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This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: penjean472q Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.tompkins/1680.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: I am searching for the father (Henry) of Henry Quick. Henry married Fanny Henry Trumansburg. In 1850, they were in the Enfield Census. Is this your Henry? jonesbarbj@aol.com Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: ctb10 Surnames: WOODWARD, PECK Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.tompkins/326.2/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Hi Bobbi, I visited Hector Presbyterian Church Cemetery this summer and there were many WOODWARDs there. John 1784-1848; Sarah 1785-1862; Benjamin 1816-1836; John 1813-1865 all born England. John 2 married Mary (Polly) PECK 1816-1864. Have you sorted them out? Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: ctb10 Surnames: WOODWARD, PECK Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.tompkins/326.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Hi Bobbi, I visited Hector Presbyterian Church Cemetery this summer and there were many WOODWARDs there. John 1784-1848; Sarah 1785-1862; Benjamin 1816-1836; John 1813-1865 all born England. John 2 married Mary (Polly) PECK 1816-1864. Have you sorted them out? Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: ctb10 Surnames: WAGER, KIRTLAND, HALL Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.tompkins/2411.2.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Hello, I too am interested in these WAGERs of Hector NY. Elias B's first wife was Margaret Amelia KIRTLAND (1817-bef 1850). They had a dau. Frances A b. abt 1840 who married Jerome B HALL. They had just one dau. Ida who d. 1 Dec 1877 age 13 and that was the end of that line. Did Elias and his second wife have children? Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

I'm searching for information on Thurber Avery and his wife Jessie. Thurber died July 11,1989 and is buried in Woodland Cemetery. The couple were living in Ithaca in 1930. That's the extent of my information. I'm hoping for an obit. Any info or suggestions would be very welcome. Regards, Virginia

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: wjbrownell Surnames: Brownell Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.tompkins/740.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Hi. Nelson Brownell was my uncle. He died in 1968. I would be glad to share what information I have on the family. I am trying to trace the Brownell ancestors. John Brownell Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: LandonCanida Surnames: WRIGHT Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.tompkins/5089.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Thanks for the info, I've already checked those out. I've been fortunate enough to have been contacted by some Wright cousins of mine who are helping me to find out this info. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

*http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~springport/pictures214/21452.html* * Courtney and Cornell Rowing* By Charles Van Patten Young Ithaca, NY Cornell Publications Printing Co. 1923 CHAPTER I EARLY DAYS Charles E. Courtney was born on November 13, 1849, at Union Springs, New York, a quaint village near the northern end of Cayuga Lake. His father, James Thomas Courtney, was a landscape gardener, a hard-working, frugal man, with a large family of seven children; not so large for those days, however, as it would be today. He had brought his family from Salem, Massachusetts, nine years before, traveling in a packet, a mode of travel then much in vogue. Charles was the next to the youngest child, and was but six years of age when his father died, so that his only recollection of his father was that of a big, burly, good-natured man of deep voice and rough exterior, who would carry him down the road on his back or romp with him and his older brothers after the evening meal had been eaten and the dishes put away in the large, old-fashioned cupboard, the most prominent piece of furniture in the house. Near the house, but farther back from the road, stood an old Quaker meeting-house, which was of perennial interest to the children, who never grew tired of watching, and at times imitating, the solemn-faced Quakers stalking in through the open door. At times they even ventured, in the growing dusk of evening, to tiptoe up to the door and peek in, or even climb up on the window ledge. If rebuked for this, the boys would hie them down to the lake shore, less than a stone's throw distant, and amuse themselves until, after a patient but vain waiting for the stirring of the spirit, the silent throng rose and dispersed as silently as they had come. Strange to relate, Union Springs was at that time the most noted place in the State for pleasure and racing yachts, and from his earliest boyhood, Charles was about the water, climbing into skiffs that might be lying by the dock, falling overboard 12 COURTNEY AND CORNELL ROWING and being fished out by some chance on-looker, and even, as he grew older, rowing one of the rich "sports" out to his anchored craft. There was a great strife on between the Springs and Aurora as to which could build or impress into service the fleeter yacht. The old residents will even to this day talk about the race between the Cayuga Chief and the Flying Cloud, in which the Cayuga Chief fouled a buoy and was declared loser. No one in Union Springs, however, would ever yield supremacy to the Aurora craft. Later when the Island Queen followed the Cayuga Chief, and defeated in turn the Ashland of New York, and the Mohawk Belle of Geneva and the Algonquin of Seneca, the whole countryside went wild. Although the struggle was kept up for thirty years or more, interest never flagged, so that love for boating was bred into every boy's bones. "Why, I can well remember now at sixty-five years/' Court-ney said in speaking of those days, "how we used to run away from school to help the boys put black lead on the bottoms of the boats and polish 'em up. Even at an earlier date, when I was about six years of age, I was the proudest boy in the Springs. One of the boats had just been completed but would not slide off the ways. Finally one of the workmen caught me up and tossed me aboard, and with the additional weight she slid gracefully into the water and I was the hero of the hour. When I was seven I could row a boat and go anywhere on the water, and we had races between boys about every evening after school. "When I was about twelve years old, I decided that it was about time to build a boat of my own. I got hold of a twelve-foot plank for the bottom, which I cut all around with an axe, canoe-shape, and then I took two hemlock boards for the sides, which I endeavored to nail to the plank and fasten at the ends, at the same time plastering up all the chinks with yellow clay. It was wonderful to look at, but the water would force off the clay in no time, in spite of all I could do, and then down she would go. We had great fun racing in her, however," he added reflectively, "the conditions of the race being to see who could 13 COURTNEY AND CORNELL ROWING go around a stick about fifty feet out in the lake and back again before the craft would sink. That was one race that no one ever won. "When I was about the age of fourteen, I had my first chance at sailing a boat. Captain John Carr was my tutor, and there wasn't anything about sailing a boat that he didn't know. He was born and raised on the lake shore and had been a fisherman and sailor all his life. In a short time I got so I could handle the boat to his satisfaction, and then he would take me out into the lake a considerable distance, crawl into a floating battery, or sink-box, he had devised, and after carefully placing a hundred or a hundred and fifty decoys in a strategic position, he would send me off with the sail-boat to scare up the ducks. That sink-box, by the way, was quite a unique affair, having the usual platform with a box-like depression large enough to conceal the hunter, but also with canvas wings extending out on all sides to break the swell of the waves. "I remember one day in particular, as we were returning from one of these trips in which John had bagged as many ducks as the two of us could comfortably carry, I espied some ducks not far out from what we called the cribbing. John was an excellent shot, in spite of the fact that he wore the large, old-fashioned spectacles common in those days. Well, I played a little joke on him. In the excitement of the moment, and while getting his gun ready for action, his spectacles were knocked off. I picked them up, slyly removed the lenses, and held them until he was ready for them. 'Wait until I put on my spy-glasses,'— he always called them 'spy-glasses'—and after fumbling with them for a moment, always intently watching the ducks, he gravely adjusted the rims. 'Yes,' he said, 'They're canvas backs, and no mistake.' I said, 'Are you sure those glasses are a great help to you?' 'Yes,' he replied, 'I couldn't hit that house yonder without them,' and just then, as the ducks started off, he blazed away and dropped three of them. Without saying a word, I stooped over and pretended to pick something up from the ground, and then I asked, holding up the lenses, 'Why, where did these come from?' His face was a study for a moment, 14 COURTNEY AND CORNELL ROWING and then he turned a half-quizzical, half-angry look at me and muttered, 'You durned little fool—you never did know anything!' The joke was too good to keep, and it wasn't long before the whole village was laughing at old John." About this time Charley and a chum, Billy Cozzens, by name, decided to have a boat of their own. Billy had got hold of a magazine article describing McGregor's trip through England, Scotland, and various parts of Europe in a craft which was only twenty-four inches wide, nine inches deep, and sixteen feet long, which was called the Rob Roy. That was the kind of boat they started out to build with no other tools than a buck-saw, a hammer, and a smooth plane, with no lumber, or money wherewith to buy it, and not a great deal of experience. The lumber was soon acquired in one way or another,—just how need not be told here, although no one was ever the wiser—and they set to work. The boat was finally built, and if their words are to be believed, she was a beauty. Both of the boys were natural mechanics, and while following the dimensions of the other boat, added some features of their own, the most noticeable one being a red and white cedar deck. They decided not to take her on the lake at first, but to show her off down at Howland's mill-pond, which was a common rendezvous for the boys of the vicinity. When some of the older men saw the boat which the boys were carrying, they shook their heads and said the boys had built themselves a coflin. No one had ever seen such a narrow craft, but soon every one was taking a turn in her, each trying to make the circuit of the pond with a double-bladed paddle in the shortest possible time. This second Rob Roy did a yeoman's service on that pond, until finally she was called upon to play a more worthy part. In spite of the fact that when his father died he left a large family in poor circumstances, Charley and the rest of the children were kept at school. Although it meant hard work for the mother, they all managed to get more than the average education, finishing in the high school if not graduating. Charley was large and strong for his age, so that is it not to be wondered 15 COURTNEY AND CORNELL ROWING at that, with his interest in boating and his assisting his old friends Carr and others in their boat-building operations, it was decided that he should be a carpenter. He left school to start out to learn the trade with Jerry Jaquith, and later worked with Emmet Anthony, a budding architect, with whom he planned and built several houses and a small church, until Anthony went to Denver to live. Then Charley went into the carpentry business with the only brother still at home, under the name of the Courtney Brothers. His oldest brother had gone to California in the spring of 1861, and the next brother entered the Civil War and starved to death in Libby Prison. The Courtney Brothers did a substantial, if not a highly remunerative business and were known throughout the countryside as splendid fellows to deal with. Apparently Charley was to be a carpenter all his life, but one never knows what apparently insignificant events or incidents may affect the whole course of a life. CHAPTER II COURTNEY WINS HlS FlRST RACE Even while building houses he was accustomed in the evening and at other odd moments to paddle around in the old Rob Roy which he and Cozzens had built. One evening, while these two were sitting in the back room of the Post Office, talking about nothing in particular, one of their acquaintances, Noyes Collins by name, walked in and sat down, remarking as he did so, "Say, Charley, I saw in the papers today that they have made a boat out of paper, twelve inches wide and thirty feet long." Charley replied, "Noyes, they must be crazy," and they all laughed at the idea. "But anyway, it's so," Noyes added, "and a fellow named Tyler is going to row a race in her, if any one will compete with him." Then Cozzens said, "Charley, let's put oars on our boat; we can find some lumber right here in Union Springs and make them ourselves." No sooner said than done, and a few days after the oars had been completed and tried out, notice came that a single scull race was advertised to take place at Aurora on a certain date. Captain Angel brought the news and at the same time suggested to Charley that he might take the little boat he and Cozzens built and go in. He said Mr. Morgan of Aurora had asked him if there was anybody at the Springs who could row in a boat, and he had replied that Charley Courtney had built a small boat in which he had recently put oars, and that he would try and persuade him to enter. Everybody at once took it up and all were determined that he should go in; and so, says Charley, "I finally consented to go, as I thought the Rob Roy, with her new oars, was about the finest and swiftest boat in the world. The big boats and yachts all went ahead, and I took the little craft in the steamer the next morning. Shall I ever forget the expression on the boys' 17 COURTNEY AND CORNELL ROWING faces when I met them on the dock at Aurora? Collins had a face about a mile long, and he exclaimed to me in a hoarse whisper, 'My God, there's two men here with those shell boats, and you never saw such freakish-looking crafts in your life!' "You have hard of people's hearts going down into their boots. When I went over into the storehouse with Collins, and saw those boats like two bars of polished steel—twelve inches wide and finished as beautifully as a piano body, I said, 'Let's go and cover my boat up!' I had taken her from the steamer and put her out on Captain Angel's sail-boat, and she was quite a curiosity to the crowd,—a home-made craft in every sense of the word. Some city youths were standing around her, poking each other in the ribs, and giving sly winks, and I was just as ashamed of her as I could be. She weighed at least eighty pounds, which was probably twenty pounds more than the other two put together. "Well the race was called at about three o'clock in the afternoon. The excitement was up to fever heat. Those two racing shells from New York were a complete surprise to everybody. As for me, I don't suppose I shall ever be able to describe the feelings and sensations that came over me when I took my position between them. There were looks of pity in the faces of my friends; they wanted to see me win, of course, but no one thought I had the ghost of a show. W. H. Bogart, of Aurora, started the race, and when I sat there waiting for the word, I realized that I was in a boat and I was out there to pull as I had never pulled before. "But if those shell boats were a surprise, that race was a bigger one. Of course, my opponents were no good as oarsmen, or I never could have beaten them, but I just literally ran away from them. Much to their disgust and to the delight of the crowd, I crossed the line when they were still desperately trudging along somewhere down the course, and my first race was won. I think more of the little cup that was given to me as the prize on that occasion than any prize I have ever won. 18 COURTNEY AND CORNELL ROWING "That was in August, '68, and it marked the first real outbreak of rowing at the Springs. After that we had local races every year. The first time I ever saw a man in a boat who could really row was at Buffalo on July 4th, 1870. I had heard that there was going to be a shell boatrace up there, and busy as we were at house-building, I couldn't resist the temptation to go and see it. The race was between Harry Coulter, a famous professional, and Bob Berry, of Toronto, over a two-mile course with a turn at the end of the mile. The time of the winner was 15:15. As I had been covering a similar course in almost two minutes, less time, I went back home convinced for the first time that I could row. Nothing would do then but that I must have a shell; and not long afterward an opportunity presented itself for purchasing at Geneva a lap-streak boat, twenty-three feet long and nineteen inches wide. In this I rowed my second race of note at Syracuse in 1873 (June 25), when I defeated two entries from New York, Charles Smith and William Bishop, by something like a quarter of a mile over a three-mile course." CHAPTER III His First Visit To Cornell University IT was the year before this that Charles Courtney first saw Cornell University. While he went up as the stroke of the Springport four-oared crew to take part in their first regatta, he was curious to see this "Godless institution" about which so much had been written in the papers of the State. His descriptions of the Campus is interesting. "It was just after a thaw," he said, "and before all the snow had disappeared. After climbing the steep hill, and wading through mud in places up to my ankles, I came to the college dormitory, which appeared to me to be a very imposing building. Then I crossed an old, rickety bridge and came upon the Campus, although it didn't look much like a campus then. Pools of water, a result of the recent thaw, and through which I was obliged to wade, were standing in various places. Walks and carriage-ways were in no wise numerous. A sort of drive, which apparently had engineered itself, stretched across what to me had the appearance of being a converted pasture rather than a campus, as I had thought of it. A sidewalk of boards straggled along toward the buildings in the distance. It had no foundation and consequently its planks shook and tottered, and in places where no central plank had been laid, the gravel had been washed out and the walking was even more precarious. In some places along the walk the snow still lingered in drifts. Floundering along, I finally came to the South Building, and strolling beyond it I suddenly became conscious of experiencing the sensations of a man in a deep gravel pit. There was a gravel bank to the right and a gravel bank to the left, and at irregular intervals were deep holes, some of them excavations for sand, some natural depressions, and some that were apparently ditches for the laying of pipes. Lying all around was a lot of rotting timber, broken slate, and fragments of stone, and as I went on I ran into several cows straying from the barns not far away. My first impression of the University was anything but inspiring; but the next 20 COURTNEY AND CORNELL ROWING year when I returned, a great deal of the building debris had been cleared away, the Sage Building was practically completed, and I began to feel that after all Cornell was going to be something." The regatta for which he had made this first trip to Ithaca was held in the afternoon, and to use the words of the sporting writer of The Cornell Era of a later day, "Charley Courtney was the stroke of that memorable crew, and that explains what follows. The Cornell crew was stroked by Dole, the trainer who had been secured to prepare a crew for the Intercollegiate Regatta, with Button, Goldsmith, and Bean the other members. The boat used by the University crew was named The Buffalo, and was supposed to be quite a triumph of the boat-builder's art, while the boat used by the other crew, The Sam Weller, was thirty or forty inches wide and loomed up like a canal-boat. She had been specially selected for the Springport crew because it was thought no four men could bail her out and at the same time propel her fast enough to win a race. No wonder that as that 'big four' came sweeping in ahead of our boys, we stared at them in silent wonder. The second race was for single scullers and we had only one, Jack Elseffer, but he had not lost a race, or even been hard-pressed in the tryouts. s His antagonist was— Charley Courtney. Poor Jack rowed as if his life were at stake, and he evidently thought there was a chance for him to win, for he was never more than a few feet behind the other boat. In the following years, when Charley swept all the amateur scullers before him, we understood better why it was that Jack could not overcome that exasperating lead." CHAPTER IV He Acquires A Racing Shell Shortly after his Syracuse race in '73, Charley was invited to go to Saratoga for their big regatta in September, and for this event he had to have a racing shell. The young man was working for a dollar a day and paying board out of that wage, and while the "high cost of living" was not at that time an acute problem at Union Springs, it was no easy matter to raise one hundred and twenty-six dollars. Friends chipped in, however, Dr. Fordyce, the genial old village doctor, generously helped to make up the balance, and Charley became the proud possessor of a real "honest to goodness" racing shell, twelve inches wide, thirty feet long, and weighing only thirty pounds. What a beauty she was! And many an evening, after the day's work was over, a crowd would collect on the dock to watch her go skimming through the water, propelled by the strong arms and stout heart of her owner. Finally the time for the race approached and, to take up Charley's own account: "I left for Saratoga with fifteen dollars in my pocket, which, I reckoned, ought to pay my board for at least three weeks. Upon my arrival, I went at once to the Grand Union Hotel, which I had heard about through a friend from Union Springs who was employed there. When I went to the desk and asked the clerk about the price of board, he told me three dollars and a half a day; I nearly dropped. However, I went into the dining-room and I was never so scared in my life. I had never been as far away from home, and I felt so awkward and green that I imagined every one was looking at me; I simply couldn't eat, hungry as I was. If I reached for a fork, I stuck my fingers into the butter, the soup was so hot I burned my tongue, and in reaching for a glass of water I knocked over the celery dish and things were a mess. The waiter glared at me. I thought the best thing for me to do was to bolt; so out I rushed, feeling that I had made myself a laughing stock. I walked along the lake and, about the time I cooled down, came to Moon's Hotel. That looked good to me and in I went. There 22 COURTNEY AND CORNELL ROWING I met an old friend, John Morrissey, who immediately took me under his wing. He introduced me to Mr. Moon, and we sat down at the family table; and while Morrissey told us about his history and his early training, I ate. I shall never forget that dinner—biscuit, brook trout, black bass, partridge,—everything that was good, and I was so interested in the conversation that I never noticed until afterwards that the others had long finished and were just watching me eat. "Well, in a few days I got a little more used to things, and was soon busy practicing for the race. When I wasn't rowing, I was out back of the boathouse lying in the grass, as I didn't like to be stared at as one fresh from the country. At first I didn't feel comfortable with only fifteen dollars in my pocket, but when I plucked up courage one day and told Mr. Moon how much money I had and wondered whether that would see me through the eight days before the race, he just laughed, and guessed it would be enough. After that I slept better. There were twelve other entries besides myself, and while there were very few who thought enough of my chances to bet any money on me, I knew I could win, and wrote the folks home so. It was a beautiful day on which the race was rowed, and it must have been a great sight to see those thirteen men in line and thirteen pairs of oars flash in the sunlight. "When I think back over it all, I have to smile at some of the funny things that occurred. I was pretty nervous at the start and I started out to row as if it were a hundred-yard sprint. My boat went ahead so fast that spectators began to yell, 'Whoa! Whoa!' and I could hear them laugh, but I thought they were making fun of me and rowed all the harder. When I got down to Ramsdall's Point I was so far ahead that a young man, who had a lady in a boat with him, asked me if I wouldn't stop and take a drink of lemonade. 'You have time enough/ he said, but of course I rowed all the harder. I won in 14:15, which was one minute faster than Josh Ward's professional record, and they all thought it was a wonderful performance; but even at that I felt I had a little up my sleeve in reserve had I been pushed. COURTNEY AND CORNELL ROWING 23 "After the race I went up to pay my board, and asked what the bill was. 'Well, young man/ said Mr. Moon, 'come with me into the sitting-room and we'll settle up.' We went in and he sat down at a table and pulled out a roll of bills and counted them out. 'There!' he said, 'I won three hundred dollars on this race—you take half of it.' He insisted upon my taking the money, and he didn't charge me a cent for board besides, and then he hitched up his horses and took me and my boat back to Saratoga. Then James H. Brister, of Union Springs, came to my room, and said he had placed a little on the race, and as I had done all the work I ought to have a share in the result. He had won six hundred dollars and gave me half of it. I felt like a Rothschild. I never had so much money before. I left Saratoga with $450 in my pocket, besides the fifteen dollars I had brought, and I tell you I never let go of that money—kept it right in my hand until I got home. Mother was glad I had won, and the money helped; but she had opposed my going from the start. She was afraid it might lead me to on other races, and it did; for in the next few years I rowed eighty-eight races in all—and never lost a race." CHAPTER V courtney turns professional >From the time that Charley turned professional in 1877 his troubles began and he always referred to that action with regret. "I was a fool to do it," he said, "but I was led into it,—urged on by my friends against my better judgment." He had up to this time maintained his wonderful strength and physique. He had shown no evidence of overwork or physical strain; but Dr. VanCleve of Watkins warned him that he had trained to a point where nature would soon begin to assert her rights. This, however, did not check him, so intoxicated with success was he. At Saratoga, with Frank Yates as a partner, he had rowed the fastest race for two miles ever rowed in this or any other country. The record, 12:16, stands today. At Aurora, in a single scull, against a double scull, he had rowed two miles in 13:14, the best time on record for a turning race, and in practice he had rowed a mile in six minutes, and a mile and a half in nine minutes. He thought that even if he did go in for professional rowing, it would only be for a short time, and he could stop at any time; but he found that it was not so. The first time he was ever beaten was by Ned Hanlan at Lachine, in 1878; but the race was so close and there was so much dispute as to which was the better oarsman, that finally, after a great deal of newspaper talk and criticism, papers were signed for another race, to be rowed over a five-mile course, with turn, on Chautauqua Lake, on October 8th, 1879. That race never came off, because on the morning of the 8th it was discovered that Charley's shell had been sawed in two. Charles S. Francis, a lifelong friend, editor of The Troy Times, and later Ambassador to Austria under President Taft's administration, describes what follows: "It seems as if never since the firing on Fort Sumter did an event so arouse the anger of the American people. In every city, village, and hamlet, wherever a telegraph wire or a newspaper penetrated, the storm of indignation raged. And, not strange at all to relate, but perfectly natural, as has always been the case from time immemorial, the majority did 25 COURTNEY AND CORNELL ROWING not place the blame where it belonged, but in their blind and unreasonable anger, accused Courtney of sawing his own boat, the last man on earth who would have done such a thing. His whole racing career, from the time he won his first silver cup at Aurora, had been without a breath of suspicion and without reproach. He never touched a drop of liquor, he did not use tobacco, he did not gamble, he knew no fast companions. He was the same upright, honest country boy that he was when he first went to Saratoga with but fifteen dollars in his pocket. Success had not turned his head, and feeling that he had not been decisively beaten, if at all, at Lachine, he was ready to try again. He was in perfect condition for the race and felt confident of winning. "What happened? Hanlan, whose convivial habits were well known, had been out the day before. He had listened to the voice of the charmer and apparently had forgotten all about the race. His friends and backers became alarmed. A conference was held with Courtney that same night, and efforts were made to postpone the race. When these failed, the entire prize of $6,000 was offered him if he would consent to make the race a draw. The reply was characteristic of the man. 'Gentlemen/ he said, 'the race will be rowed tomorrow, and whoever wins it will have to row for it!' A suspicion of foul play never entered his head; but before the morrow dawned, those whose bribe had been spurned were avenged, whether through their own or the machinations of others will never be known." So much by way of explanation. Whatever be the truth of that much discussed event, and whoever was responsible for the dastardly deed, it is the one event in Charles E. Courtney's life that threw a shadow over his otherwise clear and sunny sky. He bore the burden all his life, and if ever a man's actions and attitude, both preceding and following the incident, belied insinuations and accusations, which it need hardly be said were never credited for a moment by those who knew him intimately, it certainly can be said that he lived them down He was so amazed and absolutely thunderstruck by the storm of abuse and vituperation that swept over him that he never 26 COURTNEY AND CORNELL ROWING even raised a voice of protest, and in his later years he was always entirely willing to rest upon his record for vindication. Whenever in the course of his long and busy life the matter was broached with some heat now and again by one of his friends, he always waved him aside with, "Never mind, my boy; it will all come out right in the end." Whatever arguments may be brought forward in exculpation of this particular instance, however, there can be no question that Courtney's career as a professional oarsman was marred by untoward incidents and accidents which gave some ground for the suspicion under which he fell. The probable explanation for some of the actions of which he was guilty during this period was that he not only became intoxicated with success, as he himself intimated, but was early seized upon by professional gamblers, who took advantage of his inexperience and callowness and used him for their own ends. In any case no one more bitterly lamented the mistakes of his professional career than did Courtney himself; and it can be said to his credit that from that time to the day of his death suspicion never in any shape or form attached itself to him. In all his private dealings he was the soul of honor, a genial, good-natured, hard-working, serious-minded man, who in spite of the mistakes of earlier life so far succeeded in impressing his personality and character upon many succeeding generations of students that his name came to be the synonym for straight-forward, rugged honesty. CHAPTER VI early athletics at cornell COURTNEY'S career as a trainer began in '75 with a class of young ladies from the Seminary at Union Springs. For several years he spent many an hour patiently instilling in their minds some of the rudiments of rowing. Every now and then, too, he repeated his early visit to Ithaca, viewing with increasing interest the growth of the University and the enthusiasm manifested by the students in rowing matters. When John Ostrom's varsity six defeated an improvised but matured crew which he took down to give them practice, he was as pleased as were the college boys themselves, and he predicted great things for the crew—which, it may be mentioned, were afterwards realized. Ostrom, partly as a result of his own independent and clear-headed deductions, but partly as a result of observing the stroke of the Union Springs champion, had hit upon a stroke with the same sharp, hard catch, and the same quick start on the recovery, which has always been so characteristic of the "Courtney stroke." Courtney once said that if John Ostrom, the "Old Man" of the early days, had only stayed on a few years until he took up the thread in '83, Cornell crews would have been propelled by one continuous stroke throughout their history, with the possible exception of '84, when he was busy with his professional rowing and John Teemer was the coach. In speaking of these early days, and the character of the students and their activities, many anecdotes, more or less humorous, have been elicited from the "Old Man." "Particularly was I impressed," he said when he was in one of his more communicative moods, "with the rugged character of the students of that early period. On two occasions I almost took an involuntary part in what they called a 'cane rush.' The first rush occurred down town when I was standing in front of the old Clinton House in the early fall. A student, evidently a freshman, suddenly appeared from somewhere bearing a cane. This seemed to be the signal to a lot of sophomores in the 28 COURTNEY AND CORNELL ROWING neighborhood, and a spirited rush ensued then and there, the crowd surging from one side of the street to the other, until the cane was reduced to a condition in which it was not a cane. That ended the rush for that time, except that the sophs got hold of and broke up a few more canes which were put into the hands of freshmen by some interested juniors. "The second occasion was a much more pretentious affair and occurred on the Campus, where I had gone to look up some boating official. Entering one of the recitation rooms by mistake, I found myself in the midst of an excited group of freshmen, and I stayed by to see the fun. Someone brought in a plug hat and a stout hickory cane, which excited intense enthusiasm. Each freshman submitted to being chalked fore and aft for the purpose of recognition, and the class then descended to the sophomores below, who had been keeping up lively expectations by yells and bowlings, and who were prepared to receive them with open arms. No more impressive sight was ever witnessed than those young men descending to battle with their implacable foes, for the grand right to the pursuit of happiness in wearing plug hats and swinging little canes. The collision took place on the outside steps, and thence the conflict raged up and down the Campus, back and forth, to and fro, with a duration and severity unequaled, as I was told, by any preceding mob in the history of the institution. The pluck displayed by both classes was wonderful. In many cases, their clothes were torn entirely from their backs, yet still they fought. Finally the sophomores succeeded in getting the cane, and escaped with it into the building, whence they could not be dislodged. This practically ended the rush, and it was about time. All were in a most dilapidated state-a whole coat being a rare exception, while bloody noses and bare backs streaked with dirt formed a prominent feature of the scene. "In connection with this it might be said that the game of football as played in those days was not much more than an organized form of rushing. The first games were played between the military companies A and B, and C and D, into which the students were formed. There were forty men on a side and the object was to force the ball between two trees which served to 29 COURTNEY AND CORNELL ROWING mark the goal line. The side first securing three goals would win the match. I saw the first class match between the freshmen and sophomores, although the game was not decided on the day that it commenced. The sophs had two goals, but the third run was carried into the evening, and it was only after two balls had been used up, after the umpires and referees had left the field after vain attempts to call off the sides, and after a freshman had had two ribs broken and was rendered unconscious, that the game was called off by both parties in sheer despair and exhaustion. "I remember also the excitement which prevailed among the students in the fall of '73 upon the receipt of a challenge to a football game from thirty men chosen from the University of Michigan. The game was to be played at Cleveland, and forty men were selected and put to work with the view of picking a team. A set of rules was drawn up which it was thought would agree in most particulars with the game as played elsewhere, and a copy was sent to Michigan. All that remained was to collect the money for expenses, and secure Faculty approval, both of which it was thought would be forthcoming. Great was the disappointment and howling when the Faculty refused, as President White expressed it, "to let forty men go four hundred miles just to agitate a bag of wind." His further statement that football as then played was not a game of skill caused heated argument, but I think that the students themselves before many years came to recognize that while it was an excellent test of class muscle, it took low rank as a scientific game, and could hardly be used as a form of intercollegiate competition. "I remember very well, too, some of the early baseball games played in a field belonging to Mr. Cornell, because there was not a level place of sufficient size available on the Campus. I was never much of a baseballist, but the game even then had come to resemble the modern game in many respects. One main difference, as I recall, was that the pitcher was forced to throw underhand instead of overhand, and it was no uncommon thing for a game to last three or four hours with a score in the fifties or sixties. In the old-fashioned game of my boyhood days a soft 30 COURTNEY AND CORNELL ROWING ball was used, and instead of cutting a man off at the bases, he was taken on the wing between the bases. The catcher thus was selected more for his accuracy in throwing than in catching. If a player could stop a ball with his shins and hit a man between the bases, he was pronounced a prodigy in baseball, and immediately installed as catcher. "The next important qualification in the game was hard hands and stiff fingers. If a man could shout vociferously and yell 'Gitty!' with gusto, he was immediately treated with a patronizing air and given a place on the nine. This player, when not otherwise engaged, was yelling regardless of anything in particular, such things as 'Donny!' 'Donny!' 'Climb!' 'Heave!' 'Hit!' 'Hold!' No one seemed to pay attention to him, and yet he seemed to be an important person in the game. Another important person was the umpire. His prerogative was unlimited. He decided arbitrarily all questions which arose, and even at times decided the game before it commenced. Any appeal from his decisions was considered bad form, especially as he usually carried a club to enforce his decisions. The pitcher was a funny man. He usually covered the ball with sand, rolled it around in his hands, gazed fondly upon it, rubbed his left hand upon his trousers, gazed intently for a few seconds in a certain direction, and then suddenly wheeled and threw the ball in an opposite direction at a baseman. If the latter caught the ball, the runner tumbled on the base, and then all eyes turned toward the umpire. If the umpire said 'Out!' the man who tumbled down got up and walked with a swagger, which if artistically done, elicited applause from the crowd. If the umpire said 'Safe!' the tumbler got up, brushed off his clothes, walked three steps from the base, and assumed a position which is often seen in pictures of devils welcoming sinners into Hades, while the baseman shook his fists, threw down the ball, and swore. Thus the game continued until everyone was tired, when they all rushed to the umpire, who shouted something which nobody understood. Then they all commenced to shout, apparently trying to settle the game by their abilities as bawlers. At least that is how the game often looked to me as a boy; but of course it is a very different game now."

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: Pinebury Surnames: Lanning, Rolfe, Queal, Cronk, Wakeley Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.tompkins/5129/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Warren Rolfe Lanning was born in 1847 to Thomas Jefferson Lanning and Susannah Rolfe(daughter of Rueben Rolfe & Hannah Queal). Warren married Jeanette(Nettie)Cronk, daughter of Henry Cronk and Liza Melissa Wakeley. A tombstone for Jeanette Lanning is in the Rolfe cemetery & it says she died in 1920. The tombstone lists Warren R. but does not give his date of death. Does anyone have information on his death and the location of his death. Did he leave a will? In the 1930 census he is listed as living in Enfield, Tompkins County, NY along with his son, Bert. Warren is 82 and his son is 52yrs old. They are listed as boarders at the home of Della P. Hess. I have not been able to find anything further on Warren or Herbert(Bert). Any help would be greatly appreciated. Warren is my great grandfather. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: jn2tv4 Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.tompkins/5128/mb.ashx Message Board Post: If you are a descendant of a Rockford, Surry County North Carolina family, your help is needed by the Rockford preservation society. Please join their campaign to save and restore Rockford historical buildings. If your family roots connect with any Rockford family please register at rememberrockford.com. Thank you Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: coombedingle Surnames: Reynolds, Story, Wright, Aves Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.tompkins/2876.2.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Still trying to contact Susan Reynolds re-Thomas Reynolds and family in London. email.ryzak@hotmail.com Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: wovenroots Surnames: Haycook/Haycock, McFall Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.tompkins/384.1.2.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: What is your line from the Haycook's? Or are you descended from the McFall's? If so who? Provide more details on what you are interested in and will do what I can to help you. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: jemjee6060 Surnames: McFall Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.tompkins/384.1.2/mb.ashx Message Board Post: I am a descendent of this family. If possible could you send my any information? Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: 7495 Surnames: Barr, Byrne, Hills, Dolly Classification: obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.tompkins/5127/mb.ashx Message Board Post: WAYNE R. BARR SR. NEW HOLLAND, PA - Wayne R. Barr Sr. of New Holland, PA died October 12th, 2007 at home peacefully surrounded by his family after a courageous battle with cancer. He was born in Norwich, NY on February 13th, 1941. He was the son of the late Claude and Myra Carrie ( Hills) Barr. He is survived by his loving wife Patricia "Pat" B. (Byrne) Barr, to whom he was married 45 years. Together they raised four sons: Wayne, (Rita), Kevin (Susan), Brian (Leslie) and Trevor (Belinda). He is also survived by his nine grandchildren: Kaity, Lauren, Thomas, Taylor, Tyler, Nicole, Spencer, Connor and Kieran. Wayne also is survived by his sister Beverly Dolly of Sherburne NY, several nieces, nephews and cousins. A long time resident of Ithaca, NY, Wayne retired from the position of President after a 30 year career at Hi-Speed Checkweigher Co., Inc. Following his career at Hi-Speed, Wayne founded Wei-Pak, Inc. and 4B Manufacturing in Viera, FL, where he developed and patented various new packaging and inspection technologies as well as running a successful manufacturers representative business. He enjoyed his motor home and was a member of the Elks in Ithaca, NY. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, October 20th, 2007 at the Charles F. Snyder Jr. Funeral Home and Chapel, Inc, 3110 Lititz Pike, Lititz, PA. 17543, at 3PM. Friends may be received from 2PM until the time of service. The family would like to thank the Hospice of Lancaster County for their service and ask that anyone interested in making a memorial contribution do so to the organization at P.O. Box 4125, Lancaster, PA 17604-4125. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: cougar3008 Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.tompkins/46.125.140.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Hello Kay, My maiden name was Rolfe, Jonathan Rolfe and Susannah Ellison are my line. I have been looking for Susannah Ellison and her parents and sibs, can you share with me? What was her mother's name, I have Susannah Elverson, is this right? But nothing else. Thank you. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: tomherson Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.tompkins/5116.1.1.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Chickamoniny had been the name of the road the family farm was on before it was changed to Farrell Road. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: aurina Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.tompkins/5116.1.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: i did see on one census that their post office was ludlowville. they were farm children. i dont suppose this could have been the name of the farm? Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: tomherson Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.tompkins/5116.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: I found the reference to Chickahominy in essays that two ofMartin Farrell's grand-daughters wrote about "Growing Up in Lansing." Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.