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Hold'er Newt

~ Old Northern Dutchess Life

Hold'er Newt

Tag Archives: photography

We Remember Sterling Smith 1892-1898

07 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by SKH in 19th Century Photos, Genealogy

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genealogy, jackson corners, milan, photography, Smith, victoriana

Looking through my Hermans family pictures, I found a memorial card and it inspired this entry. I don’t doubt that it has been more than 100 years since anyone has memorialized the subject of this post and that today no one remembers him at all.

The census is often the amateur (or armchair) genealogist’s first glimpse into a family they know little about. Through the lenses of the 1900 census, a little boy who was born after 1890 and died before 1900 would appear only as the difference in a pair of numbers. A column of data filled in after the mother of each household is labeled “Mother of how many children” and the one directly to the right of that is “Number of these children living”. For the 1900 listing for the family of Irving and Annie Smith of Milan, Dutchess County, NY, these numbers are 2 and 1, respectively (1900 Census Milan, Dutchess Co NY page 5, ed. 14, family 96). The one living child is their daughter, Ruth. The difference in the numbers is their little six-year-old son, Sterling Smith.

Sterling Smith 1892 – 1898

Irving and Annie Smith

Irving Smith, a farmer, and his wife Anna May “Annie” Edleman married c. 1890. Irving Smith was born 21 Jan 1869, son of Freeman Smith and Margaret E Hermans, daughter of Henry Hermans, my 3rd great-grandfather. Irving’s family also resided in Milan so he was most likely born there. Annie was born 16 Feb 1868 and was probably the daughter of Phillip (a child of German immigrants) and Margaret Edleman of Ancram, Columbia County, just to the north. In 1900, they lived in the area north of what is now Rt 199 in Milan, NY between Red Hook and Pine Plains called Jackson Corner, down the road from my grandparent’s farm. Now-a-days, we add an “S” and call it Jackson Corners.

Ruth Smith

At right is Sterling’s little sister Ruth Smith (later Mrs. Joseph Bruyette) 16 Sep 1893 – 29 May 1976. She would later be a member of the same DAR Chapter that I am regent of, today.

An online newspaper archive, like Old Fulton Post Cards is invaluable for its record of the goings-on in small country communities like the one that the Smiths called home. In these columns, a local “reporter” would note who had visited, who was born, married and who was ill, among other important social happenings.

Sterling Smith was “on the sick list” as announced in the March 18th 1898 Pine Plains Register which noted that “a number in this place (Jackson Corner) are sick, two of which have the pneumonia.” In the following week’s paper, it is announced that Sterling died Thursday, March 16th. Two weeks later, the local reporter had only one story to report for Jackson Corner.

Sterling was aged 6 years, 5 months and ten days. This sweet memorial card is the same size as the “cabinet card” photos found in one of our antique family photo albums.

Funeral services were held on Saturday, conducted by Rev. W. W. Wilcox and E. A. Bishop. Rev. Wilcox’s card is found in the same album as the memorial card.

Rest in peace, Sterling.

 

Smudge Pots

27 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by SKH in 20th Century, Apple Farming, Color Slides

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apples, farming, John Losee, kodachrome, Losee, photography, red hook, upper red hook

It’s already 30 degrees and heading down to the high teens tonight. This is normally not a problem for our local fruit growers, like my cousins in Red Hook, but due to the freakishly warm weather earlier in the month, the trees have begun to bloom already. It’s only one night, but it could be devastating to the fruit crop.

In the past, orchards in danger were sometimes protected by smudge pots, as my grandfather did for his apples in the 40s. You can read more on what smudge pots were here at Wikipedia.

"Burning Smudge Pots", May 10th 1947 by John Losee

From the looks of them, they were most certainly DIY and not exactly safe…

"Smudge Pot Steam Explosion" May 10th, 1947 by John Losee

I hope the blooms make it through this frosty night!

Aunt Fanny Telephoning

20 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by SKH in 20th Century, Genealogy

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Fraleigh, John Losee, kodachrome, Losee, photography, red hook

“Aunt Fanny Telephoning” by John Losee, December 25th, 1940

Pictured are Rosalie Fraleigh Losee on the left and Fanny Keyes Elmore Fraleigh on the telephone, probably at Rose Hill Farm in Red Hook, but possibly at the Thomas/Losee house in Upper Red Hook. My guess is Rose Hill, because there is a lot of paperwork in the secretary behind Fanny. Rosalie’s husband Dr. Harvey Losee had been dead for nine years when this photo was taken so I imagine that the farm would have generated the papers, not a widow in a house by herself.

Red Cross Lawn Fete

12 Monday Dec 2011

Posted by SKH in 20th Century

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John Losee, Losee, photography, red cross, rock city

Poughkeepsie Eagle-News, Tuesday, August 13, 1918

“Rock City:  Some of this place attended the lawn fete at Hoffman Inn Thursday evening. Friday Evening the Red Cross Society met at t he home of Mrs. Henrietta Morehouse. A very pleasant evening was spent and officers for the  new year elected.” – Old Fulton Post Cards

Unknown boy on left with John and Lawrence Losee, August 8th 1918 at the Lawn Fete

I don’t recall how I made the connection between the Lawn Fete and the Red Cross, but I’m pretty sure that the back of the image was marked Red Cross 1918 or something similar.

Blithewood

02 Friday Dec 2011

Posted by SKH in 20th Century, Color Slides

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annandale, bard, blithewood, John Losee, kodachrome, photography, red hook

“Zabriskie Mansion” November 23rd, 1942 by John Losee

This photo was taken of the mansion in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY while it still belonged to the family and before it was used by Bard College.  I was confused at first because the name Zabriskie didn’t ring any bells and I thought that Grampa must have taken this picture from his beloved Cruger’s Island (just North of Bard) and mistook this for Ulster County. Then I googled “Zabriskie mansion” and the light went on.

“In 1899 Captain Andrew C. Zabriskie, a cattle breeder, numismatist, and antiquarian, purchased the estate and retained Francis Hoppin, an alumnus of the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, to design a manor house and garden. Hoppin produced a house in an eclectic, grand style, blending architectural and decorative elements from centuries of English mansion design with the latest turn-of-the-century technology. Captain Zabriskie’s son donated the estate to Bard College in 1951.” – Levy Institute/Bard College

  Click here for Google maps to see exactly where it is.

“Cider Sign”

01 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by SKH in 20th Century, Apple Farming, Color Slides

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apples, John Losee, kodachrome, photography, red hook

“Cider Sign” September 19th, 1941 by John Losee

The image directly before this one is labeled “Denino’s Cider Mill”. Whether this sign is for part of Denino’s operations or not is uncertain. I’ve googled but come up empty handed as to exactly where this was, but judging by the other images on the roll, it could not have been far from Red Hook, NY.

Grampa would take his culls (apples that had some defect found after picking and could not be sold as-is) to be processed into cider. See the earlier post “Picking Kings” showing a pick up truck loaded with drops and Grampa’s dog, Amos in the driver’s seat.

“Catskills at Sunrise”

30 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by SKH in 20th Century, Apple Farming, Color Slides

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John Losee, kodachrome, photography, upper red hook

November Series

“Catskills at Sunrise” November 22nd, 1942 by John Losee

This image was most likely taken in or around Red Hook, NY. If so, there are a good deal more houses in this view today than there were in 1942.

Good-bye, November!

Losee/Thomas House

18 Friday Nov 2011

Posted by SKH in 19th Century Photos, 20th Century, Genealogy

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genealogy, John Losee, Losee, photography, revolutionary war, upper red hook

Excerpt from a report from the Year Book of Dutchess County Historical Society, 1918 pages 21-27. This came from the semi-annual meeting in October of that year when the society visited several sites in and around Red Hook, including the Losee/Thomas/Red Tavern house.  My notes and corrections are in italics. The house is located in Upper Red Hook on Spring Lake Road, click here for google maps to see exactly where. My great-grandfather Harvey Losee was born 30 Mar 1867 in the house Upper Red Hook and died 20 Feb 1931 in the same house after a 10-year illness.

“The next stop was at the famous Red Tavern in Upper Red Hook, where the present occupant, Dr. Harvey Losee (on the left) read the following paper:

Members of the Dutchess County Historical Society: It gives me great pleasure to extend to you a hearty welcome to ye ancient village of Red Hook, at present yelept (yclept-“called”) Upper Red Hook.

When Mr. Adams called upon me not long ago, and said that this burg was upon your itinerary for this year, and asked permission to see “The Old Red Tavern” I told him it would give me the greatest pleasure; but when he also asked me to make a “speech”, I demurred. There is something so formal and stage frighty about the term “speech”, that timid souls instinctively take fright. But upon questioning him, Mr. Adams hedged, and said I would not be expected to act the part of a Cicero, but rather a cicerone in the matter of “The Old Red Tavern”, and so, as the nervous young speaker said, I kindly consented.

“The Old Red Tavern” or “The Old Brick Tavern” or “The Thomas House” was, according to some authorities, the thing that gave the village and township its name, though this point is more or less disputed; but the thing is certainly very plausible as the old red Dutch tavern stood at the angle or hook where the great thoroughfare, to Connecticut and the East, branched from the Albany Post Road. Farms came by this road in great numbers from the East, bringing their produce to be shipped by sailing craft to New Amsterdam or New York, and “The Old Red Tavern” was one of their regular ports of call, and must have undoubtedly become in time a notable public landmark, than that it should have received it from a strawberry patch.

It is not possible to fix upon even an approximate date when the house was built. The custom which was employed in the building of many of the early houses, of inserting the date in the gable, was, unfortunately not observed in this case. The late Gen. de Peyster, a member of many historical societies, and an antiquarian of some note, showed me a map (see scan at right, click to enlarge) of the date 1789, in which this house is set down and spoken of as a very old house at that time. There seems little doubt that it is well over 200 years old at the present time (1918). The house was not built of Holland brick, as some have thought, but brick made of the clay from our own Hudson. But the brick is of such adamantine hardness, that the masons, in putting in a new window, or making repairs, encountered such a difficult task that they always maintained that such brick had never been made in this country. The house was built in the simple Dutch style, with gambrel roof and dormer windows. A good many years ago, when the house was renovated, this characteristic roof was removed, and a gable added, which of course was a great architectural error. The oak beans, as in all the old houses, are large and hand-hewn; one, the great trimmer on the third floor, being 17×17. The walls of the house today stand perfectly four square, but the floors, due to the very weight of the heavy timbers, show some slight sagging. The cellars which are rather dungeon-like, are crudely hewn out of the rock, and in them during Revolutionary days, were incarcerated British prisoners, as well as an occasional continental soldier who had proved rebellious to military discipline. It was the general saying among our old inhabitants, who had it from their parents or grandparents, that Washington had stopped at the Old Tavern on one occasion, while Lafayette was said to have spent two or three days there. Gen. Gates is also reported to have stopped once with his command while Gen. Putnam maintained it as his headquarters for a brief period while in this section of the Hudson. The late William H. Teator (b. 1817) told me that his father had told him that he was at “The Old Brick Tavern” one night while a regiment of Putnam’s soldiers were quartered in the vicinity, and on that occasion a hogshead of rum was broached and finished in the same evening. There was a large block and tackle, he said, by which the casks of rum were hauled up and tiered in the back part of the room.

The first story, at the time, he thought, being practically all in one room, with a large fire-place at each end (At right, Harvey’s parents John Eckart Losee and Mary Elizabeth Knickerbocker in the living room of the house c. 1890). And for some reason, which he said he didn’t understand, it was always the custom to broach the very topmost casks first. Possible there was some system of siphonage, or gravity arrangement by which the worthy Dutch burghers sitting around the big fire-place smoking their long nines, could obtain their liquor without even the exertion of crooking their elbows! Those were certainly rum days! I found an old day book (ach, where is it now, Harvey?) amongst some rubbish, which had evidently belonged to one of our early store-keepers, as the charges were in pounds, shillings and pence, and the chirography was characteristic of that period – for it was equal almost to our finest engraving, and the ink was as bright as if written but the day before. One customer, “a thirsty soul,” whose name appeared at most regular intervals of three or four weeks, was invariable charged with five gallons of rum at the rate of two shillings and six pence. And there would occasionally be entered upon the book what would seem might have been a sop to his better half, namely the purchase of a quarter or half pound of tea. Could the shades of those worthies look forth to-day upon this now almost entirely arid country, they would certainly see a great change in this respect. And in speaking of shades, we are reminded of the ghost or spook which haunts “The Old Red Tavern.” In reading our histories and manuscripts, while collecting material for this cicerone business, I noted that the History of Dutchess County, in the matter of the hanging on the Tory at the Old Tavern, says that the Albany stage coach drove up at just the critical moment, and Judge Yates descended and ordered the victim lowered, and threatened them all with hanging if they did not desist from their purpose. But the account of it which I prefer, is the one given me by my old friend Mr. Teator, before mentioned, who had the story from his father or grandfather, together with many other interesting stories of the early peoples and customs of this village. He said, that the person in question, was not only a Tory, but a spy, and had been caught red-handed in conveying information to the British concerning the disposition and strength of Putman’s forces, and that he was hung one night quite right and proper at “The Old Brick Tavern,” and they used the very tackle which hauled up the rum and other heavy commodities, for this purpose. And people, who in later days inhabited the house, said that upon certain moonless nights, when the wind was in a certain quarter in the East, one could hear the creaking of the old tackle as it was being drawn up, together with gasps and guttural groans, as if emitted by a strangling person; while occasionally, there would be bursts of demoniacal shouts and laughter, as from a rum-crazed crowd. And this part of the story I can vouch for, as I have heard it all myself many a time – with only the slight difference, however, that while I have never noted that it occurred upon nights when the wind was in any particular quarter, yet I had noticed that it was very apt to occur upon nights after the ladies of our community had served one of their famous suppers in these rooms below.

While having nothing to do with the history of the old house, there is an incident connected with it, which I am minded to give, as it was certainly a very odd coincidence. When I began my medical studies in New York, economy and companionship made it necessary for me to select a room-mate, and after a time I selected as such from among nearly 300 class-mates, a young Hobart graduate, whose home was upon the banks of Lake Ontario, and who had never been in this part of the country before (Photo at left of the NH Galusha paddle steamer taken by Harvey on a trip most likely to visit this classmate in Rochester c.1890). I had never heard his name before, nor had he ever heard mine. And yet, strange to relate, out in his own home he had a photograph of me. His sister had been the nurse in the last sickness of a distant relative; this relative (names, Harvey!) married a lady whose ancestors had lived in our old house, and one time upon a visit to this part of the country, they had come to see it, and my father had presented them with a photograph if it in which I, with other members of the family, figured. And upon the death of Mr. Rose, this photograph with other effects, came into the possession of my room-mates’s sister. The four walls of the old house to-day stand untouched by the hand of man or Time, but in the interior alterations have been of such a nature as to leave scarcely anything to suggest its venerable age.

Of the people who lived in it, in its earlier days, when it was maintained as s hostelry and high wassail was held in its ancient hall, we have but little record; but later is was the abode of the law, and next came a good Dutch domine, (dominie) who established his parsonage here (Dominie-“Reverand” Andrew N. Kittle 1785 – 1864 and wife Eliza Gosman, on the right). And now for nearly one hundred years Medicine has had here its home. And fie upon thee! Sir Pessimist, if thou canst not see in this steady evolution, that the world doth move apace towards better things, when we progress from the rum-seller to the lawyer, to the domine, (dominie) to the doctor!

May the four walls of the old house weather the blasts of another centuries storms, and long eye that very like, the zenith of progress will be attained by its being the abode of the lady mayor, or other high official of a thoroughly evolutionized village!

Losee/Thomas house from an unpaved Spring Lake Road c.1930

Magic Lantern Show

17 Thursday Nov 2011

Posted by SKH in 19th Century Photos, Genealogy

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19th Century, genealogy, Losee, magic lantern, photography, upper red hook, victoriana

“A SHOW WEEK AFTER NEXT MARCH 11TH 1876 IT WILL BE AT HARVEY LOSEES. IT WILL PERFORM WITH MAGIC LANTERN. IT WILL BE SEVEN OCLOCK AT NIGHT. IT WILL BE A GOOD SHOW. AD MISSION ONLY 2 CENTS. DO. NOT. FAIL TO ATTEND”

This invitation is from my mother’s collection of family items. Harvey Losee was my great-grandfather. He was John Losee’s father (the gentleman who took the Kodachrome images I post here, remember him?) Harvey’s house was and still is located in Upper Red Hook on Spring Lake Road, click here for google maps to see exactly where. The home was called the Thomas House and has a history of its own that will be featured in our next post.

Harvey (on the right c. 1876) was born 30 Mar 1867 in Upper Red Hook to Dr. John Eckart Losee and Mary Elizabeth Knickerbocker. He attended Rutgers (class of 1889) and like his father before him took on the profession of country doctor. Raised with a bit of country wealth, Harvey thought very highly of himself as the essay I’ll post tomorrow will probably affirm.

I don’t know if the Losees owned a magic lantern or if it was borrowed or rented for the amusement of their friends for an evening. I imagine the one used on this March evening in the countryside in Dutchess County was a small device powered by a candle rather than the larger, multiple-lensed varieties used to put on shows for large public crowds. On researching what exactly a magic lantern is I learned something new. The larger, more complex lanterns used limelight for the light source. On googling further, I learned that “before the advent of electric lighting, white stage lighting was produced by heating lime in the flame of a torch, and this light was called limelight” (source: Chemical of the Week click the link for more science). The term “in the limelight” comes from this compound being used in theaters before electric lighting. Neat! Dangerous, but neat!

The Randall-Slater Collection website has great examples of Victorian magic lantern show material featuring what you could call the forerunner of the animated .gif – multiple glass slides moved through the lantern to produce a effect of motion. Sadly, my family has neither the lantern Harvey used nor any of the slides to show you what he might have shown his friends in Upper Red Hook.

Fred

15 Tuesday Nov 2011

Posted by SKH in 20th Century

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20th Century, hunting, John Losee, photography

My grampa Losee was an avid hunter and caught deer, water fowl and various varmints around Red Hook and along the Hudson River. For many years he and his friends would go up to Maine and spend a week or so hunting in the woods, often having a meal of venison while they were there, having a good time in each other’s company. These men would even bring their wives along. This was before cable TV and the internet when people’s attention spans weren’t narrowed to 60 seconds or less and they could actually spend time in a cabin in the woods with their spouses and not lose their minds with perceived boredom!

Meet Fred.

John Losee and the deer that became Fred, 1936

Fred is a taxidermy deer that John Losee hunted in 1936 and has been passed down in the family. Of interest to those who mount their kills is the December 16th, 1936 receipt for the work, seen below. The cost was only $19.00. Most full heads like Fred start at about $300.00, an increase of 1,478% over 76 years!

Fred’s Taxidermy Receipt

On the left is Fred in the 1940’s in black and white with some friends and below he’s hanging in our office in Millerton in 2011. For Christmas we let him wear a santa hat. Many customers have wondered about him. Some who hunt marvel at the low price on the receipt framed next to him. Small children often point him out and some have made us all giggle by trying to look on the opposite wall for the rest of him!

Grampa Losee took his son hunting on a few occasions but I do not know if Johnny knew how to prepare the kill after he shot it. My own brother does not know how to hunt, as he does not need to supply venison to his family and does not live in our area anymore to enjoy the sport of it. This is also true for many other young Dutchess County residents. How many young men (Grampa Losee was 29 when he bagged Fred) still hunt on a regular basis, let alone serve what they hunted to their families? Not many.

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