ALBION – Dick Pilon of Albion recently found a newspaper clipping from Aug. 2, 1953, that showed a photo of Albion area Boy Scouts preparing to leave for the Scout Jamboree in California. Pilon was among the contingent that embarked on the journey.
The group includes from left: James Fisher, Erling Maine, William Allen, Charles Derwick, Paul Canham, Fred Daniels, Richard Pilon, Arnold Ford, Marvin Sayles and George LaMont.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
POINT BREEZE – The post card view seen here was taken in the 1930s at Point Breeze in the town of Carlton. To the left we notice Robert Taylor’s Boat Livery, Bait – Fishing Tackle and Fish Market Shanty.
To the right is Dad Parmelee’s Shanty for boat rental and bait. In the background is the Oak Orchard Harbor. The Parmelee Business was located where the present boat launch is today just west of the Black North restaurant.
This postcard was sold through the H.P. Hawks Rexall Drug Store in Albion.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
ALBION – The image on this color post card shows the Bert Olney Canning Company Plant in Albion from the first decade of the 20th Century. The factory was located off East Avenue along the NYC Railroad.
In our photo we see long conveyors extending into the yard. This was the pea vinery part of the plant. Hence there are heaps of pea vines waiting to be put on the conveyors to go into the plant for processing. The back of the postcard indicates it was mailed July 23, 1909.
Press release
Veterans of the 57th Assault Helicopter Company will be visiting local sites this weekend as part of their 11th national reunion.
Unit veterans are traveling from all over the United States and countries around the world. While at the reunion they will tour Niagara Falls, the Erie Canal locks at Lockport, Leonard Oakes winery in Medina, the Cobblestone Museum at Childs and Albion’s Historic Downtown and Courthouse Square districts.
Author David Bellavia, a Lyndonville native, will speak to the Vietnam veterans on Friday. Bellavia, who now lives in Batavia, is the winner of the Silver Star for his bravery during the war in Iraq.
The reunion is chaired by Charlie Nesbitt, a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. Nesbitt is a former state assemblyman.
Known by the call sign “Gladiator” or “Cougar” (gunships), the unit was based during the Vietnam War in Kontum, Pleiku and Ankhe in the Central Highlands of that Southeast Asian battleground. Aircrews from the 57th flew the iconic UH1 “Huey” helicopter in support of the U.S. Army’s 4th Division and 5th Special Forces as well as various ARVN units in the mountainous northern II Corps, Laos and Cambodia during the war.
Years after the war ended, the 57th AHC was revealed to be a key player in the then classified super-secret Special Forces clandestine missions that occurred in enemy-occupied Laos. Unit helicopter crews inserted highly skilled teams into enemy areas and often were called on to extract teams under fire in the extremely remote jungles of Laos.
Gladiators and Cougars also supported the 4th Division during some of the most difficult battles of the war, including the Battle of Dak To and the fight at Hill 19 in the mountainous extreme western jungles of Vietnam.
During the Aug. 22-25 reunion, the group of veterans will be staying at the Clarion hotel in Batavia.
By Bill Lattin, Orleans County Historian
This photo, perhaps dating to the second decade of the 20th Century, has recently been given to the Cobblestone Society Museum by Robin Stelmach. Only partial information was written on the back, which includes: “Watson Farm on Million Dollar Highway – Milton Johnson.” The man at the far right with an X by his head is probably Johnson.
These men are engaged in sorting apples and putting them in barrels for shipping. The top of each barrel was faced with larger apples to make for an attractive appearance when the head was popped off.
A sorting rack is seen here in the middle while the man to the left shows off a bushel of large apples sorted out for facing.
BARKER – The Orleans Hub wrote about the 30-Mile Point Lighthouse last week, making the bold claim the lighthouse in Barker may be the best one on the south shore of Lake Ontario.
A reader, Gary Breuilly of Greene, NY, sent this historic photograph of the lighthouse. A Sunday School class from an Adventist Church in Jeddo had a picnic at the lighthouse in 1907.
The photograph was taken by a well-known local photographer at the time, W.C. Eaton of Jeddo. Breuilly has a collection of Eaton photos, which include many Orleans County scenes. One of the people pictured at the lighthouse is Eaton’s son, Chester.
Photos by Tom Rivers – Lansing Bailey received a veteran flag marker by his grave in Mount Albion Cemetery on Saturday. Bailey fought in the War of 1812. Bailey and six other members of his family all had white carnations placed on their graves on Saturday.
A group pauses for a prayer during a brief ceremony on Saturday at the grave of Lansing Bailey, an early Orleans County resident who fought in the War of 1812.
ALBION – The pioneer residents of Orleans County had it rough, needing to clear trees and build everything from scratch with little help along the way. Many succumbed to illness or witnessed the early deaths of loved ones.
Lansing Bailey was among the first to settle in Albion, arriving in 1811 with his younger brother Joel. In November 1811, Lansing and his brother walked here in five days from Whitestown in Oneida County to locate land on which to build a cabin, make a clearing and begin life in the new frontier, said Al Capurso, who researched Bailey’s life. The brothers purchased 250 acres from the Holland Land Company on Nov. 11, 1811.
Joel died of a fever on August 10, 1813. While plans were underway for his burial, Lansing’s wife Loda became ill from the same fever and died on Aug. 15, leaving three children, including 3 month-old twins born in the Bailey cabin in May 1813.
During those difficult years, Bailey also heeded the call to defend the United States, serving in the War of 1812. His service records indicate he was in Crosby’s Regiment. As a private he marched on to Buffalo/Lewiston and saw combat against the British Army, Capurso said. Bailey also aided Bathshua Brown in repel a squad of British soldiers who came up the Oak Orchard River in Carlton, Capurso said.
The Orleans County Honor Guard was part of the ceremony honoring Lansing Bailey.
Bailey lived until 1865. He is buried in Mount Albion Cemetery on the west side near the road leading up to the tower.
On Saturday, Capurso and Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin led a service where Bailey received a veteran’s marker at his grave. The bronze marker notes that Bailey was a War of 1812 vet. Capurso polished the marker to give it a shine.
“Anyone who serves their country should be honored with a marker so people can appreciate their sacrifice and pay their respects,” Capurso said. “He was definitely an honorable man.”
The Honor Guard from the American Legion attended the service and fired a 21-gun salute.
“He was a veteran from 1812, who helped make our country what it is today,” said Jim Cox, a member of Legion. “This being the 200th anniversary of the war, it’s an honor to come and do this.”
Bailey is the second Albion veteran honored with a grave marker recently for service in the War of 1812. Last year Moses Bacon had a marker placed by his grave at the Union Cemetery on Route 98 by Watt Farms Country Market. The Niagara Frontier Chapter of the Daughters of the War of 1812 put the marker on the grave for Bacon.
“These people sacrificed a great deal being the original settlers,” Lattin said. “They came here into a dense forest and then on top of that we had a war.”
Al Capurso, left, researched the life of Lansing Bailey and secured a bronze War of 1812 veteran marker for his grave. County Historian Bill Lattin spoke a service at Bailey’s grave on Saturday.
Photos by Tom Rivers – Alice Swett, daughter of Medina industrialist Albert L. Swett, was only 11 when she died. She is buried in the family plot at Boxwood Cemetery in Medina.
MEDINA – Albert L. Swett was one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Orleans County’s history. In 1898, he formed the A.L. Swett Electric Light and Power Company, which brought electricity to Medina.
He built another reservoir in Carlton to provide more power to Orleans County about a century ago.
Swett also ran a massive iron works company, “A.L. Swett Ironworks,” in Medina. A quick search under “A.L. Swett Ironworks” on Google showed a list of heavy-duty items, ranging from manhole covers and barn door hangers to iron ladles.
Medina Historian Todd Bensley and County Historian Bill Lattin led a tour of Boxwood Cemetery this afternoon. They stopped by the massive monument for Swett near the back of the original cemetery. (The burial grounds has expanded east.)
They said Swett was grief-stricken about the loss of his daughter, who was only 11 when she died. When Swett had a reservoir dug in Carlton as part of a power project at Waterport, he named the site in honor of his daughter. That’s why it’s called “Lake Alice.” I didn’t know that story until today.
Mr. Swett lived from 1850 to 1924. His daughter died in 1884.
Albert L. Swett has a massive monument at Boxwood Cemetery in Medina.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
ALBION – This interior photo shows the Post Office in Albion, perhaps around 1920.
The Post Office was located on the north side of East Bank Street in the Kinmont Block between Platt and Ingersoll streets. From here the Post Office moved to the Orleans Hotel block about 1930.
In 1937, the present U.S. Post Office was built on Main Street at the corner of West State Street.
Employees shown in this picture, from left to right, include: Frank Tripp, Leon Gilbert, Daniel Hanley, Postmaster unidentified and Charles Patton.
Photos by Tom Rivers
HARTLAND – I headed home from Barker early this afternoon and took a different route, this time going south on Carmen Road, looking to connect with 104.
I stumbled upon a one-room schoolhouse made of cobblestones in 1845. The building was used as a school for more than a century until 1947. It was later a residence, but is now owned by the Hartland Historical Society.
I also noticed a nice cast-iron horse as a hitching post in front of the building.
This site is on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s at the corner of Carmen and Seaman roads.
