Almond Historical Society

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STORIES INCLUDED IN FEBRUARY 2001 NEWSLETTER

IRA STILLMAN, INVENTOR

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.

 

COSTUME COLLECTION

HAS A NEW LOOK

 

The purchase of archival storage boxes, the construction of new shelving, followed by hours of sorting, washing, pressing, and packing has resulted in a new look for our textile and clothing collection.

What once was a large congested walk-in closet at the end of the second floor hall in Hagadorn House, is now a well organized depository for the wonderful collection of heirlooms, thanks to several dedicated members who have worked many hours on the venture. The project, on the minds of many women for some time, was prompted by a meeting last spring with Susan Greene, professional costume curator with American Costume Studies. At that time, Mrs. Greene was impressed with our collection, but urged the women to adopt proper storage techniques and containers in order to preserve the treasures.

The board of directors readily agreed to invest in the special boxes, and Wayne Kellogg custom built the shelving to fit the space available. Mary Ellen Westlake, costume curator, assisted by Kitty Baker and Hazel Bracken, sorted the items according to their origin and type, carefully labeling and packing them away for safekeeping. Presently there are boxes that contain Alice Simmons Hagadorn’s clothing, men’s clothing, baby things, night ware, wedding dresses, quilts, uniforms, old dresses, and so forth. Mary Ellen was especially pleased to note that a sizeable accumulation of linens, including dresser scarves, pillowcases, table cloths, needlework and handmade items has been sorted, washed, ironed and carefully placed in an upstairs dresser .

The Ira B. Stillman family’s antique clothing, recently given to Almond Historical Society, is a valuable addition to our collection, according to Mary Ellen. When Mrs. Greene consulted with our committee last year, she explained that an item’s worth is increased even more when its provenance is known and documented. “The wearer, the item’s history and the locale represented play an important role in determining the value of heirlooms,” she stated. Two of the outstanding pieces in the Stillman collection belonged to Ira’s daughters and date back to 1880. Elva Stillman Furman’s wedding dress is described as a white two-piece silk taffeta with maroon trim, featuring a jacket with metal stays and high stand-up collar and a skirt with train and ruffles, all trimmed with maroon bands and bows. Mary Jane (Jennie) Stillman Ross’ party dress is a two-piece ivory with brocade and satin jacket trimmed with decorative brocade epaulets and ruffles at neckline and waist, and a brocade skirt with train and ruffles of satin and lace. Also included is a black and white parasol and woman’s black walking stick, a man’s black wool tuxedo-type jacket with tails and straw hat with black band, as well as various other apparel. A woman’s khaki overcoat, commonly called a “merry Oldsmobile” coat, is currently dressing the mannequin at the top of the stairs.

Many thanks to Mrs. Emelyn Olsen and her mother, Mrs. Jeannette Drake, for this generous donation to the Almond Historical Society.

 

Comments On Our Homepage

 

Kelly Taft Krause, our webmaster, is doing a great job on this ever-changing site. There you’ll see the 1850 Almond census, an 1869 map of Almond, photos of the Christmas open house, AHS history, back issues of the newsletter, an article about John Reynolds, and other super information.

It is fun to go into the site and check out the guestbook.

Stephen Lorow, former resident and Kelly’s cousin, noted that “my family have been lifelong residents of Almond until the lure of Florida and the warm weather got to some of us. . .”

Richard Hanks, one of our members, signed in from California, and wrote that his great great grandfather, Allan Barber, came to Almond in 1812.

Gerald Woolever of Hornell, left this message: “Almond is special to me because I basically spent the first five years of my life in my grandparent’s home in Washburn Hollow.”

Andy Stevens, now living in Center, TX, said: “Perhaps you remember my grandmother who sold Avon for more years than I can count.” Andy also sent an e-mail with some interesting tidbits of McHenry Valley history. . .

Bob Walker of Wauconda, IL, stated his connection to the Vincent, Taylor, Stillman and Rose families, and gives this information: “In the 1850’s the David Vincent family was the largest family in Almond. I am also interested in information on David and Freegift Vincent and their sixteen children from Almond..”

Mary Monaghan Zimpfer of Bay Village, OH, comments: “Very nice website. I recognize many names that my grandmother, Myrtle Prior Monaghan talked about when she lived and worked there as a child/adult.”.

Valerie Vincent McKenzie of Arvada, CO, makes a connection with Moses VanCampen, a “5x great uncle. This is a great site. You have done a beautiful job. Thank you.”

Dorothy Honadel of Spearfish, SD, was happy to find the site in her genealogy work, as “the Stearns family has been my roadblock in NY” and she was able to glean information from the 1850 census.

Linda Davis Turri of Rochester, who lived at 46 Main St, the former telephone office, with her folks, Helen and Walt Davis, twin sister Pat and sister Joan, writes: “I grew up in a wonderful town. I consider myself to be a lucky person to have had that experience. I will treasure it always. The web site is just great. Keep up the good work.”

 

MRS BENSON

AN EXCERPT FROM BOB BROUGHTON’S BOOK

A chapter from Bob Broughton’s book, Dumbest Kid In Third Grade, reminds “long-timers” about a lady who lived on Main Street more than fifty years ago and gives us another look at life in this village in a quieter day:

“A little ways up from our house sat a large white house with a picket fence around it. A lady by the name of Mrs. Benson lived there. We kids figured Mrs. Benson had a lot of money, at least a zillion dollars, we speculated. Mrs. Benson hired kids to do chores for her and mow her large lawn. It took three of us to mow the lawn. Back then, no one owned a lawn mower with an engine on it. You did the job with a reel type push mower. It was hard work..

“Mrs. Benson had two large overly friendly St. Bernard dogs that mauled the h…. out of us while we tried to mow the grass. The big brown mounds in the yard were proof that the dogs were well fed. When we came upon the large mounds, we mowed around them coming as close as we could without hitting them. The smaller mounds, we got a running start, shut our eyes and plowed through. All things considered we did a good job except for the tall clumps of grass surrounding the big brown mounds.

“Sometimes on a Saturday afternoon after we finished mowing Mrs. Benson’s lawn, she got out her huge old touring car from the barn, took us kids to Hornell and dropped us off at the show. Mrs. Benson drove and had a lady friend of hers ride up front with her in the big old open car. Both ladies dressed fit to kill wearing large black hats with wide brims, long strings of beads and bracelets. I remember thinking they looked like two old gals out of Hollywood. The car’s interior was all rich brown leather. It had a spare tire mounted on each side. My friends and I sat in the back seat. The dogs sat on the floor. What a thrill it was riding in that big old open car, even if there were two big old St. Bernards drooling all over you.

“When we arrived at Hornell, we had a big decision to make as to which movie to see. Hornell had four movie theaters, the Strand, Majestic, Hornell and Steuben, all enticing the kids to spend their dime at their movie house. Most times the Majestic won out because we were hooked on the weekly serial shown there.

“With the twenty-five cents Mrs. Benson gave each of us, we were able to see a show, buy a nickel's worth of candy, and have a dime left over to buy a model airplane. We spent a long time selecting which model to buy. I bought a lot of model airplanes, most of which I never finished and the few I did finish didn’t fly too well. There was, however, one particular model that flew fairly well. It would climb quite high until the rubber band motor ran down, then go into a slow lazy spiral, and glide gracefully to the ground. I decided this model was worthy of a glorious ending. Scenes from the movie, ‘Wings’ and ‘Hell’s Angels’, showing World War One biplanes being shot down and falling from the sky in smoke and flames fascinated me. I had visions of my airplane ending in such a grand manner. I emptied the contents of an oil lamp over the model, wound up the rubber band motor, lit a match to the craft and, at the same time, launched the airplane. Whoomp! The airplane burst into a ball of flame and black smoke. The kerosene, balsa wood, paper and glue were totally consumed before the craft had flown much more than four or five feet. I was fortunate, I escaped with only singed hair. The flight didn’t pan out at all like I had envisioned.

“At Christmas time my friends and I used to scour the woods, anybody’s woods, for Christmas trees to sell. One Christmas Mrs. Benson asked us to get her a tree, so we did. It was a fine tree, shaped and filled out just right. Mrs. Benson was so pleased with the tree she gave us a dollar, instead of the fifty cents we asked for. There was one thing we neglected to tell her. We had cut the tree from a secluded place in the back of her large lot,” his story ends.

Mrs. Benson’s home was known to many as the “NanRod Nursing Home”, where she used her nursing skills to care for the elderly. Prior to her living there, it was the Roger Sisson home in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. A daughter, Nellie Haskell apparently owned it, as the house was a restaurant known as the Haskell House, a fact confirmed by an item found in the archives. A menu from 1926, given to the AHS by the family of Genevieve Lewis Wells who worked in the coffee house, reveals a standard of living definitely unknown to us today: Sandwiches ranged in price from fifteen to thirty-five cents, the most expensive being chicken mayonnaise. Chicken salad was the highest priced item at sixty-five cents, creamed chicken on toast was fifty cents, and eggs any style, twenty cents. Beverages, including tea, milk, hot chocolate, Clicquot club and Canada Dry ginger ale, and grape juice splits, cost between ten and twenty cents. Desserts included sundaes and ice cream with cake for twenty cents, and nut hermits for fifteen cents. Items that appear to be more expensive, in comparison to those mentioned, were pickles and olives for ten cents and marmalade at fifteen cents.

Mrs. Benson’s 1927 Hudson touring car, with a little over 100,000 miles, has been restored and “purrs like a kitten” when started up, Lee Ryan reported after returning from photographing the automobile. Believed to be only one of seventeen of that model manufactured, it remains an elegant reminder of the characters and scenes from another day in this quiet community of Almond.

Persons interested in the book may contact the author, Robert Broughton, 321 Farnum Street, Wellsville, New York 14895, telephone (716)593-1309)

 

WE SEND OUR CONDOLENCES TO THE FAMILIES OF:

 

Carol Eve Woughter, 60, director of Career Services at SUNY, Alfred, died November 19, 2000. A native of Philadelphia, PA., she and her husband, Jim, have lived on Park Street for several decades, where they brought up their boys. Carol was active in community and church organizations, as well as many professional groups.

Richard Call, 78, died Thursday, December 7, 2000. Active in the Hartsville and Almond Historical Societies, Richard founded and hosted the Hartsville Museum, an interesting and vast collection of Americana memorabilia and treasures. He was a life member of the Grange and the New York State Humane Society. He was born in Canandaigua and worked at the Bath and Canandaigua VA facilities.

Dorothy Clark Whitford, 91, died January 12, 2000, in Horseheads. She and her husband, Bob, lived next to the Library on Main Street, where Bob served as janitor for many years. Both were active at Almond Union Church and the Almond Historical Society, and she worked as a seamstress at Hickey Freeman and Marion Rohr in Hornell.

Lee R. Ryan, 80, died on Christmas Day, 2000, in Lakeland, FL, following bypass surgery. Lee was a charter member of the newly formed Allegany County Board of Legislators in 1970, representing Almond, West Almond, Amity, Burns, Alfred, Andover, and Ward for eight years. He had previously served the Town of Almond as assessor and justice of the peace, and was involved in Farm Bureau and its grassroots Kitchen Konference group while operating a dairy farm on Karr Valley in the 50’s and 60’s. He and his wife, Louise, were very active in the Almond Senior Citizens, serving as president, organizing fundraisers and bus trips, and bringing interesting speakers and topics to the group.

Ruth Kellogg, died on January 5, 2001, less than a month after reaching her 98th birthday. She and her husband, Clair, together with their son, Wayne, and later his son, Les, owned and operated Kellogg’s Country Store on Main Street from 1938 to 1987. An avid collector of antiques and treasures, she established a replica of an old country home upstairs over the store in the 60’s, which she opened to the public for tours. Active in the Twentieth Century Club, Historical Society, Almond Union of Churches, and Senior Citizens, she was able to live alone in her home until her death.