Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2017
The first endeavor was trying to find out what happened to the
tall case clock made by Nelson resident Loren C. Barnes. The
clock constructed in the very early 1900s, had 45 panels in it
with names of Nelson citizens written on a memorial plaque,
each being a different kind of wood in each panel. It was sold to
Fred Southworth of Morrisville in 1917 and it was hoped that it
would never leave Madison County. Even though it has been
publicized at different times, it has never been found.
With the help of Jim Georges and Kevin Davies, the burials of
people who have illegible or no headstones, in the towns
cemeteries, were documented. The Erieville Cemetery has over
235 such burials alone. Most of these burials were from 1887
and on.
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Remembrances by
Celia L. Odell Markowski
(written about 2007-08 for ENHS)
time to listen and in later years I wondered how she was able to
accomplish so much.
I started school that fall when I was five years old and Catherine
Elmer Pynn walked down from their farm near Jackass Hill, with
her younger sister, Marie, who was also starting first grade. I
joined them, and we walked across the road to the school,
which is now the Schoolhouse Apartments. Mrs. Nila (Lynn)
Jones taught first, second and third grades, and every morning
before classes we marched around the room a few times to
Sousa marches played on the Victrola. That first year I brought
home chickenpox, measles and whooping cough to my parents
and brothers. Dad had the first one with us and Mom suffered
through the last two with us.
Before the end of the school year we moved to the house next
to the blacksmith shop. There was a sidewalk across the street
where we learned to rollerskate and play hopscotch. Other
games we enjoyed were Hide n Seek, Simon Says, May I?,
Checkers and Old Maid.
My sister, Mazie, and brother, Jesse, were both born there. Dad
and Grandpa Seeley were busy in the shop taking care of the
horseshoeing and making buggy wheels, etc. in the rear. I still
love the smell of wood shavings and sawdust.
Electricity came to town in 1930 and Dad bought our first radio
which was a long, narrow, box - shaped with a lot of dials on the
front and a horn - shaped speaker on top.
Our homes were heated with wood for the most part, and
usually the only heat that reached the upstairs was where the
stovepipe went up through the floor, or if the stair door was left
open.
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Mom made most of our dresses and some of the boys and
dad's shirts, but other clothes, shoes, etc. were bought for the
most part, from Montgomery Ward, Sears and Roebuck, Aldens
or Spiegels catalog.
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For 66 years the Syracuse & Chenango Valley Railroad was the
Town of Nelsons connection with the outside world. Opened
from Syracuse to Earlville in 1873, the line that was to become
part of the vast New York Central System, was built during the
railroad fever era following the Civil War.Once the railroad was
in place,Town of Nelson residents could go to Syracuse in a little
over an hour, and connect with other trains to anywhere in the
country. Farmers could ship their products to ever expanding
urban markets, mail was sent and received quickly, and local
stores and businesses got fast, regular deliveries of goods at
the railroads depot in Erieville.
Here
was
a
significant historical
railroad site that
needed a little work to
become visible to the
public. Many young
people didnt even
know Nelson ever
had a railroad, and
restoration of this site
would
help
perpetuate the
memory of the Syracuse & Chenango Valley. I had heard that
Eagle Scout projects were sometimes used to restore historical
sites, so that seemed a good way to go. I contacted George
Schmit of the Cazenovia Boy Scout Troop 18, and soon we had
a project to restore the former water tank site under the direction
of Eagle Scout candidate and Erieville resident Sam Medbury.
The plan was to remove the brush from the area to expose the
You have all driven past it, and probably wondered what will
happen to it the Stone School at the corner of Stearns Road
and Old State Road in Erieville.
Unfortunately its fate is
unknown, but it does have a long history.
John Card wrote in 1926 that when the Stone School was built it
was one of the largest schools in town. In the years 1864-1865
Fannie Biddlecome was the teacher. This plucky woman . . .
used to come through the piercing cold of winter nearly two
miles. All told there were about fifty scholars that season . . . .
The noon hour was a busy time. There was an old fox and
geese ground in Weavers lot and sliding down hill was all the
rage.
Later years found that many single young ladies were hired to
teach one year at a time. Miss Anna English was the seventh
member of the English family to teach there over the years. She
remembered her experience: I taught in the old Stone School in
1926-27 when Merritt Lyon Sr. was the good trustee. I boarded
with Maude and Harold Shepard who lived then in the old
Weaver Place. During the year that I taught, the pupils put on a
variety entertainment in the Nelson Grange Hall from which we
realized $25. We used the money to purchase a new slate
blackboard replacing the old faded wooden one. It was all so
much fun. Arbor Day 1927, the older boys got an evergreen
from the swamp and planted it north of the building near the
road. At the bottom is buried a sealed bottle with the names of
all the pupils. In June all the 8th graders passed the regents and
had a picnic at Nichols Pond.
Facts and quotes about the school were found in old issues of
The Cazenovia Republican searchable online at the
Cazenovia Public Library website, Cazenovia.advantagepreservation.com. A thank you goes out to Jim Georges for
information on the Erieville railroad station
The end was near for the Stone School. In December, 1936 the
taxpayers chose to close it permanently and send all pupils to
CCS. It was sold to Merrill Bailey for $225 to use as a studio; his
grandfather, Simeon Jones, had attended the school in 1865.
On August 28, 1937, Mr. Bailey married Marie Buckingham from
Erieville in the garden at the Stone School, and they moved into
the renovated schoolhouse. In the early 1940s, the Erieville train
station, built in 1920 and abandoned in 1937, was moved to the
Stone School site. Earl Buckingham, Marie Baileys father, was
stationmaster at that time. A cellar was dug at the Stone School
House site, and the station was added to the foundation in
1949. A room was built connecting the station to the stone
school making it a very attractive home.
ENHS has also hosted some excellent events. In the last two
years, we have had two railroad tours, one from Cazenovia to
Syracuse, and another from Earlville to Cazenovia whereas our
local railraod experts, Jim Georges and John Taibi, shared their
extensive knowledge of the railroad and its history. We cohosted a Kids Genealogy Workshop event with the Cazenovia
Public Library last winter, which was very successful and eyeopening for our youth to peruse records like census documents,
where they were able to see a snapshot of their ancestors lives.
This past summer, we had a cemetery tour of four small
cemeteries of East Nelson that drew a large crowd and was
very informative. ENHS also has an Archives Day in the fall in
which our guests can get a first hand view of our archival
holdings. We also have a large presence at the Nelson Town
Office building for the towns Skunk Hollow Days in August
where we have showcased local quilts, photos, local books,
local stories and local genealogies.
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From the 1927 diary of Cora Blair. They owned the hotel on
the corner of Erieville Road and Damon Road.
January 10, 1927. Lovely day but so cold again. I washed and
hung the clothes in the ball room. An auto came into town with
a runner in front, I guess they call it a sleigh auto. I think it came
from Cazenovia. Frank [her husband] went to Syracuse by train,
no other way to go now. We have had four awful cold days.
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