Hi Everyone and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at this all metal curling iron or curling tong. This is from the late Victorian period, and was designed to curl your hair. Hair styles in the late Victorian period were voluminous, and curls were tres chic. But, if you weren’t born with naturally curly hair, you needed a way to remain in vogue, so, the curling iron or curling tongs were invented. Let’s learn a bit more about the history of curling irons, and women curling their hair.
Women and men have been curling their hair for thousands of years. In ancient Egypt, curling tongs have been found in serval tombs. In Greece, damp hair would be wrapped around smooth straight sticks in order to achieve the much desire cork screw curl. The Romans also liked their hair curly, but they decided to use heat to curl their hair. They used hollow metal rods, called calamistrum, which they would heat in a re, and then roll them in their hair. We don’t know much about women’s hair styles during the early Medieval period, but we know that curly hair continued to be fashionable throughout the Middle Ages. Women also used heated curling rods, copying Roman fashions. They would also braid their damp hair with scraps of fabric to achieve waves in their hair. Women in the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries also used hot rollers, scraps of fabric with damp hair, and early curling irons to keep their hair looking fashionably coiffed.
Frenchman Marcel Grateau is acknowledged as the official inventor of the curling tong. In 1872, Grateau revolutionized hair styling when he invented the “Marcel Wave” as alternative hairstyle to the long curls that were in trend at the time. The curling tong he invented, and used to create the “Marcel Wave,” still closely resembled the curling irons used by ancient civilizations. Over time, only the handles of curling tongs and the size of the metal barrel varied from one tool to another; handles would often be made of different types of wood, or more expensive models would have nickel-plated handles and oral embellishments. The curling tongs were designed to be heated over a gas burner. Now, this is incredibly dangerous for a multitude of reasons. You have open flames, a really hot piece of metal, and people not wearing heat protective gloves. There was also a very real risk of heating the tool up too much and burning your hair off, which happened, a lot! Women would try to take some protective measures, by wrapping the hair they were curling in paper first, but that didn’t prevent burning if the iron was too hot.
Thankfully today, we have electric curling irons, and most of them have temperature gauges. According to Redkin’s website, your curling iron should not exceed a temperature of 200 degrees, otherwise you might burn your hair. Our curling iron is in good condition, but none of us at the museum will be using it anytime soon. It is a fascinating glimpse into the lives of women in the late Victorian period, and we are so lucky to have it in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Hi Everyone, Happy 2024, and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at the honeymoon journal of Frances Henrietta Delord Webb. She wrote this journal while sailing across the Atlantic and traveling across Europe with her husband, Henry Webb. The journal begins with her departure from Plattsburgh in August of 1832. She and Henry then travel south to visit his family in Connecticut. They then headed to New York to board a vessel bound for the coast of France. Frances writes about the journey across in some detail. Here is an excerpt from her journal: “We have occasionally seen some of the productions of the deep – our attention has been called to the shouting of whales, and the playing of porpoises about the ship – I last evening witnessed quite a singular phenomena, the emitting as if it were sparks of fire in the wake of the vessel – it appeared something like riding through fire – how it is produced I am not philosopher enough to tell, but it strikes me it may be a sort of electricity.”
It seems like what Frances is discussing when describing “riding through fire” is what we today call bioluminescence. Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by living organisms. It is a form of chemiluminescence. Bioluminescence occurs widely in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some fungi, microorganisms including some bioluminescent bacteria, and terrestrial arthropods such as fireflies. She also describes hearing whales and seeing porpoises playing in the wake of their ship. The vessel they were on was called the Rhone, and was a sailing vessel. While the first steam vessel crossed the Atlantic in 1819, steam transport did not become commonplace until the 1840’s.
Frances’ next quote comes the following day, “Also among the deeds of yesterday we spoke a vessel bound for Quebec – there is something very pleasant in falling in with a vessel – like the passing of a compliment with a friend – Another day has passed over us finding ourselves in longitude 19 – latitude 48-23 – here sits my dear husband and myself driving our pens famously.”
This passage was a bit of a challenge. It took us a fair amount of time to try to locate the coordinates that Frances lists in her journal. After some calculations, we believe their ship was closing on the coast of France, but still had not passed Britain. The navigational system that the ships captain was using was called a chronometer, which were first developed for marine navigation, being used in conjunction with astronomical observation to determine longitude. By the time of their voyage chronometers were almost 100 years old, and a very reliable tool for navigating open water. The coordinates she lists were a bit wonky, but with some sleuthing, we were able to see where they were in the Atlantic when Frances was writing that passage.
The journal Frances wrote is incomplete. It is believed that she left a portion of it in Europe. It is a fascinating document detailing life and traveling in the early 1830’s. The journal is in good condition, given it’s age, and the shear miles it traveled during their Honeymoon. We are so lucky to have this document in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Hi Everyone, and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at a picture from our collections. This picture is not dated, but was likely taken in the mid to late 1890’s. The picture was taken in Dallas Texas, as we can see from the writing on the cardboard frame. On the back of the picture it says, “Frank Hall Wright and Family.” So, who are the Wright family, and why do we have this portrait in our collections? Let’s learn a bit more about Frank Hall Wright.
Frank Hall Wright was born on January 1st, 1860 in Atoka County in Oklahoma. His father was Allen Wright a full blooded member of the Choctaw Native Americans. Hi mother was Harriet Newell Mitchell Wright who was of Scotch-Irish decent. Frank’s father, Allen was left an orphan at an early age and was adopted by a Christian Missionary. He converted to Christianity and was educated at Union Theological Seminary of New York City. Frank himself also attended this college, following in his father’s footsteps, and becoming a minister. In 1885 Frank married Ada Lilienthal from Saratoga Springs, NY. They had two children together, Frank Hall Wright, Jr. and their daughter Gladys Wright. Both children were born in New York State. Frank and his young family traveled the country, while Frank gave sermons. One parishioner who attended said of Frank;
“One of the chief charms about Dr. Wright both as a man and evangelist, is his wonderfully sweet voice. I have heard few sweeter tenor voices than he has. Every time I heard him, he concluded each sermon with an appropriate song. Although it has been a long time since I saw and heard him, some of the songs he sang with such marvelous sweetness and wonderful effectiveness linger with me still.”
A minister friend of Rev. Wright wrote of him “”As well as I can remember, Dr. Wright is a man of medium height. At the time I knew him his hair and mustache were black. He wore glasses. He is half Indian. Somebody twitted him once about having to use glasses and also having some trouble with his teeth. He replied: That is the white blood in me.” Tragedy struck the family when their only son was killed in World War I on April 12, 1918. He was just 27 years old. Frank continued to travel the country giving sermons. He traveled to Canada in 1922, and on July 16th, he passed away. His local newspaper reported on it, and here is what they said: “Information was received here of the recent death at Muskoka Lake, Ontario, Canada, of Dr. Frank H. Wright, known as the “Indian Evangelist.” He was sixty-one years old and a son of the late Governor Allan Wright, who was a full-blooded Choctaw Indian, and a noted minister of the Southern Presbyterian church. The body of Dr. Wright was taken to St. Louis for interment beside the body of his son, who lost his life in the world war.”
This picture is in quite good condition, given it’s easily 120 years old. We don’t know if Frank Wright knew our Frank Hall, but given how much Frank Wright traveled, it would not be surprising if the two did meet. They were both ministers and men of faith. The picture is lovely and we are so lucky to have it in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Hi Everyone, today we will be looking at some amazing photos from our collections of our museum. This series of pictures is from the 19- teens through the 1930’s. We are so lucky to have these in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by.
Hi Everyone, and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at an absolutely stunning umbrella. This piece likely dates to the early part of the 19th Century. It is made from multiple materials. The canopy is made of silk, the shaft is made of wood, the ribs are made of steel, the handle is made of brass and ivory. The ferrule, or the tip of the umbrella is also made of brass that has an engraved design on it. The handle has a name engraved in the ivory, Matthew Lane, who appears to hail from Troy, NY. We do not know who Matthew is, or why his umbrella ended up in our collections, but I’ll talk about that more in a bit. First let’s learn a bit more about umbrellas.
The English word “umbrella” comes from the Italian word “ombrella”, which traces its origins from the Latin word “umbella”, which is then derived from “umbra”. These Latin terms translate to shade or shadow. Like the word “parasol”, which is a combination of the French words “parare” and “sol” to mean “shield from the sun”, the umbrella was originally used to give oneself shade from the heat of the sun. Almost every ancient culture had umbrellas. Ancient Egyptians made umbrellas out of palm fronds, feathers, and stretched papyrus. In Mesopotamia, a similar picture is painted by artifacts from around the same period. Hindu culture assigns great importance to the umbrella with the chatra, a symbol in Hinduism closely connected to divinity and fortune. China made use of umbrellas and parasols as protection from both the sun and rain, but this practice was also con ned to the upper classes. Women in both Ancient Greece and Rome had parasols to protect them from the sun, but they were also a sought after fashion accessory. Records of umbrellas in Europe’s Middle Ages are extremely rare. Cloaks were the oft-cited instrument that medieval European people used to cover themselves when caught out in the rain. Umbrellas came back into fashion in Europe around the 16th Century. They were mostly used by women, until the mid to late 18th Century, when men started to adopt the practice of carrying one.
So, who is Matthew Lane, and why do we have his umbrella? Well, property records indicate that a Matthew Lane was selling, leasing, and buying a lot of property in Rensselaer County and Clinton County NY in the 1830’s. So, he seems to be a mover and shaker in the Albany area as well as up in our neck of woods in the 1830’s. If our research is correct, Matthew Lane’s father was a Revolutionary War veteran, and a very prominent businessman in Troy from the late 1700’s. So, Matthew and his family would have been well known in the area from the 1790’s through the 1860’s and 70’s. In 1832 our Frances Henrietta Delord was being courted and then married prominent businessman and Albany resident Henry Webb. Did they connect at a party perhaps, and he gifted them this umbrella on a rainy night? Did they somehow all meet in Plattsburgh at a social gathering? We simply have no records of it, so the umbrella’s history is still shrouded in mystery.
This umbrella is in good condition given it’s age and likely use. The silk has torn in some spots, most typically the wear spots on the piece, but the mechanical aspects still work. The handle, ribs and shaft are all in good condition. This is a truly stunning piece and we are so lucky to have it in collections. Thanks so much for stopping by.
Hi everyone, and welcome to a special Halloween edition of our series Artifact Corner. This week and next week we will be exploring a very special place in Plattsburgh that has a connection to our museum. We will be checking out Riverside cemetery, which is the final resting place of the founding member of our family’s museum, Henry Delord.
Riverside cemetery is the final resting place of many of Plattsburgh’s most prominent founding members, and soldiers involved in the Battle of Plattsburgh. Plattsburgh was founded in 1784 when Zephaniah Platt of Poughkeepsie, NY, and two of his brothers received a state grant for 33,000 acres of land along the Saranac River. The next year, Charles Platt and a group of settlers began construction of homes. Three years later, New York State created Clinton County. In 1815, Plattsburgh was officially made a village, but it wasn’t until 1902 that Plattsburgh became a city.
So, let’s take a closer look at cemeteries. Why do we bury people after they have passed? The practice of burying people dates back as far as the middle Paleolithic period. In the Stone Age, it was common practice to bury the dead and place a large stone over the grave to mark the spot. In the Middle Ages, in Europe, the marker on the burial site was entirely dependent on your wealth. The average person would have a wooden marker, with maybe a few words carved into it. If you were wealthy you would likely have a stone marker in a prominent spot. If you were very wealthy you would have a heavily decorated headstone, or possibly a likeness of yourself atop a stone tomb.
In the 18th and early 19th Centuries most people would have a stone burial marker with their name, birth date, and the date they passed. A wealthy citizen’s stone could also contain decorative carving and sometimes a quote or poem. When we look at Henry Delord’s headstone, you can see that the decoration and lettering has deteriorated over the last 200 years. The stone says “In Memory of Henry Delord, born at Nismes France, July 15th 1764, Died March 29th 1825, Age 61 years.” There is a further inscription at the bottom that has since been obscured by soil. There appears to be some decoration at the top of the stone, and there may have been more fine detailed work when the stone was first placed, that has since been worn away. It’s difficult to tell.
Early Colonial cemeteries grew up around settlement. Early headstones were typically smaller in size and made of softer, more easily harvested stones. Sandstone, slate, and eventually marble were very popular because they are easy to quarry, and to move to a location. This picture is of a stone in the Pine Grove Cemetery in Hampton, NH. This stone belongs to Susanna Smith, who died in 1680. You can see the stone, despite being 340 years old, is still quite legible. The stone is quite small, and lacking decoration. Large “flashy” headstones were not common. This is not to say that they did not have motifs on headstones. A common motif was a winged death head. This symbolized deaths grip on man, and its inevitability. During this time, gravestone carving was not a full time position, simply because there was not enough demand. Across America, most gravestones were carved by regular stone masons. In the 18th Century, headstones become more elaborated and decorative. The winged deaths head of the 1600’s is replaced by a bit friendlier motif of the winged angel. Views on death and the afterlife had softened, and the angel was representative of the eternal life that was awaiting the deceased. In the later 1700’s and early 1800’s we see beautiful willow trees, a symbol of sorrow for the departed, and intricate scroll work along the edges of the stones. The stones also get taller in the period. The shorter more demure stones of the 1600’s are replaced with stones that could be in excess of 5 feet tall. The 1800’s have multiple phases of headstone design. This Century was one of numerous major shifts in technology, attire, and even the design of headstones. In the early 1800’s the style was similar to the late 18th Century. We still see willow trees, we see urns, and scroll details. In all ages, there are some outliers. This is Col. Melancton Smith’s headstone, and he has a lot going on here. He was buried with Masonic rights, he also was buried with military honors by his regiment, and he decided to make sure everyone knew all of that by his headstone. As the century progressed, stone styles changed pretty often. The lettering became more uniform. In the middle to late 19th Century people began to adorn their graves with large statues, often of angels or mourners. These beautifully carved monuments adorn many cemeteries and are truly works of art. Frank and Fannie Hall (Fannie is the granddaughter of Henry Delord) were buried here at the beginning of the 20th Century. Their headstone reflects the style of the times. The lettering is raised, and there is a shield surrounding both of their names. It is a simple, yet very well carved stone. Stones continued to change and adapt to the styles of the day. We have so enjoyed this little peak into Riverside Cemetery, and hope you’ve enjoyed it as well. Have a safe and fun Halloween, and thanks so much for stopping by.
Music: Acoustic Breeze by Benjamin Tissot, https://www.bensound.com
A Really Dark Alley by Loyalty Freak Music
Hi everyone, and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at a lovely little piece of jewelry, a brooch. This brooch is unique because it contains the hair of two of our family members. Frances Henrietta Delord and her husband Henry Livingston Webb, who died twelve years apart. Their marriage was cut short by Frances Henrietta’s tragic death at the age of just twenty. Henry Webb survived her for more than a decade, but never remarried, and continued to morn the loss of his wife. Let’s learn a bit more about the love story of Frances and Henry.
In May of 1832, 18 year old Frances Henrietta was visiting friends and family in Albany. Her letters home to her mother repeatedly mention a Mr. Webb, saying, “Mr. Webb has been quite attentive and polite, and has been often to see me.” In another letter she states, “As Saturday evening got somewhat advanced, I was reading, very sleepy, my hair really looked frightful, when there was a ring at the door. Who should I behold but Mr. W. He brought me a work on Revivals.” The two were engaged by July, and Frances returned home to plan the wedding. The two wrote each other constantly with Henry calling Frances “my beloved French girl,” in his letters. By August of that year, the two were married in the Gold Parlor room of our home. They went of a glorious honeymoon in Europe, traveling home in the Fall of 1833. By this point it was clear that Frances was pregnant with their first child. Their daughter, who they also named Frances, was born on February 11th, 1834. Henry Webb writes in a letter as to his wife’s condition following the birth of their child, “I regret to state that Frances is not so well. For the last two days she has been very weak. We have been extremely anxious about her.” The doctor’s who attended her informed Henry that Frances was suffering from child bed fever, an infection brought on due to unsanitary birthing conditions. Frances Henrietta suffered for three weeks before dying at the age of just 20 years old. Henry writes “I take my pen with a heavy heart. My wife is no more.” Frances Henrietta was buried in Albany, and Henry dealt with the grief as best he could.
Henry remained in Albany until 1844 when his health began to decline. He decided to move back to the family farm in Wethers eld CT where his sisters had been raising his daughter Fannie. He sold his store in Albany, and settled down in CT. His health fluctuated in the next two years, but in October of 1846, his condition took a drastic turn, as explained in a letter his daughter wrote to her grandmother, Betsy. “Oh, my dear grandmother, what an awful scene was before us. The Dr. bled him very freely & for a few moments we had some hope of his life. But in about an hour & a half from the time he was first attacked he breathed his last at 1 o’clock. Every thing was done that could be imagined, warm water and drafts to his feet, mustard on his chest etc. but all in vain. His appointed hour had come & we humbly hope this blessed spirit is united to my sainted mother & they are happy with their God.” Henry died on October 12th, 1846 at the age of 51. He was buried in the family plot, next to his beloved wife Frances Henrietta.
Hair jewelry was a very common adornment for the grieving Victorians. The life expectancy during this period was between 33 to 40 years of age for the average person. People in the early to mid 1800’s were far more familiar with people passing away young than we are today. One way to keep a person close to you, was to have some memento that you could possess or even wear. Hair brooches were so common in this period because you could wear a treasured piece of a loved one pinned close to your heart. You can see on the back of the brooch the engraving states Frances and Henry’s names and the dates of their deaths. We don’t know exactly who this brooch belonged to but it was obviously a family member. Frances and Henry’s hair is forever entwined, which is fitting given that they had so little time together. This brooch is in beautiful condition, and we are so lucky to have it in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Hi everyone and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at an unassuming piece that hangs in our kitchen, right next to our stove, a scale. This is a Frary’s Improved Circular Spring Balance Scale, and it was used to weigh anything up to 30lbs, and was accurate to the ounce. When making large quantities of food, sometime recipes called for pounds of ingredients, and therefore, you need a scale. So this would have been a very useful item to have in the kitchen. Let’s learn a bit more about the history of scales.
The oldest scales archaeologists have found come from the Indus River Valley, near present day Pakistan, and date to around 2,000 BCE. These scale were different from our spring based scale, this was a balance scale. The original form of a balance scale consisted of a beam with a fulcrum at its center. To determine the mass of the object, a combination of reference masses was hung on one end of the beam while the object of unknown mass was hung on the other end. The primary materials that were used as the weights were stone and metal. Carved stones bearing marks denoting mass and the Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol for gold have been discovered from around 1,878 BCE, which suggests that Egyptian merchants had been using an established system of mass measurement to catalog gold shipments or gold mine yields. In China, the earliest weighing balance excavated was from a tomb dating back to the 3rd to 4th century BC in Changsha, Hunan. The balance was made of wood and used bronze masses.
Balance scales continued to be the predominant way to measure weight until 1770. British balance maker Richard Salter invented the spring scale, which meant weighing balance no longer relied on counter weights. The spring scale used the effects of gravity to calculate weight, as defined in Hooke’s Law which determines the displacement of force on the spring. Spring scales came into wide usage in the United Kingdom after 1840 when R. W. Winfield developed the candlestick scale for weighing letters and packages, required after the introduction of the Uniform Penny Post. The scientific plausibility of spring scales led to them becoming the most commonly used form of commercial and domestic scale and they are still commonplace today due to their low cost.
Having a scale in the kitchen for food preparation was so vital, and no Victorian kitchen would be complete without it. Our scale is in good condition, and still works very well to this day! This is a beautiful piece and we are so lucky to have it in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Hi everyone, and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at this portrait of Betsey Delord. This portrait has long been a bit of a conundrum. This portrait of Betsey was painted by Abraham Tuthill in 1818. Henry Delord had portraits painted of himself, his wife Betsey and his daughter Frances Henrietta. Henry’s portrait and Frances Henrietta’s portraits look very accurate for the time period of 1818, but Betsey’s does not. So, what happened to Betsey’s painting?
In 1818 women’s fashion was still very much in the Regency period. Empire waists, high busts, and owing fabrics. Women’s dress shapes are starting to bell slightly, as opposed to being a very straight silhouette in the earlier Regency period. Necklines in this period were commonly square or maybe a slight v neck. Now, looking at Betsey’s portrait, you can see that she has a more natural waist line, her garment is not an empire waist. The neckline on her dress is also what we would call a sweetheart neckline, not the square neckline of the Regency. So, what the heck is going on with this portrait? The museum raised the funds, and had Henry and Betsey’s portraits conserved in ?2013?. During the conservation process, the organization performing the work used radiography to better understand the portrait of Betsey. Radiography is basically an X-ray of the portrait. It can allow the conservators to see the different layers of paint, and sometime reveal a wholly different image than what we see on the surface. When they did the radiography, this is what they saw!
This is the original portrait of Betsey. Here you can clearly see the empire waisted gown with cap sleeves and long gloves completely indicative of the Regency period. The hidden portrait is pretty incredible. But, it begs the question, why was this painted over? Why cover up this beautiful portrait? In the 1830’s Betsey, along with many others in the United States were undergoing a religious revival. In the 1830s and 1840s, the Second Great Awakening swept across the United States, leading to a growing desire for social reforms like the abolition of alcohol and slavery. Betsey’s religious convictions became stronger as she got older. Also, fashions had changed dramatically. The Romantic era saw natural waist lines, a sweetheart neckline, very similar to Betsey’s, long sleeves, and bell shaped skirts. So, we believe, Betsey had the portrait altered to suit the new fashions of the time, and to give her a bit more modesty. Photography was still in its infancy, and having a portrait painted was very expensive, but having an existing portrait modified, would be a far more cost effective way of updating your likeness.
The mystery of this portrait is finally revealed, and gives us a unique glimpse into Betsey. This is a beautiful portrait, that is made all the more special by it’s hidden past, and we are so lucky to have it in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by.
Hi everyone, and welcome back to another slightly different artifact corner. This item is not something in our collections, it is a newspaper article. The Delord’s and the Hall’s were very avid newspaper readers, and always wanted to stay up to date with the news of our region, but also the nation and the world. With all of the rain we have been having this summer, and the flooding that has been happening around our region, we thought it might be interesting to take a look back and see if our predecessors had any major flooding. So, today we will be looking at a newspaper article from the Plattsburgh Republican dated October 4th, 1856. This article talks about a torrential rain fall that ultimately lead to some major flooding in Clinton County. The article reads as follows:
“The destructive equinoctial storm of rain which commenced about 8 o’clock on the evening of the 30th September, will long be remembered by the inhabitants of this part of the State. In this village and about us, on the Saranac, the rain fell in a continued sheet for about three hours—from 9 in the evening until 12. And although, the water rose very rapidly, and removed the drift-wood and old logs from the locations occupied in the Saranac River for the past twenty years, drifting them into booms prepared for their reception, yet but little damage was done on the stream, either to dams, mills or bridges, so far as we can learn. On the Ausable, the destruction of property was great. At Keeseville, the upper dam gave way at 7 o’clock in the morning, sweeping into ruins the saw-mills on each side of the river. All the gearing wheels and machinery in the lower part of Tabor & Co.’s grist-mill has been destroyed. Scribner & Co. have also been seriously injured in the damage to the stave factory. The new stone nail factory of the Messers. Kingslands is nearly destroyed. A number of the nail machines were saved by removal early in the morning; but at about 7am, the flood still rising, the end of the factory next to the river gave way, dashing into ruins one half the building, gearing and machinery. Next on the list for destruction was the machine shop of Messrs, Green & Conro. This whole establishment was nearly new, and built of stone in the most substantial manner. Soon after the fall of the nail factory, the machine shop gave way, and, with all its valuable lathes, tools and machinery, was a mass of floating ruins, A black- smith shop, with all its fixtures, owned by the same company, was next dashed to destruction. Coming down the river after the destruction of the swing-bridge, the forge and rolling-mill of the Messrs. Kingslands are seriously damaged. The bulk-bead having given way, the flood poured into the upper end of the rolling-mill and forge, doing immense injury—undermining and throwing down the furnaces, carrying out a part of the wall next the river, washing out the foundation, displacing and injuring the machinery, &c. The lower nail factory escaped uninjured. On the opposite side of the river, the flumes of N. Kingsland, and 0. Keese & Son are gone! The damage to N. Kingsland’s axle-tree establishment must be several hundred dollars. The new slaughter-house, barns and sheds, recently erected by Richard Hoag, have every vestige been destroyed and swept off. Mr. Hoag barely succeeded in saving several valuable horses, carriages, and several head of cattle, a few moments before the sheds and barns were floating to destruction, No lives were lost in, this immediate vicinity. The next serious damage is on the dam at Kingsland’s new rolling-mill, near the lower falls. Here, the bulk-head, end part of the dam, have been carried off. The forge is entirely demolish- ed, and also the bellows-house and blacksmith shop. The machinery in the rolling-mill is not injured, bat the furnaces and stacks are nearly de- stroyed, and about one-third of the building from the foundation to the roof has been carried off— The old saw-mill at Birmingham is gone. The bridge has been swept over the falls, and the property on the cast side of the river more or less damaged. A letter from Ausable Forks states that the damage to Messers. Rogers’ works was not so great as at first reported, though quite severe. Their rolling-mill dam On the east branch was swept a- way, with one Over-shot wheel, rolling-mill bridge, water conductor from west branch, with bulk- heads to same,—stone boarding-house, and four smaller dwelling-houses -on the flats below—Mr. Whitley’s office, an engine house and fire-engine, and a large quantity of foundry patterns. Nine persons are supposed to be drowned. There were several persons in the stone boarding-house, (a two; and a half story building,) when, in the midnight darkness, it was suddenly surrounded by the violent flood, undermined, and tumbled to pieces. The woman who kept the house, her two children, two servant girls, and a man of the name of Louis Dclerye, twelve years in the employ of Messrs, Rogers, were drowned. The family of Mr. D. were absent at the time. Two men had a most miraculous escape. They had climbed to the roof of the house, which floated down the river, and as it neared the bridge at New Sweden, both sprang for their lives, and reached the bridge in safety, and escaped to the shore. In a moment more the roof and bridge were dashed to pieces by the fury of the flood, and swept down the rapids. At New Sweden, the saw-mill and old forge on the south side of the river, were swept away, and the saw-mill, etc. on the north side, damaged. At Jay lower village, (6 miles above the Forks,) the damage is great Messrs. Purmorts lost their stock store, all their goods, forge, wheel-wright shop, carding and Cloth-dressing works, blacksmith shop, two coal-houses, coal, Bridge and dam carried away. At Clintonville, the works of the Peru Iron Company have been severely injured, the bridge is gone, the bank separating the canal to the forge from the river, is nearly washed away, the saw-mill is gone—also a portion of the nail factory. On the Salmon River, in this county, from Peaseleeville to its month, (a distance of 15 miles,) but one bridge stands, the Schuyler Falls bridge.”
We have seen some incredible images of the flooding from the Adirondacks and Vermont this summer. The extreme rainfall, in such short periods of time, have caused incredible damage in our region. This article from October of 1856 sounds eerily similar. The images used in this video are from more recent flooding in our area, as there are little to no images of the flooding in 1856. This article reminds us that we have had some seriously bad weather in our area for centuries, but the constant deluge this year has been particularly harsh. Fingers crossed for drier weather ahead, and as always, thanks so much for stopping by.
