> This was great, Vee! I laughed until I cried. Those were so corny. . . and > the funny thing is that we were still using those lines in the 50s when I was > writing in autograph books, LOL! > Susan, > who grew up in Lewiston Oh Dear Susan, Thanks for letting me know that I haven't been just babbling on here with my dusty old memories. Now, you say that you grew up in Lewiston? What was your maiden name and when did you family settle around here? What was your mother's maiden name? Where was she from? Hey, it's just me here in Youngstown wanting to help people get an understanding of the history of this area and share what I know about the area and help them get a feeling of what their ancestors' lives were when they lived here. 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

In a message dated 6/13/00 11:31:17 PM Eastern Daylight Time, housman@adelphia.net writes: > I leafed through the pages of the scrapbook > this evening. This was great, Vee! I laughed until I cried. Those were so corny. . . and the funny thing is that we were still using those lines in the 50s when I was writing in autograph books, LOL! Susan, who grew up in Lewiston NY Connect with me & other history buffs at PlanetAll http://www.planetall.com/main.asp?s=1043&cid=966275 <A HREF="http://www.planetall.com/main.asp?s=1043&cid=966275 ">AOL click Here< /A>

Dear Group, I'm still in a nostalgic mood and since I had dug out my old scrapbook to tell you the dance card story, I leafed through the pages of the scrapbook this evening. And there was the autograph book that I had with taken with me to Girl Scout Camp at Zoar Valley, near Gowanda, Cattaraugus County, NY. Oh, Lordy, what a bunch of memories and history that autograph book contains! In the first place, the year was 1942 during WWII and it appears that my baby brother at some point had gotten his hands on it and with pencil in hand personally "autographed" a number of pages himself with his scribbles. Baby Brother will turn 60 this year! It's an official Girl Scout Autograph Book. It's green and has the official gold Girl Scout emblem on the cover. And in between Baby Brother's scribbles, the following are some of the sentiments that were written. Do any of them bring back memories of autograph books that you still have?? :-) 2 Ys UR, 2Ys U B. I C U R 2 Ys 4 me. Your Camp friend, "Skip" Hall, July 16, 1942. Roses are red, violets are blue. Sugar is sweet but it's scare too. Your Camper, Dolores Kania [Note: DeeDee and I graduated together in the Class of '49, Niagara Falls High School] Zoar Valley Camp, July 27, 1942, Dear Vee, If I were a bunny and had a tail of fluff, I'd sit upon your dresser and be your powder puff. Yetta Haber. (And then she drew a sketch of three cute little bunnies. Yetta was one of our camp counselors as I recall.) Nada wrote, Yours till silk stocking stop running and walk. Florence Daloisio wrote, You are too dumb to be forgotten. (signed "Flopsy") Barbara wrote, Roses are red, violets are blue, rubber is scarce and so are you. Jane Wilson wrote, When you get married and your husband gets cross, pick up the rolling pin and say I'M BOSS! (signed "Bewilda") Chris wrote, Dear Vee, Whoever steels this book of knowledge shall graduate from Sing Sing College, Yours till Saratoga Springs, Love Chris. Table "4" (Remember?) [referring to the table we were assigned to in the camp dining hall] Jan wrote, I'm the girl from the city, I'm the girl from the town, I'm the girl who spoiled your book by writing upside down. Your friend, Jan. Jennie wrote, Beware of boys with eyes of blue, they take a kiss and ask for two. Beware of boys with eyes of green, they take a kiss behind a screen. Beware of boys with eyes of black, they take a kiss behind your back. Beware of boys with eyes of brown, they take a kiss and turn you down. Jennie, Yours till the powder puffs. Her sister Lottie wrote, Policeman, Policeman, do your duty. Here comes Vee, the bathing beauty. Jean wrote, Vee, Vee, in the tub. Mother forgot to put in the plug. Oh my goodness, Oh my soul, there goes Vee down the hole. But there was one very special autograph that I got before I graduated from the sixth grade at Maple Avenue School in Niagara Falls and went on to North Junior High School in 1943. It was the autograph of the kindergarten teacher that I had had seven years before, Miss Pickett. This is what she wrote on June 15, 1943. Stained glass windows make the light, like songs of beauty from the sun. Life could shine through us like that-you and me and everyone. Marguerite M. Pickett. I had remembered her for so many years as a scrawny old maid school teacher with no life whatsoever. It's funny how you can catch a glimpse into someone's heart 57 years later. vee

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=132 Surname: HIGGINS, BIRMINGHAM, SIEFERT, SEIFERT, GREASLER ------------------------- Could it have been "Manchester" or "Suspension Bridge?" There was Bath Island and Green Island included the are of Goat Island. We also have the "Three Sisters Islands." Table Rock was another term I have heard and read about for the area in and around Goat Island. I hope some of these names help your search.

Hi, Is the Niagara County Historian's Office open for research? If so, what are the hours? Thanks so much, Suzanne Frantz St. Clair, Michigan

Dear Group, Today I received a response to my message about Mr. Atkinson's Dancing Class. It was from Carol, a girl who had also attended his class back in the '40s. She reminded me of the final class where the girls dressed in their first "formals," meaning floor-length gowns and we knew we were to experience a very special evening-our first formal dance. Oh how I remember that dress that Mother bought me for our final class in June of 1946! It had a black bodice with white net ruffles around a square neckline and the full skirt was made of soft white netting over a white underskirt. Now I have to admit that I had to jog my memory by dragging out my old photo album that has a picture of me in that dress. Hmmm, I was quite a pretty young thing I was when I wasn't quite 15 years old! Shoulder-length blonde hair with a black velvet headband holding it back off my face. Oh, yes, back to the dance! When we arrived the girls were given dance cards. I can't really recall if there were cords attached to them so that we could carry them comfortably but as Carol reminded me, the boys would approach the individual girls and ask if a particular dance was free. The dance cards had blanks with numbers next to them and the girl would check her dance card to see if that particular dance was available. If it was, the boy would pencil in his name for the dance. When that dance came up, he would come back and claim her as his partner. Pretty romantic, huh? Welllllll, neither Carol nor I seemed to have been the belle of the ball because both of us still have our dance cards and I don't know about Carol, but I'm embarrassed to let you know how few names were penciled in on my dance card! Sheesh, and I looked so gorgeous that evening! Now let me tell you another secret about that evening earlier. I can remember how grown up I felt in that dress and I can remember descending the stairs at home feeling like Joan Crawford or Bette Davis and I made my grand entrance into our living room where my mother and father were sitting. And I can remember what I asked my father as I twirled around in front of him, "What do you think of your little girl now?" He looked up, grunted some response and then went back to reading his newspaper. Oh parents have no feelings when it comes to understanding how their teenage daughters feel! How did we manage to survive our teenage years with parents who didn't understand us or didn't realize that the whole world revolved around US? And as I look back over the past 50 years or so, I feel that it will ever be thus (sigh!). Nonetheless, Carol and I have some great memories of our teenage years and if the two of us had the opportunity to "get down and dirty," I'm certain that we could share memories of things we did and places we went that would have REALLY caught the attention of Mother and Father! When we graduated from Mr. Atkinson's Dancing Class . . . well, that's another story! vee

Dear Ruth, I have copies of the records of both the Lewiston Cemetery in the Village of Lewiston and the Dickersonville Cemetery in the Town of Lewiston and your Edward Britt doesn't show up in either of them. Copies of both of those records were given to me by Alan C. Johnson a dear friend of mine who lives in Lewiston. Good luck in your research. vee

Hello, I am new to the list. I am trying to find the family of Amos R. Strong, b. 1812 in New York. He married in Chicot Co. Arkansas in 1848. There was also a Alex Strong who married in Chicot Co., Arkansas. I have never been able to find anything on Amos prior to his marriage. Between 1847 and 1859 he bought several hundred acres of land in Carroll Parish, Louisiana. He died before the 1860 census. I would love to hear from anyone who thinks they may have a connection. Pam -- ----------------------------------------------------- Click here for Free Video!! http://www.gohip.com/freevideo/

Ruth: At the FamilySearch Library Catalog Web Site at: http://familysearch.org/Search/searchcatalog.asp I found 4 microfilm titles for Lewiston, NY Cemeteries-- 1) Gate of Heaven Cemetery records (Lewiston, New York) 1865-1983 2) Orleans County, New York cemetery records from DAR sources 3) Riverdale Cemetery lot index and lot and interment records with death dates and maps, 1896-1983 Riverdale Cemetery Association (Lewiston,NY) 4) The village of Lewiston cemetery, 1801-1980 Johnson, Alan C If you go to the Web Site above, click on Locality Search, & then enter the locality name of Lewiston, New York, you can get more info about film #'s, etc. If you live near a Mormon Family History Center, you can order these films & use them at the Center. Nancy V --------- >______________________________X-Message: #6 >Date: 12 Jun 00 07:51:08 EDT From: Ruth Thompson <rootie42@netscape.net> To: NYNIAGAR-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: Lewiston Cemeteries Does anyone know if the cemeteries in Lewiston are indexed and where I would find such information? I have only the name EDWARD BRITT and place of burial as Lewiston, N.Y. Thanks, Ruth T.

--part1_b8.6eb5cb8.267642f2_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --part1_b8.6eb5cb8.267642f2_boundary Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Return-path: <Spsherrick@aol.com> From: Spsherrick@aol.com Full-name: Spsherrick Message-ID: <9f.68d5835.2676416e@aol.com> Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 09:36:46 EDT Subject: Re: Jacob Frantz/Caroline Incident To: suzyfrtz@tir.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Windows sub 67 Suzanne: German families that lived in the Akron Road area and Town of Royalton often were members of an old German Lutheran Church that was there at the time. At the time of my grandfather's birth (1878) the minister was Rev. Melancthon Ort. The records for this church were then combined with those of the First English Lutheran Church in Lockport. Baptism, marriage and death records for that church have been published and are located at the office of the Niagara County Historian, Niagara County Courthouse in Lockport. I have visited the Dysinger Cemetery several times in the past but only transcribed records for my own family members: Wynkoop, Loucks, Van Cleve and a few others. Unfortunately, there was another cemetery in the area, right on Akron Road, that became completely destroyed and some of your ancestors as well as mine may easily have been buried there. 30 years ago when I visited there the stones were in one huge horizontal stack in the midst of a car junk yard that had taken over the place. I wonder if there are any records existing from that place. What a shame. Another nearby cemetery possibility is the Schaeffer Cemetery--in good shape. I was born in Lockport in Niagara County but have not lived there for almost 40 years. Live suburbs of Chicago but have all my family lines through Niagara County. Have been working on genealogy of those families for those same 40 years. Some of my other Niagara County lines are Pool(e), Weaver, Kinne, Karchner, Barber, Holmes, Salisbury, Ward, etc. If I can be of any assistance, please let me know. Sharon Poole Sherrick (SPSherrick@aol.com) --part1_b8.6eb5cb8.267642f2_boundary--

Does anyone know if the cemeteries in Lewiston are indexed and where I would find such information? I have only the name EDWARD BRITT and place of burial as Lewiston, N.Y. Thanks, Ruth T. ____________________________________________________________________ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape WebMail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com.

Dexter's Rolling Skating Rink Did you ever go roller skating at Dexter's Rolling Skating Rink in Niagara Falls in the 1940s when you were a kid? Oh what a treat that was! Dexter's was located on Main Street between Chilton Avenue and Orchard Park Drive. When you walked in and paid whatever it cost to skate there, you walked up to the person who was in charge of the roller skates who fitted you up with a pair of high-top four-wheel roller skates. And then with your skates on you timidly worked your way to the rink itself. And there it was before you--with all of the sights and sounds that you knew would be there! There were people of all ages skating on the rink. There were kids just like yourself and there were teenagers and there were those who were probably in their twenties or thirties. But most of all there was the sound of the music that was playing as everyone skated round and round the rink. It was organ music. Now it's difficult for me to determine at this late date whether Dexter's had a real organ there with a real person playing it or whether it was recorded music that was played on a phonograph; however, I tend to believe that it was a real live organ that played the music. And such wonderful music it was! When you first stepped onto the rink and started to put one foot in front of the other, the music grabbed a hold of you and you knew that you wanted to skate to the music. At first it was just a glide or two to the melody but when you realized how wonderful the music was, you had dreams of being Sonja Henie (the marvelous ice skater of the '30s and '40s for those of you who don't recognize her name!). You wanted to do all sorts of fancy twirls and intricate steps and movements and after you had skated around the rink a few times, well you just had to try to be Niagara Falls' next Sonja Henie! As a result you managed to find yourself sprawled out in the middle of the floor feeling a bit foolish. But the organ music is what I remember most about Dexter's. At times it was lively and at times it was soft and romantic. When it was romantic I envied the couples who skated arm and arm gliding around the rink. How I envied them. Oh to skate like they were skating-it was like dancing. But then I was only around ten years old. It was all that I could do to put one foot in front of the other and get around the rink without falling down. But do you know what? I'd love to hear the organ music that was played at Dexter's Roller Skating Rink again and picture myself either twirling around like Sonja Henie or being on the arm of a handsome boy and just gliding romantically around the rink to the wonderful songs that the organ played in the 1940s. Just another memory, vee

Thanks so much Vee, for the information on the Patriot War and the Caroline. I should have consulted my notes instead of my memory! The statement that was given to me by the Niagara Co. Historian's Office is: "Jacob Frantz of Akron Road took up arms against the British in the Steamer Caroline Incident." There was no further source. I had read about the Caroline being sent over the Falls in a book about the Great Lakes but am glad to get the whole picture. Jacob was about 17 years old at this time and no doubt was eager for adventure. How I would love to know his story! Thank you again, Suzanne Frantz St. Clair, Michigan

The following was taken from "History of Northwestern New York . . ." by Horton, Williams & Douglas, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., NY, 1947, Vol. II, pg. 52 Note: Navy Island is in the west branch of the Niagara River, about a mile above the entrance to Chippewa Creek in Canada. It is now owned by Canada. THE PATRIOTS' WAR OF 1837 Navy Island was . . . made famous by the Mackenzie Rebellion, or Patriots' War of 1837. William Lyon Mackenzie was a "public-spirited agitator" who had long complained of the political abuses that then existed in Canada. He was a strenuous advocate of Responsible Government and bitterly opposed to the Family Compact system of government that prevailed at the time. Thousands of United States Loyalists realized the abuses and were in accord with Mackenzie, but when it came to taking up arms many were alienated. That was in a day when criticism of the government amounted to libel. However, he went ahead, escaped to Buffalo and gathered a large following, got supplies, and took possession of Navy Island. It was inhabited by one old woman and her daughter who were given a temporary home on Grand Island. From here the Patriots planned to invade Canada. Captain Ussher whose farm lay opposite Navy Island was very active and was assassinated at his home. Boats were badly needed so, the sleighing being good, they soon arrived from various points. However, American military authorities intervened and insisted upon the return of the field pieces taken from the Buffalo arsenal, and caused the Patriots to evacuate the island. They took possession December 13, 1837, and retired January 15, 1838. . . . THE CAROLINE INCIDENT The following is taken from "Souvenir History of Niagara County, New York," Pioneer Assoc. of Niagara County, 1902, pg. 16-17. In 1837, during the Canadian Patriot Rebellion, a small steamer, the "Caroline," claimed by her owners to be employed only in carrying sightseers to the patriot camp on Navy Island, but claimed by the Canadians to be carrying arms and ammunition to that camp, lay moored one night at the dock at Schlosser. At midnight on December 29 seven boatloads of British soldiers, crossing over from Chippewa, suddenly boarded her. Her crew and some strangers, who unable to obtain lodgings at the inn nearby, were sleeping on board, were quickly driven off by force. Her fastenings were cut and the attacking party entered their boats, attached a line to her and towed her across to the main channel of the river; then they set her on fire, and abandoned her to destruction, both by fire and the Falls. One man, Amos Durfee, had been killed in the attack. Such an invasion of our territory by an armed force aroused the indignation of the Frontier, of the state and of the Nation. The British Government assumed the full responsibility for the attack made by her militia, and it was only by that Government's apology that another war with her was averted.

Suzanne wrote: . . . >About 1842 Jacob C. married Maria Singer, . . . Can anyone tell me where the best place would be to look for her marriage > record or perhaps church record? Suzanne, that may be nearly impossible to find; however, your best bet would be to go to the Niagara County Historian's office and see what early church records they have or know about. >Jacob Frantz was also connected with the > Patriot War in Canada in 1837, where he was involved in setting fire to the > steamer Caroline and sending it over the Falls. Can anyone shed any light > on this incident? Just for you--and everyone else on the list--I transcribed what has been written about the Patriots' War in the old history books that I have and I'll follow this message with a brief description of what the whole situation was about. It was an obscure incident; however, it could have easily gotten out of hand to the point where we could have found our entire country again embroiled in a war against the British, not that many years after the War of 1812. vee.

Hello everyone, I will shortly be spending a couple days in Niagara County. I am researching the family of Jacob Christ Frantz, who was living on Akron Road, Lockport, around 1837, likely with his father Jacob and brother John C. Frantz. About 1842 Jacob C. married Maria Singer, whose father Simon Singer also lived in the Lockport area. Jacob and Maria had a farm in Royalton and the following children: Ezra, a soldier in the Civil War; Betsey Ann, who died in Royalton at age 16; William, who also died young; Abraham; George; Frank; Jesse and Mary. In 1866 Ezra relocated in St. Clair County, Michigan; his brothers and parents eventually followed (in stages) and were living in St. Clair County by 1880. All except for Mary. I assume she married in Niagara County and remained there. (She is not in the family burial plot in Dysinger Cemetery, Lockport.) Can anyone tell me where the best place would be to look for her marriage record or perhaps church record? Jacob Frantz was also connected with the Patriot War in Canada in 1837, where he was involved in setting fire to the steamer Caroline and sending it over the Falls. Can anyone shed any light on this incident? Thank you, Suzanne Frantz St. Clair MI

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=131 Surname: McWeeny, Ziegeweid, Scanlon, Boyle ------------------------- I have recently received an excerpt from The History of Buffalo and Pepin Counties, WI (publ 1919) regarding James McWeeny and family. His wife, Catherine Scanlon was from Oswego, NY. The book does not mention if James, Mary, Ellen, or Elizabeth spent time in Buffalo county, NY. Also included are his children and their places of residence--John-Chicago, Nellie-Chicago, Mary Ziegeweid-ND, Lizzie Boyle-Chicago, Patrick-Chicago, James-Indiana, Edward-WI, and Frank-WI.

Dear Group, I hope you don't mind my continuinng to post some of the childhood memories that I have of my early life in Niagara Falls. I know that it doesn't satisfy your need for details about your family history or help you in your research of your family. Nonetheless, I also know that recording such childhood memories are important to the history of Niagara Falls. I know that because I know that there is a drive going on to encourage "senior citizens" like me to sit down and give an oral history from our point of view. Well, there ain't no way that I could sit down in front of a tape recorder or a camcorder in the middle of the afternoon and just pour my heart out. No, it has to be at a time in the evening when I'm inspired to WRITE about a particular event in my life and my memories associated with it. And this evening I was inspired to write about Mr. Atkinson's Dancing Class. Back in the early 1940s in Niagara Falls I was a student of Mr. Atkinson's Dancing Class. Oh, what a privilege it was to be admitted into his school of ballroom dancing! Why was it a privilege? Well, one thing my parents had to be from the "right" part of town and had to have the money to afford it. And because my parents WEREN'T members of the Niagara Falls Country Club, I just squeaked by! (By the way, my family has always been pretty much "down home" people and the only reason we had the money was that my father worked his way through college and eventually became a successful electrochemical engineer here in Niagara Falls.) This evening I was thinking back to those dancing class days and the magic of them returned. There we were, youngsters who went to school together learning how to dance when we were in the sixth grade through the ninth grade-1943-1946. But it was more than just learning how to dance-it was learning very proper manners in a very proper social setting. And I don't know what I remember most, how awkward and shy I was, or how wonderful it was to really learn to DANCE and actually dance with a BOY! Every Friday evening, we would get dressed in our very best and take the IRC bus to the YWCA on Main Street where they had a "ballroom." Mr. Atkinson was a very proper gentleman and his dancing assistant was his red-haired daughter. Each week we would learn a new dance step and eventually we learned the entire spectrum from the whirling swirling Vienna waltz to the jitterbug, with the tango and rumba thrown in between. When Mr. Atkinson sensed that we had learned enough of the new dance step, it was time for the students to dance with each other. The girls always sat on one side of the room and the boys on the other. He then directed the boys to chose their partners and the boys would cross the room-NO running!-and properly ask the girl of his choice "for the pleasure of this dance." With that, the boy would properly bow slightly from the waist with his right hand held out and his left hand held behind his back. The lucky girl would demurely accept and off they would go dancing awkwardly together. After the students had spent the hour or so dancing to different melodies and rhythms, it was time to end the dance lesson. And that's when it was time for the finale. It was the Grand March. The girls would line up in a row on one side and the boys on the other and at the head of both columns would be Mr. Atkinson and the mother of one of the students. My memory is fading right now but I seem to remember that it was a bit of a convoluted exercise where at the end the boys and girls would end up arm in arm as couples and would say good night to the "host and hostess" and thank them for the very nice evening that they had. The girl would first hold out her skirt daintily and shake the hand of the hostess while curtsying and then do the same with the host. The boy would repeat the process as he bowed from the waist. That's what dancing lessons were all about in the 1940s in Niagara Falls. Now I know that this is now the year 2000 and I guess what I have written sounds like it must have happened 100 years ago. But I still remember the students of that dancing class and I met many of them again at the 50th class reunion of Niagara Falls High School last year. Yes, many of us are still alive! Among those awkward kids, Bob became a successful banker in Niagara Falls, Marshall was a great architect in Philadelphia, Richard is a renown doctor in Chicago, Bob a dentist, Willard ("Binxie") an attorney here in Niagara Falls, etc., and oh, I forgot, Irene is now the Mayor of Niagara Falls! Most of them remained in the "country club set." Me? Well, as I mentioned, my family always was pretty much "down home" and all that I accomplished was to serve thirty years in the Navy and eventually find that what I really want to do in my retirement years is to spend my time researching the genealogy of the families of this area and learning more about the history here. But I'll tell you what, if my knees could still hold up, I could give still give the MOST proper curtsy to the Queen of England herself! Hey, if there is anyone out there who would like to give me a whirl around the dance floor to a Vienna Waltz, just let me know! vee

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=130 Surname: CURRY ------------------------- CURRY, EDMUND J., b. July 4, 1846, Temple, County Clare, Ireland. Came to Lewiston, Niagara County, NY, at the age of 3. Additional information available on Edmund.

I am sorry but I lost the E-mail address for someone who requested info on the above family. Please E-Mail me at Mollbar@aol.com. Barbara