By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

Illuminating Orleans – Vol. 2, No. 27

MILLVILLE – Can you identify the building shown in this 1915 postcard?

It is in Western Orleans, on a main route. We tend to pass it by (at the legal speed limit of 40 mph, of course), intent on getting to somewhere else.

At one time it was the hub of this rural hamlet, strategically located at a crossroads. Sturdily built of local limestone, it still stands at the intersection, basically unchanged, apart from the front porch which is now concrete.

The T.O. Castle & Son Mercantile operated in the Town of Shelby hamlet of Millville from 1849 to 1933. Located at the intersection of Maple Ridge Road and the East Shelby Road, it served the surrounding rural community as well as the staff and students of the nearby Millville Academy.

Though fortunate in its location, it seems that the character and personality of its owner, T.O. Castle, played a part in its success. We do not have a photograph of this enterprising gentleman, but we can glean a good deal of information about him from various sources.

T.O. (Thomas Oliver) Castle was born in Parma, Monroe County on April 2, 1826, the son of Jehiel and Nancy (Willey) Castle. He taught school for two years. In 1846 he moved to Shelby Center in Orleans County. He worked at the store owned by his uncle, Reuben S. Castle. He then worked in Buffalo for two years as a supervisor of salesmen at the George M. Sweeney store.

According to the U.S. Army Mexican War Enlistments Records 1847-49, he had hazel eyes, sandy hair and was 5’6” tall. He married Mary Timmerman, daughter of Catherine Timmerman, in December of 1850.

The store’s signs and advertising refer to 1849 as the year of establishment, though the deed recording the purchase of the property is dated March 20, 1851. It is interesting to note that the property transfer was made to Mary Ann Castle.

T.O. Castle was Postmaster from 1853 to 1857 and later from 1878 to 1897. He was a Justice of the Peace and served as a Justice of Sessions. He was secretary of the Board of the Millville Cemetery Association. He was on the fundraising committee for rebuilding the Congregational Church.

According to the 1862 IRS Tax Assessment List, he is listed as a Retail Dealer. He owned one horse and carriage. In 1866, his carriage was valued at $80. He also owned a melodeon valued at $125 and a gold watch valued at $100.

At that time, the Medina newspapers published local news items from the surrounding towns. T.O. Castle’s business, community and personal activities were frequently mentioned in the reports from Millville:

• “T.O. Castle visited his daughter, Kittie, living in Syracuse.” – Medina Tribune, Feb. 26, 1874
• “T.O. Castle has threshed forty-one bushels and a half of wheat to the acre, being ahead of his neighbor Homer Sherwood one- and one-half bushels.” – Medina Tribune, Aug. 6, 1877
• “T.O. Castle nominated as Justice of Sessions at the Democratic Convention held at Albion.” –Medina Tribune, Oct. 18, 1877
• “T.O. Castle served on the Refreshments Committee of the Arrangements for the Re-Union of the 28th Regiment.” – Medina Tribune, May 13, 1880
• “T.O. Castle has been remodeling his store on the inside, having repapered it, ceiling, and all, put in new shelves, and is now painting all of it which is a great improvement. He has also given notice to those who have been hanging around that it must be stopped.” – Medina Register, Feb. 18, 1892
• “Pneumonia is prevalent in the county. The family of T.O. Castle has been especially stricken. Two members, Mrs. Castle and her mother, succumbed within twenty-four hours.” – Buffalo Morning Express, Feb. 6, 1897
• “T.O. Castle suffering from severe attack of arthritis.” – Medina Tribune, July 30, 1903.

His obituary in the Medina Daily Journal of March 30, 1910, noted that “he was widely known and esteemed.” Following his death, the store was taken over by his son, George D., who operated the store until his death at the age of 81 in 1933.

Daniel Hurley, the present owner, has a genuine enthusiasm for this building and its past. He hopes to restore it to the point where people will want to stop and enter rather than just speed on by.

‘For desserts, there are many things, but beware of articles that will not bear traveling without looking dejected and sullen. Candied fruits with macaroons, sponge or pound cakes are about the most agreeable of all the sweets which are adapted to journeys.’

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

Illuminating Orleans, Vol. 2, No. 25

This menu is from “Queen of the Household” – a popular household guide published in 1891.

A Summer Picnic! It sounds so carefree and restful. However, arranging a summer picnic in the 1890s was far from carefree or restful by our standards.

A copy of “Queen of the Household”, a popular household guidebook by Mrs. E.M. Ellsworth published in 1891, was recently donated to the Orleans County Dept. of History.  It includes the following directives on picnics:

On location:

There should be a stream or spring of pure water, materials for a fire, shade intermingled with sunshine, and a reasonable freedom from tormenting insect life.

On clothing:

A woolen dress that is not too heavy nor yet too new, or a cotton one that is not too thin, with short trim skirts, solid easy shoes that have a friendliness with the feet because of prolonged intimacy with them, pretty, but not too fine or thin stockings, a hat with a broad brim, a large sun-shade, at least two fresh handkerchiefs, some pins and needle and thread, easy gloves with ample wrists, a jacket to wear when returning home.

On equipment:

Two or three hammocks, a few folding camp chairs, a rug to spread on the ground, two or three books that have brief, bright poems in them. Forget not the napkins, forks, spoons, and the luncheon cloth. Also carry tumblers, plates, salt, pepper, sugar and a bottle of cream or can of condensed milk. Cups with handles, but no saucers, are desirable for tea or coffee.

On food:

Supply at least double the quantity which would be served at home for the same number of people and then be sure to add a little more.

When the appetite is appeased at mid-day, it frequently renews its strength and comes back again around 4’o’clock in the afternoon and is as exacting as if it had not been appeased for a whole week.

The best and most convenient of all out of door edibles is the sandwich. The best of all sandwiches are made ready when they are wanted. To make sandwiches that leave none but pleasant memories, always grind the meat or chop it up to very near a pulp when cold. Make a thick mayonnaise and mix it with the meat until it is about the consistency of marmalade. Store or carry in a covered dish or closed jar.

For desserts, there are many things, but beware of articles that will not bear traveling without looking dejected and sullen. Candied fruits with macaroons, sponge or pound cakes are about the most agreeable of all the sweets which are adapted to journeys.

For drinking, tea that has been made, seasoned while hot and then bottled directly is delicious, as is coffee.

If ice must be carried, select a clear, solid piece, and wrap it in a heavy flannel. Carry an ice pick with it, so that it may be broken up when needed, with as little waste as possible.

Despite the effort involved in organizing this picnic, Mrs. Ellsworth advised the housekeeper or housemother to arrange a picnic once a week during the summer, to escape the burdens of the formalities and paraphernalia that consumed their energy every day of their lives.

Enjoying the advantages of portable coolers, ice that does not require an icepick, paper plates, store-bought mayonnaise, not to mention less restrictive clothing, we should certainly take her advice. Pass the bottled tea please!

Kendall location by lake hosted bare-fisted boxing, ‘rum-running’

Postcard view of the quiet beach at Troutburg in Kendall.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

Illuminating Orleans, Vol. 2, No. 24

KENDALL – The Lure of the Illicit!

The Troutburg beach area, in the northeast corner of the Town of Kendall, was a popular destination for city-dwellers seeking relief from the heat of the summer months. The factors which contributed to its popularity as a summer resort: quiet secluded cove, rural area, proximity to transportation, also made it an attractive location for more nefarious activities.

Bare-fisted prizefighting was an illegal but popular sport in New York State from the pre-Civil War days until 1920 when the Walker Act legalized professional boxing.

On the night of August 23, 1885, two steamers carrying a contingent of fight enthusiasts, left the Port of Rochester and set out for Oak Orchard to attend a fight between Patrick Slattery of Rochester and William Baker of Buffalo.

However, when they arrived at Oak Orchard there was no sign of activity. Acting on a tip-off, Sheriff Howard of Albion had arrested both men. They were arraigned in Albion on a charge of conspiracy to engage in a prize fight but were released on $400 bail.

Undaunted, the organizers regrouped and soon set off aboard another steamer with the two hundred or so men who had each paid $5 to see this fight. Their new destination was Troutburg, where a tent had been hastily erected at Cady Grove. The fighters stepped into the ring at 4:48 p.m. that afternoon and the fight began. It lasted six rounds. Slattery was declared the winner on a controversial decision. Once the fight was over, the crowd quickly scattered.

Baker and Slattery were later arrested, fined $500 each and sentenced to a year in the Monroe penitentiary by Judge Morgan. Their counsel, Mr. Chamberlain, requested clemency and said that the men had been “tools in the hands of others.”

During Prohibition, “rum-running” was a regular activity along the mostly isolated south shore of Lake Ontario as enterprising men sought to profit from quenching the thirst of their clients. Boats laden with Canadian beer slipped in and out undetected, under cover of darkness.

Six Men Held in Two Liquor Hauls: Troopers Find Goods Reported Landed at Troutburg

This headline, which appeared in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle of July 7, 1924, summarized the events which unfolded after Troop A State Police in Batavia received word of the landing of a boat in Troutburg. The boat had been unloaded and had left by the time the State Police arrived, but they 2,000 cases of Canadian ale valued at $40,000, hidden in a barn in a farm in Morton. Two trucks loaded with ale, which were about to be driven to Rochester, were also seized. Four Rochester men were arrested in connection with this haul. They were held at the Genesee County Jail in Batavia on charges of transporting intoxicating liquor.

Another dramatic event occurred in Troutburg later that summer. The Democrat and Chronicle reported that in August, two musicians who were employed for the summer at the Ontario Hotel left one Sunday afternoon with two 17-year-old girls from Brockport. A search was quickly organized, a reward of $200 was offered. The four were located in Detroit a week later. The two musicians were charged with corrupting the morals of minors. “Friends of the girls expressed the belief that they had eloped with the musicians while their mothers claimed they were abducted.”

Why not take a drive to Troutburg and savor the history in the air?

This quiet beach scene in Troutburg was once the site of much activity.

By Eric Neace, guest contributor

Illuminating Orleans, Vol. 2, No. 22

ALBION – Local history matters. Many major international events may seem on the surface to have little connection to our rural communities but when the evidence is explored it becomes clear that many impactful individuals have called Orleans County home.

One such individual was Charles Moore Burrows Jr., an Albion veteran who helped shift momentum in the favor of the Allied Powers against Germany at the end of the First World War.

Charles Burrows Jr. was born on July 10th, 1895 in Albion; son of Dr. Charles Burrows Sr. and Florence Merrick. Charles and his family resided in the Village of Albion at what was “126 Main Street” at the time, which is the plot of land immediately north of the Episcopal Church on South Main Street. Charles attended Albion High School and graduated in 1915 as captain of the varsity football team and vice president of Albion High’s Student Congress.

Burrows Jr. remained in Albion for two years post-graduation before enlisting in the 106th Field Artillery Regiment of the New York Guard in July of 1917. About a week after Charles enlisted, the 106th Regiment was federalized into the United States Army with orders to report to Camp Wadsworth in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Provided photo of Charles Burrows Jr.’s grave at Mount Albion Cemetery.

After reporting in September of 1917, Burrows and the rest of the 106th Regiment practiced drills, marches, horse care and operating their artillery. After months of training in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Burrows was rewarded with a promotion to the rank of corporal and rumors began swirling throughout the 106th that they would be deployed to France in the near future.

These rumors became reality and in June of 1918, the 106th Regiment arrived in Western France with orders to remain in Bordeaux until further notice, hundreds of miles from front lines in Eastern France. Corporal Burrows remained busy that summer as he attended the Saumur Artillery School where he studied military tactics, mathematics, engineering, and the French language.

This summer vacation ended abruptly on September 7th as the 106th Regiment moved under orders from Bordeaux to the town of Bar-de-Luc, where they were stationed temporarily before moving to the front lines at Verdun, France, on the Meuse river, home of arguably the bloodiest battle of the First World War where there were hundreds of thousands of casualties resulting from trench-based warfare.

From September 23rd-25th, Cpl. Burrows and the 106th Regiment faced scattered enemy artillery fire as they established a position on a knoll near the hamlet of Chattancourt, overlooking the Meuse River in preparation to support an impending French offensive into German-held territory.

Early in the morning of September 26th, 1918, Cpl. Burrows and the 106th Regiment fired about 2,500 rounds from their position at their German targets. It is reported that the objective of the 106th Regiment during this engagement was to fire far behind enemy lines, targeting strategic German positions such as ammunition stockpiles, supply hubs and communication infrastructure. This offensive proved to be a major success with French infantry forces using the support to drive back the German army, helping shift momentum toward the Allied forces late in the war.

After this major engagement at Verdun, Cpl. Burrows and the 106th Regiment provided artillery support in several other skirmishes along the Western Front, helping liberate towns such as Reville, Eraye and Crepion, remaining in pursuit of the waning German military until their surrender on November 11th, 1918. After Germany’s surrender the 106th Regiment remained in France until March of 1919, drilling and tying up loose ends before they were sent back to the United States. A few years following his service Charles Burrows was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Field Artillery Reserves due to his graduation from training at the Saumur Artillery School while deployed in France.

Upon returning to civilian life in the United States Charles Burrows Jr. remained in Albion for a few years before moving around the Northeast United States while he worked as a traffic engineer for the American Telephone & Telegraph Company, where he remained until his retirement in 1960. Charles passed away in 1967 in Plainfield, New Jersey where he resided, leaving behind a widow and extended family. Charles is buried at Mount Albion Cemetery, where his grave can be found at 1596 Park.

Individuals such as Charles Burrows Jr. have proven over time that Orleans County has had a sizable impact on major historical events far beyond our small communities.

All resources used to create this article can be found at the Orleans County Department of History.

(Editor’s Note: Eric Neace is a 2017 graduate of Lyndonville High School. He attended SUNY Cortland and is graduate student in History and Social Studies Education at Brockport.)

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

Illuminating Orleans – Vol. 2, No. 21

MURRAY – June 10, 1933. A quiet Saturday night on Route 104 in rural Sandy Creek, in the Town of Murray.

Francis McAllister and his friend John W. Irvine Jr. sat inside McAllister’s gas station, chatting. Shortly after 11 p.m., a car traveling east pulled in and stopped. There were four occupants, two men in front, two girls in the back.

McAllister filled the tank with seven gallons of gas as requested and walked to the driver’s window for payment. Unbeknownst to him, the occupants had already bilked two gas station owners of payment for gas and cigarettes that evening on their joy ride in a car which they had stolen in Niagara Falls. The driver started to drive off as McAllister approached but he jumped on the running board and hung on. A shot rang out and McAllister fell to the road with a bullet in his lung.

John Irvine, seeing his stricken friend, gave pursuit, leaped onto the rear of the departing automobile and hung on precariously.

“McAllister was one of the best friends I had and I wanted to do something to catch the person who had shot him.”

He hoped to be able to signal a passing motorist for assistance. But the occupants of the car became aware of his presence. Three shots were fired through the rear window, the third hit him in the shoulder and he fell off.

Alfred J. Hackett, who was traveling toward Rochester came upon Irvine who told him about his injured friend. They went back to the gas station and brought McAllister to Arnold Gregory Hospital in Albion, where he died shortly after admission.

McAllister was survived by his wife, Helen and six children: John (9), Lorraine (8), Francis (7), Robert (5), Helen (3) and Mary (2). He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Holley.

Just fourteen years previously, on Sunday, June 1, 1919, six members of McAllister’s family had been killed in a horrendous automobile accident. They were returning to their Holley home from their farm on Ridge Road when they were struck by a high-speed B.L. & R. interurban car on the Fancher-Brockville railroad crossing. All of the occupants of the car were killed: McAllister’s parents, John (48) and Jennie (44), siblings: Vincent (15), Mary (13) and Sullivan (8) and his paternal aunt, Letitia Irwin (44).

An inquiry determined that the motorman of the trolley car was not at fault for the accident. Francis McAllister (21) and his brother John (18), who had both been in Buffalo that evening, were the only remaining members of the family.

Following the Sandy Creek shooting, police immediately mounted a determined search for the four occupants of the car. It was soon located in a garage in Niagara Falls. On June 28th Officer John Hagerman arrested the two girls Dolores Jean Klodiziek (18) and Sophie Czernowinski (17) in Niagara Falls. Based on information given by Klodiziek, the two men, Lorne Lally (18) and Angelo Presicci (21), were arrested on June 29th, also in Niagara Falls. The four were brought to Albion on June 30th, accompanied by Lieut. John Dietz and Officer John Hagerman and a police motorcycle escort.

They were arraigned before Willis Brightly, Justice of the Peace for the Town of Murray and were held at the Albion jail under the supervision of Sheriff Sydney Treble. Though court would not resume until early November, District Attorney William Munson chose not to summon a special grand jury or a special term of county court for the case, citing the expense to the county. Much to their dismay, the two girls were also held thorough the summer, as material witnesses. Judge Harcourt had set their bail at $10,000.

Lally, who had previously served time at the Elmira Reformatory for stealing an automobile in Niagara Falls, was charged with first degree murder for the fatal shooting of Francis McAllister. The trial was held before Supreme Court Justice Thomas H. Noonan in Albion on November 1, 1933. Since it was the first first-degree murder in Albion since the Stielow case in 1915, it attracted a large audience. Lally was represented by Milton J. Whedon and Russell Scharping of Medina. William Munson was District Attorney.

When questioned, Lally admitted to carrying the .32 caliber revolver with which McAllister was fatally wounded and Irvine injured but he denied that the shooting was premeditated.

“I shot without thinking much about it and I meant to hit him in the arm, though I couldn’t see him very good.”

When questioned about shooting Irvine, Lally said:

“I didn’t want to be caught in a stolen car and that was why I shot him.”

The jury found in favor of the lesser charge of second-degree murder, which spared him a possible death sentence.

When sentencing on November 4, 1933, Judge Noonan told Lally that he seemed to be a boy who had done little with the opportunities that had been given him. The judge imposed a sentence of not less than 20 years to life for the murder and 10 years additional for the use of the pistol. Lally was taken to Attica Prison.

The trial of Angelo Presicci on the charge of first-degree assault of John Irvine was held in Albion on November 14, 1933, before County Judge Bertram E. Harcourt. Testimony introduced by District Attorney William Munson charged that Presicci slowed the car so that Lally could get a better aim at Irvine. Presicci was represented by DeSilver and Edna Drew of Buffalo. He was found guilty and sentenced to 4 to 8 years at Attica Prison.

Orleans County supervisors had offered a reward of $500 for information leading to the arrests. This was divided between Officer George Hagerman of Niagara Falls who arrested the two girls on June 28th and Lieut. John J. Dietz, also of Niagara Falls who assisted. Dolores Jean Klodiziek was also included in the reward as she provided Hagerman with the information which led to the apprehension of Lally and Presicci.

Following Lally’s sentencing, his mother was heard to question the release of the two girls, saying “Are they going to be turned loose to ruin some other mother’s son?”

Information sourced from the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle and the Buffalo Evening News, 1933, www.newspapers.com.

Photograph by Bill Monacelli – Birds Eye-Snider staff and their families attend their final service at Christ Episcopal Church in Albion, June 1962. Front row, left to right: Eileen Oldershaw, Anne Oldershaw, Rev. Jack Hillary Smith (seated), Marc Withiam, (seated), Marcia Jane Withiam, Audrey Byrne and Alan Byrne. Second row: Peter Oldershaw, Marion Oldershaw, Mrs. Alfred Frane, Sydney Blake, Marilyn Withiam, Charles Withiam, Barbara Byrne and Charles Byrne. Rear: Martha Blake and Mrs. Sydney Blake.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

Illuminating Orleans, Vol. 2, No. 20

ALBION – The photograph above chronicles a significant event in Albion’s economic and social history 60 years ago: the impending closure of the Birds Eye-Snider Laboratories and the departure of the staff of 40 food researchers and their families who were transferred to the General Foods Laboratories at Tarrytown, New York.

The photograph was recently shared with the Orleans County Dept. of History by Eileen Oldershaw McKelvey, the young lady on the left.

Birds Eye-Snider’s main research laboratory was located in Albion from 1942 to 1962. It was housed in this striking Greek Revival home on South Main Street, Albion built c. 1840 by Zephaniah Clark.

The house was converted and expanded to include two analytic laboratories, a test kitchen, a pilot plant, a soils laboratory and a comprehensive research library. Staff included food technologists, chemists, horticulturalists, bacteriologists, engineers and laboratory technicians.

The research focused on improving the quality of frozen foods and optimizing efficient production methods. Albion staff developed many of the Birds Eye frozen foods products sold nationally and internationally.

In 1960, the laboratory processed and tested seventeen varieties of new frozen baby food lines. The in-house pilot plant, which was an exact duplicate of a regular plant, was used in product development and testing.

New varieties of plants were developed in the two large greenhouses built behind the home. Seed stocks were tested and evaluated at the 106-acre experimental farm on County Line Road. Soils from supplier farms were tested in the soils laboratory.

Staff of Birds Eye Snider Laboratory, Summer 1943 – Front row, from left: Jack Wenrich, Sy Pomper, Ruth Adamy, Fern Chase and Jessie Nenni. Back row: Hunter Cohen, Helen Collins, Bill Lee, Helen DiJuilio, W. Enzie and John Swenholt.

The announcement of the closure in November 1961 came as a surprise to the staff, by all accounts. It was also a blow to the community and the county. Payroll at the facility was significant – $400,000 annually (currently $3.8 million). The staff owned homes in the area, their children were enrolled in schools. Many of the staff and their spouses were involved in the community – the Village Board, School Board, Red Cross, Hospital Twig Association, etc.

Local investors formed the Albion Laboratories to continue horticultural research but that closed in 1965. The home was demolished in the 1970s to make way for a Rite-Aid pharmacy building.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

Illuminating Orleans, Vol. 2, No. 19

The Stars and Stripes, Friday, December 18, 1918: “It is our duty to make good what they offered, their lives, their blood to obtain.”

Eight young men from Orleans County were killed in a five-hour span on the fields of France on September 29, 1918. Twenty were injured. Two other young men had been killed on the previous day.

The men were members of the Second Battalion, 107th and 108th Infantry which was under the command of Major John Thompson of Medina. It included Company F. Medina, Company E of Niagara Falls and Jamestown, and Companies G and H of Rochester. They were part of the Allied final assault on the infamous Hindenburg Line, a German built defensive position on the Western front.

Australian, American, British and French soldiers participated in the marathon attack and successfully breached the line on Sept. 29.

Major Thompson described the action of that day in an article published in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 25 November 1918:

“At 5:50 o’clock on Sunday morning, September 29th, the barrage from our guns was started. That was our signal to go ahead. Our 846 men almost as a unit went over the top with a dash and a song….From the moment the advance began until we stopped, three miles ahead, at 11:00, our men were in a hail of bullets and a cloud of blinding smoke. The barrage laid down by the enemy tore up the ground around the men and the noise was deafening.

The Second Battalion enjoys the distinction of being the only one which pierced the line at that dangerous and effective point.”

Five of the Second Battalion’s casualties on September 29, 1918, were from Medina:

• Cpl. James P. Clark, aged 19. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Butts-Clark American Legion Post #204 was named in his honor.
• Cpl. William J. Collins, aged 20.
• Mechanic Walter Lindke, aged 26,
• Pvt. Cecil Green, aged 21.
• Pvt. Albert E. Coon, aged 19.

Two of the casualties were from Albion:

• Sgt. James A. Sheret, aged 24. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
• Pvt. Egbert Sheret, aged 22.

One of the deceased was from Kent, NY

• Pvt. A H. Wilson, aged 19.

Pvt. F.J. Bloom and Pvt. Walter Gaylord aged 19, both of Medina, were killed on September 28.

Thirteen soldiers from Medina were injured in action on September 29:

Martin McKernan, M.D. Barrus, John S. Green, William F.  Smith, W.F. Tripp. C.F. Fenton, Michael Smith, James G. Eddy, J.D. Clark, H.A. Durnell, Seth F. Clark, Fred Alloway and M.C. Ward.

Eight soldiers from Albion were injured:

L.W. Sanford, Carl Long, E.L. Wilson. Andrew E. Sheret, E.D. McGaffick, F.D.  Depzynski, L.G. Williams and B.A. Perry.

In addition to Cpl. Clark and Sgt. Sheret, William F. Smith and Mahlon C. Ward of Medina, and Raymond F. Reed of Waterport were recommended for bravery.

Though faced with insurmountable odds, these men fought with distinction and were instrumental in breaching the last and strongest of the German army’s defense system.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

Illuminating Orleans – Vol. 2, No. 18

The headstone for “Aunt Selina” as she was known is in Lynhaven Cemetery in Lyndonville.

LYNDONVILLE – Lydia Selina Johnson of Lyndonville was the only nurse from Orleans County to serve in the U.S. Civil War. She was born on April 31, 1830, the daughter of Stephen Burr Johnson and Maria (Gilbert), the youngest of five children.

The following is an excerpt from a reading given by Selina Johnson at the Literary & Historical Society of Lyndonville, Feb. 22, 1898. Full text on file at the Orleans County Historian’s Office.

“Let me relate to you an incident that I witnessed in the Old Warehouse Hotel, in Georgetown, in the Fall of ’62, just after the second Bull Run Battle: there had been a soldier boy who had just passed his eighteenth birthday, by the name of Shepherd from Marble Head, Mass. brought in there after having lain in the battle field eight days.

“The surgeons, upon examining the wound, found that the leg was so badly shattered that it would have to be taken off at the knee. He stood the amputation well, but it was only a short time after, before it was discovered that tetanus had set in, and in about two days, the flesh had drawn back, so that the end of the bone protruded nearly an inch.

“It was decided that his only chance of life was to have the bone cut off so the flesh could be brought up and cover the end of it. They tried it, but it was not of any use…He was a terrible sufferer the last few days he lived. The only way he could get any relief from the fearful pain was for someone to clasp around the leg with both hands, as near where it was cut off as they could and while clasping tight, press the flesh down over the end of the bone. It was very hard work, so we nurses took turns.”

With the advent of the war, reformer Dorothea Dix had been assigned to organize a female volunteer nurse corps. The requirements were strict. Candidates were to be matronly persons of experience, good conduct, or superior education and serious disposition, who displayed habits of neatness, order, sobriety, and industry.

These criteria were designed to minimize potential problems or complaints as female nurses were not welcomed by the male medical establishment at first. Compensation for nurses was 40 cents a day and a three-month minimum period of service was required. As the war progressed, the nurses proved invaluable as caretakers in a sea of carnage, providing nurturing comfort and assurance to injured and dying soldiers, as well as medical care.

Selina had acquired nursing experience working with her brother Dr. Nathan Porter Johnson. She served under Dorothea Dix from September 1862 to July 1865. She contracted typhoid in March 1863 and came home to recuperate but returned to Washington in the fall of 1864. She worked in Georgetown, Washington D.C., Alexandria, Chesapeake, and Old Point Comfort, Virginia.

The disorganization during the early months of the war has been chronicled. Selina’s first experiences of those early months echoes those accounts. She described this to her audience in Lyndonville on that February evening in 1898:

“The Government was not prepared for such manslaughter. Hotels, schoolhouses, churches, and private homes were commandeered for hospital use. The Capitol building was full and there were 500 in the Patent Office Building. In the winter of 62 and 63, there were no less than 12,000 sick and wounded soldiers in the District of Columbia. If you counted those in and around Alexandria, you would have to multiply that number by two. Our Government was without the means to do with and they were ignorant of the needs of so many. They had to learn by experience. We lacked help and almost everything else but bread. Long weary tramps going from one Sanitary Commission house to another, sometimes getting the desired articles and at others, going home empty handed.”

The situation improved as time went by:

“During the winter of ’64 and ’65, I was in the Chesapeake Hospital, Fortress Monroe. At the time, everything was running like clockwork. Order had been brought out of chaos. There was plenty of everything and if we wanted anything, we knew where to get it.”

Selina’s account of her experiences is detailed and forthright. She describes the sufferings of the patients and the privations of the hospital conditions. Simple things made such a difference – wooden stools to sit on, tinware with handles for cooking. A dying soldier expressed a desire for new milk before it got cold with some bread in it, like his mother would give him. A kind lady who kept a cow brought him fresh milk morning and evening for the remaining week that he lived. This is but one of her graphic descriptions.

Following the Civil War, deceased soldiers’ widows, dependent fathers, and brothers were eligible for pensions. The Grand Army of the Republic, a veterans’ organization, waged a long campaign for the Dependents’ Pension Bill, which was approved in 1890. This expanded pension eligibility to include disabled veterans who had served for ninety days, or widows whose husbands had served for ninety days, regardless of whether the disability or death were service connected. Funding for the expanded benefits accounted for roughly 40% of the federal budget at that time.

However, nurses who had served in the Civil War were not automatically entitled to any post war service benefit and had to wage a long campaign until the Army Nurses Pension Act was finally passed in 1892. This entitled women who served as nurses in the Union Army to a pension of $12 per month, provided they had worked at least six months and had been hired by someone authorized by the War Department to engage nurses. This was a departure from previous legislation as it was not tied in with a woman’s marital status, but rather, was a recognition of her contribution.  It afforded a welcome degree of financial independence to many women.

Selina returned to Lyndonville after the war. She did not marry, she worked at her brother’s office, lived with her widowed mother until her mother’s death and subsequently lived alone. She was able to enjoy her nurses’ pension for twenty-three years. According to her obituary printed in the Lyndonville Enterprise of May 20, 1915, she was the primary founder of the Literary and Historical Society of Lyndonville and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. She died at the age of 85 at the home of her niece, Mrs. Bessie Johnson, on North Main Street, Lyndonville. The Sons of the Veterans conducted military honors at her graveside in Lynhaven Cemetery.

Photo by Fred Holt of Albion – Lettuce is harvested on the mucklands in the 1930s.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

Illuminating Orleans – Vol. 2, No. 17

BARRE – The newly drained Tonawanda mucklands in southern Orleans County proved to be very productive.

In 1936, the Calarco brothers set a record for raising lettuce: 108,000 heads from three acres. In March of 1977, The Journal-Register noted that crops growing in the rich soil brought in about $7 million a year.

Mother Nature was not always kind. A windstorm in June 1926 and a hailstorm in July 1947 were but two of several weather-related setbacks experienced. Flooding was a recurrent problem.

Heavy rains in September of 1977 (7.28 inches, three times more than the monthly average of 2.37 inches) caused massive crop destruction. As a result of lobbying efforts, the Oak Orchard Small Watershed Protection District was formed whereby the Federal Government assumed all construction costs for a flood protection plan, while owners were responsible for maintenance and replacement costs. The project began in 1982. Erosion has continued to be a problem; some estimates indicate that a third of the original area has been lost.

Though many of the tasks associated with the large-scale crop production on the mucklands were mechanized, some, such as weeding, thinning, and harvesting still required labor intensive manual labor. Those who “worked on the muck” remember their experiences vividly. It was hard work. Hard on the knees, the back, the hands and the hours were long.

Ciel White of Medina recounted her experiences in an oral history interview conducted in 1982. Her mother and many other women “the wives of Italian and Polish families” worked on the muck in the early years.

Born in 1911, Ciel was only 7 when she started to accompany her mother to work during the summer and on Saturdays throughout the school year. Farmers provided transportation. In the spring, they worked on weeding the onions and carrots to help the crops thrive because “the weeds grew as fast as whatever was planted.” Hand weeding was necessary because the young plants were delicate. Lettuce was thinned after it reached a certain height.

Ciel recalled: “When you were weeding, you got paid by the day… which was from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The women got $1.50 a day, but the kids only got $1.00.

You would have an hour for lunch, you would bring your own. There was a well which they had dug so you could get water. There would be a pail there and a dipper, and everyone helped themselves. And a privy.”

When they were harvesting onions:

“Each person would take two rows, the rows were about a quarter of a mile long, and there would be two people. We would grab the tops of the onions, pull them out and put them in a single row between us, so that they could dry out. Once the managers determined the onions were ready, we would go back with a crate, two people would work with the one crate and we would get 10 cents per crate.”

Ciel often worked with her cousin, Pauline Cichocki:

“After we had filled a hundred crates, we would call it a day, which was $5 for each of us. Then we’d goof off for a little bit or help our parents so that they could earn some more money (depending on how we felt).

This was also true of the carrots which was the last crop that we finished on the muck in the fall. Sometimes we couldn’t go out early because there would be frost on the tops, then as it began to warm up, they thawed out a little bit. You really got wet, because it was late in the season, and you got heavy dews as well as frost. You wore gloves, because not only had you to pull the carrots out of the ground, but you had to wring the tops off them and put them in the crate, 10 cents a crate also.”

Their work clothing was practical:

“We wore bloomers, very full pant-like affairs that came down to the knees, with elastic, and a middy blouse and a sweater. And I can remember the black-ribbed stockings and laced shoes, they were high-topped shoes, ankle supporting. You had to put pads on your knee, or they would be raw. The women would make the pads that they would put in their stockings – several layers of flannel or soft material which acted as a cushion, so that the wood and muck wouldn’t go through and ruin your knees.

In the summertime, when it was unbearably hot with the sun reflecting off that black dirt, we used to wear wide- brimmed hats. When the wind would blow, it was terrible, the dust would get in your eyes.”

Nevertheless, she recalled that morale was good, the women would sing as they worked, Polish hymns and songs. They were working for extra money for their families. Ciel’s father worked for Wm. J. Gallagher and her mother put their muckland earnings in the family “kitty.” They had bought a home, 574 East Ave. in Medina, and were determined to pay off the mortgage.

Writing from Virginia recently, Jack Capurso, formerly of Albion, recalled working on the mucklands as a teenager for three summers, 1956-58.

“As I pulled weeds out of the onions, I remember marveling that most of what we would call dirt was actually small pieces of decayed wood mixed in with soil.

The work was physically demanding, ten hours a day, six days a week at the rate of 50 cents an hour ($5.14 approx., per inflation calculator). However, after three summers I had saved almost $1,000 ($10,300 in current value) towards my first year at Geneseo.

I remember vividly 26 July 1956, the day the Andrea Doria sank in The Atlantic. We watched film of the sinking while we were having lunch. I did my best to explain to the workers what was happening but at that time my Spanish was terrible, and their English was worse. I still remember the Puerto Rican workers and wonder what happened to them.

When I come to Albion this summer to visit relatives and friends, I am going to try to find my way back to the muck. I know the memories will return, and I will smile.”

Two books on local agriculture are available at the NIOGA libraries:

• Farm Hands: Hard Work and Hard Lessons from Western New York Fields by Tom Rivers, 2010

• Mom & Pop Farming in Orleans County, New York by Canham & Canham, 2016