn of 1998 for an Alumni celebration. We’ll post some of his recollections next week, but I will tell you that his future was forever changed for the better by the loving community that took he and his siblings in and cared for them as family.
It’s a legacy for the Town of Windsor to be proud of!—ER

Remembering November 11, 1918

Many years ago, I started tape recording longtime Windsor residents who had some very special memories to share. Among them was the Rev. Lewis Payne, well-known and well-loved in the community.
I spent a Sunday afternoon in the summertime at his kitchen table listening to him effortlessly speak of the past as if it was yesterday. One of the most poignant parts of the recording that afternoon was when he spoke of “a celebration of reality” that he remembered from his boyhood on Fordway Road in Windsor.

This is what he said: “I was about 6 years old in 1918. I can remember my father, older brother and me visiting a farm below the railroad tracks. There’s a road that goes down that way and we were going to help with haying. I remember that all at once a fire siren went off. It kept going on and on. Pretty soon, the church bells began to ring. Each church had a bell and it sounded like they were all ringing. Something about the sirens and church bells touched me. I still remember as a boy on Sunday morning, if it was calm, we could hear the church bells in Windsor. They had a way of ringing alternately and in different tones.”

The day that Rev. Payne was talking about was November 11, 1918, when he heard the sirens and church bells fill the air at 11 o’clock in the morning. Armistice Day, the end of fighting in World War I. Every Veterans Day now, I think of Rev. Payne as a young boy in that hay field along the Susquehanna River, in the shadow of Ouaquaga Mountain, and his “celebration of reality”.
And here are some of the churches in the valley whose bells would have been ringing that morning.

Eileen Ruggieri

Moving Houses the Old-fashioned Way

When I was a child growing up in the Village of South Nyack, NY, I watched one summer as a number of nearby houses being displaced by the newly-proposed New York State Thruway were moved down our street to open properties closer to the Hudson River. It was always a big deal seeing these houses up on huge flatbeds that filled the street. I marveled at how they were able to turn at the corners. So, when I saw these photos of the Bush/Urda house on East Chapel Street being made ready to move in the 1930s, I had to include them in this look at Windsor’s past.

In 1936, the State made a major change in the route that Old Route 17 took through the Village of Windsor. Instead of going east from Occanum down Grove St. and turning south onto Main St. headed toward Bridge St. which led to the 1902 bridge over the Susquehanna, the new route cut through from Occanum straight to Chapel St. The State also removed several business buildings on the east side of Main St. (at today’s red light) so that Route 17 could go straight through to the new Windsor bridge, which is the one we use today. 

Changes had to be made on the east side of the river as well, and that included moving the house owned then by Clara Bush and later by Fred and Kathy Urda (now 164 East Chapel) to make way for a proposed railroad underpass that was part of the State’s Route 17 project. Thanks to former Windsor resident Evan Romer, we have these photos taken in 1934 of her house being prepared for moving. I’ve included a grainy but rare and important old picture of the 1902 and 1936 bridge side-by-side before the older one was taken down.

Eileen Ruggieri

Nathaniel Cole and his Tavern on the Hill

I have been preparing a program on the 200-year-old history of the Town of Colesville for the Broome County Historical Society on November 17 at 7:00 pm. Since all of their programs are remote right now, you would need to view it online via Zoom or livestream. For Zoom access to this live presentation, go to www.broomehistory.org/programs; for livestream, go to www.facebook.com/broomehistory. Hope you can join us!

Eileen Ruggieri, President

Old Onaquaga Historical Society

This week’s Throwback Thursday is about the Town’s namesake, Nathaniel Cole Sr. The Revolutionary War veteran arrived here from New Milford, Connecticut in 1795 with his wife Abigail and their seven children. They settled on Cole’s Hill that very year and by 1800 had established the Cole’s Hill Tavern on what would be known as Farm to Market Road (now Colesville Road). Most sources say it was Nathaniel Jr.’s tavern.

In 1821, the Town of Colesville was formed from the Town of Windsor, and the first official meeting took place the next year at Nathaniel Cole Sr.’s home. It was at this meeting the town was named in honor of this consequential man. Nathaniel Sr. died on the Hill in 1832 at the age of 85. Nathaniel Jr. died in 1843, and his son Henry Cole, at age 26, took over the tavern. He closed it in 1863 and moved to a farm because he didn’t want to raise his children in a tavern.

There is but one known photograph of Cole’s Tavern taken when it was well over a hundred years old. But in its day, the Tavern on the Hill was a hub of activity. Harriet Cole Turner, granddaughter of Nathaniel Sr., described the building as follows, “The tavern was two stories in height and was painted red. As you entered the front door, the bar room was on the right of the big hall and the parlor was on the left. Next came grandfather’s room, and the post office across the hall on the right. The large front room at the top of the broad stairway was often used as a show room. Doors opened from the large room into bedrooms behind it. She remembered a race track for harness horses on the property. The State Militia also trained on the flat, green pasture lot. Harriet said, “The officers dined at a long table set in the big hall. One day there had been six pans full of rice pudding prepared for them. We children were to have some saved for us. I shall never forget our disappointment when we found it had all been eaten.” 

Looking Back on the 1950s and 60s

For those of us growing up in the 1950s and 60s, town life was very different than it is today. Villages were where you bought just about everything you needed. Malls and other large commercial complexes were in their infancy. The hub of activity was strongly centered in the place where we lived. I grew up in such a town along the Hudson River and my memories of those years have a special place in my heart. I also know, from the many talks I’ve had with older life-long residents here, that people in the Village of Windsor and the numerous hamlets in both Colesville and Windsor felt the same way about their home place. So, this week’s photos are of the Village of Windsor in the mid-20^th century when they were still bowling in the Town Hall and the high school football field was behind what is now the Windsor Middle School and Alice Freeman Palmer Elementary School.

Eileen Ruggieri

President

OOHS

Windsor & Colesville Celebrate the Country's Bicentennial!

We've received a very informative answer to our question of the identity of the parade participants in the photo with the jeep.

This week we’re not going way back in local history—only a mere 45 years to when both Windsor and Colesville celebrated the Country’s Bicentennial in 1976. Windsor gave it a local spin by holding an Old Home Weekend at the same time, reliving the “good old days” of the 1914 Old Home Week 60 years before. The event-filled weekend took place in early August and was kicked off by a Heritage Parade directed by Louella English. There was an Antique Car competition and parade, the “Ballgame of the Year” between the Windsor Firemen and the West Windsor Firemen, a Community Picnic on the Green, fireworks, dances, band concerts, and lots of hands-on old-time activities like chair caning, blacksmithing, pottery-making, wool spinning and musical instrument making. Here are a few photos of the parade. Some are not as clear as others because the only copy we have of them came from the Windsor Standard. Some had no identification, and we’re hoping you can help us out.

Eileen Ruggieri

Julian Campbell, early photographer

In the early 1900s, Julian Campbell of Kirkwood took hundreds of photographs of all the villages and hamlets along the Susquehanna River from Nineveh down into Pennsylvania. A good many of his photos appear in the vintage postcard books of both Windsor and Colesville. Julian Campbell had an expensive camera and an excellent eye for picture-taking, but his postcard business never really got off the ground.

I found a letter to the Windsor Town Board dated December 1998 from Bernard Osborne, then Town Historian. He wrote, “About 30 years ago, we were loaned glass plate negatives of Windsor by the photographer Julian Campbell. At the time, Mort Baxter had a dark room and developed the plates. We have used these photos extensively in the newspaper, in Historical Essays of Windsor, in exhibits at St. Luke’s and at Charlie English’s Museum and we have them on slides for slide programs.”

We have some, but far from all of Campbell’s beautiful 5 X 7-inch photographs. We also have photocopies of many more of them. Here are some special ones that were not used in the Windsor Postcard Book because we had yet to discover them in all the history files that ended up in the Town Hall.

~~Eileen Ruggieri

The Age of the Work Horse

Earlier this year, we showed you photos of the road over Tuscarora Mountain being built at the beginning of the 20^th century. Here are pictures of the Windsor road crews building other roads in the town. And it was done almost entirely by teams of work horses and human labor. Next time you go down a local road, remember how much effort it took to build that road.



Eileen Ruggieri

Village Green Band Pagoda Over 140 Years Old



Bringing back local history to the Village Green this Saturday got me to thinking about the Band Pagoda and how long it has been a focal point there in the center of the Town. It was built about 1880, in the center of a 2+-acre parcel of land donated for a village green by David Hotchkiss and deeded to the Presbyterian Society in 1803. It was remarked in a June 1878 Windsor Standard, “Wouldn’t a pagoda on the green be a nice thing for the band.? The boys deserve a great amount of credit, and we doubt if any band in this section, with only one year’s practice, can excel them.” Imagine all the bands that have played there over the many years. And the tradition continues to this day!

Rebecca Kellogg Ashley/Wausaunia Memorial Marker

Finally Gets a New Look

The Old Onaquaga Historical Society will begin an upgrade of the memorial stone marker to Rebecca Kellogg Ashley this fall and hopes to have the work completed by Thanksgiving. Since it was placed on the corner of Dutchtown Road and Fordway Road in 1909 by the Tuscarora Chapter of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution), the marker has gone through only one change in which the ornate wrought iron fence was replaced with heavy metal pipe fencing and the plaque was mounted on a different stone. Sadly too, it seems that the grave was disturbed in the process so that her remains most likely are no longer there.

Her story though now resonates even louder in the valley thanks to the 30 years of research and writing done by one of Rebecca’s descendants. Barbara Covey took that research of hers and wrote a book, “Rebecca Kellogg Ashley, 1695-1757, From Deerfield to Onaquaga”, that has opened the door to our understanding of this remarkable woman and the life she led. The documentation we have of her presence here as an interpreter for New England missionaries when it was still part of Iroquois territory allows us to believe with some certainty that she was the first white woman to live in what would become Broome County 50 years later.

The new memorial will leave the stone and plaque in place, remove the pipe fencing and build a kiosk over the marker with the life story of Rebecca or Wausaunia on signage mounted to the inside of the rear kiosk posts. For me, one of the most significant questions about her has finally been answered; why she chose to come into Indian Territory so late in her life. It was all about a family we never knew she had.

This upgrade is long overdue and the Historical Society is most grateful to Bluestone Wind Farm for the funds needed to accomplish it now. The following images are among the few that we have to remember her by.

Eileen Ruggieri

Back to School!

With the start of a new school year, I thought we’d look back on a time when local kids would attend one of the over two dozen one-room schoolhouses sprinkled all over the town.
The photo of the schoolhouse on Dire Road is particularly special to me. Years ago, I realized there once was a schoolhouse at the corner of North Rd. and Dire (really Dyer) Rd. Sadly, there was no picture of it in the history files. I mentioned this to our neighbor, the late Brian Riley, and he said his father Marshall went to that school and had shared some of his memories of it with Brian. A few weeks later, he stopped by to give me a copy of the photo you see here for the Windsor History Room. What a treasure! And so is the memory he shared. Marshall said kids would bring their sleds to school in the winter, especially after a snowfall. At the end of the school day, they’d get a good start and take off down the road as fast as they could. Sometimes, he said, if the conditions were right, a kid could go all the way down to the bottom of the road over a mile away. Thanks Brian.

David Hotchkiss Legacy



I discovered an old black leather-bound binder in the Windsor History Room this summer that contained a type-written copy of the History of Windsor from a book on the History of Broome County written in 1885 by H.P. Smith. It was done by Ella M. LaFrance, Windsor Historian, in 1950. The 50-page town history contains an anecdote about David Hotchkiss in his early years here when he was acquiring a great deal of land in and around what would become the Village of Windsor. This short story tells us quite a bit about the character of the man who co-founded Windsor and gave us a Village Green. –Eileen Ruggieri

IN the purchase of some land about the year 1800 Mr. Hotchkiss gave his note for $1,000, to Aaron Burr, payable one year from date at his dwelling house in Windsor. When due, no demand was made, nor for seven or eight years thereafter. Burr had fled to Europe to escape prosecution for treason. Finally, a letter was received from Judge Foote of Delhi, saying he had the note for collection. Mr. Hotchkiss then consulted three of his sons who were at home, saying “Rafe,” (short for Amraphael) “what do you think?” Rafe answered “The note is outlawed; you had the money to pay when due and kept it for a long time after. I would not pay it”. He then said “Cyrus, what do you say?” and was answered “…that it was hard times for money and Burr was a traitor and ought not to have it”. Gilead, the younger brother, concurred.

The father in his decisive manner exclaimed “Ahem! It’s an honest note and I shall pay it. Gilead go and get me my horse”. The horse was brought and saddled. The old-fashioned saddle bags were filled, one end with oats for the horse and the other with provisions for the rider for a sixty- mile journey (with no roads but Indian trails and the river) to Delhi. Arriving there on the evening of the second day, he told the judge he was unable to pay it then; that he held the money idle for a long time and ought not to pay interest on the note, but was willing to give his note payable in a year at his house in Windsor, where it was his custom to make all his obligations payable. The judge willingly acceded. The note was given and paid when due. The judge was hospitably entertained and next morning started for his two days’ journey home to Delhi.

Joseph Hobbs & Sons Carriages

Joseph Hobbs brought his carriage-making business to Nineveh from Delhi in 1844-45. Hobbs was a practical mechanic by trade and a lawyer by profession, who devoted his attention more particularly to the manufacture of carriages and wagons in the Town of Colesville. He expanded the business in the 1860s to include his two sons, George and Charles and had buildings on both sides of Main St. in Nineveh. In 1894, they employed 20 men.

Hobbs built the finest carriages in the Southern Tier of New York and shipped them to all parts of the United States and even to England. As quoted in an old history of Colesville, “The work of J.W. Hobbs & Sons always was their best advertisement”. They repaired the Barnum & Bailey Circus wagons and built the hearse used for President William McKinley’s funeral in 1901.

Joseph Hobbs retired from the business in 1878 to study and practice law. He was also very involved in the community, serving as Commissioner of Highways in Colesville for three years, as well as being Justice of the Peace for 18 years. 

Remembering the Railroad Days of Windsor…

No one knew the history of the railroad line in Windsor better than Historian Charlie English. He wrote an excellent article on the subject for the “Village of Windsor Centennial Days” book printed in 1997. Here are some excerpts from it:

The Railroad in Windsor

1872 – 1978

“The Albany & Susquehanna Railroad passed into the possession of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. In 1872 the D & H constructed a branch rail line from Susquehanna, PA, through the towns of Windsor and Colesville to a junction with the Albany Line at Nineveh.

“The railroad brought with it a new era of prosperity. Local forests provided new jobs as axes felled timber for local mills. Sawmills cut some of the lumber into railroad ties. A new community developed at East Windsor and a post office was established there in 1872. Thanks to the railroad line, a steam sawmill, creamery, and cheese factory were located there.

“In addition to its lumber, livestock, dairy and agricultural produces, Windsor shipped by rail its most famous product—Windsor whips. Whips from Windsor were shipped around the world.

“At the turn of the century, eight passenger trains, four northbound and four southbound, stopped at the Windsor depot. Coaches from the Eagle Hotel and the National (or Upper) Hotel (later Hotel Windsor) met the trains to transport passengers and mail to and from the depot. The depot housed the local telegraph office that provided the most rapid means of communication at the time for local residents.

“The site of the old D & H depot was on land now occupied by the Town Highway Garage. When (old) Route 17 was constructed, the depot was moved to its present location. Until the end of the Second World War, the railroad in Windsor continued to prosper. The decline of the mighty iron horse began in the 1960s…and ended just a little over 100 years after it began.”

Charles English ended the article on a fateful note, fearing that any remnants of the bygone railroad era in the Town would be lost in time. He would be so pleased to see the extraordinary effort the community made to save the old train station and turn it into a local history and train history museum.