‘It was a terrible sight to see the fellows I had been with the last two years blown to pieces’

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 35

Pvt. Harold P. Wirth Co, F., 108th Regiment

LYNDONVILLE – The following letter was published in the Lyndonville Enterprise on November 7, 1918:

Co. F., 108th Infantry,

France, Oct. 6, 1918

Dear Friends,

Have a chance to again do some writing. I am down in a dugout, beside a little fire.

I have gone through a ten-day period that I never want to witness again, for it has been awful. Our division has gone over the top and this battalion was the first to cross the famous Hindenburg line – a line of trenches that the English claimed could never be broken. Cos. E and F were the first ones over the line and suffered heavily for it. We have a number killed, wounded and gassed, and the rest are very lucky to be alive.

Some of the boys who came back found wine, eggs, bread and other eats in Jerry’s big dugouts. Some of their dugouts are three stories deep and all built of concrete.

Captain Thompson is thought more of than ever now, and this Battalion will swear by him, and we hear that General Pershing thinks the “Skipper” is O. K. He is burned all over the face with mustard gas, but never once flinched and even attempted to re-organize the stragglers who got back and go after the Huns again.

It was a terrible sight to see the fellows I had been with the last two years blown to pieces, others wounded and still they wore big grins on their faces and told of how they did it. One sergeant in our company had four bullets in his body and they sent four Jerries out to carry him in, and as they picked him up, he said to them: “I will kill every darned one of you if you touch me” He wanted his own pals to carry him. He was shot twice and kept on going, then got two more and had to lie down.

Medina will get an awful blow when the list comes in, and it will likely be there before you get this.

It will seem good when we get back out of here and live as civilians again.

Love to all.

Harold P. Wirth

P.S. Will be home for Christmas dinner.

Harold P. Wirth did not make it home for Christmas dinner that year, but he was one of the lucky ones who made it through “to live as a civilian again.” He had enlisted as a company cook with Co. F, 108th Inf. New York National Guard on April 9, 1917, served overseas from May 18, 1918, and was discharged May 6, 1919.

The son of John G. and Grace Faulkner Wirth, he was born in Plain View, Nebraska on August 1, 1883. The family had close connections with Lyndonville. Following his discharge, Harold returned to this area and worked for five years at Lyndonville Canning. He then accepted a position with the Thomas Daggitt Canning Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan and later as superintendent of the Red Creek Canning factory in Wayne, New York.

Harold was one of the many WWI veterans afflicted with tuberculosis and was a patient at the Veterans T.B. hospital in Tupper Lake, New York. He died at the Veterans Hospital in Batavia, NY on Sept. 21, 1957, and was buried at Huron Evergreen Cemetery in Wayne County. Harold had been active in the Wolcott Post 881, American Legion. Both the Post and the cemetery are located just off Route 104 in Wayne County.

As Harold indicated in his letter, Colonel Thompson’s list was grim: between Sept. 27 and Nov. 1, 1918, 25 members of the company had been killed, 85 wounded, 18 were still in hospital and 11 had been cited for awards.

On Veterans Day, we remember, recognize and honor those who have served and are serving in the military.

“Pickett’s Child” is a postmortem photo from the Scott B. Dunlap collection in the Medina Historical Society.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 34

MEDINA – The child in this photograph appears to be sleeping peacefully. However, this is a postmortem photo, the child is dead, and the pose was referred to as the “Last Sleep.”

It may seem morbid to us, but at a time when infant mortality rates were high, and attitudes toward mourning were different, this photograph would have been viewed as a way of commemorating the dead and solace to the family.

This is most likely the only photograph ever taken of the deceased child. The photographer was a young neighbor, Scott B. Dunlap, of Dunlap Road in Shelby, who had a new Kodak camera and an interest in photography.

Born in 1898, he was a fourth-generation member of the family for whom the road is named. Armed with his new camera, Scott, who graduated from Medina High School in 1905, took unposed, relaxed photographs of his family and friends. Without intending to, he chronicled daily life in rural America in the early 1900s, in those years just before automobiles replaced the horse and buggy.

In 2008, Scott B. Dunlap, Jr. donated a collection of over 200 of his father’s glass plate negatives to the Medina Historical Society. The collection includes five postmortem views of the child, each taken from a different angle. The long exposure time required at the time made deceased subjects easier to photograph.

Another version of “Pickett’s Baby” from the Scott B. Dunlap collection.

The photos were labeled as “Pickett’s Child” or “Pickett’s Baby,” the first name was not mentioned. A brief search elicited the infant’s name as Harold H. Pickett, (also referenced as Herman Harold) born Nov. 7, 1905, died Sept. 12, 1906. He was the son of Henry R. (Ray) and Lena Gurrslin Pickett.

In April of the following year, 1907, the family lost another son, Wilford R., one month old. An older son, Lavern E., survived. Lena died in 1909, at the age of 27. She and the two infant children were buried in Millville Cemetery. Following Lena’s death, Henry re-married, moved to Buffalo, worked as a motorman with a railroad company and had four more children.

With regard to the child’s clothing, it was customary at the time to dress boys and girls in short white dresses until they started walking and then in short, loose-fitting dresses until they were two or three years old.

As healthcare improved and mortality rates declined, the practice of photographing the dead declined and came to be viewed as macabre. We still use photographs of the deceased for obituaries, funeral cards and services, but those are living images. At the present time, when smartphones have made it possible for anyone to take photographs of any subject, the lines between what is acceptable and what is not are shifting once more.

A selection of the Dunlap photos may be viewed at www.historicmedina.org.

Young men left for boot camp, and then overseas in World War II

Advertisement from the Brockport-Republic newspaper, Oct. 24, 1935.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 33

(Adrienne Daniels, Town of Barre Historian, supplied the information for this week’s column.)

BARRE – We walked into a place that was built like a small barn. Rustic and smelling of new wood, one end had a platform for the small band that played there Saturdays and Sundays from 8-12:30. The other end had a snack bar and a cloakroom and in the center was a shining dance floor, smooth as glass.

We fox-trotted to the haunting strains of Sugar Blues and Blueberry Hill, we waltzed to Deep Purple and Night and Day, boogied to Boogie Wugle Bugle Boy and did the polka to the Beer Barrel Polka. We jitterbugged to Stompin’ at the Savoy and stood around the band and sang Three Little Fishies.

The dancing started with the song Blue Moon and ended with Goodnight, Sweetheart and then, Blue Moon.

The young couple who ran the place were strict – no alcohol, no couples parking in cars on the premises.

Every week, there were new boys who came to the Blue Moon. On the way home, all we talked about was boys! We could hardly wait for the week to go by, we were having such a wonderful time.

And then it happened. Pearl Harbor.

As the months rolled along, one by one, the young men we danced with were called into the service. The dance hall began to look empty and somber.

Now there were letters written posted on the Blue Moon bulletin board, first from boot camps located in different states, then later, letters from overseas – England and Italy and much later, V mail from Germany, France and places we had never heard of, such as Iwo Jima and Okinawa. All saying how much they missed home and asking us to write.

Oftentimes, when I hear the song Blue Moon on the radio or T.V., I see myself as young again, dancing with someone on a crowded floor with other couples. I wonder if others who went to the Blue Moon are thinking of the good times, too, when they hear that song”

This lovely recollection of memories of the Blue Moon Danceland, located “two miles east of Barre Center” was written by Elizabeth Hurysz and published in the Democrat and Chronicle in 1991.

The dancehall closed in the 1940s but the building had another reincarnation. In 1947, Barre residents Norm Anderson and Harold Morton, two young men recently returned from the service, bought the dancehall building, cut it in half and had the halves moved to sites on the East Barre Road where they formed the basis of two fine homes. If those walls could talk!

The George L. Burrows Nurses’ Home was built in Albion in 1926. (Photograph by Louis M. Monacelli)

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 32

ALBION – Located at 239 South Main Street in Albion, this fine building, familiar to many as the Central Orleans Volunteer Ambulance (COVA) headquarters, was in fact, built specifically in 1924 as a Nurses’ Home, a place where the nurses and medical staff of the adjacent Arnold Gregory Memorial Hospital “should be able to spend their hours of rest and diversion somewhere apart and separate from the scene and atmosphere of their labors”…..having contended with “Long hours of service, the patient ministry at the bedside in a critical hour, the welcoming of a new-born life.”

Funding for the facility was provided by the family of the late George L. Burrows who had died in 1921. In a letter dated March 19, 1923, his six children offered to finance the building of a Nurses’ Home as a memorial to their father. Their offer was graciously accepted by the Hospital directors.

George L. Burrows

Born in Albion in 1836, George L. Burrows was the son of Louisa (Lord) and the Hon. Lorenzo Burrows, a prominent Albion banker and New York State politician who served as State Comptroller from 1855-1857.

An engineer by profession, George L. worked with the Engineering Corps on enlarging the Erie Canal and later at the Bank of Albion. He moved to Saginaw, Michigan in 1862 and successfully pursued interests in lumbering, banking and engineering there though he maintained his connections with Albion. He died in 1921 and is buried in Mt. Albion Cemetery along with his wife, Julia, and two children who predeceased them.

The Arnold Gregory Memorial Hospital which had opened in 1916 was also funded by local philanthropists.

A retired farmer, Arnold Gregory provided $8,000 to purchase the Ezra T. Coann home and $30,000 to adapt it for use as a hospital and for use as an endowment. Mrs. Emma Reed Nelson financed the construction of the three-story addition in memory of her parents. Miss Julia E. Barker assumed the finishing costs of the addition in memory of her brother. Donations from Albion residents and former residents funded the purchase of furnishings and equipment for the rooms. The operating rooms were funded by George M. Waterman, the X-Ray laboratory by the Albion Chapter of the American Red Cross.

In his address at the Corner Stone Laying ceremony for the George L. Burrows Nurses’ Home on May 28, 1924, Lafayette H. Beach, editor of the Orleans Republican newspaper, included some interesting details on the construction of the now 100-year-old building.

Frederick C. Backus of Buffalo was engaged as the architect. The construction contract was awarded to Earl J. Sullivan of Albion. The three-story building which was “to present a pleasing and dignified appearance” was constructed of tile with a facing of yellow pressed brick. It had a slate roof, wood floors, was wired for electricity, piped for gas, and was heated by steam.

The main entrance opened onto a spacious hall with a winding staircase. A superintendent’s suite of three rooms which included a large living room with a roomy fireplace and mantel, a kitchenette and a sunporch on the south occupied the first floor. There were six bedrooms and two bathrooms on the second floor, two bedrooms and a bathroom for maids on the third floor.

When completed, six rooms at the hospital formerly occupied by nurses were then available for use by patients, thus increasing the hospital capacity from 22 beds to 28.

Lafayette Beach eloquently characterized this memorial gift as “more beautiful and more eloquent than marble of bronze because it is dedicated to service.” This gift to Albion has not been forgotten by the family – a fourth-generation descendant of George L. Burrows recently contacted the Historian’s Office enquiring about the Nurses’ Home.

Staff and Board members of the Arnold Gregory Memorial Hospital in Albion examine a new bed in 1960. Left to right: Dr. John Ellis; Sidney Eddy, Board member; Helen Yerger, hospital administrator; Edward Archbald, Board president; Robert Babbitt, Board member; Mrs. Douglas Hayes, nurse. (Photograph by Wm. A. Monacelli)

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 31

ALBION – Our photograph this week captures the dedication and local support which sustained Albion’s Arnold Gregory Memorial Hospital.

The centerpiece of the photo is a new model adjustable bed, part of an order of upgraded furnishings for the “new” hospital facility.  Built in 1952 at a cost of $650,000 of community funding, this 51-bed unit replaced the original 27-bed hospital opened in 1916.

The new hospital was obviously needed. During its first decade, 15,435 patients were admitted, 3,026 babies were born and 50,304 people were treated in the emergency departent.

In the photograph, healthcare professionals Dr. John Ellis and Nurse Hayes are on either end of the group. The three gentlemen in the group – Sidney Eddy, Edward Archbald and Robert Babbitt – were hospital Board members. They were also members of the Albion Rotary Club which actively raised funds for the hospital for many years.

Hospital administrator Helen Yerger is the lady appropriately positioned in the center of the group. Hired in 1949, she was actively involved in the planning, construction and furnishing of the new building. She continually sought to update equipment and improve services.

By 1965, plans were underway to add a new wing to the hospital. Having had some health issues, Miss Yerger announced her plan to retire on October 1, 1965, but she died unexpectedly on August 6. 1965. She had been a dedicated employee and tireless champion for the Arnold Gregory Memorial Hospital for 16 years.

Fred Holt captured this image of a boater at the Oak Orchard Harbor on Lake Ontario.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 29

Lake Ontario is a stunning spectacle at any time. We are invariably drawn to try to capture its more dramatic moments, mid-summer sunsets in particular.

Twilight was photographer Fred Holt’s favorite time to study the lake. He took many photographs of this particular scene, from the angle in the above photo and the one below. The photos are serene and have a timeless quality.

Frederick Holt was born in Gaines on May 13, 1900, the son of Benjamin and Frances (Bennett) Holt, who had immigrated from Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Benjamin was a quarryman, the family lived on South Clinton Street in Albion.

These two row a boat towards Lake Ontario.

While still a high school student, Fred enlisted with the Reserve Officer Training Corps and was appointed First Lieut, Company L, 12th Regiment, New York State Cadet Corps. He graduated from Albion High School in 1919 and was later employed as Treasurer at the Marine Midland Bank.

In 1942 , he re-entered the armed forces and was appointed Second Lieut. Company L, 65th Regiment of the New York Guard. On his return to civilian life, he was appointed as the Albion office manager of the Birds-Eye Snider Division of General Foods Corporation and in 1958 was appointed manager of Hunt Foods, Inc.

Fred Holt captured Orleans County scenes for more than 60 years.

Photography was his passion. He chronicled scenes and events in Albion for over 60 years – Albion street scenes, farming scenes, parades, majorettes, school plays, a rich chronicle of the times. In 1927, he photographed scenes of the Barge Canal water break at Eagle Harbor and also the seizure on West Avenue in Albion of one of the biggest illicit distilleries in New York State. He won prizes for several of his artistic compositions.

Following his death, his wife, Anne, donated his work to the Orleans County Department of History. There are hundreds of photographs, slides and negatives, as well as the ledgers where he meticulously recorded his work.

Holt’s photographs have a luminous quality that is distinctive and compelling.

We will share other examples in future columns.

This marker in front of City Hall in Medina indicates the location of the stainless-steel container donated by former Mayor John Cobb which contains the time capsule assembled by the Medina Sesquicentennial Committee.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 27

Our recent column about the time capsule placed at the Orleans County Infirmary (now The Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center) on August 28, 1960, attracted the attention of the International Time Capsule Society (ITCS) who contacted us regarding the capsule.

Based at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, this free public service has registered and mapped time capsules for over thirty years. Given the passage of time, it is inevitable that some time capsules are lost or forgotten. The goal of the ICTS is to ensure that the unique content contained in these buried capsules can be traced generations from now. A quick search of the site showed that capsules from Barker, Buffalo, Greece and Lockport have been registered.

Naturally, were curious about other Orleans County time capsules. We found several, among them are:

Sportsmen’s Time Capsule, August 1976

President Mike Donahue placed an old-time bottle in the fieldstone fireplace of the newly completed rustic cabin on the Club’s grounds in Medina. Club member, Joe Prescott, filled and sealed the bottle which contained newspaper articles and records concerning the project.

Medina Sesquicentennial Time Capsule, February 1983

This time capsule, which was completed in February 1983, contains a comprehensive array of material documenting Medina’s past, present and future. Material from 1982 sesquicentennial celebrations, a copy of Ceil White’s History of Medina, local calendars, phone books, an Apple Grove menu, an Apple Bank manufactured by Fisher-Price, and the program from Rev. H. Burton Entrekin’s retirement party are among the items included.

Sixth grade students were invited to write about their projections of “Life in Medina in 2032”. Six students’ essays were selected to be included in the time capsule: Meaghan Boice, Aaron Dutcher, Amy Fuller, Richard Kenward, Molly Maak and Jon Scott. Some of their predictions were remarkably prescient:

• Dentists will use invisible braces
• Cars will be operated by verbal commands
• Everything will be computerized
• Solar power will be used for heating and running cars

Other predictions have not yet come to pass:

• The canal will be a parking lot for a huge Main Street mall
• Meals will be capsules, pills or wafers
• The Mayor, Village Board, teachers, doctors and nurses will be robots

This capsule is scheduled to be opened in March 2032, on the occasion of the Bicentennial anniversary of the incorporation of the Village of Medina.

Medina High School, May 1991

On May 6, 1991, Principal Fred Snyder placed a time capsule and cornerstone in the new $10 million Medina High School building. The time capsule contains a photograph of the former High School on Catherine Street and a brick from it, photographs of Supt. Dr. David Gee, and of the 1990-91 Mustang Marching Band, a student calendar, course offerings for 1990-91, graduation requirements, the names of students and staff entering the building and a dictionary of words in common usage in 1991 as well as students messages of peace, hope and prosperity.

Village of Lyndonville Millennial Time Capsule, September 2000

Mayor Mark Scarr spearheaded the creation of a time capsule celebrating both the millennium and the incorporation of the Village of Lyndonville. A twelve-inch PVC pipe sealed on both ends containing local newspapers, photos, community information, local restaurant menus and a letter from Mayor Scarr to the future Mayor was buried in a secret location. It is to be opened in 2053, a file in the Village Office contains the information as to its location.

Celebrating a Century of Conservation, March 2003.

A time capsule containing artifacts from the 20th century as well as messages and art created by local schoolchildren was buried for one hundred years at the Iroquois National Wildlife Heritage Headquarters at Casey Road. Included also is an essay by William Barber, a 3rd grade student at Oak Orchard Elementary School in Medina.

Covid-19, November 2020

Created by Orleans County 4-H members and stored in the Archive Room at the Education Center on the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds, this time capsule documents the experience of the pandemic. It contains hand sanitizer, facial masks, documentation on the various stages of the lockdown and is to be opened 15-20 years from now.

Solar Eclipse, April 2024

The Cobblestone Museum prepared a time capsule of memorabilia pertaining to April’s solar eclipse. It is to be opened on the occasion of the next full solar eclipse in Orleans County, one hundred years from now.

Time capsules are leaps of faith into the future. When compiled, the scheduled opening date seems impossibly distant. But times’ relentless march soon makes short work of that 50-year or 100-year scheduled opening date. We encourage you to register your organization’s time capsules with the International Time Capsule Society.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian 

“illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 25

Members of the Orleans County Home and Infirmary building project committee participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility on May 7, 1959. From left include Milton Bowen, Town of Clarendon Supervisor; Justin Roberts, Town of Shelby Supervisor; Victor Hawkes, Welfare Commissioner; Harold Hill, Town of Barre Supervisor; and William Knights, Town of Ridgeway Supervisor.

ALBION – As early as 1829, the Board of Supervisors of the newly formed Orleans County was mandated by the state to build a structure to “care for the downtrodden.”

Located three miles south of the Village of Albion, this facility determined the name of the road on which it was built. County House Road runs east-west between the hamlet of Millville in Ridgeway and Route 98 in the Town of Albion.

The original building was replaced in 1878. A separate structure to house an infirmary was added in 1903. People with a variety of needs were cared for at the Orleans County Home and Infirmary.

By 1957, the buildings had deteriorated and were deemed unsuitable for modern medical practices. An inadequate water supply on County House Road tipped the balance of the decision to relocate the facility. The new Orleans County Infirmary was dedicated on Sunday, August 28, 1960.

As is customary, a time capsule containing items thought to represent the times, was placed in the cornerstone. A list was prepared by Historian Cary H. Lattin. It is intriguing to read some 64 years later. The time capsule included:

• Newspaper editions of the Holley Standard, the Orleans Republican-American, the Albion Advertiser, the Medina Daily Journal, the Lyndonville Enterprise, and the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Also, an issue of the Albion-Holley Pennysaver.
• Proceedings of the Orleans County Board of Supervisors 1958-1960
• Photograph of Orleans County Board of Supervisors, 1958-1959
• Enrolled electors, 1959-1960
• Photograph of Orleans County Court House Square personnel, 1958-59
• Brochure of Niagara Power Project
• Brochure of new Dial Telephone System
• Photographs of old County House and Infirmary
• Clarendon Sesquicentennial Booklet, 1960
• Gaines Sesquicentennial Booklet, 1959
• Orleans County Census of Agriculture
• Statistical Report of Orleans County
• Current U.S. dollar note
• Current U.S. two dollar note
• Photograph of 48-star flag coming down for the last time on July 3, 1959
• Dedication program for the event.

New York State Senator Austin Erwin laid the cornerstone of the new County Infirmary on August 28, 1960.

By Adrienne Kirby, Town of Gaines Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 24

Editor’s Note: The following address was presented at the by Adrienne Lattin, Town of Gaines Historian, at the Cobblestone Society & Museum 52nd Patriotic Program, held on July 7th. For most of 19th century, the hamlet of Childs was known as Fair Haven.

GAINES – Not everybody has loved the patriotic anthem, “God Bless America.” Folk singer Woody Guthrie thought it was downright smarmy.

But, given that the whole United States Congress spontaneously sung it on the steps of the Capitol in the wake of 9/11, it’s fair to say that it has made a deep impression on the American psyche. Today, I wanted to use a few lines from this well-known song as a lens with which to more closely examine both patriotism and the life of one of Gaines’ most notable pioneers, John Proctor.

We typically think of patriotism using symbols common to the entire nation: the flag, the bald eagle, the Statue of Liberty, Mt. Rushmore. These symbols remind us of our history, and they remind us of those ideals that we consider to be distinctly American.

Patriotism is commonly defined as love of one’s country. Early on in “God Bless America,” we find the phrase, “land that I love.” I would posit that one cannot love one’s country unless one also loves a particular locale within that country.

John Proctor, 1787-1868

In other words, love of country is preceded by love of a specific, and much smaller region. Born just a few years after the War of Independence, John Proctor arrived here in 1810 at the age of 23. Two years later, he brought his new bride, Polly, to this crossroads to establish a life together. I think it is safe to say that John had a love of his birthplace, as he made a number of trips back to Massachusetts for visits. But greater still was his love for his home in western New York. He lived here for nearly sixty years.

The anthem continues, “stand beside her.” To stand beside someone or something can mean protecting it; military images are frequently used to symbolize patriotism. But it can also mean to stay faithful when life becomes difficult. John Proctor’s life illustrates both meanings.

Shortly after John had settled in with Polly to make their home, the War of 1812 started. His entry in the book “Pioneers of Orleans County” noted that during the war, a number of other settlers fled the country for fear of the British and Indians. In 1813, he was requested in the middle of the night to quickly alert inhabitants east of here that the British were coming and to take up arms, earning him the moniker of the “Paul Revere of the Ridge.”

He was chosen because he was the only one in the vicinity who owned a horse. He and a group of men that he rounded up during his ride went to a “place called Hardscrabble, near Lewiston” to perform what he called a “sort of garrison duty” for two weeks. Later in the year, he went to Buffalo to help defend against British attacks from Fort Erie, where he experienced some battle. Several men in his company were killed, while John noted that “several bullets passed through my clothes, and one grazed my finger.”

John stood ready to rally support against British troops during the war, and he stood here in Gaines for decades amidst great personal loss. As a historian investigating people who died long before living memory, and with limited resources at my disposal, I sometimes have to infer what people were like both by the things they did based on the records we have, but also sometimes by what they did not do.

John Proctor suffered a great deal of personal tragedy. In the early 1820s, he and Polly endured the loss of two children who never made it past toddlerhood. Both Polly and a two-year-old daughter died within two months of each other during an epidemic in 1828.

In the early days of Gaines, many died from what they referred to as “ague,” or what we would call malaria. Deaths from diseases that we now have vaccines for were all too common.

Clarissa Proctor’s monument is shown at Mt. Albion Cemetery. The family monument may be seen behind it. The headstones are for John, his wives and children.

John’s second wife passed away a few months after the birth of his fifth child. Complications in childbirth were also a common cause of death. His daughter Clarissa made it to adulthood and was even married, but she passed away at age 28. John erected a substantial monument in Mt. Albion for his beloved daughter in 1860.

And in 1866, John laid to rest his third wife. After so much grief, a person in his position might have chosen to look to the greener fields of Michigan for a new start. In fact, many individuals and families from Gaines chose to move west over the course of the 1800s. But despite the heartache, he stayed, and his presence must have provided this community a sense of continuity.

The next line in the anthem states, “and guide her.” In the early years of the 19th century, western New York was a place of opportunity, and like many others at the time, John was an entrepreneur, wheeling and dealing in real estate. In this, he was highly successful, and was one of the wealthiest men in Gaines for as long as he lived. Early on, he served in a number of different town offices. He was involved in the formation of the bank and other businesses in Gaines, and held mortgages for poor settlers who were unable to secure bank loans.

At one point, John Proctor owned nearly all the land that can be seen from the crossroads just outside these doors. It is no wonder that in the first half of the 19th century, this place was known as “Proctor’s Corners.” He was wealthy enough, and had enough influence to have made certain that “Proctor’s Corners” would be put on the map. He instead chose to name this hamlet “Fair Haven,” an inviting, welcoming name. One that suggests pleasant respite.

Over time, he sold pieces of land to different buyers, and the hamlet grew, not into a bustling town or village, but into a place where all of one’s basic needs could be met, materially, socially and spiritually. The general store and blacksmith supplied all the material needs that early settlers could not provide on their own. The tavern on the northwest corner was a place to connect with both neighbors and travelers, and was a source of news. And finally, there was the church in which we now sit. John Proctor both funded the construction of this church, and held the mortgage for the first church in Gaines. He fondly remembered, “For many years our religious worship was held in common together, with no denominational distinctions.”

John Proctor was a patriot, not only because he loved this land and did his part in the War of 1812, but he was community oriented. Business-wise, he had an eye as to what would build the area up, and not just for his own gain. As a pioneer, he understood that he and his neighbors were all in it together. He wrote, “Our associations in our wilderness home undergoing fatigue and hardships together, sharing alike in gratitude for every success, and in sympathy for every adversity, bound the early settlers together as a band of brothers.”

As the last line in the song states, John did all he could to make his “Home sweet home” the best it could be for everyone. May we follow his example.

Sites include West Ridgeway Cemetery, ‘Poorhouse Cemetery,’ St. Mary’s in Medina and Mount Albion

This striking headstone marks the Mason family plot which is adjacent to the chapel at West Ridgeway Cemetery.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 23

The Orleans County Historical Association has scheduled its popular annual tour of cemeteries. Tours are held at 6 p.m. on Sundays during the month of August.

The first tour will be held Aug. 4 at West Ridgeway Cemetery, corner of Ridge Road and Marshall Road which has served as a burying ground since 1810 when the area was still under the jurisdiction of Genesee County. The tour will be conducted by Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian.

Details of the deaths of those buried at the “Poorhouse Cemetery” were recorded in a ledger maintained by the Superintendent.

The Orleans County “Poorhouse Cemetery” located at 14064 County House Rd. in Albion is the site of the second tour, which will be held Aug. 11. It will be presented by Tim Archer.

In his role as service-learning teacher at Albion Middle School, Mr. Archer spearheaded an ambitious project at the cemetery in 2010-2011. Students researched burial records, cleared the lot and reset headstones.

St. Mary’s Cemetery, Medina

Chris Busch, Medina local history buff, will lead a tour of St. Mary’s Cemetery, North Gravel Road, Medina on Aug. 18. The cemetery, which dates to 1858, is the burial place of Lt. John Butts, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for “courage, unflinching valor and inspiring actions” in Normandy, France on June 23, 1944.

Bill Lattin, retired Orleans County Historian, and Sue Starkweather Miller, Village of Albion Historian, will conduct the final tour in the series, at Mt. Albion Cemetery on Rt. 31 on Aug. 25. Another Orleans County Medal of Honor recipient, Charles D. Harris, who was honored for service during the Apache Wars in 1869, is buried there.

Cemeteries contain a treasure trove of information; we hope you will join us as we unearth some. Tours are free of charge, but goodwill donations are gratefully accepted.