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ALMOND HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER, FEBRUARY
2001
IRA STILLMAN, INVENTOR
WRITTEN BY DONNA B. RYAN
An antique roller washing machine,
several items of vintage clothing, and old newspaper clippings and
family writings, recently donated to the Almond Historical Society
by the family of the late Ira B. Stillman, have given us a glimpse
into life in Almond in the l800’s.
Ira’s
great-granddaughter, Jeannette Drake, who has moved from Wellsville
to make her home near her daughter, Emelyn Olson, in Erie, PA,
presented the items for preservation at the Hagadorn House this
summer. The Defiance washer, ca. 1870, was invented and
manufactured by Mr. Stillman, who spent years as a traveling
salesman going by horse and buggy as far away as Rhode Island and
Illinois, selling his wares. The heading from a page of his
account book reads thus: “Hornellsville, New York June 20, 1874:
Bought from Ira B. Stillman, Patentee and Manufacturer of Stillman’s
Defiance Washer, Office and Factory, West Genesee Street.” Sales
entered from March to June that year totaled more than 130 washers,
indicating that this new appliance was probably very much welcomed
by housewives of the day at an average cost of around $2.50 apiece.
Stillman’s unique
business card is illustrated with a black and white drawing of the
machine on the front, and lists these “Points of Superiority” on the
back:
1st. It saves one-half the Labor and Time, several
garments can be Washed at once.
2d. It will wash
anything, from a Lace Curtain to a Carpet.
3d. Does not wear
the clothes, thereby saving the price of the machine every year.
AGENTS WANTED in all
parts of the United States, Ira B Stillman, Hornellsville,NY.
Family information,
together with historical information gathered from the AHS website,
indicates that Mr. Stillman was born in Homer, NY, in 1825. What
brought him to this area is not clear, but the 1850 Almond census
information shows his occupation, at age 25, as a pumpmaker. Again,
from the 1869 Village of Almond map on the AHS website, his
residence is shown on Angelica Street, across the street from the
Baptist Church which once stood on Chapel Street directly at the end
of the park (former DeLavergne home). His first wife, Jane Bush of
Cohocton, died in 1849, little more than three years after they were
married. Later he married Matilda Ostrander of Almond, and they had
four children: Frank, a Class of 1894 graduate of Alfred
University; Susie, who died at fourteen months of age; Mary Jane
(Jennie) who with her mining engineer husband, Will Ross, went to
Brazil to live in 1906, where she died in 1933; and Elva, from whom
Mrs. Drake is descended.
Elva, born in Almond
November 20, 1855, attended the old Riverside Collegiate-Institute
in Wellsville from 1872-1874 and then taught school in Hornell where
she met and married Frank Furman, a cashier at the Bank of
Hornellsville (later Steuben Trust). To them was born a daughter,
Bernice, who later became Mrs. Carroll Sturtevant of Wellsville,
mother of Mrs. Drake and grandmother of Emelyn. Among the papers
they have donated to AHS include Bernice’s written memories of
Almond in the late 1800’s, excerpts of which follow:
“My first recollection
of Almond, New York, was a very long Main Street, a back street, and
several cross streets. One end of Main Street towards Hornell was
called Lower Battery and the other end was called the Upper Battery.
On the farthest end of the Lower Battery was the DeBow Blacksmith
Shop where oxen were shod as well as horses. There was Ostrander’s
Wagon Shop (horse power), Angel’s General Store, where potash was
made in the rear of the store. There was Curtiss Harness Shop, John
Riley Tavern, the Arcade Building (former hardware store at the
corner of Karrdale and Main across from Hagadorn House). There was
the Henry Crandall Dry Goods Store, and the Presbyterian Church.
The Methodist Church was on a side street. About the middle of town
was the saloon, meat market, Dixon Drug Store, and Dart’s Dry
Goods. Then Corey Handmade Shoe Store, DeBow Dry Goods, and the
Baptist Church were in the back of the park. Three gristmills were
Halsey, Hallock, and Rawson. The four blacksmith shops were DeBone,
Ball, Freeman, and Busby. The Richardson Shoe Factory had 20 men
employed (Fenner/Baker store and now Coslo’s) and Isaac Rawson had
the mowing machine factory and the George Howell Hotel.
“A select school was
started in Almond with Miss Wright (later Mr. L. S. Anderson) as the
first teacher. Later money was raised for a school and Mrs. B. C.
Rudd and Ira B. Stillman (her grandfather) solicited funds all over
the area and a building was bought and called the ‘Bee Hive.’ B. C.
Rudde was the first professor, and the school was quite a success.
Professor Gilson was another professor. Music and gym were started
in an empty store. Later Rev. Llewellen Davies taught in Almond.
He was a great student of the Bible. He taught at Lima Seminary and
died in Hallsport, New York.”
Bernice further recalls
this story: “The following is a description of a minister that
started a church quarrel. It soon became a village affair and all
took sides. So many became disgusted that they moved to
Hornellsville, taking the principal industries with them such as the
Richardson Shoe Factory, and the Rawson Mowing Machine Shops. Famed
Tenny’s Band also moved to Hornellsville.”
Whether for the same
reason or not, Ira also moved to Hornell, where he apparently set up
his manufacturing business on West Genesee Street and lived on Maple
Street. Promoting and marketing his invention took him considerable
distances, according to two letters furnished by family members.
One, written September 13, 1878 to his wife and family from
Westerly, RI, invites Matilda to join him as soon as he could
collect one hundred dollars for machines. “You better look out the
cloth for Frank’s clothes (their 11-year old son) so Elva can get it
and have them made after you leave, as I want you to be ready for a
start on short notice if I can get the money there in time to come
this week. ..”, he writes, promising to meet her in New York at the
Cosmopolitan Hotel near the landing of the ferry boat. “When you
get this let me know if you can leave on one day’s notice,”
indicating his strong desire to be reunited with his family while on
the road. He went on to tell about visiting several cousins, old
acquaintances and schoolmates in the Westerly area, and promised to
“hold in store a good time for you which I hope you will enjoy, and
I don’t think you can help it.”
The other letter,
written to Elva on June 14, 1882 by her 57-year old father from
Sterling, Illinois, is in response to her letter of thanks for the
gift of furniture given to her by her dad. Ira writes back to her:
“Nothing does me more good or gives me more pleasure of my very much
loved wife and children, and I would like to be prospered so I could
gratify their every wish. I believe it would give me more pleasure
than it would them, my heart is bound up in my family and nothing
but necessity to further the interests of my business would induce
me to travel another year hoping by so doing to increase the
happiness of my loved ones at home. It is very lonely for me and
much more so when I think of your mother in her feeble health and
the lonely house she has to spend,” he laments. “Then to think of
Jennie so soon to take her departure to a distant land it seems as
though I could never endure it, but the strongest ties must be
severed by distance or otherwise, such is life, mine has been filled
with joy and happiness in the bosom of my family, with toil and
anxiety when away, a heart filled to overflowing with hope for
better things in the future, never looking upon the dark side (if I
did no one knew it) of anything an indomitable will power that will
not allow me to give up until I can see to a certainty an
opportunity of bettering my condition and that of my family. But I
do so hope the time may speedily come that I can settle down in a
home business and take life more to my liking with those that are
near and dear to me. . .” he reflects.
That desire must have been
fulfilled, because in 1886, the Stillmans moved to Wellsville where
their daughter, Elva, and family lived, and built a home at 115
Maple Avenue, also later living 22 S. Highland Street. “He always
kept a nice team of horses and loved to drive around and call on
relatives,” Mrs. Drake writes in her description of her
great-grandfather. After living in Wellsville for many years and
celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in 1902, the
couple moved to Springville the next year to make their home with
Elva and Frank.
Ira, inventor,
manufacturer, and traveling salesman, and his wife, Matilda, lived
with them until their early 80’s and are buried in the family plot
in Woodlawn cemetery, Wellsville. Their connection with Almond
apparently remained strong, inspiring their descendants to bequeath
irreplaceable family memorabilia to us for safekeeping.
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