Colchester History Connections Newsletter
March 1, 2012
Colchester Historical
Society, Box 112, Downsville,
New York 13755
Volume 2, Issue
1
Preserving the history of Downsville, Corbett, Shinhopple, Horton and
Cooks Falls
New
Beginnings
Our
member volunteers have been busy at the two scheduled Work Bees, January
18th and February 15t.h.
We attacked the boxes of assorted historical materials that have
been accumulating in our storage areas.
We spent hours sorting the materials by type, subject and into
our separate villages. We found photographs, postcards, deeds, political
and voting records, posters, advertising, service pins, personal
memoirs, interviews and newspaper articles from the 1800’s to the
present.
We
are following the advice of Ray LaFever, Delaware County Archivist, by
photocopying the newspaper articles.
Why? Because today’s
photocopy paper is now acid free and the paper will preserve the
materials much longer than the original newsprint which contains acids
that will deteriorate the paper.
These newspaper articles are very interesting and really show the
development of each of our villages.
It is fascinating to see what businesses were in the villages,
how people spent their leisure time, what the government issues were,
what was happening at the local schools, how the weather affected the
area, how the transportation changed through the decades and what impact
the railroads and construction of the Pepacton Reservoir had on
Colchester.
We
hope that you will visit us and take some time to look through the
village notebooks. The
Historical Society Room is open the third Saturday of each month from 11
to 3 PM and also by appointment.
Please call our Town Historian, Kay Parisi-Hampel at 607-363-7303
for more information.
Displays
The
Colchester Historical Society is currently displaying an exhibit of
materials showing the history of the D & E and D & N Railroad.
This exhibit shows a timeline of the development of the railroad
line from East Branch to Arena and how it impacted the businesses and
travel of our residents.
Did you know that the 1920 silent film, Single Track, starring Corinne
Griffith, was filmed here on the D & N tracks?
Visit this display on the first floor of the Colchester Town Hall
and find out other interesting facts about our railroad history.
This display will be on view until May 1, 2012.
Join
Us
Our
monthly meetings begin this month; please join us in the CHS Room in the
basement of Town Hall. The
schedule for this year is:
March 27, 2012 at 10 A.M.
April 24, 2012 at 7 P.M.
May 29, 2012 at 10 A.M.
June 26, 2012 at 7 P.M.
July 31, 2012 at 10 A.M.
August 28, 2012 at 7 P.M.
September 25, 2012 at 10 A.M.
October 30, 2012 at 7 P.M.
November 27, 2012 at 10 A.M.
December 18, 2012 at 10 A.M.
We
need to elect new officers to continue to do our work.
Won’t you consider helping to grow our Historical Society and
lend your talents to the group?
Members Work
Our
Obituary Files have been
updated. Obituaries from
the past can be an important part of present day genealogical research.
Genealogy has become an increasingly common pastime for many, and is
greatly aided by the Internet. Genealogy is one of the more common
online searches. Searching
the obituaries of our ancestors can lead not only to knowing the facts
about their lives and something about their stories, but also the names
of relatives, the place of interment, and more.
The names of mourners and
pallbearers, for example, could provide clues to family relationships.
Our on-going projects for this year will be the revision of our By-Laws,
election of officers, updating of our website, placement of historical
signs to be put throughout our villages, and creation of an Emergency
Management Plan.
Membership
Membership renewals for 2012 are now due,
if you haven’t sent in your dues please take a moment and send your
check to: Colchester Historical Society, Box 112, Downsville, New York
13755. Membership forms can
be found on our website:
www.colchesterhistoricalsociety.org
or at the CHS Room, Town Hall and at the Colchester Visitors
Information Booth on River Street in Downsville.
Donations
We
just received a donation from Donald MacLeod who lives in South Orange,
New Jersey, who made a discovery after purchasing a picture frame from
his local antique shop. Inside the frame behind a board he found two
perfectly preserved marriage certificates.
The certificate pictured on the left was from the marriage of
Charles A. Schupper and Gallena O. Johnson that took place in Downsville
on July 9, 1879 and the certificate on the right recorded the marriage
of Ulysses L. Johnson and Rebecca Low which took place in Middletown on
December 1, 1887. We appreciate
the effort Mr. MacLeod made to contact us and to give these beautiful
certificates a home in our collection.
We
would also like to thank Linda Mills for the donation of Digital Photo
Converter which converts photographs into digital formats.
This equipment will be very useful in copying photographs that
are being loaned to the Historical Society and for converting our
photographs and postcards for use on our website.
Hometown
Downsville’s Chris Jones has posted a seven minute video on YouTube
entitled Hometown,
www.youtube.com
Hometown.wmv by jonespnh that he created for his Empire State College
history course. He has done
an excellent job and shows the loss of the towns that are under the
Pepacton Reservoir and the impact on Downsville. The Historical Society
appreciated a credit that he gave us at the end of his video.
If you would like to know more about the lost towns of Pepacton,
Shavertown, Union Grove and Arena visit us and look through our
Reservoir collection.
Remembrance
Wilma Champlin passed away on February 29, 2012, she was a founding
member of the Colchester Historical Society and historian for the
Colchester Community Church for over twenty years. Wilma dedicated hours
of love and attention on the preservation of the history of Colchester.
We send our condolences to her family.
***
Colchester Historical Society website:
www.colchesterhistoricalsociety.org
Contact us at
e-Mail: info@colchesterhistoricalsociety.org