Here is the next or 7th census page for Scipio. It includes the first time we've seen the Wyckoff name; the old "Lake Road" before State Route 38 was built was and still is known as Wyckoff Road.
John Bushman
Daniel Eades (Earles?)
William Dickinson
Samuel Bennett
John Bennett
John O’Hara
Ezekiel Parks
Jesse Babcock
John Gibbs
Micheal (sic) Parrells
William Daniels
Robert Po(?)cell
Peter Wyckoff
Richard Hudson
Peter Van Lue
Thomas Brown Junr.
James Barnes
Caleb Watham (possibly Wadams - sg)
Samuel Higby
Frederick Van Lue
Isaac Bailey
John Lambert
Abraham Devone
Joel Coe
Ebenezar Durgie
Allwood Smith
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Okay, Sandie, I can't resist. You are probably too young to remember this, but in the southwest corner of the intersection of Wyckoff Road and the Fleming-Scipio Townline Road, once stood a house identified by my father as "The Gingerbread House." I once asked my father why it was called "The Gingerbread House," and he said it was because of the fancy decoration. In my imagination, this might have been due to fancy scrollwork at the eaves or similar detail work. It would be nice to find someone still living (maybe your aunts?) who had actually seen the house, or to find a photograph, but it may be too late. I can't remember if I saw it standing as a child or not, and I don't know when it was demolished. I do remember the cellar hole when the site was an open pasture (it has been woods for many decades, now).
No house appears at this location on the 1853 map of Scipio, but a house labeled "H. V. Wyckoff T.H." is there on the 1859 Scipio map. "T.H." means tenant house. By 1875, the house is labeled simply "P. V. W.," possibly for Peter V. Wyckoff, and in 1904 the house is labeled "H. Berlew." This probably was Henry Lewis Burlew, father of Hugo Burlew, whom we both probably remember well from our youths.
Many structures in Scipio have disappeared with consolidation of small farms into large holdings, and their histories are largely lost. A clump of trees on a knoll or a depression in the ground are all that is left to remind us of the lives that once played out at these locations. We can be thankful that some families are memorialized in the names of roads, such as Wyckoff Road.
The Gingerbread Hoouse does not ring any bells in my post-1952 brain, Roger. I will have to check with the Stoker sisters for any memories they may have.
There were some aerial photos of Wyckoff Road and the surrounding area taken in the mid-1900's. I have one nice photo taken of Ed Stoker's "South Place" on Wyckoff Road before it went to wrack and ruin.
Like the Gingerbread House, all that is left now is a hillock of debris where the house stood and some old iron stanchion pieces under moldy hay where the barn collapsed.
I recall walking over to the "South Place" with Ed after dark most of one summer to help do chores, as he had cows there for a time while living in the old Adriance house where I am now. It would likely have been about 1960.
The South Place was directly across the road from the Devine Cemetery, a subject for another Blog day and maybe more!
We had finished up the chores and were walking the short distance home through the gully with a fresh pail of milk, and I will never forget hearing what I thought was a baby cry. It was a sad and mournful sound and made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Dad told me to move it along and we walked a little faster until in a few minutes we could see the edge of our yard and the house.
It was after this experience that I discovered what we had heard was a wildcat. It was not common but it was not unheard of either.
I think there are many such stories about our old houses and structures and hope folks share them with the Blog, or send me a letter at the Scipio Town Hall.
Post a Comment