Olney Place!

 The Olney Place

 A couple of years ago, a good friend told me about The Olney Place, and told me he was friends with Nate Olney.  I did some research - mostly asking my dad - and discovered the exact relationship between Nate Olney and Dad and I.  We are cousins - second cousins once removed, and all that genealogical terminology stuff.  This past Sunday, Dad and I decided to go find Nate, and The Olney Place.  Nate wasn't around, but his son Seth Olney was, and it turns out an all around great guy and the owner of The Olney Place!  Seth and I are third cousins once removed.  The third cousin  thing is because Henry Cadmus Olney is his great great great grandfather, and my great great grandfather.  The once removed thing is because Seth and I are not the same generation - at least I think that is the correct explanation... anyway, we are related, and I'm very pleased to know Seth!

 That's Mel Olney, Seth Olney, and Don Olney above! Click on the picture for a bigger view.

 At age 32, Seth seems to be a very dedicated and successful entrepreneur - even sells his own private label dressings, spices, honey, etc. in his market and deli!  Seth and I even discussed my designing and making some additional products for his store - definitely some tops, and I'm thinking about some other ideas!

 

While he says he is not yet running for Congress, he already has a sign in the window to help spread the word that he is available!

I highly recommend stopping by The Olney Place for some ice cream, a great sandwich, a couple of t-shirts, and a fishing pole?  He is well stocked on beer, soda, chips, and whatever else you might want for a summer picnic!  Tell him Don and Mel Olney sent you!  And maybe he'll have some Olney Place spinning tops by then - handcrafted by his cousin! If you'd like to know a lot more about Seth's great great great grandfather - Henry Cadmus Olney -

 Click here

A day at Genesee Country Village and Museum

A step back in time! Come join us for some battery free games in the Thompson Barn. Meet Topman Don Olney, and learn to spin a top. Also lots of other games with Beth, Kevin, and Judy and some maple syrupy goodness across town!To be truthful, I had to crop out a speed limit sign on the one above because I didn't get my camera out of the holster fast enough!

Above - Don spins a big Watt's Top to show off. But lots of folks young and old have learned to spin tops over these two weekends. Since I'm posting this Sunday morning, you may still have time to join us at Genesee Country Village and Museum

1911 postcard from Prattsburgh, NY

Found on E-bay.

Prattsburgh is near Naples, NY - my ancestral home. Parents, grandparents, etc all lived around this area.

Prattsburgh, NY is about 300 miles from the nearest beach - with sea shells and a boardwalk - today, and was probably a similar distance from the beach in 1911!

The Finger Lakes are near-by, but while the water and shore are great, very little sandy beach area, definitely no sea shells, and outside of a long dock, no boardwalk!

Vale of Rest

Cemetery located just down the road from my great great great great grandfather and grandmother's house and mill in Avoca, NY. ! No stones seem to be related to my family, but the one below, located almost in the exact center of the little cemetery, tells a very interesting story.

Rosa O. Tucker, wife of A. O. Tucker, died 18 days after the birth of her daughter R. (Rosa?) Lillian Tucker. Rosa was only 17 years, 1 month, and 11 days old. Lillian passed away less than 2 years later at age 1 year, 9 months and 12 days! Two way to short lives!

Note: Marrying at age 16 was not that unusual in the 1870's

Visit to site of Nathaniel Olney's grist mill!

On Sunday, Wyatt and I visited the site of my great great great grandfather's grist mill! (Wyatt's 4th great grandfather!) Wyatt was not as impressed as I was, but I thought it was very cool to be right there where Nathaniel and Mary lived. I don't know the whole history of their lives. I do know Nathaniel and Mary owned this site between 1871 and 1883. I know Henry was born in Avoca, NY, - I think in 1838. Nathaniel died in 1883, or at least his estate is listed as owing the taxes in 1883.

Side note to those who care - Nathaniel Olney (possibly this is Nathaniel Olney's father?) lived in Nunda, NY in 1870. The 1870 census lists him as living with Recinson (sp?) Olney (age 39), his wife Launes (sp?) (age 26), daughter May (age 4) , a domestic servant - Kate Holeran (age 45), and L.L. Bogart (age 60)

Above - top - picture of the site of the mill, and current structures there. Above - middle - a view of the Cohocton River at the site. Below - an ariel view of the area - black arrow points to the site at the end of Cross Road, Avoca, NY

Latitude and Longitude reading from my GPS below - they differ from the latitude and longitude readings listed by Google maps for this location???? Modern day address is 4815 Cross Road, Avoca, NY 14809
+42.25540
-77.26214

Great Great Great Grandfather Nathaniel Olney

Some time spent in Avoca, NY, home of my great great great grandfather Nathaniel Olney - birthplace of Henry Cadmus Olney - see link to his 1886 Diary blog to the right. The Historical Society had the old tax record books - see above. They also had an old business directory map of Avoca, NY in the late 1870's, with N. Olney listed as a "custom and merchant miller" and grist mills noted at the end of Mill St. - see below. "Custom and merchant miller" would mean that he bought grain and ground it into flour or animal feed to sell to the locals, and you could bring in your own grain for milling for your own use.
I knew Nathaniel lived in Avoca, but it was really cool to see actual records of his presence in the town, and to wander around the area where his mill and home was located. You can see the location of the town mills along the Cohocton River to the west side of town. The smaller stream to the east of the river was probably the mill race constructed to provide faster moving water to power the mills. The Cohocton is a fairly slow running river along this wide valley, so a mill race would take off water quite a ways up stream, and be constructed with a quicker drop off to provide the power necessary to turn the mill stones. From the map you can see that all the mills are located near the lower end of the mill race. The mills are long gone, and there is a double wide trailer located approximately where Nathaniel Olney's mill probably was. The mill race is gone - taken out when the broom factory was built? The Cohocton River is currently located about 200 yards (?) to the west of the location shown on this map. I have no idea if this is from natural meandering of the river through this wide valley over the years, or it it was relocated in an engineering project of some sort? I find it interesting that the tannery, and the cider mill are located along the Cohocton River (not on the mill race). This was probably for easy disposal of the waste products of these operations?

Adelbert "Bert" Babcock - 1894 diary

In 1894 at age 27, my maternal great uncle Bert wrote a diary while working on a farm owned by my paternal great grandmother's brother - Russell Dye.  I'll just let you click on the link to go view my opening description of this new diary blogging project.


I'm going to sorely miss Henry C. Olney and his family, but I'm already excited about Bert with his wry sense of humor, and another take on farm life in the Naples, NY area in the late 1800's!

http://bertbabcock1894.blogspot.com/  

click above for the Diary blog, and click below for some of Bert's gems in Twitter format.

http://twitter.com/BertBabcock

Olney Road

Yes. This road is named after my family!

This sign is at the corner of Italy Valley Road and Olney Road, in the town of Italy, NY. (Dad has corrected me that this is not in Naples, NY - but is served by the Naples post office - thus the erroneous listing in Google)

Both sets of my grandparents (Florence and Earle Drake, and Pearl and William Olney) are buried just about exactly a mile from here! Most of my ancestors back about 4 generations lived pretty much their whole lives within 6 miles of this sign!

Genealogy trip to Naples, NY 6_11_09

On Thursday, I went to Naples, NY to meet a couple of my cousins. Dave Olney, and his father Lou Olney. They were interested in seeing all the places in Henry C. Olney's 1886 diary. Dave recorded the GPS coordinates of everything from the location of their farm, to the location of their grave! We went to Evergreen Farm, checked out the pond where they harvested ice, and visited the locations of various relatives farms. The picture above was taken approximately where the house was.

Dave and I are both great great grandsons of Henry and Sarah. Lou is of course a great grandson. I'm descended from their son Bart. Dave and Lou are descendants of oldest son Omar. I was very pleased to add information about Omar to my brain! I got to see his farm .... he married Hattie Warren not long after the diary entries! We also visited Omar and Hattie's graves!

More pictures from the trip can be seen here.From left to right - Dave, Lou, and Don Olney.

History

Another picture from last weeks "search for old stuff" trip to Naples, NY. Here lies Bart and wife Kittie. In the diary (1886), Bart is 17 years old, and is off working at Leicester Fox's farm for $15 per month, plus food, laundry, and mending. His dad gets the $15. Bart and Kittie are my great grandparents. I have vague memories of Kittie, but Bart died before I was born.

I didn't find Henry and Sarah's stone. Turned out I was in the wrong cemetery. They are buried in Old Ingleside Cemetery - right across the street from the church. I was searching around the New Ingleside Cemetery - just a quarter mile down the road. I'm sort of glad I was in the wrong place because I found this stone, and the stone of my great grandfather and grandmother on my Mom's side too.... below.
I'm fascinated that while I don't remember them, Clarke and Jennie Drake certainly knew me because I was two/three when they died. Clarke appears in Henry's diary a bit later in the year, and thus I think, is the only character in that 1886 diary that I knew, smiled at, threw up on, sat in his lap, ???? I was about the age of my granddaughter Maya when I knew Clarke and Jennie Drake! As you will see later in the year, my great grandfather Clarke- age 22 at the time, bought raspberries from my great great grandfather Henry, years before their grandchild and great grandchild would marry and create me! Here in New Ingleside Cemetery my two sets of great grandparents lie just a few yards apart, with Bart never knowing that they were more than just neighbors!

Evergreen Farm - Ice Pond

In late February/early March, 1886, my ancestors - Henry, Omar, Bart, and Mills Olney, cut ice on this pond. Solid blocks of ice, cut with special hand saws, hauled 4 miles by horse and wagon, and stored in an "ice house", insulated with sawdust from their own wood cutting, and from a local sawmill. Even city folk didn't have refrigeration in those days, but the stored ice would last all through the coming summer and fall. General day to day use of refrigeration was not a common practice. Milk, eggs, fruit, etc. was grown on the farm, and used on a daily basis. The ice was probably used for special cool drinks, and maybe ice cream making when they had company? Click here for more details. I was sort of disappointed with how small the pond was, but even a small pond - frozen solid - is quite a bit of ice!

I spent last Tuesday in Naples, NY area where they lived. Got some great pictures. ( although I had my camera set for smaller images all day - much to my chagrin!) Also spent time at the Naples Library, and the Atlanta Library, looking up stuff to round out my knowledge of 1886. Got lots of info, including some additional information about the businesses they traded with, and general details of life in 1886. I'll probably write more later, but was interested in one article in the local newspaper detailing efforts on the west coast in the territories of Washington, and Oregon, to get rid of the Chinese. Bands of folks evidently rounded up local farm workers of Chinese descent, and drove them out of town! Some attitudes don't change? We just switched to Mexicans - and some other groups in between.

Other things do change.... there were evidently 2 local area cigar factories - definitely 1. That means tobacco was probably a local crop in upstate NY in those days. I'll need to do some more research on that! In those horse and buggy days, it is highly unlikely that they were importing tobacco from the southern states to roll cigars in Naples and Cohocton.