By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Vol. 3, No. 34

National Portrait Gallery image of Carl Carmer (1893-1976), Class of 1910, Albion.

ALBION – “Albion is a boom town now, alert, progressive, dynamic. It is about the same size as it was forty years ago, but it believes in growth as it never did then, and it will grow. It has a local ‘Committee of Economic Development’ which was sponsored by the Albion Chamber of Commerce and that committee has worked hard and with intelligence and foresight.”

This was Carl Carmer’s optimistic observation following a visit to his hometown in the 1940s after an absence of 40 years. At the time of this return visit, he was nationally recognized as an accomplished author and folklorist. His first book “Stars Fell on Alabama,” published in 1934 was a bestseller and Literary Guild Selection. He told American folktales on a CBS radio show called Your Neck O’ the Woods.

He described this trip to Albion in the chapter “Hometown Revisited” which is included in his book “Dark Trees to the Wind” published in 1949. He referenced as sources, Charles D’Amico, principal of Albion High School, and Joseph B. Achilles, Orleans County historian. What lively conversations they must have had!

Carmer graduated from Albion in 1910 and then pursued studies in English literature at Hamilton and Harvard. He had happy memories of growing up in Albion in the early 1900s –learning to swim in a swift-running culvert, jumping to the decks of slow canal boats on one bridge and climbing back at the next, bicycling nine miles to Oak Orchard to swim.

He recalled an era when:

 “Albion was big houses and deep tree dominated lawns…The houses of South Main St., paid for by tolls, canal trade, dividends and apple profits, were set apart, each on a spacious lawn.”

Change was immediately visible as soon as he approached the four corners where East and West Avenues meet South Main Street.

“Those corners, austere in the dignity of massive houses set back on green and level lawns, had been the symbol of South Main.

“But East and West Avenues are now part of a brick-paved pike, called the Million Dollar Highway, and where the Swan house had stood serene in the assurance of its redbrick towers lay a wide cement covered yard decorated only by the garish protuberances of a gasoline station.”

He was dismayed to find that the Bruner house across the street, an elegant, dark-green house with piazzas, bay window and cupola, had disappeared. It had been his home, the center of his hometown memories. Only the foundations remained, and they seemed pathetically small for the building that had rested on them.

As he walked down South Main Street, he saw that the remaining mansions were no longer family homes: the Dye house was a funeral home, the Taylor house was a cafeteria. The Wage house was gone and its big barn, which had once sheltered the first horseless carriage in town, was a restaurant and night club known as Marti’s.

He realized that the era and cultural patterns he had grown up with were gone, they had died along with the big houses. He believed that the town had lived through a crisis, but, at that postwar juncture, he was optimistic for its future.

He returned to Orleans County on at least one other occasion – in May 1959 when he spoke in Lyndonville for the benefit of the Yates Community Library. A presentation on his Yarns and Folktales will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Schoolhouse at 3286 Gaines Basin Rd., Albion.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Vol. 3, No. 33

This obelisk which dominates Knowlesville Cemetery was erected following the death Eleazar Slater, Jr. in 1887. The first stipulation of his will directed that “any funeral charges and all debt against my estate be paid and fully discharged and a good, suitable, and proper and respectable tombstone be erected.”

KNOWLESVILLE – Eleazar Slater, Sr. and his wife, Polly, originally from Massachusetts, were early settlers in Ridgeway. They had cleared land and constructed a house by 1815. This is documented in the pioneer narrative provided by William Knowles in which he states that he stayed with them when he first arrived.

The advent of the Erie Canal proved very beneficial for that locality. William Knowles shipped the first boatload of wheat from Orleans County. He built a warehouse on the canal, freight boats stopped there. A post office was established in 1826 and the growing hamlet was named in honor of Knowles.

The Presbyterian Church in Knowlesville was formed in 1817, it was the predominant denomination in the area. The Slaters were members. Eleazar T. Slater Sr. died in 1853. Polly, his wife, died in 1863. Their son, Eleazar T. Jr., who was unmarried, died in on May 2, 1887, by which time he had accumulated a substantial sum of money.

In 1885 Eleazar Jr. sued the First National Bank of Albion to recover $5,700 worth of bonds found to be missing when Albert S. Warner absconded with the bank’s assets in 1884.

Eleazar Jr. gave a great deal of consideration to the disposal of his assets following his death and several sets of revisions and codicils were recorded. The stipulations of the will included:

Second: I give and bequeath to my sister Livera Wilders: the sum of $2,000 and one half of my household furniture, bedding, and wardrobe.

Third: I give and bequeath to my sister, Melissa Ostrander, the like sum of $2,000 and the remaining half of my furniture, bedding, and wardrobe.

Fourth: I give and bequeath to the Trustees of the Presbytery of Niagara, the sum of $50,000.

Fifth: I hereby direct the said Trustees of the Presbytery of Niagara to give the First Presbyterian Church and Society of the Town of Ridgeway the sum of $250 annually, but such sum is not to be paid until the said Society shall have paid their Pastor all of his salary for the previous years, except such sum of $250 and shall present to file with the officers of said Presbytery the receipt of such Pastor therefor. And in case the said Society fails to present such receipt from such Pastor then the said Trustees may use and exercise their own judgment regarding the payment of said $250.

Sixth: I give and bequeath the rest and residue of my estate of what nature and kind to the Board of the Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America.

The New York Times of May 7, 1887, reported the details of the will. The “residue” of his estate was estimated as amounting to an astounding $200,000, the equivalent of $6.5 million today. The will refers to securities, bonds, mortgages, and real estate, which presumably were the source of his wealth.

The will was soon “vigorously contested” by his heirs. It was reported in the Medina Tribune in September that progress on the issue was slow, and that eight lawyers were involved.

The Medina Tribune of October 13, 1887, noted that a compromise had been reached: The Board of Home Missions was directed to pay the heirs $22,000, Miss Emma Beckham would receive $3,000 and David Farham of Rochester would receive a small amount. The Presbyterian Church in Knowlesville would receive $5,000 in lieu of the $250 annuity. It was estimated that the aggregate of the estate after court expenses, payments and taxes would be in the region of $100,000.

Following some presbytery amalgamations, the funds later came under the control of the Presbytery of the Genesee Valley. A subsequent decision of the Surrogate Court of Orleans County directed that the Slater Fund was to be used for “the benefit of the five Presbyterian Churches located in Orleans County” (Albion, Barre Center, Holley, Lyndonville, and Medina).

The “original book Valu” of the fund was invested by the Presbytery and remarkably, the return income continues to be divided among the churches annually, 136 years following the death of Eleazar T. Slater, Jr.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Vol. 3, No. 29

SHELBY – Prior to 1960, the address for this West Shelby home, then owned by Carl Hansen, was RD 2, Box 153. Following the assignment of rural numbers, the address became 5272 West Shelby Rd. It has been the home of Gary and Norma Jones since 1960.

In 1960, Shelby was the first Orleans County town to assign numbers to the homes and lots along its rural roads. This was part of a regional effort to identify rural properties more easily, spearheaded, not by the postal service, but by the Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation.

Rural delivery routes had been established when rural mail delivery began in 1896. Homes were identified by their delivery route number and the postal box number, e.g. RD 2, Box 153. While this identified the home on that route, it was not unique or specific. There could be several instances of similar “addresses” in a county. One could not easily identify where RD2 was, as it was a delivery route, not a road. Rural dwellings were difficult to locate in emergencies.

On July 2, 1959, the Orleans County Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a resolution to approve the countywide rural road numbering plan outlined in the Master Plan for Development prepared by the Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation. The motion had been proposed by Supervisor Manley S. Morrison of the Town of Yates, seconded by Supervisor Lester Canham of the Town of Gaines. They had been part of a committee which had studied the Niagara Mohawk proposal and had concluded that rural numbering was of value and would prove beneficial to utility companies, fire companies, police officers as well as to the public.

However, the Board of Supervisors noted that it was “not authorized by law to expend money for said purpose” and that any of the towns who decided to adopt the plan would have to do so at their own expense. Fortunately, Niagara Mohawk, which had developed the uniform numbering system, offered to supply maps and other material to the townships at no cost.

The Town of Shelby voted to proceed with the project at a March 7, 1960, meeting.

Raymond Pahura, Town of Shelby Supervisor, Norman Anstey, Town of Shelby assessor, and Niagara Mohawk consultant Morris Lloyd of Buffalo began the process in May 1960. Beginning at the Niagara County line and working eastwards, they used a “measuring wheel” to mark off the lengths of vacant and occupied lots and assign individual numbers to each lot.

The Niagara Mohawk plan delineated that odd numbers would be assigned on the left side of the road and even on the right, generally numbering from east to west and from south to north. The project took a few weeks to complete.

Emergency agencies and medical personnel were then supplied with a master chart of the Shelby numbers. Property owners and tenants were notified of their assigned numbers and encouraged to use them.

The rural numbering system proposed by Niagara Mohawk to specifically identify properties thus became the basis of our address system.

40 companies highlighted in annual industrial directory 65 years ago

Speas Manufacturing Company operated in Lyndonville.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Vol. 3, No. 28

Forty industrial firms operated in Orleans County 65 years ago, according to the 1958 Industrial Directory of New York State. How many can you remember?

The Directory was arranged by different categories. Not surprisingly, the largest number of the Orleans County entries fell under the “Food and Kindred Products” category, fifteen in all:

• Duffy-Mott Company (Holley)
• Empire State Pickling Company (Waterport)
• Friends’ Packing Company of Albion
• General Foods Corporation – Birds Eye Division (Medina and Albion)
• H.J. Heinz Company (Medina)
• Hunt Foods (Albion)
• Lake Shore Packing Company (Waterport)
• Lyndonville Canning Company
• Medina Provision Company
• Morton Canning Company
• Orleans Canning Company (Albion)
• Orleans GLF Farm Products (Albion)
• Rignel Company (Medina)
• Speas Company (Lyndonville)
• Thomas J. Lipton (Albion)

The Duffy-Mott smokestacks were a landmark in Holley.

The “Printing and Publishing” category accounted for five of the entries:

• Albion Advertiser
• Eddy Printing Company (Albion)
• Holley-Standard
• Journal-Register (Medina)
• Orleans-Republican American (Albion)

The Bemis Bag Company (Albion) was the only entry in the “Paper and Allied Products” category.

Four firms were involved in “Lumber and Wood Products”:

• A.E. Vosler Manufacturing Corporation (Medina)
• Kraus Shingle Panel & Lumber Corporation (Lyndonville)
• Shepards Mill (Holley)
• Whitmer Jackson Company (Medina)

The three companies which manufactured “Furniture and Fixtures” were located in Medina:

• Authentic Chair Corporation
• S.A. Cook & Co.
• Taylor Brothers Furniture Manufacturing Company.

Under new ownership in 1967, the American Brakeshoe Company in Medina became part of the ABEX Corporation. (Photo courtesy of Craig Lacy)

Six companies were involved in metal production:

• Acer & Whedon Inc. (Medina)
• A.L. Swett Iron Works (Medina)
• American Brake Shoe Company (Medina)
• Bignall Company (Medina)
• Medina Stamping and Machine Company
• Phinney Tool & Die Company (Medina)

A.L. Swett and the Erie Pump and Engine Company, both of Medina, manufactured non-electrical machinery.

The Clarendon Stone Company and the M & M Stone Company of Albion were listed under “Mining”.  Spencer Explosives, Inc. was located in Kendall.

The DiLaura Construction Company which had plants in Albion and Holley made “Stone, Clay and Glass Products.”

Lyndonville’s Weld Shoe Company produced “Leather Products”, while the Robert H. Newell Company of Medina was the only apparel producer.

A few of the companies listed are still in operation, though under different ownership. The Phinney Tool and Die Company of Medina, for example, was purchased by S.B. Whistler & Sons, Inc. of Akron, NY in 2010 but still operates under its original name. Future columns will focus on the “corporate genealogy” of the original industries.

Free turkey at Thanksgiving, three months of maternity leave among policies

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Vol. 3, No. 27

This handbook on workplace practices and policies was issued to Lipton employees in 1961.

ALBION – “Our people are our greatest asset.”

So asserted Leonard O. Morneau, then plant manager at the Thomas J. Lipton facility in Albion.

He was speaking at a 1960 Chamber of Commerce dinner held in recognition of the Lipton Company’s million-dollar expansion at the site.

Recently, a Lipton’s personnel manual and several employee benefit documents from the 1960s were donated to the Orleans County Department of History. These papers are in excellent condition and provide an insight into the employment policies of the major local employer at that time.

The manual, entitled “Your Life at Lipton” extends a “Welcome to those who are joining the Lipton Family.” It outlines workplace policies and explains the employee benefits available to “Liptonites.”

An on-site Medical Department provided health services. A company doctor screened prospective employees to ensure that they were fit for the duties required and to establish baseline health. Subsequently, an annual physical examination was conducted. The results of these examinations were kept in the employee’s medical folder which was filed in the Medical Department.

The medical staff could provide emergency treatment as well as diagnose and treat occupational accidents and injuries. The department also offered periodic chest X-Rays and immunizations against polio, influenza and tetanus.

Plant employees worked 40 hours per week while office employees worked 37.5 hours per week. The company “contributed a substantial amount each year” to provide a lunchroom as a staff benefit.

Employees were allowed to smoke in the lounge rooms and the lunchroom. Male and female office employees were permitted to smoke at their desks.

The manual outlined the employee benefits in place:

Comprehensive Health Care Plan: (Liptons paid half of the premium)

•  Family members were each covered up to $10,000 ($102,240 per U.S. Inflation Calculator) for any serious illness.

•  The first $500 ($5,110) of any hospital bills were covered.

•  80% of any charges exceeding that amount.

•  80% of surgery expenses.

•  80% of anesthesia charges up to a maximum of $70 ($715)

• Costs associated with “illness at home”

• Maternity benefits: $320 ($3,300) for a normal delivery, $430 ($4,400) for a Caesarian section, $240 ($2,450) for a miscarriage.

• Dependent children to age 19 were covered and to 23 if still in school.

•  Retirees who had worked for ten years were permitted to continue with the plan, though the maximum amount payable was $2,500 ($25,600).

Sickness and Accident Benefits:

This covered accidents not caused by employment. Employees contributed 30¢ ($3.07) per week. The benefit paid 50% of wages, up to a maximum of $50 ($511) per week, for up to 26 weeks.

Life Insurance:

A contributary Life Insurance (14¢ ($1.43) per week per $1,000 ($10,225) of coverage) was also in place. In addition, employees who had completed one year of work were insured during employment in an additional non-contributory life insurance plan through the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company.

Pension Plan:

The company also contributed “substantial funds” to a Trust Fund to provide lifetime income for employees who retired aged 65. This income when combined with the Social Security benefit would produce a “liberal retirement income.”

Employees who had worked over 20 years earned 1/5th of earnings up to $3,600 ($36,800) per year and 3/10ths of earnings greater than that amount.

Female Employees:

Labor laws dictated that female employees could not begin work before 6 a.m. and could not work after midnight.

Maternity:

Pregnant employees were required to report their condition to the supervisor and to the nurse in the Medical Department during the third month. Failure to do so would result in immediate termination of employment without the benefit of a termination allowance and the employee would not be reconsidered for re-employment.

A pregnant employee could only work up to a maximum of five months of pregnancy. Employment could be terminated in advance of the fifth month if the company physician determined that the employee was exposed to hazards on the job.

A two-week termination allowance was given to employees who cooperated and arranged to leave their jobs (resign) in accordance with the best judgement of the Medical Department.

A maternity leave of absence was three months. Returning employees were required to present a birth certificate.

Also, the company hosted an annual social event for its employees. Employees and retired employees received a turkey at Thanksgiving and a gift package of Lipton products at Christmas.

The closure of the company in 1980 “due to the availability of more modern facilities at other locations” was a major blow to its employees and to the Orleans County economy.

The Albion Chamber of Commerce produced a stylish souvenir program for the 1912 Fruit Growers’ Convention.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

Illuminating Orleans – Vol. 3, No. 26

ALBION – The New York State Fruit Growers’ Association held their annual business meeting in Albion on August 14-15, 1912. The Albion Chamber of Commerce coordinated the arrangements.

Over 1,000 people attended, and the Chamber appealed to residents to open their homes to provide accommodation. Messenger boys were on hand to direct visitors to the residences where they had been assigned.

Scheduled events had to be moved from the Orleans County Courthouse to the Baptist Church auditorium to accommodate the large crowd. Additional telephones and

telegraph instruments were set up in the Courthouse.

Over 300 members traveled in their own automobiles which were parked on the Albion High School grounds. Policemen were assigned to guard the vehicles.

Wednesday’s program began with an Address of Welcome presented by W.B. Dye, Mayor of Albion, and Clark Allis, president of the Fruit Growers’ Association.

Edward Van Alstyne, Director of Farmers’ Institutes, spoke on The Apple Industry.

Major R.R. Riddell of the State Dept. of Agriculture spoke on New York’s Agricultural Renaissance.

The program included this list of Albion restaurants.

A complimentary Musical and Literary Concert held at the High School rounded out the day’s activities.

A mammoth 70-mile automobile trip to inspect Orleans County orchards was organized for Thursday, August 15. Medina and Albion residents donated the use of their cars for the trip.

The entourage of over 300 cars left Albion at 8 a.m. They visited the State experimental orchards of Albert W. Wood in Carlton, the Point Breeze farm of Mrs. Anna Clark, the S.T.J. Bush orchards in Kendall, and the Foster Uddell orchards, south of Brockport.

Lunch was served at Point Breeze, then the tour headed west to view the peach orchards of “peach king”, Clark Allis, near Knowlesville and the Jay Allis farm, the Bickle orchard in Shelby and the Dudley Watson, Francis Hanlon, and Crowley orchards near the Ridge.

The group was impressed by the obvious investments in new orchards and by the innovative methods in use. They concluded that the future of the fruit industry in Western New York looked very promising.

Before fairgrounds in Knowlesville, annual event was held in Village of Albion, and Bokman farm

This photograph from the 1980s captures the energy of the Fair – the skills of the young equestrians and the thrills of hurtling through the air on a carnival ride.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Vol. 3, No. 24

KNOWLESVILLE – Jumping frogs, greased pigs, racing pigs, costumed goats, square dancing on horseback, manure pitching – these are some of the fun activities hosted at the 4-H Fair over the years.

The Orleans County 4-H Fair opens Monday, July 24. That this is the 77th Annual Fair is a testament to the tenacity, resourcefulness, and creativity of a legion of groups, agencies and individuals who nurtured it through some lean times.

The Orleans County Agricultural Society’s first show was held in Albion in 1856 and thereafter annually until 1942 when the stresses brought on by WWII eclipsed any thoughts of celebration.

A Farmer’s Picnic was held at Bullard Park in Albion in 1945. Re-formed after the war, the First Annual Orleans County 4-H Junior Fair was held in 1946, also at Bullard Park and from 1947-1963 at the old fairgrounds on West State Street in Albion.

We are accustomed to the spacious grounds, fine buildings, and amenities available at the fairgrounds in Knowlesville, but that site was not purchased until 1965.

The Field Day Committee first entertained the notion of acquiring its own property in 1958. Several sites were investigated, but plans fell through, for a variety of reasons.

The fair was held at the Mike Bokman Quarter Horse Farm, located at the intersection of Long Bridge Road and Route 31E in Albion, for two years – 1963 and 1964.

In January 1965, the fair finally found a home. The purchase of the Howard Venus farm was approved. The southern section of the farm, between Wood Road and Taylor Hill Road on Route 31E, became the new fairgrounds. The northern section, which included a house and barns, was later sold to Robert K. Nice.

Preparation work on the site began immediately. The biggest project was the construction of the 72’ x 108’ pole building (now the Lartz Building) to house livestock exhibits.

Fund raising efforts intensified. Banks, canning factories, feed dealers, fertilizer companies, farmers and individuals were canvassed. The 4-H Club leaders sold pies, seed kits, and first aid kits. They held dances, organized a scrap metal drive and a plat book sponsorship.

The Birdseye company in Albion donated snap bean seeds. Volunteers cultivated ten acres of seed and sold the harvest back to Birdseye.

The Fairgrounds was officially opened on Wednesday, August 4th by Assemblyman Alonzo Waters of Medina, John Stookey of Lockport, who represented the state 4-H clubs, and Harold Trolley, president of Cooperative Extension. Congressman Barber Conable was the guest speaker at the “Dedication of Fairgrounds and Livestock Building” on Saturday, August 7th.

Fireworks at 11 p.m. signaled the ending of that first fair. The tradition of celebrating agriculture, encouraging farm families, and inspiring the next generation of future farmers was secured.

(Material courtesy of former Village of Albion Historian, Dr. Neil Johnson, who chronicled the history of the fair from 1946 to 1995.)

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

Illuminating Orleans, Vol. 3, No. 22

This shows an invitation to a July 4th event 175 years ago, which coincidentally, also fell on a Tuesday.

Bonfires and bell-ringing marked the first anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on July 4, 1777.

Within a few years, every town and village honored the date with speeches, parades, picnics, bonfires and fireworks.

In 1848, the village of Gaines celebrated Independence Day with a Ball, a dance event held at the Assembly-Room, music provided by Hamilton’s Cotillon Band.

The graphic on this attractive invitation features two mermen, each entwined in ferns, heralding the event. Several different fonts are used in the text.

A cotillon was a group dance popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was a social dance performed by four couples and a forerunner of the square dance. The first and third couples, then the second and fourth couples danced a sequence of geometric figures. It was a lively event, no doubt.

At that time, Gaines was a busy and prosperous settlement. Landmarks of Orleans County noted that in 1835 the village had seventy houses and more than 400 inhabitants.

There were four lawyers, two physicians, one saddler, two tailors, one painter, four blacksmiths, one cabinet maker, three tanneries, three wagon shops, three scythe factories, an ashery, four dry goods stores, two groceries, four shoe shops, two hotels and an academy. No doubt, this invitation was also extended to the residents of the nearby hamlets: Fairhaven, Gaines Basin, Eagle Harbor.

While cotillon dances are no longer in vogue, fireworks have long been a staple of July 4th celebrations. The village of Lyndonville hosts a spectacular show each year. Interestingly, the Medina Tribune, July 11, 1861, reported that a beautiful display of fireworks had been held in Lyndonville “on the anniversary of our National Independence.”