Vol. 1, No.1, Jan.

2017

Duties of the Local Historian

Our local town historian is appointed by the town supervisor, to
serve without compensation, with the responsibility of promoting
the establishment and improvement of programs for the
management and preservation of nongovernmental historical
records held by libraries, historical societies, other repositories
and individuals, to carry out and actively encourage research in
such records in order to add to the knowledge, etc. of the town's
history.

Why I Am Interested In Our Local History

by M. Fay Lyon, Nelson Town Co-historian

My family's history, as far as Nelson is concerned, goes back to

1794 when 21 families migrated from Vermont to settle in
Number 1 Township which was part of Cazenovia at the time.
Ebenezer Lyon, my 6th generation grandfather, was one of those
pioneers and he bought land on Hardscrabble Road (Huftalen
Farm) where he and his wife raised a family of 14 children. He
became a judge of the Court of Common Pleas in the early
1800s and was elected the first town supervisor and served in
that capacity, on and off, for 10 years. My 4th generation
grandfather, Merritt D. Lyon, was supervisor in 1874 and was
the historian for the town at the Centennial celebration in 1894
commemorating the migration of the pioneers to our town in
1794.

Past Achievements In Historical Research

Since I was appointed to be the Nelson Town Historian in the

year 2000, some attempts at research have had a successful
outcome, and some not.

The first endeavor was trying to find out what happened to the
tall case clock made by Nelson resident Loren C. Barnes. The
clock constructed in the very early 1900s, had 45 panels in it
with names of Nelson citizens written on a memorial plaque,
each being a different kind of wood in each panel. It was sold to
Fred Southworth of Morrisville in 1917 and it was hoped that it
would never leave Madison County. Even though it has been
publicized at different times, it has never been found.

Another instance was the discovery that Emma Ward Bucknell,

a former citizen of Erieville and Cazenovia, was a survivor of the
sinking of the Titanic in 1912, and is buried in the Erieville
Cemetery. An interesting story.

Cooperating with the Erieville Nelson Heritage Society,

displays were put on at Cottage Lawn in Oneida in 2006
celebrating Madison County's bicentennial when it was split off
from Chenango County in 1806.

Then we celebrated the Town of Nelsons bicentennial with

various programs including a farm tour in 2007, when the town
was split off from Cazenovia in 1807.

I copied the more recent Erieville church records, which were

kept from the late 1800s to the mid-1950s, so that we would
have more than one copy. The original was returned to the
Erieville church people. When the Erieville Church became
defunct, the older records of the church were donated to the
Heritage Society. Some of the early records of the Nelson
United Methodist Church have also been copied. All are filed in
the town's archives.

Over the years, numerous queries have been posted seeking

information and ancestors of different families who were Nelson
residents at one time. Attempts have been made to answer the
questions, but have had various success in doing so. These
family files are in the archives at the town office building.

Another project that was undertaken was the uploading of the

Heritage Society's collection of slides onto the New York
Heritage website. With the help of Laine Gilmores technical
expertise, that was accomplished.

With the help of Jim Georges and Kevin Davies, the burials of
people who have illegible or no headstones, in the towns
cemeteries, were documented. The Erieville Cemetery has over
235 such burials alone. Most of these burials were from 1887
and on.

Also, as of 2016, my recommendation to the town supervisor,

appointing Laine Gilmore as co-historian of the Town of Nelson,
was acted upon. Laine has the technical skills as well as being a
professional genealogist and adds a lot of expertise to the
historians post.

!
!

Remembrances by
Celia L. Odell Markowski
(written about 2007-08 for ENHS)

I was born November 22, 1919, daughter of Clarence and Elsie

Seeley Odell, on what is now Chaphe Hill, about 1 1/2 miles
northeast of the village of Erieville, on a large farm and we lived
in the tenant house.

My brother, Ivan, was also born there in 1923 and then we

moved to Syracuse for a year or so while Dad worked at Brown
Lipe and Chapin, and my brother, Arnold, was born in March
1924. That summer we moved back to Erieville to a small
house, now gone, next to Sarah Beebe, Lois Staurings
grandmother (Yvonne Uehlin lives there now). Sarah took in
washings, done on a washboard, of course, and she always had

time to listen and in later years I wondered how she was able to
accomplish so much.

I started school that fall when I was five years old and Catherine
Elmer Pynn walked down from their farm near Jackass Hill, with
her younger sister, Marie, who was also starting first grade. I
joined them, and we walked across the road to the school,
which is now the Schoolhouse Apartments. Mrs. Nila (Lynn)
Jones taught first, second and third grades, and every morning
before classes we marched around the room a few times to
Sousa marches played on the Victrola. That first year I brought
home chickenpox, measles and whooping cough to my parents
and brothers. Dad had the first one with us and Mom suffered
through the last two with us.

Before the end of the school year we moved to the house next
to the blacksmith shop. There was a sidewalk across the street
where we learned to rollerskate and play hopscotch. Other
games we enjoyed were Hide n Seek, Simon Says, May I?,
Checkers and Old Maid.

My sister, Mazie, and brother, Jesse, were both born there. Dad
and Grandpa Seeley were busy in the shop taking care of the
horseshoeing and making buggy wheels, etc. in the rear. I still
love the smell of wood shavings and sawdust.

Electricity came to town in 1930 and Dad bought our first radio
which was a long, narrow, box - shaped with a lot of dials on the
front and a horn - shaped speaker on top.

and also the cupholder and the communion rail. I never

belonged to the Grange, but Mom and Dad did, and in later
years they hosted rollerskating for the kids in that building.
There was also Home Bureau and Cornell Club and the latter is
still active.

Our homes were heated with wood for the most part, and
usually the only heat that reached the upstairs was where the
stovepipe went up through the floor, or if the stair door was left
open.

Electricity-REA [Rural Electric Association] came to our farm

and other homes in the country about 1945. It wasnt until after I
was married and we were living in Bridgewater later, that we
bought our first TV. My son and a couple of friends were
welcome to watch Howdy Doody at one of our neighbors until
we got one of our own.

Three of my brothers, Ivan, Arnold and Jesse, joined the Air

Force and Army shortly after graduation from high school and
luckily they all returned home safely after World War II. Ivan
decided to make a career of the Air Force, and did, but was
killed in a plane crash in 1968, with only a year to go before
retirement.

!
!

I think I can honestly say, I've had a pretty good life.

In late spring of 1933 we moved back up to Chaphe Hill to the

same house where I was born. By then Art Lapp was running
the farm, and we lived there until early fall and then moved
down to the farm on Tuscarora Road where Sue Clark now
lives. No one had lived there for a few years and there seemed
to be an abundance of woodchucks, of which we ate quite a
few, and contrary to what you might think, they are delicious
when prepared properly and taste almost like chicken. That was
a long, hard winter, and my youngest brother, Vernon, was born
in March of 34. I think after he was born was when I started
being a caretaker and havent stopped yet, I guess.

Mom made most of our dresses and some of the boys and
dad's shirts, but other clothes, shoes, etc. were bought for the
most part, from Montgomery Ward, Sears and Roebuck, Aldens
or Spiegels catalog.

We were taken down to school on a small top-heavy looking bus

that Fid Stauring drove, when the weather was good, that is. If
he couldnt make it through the snow in the winter time, Dad or
Art Hackney would take us and the neighbor kids to school with
horses and sleigh. Glad those days are gone! Now we have
large plows, good men to run them, and very seldom ever get
snowed in. I can remember Dad shoveling that long driveway
and sometimes counting every shovelful.

My folks always had a garden wherever we lived, and Mom

canned the vegetables as well as beef, chickens and pork. She
also put fresh eggs in a crock down cellar and covered them
with waterglass. I don't know what that was made of. They
bought other foods at Charlie Spauldings Red & White store
and Gages store on the corner where the post office is now.
The latter carried just about everything in the line of food or
dried goods.

We attended Sunday school and church at the Methodist

Church in town, where I still go. My dad, who very much liked
doing woodworking, built the memorial cabinet in the vestibule

How did Erieville Reservoir Become

Tuscarora Lake?
by Tim McLaughlin

This article started with what I thought was a simple question:

How did Erieville Reservoir become known as Tuscarora Lake?
Neighbors with very long memories assure me that our lake has
been known as Tuscarora Lake for as long as they can
remember. On the other hand, nineteenth century maps and
documents describe the body of water as Erieville Reservoir
and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency still calls it
that. On the U.S. Geologic Survey topographic map of Erieville,
youll find Tuscarora Lake, and if you like to fish, the NYS
Department of Environmental Conservation provides a contour
map of Tuscarora Lake on their website. Theres another puzzle
here, why name the lake after the Tuscaroras when the
Onondagas and Oneidas lived in the area? Had there ever been
any Tuscaroras in the area, or did the name just sound
appealing?

Putting names to places or changing names of places are key

activities in American history. Even to this day, the State of New
York Committee on Geographic Names (whose predecessor
played a role in Erieville history) monitors names around the
state in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey Board on
Geographic Names. The Town of Nelson yearly celebration of
our history goes by the name Skunk Hollow Day to
commemorate the settlements original moniker. Members of the
Federalist Party showed their pro-British sympathies by giving
the more business friendly and dignified name of Nelson to the
new township in 1807. Similarly, Syracusans could celebrate
Bogardus Corners or Cossitts Corners day to honor their
historical heritage. Nearby West Eaton used to be known as
Leeville after one Philip Lee, an early innkeeper.

Obviously a significant number of New York State places retain

their original Native American names such as the local
communities of Oneida, Canandaigua, and Onondaga. Local
historian Dan Weiskotten had noted that William M.
Beauchamp, in his 1906 study of "Aboriginal Place Names of

New York", believed that Chittenango Creek (from the Oneida

Chu-de-nng, meaning "where waters run north) was also
called O-wah-ge-nah, or Perch Creek, and shared that name
with Cazenovia Lake. Since the Environmental Protection
Agency considers Erieville Reservoir a headwater of
Chittenango Creek, that may be as close as we get to a proper
Iroquois place name around Erieville. I havent as yet found any
evidence of Tuscarora place names within the Town of Nelson
although they did live primarily within the Town of Sullivan,
Madison County until their hosts, the Oneidas, sold their land
under a series of treaties with New York State. According to a
contemporary Tuscarora website, the Oneidas encouraged the
Tuscaroras to immigrate back into their territory during the
1700s when British settlers started to encroach on Tuscarora
settlements in the Carolinas. The Oneidas provided the
Tuscaroras with land where they established Canasaraga, site
of current day Town of Sullivan, and a scattering of other
settlements. However, the current New York Tuscarora Nation
territory is about 190 miles from Tuscarora Lake, and is near
Lewiston, northeast of Niagara Falls. Other Tuscaroras live in
Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada.

The building of the Erieville dam, as a part of the expanded Erie

Canal system in the 1850s, necessitated adding the new body
of water to the map. Identifying the new reservoir with the name
Erieville was entirely logical given its proximity to the nearby
hamlet. Erieville likely owes its name to Eri Richardson who was
an early pioneer of Erieville. Erieville did not however always
retain that name. In 1914, the town successfully petitioned for a
change of name due to confusion over station names on the
towns railroad. According to the Report of the Director in 1914,
the Board of Geographic Names made the following decision:

Eritown. In the matter of the application of the

New York Central and Hudson River Railroad
Company for the change of name of Erieville,
Madison County, to Eritown. This application was
accompanied by a petition of citizens.
Decision. In view of the confusion arising from
similarity in the names of Erieville and Earlville on
the same (Chenango) branch of the West Shore
Railroad, and for the additional reason that the
proposed term Eritown embodies the christian
name of Eri Richardson, one of the first settlers of
the place, the desired change is approved.

!!

This change apparently applied only to the railroad station name

rather than to the hamlet itself. What is interesting is the link
made by the residents themselves between their community
and Eri Richardson.

Jonathan Gillette's 1859 map of Madison County (above)

includes the Erieville Reservoir, as does the 1875 Beers Atlas of
Madison County. The earliest map reference to Erieville Ive
found, is the 1829 David H. Burr map of Madison County, which
shows lot numbers where the future reservoir would be.

Erieville Reservoir (or Lake) remained largely unadorned with

other names until Tuscarora made its first published
appearance in the 1870s. The Erieville correspondent for the
Cazenovia Republican reported in the August 12, 1875 issue,
that the shanty built by Judge Kennedy and others from
Morrisville, a year or two previously on what they called
Tuscarora Island had proved quite popular for picnic and
fishing parties. We dont know why the Judge and his friends
chose the name Tuscarora, but there certainly was ample local
awareness that the Tuscaroras had once lived in the region.
This name for the island didnt last, however, when ownership of
the island changed hands, so did the name.

The earliest mention of Tuscarora from the original island to the

entire lake, appeared in the Cazenovia Republican November
10, 1932, when mention was made of a shower held in honor of
Mr. and Mrs. Clarence French at their camp at Tuscarora Lake.
The remainder of the story is told by the Tuscarora Lake
Association itself, on the TLA page of the Erieville Nelson
Community Website:

Erieville Lake looking towards Kays Store with the house

built by Eri Richardson visible on the left, later destroyed
by fire. (Erieville-Nelson Heritage Society)

The newly formed lake association that met

for the first time in 1944 chose to call their
lake Tuscarora. The first recorded minutes
of the Tuscarora Lake Association (TLA) was
on August 9, 1944, at a meeting held at
Slabsides. From the minutes of the first
meeting of the association in 1944, Mary

Porter, the secretary, noted that the dues were

set at $1.00 per member. Popular discussion
topics were garbage collection (25 cents per
household), ice delivery (the Cards, behind
the island, operated an icehouse), and
speeding boats. The Tuscarora Lake
Association was incorporated on August 29,
1981.
We have early references to Tuscarora Island on Erieville
Reservoir in the 1870s, but the island itself was later called
Maynards Island. The lake itself started out as Erieville
Reservoir when the dam was completed, but by the 1930s was
at least, on occasion, referred to as Tuscarora Lake. As World
War II came to a close, the residents chose to call their
organization the Tuscarora Lake Association, probably a better
sounding name than the Erieville Reservoir Association (ERA?).
At present, Tuscarora Lake is the favored name although
Erieville Reservoir pops up occasionally. If you or someone from
your family has information about when and why the Tuscarora
name first was used for the lake, please contact the Erieville
Nelson Heritage Society on Facebook or by email at
Erievillenelsonhs@gmail.com. Id really like to know more.
Thanks for your help !

Maynards Island at Erieville Reservoir

(Erieville-Nelson Heritage Society).

Town of Nelsons Historic Marker

By Jim Georges

For 66 years the Syracuse & Chenango Valley Railroad was the
Town of Nelsons connection with the outside world. Opened
from Syracuse to Earlville in 1873, the line that was to become
part of the vast New York Central System, was built during the
railroad fever era following the Civil War.Once the railroad was
in place,Town of Nelson residents could go to Syracuse in a little
over an hour, and connect with other trains to anywhere in the
country. Farmers could ship their products to ever expanding
urban markets, mail was sent and received quickly, and local
stores and businesses got fast, regular deliveries of goods at
the railroads depot in Erieville.

Today the railroad is gone, abandoned in 1937 from Earlville to

Cazenovia, but the old right of way is still visible in many places,
and there are many reminders of the line that remain. Bridge
abutments, culverts, foundations and even a few structures are
there if one knows where to look.

While doing research for our book on the railroad (A Ride

through the Countryside on the Syracuse and Chenango Valley
Railroad by John Taibi & Jim Georges), I stumbled across the
remains of a structure that once dominated the landscape in
Erieville. One of the railroads water tanks was constructed in
1894, just north of Dugway Rd., on the east side of the track.
The tank was huge, 50,000 gallons, and was fed by a spring
near the site of the current storage tank of the Erieville Water
District. The structure survived the railroads abandonment, and
sat like a sentinel
guarding the
former right of way.
More than one
traveler from
Cortland or Ithaca
to Utica referred to
Erieville as
P e t t i c o a t
J u n c t i o n ,
remembering the
tanks similarity to
the one on the
popular TV show
of the same name.

The tank gradually

deteriorated to a
point where it
became a hazard,
and
was
demolished by the
town in the mid
1970s. The large
wooden beams
that supported it
rested
on
limestone and
concrete footings.
Erieville Water Tank, 1917
These footings are
what I spotted
while walking the
right of way one day. Although hidden under a mass of sumac
and other underbrush, the footings were still visible, all in a wide
ring. In
addition, two iron pipes were sticking out of the
ground, right in the center of the circle formed by the footings.
The old pictures of the tank showed that all the original footings
were still there, and the boiler house used to pump water up into
the tank, sat right over the location of the two pipes.

Here
was
a
significant historical
railroad site that
needed a little work to
become visible to the
public. Many young
people didnt even
know Nelson ever
had a railroad, and
restoration of this site
would
help
perpetuate the
memory of the Syracuse & Chenango Valley. I had heard that
Eagle Scout projects were sometimes used to restore historical
sites, so that seemed a good way to go. I contacted George
Schmit of the Cazenovia Boy Scout Troop 18, and soon we had
a project to restore the former water tank site under the direction
of Eagle Scout candidate and Erieville resident Sam Medbury.
The plan was to remove the brush from the area to expose the

water tank pillar foundations, construct an authentic

reproduction of the nearby Dugway Rd. crossing sign for the
railroad, build an information sign board to explain exactly what
the site was and cleanup the area surrounding the former cattle
underpass (Bridge E-36), located about 145 feet north of the
water tank. The project was completed in 2011, resulting in an
Eagle Scout badge for Sam Medbury, and an historically
significant reminder of the railroads importance to the Town of
Nelson.`

was dedicated at an unveiling ceremony attended by about 35

people. This marker stands as a reminder to present and future
generations of the importance of the Syracuse & Chenango
Valley Railroad to the Town of Nelson. This site is located on
Dugway Rd. in Erieville, adjacent to the Town of Nelson highway
garage. Its information sign board has many details about the
railroad and its history.

Bridge E-36 in Erieville in 1919.

Chris McCallops of the Pomeroy Foundation (left) and

ENHS members, Jim Georges, John Taibi, Laine Gilmore
and Fay Lyon at the dedication ceremony in June of 2016.

The Stone School

by Dorene Lyon Setliff

You have all driven past it, and probably wondered what will
happen to it the Stone School at the corner of Stearns Road
and Old State Road in Erieville.
Unfortunately its fate is
unknown, but it does have a long history.

Raising the crossing sign for the !

Eagle Scouts project, Nov. 2011.
In 2014 the Erieville - Nelson Heritage Society became aware
of the William G. Pomeroy Foundations program for funding
historic markers throughout the state.These are the familiar
yellow and blue cast markers seen along highways. The state
formerly erected these, but due to budget cuts, no longer does.
The Pomeroy Foundation has stepped in and provided funding
to local historical societies and towns to continue this practice.
In 2015 the Erieville Nelson Heritage Society applied for funding
for a marker commemorating the railroad, and the Dugway Rd.
site seemed like an ideal spot. On June 16, 2016 the marker

One of the earliest schools in Nelson was the Swamp School,

which was located on the south side of what is now Lyon Rd.,
west of Lyonwood Farm. In 1845, that school was replaced by
the Stone School (District No.7) built by stone mason, David A.
Hamilton, on land which originally was part of the Weaver Farm.
The date, 1845, and David Hamiltons initials can still be seen
on a flat stone midway toward the peak on the north end of the
building. The stone was quarried near Bumps Pond located
between Nelson and Erieville.

John Card wrote in 1926 that when the Stone School was built it
was one of the largest schools in town. In the years 1864-1865
Fannie Biddlecome was the teacher. This plucky woman . . .
used to come through the piercing cold of winter nearly two
miles. All told there were about fifty scholars that season . . . .
The noon hour was a busy time. There was an old fox and
geese ground in Weavers lot and sliding down hill was all the
rage.

Despite Miss Biddlecomes employment, the earliest teachers in

this one room school were more often men. Horace K. Smith
taught there in 1879, and remembered that during the time he
taught, the school year was divided into a summer and winter
session. After fall harvest and spring planting, a school meeting
was held to hire a teacher and set a date for opening school.
Since many boys of 19 years or older attended the winter
session when they were not needed for farm work, a man
teacher with a record of physical fitness was a requirement.

Later years found that many single young ladies were hired to
teach one year at a time. Miss Anna English was the seventh
member of the English family to teach there over the years. She
remembered her experience: I taught in the old Stone School in
1926-27 when Merritt Lyon Sr. was the good trustee. I boarded
with Maude and Harold Shepard who lived then in the old
Weaver Place. During the year that I taught, the pupils put on a
variety entertainment in the Nelson Grange Hall from which we
realized $25. We used the money to purchase a new slate
blackboard replacing the old faded wooden one. It was all so
much fun. Arbor Day 1927, the older boys got an evergreen
from the swamp and planted it north of the building near the
road. At the bottom is buried a sealed bottle with the names of
all the pupils. In June all the 8th graders passed the regents and
had a picnic at Nichols Pond.

My father Eugene Lyon and his siblings attended the school in

the 1920s. His memory? How much he loved the cold pancakes
which he took in a pail for his dinner. My memory? Nervously
sitting in the Baileys dining room waiting to play my recital piece
on the grand piano in the Stone School.

Facts and quotes about the school were found in old issues of
The Cazenovia Republican searchable online at the
Cazenovia Public Library website, Cazenovia.advantagepreservation.com. A thank you goes out to Jim Georges for
information on the Erieville railroad station

The Stone School students enjoyed lots of activities besides

school work. October 1924: Miss Elizabeth English and pupils
will hold a Halloween box social at the Stone School house
Thursday Evening. Proceeds to go for equipment of the school.
Ladies bring boxes with lunch for two. All are invited to share the
good time. In 1925, the scholars put on a play at the Grange,
they represented Nelson at a spelling bee and they enjoyed a
closing picnic on the Stone School grounds. All the years were
filled with activities.
By 1930, the older Nelson students had outgrown a one room
school taught by a single teacher, and in May of that year, the
Stone School district taxpayers voted to send their advanced
pupils to Cazenovia for high school. The next year, they voted to
actually centralize with Cazenovia. In September 1931, so many
pupils from Nelson and the Stone School attended the
Cazenovia Central School that a Ford bus was inadequate, and
a Dodge bus was put on the route.

The end was near for the Stone School. In December, 1936 the
taxpayers chose to close it permanently and send all pupils to
CCS. It was sold to Merrill Bailey for $225 to use as a studio; his
grandfather, Simeon Jones, had attended the school in 1865.
On August 28, 1937, Mr. Bailey married Marie Buckingham from
Erieville in the garden at the Stone School, and they moved into
the renovated schoolhouse. In the early 1940s, the Erieville train
station, built in 1920 and abandoned in 1937, was moved to the
Stone School site. Earl Buckingham, Marie Baileys father, was
stationmaster at that time. A cellar was dug at the Stone School
House site, and the station was added to the foundation in
1949. A room was built connecting the station to the stone
school making it a very attractive home.

Marie Bailey, who died in 1959, continued the theme of

education in the Stone School by teaching piano there for many
years, and Merrill Bailey painted in his studio in the old train
station. He died in 1981 and the school house went on the
market in 1983: Stone school house with attached Railroad
station cum studio, 3 wooded acres, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths,
working fireplace. Available. Since then it has known renters,
was briefly a yarn and wool shop, and it now stands forlorn and
abandoned in a slowly deteriorating condition.

The Old Stone Schoolhouse on Old State Road.

All About Erieville Nelson Heritage Society

by Laine Gilmore, Co-historian, Town of
Nelson

The Erieville - Nelson Heritage Society was formed in the 1970s

to preserve our archival materials, preserve our past, and
educate our citizens on all things local and historical. The
society meets from April through Oct. on the second Wed. of
each month. During those months, we have many guest
speakers, including our county historian, Matthew Urtz, as well
as other local town historians, local history experts and fabulous
story tellers.

Our guest speakers have presented recently on such subjects

as the local railroad (John Taibi and Jim Georges, local railroad
experts), the hops industry (Matthew Urtz, Madison County
Historian), rural physicians (Diane Van Slyke, Madison Town
Historian), and the Erie Canal (Pamela Vittorio, canal historian)
to name just a few. These meeting are very informative about
our local history, and attendees get to hear the voices of local
history experts speak on a variety of subjects.

In the winter months, committee meetings continue, whereas

ENHS volunteers work on transcriptions, an all - name index for
our archives (which is ongoing), correcting and creating
accession numbers for our archival holdings and adding our
photos to the New York Heritage website. Weve also creatng a
link to our Town of Nelson website, where anyone with Nelson
ties can contact the Town of Nelson co-historians and the
Erieville - Nelson Heritage Society for volunteer research on
their ancestors. ENHS members also decided to tackle this
historical newletter and see where it may lead in the future.

ENHS has also hosted some excellent events. In the last two
years, we have had two railroad tours, one from Cazenovia to
Syracuse, and another from Earlville to Cazenovia whereas our
local railraod experts, Jim Georges and John Taibi, shared their
extensive knowledge of the railroad and its history. We cohosted a Kids Genealogy Workshop event with the Cazenovia
Public Library last winter, which was very successful and eyeopening for our youth to peruse records like census documents,
where they were able to see a snapshot of their ancestors lives.
This past summer, we had a cemetery tour of four small
cemeteries of East Nelson that drew a large crowd and was
very informative. ENHS also has an Archives Day in the fall in
which our guests can get a first hand view of our archival
holdings. We also have a large presence at the Nelson Town
Office building for the towns Skunk Hollow Days in August
where we have showcased local quilts, photos, local books,
local stories and local genealogies.

Book of Hair Locks in the ENHS Archives

Our last two events

have led to 11 new
memberships, a
couple of whom
have joined our
committee of
volunteers. ENHS
e x i s t s
primarilyfrom
membeship dues
and occasional
fundraisers, as
well as donations.
Our yearly dues
Cemetery Tour of East Nelson
are only $5.00,
and those dues will
hopefully include this historical newsletter, which in the future
will probably only be in e-letter form due to financial constraints.
If you would like to receive future editions by email please
consider joining ENHS by providing an email address.

A special thanks goes out to Nelson resident and ENHS

member, Jeff Schoenfeld, whose company, Ansun Graphics,
gave us a great deal on the printing of this paper as well as
some other perks. Jeff and his wife Linda, bring world class
music to Nelson, and their contribution to music at the Nelson
Odeon is much appreciated by all.

Another special thanks to Louanne Gilmore Pontecorvo of

Gilmore Graphics for her expertise with the graphic aspects of
this paper. We could not have attempted it without her help. Jeff
Palmer also deserves thanks for his expertise and help with the
historians website, as well as other technical help. He is our go
to man.

On a personal note, I have had the pleasure of working with

Nelson historian, Fay Lyon and his wife, Marge, as well as
ENHS members for several years now. In January of 2016, Fay
recommended my appointment as co-historian of Nelson, along
with him. I have had great pleasure working and learning the
ropes from Fay. Fay deserves a great deal of admiration for
doing this job as historian since 2000. In this last year, I have
realized the job can be a challenge, and I am very lucky to have
Fay and other members of ENHS support me and teach me all
that they collectively know about Nelson history. Im not sure I
will ever have the expertise on Nelson history that our historian
and ENHS members have, but hopefully I can bring to the
tableother skills, and keep learning all about Nelson history, as
Im a relative newcomer, and have only lived in Nelson for 29
years !

From Diaries in the ENHS Archives

The 1934 diary of Nellie Jones. She lived on Rt. 20 just by

Ryan Road.

January 1, 1934 Theo [her husband] worked on the milk house

and cleaned out the barn. Rained all night. Everything is
swimming with water. Foggy as the dickens and turned into
snow at night. I made a berry pie, 3 loaves of bread, and
washed some things out in the pan. Lloyd [her son] and I saw a
mouse in the wash room and we took the two little cats in there
and Hessie caught the mouse. Called some friends to wish
them a happy new year. Thank heavens the Christmas holidays
are over, another year has come, and I wonder what it has in
store for us and for me.

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From the 1927 diary of Cora Blair. They owned the hotel on
the corner of Erieville Road and Damon Road.
January 10, 1927. Lovely day but so cold again. I washed and
hung the clothes in the ball room. An auto came into town with
a runner in front, I guess they call it a sleigh auto. I think it came
from Cazenovia. Frank [her husband] went to Syracuse by train,
no other way to go now. We have had four awful cold days.

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Abstracts of Early Estate Records of

Residents of the Town of Nelson

Estate Records, Madison County, 1806-1813:

Estate record No. 48, BARNABAS WOODWORTH, of Nelson,

1809. Lucinda Woodworth and John Jackson, Jedidiah Jackson,
all of Nelson, and Thomas Stark of Hamilton, administrators and
bonded in the sum of 800 dollars, filed 5 July 1809.

Estate record No. 68, JOB WOOD, of Nelson, 1810. Asahel

Wood of Nelson, administrator. Bonds: Asahel Wood, Ebenezer
Lyon and James Tinsley, all of Nelson, sum of $200.

Estate Record No. 75, DANIEL BUTLER, of Nelson, 1811.

Hannah Butler, administratix. Bond held by Hannah Butler, Ziba
Fisk and John Knox all of Nelson, sum of $2000. Includes 1822
petition of Smith Dunham and his wife Hannah Dunham (widow
of Daniel Butler), being part of lot 44 in Nelson; affidavit of
Ebenezor Butler. Harry Butler and Otis Butler, children of the
deceased.

Estate record No. 89, WILLIAM COVELL, of Nelson, 1812.

Mehitabel Covell and Ebenezer Lyon, administrators. Bond of
Mehitable Covell, Ebenezer Lyon, 2 people of Cazenovia, bound
in the sum of $600, mentions 75 acres in lot no. 11 in the Town
of Nelson. Estate debts due to James Covell, Lemuel Covell,
James Covell, jun.

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Estate record no. 100, JOHN RICE of Nelson,1812. Lemuel

Covell and Ezekiel Williams, administrators. Bond held, sum of
$1300, Lemuel Covell, Ezekial Williams, Seth Curtis and
Andrew P. Lord, all of Nelson. His wife, Anna Rice declines
administration and requests Covell and Wiliams. David Nichols
named next of kin to the deceased.

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Contact ENHS at Erievillenelsonhs@gmail.com.

Estate record no. 104, ANTHONY SHELDON, of Nelson, 1813.

Robert Irish, executor. Inventory of Estate made by Ebenezer
Lyon and Joseph Peeke.

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Estate record no. 106, SETH BUMPUS, of Nelson, 1813. Isaac

Bumpus, administrator, bond of $2000, Experience Bumpus,
wife of deceased, renounced her right of administration.

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ErievilleNelsonHeritageSociety.
Visit http://www.townofnelson-ny.com for ENHS and
town historian information and membership
application.
Visit https://nyheritage.org. Search Erieville Nelson,
to visit over 200 photos of Erieville and Nelson.

Erieville Nelson Heritage Society

Estate record no. 110, ALFRED DANIELS, of Nelson, 1813.

Ruggles Paine and Simon Dutcher, executors.

Estate record no. 144, JONATHAN WILLINGTON of Nelson,

1813. Thomas Holdridge and Polly Willington, administrators.
Polly Willington, bound in the amount of $600.

Estate record no. 145, DAVID SMITH, 1813, of Nelson.

Administrators were Aristobulus Smith and Deborah Smith.
Names Deborah Smith as his wife. Zaddock Smith appointed
guardian of the children and heirs of David Smith. Children
named: Deborah Reed, David Smith, Candace Smith, Pricilla
Smith, Alfred Smith, Mary Smith, Albert Smith, Zephaniah A.
Smith, Jamima Smith. Deborah Smith, Aristobulus
Smith,
Haven White and John Buck bound in the amount of $400.
Mentions the land of David Smith in Township No. 1, lot no. 42.
Inventory taken by Aristobulus Smith and Deborah Smith.

Estate record no.160, JAMES CLARK, 1813, of Nelson. Joshua

Whitney and Luther Doolittle, executors. Shows a map of the
dower of Submit Clark, widow of James Clark. Lands beginning
on lot 23 in Nelson.

Estate Records, Madison County 1814-1816:

Estate record no. 192, EBENEZER LANE, 1814, of Nelson.

Betsey Lane, John Lane and Thaddeus Hazelton, executors.
Lemuel Covell and Amos Lane appraised the estate. Betsey
Lane, John Lane, Thaddeus Hazelton, Alexander Donaldson
and Joshua Whitney, all of Nelson, bound in the amount of
$400.

Abstracted from Madison County Estate Records. The

original records are in the Surrogates Court Office at
Wampsville, N.Y. Microfilms of the originals are available
online at familysearch.org

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Estate Records, Madison County, 1813-1814:

Estate record no.134, WILLIAM BRADLEY, of Nelson, 1813.

Sarah Bradley and Elisha Bradley, Executors.

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