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SOME SKETCHES OF BEAVER MEADOW, NY
AND THE SURROUNDING VICINITY
Compiled By Richard F. Palmer
INTRODUCTION
The origin of place
names has always been an interesting topic, especially in central New York state, which
began to be settled two centuries ago. Many of these small settlements existed for only
a few years, while some still linger on today in the form of a cluster of houses and
mobile homes. In 1926 and 1927 people started writing letters into the Syracuse
Post-Standard giving their theories on how certain places originated and received
their names. For a while, they appeared on an almost daily basis on the newspaper's
editorial page.
For a time, considerable attention focused on the small rural
Chenango County communities of Beaver Meadow and North Pharsalia (Skunk's Misery).
We are indebted to those who wrote these letters. As quaint and tongue in cheek as
they may be, they are a valuable source material on early days of these communities,
as little else exists. Generally, the writers were originally from these locales and
thus were knowledgeable about their history.
FROM THE HISTORY BOOKS
Only a few lines are devoted
to Beaver Meadow in the History of Chenango County by James H. Smith,
which was published in 1880 when the town had 50 inhabitants. At the time it quite a
bustling community. Smith states it is located five miles northeast of South Otselic,
on the Auburn Branch of the New York & Oswego Midland Railroad. It contained a
Christian church, district school, a hotel kept by Albert Sumner, two stores kept by
Thurlow Johnson and H.R. Webb, a sawmill and gristmill, with one run of stones, operated
by steam and owned by Miles & Miller, a shoe shop, and two blacksmith shops kept by
S.C. Butts & Son and Asa Finch.
About a mile above Beaver Meadow was Upper Beaver Meadow.
In 1880 it contained a Baptist Church, a store kept by Simeon Crumb, a hotel
kept by George Crandall, a cheese factory, Charles Matthews' blacksmith shop,
four homes and a railroad station. Smith states a post office was established
here in 1870 but was removed to Beaver Meadow in 1877. This conflicts with U.S.
Postal Service records that do not reflect there ever having been a post office
by the name of Upper Beaver Meadow. Postal records call it
"Stanbro", where a post office existed between Aug. 7, 1883
and June 15, 1896. Dennis Thompson was the first postmaster.
The original Beaver Meadow post office was established Sept. 12, 1848
and existed until Sept. 24, 1852; Asher M. Ray having been the first postmaster. It
was re-established on Sept. 15, 1871 with James Stanbro as postmaster. Later, Albert
Sumner was postmaster there. It existed until Oct. 20, 1967 when it was closed.
Smith also stated the community derived its name "...from the
existence at a former day of a beaver dam across the stream at the lower village,
which overflowed the flats covering about a hundred acres, between the two villages."
The first merchant in this locality was A.W. Ray, about 1850. Among
others who were in the mercantile business at Beaver Meadow were Henry Stanbro, James
Crandall, Crandall & Sears, J.W. Levisee, Prentice Lamb, W.S. Cox & Son and others.
In July, 1833, a terrific hurricane passed through this area
and adjoining towns, cutting a mile-wide swath of destruction
( A hurricane or a tornado? ).
It blew clothing from the central part of Pharsalia several miles into the hemlock
trees in Beaver Meadow. It was especially several on the center road in Pharsalia,
where it blew a child lying on a bed through an open window.
(Note 1)
ECHOES FROM THE PAST
But, as they say, "something
is better than nothing", and preserving both fact and folklore is the mission of the
local historian. What "set people off" on Beaver Meadow was this tongue in cheek
letter written by J.H. Bowler of Syracuse, which appeared on Thursday, December 2, 1926 :
The Syracuse Post-Standard, December 2, 1926
Why Beaver Meadow Where a Beaver
Was Bound to Go Hungry?
To the Editor of The Post-Standard :
I have been wondering if those folks who are sending
in their theories as to why certain hamlets and localities have such peculiar
names ever heard of a place called "Beaver Meadow". I doubt it.
Even if they have, I challenge them to explain why
it is so called. There are no beavers there. Beavers could not live there.
They have to have things to eat; and I am sure Beaver Meadow never had
that necessity, either for animals or humans.
For the benefit of the great majority who never
heard of such a place, it is, or was, in Chenango county, a few miles from
South Otselic, the home of the Angels.
Years ago, before the advent of the motor car, a
horse-drawn stage coach made its way daily from South Otselic to Norwich
and return. And, believe me, it was rough going. It was so rough, in fact,
that about 10 miles from South Otselic a shack was constructed to enable
passengers to get out of the stage and rest themselves and regain their wind.
This shack received a far-wide reputation owing to the fact that its window-panes
were always broken out.
In course of time, a few long whiskered gents from Hog
Wallow conceived the idea of founding a village there. A store sprang up over
night. They then shot a man in order to start a graveyard, and out of this
graveyard sprang the village of Beaver Meadow, which has been dead ever since.
But I have never been able to find out just why it was
called "Beaver Meadow". If names signify anything, it should have been
called "Dead Man's Rest".
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As can be imagined, this set off a flurry of righteous
indignation and several letters in succession were published in an attempt to "set
the record straight". The first response came from Thurlow Johnson of Syracuse,
a native, one-time postmaster and businessman in Beaver Meadow. His first letter
appeared in the Post-Standard on December 6, 1926 :
The Syracuse Post-Standard, December 6, 1926
They Really Had Beavers at Beaver Meadow,
Says Town's Postmaster of Many Years Ago;
But No man was Shot to Start a Cemetery
To the Editor of The Post-Standard :
I was amused in reading in The Post-Standard relative to
a letter from the pen of J.H. Bowler of Syracuse. Please allow me to correct some
of his statements, of which he has been misinformed. I do not wish to cast any
reflections on his veracity. I was born one-half mile south of Beaver Meadow, on
the direct road running from Beaver Meadow to North Pharsalia ( vulgarly called
Skunk's Misery ) in the year 1856, and reared there, also in 1880 married there,
and resided at Beaver Meadow until the year 1882.
I was appointed postmaster in 1879, during the administration
of the late Rutherford B. Hayes, by the postmaster-general, D.M. Key. Therefore I feel
competent to give some historical facts. When a child, I well remember a sawmill and
a dam at this place ( the mill going to decay ). This mill was owned by one Benjamin
Ingersoll, who was an old man in my early childhood days. From him and other old-timers,
among them Ezra T. Webb, a trapper and hunter; Asher W. Ray, father of the late Judge
George W. Ray, and other reputable citizens, I gleaned these facts :
Near the dam I spoke of, originally there was a dam formed by
beavers; and beavers were numerous, as the old settlers testified. The headwaters
of the Canaswacta creek are adjacent to Beaver Meadow; and it was considered an
ideal place for beavers before the country was denuded of the forest. In my childhood
days, there were some fine dairy farms around, and in the vicinity of, Beaver Meadow.
In 1869-70 there was constructed a branch of the New York &
Oswego Midland Railroad ( now the New York, Ontario & Western Railroad ). This road
was completed late in the summer of 1870 and operated until the winter of 1878-9, when
train service was abandoned and the rails removed in 1881-82. During this time Beaver
Meadow became a bustling hamlet or village.
This railroad was built from Norwich through South Plymouth,
Plymouth, Ireland's Mills, Beaver Meadow, Upper Beaver Meadow, Otselic Center and
Crumb Hill to DeRuyter, a distance of 28 miles. After a time the road was extended
via Cuyler and Truxton to Cortland. This extension now is a part of the Lehigh Valley
system.
Beaver Meadow boasted of two good general stores, church
( Christian denomination ), saw and planing mill, blacksmith and wagon shop and hotel,
also a bootmaker maker ( men wore high topped boots; very few men's shoes in those
days ). After the railroad line was abandoned, the United States government ( Star Route
Branch ) contracted temporary service by stage to a man whose name I can't recall;
and we had very poor service for a period of four years.
We had tri-weekly service with this special service :
Leaving DeRuyter 8 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Arrive at Norwich about 5 p.m.
Leaving Norwich Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 8 a.m. Arrive DeRuyter at 5 p.m.
In July, 1880, the route was divided, heading out of Beaver Meadow at 8 a.m., one
going to Norwich and the other to DeRuyter, and returning at 5 p.m. daily except Sunday.
Subsequently the route was changed to run from South Otselic ( called by many the Berg )
via Beaver Meadow, omitting Otselic Center and Crumb Hill.
In regard to the "shack" spoken of, that is a myth.
Also, about a man being shot for the nucleus for a graveyard, ditto. The graveyard
is located on the road running from Beaver Meadow to North Pharsalia ( called Skunk's
Misery ). We also had semi-weekly service for mail from Beaver Meadow to North Pharsalia.
Allow me to explain right here how some of the names, pet or
otherwise, originated. There were three Pharsalia post offices : East Pharsalia,
called Podunk; Pharsalia, called The Hook, and North Pharsalia, as Skunk's Misery;
as distinguishing names. This applies to many other localities for which I can vouch in
traveling in various portions of this state and particularly in the New England states.
In one instance Mr. Bowler speaks of Angels. About one and
one-half miles from Beaver Meadow there is a large swamp, with dangerous marshes,
known as Bear Swamp. And, in that vicinity, there resided some families known by the
sobriquet of "Swamp Angels". Such names as "Cold Hill", "Dark
Hollow", "The Flats", "Tinker Ridge", "Upperville" and
"Canada School District" are situated in Chenango county. "Bangall"
you will find in Dutchess county.
I was employed by the United States government from April,
1890 to August 20, 1920, at which time I was honorably retired as an annuitant, for
faithful service. In that capacity I was required to properly locate ever post office
in New York State, besides several other states.
Thurlow W. Johnson, Syracuse.
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The Syracuse Post-Standard, December 8, 1926
Cider Press in Blacksmith Shop.
Gas Station Busy, and Church Closed.
Postmaster-Constable-Notary-Storekeeper-Truckman
Rings Fire Bell and Builds Fire in School House
Stove - Beaver Meadow Activities.
To the Editor of The Post-Standard :
Challenge accepted!
Mr. Bowler's article on Beaver Meadow in Thursday's
Post-Standard was more interesting than true historically. Beaver Meadow was
once a beaver meadow; the flats were covered with water impounded by the
dam built by the beavers. That accounts for the name. The village of Beaver
Meadow is still on the map. The storekeeper is alive and runs the post office,
rings the fire bell, starts the fire in the village schoolhouse, acts as constable
and notary public, does trucking and is general overseer of village activities.
The blacksmith has left for parts unknown, and the old
shop is used once a year as a house for the cider press. Days of real activity
are connected with this industry. The old weather-beaten church has not been
used since the Liberty Loan Drive, and stands in shameful contrast with the
local Socony, as a "Filling Station"; but the tank does all filling.
The old stagecoach is replaced by a Reo bus, except through
the winter months. Some of us who have reached the 40 mark can well remember that
night a few years ago when John Cochran, a venerable and respected citizen of Beaver
Meadow, with the South Otselic Band in attendance, thrilled the natives with his
patriotism and eloquence.
No, Beaver Meadow is not dead, but may be a little sleepy.
It is so near the energized and bustling town of South Otselic, world famous as the
home of Gladding's fishing lines, whose plant is without doubt the largest in the
world, that it will never die, for South Otselic is the hub of the universe, its
radii diverging to all parts of the earth.
This Mr. Bowler must know as he came to South Otselic from
"Slab City", if our recollection serves correctly, and spent several years
of his early life here, wherein he apparently absorbed some of the town's go-getting
qualities, as exemplified in his later success in his chosen field of endeavor.
The little hamlets have all they can do to survive, and are
feeders for the larger towns and cities the same as Syracuse is to New York. Don't
throw cold water on the small town!
An Angell With A Hart,
Ululation Dispensors.
South Otselic.
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The Syracuse Post-Standard, December 8, 1926
Beaver Meadow Not an "Ornery" Place at All
To the Editor of The Post-Standard :
Noting the dissertation in a late issue of The Post-Standard,
from the pen of Mr. J.H. Bowler of Syracuse, relative to the recent discussion of
peculiar names of towns and places, and especially referring to the hamlet of Beaver
Meadow ( for there are two, usually called Upper and Lower Beaver Meadow ), I would
like to say that, it is no mystery about the name of the place in question.
It is in fact true that it is the location of an erstwhile
beaver-dam and that the low, swampy land lying between the two hamlets is now the
beaver meadow formed by the absorption of draining off the dam from which the beaver
has long been extinct. As for its being so "ornery" a place, there is at
present all about the average prosperity of the usual farming locality.
The writer recalls a time when one David Van Devere raised
right about there 1,000 acres of hops. The supervisor of the town was then a resident
of Beaver Meadow. The stage route is still running between South Otselic and Norwich.
The Post-Standard photogravure section recently published a prized picture of an early
driver, known to every one along the route. The writer never knew the wayside rest
station; so that was a new one. At present, the driver sports an up-to-date motor
vehicle, over a high type of state road.
Beaver Meadow was the early home of the late Hon. George Ray,
who was born and grew to manhood there. His birthplace is still in good repair and is
on a rolling fertile farm extending along the same beaver meadow and now owned by Hon.
Daniel Cushman of Norwich. Other members of his family and youths of his age grew to be
illustrious citizens, with this hamlet as their birthplace.
And, coming down to the present starvation period, there are
Mr. Frank E. Cox, cashier of the Otselic Valley National Bank at South Otselic, who
started his business career right there in Beaver Meadow, also his mercantile successor
there, Simeon E. Crumb, who later for 25 years or more was manager of the Boston office
of Dickson & Eddy, coal barons of New York.
Our attorney and judge, David F. Lee, can also claim the place
as his birthplace, where his father, John F. Lee, conducted what was for those days the
most successful creamery in this locality. Attorney H.A. Webb, who at present occupies
the position of president of the Otselic National Bank, was born and reared in this
little hamlet. There is also Freeland Cochran, who was born in Beaver Meadow and grew
up on the same old diet. He was the son of John Cochran, veteran of the Civil War, who
has joined his silent comrades within the last year.
Young Freeland was recently the recipient of a great ovation
when he was elected member of the Assembly from his Vermont home. There are at the
present time living in Beaver Meadow at least three more Civil War veterans who have,
to a very old age, withstood the "scanty fare". In fact, the entire population
seems to me to carry a thrifty, well-fed appearance, despite the fact that they always
seem to lead a "doice far niente" existence.
South Otselic
VERITAS.
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The Syracuse Post-Standard, December 10, 1926
Passenger Pigeon, as Well as the Beaver,Left
Its Name for Hamlet in Country Through Which
Ran the "Underground Railway" Toward Freedom
To the Editor of The Post-Standard :
Inasmuch as a writer to the Morning's Mail wishes to
know the origin of the name of the burg called Beaver Meadow, in Otselic township,
Chenango county, it will be necessary for me to go back to the early history of
this section and also to the habits of the beaver.
In the remote days, before the coming of the pale face to
Otselic, the beaver made its home or habitation by the sweet-water, woodland rills,
small clear rivers, large springs and spring-fed lakes, in short, waters suitable
for the speckled trout were satisfactory to the beavers.
In this environment the beaver built its lodges with
infinite care; and, lest they should not have sufficient depth of water
in all seasons and all weathers, they constructed extensive beaver dams to
raise the water to the required level. In this way beaver meadows were formed.
Among the headwaters which flow from the Otselic hills
to make the east fork of the Canaswacta is a stream known locally as the Beaver
Meadow brook, by reason of the large beaver meadow near its banks. Here the beaver
held tenure and lived in peace and plenty until the white man disputed his possessions.
One hundred and twenty-six years ago Ebenezer Hill
pre-empted the first home in the Otselic wilderness between the Bear Yallow
and the Beaver Meadow. Other pioneers soon followed suit and settled along
the banks of the Alder Meadow and the Beaver Meadow and, after building their
log houses, began clearing the forest growth, the bark of which was a staple
and necessary article of food for the beaver family. Right there was the
beginning of the end of the beaver, which does not associate with farmers
and civilization by choice.
In the course of human events a hamlet was born in a
brush heap not far from the confluence of the Middltown Manus with the Canasawacta;
and this new bucolic child was dignified with the expressive name of Beaver Meadow,
which is too obvious to need explanation here. In due time it doffed its swaddling
clothes and 46 years ago had increased to 105 head of humans, accumulated to all
the attributes of a rural village besides being a way station on the stage route
from South Otselic to McQueen's at Norwich. This McQueen was a four-in-hand driver
before 1868 on the stage route from Utica to Norwich.
I do not know why anyone should accumulate animosity against
the burg of Beaver Meadow unless he suffered the experience of swapping horses with
Ol' Man Coleman or had his straw hat consumed by the town goat. Pigeon Hill, in the
same locality, was named after the passenger pigeon, which frequented this spot, on
it's migrations many years ago, to feed on beech mast. The last time this bird was
reported in upper Chenango county was several years ago, near the Brimstone Meeting
House. It is still found in the woods of upper Canada.
( NOTE : The Passenger Pigeon,
Ectopistes Migratorius of the pigeon family Columbidae, was hunted to extinction in 1914,
some 12 prior to this letter.)
Starting below Beaver Meadow and a short distance above the
confluence of the two forks of the Canaswacta, the stage route travels an historic
highway. This was part of the "Underground Railway", or "North Star Slave
Trail", which originated in the Quaker country in and near Philadelphia, Pa.,
among the Society of Friends. It ran in a northerly direction to Montrose, Pa., where
at a later date a branch line left for lower Canada by way of Niagara Falls.
The main line continued northerly to the Quaker settlement
just west of Smyrna and went over the watershed, near "Nigger Hill", located
northwest of Smyrna, near the Madison county line, Lebanon stone mill ( erected in
1825 ) on the way to Gerrit Snith's at Peterboro, Fulton, Lake Ontario, Canada and
everlasting freedom.
Seventy-five years ago, at the time of the Jerry Rescue in
Syracuse, and during the days of the fugitive slave law, a station was established
a little way farther east, in the village of Earlville, near the eleventh house
north of the cemetery on the way to "Red City". Eighty-seven years ago a
white slave girl came up the "North Star Trail" on her way to freedom. She
was an octoroon, or in other words seven-eights white, handsome in face and figure,
with a wealth of long crimpy hair like you see in a hair tonic advertisement.
This started the eagle screaming in Chenango and Madison and
the skids under slavery, which continued to slip to the end.
Sherburne. Hiram Hayseed.
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The Syracuse Post-Standard, December 13, 1926
State Is to have Reforested Game Preserve in
Region Where Sodom, Podunk, Snailtown and
Peet Hook Are All Familiar Place Names
To the Editor of The Post-Standard :
The writer is much interested in the letter of Thurlow
W. Johnson in The Post-Standard and has read the article by J. Bowler and the
other articles leading up to Mr. Johnson's.
His statements are very accurate, to be written by a man
absent from the locus in quo for 44 years. It seems to be the rule that letters
similar to this are usually penned by absentees, as those on the ground seldom
get interested enough to put similar thoughts on paper. As a barefoot boy, I went
to "Beaver" to school, past the birthplace of Thurlow W. Johnson, which
doesn't seem so far from the "Corners" to him now ( 1/2 mile as it was then ).
The "Canada" school house is still occupied :
and "Dark Hollow" and "Upperville", all in the town of Smyrna, are
terms in present every-day use. Otselic was "The Flats" and South Otselic
"The Burgh", in my childhood days; and many years before. : South
Otselic was "Bowen Settlement", and before that "Sugar Hollow".
"Bangall", known to Mr. Johnson in his capacity as a government employee
at a post office in Dutchess county, is not the "Bangall" of which Mr.
Bowler speaks. He refers to the present Taylor, situated down the Otselic river
from South Otselic, the name appearing on the same map as "Podunk" and
"The Hook" and not found on maps kept for sale.
This town is now famed as the one designated last winter
to pay a tax rate of $115 per thousand by the board of supervisors of Cortland
county, that question still being at issue in the appellate courts at Albany.
"Cold Hill" is incorrect. Mr. Johnson undoubtedly knew Nelson Cole and
his father, who hailed from "Cole Hill". And this territory, together
with the "Bear Swamp", now owned by the writer, and adjacent lands, are
expected soon to be taken over by the state, enclosed by a high fence, stocked
with game and reforested and to be the first parcel taken over by the state from
hunting license fees.
Esquire Asher M. Ray, the judge's father, was a justice
of the peace of the town of Otselic when a magistrate, taking an acknowledgement
of a married woman, had to certify that "upon an examination separate and
apart from her husband" she acknowledged the instrument as her "free act
and deed" and "without any fear or compulsion from her said husband".
His old farm embraced the territory between lower and upper Beaver Meadow.
Here the future judge was born; and through this farm,
now owned by Attorney Cushman of Norwich, extended the old Midland railroad, referred
to by Mr. Johnson. On this place occurred the death of Dell Bush last year, by wind
storm, a matter considerably discussed in the papers at the time. My grandfather,
Ezra T. Webb, mentioned in Mr. Johnson's article as a trapper and hunter, is buried
in the cemetery on the road from "Beaver to "Skunk's Misery" also referred
to by him; as is also E.T.'s father and grandfather : and he told me of the
beavers, the same as he told the writer of today's article.
My grandfather gave me my first lessons in telling the truth,
but not the whole truth, when, having taken a fine mess of trout from an old culvert
under the abandoned Midland on the Ray farm, he told me, a small lad, to tell "if
anybody asked me" that we caught these beauties "up the creek" and to say
nothing about getting them all in one place.
It has been my lot as supervisor to write the checks for the
last $24,000 of town bonds placed against Otselic on account of the abandoned Midland
road, which road put Beaver Meadow on the map for a short time, the original cost to
the town being something over $80,000. Rev. J. Bowler was a Baptist clergyman at the
"Burgh", several miles from Beaver Meadow in 1900, when I took the United
States census in Otselic; but I do not know whether the article was by him or
some member of his family.
The writer resides at South Otselic. Among the points of
interest, past and present, within an easy radius are those known by the local
cognomens of Burdick Settlement, Catlin Settlement, Doran Town, Sodom, Rhode Island,
Frinkville, Pink Hill, Moon Hill and other "hills", "towns" and
"villes." But "Coontown" and "Snailtown" mentioned in one of
the earlier articles are over the Unadilla from Chenango county and in the vicinity
of "Peet Hook".
Otselic is an Indian name meaning "Plum Creek". Our
bank cashier, Mr. Frank E. Cox, a fixture in Otselic for over 70 years, has a long
list of combinations of letters used by individuals on mail for the purpose of
finding us through the Post Office, our location being nearly as difficult to spell
as Schaghticoke or Lincklaen.
I am writing this from Norwich and do not have before me
any of the Post-Standard letters on sobriquets except Mr. Johnson's.
Norwich
H.A. Webb.
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The Syracuse Post-Standard, December 21, 1926
Coasting Into Norwich With Four-Hundred
Cords of Wood on Rails of Old Railroad;
Horse Drawing Reconstructed Truck Back.
To the Editor of The Post-Standard :
A little more history about Beaver Meadow and the Oswego
Midland Railroad. In the year of our Lord, 1881, and after this line of road had
been abandoned, I had more than 400 cords of wood banked along the siding at Beaver
Meadow, which I had bought for a man from Norwich, who was backing me in the grocery
trade ( I had very little capital of my own ).
After this line had been abandoned officially, I went to him,
and after a conference he renounced all responsibility and threw all the burden upon
me. That meant financial ruin for me. The wood consisted of all beech, birch and maple,
not less than 14 inches in length, and bought at the municifent price of $1 per cord,
in trade. A portion, however, was purchased at 87 1/2 cents per cord. ( Some difference
in prevailing prices at this date. The lower 87 1/2 cents per cord ) after persistent
rumors about the abandonment of the railroad.
Milo Miles, who operated the saw and planing mill, had a truck
or car used during the construction of this line of road to convey dirt from the cuts
and fills and there dumped. This car was constructed to run on a three-foot gauge road.
It occurred to me that these axles could be lengthened to the standard gauge, which I
believe to be four feet, eight and one half inches at the present time. I communicated
with the Norwich Foundry corporation in respect to lengthening them ( two axles for four
wheel car ).
In the meantime I had walked over the track to Norwich, 12 miles
distant, to note the condition. I had had some former instruction in railroad work. And
I found that bracing some of the bridges and other places where the spring floods had
washed away, it would be possible to operate a light car over the tracks to Norwich
without power. Mr. Miles and I constructed a frame for a car with a capacity of 12 cords.
In the meantime I was in correspondence with Superintendent
C.W. Lamphere of the New York, Ontario & Western railroad for permission to
operate this car over the road to Norwich. He informed me that it was not in his
power to grant any such authority. Then I made a personal appeal for permission.
He almost laughed me to scorn, and said my proposition was not feasible and extremely
visionary.
As a last resort I appealed to him to be a good Samaritan.
Both of us belonged to the same fraternal order. Finally, as a last resort he said :
"Your persistency has appealed to me to say : 'Go to it'. Still I have not
changed my mind about the feasibility. Too visionary!"
After the car was made ready we loaded it with 10 cords of
wood and started the initial trip. I hired one Loren Hall, who was the father of a
boy about 13 years old, to assist me. The first trip was most strenuous. The bearings
being new, soon after leaving Beaver Meadow we discovered ( in railroad parlance ) a
"hotbox". The grade permitted us to run without any propulsion.
When we arrived at Plymouth, I went to a grocery store and
procured a package of Dixon's stove polish, which is composed principally of graphite.
I shaved a portion of this up and mixed it with lubricating oil. And finally we
overcame the "hotbox". When we arrived within about four miles of Norwich
we struck a grade nearly level, in fact, an upgrade over bridges. We arrived at Norwich,
or where we crossed the highway formerly a plank road, where we dumped our load.
When we arrived ( somewhere about the middle of September ) it
was dark. Mr. Hall and myself were fagged out, and about famished for want of a good
square meal. On our return to Beaver Meadow we arrived home about 10:30 p.m. The next
day was a day of rest, Mr. Hall was ready to "throw up the sponge." Along toward night
we loaded up with 10 cords preparatory to start at 7 a.m. the next day. Mr. H. consented
to one more trial.
It rained during the night and that left a clean rail. Soon
after leaving the momentum became so great I had to apply the brake ( a lever brake
with air ). We made the run in about 50 minutes and were highly elated. The inhabitants
along the line were astonished. After the second trip I operated the car alone, making
quite a reduction in operating expenses.
We used a horse with a towing line and used to unhitch crossing
the bridges and push the car over. I transported all the wood in this manner and then
turned the car over to Milo Miles, who finally added an engine and connected to the
bearings and thus operated the car for freight and express until the rails were finally
removed, assisting with this car in the demolition of this line of road.
Thus ended this branch of the old Oswego Midland Railroad.
Thurlow W. Johnson, Syracuse - (Note 2)
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The Syracuse Post-Standard, December 24, 1926
Red Hair, Red Face, Red Flannels
To the Editor of The Post-Standard :
These splendid letters appearing in The Post-Standard
of late, telling of events and schools in the Beaver Meadow region years ago,
bring to my mind a splendid man's character. In the winter of 1863-4 or 1864-5
the school at Beaver Meadow had varied experiences. They had during this time
three different teachers, the first man whose name I cannot now recall.
Suffice it to say that his finish as a teacher came swift
and sure. He possessed a "yellow streak" and soon lost control over the
school and was thrust bodily out through an open window. The second teacher was
Miss Abel, who was nearsighted and a little deaf, being 21 years of age plus. She
was described as "being so durned deaf she could not see and so blind that she
could not hear", and the boys were raising cain in general. She survived the
ordeal a little more than a week, when she was carried out bodily by two stalwart
boys and set down near the "babbling brook".
Then the three trustees by the name of Philip Bellinger,
Otis Gardner ( my uncle on my mother's side ) and Daniel Webb, cast about for a
teacher of valor. One Dwight Hall of Smyrna applied for this much sought position.
At that time teachers "boarded around", i.e., from house to house for
usually a week at a time. And then, when they had "boarded" with each family
of the district, they "repeated", quite a varied experience.
Right here I will give a brief description of "Brother
Hall". A man of about five feet, seven inches in his stocking feet; of spare
building, but muscular; with red hair and a ruddy complexion. He wore, at this
time, bright red flannel underwear. After due deliberation, the trustees allowed him
a trial.
On Monday morning following he appeared on the field of combat.
On entering the school room ( schools of that period consisted of only one room ) as he
glanced at the blackboard his eye saw these most inspiring words :
There was a crow flying south,
With Dwight Hall in his mouth;
When he saw he had a fool,
He dropped him to teach the Beaver Meadow School.
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With decision in his manly bearing he doffed his hat and
coat and hung them in the closet. With deliberation he rolled his shirtsleeves
above the elbow. Red head, red face and red flannel, he looked the man of valor.
When the hour of 9 a.m. arrived, he stepped to the door and
rang the handbell with vigor. Then, stepping inside, he stood at attention and waited
proceedings. In this room there was a long box stove capable of burning wood three feet
in length. The boys and girls filed in from without. The girls and smaller boys went
directly to their seats. Not so with the larger boys, who gathered around the stove
with their hats or caps on their heads. Mr. Hall spoke thusly : "Boys, the
ringing of that bell means that school is in session. Take your seats."
The boys, with a defiant grimace, remained standing by the
stove. Mr. Hall stepped quickly to the side of the boy nearest him and with his left
hand laid hold of the arm of one George Rury and commanded him to take his seat.
Instead of obeying his commanded, he raised his right arm in battle array.
With a vigorous swing of a heavy ruler prepared for the
occasion the teacher hit said Rury a resounding smash on his forearm. The arm fell
limp at his side. With a direct blow at another boy, there was a precipitate scramble
for their seats. The girls let forth unearthly shrieks. Pandemonium reigned for a
brief time. Mr. Hall, standing erect, with a stamp of his right foot spoke with decision
the word "attention". In less than a minute all eyes riveted on this fearless teacher.
He addressed the school thus :
"Order is the first requisite for a school. Without it,
it is useless for me to teach", or words to that effect. In the meantime the boy
was having trouble with his right arm. Mr. Hall went to him and said : "Does
your arm hurt?" He was assured that it did. "Take your cap and go to your home,
but be sure to return tomorrow morning." From that day to the end of the term Mr. Hall
had complete control of that school. The men of this class were at the front, fighting to
perpetuate the Union.
The last day of school I have never forgotten. The larger girls
with the help of their mothers crocheted a beautiful scarf composed of bright-hued
Germantown yarn and nearly three yards in length, as "ye old-timers" can remember
were worn at that time, and it was presented to Mr. Hall, also a nice Bible. Hardly a dry
eye in this schoolhouse, crowded to its capacity, at the presentation of the gifts.
That simply shows that we must have discipline and a vigorous body
to sustain good mentality. I never was blessed with any children of my own, yet I am
enthusiastic in the development of vigorous manhood and womanhood. That is what the
trainers of our Boy and Girl Scouts are developing today. I am for the Scouts with all the
financial aid at my command. Lend a helping hand a money to perpetuate the good work.
Thurlow W. Johnson, Syracuse - (Note 3)
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The Syracuse Post-Standard, November 13, 1926
The Quest for Skunk's Misery
Skunk's Misery Grouped With Toad Hollow,
Bat's End and Others in Chenango County
To the Editor of The Post-Standard :
My mother came from Chenango county, and I have heard her
tell many times of "Skunk's Misery", which was located in the town of Smyrna
( NOTE : Skunk's Misery has always been
the traditional nickname for North Pharsalia and is located in the town of Otselic, not
Smyrna, as this letter claims. ), a little northeast of the Card School District.
It derived its name from the fact that in the 1850s and 1860s it was a territory largely
covered with second growth timber, making it an ideal habitation for large colonies
of "wood-pussies".
One of the interesting inhabitants of this area was a character
called by everybody roundabout "Ole Pettis", who always wore mostly rags and a
curiously contrived pigskin apron, and who carried more money about upon his person in
gold and bills than most of us make in a year of hard work. Just beyond "Skunk's
Misery", to the east, in Otselic township, was another interesting region called
""Bat's End", a place full of stumps and poor families, which, I believe, is
now mostly abandoned by all save the bats which gave it its name.
Then there was "Toad Hollow", in the vicinity of
Plymouth, a dark and gloomy locality of many trees and much creaking in winter, and
rustling branches and a multiplicity of toads (and probably frogs also) in summer.
To name one more in closing : "Nigger Hill", a high point some three and
one-half miles from Smyrna village, to the east, where for some 25 years, beginning
in the early 1840s, a considerable colony of Negroes was located. That settlement is
now nearly obliterated, all the houses and cabins having been abandoned and left to
the elements.
Let us hear from others through this column along these lines.
It's much more interesting than election post-mortems.
Leonora V. Tate, Ithaca.
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The Syracuse Post-Standard, November 6, 1926
The Tragedy of Skunk's Misery and
the True Story of Peter Podunk
To the Editor of The Post-Standard :
To the person in quest of Skunk's Misery, I will say as a
foreword that in the old days it was customary in Central New York to give many
hamlets a local christening, quite different from the geographical name, and they
are still answering to its call. Now, if the traveler will go to Cortland and follow
the bus line eastward through McGraw, Solon, East Freetown, Cincinnatus and Taylor
in Cortland county, he will find himself at the end of about an hour's ride by motor,
just over the line in Chenango county and in the beautiful Otselic river valley.
From a high elevation nearby, on a clear day, with a good
field glass, he can see into four counties and 13 towns. If he will leave the main
stem at the third turn to the right after crossing the line, the first native he asks
will direct him on his way to Podunk, situated among the high hills of the watershed
which separates the water flowing into the Otselic from those of the Chenango.
This place received its local name after Peter Podunk, who
sojourned there for a time, over 100 years ago. In the course of human events, Peter
passed on and perhaps had other places farther west named after him. But this place
is Peter's first and original Podunk. Near here, from the lookout of an old observatory
below the Wayne Berry place, one could see the Catskill mountains, 90 miles away, with
a good glass, on a clear day.
The aforementioned native will also direct the stranger to
Skunk's Misery, which is the first station beyond. This place received its nickname
by reason of the adventure of a Mr. F. in fur farming. His idea was to breed and rear
the high priced black skunk for its valuable fur and for its oil, which was a specific
for stiff joints and rheumatism. This was an ill-starred adventure at the outset, and
was foreordained to disappointment.
The details of the failure are too dreadful to be described
here. While the skunks were able to produce a peck load of perfume every day, the
proprietor found his supply of air pitifully inadequate. It was long this watershed,
in the Civil War days, that a bunch of hard-eyed horse thieves lived and operated over
much territory.
It is now over 60 years ago that one September night a fast
road mare, stolen in Oneida county, came down the Otselic valley at a heartbreaking
clip. It had traveled an estimated distance of 55 miles, at an average speed of five
and one-half minutes per mile. It was closely pursued by the owner and Grove Loomis,
who recaptured the outfit, and the thief escaped to the hills and his home.
At the present time some of the highest scoring butter made in
New York State is manufactured on this watershed. This is a matter of public record by
reason of its competing for premiums at the New York State Fair.
Should the tourist wish to come to this town, any well in formed
native will direct him to "Nigger Holler", "Shacktown", "Snailtown",
"Dogtown", "Robber's Roost", "Houn Dawg", "Slab City",
"Toad Holler" and other places with odd names. Many of these names have priority
over the present names, and go back over 100 years, when the white man took up the burden
and the Indian still tarried on the banks of the Chenango.
Sherburne.
Hiram Hayseed.
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NOTES
- Pg.481, History of Chenango County by James H. Smith, (Syracuse) 1880;
Pages 67&70, New York Postal History by John L. Kay and Chester M. Smith Jr.,
published by the American Philatelic Society, 1972.
- This story is verified by the following newspaper references :
- Chenango Union, Thurs., April 28, 1881
It is reported that the Auburn Branch of the Midland Road, which has
for some time past been closed, is soon to opened by private parties,
for the transportation of freight between this village and the ( Otselic
Center ) trestle, a car making one round trip daily.
- Semi-Weekly Telegraph, Sat., June 11, 1881
Miles & Bissell ran their new steam car from Beaver Meadow to Norwich
over the Auburn branch for the first time on Tuesday last. The car is
capable of hauling about six tons of freight.
- Semi-Weekly Telegraph, Wed., June 13, 1881
Miles & Bissell are operating the Auburn branch, between this place
and Norwich, with a fair degree of success. They will add steam to
their car soon, which will save the necessity of a horse, and will
do away with a large amount of pushing which had been the propelling
power of late.
- Semi-Weekly Telegraph, Wed., Aug. 27, 1881
Beaver Meadow - Milo Miles and William B. Ireland have purchased an
engine which they intend putting on the Auburn Branch for the purpose
of hauling passengers and freight between Otselic and Norwich. We hope
to see the branch once more under successful operation.
- Semi-Weekly Telegraph, Wed., Sept. 17, 1881
Beaver Meadow -- Miles & Ireland have their steam car in good working order
and are making daily trips to and from Norwich. It will be appreciated by
people living along the Branch.
- Semi-Weekly Telegraph, Wed., Dec. 30, 1881
Milo Miles is engaging in taking up the rails on the DeRuyter branch of
the Midland from Crumb Hll to Otselic. Take up the bonds, too, Milo.
- Semi-Weekly Telegraph, Wed., March 11, 1882
Beaver Meadow - Milo Miles has sold his engine,
"Pathfinder", No. 3, to parties in Smyrna, N.Y. This is
the engine that hauled the local freight, on the Auburn Branch,
last season.
- Semi-Weekly Telegraph, Wed., April 12, 1882
The rails on the Auburn branch have been taken up from the Otselic
trestle to the main line.
- Semi-Weekly Telegraph, Wed., June 7, 1882
Men were at work, last week, taking up the iron on the Auburn branch
from Crumb Hill east, and we still hear rumors that the line will be put
in condition for business in the near future. The prospects for its being
run again are decidedly unfavorable. -- DeRuyter New Era.
- Thurlow W. Johnson committed suicide by hanging himself in the cellar
of his home at 714 S. Beech St., Syracuse, on March 26, 1928. According
to his obituary in the Post-Standard of March 27, 1928, he had been
unaccountably obsessed over his financial situation. He was a retired
mail clerk for the New York Central Railroad. He was survived by his wife,
Cora, and a sister, Mrs. Ida Hiler.
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