Since my last report of 10/22/05: When I was in New York last month I had intended on visiting family and paying a courtesy call or two. Mother Nature had other plans. We awoke on Tuesday morning in Hazelton, Pa., after an all night rain to sleet mixed with rain. As we drove north to Scranton it turned completely to snow just north of there. Coming down from the mountains of Pa., to Binghamton back to rain / snow mix. We stopped for lunch just off I-81 on Route 12 in Binghamton and watched giant snowflakes fall. Back on the road as the road became covered as we moved north on N. Y. 12. Just north of Chenango Forks the road had only one track each way visible and it was snowing hard. The journey from Oxford to Norwich seemed to take a long time as we trudged along. It was snowing so heavy I never saw the commercial district south of town, only the McDonald's across the street from Mt. Hope cemetery came into view. Our turn was the first light past McDonald's which took us out to the east perimeter road of Norwich, past a car dealership on the right, which only had white cars for sale! Memories came to me of visiting an old Burlingame cemetery behind the dealership 4 years ago in March, 2001, in the snow, but in what was then deep snow, but not falling snow. At the corner we turned south, with 5-6 inches of snow on the ground, paused on the side while a fire truck came grinding by and then back east on some road, with a store on the corner. This road continued at a fairly steep climb, but we turned left at the next road just past the allegedly haunted house of the area. The story goes that from time to time one may see a person who looks like an old sea captain walking beside the road. Allegedly no picture on the walls of the house will hang straight. Anyway, after making the turn, I'm surprised to see folks following me, for I thought, don't follow me, I hardly know where I'm going! Around the curve into this little hollow we go, followed by a climb up a hill where I just take the middle of the road and keep slowly trudging upward. Top the hill, come down, pass a rather large lake on the left (White's pond?), then take a left at a farm - after which all landmarks disappear. I was to take the 2nd right after this turn to reach my cousin's house but shortly after turning, I had no idea where I was in relationship to anything else. Onward we go and I finally see a house and think of stopping. Thinking of stopping and actually stopping in such are two vastly different things, especially from one who rarely sees snow and even more rarely drives on such. Slide, slide we go. Heart in throat, but it only takes a little slide to do that. Gingerly we back out of stuck position and continue creeping what is now down hill until we come to a road that dead ins into ours from the right. I ask my wife which road that was, 1st or 2nd and neither of us can say. Still snowing quite hard, I stop to see if I can call my cousin. Alas no signal. Back in the car downhill we go again, but the twist this time is a down hill left curve, in which we slide again, same scenario. Out again we go down a couple hundred yards to see what I really didn't want to see - a down hill u-turn in the road, but creeping slowly we slide and make it through the turn. Down, down, down we go and then, oops, I know we've gone too far when I see the blacktop of Route 8. Looking to the left I see Holmesville and a lighted sign. I tell my wife, that I see a business ahead, that we'll just pull in there to find out where we are in relationship to my cousin's place and/or call him. Coming abreast the sign, it is not a business but a church sign. However, just a bit further on a lady is standing on her doorstep talking with a heating man in her yard. I stop dead in the road and state that I'm lost. Turned out she knows my cousin's wife and called her up. My cousin arrives shortly and we take another route to his house, not nearly as steep although he himself gets stuck at one point on the journey to their log house. We get there finally and are informed that they lost power about an hour before. The news from the power company is that most of the county is without power, for with most of the leaves still on the trees, many branches are breaking, trees uprooting onto power lines and that power won't be restored until 8 AM next day. Thankfully my cousin's home has a wood stove and sleeping in the loft of the house we are cozy until about 4 AM when it was time to stoke the fire once more. The previous evening was spent talking of family and friends, of times past, all to candle and lamp light. By morning most of the snow had stopped and we have about 7 inches to greet us. We got power back a little after 7 AM, arose, showered and got breakfast and were deciding what to do when the power went again. We were to stay another day but since my wife had to be in Toronto on Thursday, we didn't want to take a chance on getting stuck. Another cousin's husband had planned to see us Tuesday evening for supper but when the weather went bad on us we decided to have lunch on Wednesday together. My cousin had wanted to go to Fred's (a rather well known place south of Norwich) but upon calling them, found out they had no power. Since my cousin's daughter worked at a place in Sherburne, we decided to go there for lunch. We took the east bypass of Norwich until that came out on Route 12, above the pharmacy. Traveling as we did north on 12, brought back many memories. Memories of actual events I'd experienced, places and times my father or grandfather had spoken of and of such I'd read, compiled and placed on line these past 9 years. After lunch we went our separate ways, my cousin and his wife and the other cousin's husband to Norwich and my wife and I to the Cat's Meow in Sherburne. Four years ago on my visit to the area, I'd taken her a gift from there and knew it was a place she'd like to shop. For me, the fun thing was to run into a gentleman that actually knew some of my family and some of my family long departed. It turned out this gentleman's family had the farm in Upperville between Smyrna and Otselic just past Mr. Twist's store and a neighbor to my Dad's sister and her husband. He also knew my grandfather's brother who lived between Upperville and Otselic - so that too was a neat connection to find out about and speak of. While my visit there was short, much shorter than I wished it could be, I was still contented to be able to do so and started thinking about when I can visit again. I guess next time I'll shoot for warmer weather, when the chance of bad weather should be greatly diminished. Lastly, my wish to each of you is that you have a great Thanksgiving holiday, shared with friends and family, a day of remembering good times, looking also toward the future and what wonders it may hold. Tim Stowell

Since my last report of 10/22/05: Chenango County: A few more bios from the 1898 biography book - http://www.rootsweb.com/~nychenan/1898bios.htm 1880 History of Chenango and Madison counties: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nychenan/1880hist.htm Town of Preston Town of New Berlin Another section of the 1850 history of Chenango: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nychenan/1850hist.htm 3 wills donated a good while ago: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nychenan/wills.htm ============================================================================ Cortland County: A few more pages of Grip's Historical View of Cortland: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nycortla/crtdvlle.htm OR http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/cortland/crtdvlle.htm The beginnings of a new project for Cortland - a book of biographies written in 1898 - preface and index at the moment. Please send requests for bios with a subject line - 1898 Cortland Bios: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nycortla/bklist1.htm OR http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/cortland/books/1898bios.htm I found the preface highly interesting and good advice even today, a portion quoted below: "...With each succeeding year the haze of Obscurity removes more and more from our view the fast disappearing landmarks of the past, Oblivion sprinkles her dust of forgetfulness on men and their deeds, effectually concealing them from the public eye, and because of the many living objects which claim our attention, few of those who have been removed from the busy world linger long in our memory. Even the glorious achievements of the present age may not insure it from being lost in the glare of greater things to come, and so it is manifestly a duty to posterity for the men of the present time to preserve a record of their lives and a story of their progress from low and humble beginnings to great and noble deeds, in order that future generations may read the account of their successful struggles, and profit by their example. A local history affords the best means of preserving ancestral history, and it also becomes, immediately upon its publication, a ready book of reference for those who have occasion to seek biographical data of the leading and early settled families. Names, dates and events are not easily remembered by the average man, so it behooves the generations now living, who wish to live in the memory of their descendants, to write their own records, making them full and broad in scope, and minute in detail, and insure their preservation by having them put in printed form. We firmly believe that in these collated personal memoirs will be found as true and as faithful a record of Cortland County as may be obtained anywhere, for the very sufficient reason that its growth and development are identified with that of the men who have made her what she is to-day---the representative, leading men, whose personal sketches it has been a pleasure to us to write and give a place in this volume. From the time when the hand of civilized man had not yet violated the virgin soil with desecrating plough, nor with the ever-ready frontiersman's ax felled the noble, almost limitless, forests, to the present period of activity in all branches of industry, we may read in the histories of the county's leading men, and of their ancestors, the steady growth and development which has been going on here for a century and a half, and bids fair to continue for centuries to come. A hundred years from now, whatever records of the present time are then extant, having withstood the ravages of time and the ceaseless war of the elements, will be viewed with an absorbing interest, equalling, if not surpassing, that which is taken to-day in the history of the early settlements of America...." ============================================================================ Madison County: Nothing to report. ----------------------- Tim

I just posted a BLOG that will help people looking for old books, either to purchase or read on-line. http://ny-genes.blogspot.com/ While you are at it check out my website for Upstate New York Genealogy. www.ny-genes.com Dick Hillenbrand

Sorry for the late notice, but I just received an email notice that Jean Nudd will not be able to come to Syracuse. She will be out of work for a few days. Please pass this message onto any of your friends who may have been going. I don't want people to go out to the Library and be disappointed. I will reschedule her talk in the future, but it looks like it may not be until the Spring when the weather is good. She had prior commitments on Wednesday evenings in December. Let's all hope for a mild Winter so I can have her talk rescheduled as soon as possible!!!! Thanks everyone! Anne Ruggeri IACI Genealogy Class Coordinator

Just a quick reminder. Jean Nudd, the Archivist form the National Archives in Pittsfield, MA comes to Syracuse to speak on "Archival Research Strategies" tomorrow night. When: Wednesday November 9th Time: 6 - 8 pm Where: at the Curtin Auditorium at the Central Branch of the OCPL in the Galleries Cost: Free for members of the Irish American Cultural Institute of Central NY & AOH; $5.00 for non-members or guests. Hope to see you there!

Here is an exciting announcement that I recently put on my BLOG. Check out my website and BLOG site for current happenings in UpstateNew York Genealogy.Dick Hillenbrand website: www.ny-genes.comblog: http://ny-genes.blogspot.com/ LDS Digitizing Books, on-line NOW at BYU !!! Oh BOY, here we go! A dream coming true. The Family History Library is starting todigitize their book holdings, mostly family histories to date, andthey are putting them on-line, fully search able by any word oradvanced search combinations. Five thousand plus of these books are on the Brigham Young UniversityLibrary servers and readily accessible, NOW! Here is a partial clip of an announcement I just received and I haveonly made a quick check of how to find them and how to search, but itis very exciting "…the LDS Family History Library has announced that it has begun theprocess of digitizing and making available on the Internet all of theFamily History books in their collection. These are primarily books inthe "929.273Series" that are currently housed on the first floor ofthe Family History Library (previously housed on the fourth floor ofthe Joseph Smith Memorial Building). At the present time (September2005), about 5000 books have been digitized and are available, andthey have announced that they are adding about 100 titles a week tothe on-line collection. Copyright issues are playing a role indetermining the order in which they progress through this task; booksout of copyright are being done first." Go to the web site of the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU athttp://www.lib.byu.edu/ , then on the home page, follow the links:Find Other Materials; Electronic; On Line Collections at BYU; TextCollections tab; Family History Archive from the list of collectionsthat are displayed. The search box on the left seems to be he one tofind your books at and the search box on the right is for searchingwithin the pages on screen. I have not used it enough yet to be proficient, but you bet I'll bechecking this little treasure out, a lot!--Dick Hillenbrand website: www.ny-genes.comblog: http://ny-genes.blogspot.com/

Rescheduled date... Jean Nudd, Archivist from the National Archives in Pittsfield, MA will return to Syracuse at the Onondaga County Public Library, Curtin Auditorium on Wednesday November 9th from 6 - 8 pm. Jean will speak about "Archival Research Strategies" which will focus on using the online databases for the National Archives website as well as some things to do before traveling to the Archives. This is the final class meeting of the Irish American Cultural institute of Central NY's Genealogy classes this Fall. The talk is free for members of the IACI and AOH, but non-members or guests only need to pay a $5 class fee. Please contact Anne Ruggeri ([email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) ) if you plan to attend. (I'd like to be able to contact you ASAP if we need to cancel due to the weather. This is rescheduled from Oct. 26th due to the predicted first snowfall of over 7 inches in Western Massachusetts & Vermont, as well as the amount of snow predicted for our area... but as per usual, Dopler was wrong!)

I have updated my website with a section on doing Civil War research in NYS. Check it out. www.ny-genes.com Dick Hillenbrand

Hi, Is there anyone on the list that is working on Augustus L. SCOFIELD whose wife was Mary PARKER? She is supposed to have been born in Chenango Co., NY in 1815 (He was born in CT). From before 1850 until she died in 1896 she lived in Cortland Co. I believe her mother was Polly _______ who was married to two different PARKER men - one of them being my 5th grt grandfather Solomon PARKER. I do not know her maiden name or who her first husband was or if these two men were related, although they were both PARKERs from Rhode Island. Will be glad to share:) Charmaine Charmaine Riley Holley [email protected]

Hi everyone, I am sorry to inform you that due to the WEATHER... Jean Nudd's talk has been CANCELED. It was previously scheduled on Wednesday, October 26, 2005, at the Curtin Auditorium at the Central Branch of the OCPL. Jean Nudd is the Archivist from the National Archives in Pittsfield, MA. Please pass this message onto all of your friends that had planned to attend. I do not want anyone traveling in bad weather. It will be rescheduled, but the date is unknown right now. Stay tuned, stay warm & dry & stay safe!!!!

I am looking for information on a Harvey Sheerar born in Virgil about 1827. His father is John and his mother is Anna. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Melba in Arizona

Since my last report of 10/3/05: Chenango County: A few more bios from the 1898 biography book - http://www.rootsweb.com/~nychenan/1898bios.htm 12 more pages of the 1860 Bainbridge census which finishes this project!: (which is what I've spent most of my time doing) http://www.rootsweb.com/~nychenan/census/1860/bainbridge/1860bnbr.htm ============================================================================ Cortland County: A few more pages of Grip's Historical View of Cortland: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nycortla/crtdvlle.htm OR http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/cortland/crtdvlle.htm ============================================================================ Madison County: Nothing to report. ----------------------- However....I'm leaving in the AM for my old home place in Virginia to be followed Monday or Tuesday by a two day visit to Chenango / Madison counties before heading to Toronto for several days. Hoping to pay a couple of courtesy calls while there. It sounds as if the weather is turning wet and cold to greet me, but we had a bit of that here today with low in the 40s highs in the low 60s today, cloudy and high humidity, breezy which made it feel colder than it really was. Plan to be back home in early November. Tim

The Irish American Cultural Institute of Central NY (IACI), Genealogy Class, announces that Jean Nudd, Archivist at the National Archives in Pittsfield, MA, will return to Syracuse on Wednesday, October 26, 2005 from 6 - 8 pm at the Curtin Auditorium of the Central Branch of the Onondaga County Public Library in the Galleries. Admission is free for IACI members and $5 for non-members. Jean Nudd will talk on "Archival Research Strategies" The presentation will focus mostly on NARA's on-line resources but also will discuss some basics on things to do before you go to an Archives and the differences between a Library and Archives.

Can anyone identify the Winie Hyatt named in this history. thank you Marilyn Bess Chapter XXVI HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF PREBLE Harry Hill and Elijah Mason came in during the year 1798. The former was from Montgomery county, N.Y., and located on lot 87, which he drew for military services in the Revolutionary War. Elijah Mason settled on lot 78. Seth Trowbridge, from Montgomery county, located in the early part of 1779 on lot 59, and during the next year Samuel Trowbridge, Winnie Hyatt and Samuel Orvis settled on the same lot. Trowbridge served in the War of the Revolution and drew the lot. The Widow Trowbridge, of Homer, mother of Mrs. Oliver Glover, of Homer, was a daughter of Mr. Hyatt. Mr. Orvis was from Norfolk, Conn. He subsequently removed to Prattsburg, Steuben county, where he died in 1851 at the advanced age of ninety-eight years. Samuel Trowbridge was the first inn-keeper in the town of Preble.

I am seeking any information regarding Anna M. Bishop, born in Dryden, Tompkins Co., NY in 1836 - died in Harford, Cortland Co., NY in 1871. She was the first wife of Uriah H Clark (1829 - 1889). Anna was the daughter of Joel Bishop and Maria Head. Anna and Uriah had three children; Andrew Bishop Clark, Georgianna Clark, and Mary Jane Clark. I am seeking the parents of Joel Bishop and Maria Head, but would be most appreciative of anything that someone can give me about this family. Anna Bishop and Uriah Clark are my 2nd great grandparents. Thank you, Patty

seeking any and all information for Asahel Clark and his wife Joanna Clark who lived in Harford, Cortland Co., NY in 1860 and 1870.

The Guilford Historical Society in Chenango County has received through an antique store owner geneological items from the LEONE family of Madison,NY, including scrapbooks, photo albums, cards, funeral book of Frank LEONE, address book, etc. Is anyone, preferably family, interested in these items? Tina Pabst [email protected] 607-895-6131

Irish American Cultural Institute of Central NY Genealogy Classes for October 2005 Classes will meet at the Onondaga County Public Library, Central Branch in the Galleries from 6-8 pm Presentations : Wednesday, Oct. 5—Holly Sammons, Librarian at the OCPL Local History & Genealogy Dept. 'Technology in Genealogy, Using the Post Standard Digital Archives' Tuesday, Oct. 11— Robert W. Arnold III, Chief of Government Records Services for The NYS Department of Education, ‘Development & Growth of NYS 1790—1850’ Wednesday, Oct. 19— ‘Central NY Families’ (video & discussion) Wednesday, Oct. 26—Jean Nudd, Archivist at the National Archives Pittsfield, MA ‘Archival Research Strategies for the NARA Online Databases’ PLEASE PRE-REGISTER Cost: $20 for IACI & AOH members, $60 for non members ($40 can be applied for dues) Individual classes are $5 for members and $15 for non– members. For more information, Please Contact Anne Ruggeri email: [email protected] PLEASE INCLUDE ‘IACI Genealogy’ in subject line Thanks!! Send CHECKS made payable to the IACI of CNY to: Barbara Shanahan, president 105 Signal Ridge Syracuse, NY 13209 http://www.iaci-usa.org/cnychapter.html

Since my last report of 9/6/05: Chenango County: First half of the book - Historical Sketches of New Berlin - http://www.rootsweb.com/~nychenan/nberlin.htm A few more bios from the 1898 biography book - http://www.rootsweb.com/~nychenan/1898bios.htm 8 more pages of the 1860 Bainbridge census: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nychenan/census/1860/bainbridge/1860bnbr.htm ============================================================================ Cortland County: Death records as reported in Cortland Democrat for 1840-1845: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nycortla/crtdvlle.htm OR http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/cortland/crtdvlle.htm more years of this in progress, about the same as already exist for marriages ============================================================================ Madison County: Offer to do lookups in: "Pioneers of Madison County" and "10,000 Vital Records of Central New York 1813-1850" by Bowman, which includes 833 records from the Chittenango Herald over the period 1831-1844 http://www.rootsweb.com/~nymadiso/lookups.htm Tim

Is anyone on the list familiar with something called the "Lisle road records of 1811"? Another member of this list sent some information regarding my Solomon Parker and some other PARKERs as well as WOODs from a book written in 1940: " Lisle road records of 1811 show an Abel Parker in the district with James P:arker, Nathan Wood and John Brown. In 1809 Solomon Parker was overseer of road district No. 17. Thus Lucy Wood was living" I was in Cortland Co. three weeks ago and did not come across these. I am especially interested since there is no 1810 census report for Cortland Co. and this looks to be full of names as well as the one child whose name I cannot read on Solomon's admin records is listed as being from Lisle and I dont think that his widow meant Broome Co. Charmaine Charmaine Riley Holley [email protected] "...but hobbits have a passion for family history." - Tolkien Lord of the Rings