This past Monday evening I attended the monthly meeting of the Town of Porter Historical Society. Because we had a special speaker, the meeting was held in the old Officers' Club in what is now Fort Niagara State Park. The park was originally a very active Army base that dates way back into our history up until it was disestablished in the 1960s. The reason we had the meeting there was that David Dickinson, our new Niagara County Historian, was going to point out the unusual murals that had been painted on the walls of the Officer's Club at different periods of its existence. And one of the magnificent murals was painted by Ernst Wille when was a German Prisoner of War at Fort Niagara during WWII. Since then Wille has become a renown and very acclaimed artist in Germany. No, I won't give you a biography of Ernst Wille here. What I want to share with you is a particular day in my childhood when I came face to face with German Prisoners of War. Although I could probably dig up a precise date of that occasion from my records, I don't feel that it's really important to this story. This is one thing I remember about those war years, some time around 1942. As a young kid, probably around ten years old, I suppose I had paid attention to the news on the local radio station and maybe I had even read the news in the local newspaper. Whatever the situation, about that time around 1942 I was aware that a very important event was about to happen in Niagara Falls. A trainload of German Prisoners of War would be pulling into the railroad station near the Whirlpool Bridge where the prisoners would then be transferred in some fashion and be sent to Fort Niagara to the POW camp there. Oh how exciting!! I just HAD to be there! I remember that Betty Bonner was just as excited as I was and that day the two of us put on our roller skates and skated all the way from Chilton Avenue in Niagara Falls to the Highland Avenue Bridge where we knew that we could look down onto the railway station and get a glimpse of those awful German soldiers who were our enemy. And all the while we skated the long distance to the bridge, I was rehearsing what I wanted to shout down to the German POWs. I knew that they probably didn't understand English but there was one German expression that I had apparently learned from those war years, "Schprechen sie Deutch?" (Forgive any misspelling there.) It simply meant, "Do you speak German?" Yes, I realize it was a dumb question, but then I was just a kid. Betty and I arrived at the Highland Avenue Bridge, the train pulled in and we watched as the German soldiers were allowed to get off the train under the guard of our soldiers. I recall that that the prisoners didn't look as threatening as I had expected them to look. They looked quite bedraggled and confused. But being a ten-year-old, and wanting to communicate in some way with them, I shouted down to them, "Schprechen sie Deutch?" When I shouted that from the bridge, I recall so clearly the one specific face that turned up to me. I realized he had heard me and what I saw in his face was a glimpse of hope that there was someone here in this foreign country where he was now held a prisoner who might befriend him. That there might be some glimmer of hope as to what was going to happen to him next. How old was he at the time? As young as I was, my guess now is that he was around 16 years old, not that much older than I was. After all these years I still remember that blond-haired German soldier looking up at me. Who knows but what he eventually got to know Ernst Wille, the artist, while they were both Prisoners of War at Fort Niagara. But looking into his face around 1942 as he glanced up at me, left an indelible impression upon me. I had expected to see someone who was worthy to be hated as the enemy. Instead, I saw just a scared boy. When I left the bridge, I felt a bit more sober. The war wasn't just the black and white words we read in the paper then or the black and white news reels we watched at the movie theaters. The war also included scared blond-headed boys. vee from Youngstown, NY

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=138 Surname: Learmont, Silk, Archer, Taylor ------------------------- Looking for info on William Learmont and wife Margaret McVitie..from Scotland Margaret b.1840 Scotland Isabella m John Silk Niagara Co. NY James m. Lorinda Bellinger Erie Co. NY William m. Jennie F.? 1871 NY Mary S. m. William H. Archer 1867 Niagara Co. Sarah Jane m. John H. Taylor 1872 NY Any help would be appreciated.

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=137 Surname: Jowdy, Jody, Jaoude ------------------------- We are searching for information on the Jowdy Family. Our Jody family was raised in KY. Thomas Shaheen Jody was our grandfather. He had family living in Lockport, NY. Thomas came to NY from Lebanon in 1890 and settled in Ky with brother, uncles and cousins. Sandy Moore

Dear Group, I have yearbooks from Niagara Falls High School, 1923, 1925 and 1926 in good condition and I would be happy to do lookups and photocopies of pictures. Carol Greenwald Scouler

Well, Vee from Youngstown NY has been so kind to me & so sharing with information that she got me thinking about what each of us knows that someone else may really be interested in! I had no idea that someone on one of my lists would be able to share with me information about my old home town, classmates, etc. Anyhow I got to thinking.... Although sharing knowledge is a community building activity & so makes for great lists, it _IS_ a bit off topic, so that's why I labeled it as such above. Now, that said, when I finished my note thanking Vee earlier I went on to check into some websites I like to drop in on from time to time & when I was at this one site in particular I thought of you folks. And it occurred to me that anyone who is part of this group is interested in information of all sorts, so maybe many of you may be interested a newly found site on my favorites list. In over 8 years of internet experience I've never seen anything quite like it & think you'll agree it's pretty unique. It’s called “It Pays To Learn” & it has all kinds of fun quizzes (& more planned) & it does what it says...it actually pays members to learn! I've learned things...& have had fun doing it. I think VEE should volunteer to be their expert on Niagara frontier history & make up quizzes for them on that subject. They have something called "the knowledge bank" planned which I can't wait to find out about & think that many of us could come up with something to contribute to that. Maybe we could even get some of the younger generations interested in "boring old history" just by pointing out the "real people" aspects of it. In any case, it’s all free, and people of all ages and educational backgrounds can sign up and participate at their own level. One of my daughters is homeschooled & they've got stuff planned for that segment of the population, as well as for my son in college, my son-in-law the teacher who also takes grad school courses, my granddaughter the pre-schooler, my grandsons in grade school & even an old grannie like me :^) Now this is a little self serving, but only a little :^) Members get bonus benefits for referring others, so when you first go to the website to check it out please use the following URL (web address), and it will automatically give me credit for referring you to IPTL. You can just click on this link or cut and paste this web address into your browser window: http://www.itpaystolearn.com/default.asp?ref_id=AAE028 If you sign up without using this web address, please enter my Member ID, which is AAE028. I think this is a great idea, and if you do too just sign up and then please tell others about it. And if any of you know of other things we might be interested in - like history sites or mapping sites, or timeline sites or whatever... let's get busy sharing them! Thanks for listening, Susan Reynolds - the transplanted Lewistonian with ELLIS roots in Otsego co

Well Vee, just so you know I'm listening (grinning on this end) Here's what I sent you earlier... maybe it is true that we should share more on the list. ------------------------- Subj: Re: 50s & 60s Memories Date: 6/18/00 10:07:25 PM Eastern Daylight Time From: SPrimeMD To: housman@adelphia.net Dear Vee, I just have to say such a big thanks for the update on Lewiston. I've been asking a friend who is from Rochester about those rolls for years (yes, I've been looking for supplier & even did an internet search thinking I could have them mailed to me!) & she tells me she hasn't ever heard from them! I was so surprised that they were _SO_ localized! AH - I now remember the name Hansens! How crowded it was on Friday nights! How about the stone inn down by the fort which used to serve dinner? Do you recall that? What a great steak they made! I was in Lewiston for a short weekend when my first 2 daughters were small - it must have been about 1977 or so. Yes, indeed - McDonalds had invaded Lewiston. It was a shame. My youngest daughter who is turning 15 has never seen the falls so we'd like to make a trip up that way - hopefully we can get there this September. When are the local festivals? Maybe we should plan around those so I can take a trip back in time. I'd love to know where Betty Fermoyle got to, as we were such good frineds in grade school. I've done an internet search for her but don't find her listed anywhere. Of course if she married there goes the surname! That's why I list mine in my AOL profile & other on-line directories so I can be found :^) Her brother John died when we were children & so I also searched for her brother Danny but didn't find anybody by that name either, so I've hit a brick wall. Might you have any suggestions? Well I've talked your ear off, but it's such a pleasure to meet such a sharing soul with interests so much like mine & so much to chat about :^) Hope your week is a wonderful one & I'm sure we'll be chatting soon. Please do let me know what you can about the local festival schedule - or is there a site online I should check into about that sort of thing? Warm regards, Susan Reynolds

Dear Group, As a result of the message I sent this evening, I received three very warm responses. They were from Susan who had shared her memories about Lewiston with us a few days ago, Carol of the La Salle Greenwald family and Beth from California who you know nothing about--she's one of you lurkers, you know! :-) Oh I wish the three of you girls would have also included the entire Niagara Co. list with your reply. Responses like yours to the list would encourage me to continue to reach back into my memories or into my copies of local records and post more bits and pieces of our local history. Susan, when you said that the memorable steak that you had enjoyed was in a stone inn near Fort Niagara, well that was certainly the Ontario House on Main Street in Youngstown. It's now commonly referred to as the Stone Jug. It was built in 1842. What a history it has! And if you and your family are planning a trip to this area in September, well just let me know and I can certainly bring you back in time--Labor Day Field Day in Youngstown and the Peach Festival in Lewiston. As an added comment to one of your questions, as far as I know it's doubtful that any of our simple little festivals or activities have been "broadcasted" on a website on the Internet. I guess that that the people who are so involved here in promoting the tourism of Niagara Falls area just don't realize that a number of us just want to go back to the old days and don't want to find that it has been turned into a Disney World. And you, Beth! :-) You asked me "Now, what excuse could you have for not keeping me better informed of the more "important" landmarks of the area" Oh, Beth is such a dear girl. She lives in California, she came back here several years ago to research her family history, the two of us tramped though the local cemeteries together and we have been in email contact ever since. But, do you know what? It was her message of encouragement that made me realize that there is no one here to keep anyone informed about the important landmarks of this area or to let them know or of the fine details of the history or the changes that have been made in recent history. Yes, there are our official local historians, but do you know what else? I don't know if any of them have an email address where they can be contacted. But if nothing else, I'm still here. I'm connected by email with anyone who has a question about our local history or about our local families. Just ask me. vee

Dear Susan, et all, I promised that I'd fill in some of the blanks in your message and add a few comments to update you on some of the Lewiston landmarks. ----- Original Message ----- From: <SPrimeMD@aol.com> To: <NYNIAGAR-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2000 5:51 PM Subject: 50s & 60s Memories . . . my dad was an industrial builder when we moved to Lewiston in 1956 > from Lake county OH, just as the contractors began the basic preparation for > the building of the huge power plant along the river. Oh what a huge project that was! The result is that the whole face of the earth along the Niagara River was changed forever and the power plant is now called the New York Power Authority. > > It was a wonderful time to be in Lewiston, as it had not changed from the > sleepy little town along the river, whose main street was lined with trees > and McDonalds was no place ot be found & we still stopped at the old post > office to claim our mail. I've got some good news and some bad news here. The village of Lewiston is still pretty much of a sleepy little town and Center Street is still lined with trees. But do you remember the old Frontier House, one of the oldest buildings in Lewiston that named many of the glorious historical figures who were guests in that hotel? The good news is that it's still there on Center Street; the bad news is that it's now a McDonalds. Don't fret too much, though. McDonalds was very careful to maintain its historical significance and it's still an almost-intact historical landmark. > My memories are of a warm and welcoming community . . . Peach Festivals Oh, the Festival continues! Everyone around here still enjoys the Peach Festival that's held in September a week after Youngstown's Field Day. >carry-outs at the fish & chips shop, That would have been Hansen's Fish Market, gone a number of years ago. Pity. It was the BEST! > Hibbards beef on kimmelwick sandwiches Now that's a switch! In my memories and even today, Hibbards was always noted for being a frozen custard stand. The best frozen custard in the whole world. It's still there and the Hibbard family still runs it. Now beef on kummelweck--or Beef on Weck--is something so very unique to Western New York. The kummelweck roll is crispy on the outside and is covered with caraway (kummel) seeds and rock salt. It's sliced like a hamburger roll and then the cut side is dipped into the au jus of roasted beef and then a number of slices of thinly sliced roast beef is put on it. A jar of horseradish is always put on the table to go with it. > I recall after-school hours spent > sledding down the hill at 3rd going towards Center St near the public school > as the dark descended on early winter nights Oh my, that has to be the steepest tiny little hill we still have around these parts--with the exception of the huge Lewiston Hill. >sneaking down the > hillside behind DeChantal Hall to reach the riverbank. DeChantal was a Catholic residence of the Oblates of St. Francis until recently. I believe that before that it was a private residence. It's still a magnificent large stone "mansion" sort of place right on the Niagara River and is now the Niagara Frontier Bible Church. >cold summer swims > in the lake which was only achieved after surviving the walk along the > painfully rocky bottomed shoreline, Oh, Lordy, Lake Ontario is still as cold as it ever was and its shoreline and beaches haven't lost one single stone! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! > My > classmates at school included Betty Fermoyle, Kate Murphy, Maureen Toohey, > Tom Napier, Pat Hyla, Bob Lucas Now those names are still familiar names around here. I went to Niagara Falls High School with two Fermoyle boys and I know that one of Lewiston's mayors was a Fermoyle. In fact I understand that he was Betty's father. But more than that, a more recent mayor of Lewiston was Marilyn Toohey, Maureen's mother! Note: that information was given to me this evening by Alan Johnson of Lewiston. He graduated from Lewiston-Porter School in 1962 and he remembers Pat Hyla also. Alan is probably the most knowledgable historian that Lewiston has had in many a year. > I appreciate you all for sharing with us, > Susan McMackin Reynolds > in Lewes Delaware Thanks Susan for saying that. I want to share everything that I have and that I remember with people who will appreciate it for what it's worth. But without such words of thanks, such information would quickly dry up. vee

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Bible Records Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/NiagaraBibl?read=4 Surname: JOHNSON, VISONNEAU ------------------------- From DEATHS page Marie Visonneau wife of Louis Visonneau Mar. 5, 1902, Niagara Falls, N.Y. Link: Paul Louis Johnson Family Page URL: <http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/j/o/h/Paul-L-Johnson-CA/index.html>

Dear Group, This is posted for the benefit of the entire list, but especially for Carol Greenwald Scouler. You may not know Carol but she was the one who replied to my message about Mr. Atkinson's dancing class and reminded me about the dance cards of way back when. This is to help her in her research of her Greenwald family and also to help any of you who might recognize a few other surnames. vee The Greenwald Family Excerpts from the book, "Niagara County, New York . . . A Concise Record of her Progress and People, 1821-1921 . . . Vol. II, Biographical," Edward T. Williams, pgs. 618-619 In the biography of Joseph Mason who was born Dec. 17, 1851, and grew up on the border of Town of Niagara near La Salle, it says this about his wife and her family: On Dec. 28, 1878, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Mason to Margaret Greenwald, who was likewise born and reared in Niagara county, where her paternal grandfather, George Greenwald, was a pioneer settler near La Salle. Mr. and Mrs. Mason have had three children: Chester, who died in infancy; Alfred, who has active management of his father's farm, married Bertha Newman, and they became the parents of Edward, who died in infancy, Ruby, and Josephine, who died at the age of nineteen years. George Greenwald, grandfather of Mrs. Mason, was born in Bavaria, Germany, and from there came with his wife and three children to America. They became early settlers in Niagara county, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Mr. Greenwald settled in the village of La Salle, where for a time he followed his trade of cabinet maker. He finally became the owner of twenty-two acres of timbered land in this vicinity and here he passed the residue of his long and useful life, his funeral having occurred on the ninety-second anniversary of his birth, his wife having passed away at the age of sixty-five years. Of their three children, George and Frederick died at La Salle and Lewis, father of Mrs. Mason, finally purchased his father's farm, to which he added by the purchase of an adjoining tract of forty acres. Lewis Greenwald was long numbered among the prosperous farmers and representative citizens of the town of Niagara. He was seventy-five years of age when he met a tragic death by being killed in an Erie Railroad train accident at La Salle. His wife, whose maiden name was Barbara Chorman, likewise died at the age of seventy-five years. Of their children George, the first born, died at La Salle; Margaret is the wife of Joseph Mason; Lewis died in young manhood; Susan married William F. Smith, who met an accidental death in 1905, and she resides in the city of Rochester, three of her five children being deceased; Alice died in childhood; Robert, who established his residence on the old homestead of his grandfather, Nov. 11, 1919, married Margareta Emerich, and their two surviving children are Robert W. and Alan G., the first child, Susan, having died at Indianapolis, Ind. Andrew L., who died at La Salle in 1919, is survived by his wife, whose maiden name was Myrtle Hilts, and by one child, Midgley H.; Hiram L., a bachelor, resides in the city of Rochester; Edwin died in infancy; Robert married Isabella Goetzman, who died at the age of thirty-five years, and had three children, Frank B., Harold L. and Clara J.; Kate died at the age of four years; a son died in infancy; Lydia is the wife of Maurice Fox, of Atlanta, Ga. George Greenwald, Jr., who died at La Salle, as noted above, first married Mary Hess, who left one child, Sophia. His second marriage was with Malvina Krieger, who survives him, the names of their children being: George, Louisa, William, Susan, Margaret (deceased), Kate, Mamie, Max and Frederick.

Dear Susan, I've read your message of the 14th again this evening and I want so much to respond to it to the entire list but it's very late right now. I want to fill in some of the blanks and give you an update on some of the Lewiston landmarks that you mentioned. What you wrote is certainly a perfect description of Lewiston from the memory of a youngster who had fond memories of it in the 1950s and '60s. Hopefully, I'll be able to manage a proper response tomorrow. vee

Note: I wrote this story a couple of days after I had visited two of the local cemeteries to check on the graves of ancestors of a woman in Montana who had asked me for information about her family here in the Town of Porter. THE SUGAR ANT When I first set off to take the pictures of the tombstones, I knew that some of the inscriptions were worn and I wanted to take along some flour to dust over the inscriptions so that it would bring out the carvings. Well, since my flour supply is pretty low, I thought I'd use powdered sugar instead--hey, I probably have a ten-year supply of it! I poured a generous amount of sugar into a clean plastic margarine tub, clamped the lid on it and off I went. Well, when I tried to apply the sugar onto the tombstone with a dry sponge, it just wouldn't stick and so, at least, I learned a lesson there. Flour works, powdered sugar doesn't. By the time I clamped the lid back onto the sugar container, I noticed an ant had already discovered the sugar treasure. Oh, well, let him be--I was going to have to throw out the sugar anyway. Well, it wasn't until yesterday that I got around to throwing out the sugar. When I removed the lid, I noticed that the ant was still there; however, he was dead. Now, what did he die of? Suffocation? Old age? Homesickness? Or did he die the way he always dreamed of--in a vast wonderful white world of delicious SUGAR?? Before I emptied the contents into the waste basket, I took a closer look at the ant and do you know what I saw? He had a great big smile on his face and a white mustache of pure powdered sugar on his upper lip! It was if he had died thinking, "What a way to go!!" Vee L. Housman August 3, 1997

Dear Group, It seems that I can't resist sharing with you some of my past experiences regarding local research. Because one of our listmembers recently asked me about the best way to read old cemetery stones, it brought to mind the two stories I wrote about three years ago that touched on the subject that I shared with the PADUTCH-LIFE mailing list. Here's the first one--the second one follows. vee TWO CEMETERIES IN ONE AFTERNOON August 4, 1997 For some reason, I thought you might enjoy hearing about a few genealogical things that have been happening here in Niagara Co., NY, over the past couple of days. It started with my response to a request to take photographs of the local Curtiss family tombstones. The girl in Minnesota is intensely interested in her connection with the local family, we had exchanged exciting email messages on the subject, and this is what I wrote to her this evening. Dear Jeanne, I'm still trying to catch my breath over the events of last Friday(??). At any rate, I headed out that afternoon with loaded camera in hand, it wasn't the brightest sunny day, but I was filled with high enthusiasm. I stopped first at the Halstead Cemetery and started taking pictures. I brought with me a soft scrub brush and an old tooth brush so that I could scrub away the lichen, etc., in an effort to ensure that every picture I took would be the best that I could manage among the old tombstones. I can only hope that the end result will show the fading details of some of the inscriptions. While I was at Halstead Cemetery, (sitting cross-legged in front of Betsey's tombstone!) three women entered the cemetery. My curiosity got the better of me and I had to ask them if they were looking for a particular stone. Yes, that of Harrison Perry, Sr. Well, I won't go into the particulars, but when I heard the name of Harrison Perry, I had to let them know that I "knew" him--I had already researched his family! Just picture Sandy and me exchanging e-mail addresses in the middle of a cemetery just dying to get back with each other to compare Perry family notes!! Well, after I had finished taking pictures of the three Curtiss graves at Halstead, I drove to the Ransomville Cemetery and settled down to the older graves of Gilbert and his first three wives. It had bothered me that the gravestone of his wife Rebecca was slowly disappearing beneath the creeping sod and I had come prepared to deal with it. I brought with me an old putty knife and (picture this!), there I was on my hands and knees over her grave, in the very front row of the cemetery on "Main Street" in Ransomville, with my hiney facing the passing traffic and digging away the sod and brushing away the dirt from her tombstone! The kids passing by on their bicycles seemed very puzzled about what that "Crazy Old Lady" was doing, what with the dirt flying from the cemetery! But I did it! I managed to uncover her inscription well enough to at least photograph it! And all 24 pictures were eventually taken! It remains to be seen as to how they all came out. (BTW, you owe me $3.00 for the film!) . . . . Jeanne, I can only hope that you can appreciate how exciting this "Crazy Old Lady's" life is right now. Not only am I totally engrossed in your Curtiss/Lincoln family, I'm equally engrossed in the local John Vrooman family, the Perry family, I've got a descendant of John Lloyd who is waiting breathlessly in the wings, on Tuesday I'm having lunch with Maureen Seifert, the "Webmaster" of the Niagara Co. GenWeb sight and on Wednesday I'll have an intense conversation with a visiting computer "guru" who will help the Town of Porter Museum apply for a grant for a computer that will be a bit more on the "cutting edge" than the one we're using that has only 5-1/4" drives in it! Other than that, Hey, I just took the day off today and picked a great big bucket of ripe blueberries after I got my laundry hung out on the line to dry in the nice sunny day! A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do! Now, Dear Group, what is all of the above worth? Well, I can only hope that at some future time in your lives you will find yourseves in the same position as I am right now. In the exciting position of giving freely to someone else the same marvelous help you have received from total strangers over the years in the researching of your family. Trust me, it's a breathtaking experience!

Dear Group, Now this is another bit of memories of mine but it's not one of the "warm and fuzzy" ones. Nonetheless, I may be the first one to have written down a personal observation of what high school sororities and fraternities were all about in the late 1940s in Niagara Falls from the point of view of one who had experienced it all. This is a subject that has bothered me for well over fifty years and I hope you will forgive me for "editorializing" on this very special list. Here goes. I knew full well when I was in my teens in high school that if I weren't accepted into a sorority, I just wouldn't be "socially acceptable." Heaven forbid-a veritable outcast of society!! And so I went through the agony of attending the various sorority functions that I had been invited to and sweated out the outcome of their assessment of me as to whether I would be worthy enough to become a sorority sister. While waiting for the news of whether I had been accepted by at least one of them, I continued to agonize over the dress I had worn at their teas, the hat that I had chosen to wear, the gloves I wore, had my social graces been good enough? The suspense was unbearable but I finally received word that I was accepted by Theta Xi Upsilon. Although it wasn't the most elite sorority at Niagara Falls High School, at least it was quite a respectable one. I was relieved. I was going to be a member of a sorority! Whew!! WOW!! I then became a "pledge" and had to perform many degrading stunts and activities to prove that I was worthy to become a sorority sister of the other members of TXU. That was what pledging was all about and everyone in high school pretty much took it all in stride. If anyone showed up at school looking a bit goofy, it was a sure bet that he or she was a pledge to a fraternity or sorority. None of us pledges were happy with what we had to endure but we knew it was part of the process of initiation and we knew it wasn't the end of the world. However, several weeks after being put through our paces, I began to wonder if it was worth it at all. No it wasn't the embarrassing things we had to do or the humiliation we had to endure, it was something much more important than that. It was the delight that some of the older sorority members took in putting us through all of it. Half of them were down right mean and enjoyed watching us squirm. The only saving grace was that the other half went through only a pretense of hazing us. It was obvious their hearts just weren't in it. But there was one earlier incident that I just couldn't forgive. It was in September of 1946 that I was instructed to write to an acquaintance of one of the sorority members. He was a Canadian sailor aboard the HMCS Stadacoma out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I was instructed to "write a very passionate love letter and do not tell him your[sic] pledging." His address at that time was 2/C A. M. Smyth. Well, I did. However, I followed up my letter with another one to him and told him everything. This was his response. HMCS Stadacoma, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Sept. 16/46 [shortly after my 15th birthday] Dear Vee, I received your most wonderful letter today. I hope you are well, leaving me the same. When I received the letter I wondered who it could be from. It really took me by surprise when I read the first few lines. You do write the nicest letters. I just hope you will write again. Well it didn't seem so very much of a joke Vee to either of us, at least not to me. You know when a guy is away from home, far away as you put it, and he gets a letter like that, well the first part really picks him up. But to find it was only a joke, it knocks him right down again. I hope you don't mind my writing to you. Maybe we would set the joke right [back] in their faces. So will you write me again soon, please do. The letter is not very good I know and the only way that "I'm out of this world" (remember?) is that they call me Zombie once in awhile! If you write again would you mind sending a picture? I've already fallen in love with your letter. No telling what a picture might do. Thanks again for the (should I say loving) letter. Love , Alan PS. Don't show Norma [she was my sorority sister] this letter, OK? And we' ll have a good laugh on them. This note is sealed. Be sure it is sealed when Norma gives it to you. And so a few weeks after I received Alan's letter and I came to realize that pledging for a sorority was based more on degradation and humiliation than it was in encouraging any sort of positive activity, I just up and quite in the middle of pledging. WHOA, that was UNHEARD of! NO pledge quits! Well I did! I just dropped the school books that I was forced to carry for a sorority member that day and walked off. It set the sorority on its ear. It was obvious that I had been an embarrassment to them but within several days and because of some personal encouraging words from Miss Morrissey, the teacher who was the sorority advisor, I was persuaded to continue. I finished my pledge period, I went through Hell Week, I was initiated and I was inducted into the sorority. As a result of the overall experience, in spite of my eventual feeling of loyalty to the sorority, none of them became close friends of mine. When it came my time to "judge" the new prospective members of the sorority, based on the style of the dress they wore at the time or what hat they wore or what manners they had, or how popular they were with the boys, in spite of my being then only 16 years old, I had already realized that sororities and fraternities had no place in high schools. Although my remaining years in high school were exciting years during which I did my fair share of attending sorority functions and dating various fraternity boys, in the back of my mind I knew that our fraternities and sororities were based on sheer snobbery. There were only two things that were considered for membership-your parents' social standing and how popular you were with the opposite sex. If you made a good score on both points, you were accepted with open arms. Since then, I've become appalled over what I've read about the excesses of college fraternity initiations that involved paddling, excessive alcohol consumption and the like. I must admit I haven't read much about college sorority activities but if they breed the same sort of snobbery as the high school sororities did in the 1940s, well, you know where they learned it-in high school. I know this is a very personal telling of a bit of my past, but I dug it up from my old scrapbook and I'm only beginning to realize the historic value of my scrapbook. There is so much in there with stories to tell of the history of Niagara Falls in the 1940s. Chief Vee, USNR (ret)-the one who has always marched to a different drummer.

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=134 Surname: Many, Bennett, Merriam ------------------------- Looking for information on my great-grandmother, Lilliam Augusta Many. She was born on February 28, 1864 in Lockport, NY. Her parents were Benjamin Many and Martha J. Bennett. She married my great-grandfather William Quintard Merriam November 30, 1882. Their children were all born in Norwalk, CT. Ginny Gage

Is there anyone in the Niagara County area willing to look up some info for me. I found in PERSI on Ancestry.Com an article which appeared in Notes From Niagara. The article is Lewiston Marriages 1839-83 Vol. 16, Issue 1, Feb. 1996. I am looking for the marriage of John DOUGLASS & Mary BRUNNER (maybe DAVISON). If anyone would be willing to check on this I would appreciate it. If the information is found, I then can send off for copies. This is a shot in the dark, so I am reluctant to send off money or something so iffy. Thanks, Mary Jo Douglass Researching: JANUSZ, JAREMBA, PANEK, WAIER ZILKE, SIKORA, SZMYT/SCHMIDT, MAKURAT, MACIEJEWSKI in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. JAREMBA & WAIER in Manistee, Michigan DOUGLASS, BRUNER, DAVISON, in Iowa and Kansas. STANSBURY in Illinois & Kansas

Does anyone have access to Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York Wiley, Samuel T. (Samuel Thomas), 1850-1905. Could you please look for any Crowder's and Clapsaddle's? Thanks Sue dskissel@cybertrails.com D. Sue Crowder Kissel 3299 Rose Lane, Prescott, AZ 86305 Researching: Crowder (CAN>NY>MI>SD), Keene(ME>MI), Kissel (PA>IA>NE>KS)Long(CAN Fr>NY>MI) Lutzke(GER>MI), Lou©ks(CAN>MI), Mc(A)Fee(CAN>NY>MI), Paine(ME>MI)Smith(NY>MI) http://doors.cybertrails.com/~dskissel/

Hi Vee & other Niagara-ites, I'm glad to share a bit with you about my time in Lewiston. My name was McMackin & my dad was an industrial builder when we moved to Lewiston in 1956 from Lake county OH, just as the contractors began the basic preparation for the building of the huge power plant along the river. It was a wonderful time to be in Lewiston, as it had not changed from the sleepy little town along the river, whose main street was lined with trees and McDonalds was no place ot be found & we still stopped at the old post office to claim our mail. My memories are of a warm and welcoming community & a close school community at St Peter's from where I graduated in 1962. Peach festivals, carry-outs at the fish & chips shop, ice skating on what was basically a flooded & frozen field, Hibbards beef on kimmelwick sandwiches & the addition of a fantastic soda/sweet shop along Center street just west of the intersection with 4th are highlights of my memories. I recall after-school hours spent sledding down the hill at 3rd going towards Center St near the public school as the dark descended on early winter nights, walking to school with snow piled waist high & never even considering the idea of what's known in other areas as "snow days" on which the kids don't attend, tunnelling through snow-plow piles to make wonderful igloos in which to play, sneaking down the hillside behind DeChantal Hall to reach the riverbank. Taking visiting relatives to make the rounds to the forts & Welland canal, cold summer swims in the lake which was only achieved after surviving the walk along the painfully rocky bottomed shoreline, Sunday dinner at some steak place in Youngstown that served sherbet between courses & lots of other snippets of small town joy are among my fondest childhood memories. I lived first next to Phil & Jess Hanrahan on the corner of Mohawk & second when we first arrived and then moved to what I only knew as "McClure's house" in the 200 block of North 3rd, behind Vince & Marie Aungier's. My classmates at school included Betty Fermoyle, Kate Murphy, Maureen Toohey, Tom Napier, Pat Hyla, Bob Lucas & an assortment of others I somehow lost touch with after I left for PA where I finished high school & college. After I left & was busy with school & new things & with my parents no longer living there & no relatives in the area, time slipped by & before I knew it these names & places were no longer part of my vocabulary & the friends slipped away. It was only years later I realized what I had lost. Now I read this list avidly to give myself a sense of connection to the place that formed my childhood & gave me security and connectedness. I appreciate you all for sharing with us, Susan McMackin Reynolds in Lewes Delaware

Many thanks to everyone who replied to my request for information on Lewiston cemeteries. I have a number of avenues to follow now. Thanks again, Ruth T. ____________________________________________________________________ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape WebMail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com.

In a message dated 06/13/2000 9:39:05 PM Pacific Daylight Time, housman@adelphia.net writes: << And if I get a bit sidetracked and feel that my personal memories might paint a picture of life in this area of the more recent years, I hope you all understand that I'm really not just babbling on, I'm recording history of this area from my personal life here. And anything you would care to add with your own personal memoriies would add jsut that much more to our history. vee >> Vee, from this "born in Lockport", "lived in Newfane", "raised in CT" and "in Calif for the last 30 years" person? You are NOT babbling! This is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.... My dad and both sides of his family were born and raised in Niagara County and 1/2 of my mom's family (her mom's) was in Erie and Niagara County... so I love hearing your stories of what you remember. I remember getting very excited one day when I was rummaging around in a closet at home when growing up in CT... way back in one corner I found a saxophone. Turns out my dad played it there in Wilson, NY when in a band there!! (He was a pretty quiet man, so it was great learning this new aspect of him!) In the 1950s and into the early 1960s, my folks would pile us into the classic station wagon... a rambler... (with the fake wood paneling on the side...)... and off we would go ... from western CT... to "upstate New York". We made the rounds of all the relatives... all in Niagara County.. and every summer... the same "My, how big you've gotten" would ring out from house to house as we arrived! I remember hearing a lot of german and "mixed" german and english in some of those households...(the Smith/Schmidt, Krueger, Witt, Hillman, Schuman, Sieck... folks). Other family households came from the english lines... back to those Hosmer and Pratt folks... and while there were no accents to hear... all the family on both sides - it seemed to me as a kid - were always cooking!!! LOL Ah, the smells!!! Coming up in time... my father is gone now... born in Wilson in 1922... but I flew from CA to CT just a few years ago... got mom and dad into the rental car... and I took "them" to "Upstate New York". Talk about turnaround time! Mom, with her rheumatoid arthritis, dad with the affects even then from the mini-strokes he was having from time to time... and me with my multiple sclerosis (but trusty cane in hand)... what a bunch we were! We took it slow going up.... only went half-way... stopping along the way wherever we liked... telling stories... then took on the rest of the trip the next day. I said I would take them "wherever they wanted to go" and "to see whoever they wanted to see". I remember driving around a park... as they told me where and how they met... and the times they had spent at that park... and the band concerts they went to. We had "cousins" - dad's side of the family - all in their 70s, 80s, 90s - just a dozen or so people - all meet up in a restaurant one night.. and the stories were flying! (And now imagine "me" with my "papers".... running behind each chair... pulling up... and getting info on their families! <g>) One thing - a family trait across all the families seems to be a well developed sense of humor! Sure heard a lot of stories!! Then of course, there were the "house visits".... and the tours of the cemetaries... I had been there a year or so before that... walking all over through cemeteries... so took them directly to "their family". Dad especially was amazed to learn of family he never even knew about! And then... help me here... over to ___??___ to get some of that famous ice cream at the stand that has been in the same family for years... (Visited my godparents too..) And "time" in the evenings to rehash it all with my folks... One woman met us for lunch and brought hand-written notes on family.. another couple dug around and came out with a "paper from a german genealogist" and wondered if I might be interested! <g> And of course, the long drive back to CT. And we were "still" telling stories.... and such a lot of laughter... (and love...) It wasn't all that long after, that my dad had a major stroke and it all began to spiral downwards for him. I can't even begin to express how glad I am that we decided to "do the family trip" ... "then"... while both mom and dad were ready, willing and able to do it. He continued to "talk about the trip" on phone calls... and even in his later hospital days... he was glad to have seen "Wilson" again... and his cousins... and most importantly... "remember"... Sorry, Vee... and all... now I've gone on and on... and I didn't grow up there. I lived there for three years... but then we moved to CT ... and became a "summer visitor". But the more I hear and learn, the closer I feel to my folks... and my grandparents... and their parents... and .. and.. and... (Sigh...) Thanks for listening... debbie CAhobbies@aol.com (sitting here in CA where it hit 100 degrees today.. and they tell me it will be 104 tomorrow... )