By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, No. 5

Elbert Johnston was initiated as an Entered Apprentice of Murray Lodge No. 380, Free and Accepted Masons on January 25, 1910, passed to the degree of Fellow Craft on February 8, 1910, and was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason (Third Degree) on February 22, 1910.

HOLLEY – May 4, 1907: “Up early, left New York, 7:50 am train….. At Mauch Chunk (PA.), went into the dining car and had dinner, Vegetable soup, English mutton chops, potatoes with cream and ice-cream, cost $1.25 with a tip of 25c. The waiter gave me the menu as a souvenir…..Had to change trains at Rochester….Mailed card to Mother….Walked about a mile from the Lehigh Valley Station to the N.Y.C.& H.R. Railroad and waited for the 7:55 pm train. Reached Holley nearly 9 pm.”

Thus begins a charming journal, written by Elbert Johnston, then aged 19, as he started his journey to a new job and a new life in Holley, NY.  The journal is short-lived, little more than a month long, but the entries are detailed and offer a unique view into daily life in a rural village at that time.

Elbert was born in New York in 1887. His mother died when he was young. His father remarried. Following his death, Elbert was raised by his stepmother, Emma Johnston. He worked at the U.H. Dudley Co. in the city.

In May of 1907, he moved to Holley to work as a bookkeeper at Hudson Canning, the family business. Elbert’s Aunt Alice was the wife of Joseph B. Hudson, originally from Mattituck, Long Island, who had built the Hudson Canning factory in Holley in 1901. (See Column V4, No.4)

When he arrived, Elbert noted that “The house is not quite finished inside, and things are all in any old place.” It seems that his aunt and uncle had just moved in. There are references throughout to workmen in the house, the new bathtub “Very good washing, only the sides are slippery,” carpet selection, planting a hedge, sowing grass seed and putting sheep-manure on it.

Having arrived on a Saturday, Elbert attended the Baptist Church next day:

“I was welcomed and stayed to communion and Sunday School. The new minister, Rev. Herrell had a cold and could not speak very well. There were 81 people present and about half of that number in church service.”

He “fell in” to work at Hudson Canning on Monday, May 6 and “began to charge from farmers seed receipts to farmers ledger. Wrote letter to Gt. A&P Tea Co….and later mailed them 200 Hudson gallon apple labels by express collect.”

He recorded details of what he worked on each day at the Canning factory office.

It seems that there was a backlog of accounting to be dealt with. Once that was in order, he spent a great deal of time cleaning the “capper,” the machine which was used to process the pea crop.

At the end of the first week, Elbert wrote:

“Well, here I have been for one entire week, and I hardly know anyone….Kind of lonely, evenings not like the city.”

The next morning, he still had a “blue streak on, but I guess I had better laugh.”

That was about to change. He became friendly with George Dibble, a young man of the same age, whose father was involved in the Orleans Canning Company. Pretty soon, the two young men were out each evening for drives, or walks around the village, or to the cemetery or The Glen, accompanied at different times by Claire, Kathryn, Cora, Sally and Jennie, Miss Copping or Isabella Newton.

For evening entertainment, they visited the young ladies’ homes to hear them play piano or gramophone records. At his aunt’s house, Elbert played Dominoes, Pit, or Flinch or sometimes read.

Elbert’s first outing with George is worth noting. George invited him to a Women’s Suffrage meeting at the Presbyterian Church. The speaker was Mrs. Shaw.

“Her talk was interesting to those who perhaps were in favor of woman suffrage, but after sitting from eight to ten on a hard straw cushion and then not having converted me, well she wasn’t very good.”

Elbert was an inveterate “numbers person.” It is entirely appropriate that he wrote this journal in a Cash Ledger as he noted all his expenses and spending.

He noted attendance at every church service he attended. He noted the number of people he passed in the town square. On the evening of May 16, having shaved and put on his high collars etc., he and his new friend, George, went for a short walk and passed twenty-five people “That is pretty good for a little place like Holley.”

Later, on May 17, he noted: “While out, not counting the Square, there were 214 people that we passed, or about one nineth of the population. At the Church, there were over a hundred people.”

He noted the time he went to bed and the time he got up each day – he retired 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., but as late as 11:15 p.m. once. He generally rose around 6 a.m., a little after 7 a.m. on Sundays. He noted the weather and temperature each day. It turned cold on the second week of May and snow fell on May 10.

He mentioned meals as “after breakfast” or “home to dinner,” but unfortunately, he did not specify what they ate. On two or three occasions, he refers to buying grapefruit when they were out, they were 5 cents each.

It is interesting to note how important mail was as a means of communication prior to phones. The Hudson household had a phone, but there are references to the expense. Letters required a 2-cent stamp, postcards a 1-cent stamp. Postcards cost 5 cents.

On the journey to Holley, Elbert mailed a card to his mother from Rochester. During the month, Elbert received 26 letters and 5 postcards. These were from his mother, his friends George and Brooks, a young lady named Ethel, and former work colleagues from the Dudley Co., including the office-boy, Eugene Davis, whose card “Hope you arrived safe,” mailed in NYC on May 6, arrived in Holley on May 7. Elbert saved this correspondence, replied to each piece and made notes of his correspondence.

Elbert mentioned at the end of one day’s entry that “Uncle (Joseph Hudson) wants meaning of Deut. 14-26-28”. A few days later, Elbert mentioned that he had written to Dr. R.S. MacArthur for a “church letter,” and for an explanation of Deut.14-26. Dr. MacArthur was pastor at the Calvary Baptist Church in New York. Elbert presumably needed the “church letter” to transfer membership to the Holley church.

Elbert must have felt sufficiently at ease in Holley after the first month that he did not have to chronicle his experiences, or perhaps his blossoming social life did not allow him sufficient time to write – his gain, our loss. This diary is one of the many unique items in the Orleans County Dept. of History collection.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Vol. 4, No. 2

CARLTON – This 1912 photograph shows the Kent Post Office in the Town of Carlton. It was located on Kent Road, just north of the N.Y.C. & H. R. line railway station.

In the center stands John Sherwood, who served as Postmaster from 1906 to 1915. The mail carrier on the left, with his 1911 2-cylinder Maxwell automobile is J.C. Hamilton, while on the right with his horse and wagon is George (Burt) O’Dell.

“How many Post Offices currently operate in Orleans County?”

In response to an informal survey, most people replied “5” to this question.

The correct answer would be 10: Albion, Clarendon, Fancher, Holley, Kendall, Kent, Lyndonville, Medina, Morton and Waterport.

The first Post Office established in Orleans County was in Gaines, on July 9, 1816, William J. Babbitt, postmaster.

At one time or another, Post Offices were established in: Albion,  Ashwood,   Barre, Canal, Carlton (Two Bridges),  Carlton Station,  Carlyon,  Childs (1897-1902), Clarendon, County Line (1894-1903), Eagle Harbor, East Barre (1852-56), East Carlton, East Gaines, East Kendall, East Shelby, Fancher, Farmers (1824-28), Farmingham, Gaines,  Hindsburg,  Holley,  Honest Hill (1897-1903),  Hulberton,  Jeddo,  Kendall,  Kendall Mills,  Kent, Kenyonville, Knowlesville, Kuckville, Lakeside Park, Lyndonville, Manning (1897-1901), Medina, Millers, Millville,  Morton, Murray, North Murray, North Ridgeway,  Northton,  Oak Orchard,  Point Breeze,  Riches Corners,  Ridgeway,  Sawyer, Shelby, Shelby Basin, South Barre, Waterport, West Barre, West Carlton, West Gaines,  West Kendall,  West Shelby and  Yates.* (Total: 57)

As indicated by the dates included some of these Post Offices were short lived, while the names of a few were changed: Northton (1825-30) to Yates and West Carlton (1837-1865) to Kuckville.

“Honest Hill” is a name now forgotten. It was in the Town of Clarendon, with John B. Merrill as postmaster.

The Post Office played a pivotal role in the early history of this Republic. It connected the residents of the colonies and facilitated the spread of ideas through the speedy and affordable delivery of newspapers.

As the westward expansion progressed, so did the Post Office. When people had settled in any number, they soon petitioned for a local Post Office, as a means of establishing their identity – hence the proliferation of Post Offices as seen above. The church, the school and the combined general store/ Post Office were the first building blocks.

Then U.S. Postmaster John Wanamaker said that whether great or small, the Post Office was “the visible form of the Federal Government to every community and to every citizen.”

Rural postmasters were political appointees and so could change with every new election. For many years, the location of the Post Office in Eagle Harbor was either north or south of the bridge, depending on which party was in power.

Postmasters took an oath to uphold the Constitution and to perform their duties diligently. It was not a well-paid position and they had to provide furnishings and supplies. Country postmasters were paid by commission based on the volume of mail handled but the recognition, prestige and foot-traffic to their establishments compensated. In 1856, Albion Postmaster Jonathan O. Wilsea was the highest earning Postmaster in the county ($1,250), while Ralph H. Jackson of West Barre earned the least ($13.13).

The personable T.O. Castle was postmaster of Millville from 1853-57 and again from 1878-1897.

Though the postmaster was usually the local general store operator or business owner, Dr. Frank Lemuel June, a practicing physician and druggist was the Waterport postmaster for ten years until his death in 1911.

Female postmistresses were rare. Rarer still were postmaster/postmistress couples. Ann Batt was appointed postmistress in Fancher in 1978. Her husband Wilfred was postmaster in neighboring Waterport for twelve years. He retired in 1980.

Fred Stelianou was postmaster at Lyndonville for 39 ½ years. He retired in 1992.

The Postal Reform Act of 1970 ended the practice of political patronage in the appointment of postmasters. Subsequently, postmasters were hired from within and were experienced in the operation of an increasingly complex postal service.

‘In all kinds of weather, he cheerfully performs his duty. Possessed of an even temperament and tranquil disposition, he permits nothing to ruffle his spirits and philosophically meets all conditions.’

Albert Redfield, with his horse and trusty dog, in front of the Dye Hose No. 5 Fire Company building on East Bank and Platt St., Albion.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Vol. 4, No. 1

ALBION – Everybody knew Albert Redfield. He was a fixture in Albion. A mail messenger, he transferred mail to and from the post office to the New York Central station.

At the time of his death in 1917, he is believed to have been the oldest carrier of a mail messenger route in the United States, having held the position since 1875.

Albert W. Redfield held the contract to transfer mail from the train station in Albion to the post office from 1875 to 1917.

According to an Orleans Republican article on January 2, 1913, Albert made eight round trips a day between the post office and the train station, from 6 a.m. until 8:30 p.m., and one trip on Sunday. He handled the incoming and outgoing mail for the village of Albion and surrounding area. At that time, the Railway Mail Service carried and sorted mail and packages.

“In all kinds of weather, he cheerfully performs his duty. Possessed of an even temperament and tranquil disposition, he permits nothing to ruffle his spirits and philosophically meets all conditions.”

The Redfield family had held the mail carrier contract for the route since 1862, when it was awarded to Albert’s brother, Ebenezer G., who held it for eleven years. Their father, William Byron Redfield, was a carrier for two years. Albert left his job as a painter and took up the reins on January 1, 1875.

It was not a lucrative position by any means. The 1913 article noted that regular mail carriers at that time earned around $1,000 but Albert’s contract paid only $365 a year, and he was responsible for the expense of his horse. Not surprisingly, he had not taken a day for vacation in his 42 years of service and had lost little time due to illness.

His occupation is listed as “hackman” in the 1880 and 1892 census records. A “hackney” was an English term for a horse-drawn vehicle kept for hire, hence the term hackman. The 1900 and 1915 census records use the term “mail carrier” as his occupation instead.

Albion did not have a dedicated post office building for many years and used rented facilities instead. From the 1890s, the post office operated from the imposing sandstone building on East Bank Street (105-107), built by George Kinmont. He operated his marble and granite business in the other half of the building.

A man of diminutive stature, Albert weighed about 90 lbs. and was “a trifle over four feet six inches in height.” He had been refused muster when he enlisted for the Union Army in Canandaigua.

He married Nancy Amelia Putnam in 1862. She predeceased him on June 10, 1884. They had one daughter, Eve, born 1878.

Albert died at his home at 25 Clinton St. on Christmas Eve, 1917. He was buried at Mount Albion Cemetery on December 27, 1917.

Reporters from Saturday Evening Post, Life Magazine, UPI, Australian Press, nearby newspapers sat in on sessions

Graduating students from Albion’s Santa Claus School serenade their “Dean” Charles W. Howard and his “First Assistant” Mrs. Ruth Howard, the seated couple at the center of this Medina Daily Journal-Register photograph, October 20, 1964.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

Illuminating Orleans, Vol. 3, No. 39

ALBION – This jolly group was assembled at a dinner held at the Apple Grove Inn, Medina on October 16, 1964, to celebrate their graduation from the Charles Howard Santa Claus School and to honor the school’s founder, Charles W. Howard and his wife, Ruth Howard.

Enrollment at the school, which was then in its 28th year of educating department store Santas, was limited to 20. Students from the Class of 1964 hailed from Detroit, Bay City, Michigan, and New York state. In many cases, stores paid the tuition, as they recognized that a graduate of the school was an asset.

Students received a well-grounded training in the philosophy and practice of portraying Santa Claus with integrity during their intensive week-long course. They also learned how to interact with children. Grade schoolchildren from Albion, under the direction of Mrs. Ruth Karns, interacted with the Santa trainees, while students from Medina, Albion and Holley participated in round table discussions.

The fine points of attire were also addressed, while Mrs. Ruth Hazard demonstrated gift wrapping and Mrs. Joy Merkel instructed Santas in the latest dance steps.

The school had elicited much publicity that year. Reporters from the Saturday Evening Post, Life Magazine, United Press International, area newspapers and even the Australian Press sat in on classes and reported on activities.

This celebratory dinner was held shortly before the Howards’ trip to Australia.

On October 25, 1964, the same week as the Journal-Register article, The Sydney Morning Herald of New South Wales, Australia, featured an article promoting their prospective visit. Farmers, a department store in the city, sought six candidates to train as Father Christmas. The store’s fashion coordinator said that the store was flying in “Santa Claus himself,” Mr. Charles Howard, from New York, to supervise the school, the first of its kind in Sydney.

A later article in the Sydney Morning Herald on November 10, 1964, featured an interview with Mrs. Howard, appropriately attributed as “director and instructor-in-chief at the Santa Claus School, Christmas Park, Albion, New York.”

The article continued: “Mrs. Howard is accompanying her husband on a Santa Claus inspection and briefing tour of Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney.”

A November article later that month in a Melbourne publication, The Age, described Howard as “principal of the only finishing school for Santas in the world.”

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Mr. Howard’s death in May 1966.

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.