Very interesting! You really point out the importance of looking at maps. Sometimes we just assume that a town in another county is far away, when it is just spitting distance away! The information you provide about the context of the geography and economy of the area is very clarifying. Thanks! Cindy -----Original Message----- From: PMaeveReed@aol.com [mailto:PMaeveReed@aol.com] Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2006 5:11 PM To: asr141@copper.net Subject: Re: Lucy Jane Roblee/ Notes on Cindy's notes/AHA! Aha! My Cross relatives were attracted to the area (like so many others) by the money to be made in the lumber business. They chopped the trees down all winter and when the ice in the lakes and Hudson River went out in the spring, away went the felled logs on the high water down the river to the lumber mills in North Creek, Glens Falls and eventually, possibly, New York City. Logging continued into the last century and my father and grandfather worked on the "river drives". What does this have to do with the price of tea in China, you ask? The township of Minerva and Essex County begins on the opposite bank of the Hudson River and the town of Johnsburg was on the other where the Roblees and Crosses owned their piece of land. Present day Route 28 runs along the Hudson and turns away from the river just north of the hamlet of North River. In North Creek as well as in North River, people lived on both sides of the river then, in the townships of Johnsburg, Warren County and Minerva, Essex County, but all lived in North River (or in North Creek where the same situation existed). This was not a big issue at the time, there being no good roads to speak of on either side until later on and no great taxation differentials. Today many of the homes that used to be accessible only by water across the river, have fallen in and been abandoned in favor of homes on the Town of Johnsburg side. There is also a tantalizing tale of a "lost cemetery" that was on the other side. Also at this juncture of the road and river, Hamilton County starts (and the township of Indian Lake), on the Johnsburg side at least. I'd have to check the map and see if the river bisects that county or if Essex continues on the opposite shore. Might someone's verbal history have confused the name "Hamilton" with "Harlem"? I don't think it would be a waste of time to check for any missing relatives in Essex County or Hamilton County cemeteries and records although Johnsburg was where we tend to think the main action was. My Cross relatives came down from Essex County, further up near Lake Champlain by way of Vermont so it's possible. Happy Hunting! Phyllis Reed