Dear
Friends and Trustees of
Half-Shire,
The first meeting of the
year will be
Saturday March 27,
at the hall in Richland. We
anticipate to serve a beef
Stroganoff dinner with garlic
bread and tossed salad. A Pan
of ziti will also be on the
side.
This has been a mild winter,
and the building came through
well with no leaks or issues.
We do hope to continue the work
in completing the Snow room
cosmetics in 2010 and also do
some cosmetic work in the main
hall likely between April and
May meetings when it is
warmer. The meeting schedule
for the year will be as follows,
following along the last
Saturday of every month with a
couple exceptions:
April 24
May 22 (an exception due to
holiday wkd)
June 19 (fair set
up at Fairgrounds)
July 31
Aug 28
Sept 25
Oct 30
Nov 27---Pulaski
Court House,
Concert
All meetings will be at the
Richland facility unless
otherwise stated
November 24, 2009
Half-Shire Historical Society
will be hosting our annual
Christmas Harp recital at the H.
Douglas Barclay Courthouse
on Saturday December 5, 2009
from 1-3 pm
Kelsey Munz, an accomplished
harpist from Osceola New York
will play a selection of
Christmas music for this
free concert. This years event
will be held in memory of the
late Pearl Flagg Bontomaise, a
member of the society who
recently passed away.
Refreshments will be served.
Contact
Shawn Doyle at 298-3620
for more information
There will be a short meeting of
the society at noon in the Court
room prior to the event.
Half-Shire
Historical Society News
June 19, 2009
(Photo--inside
of St. Mary's of Mt. Carmel,
Florence, NY courtesy of the St.
Mary's committee)
On Saturday June 13, a
handful of historians met at the
Oswego County Fairgrounds to set
up exhibits and discuss the
upcoming fair. Representatives
from
Mexico , Volney, New
Haven , Sandy Creek , Pulaski,
and Richland joined Half-Shire
members to review plans for the
5-day annual event which begins
on the evening of
June 30.
This year
Shawn Doyle and Greg
Monette of Half-Shire will be
Superintending
Heritage Hall, and will
be joined by representatives
from most of the communities in
Oswego County . The building is
expected to be quite full, and
diverse. Among the available
categories for entry are the
three separate scarecrow
contests (best-dressed, unique
and scariest) with prizes
ranging from $3-$10 along with
ribbons. On behalf of the
Oswego County Genealogical
Society Doyle and
Monette are also
organizing the 2nd
annual family photo
wall. This unique exhibit will
cover wall space of 20’ by 15’
and will be situated in what is
known as the red sitting room.
Interested people who have a
framed antique photo of
ancestors past are encouraged to
bring them to Heritage Hall
before the fair for inclusion.
Prizes for best photo will also
be awarded, entry deadline is
June 28, Contact Shawn Doyle at
298-3620 or
SPDinPUL@hotmail.com
to save a space.
Renown youth harpist Kelsey
Munz of Osceola is planning to
perform on a yet to be
determined date in Heritage
hall, our own Florence Gardner
of Albion is also expected to
play patriotic anthems
on July 4, on her
keyboard. Spinning, chair
caning, weaving, tatting and
crochet work will also be
demonstrated by very capable
experts. At 10am and
7pm daily historians will
conduct “roundtable discussions”
on topics of interest. Coffee
and iced tea will be available
as well as very comfortable
furniture to relax in while
taking a break in the hall.
In other news: more
fantastic photos have arrived
via email from the St. Mary’s of
Mt. Carmel restoration project.
The inside of the church has
been completely painted and the
images are astounding! A light
“Irish Green” was selected for
the walls, accented by both a
darker green trim and a crisp
New England white
ceiling. We eagerly await an
opportunity to visit this
historic Irish landmark in the
hamlet of
Florence .
Our second week at the
Pulaski Farmers’ Market proved
both profitable and busy. A
small exhibit on Half-Shire
region railroads prepared by
Glenna Gorski in 2006 was
displayed. Many interested
people took time to thumb
through the large notebook as
well as study the detailed map
prepared by Dick and Glenna.
On Friday the 19th
some of our recently completed
scrapbooks from the
digitalization project will be
on display (weather permitting),
On June 26th we will
have some select yearbooks from
Pulaski and Sandy Creek
out for review in the park as we
mark “Alumni weekend”. The
Pulaski market has musical
entertainment lined up each
weekend all summer long---and
best of all its free to attend!
The Maplelawn Cemetery of
Dugway is preparing to construct
a new drop-chain style fence
along the front of its property
line. Bill Sheeley, Tom Burke
and Ed Bennett have been marking
the site out in preparation.
Thanks go out to New York State
Engineer Jamie Tompkins of
Redfield who took time on his
way into work on June 10, to
meet with the fence committee to
review the right of way rules.
Maplelawn cemetery has many old
pioneers at rest in its grounds,
and their locations are
additionally backed up by a
detailed map on the wall of the
vault painstakingly prepared a
few years back by former Trustee
Jack Steinfeld. This map is
critical to genealogists, and
lists unmarked graves as well as
the marked locations. The
recent work at Maplelawn is able
to be undertaken thanks to a
generous legacy left by the late
Barb Walter of Dugway.
Half-Shire Vice President
Greg Monette has recently
updated the county-wide data
base on
War of 1812 veterans.
This first of its kind database
is being edited and will appear
on the Oswego County tourism
website soon. New information
has doubled the number of men we
have been able to prove as
veterans of the forgotten
“second war of American
Independence”. The front line
for our region was
Lake Ontario where the
British
North American capital
was located in
Kingston Ontario .
George Widrig is working on a
good-sized display that will
incorporate Monette’s work as
well as a detailed map of the
region in 1813. This display
will be at the Oswego County
Fair and other venues throughout
the year.
On June 9, Lorraine Twp.
Historian Arlene Moore and her
son Tom visited Half-Shire and
donated a tremendously valuable
collection of family photos that
relate to our region. George
Widrig and Erma Schroeder spent
time finding information for the
Moores and had a delightful
morning. Arlene edited a book
on Lorraine written by her late
husband that we still have
available for sale. “The
Huddle” is a detailed account of
the history of Lorraine and well
worth the price of $20.
Half-Shire’s Richland
research facility is open four
days a week—Monday, Tuesday,
Thursday 9-1pm and
Fridays 9-4 pm. We are
also pleased to schedule any
other appointments. Our faculty
is located in the former
Richland hamlet school, 1100
County Rte. 48, Richland , ( PO
73) or on the web at
www.halfshire.com.
halfshire@hotmail.com
Half-Shire Historical Society
December19, 200
The annual Christmas harp
recital at the
H. Douglas Barclay Court House
in
Pulaski featuring Osceola’s
Kelsey Munz was rescheduled from
December 7th
to the 14th due to
weather. Seventeen people
enjoyed the program on the 14th
that varied from Christmas
favorites to Patriotic music.
Kelsey had set the program up to
honor World War II era veterans
and families for the 7th,
and explained the period
significance of each song.
The program began with all
standing and singing the Star
Spangled Banner, and ended with
God Bless America . A
set of five religious carols was
also played with audience
accompaniment. This was a very
nice concert enjoyed by all, and
like last year there were many
remarks about how suited the
historic court room is to harp
music. One young couple
present asked Kelsey to play at
their wedding next year.
The Half-Shire weekly hours
continue each Friday at the
Court House office of the
Richland Historian.
Last week a Richard Cooper spent
considerable time with us
examining his family tree.
Richard is a fifth
great-grandson of two area
revolutionary War vets, Simeon
Trumbull and James Campbell. We
are indebted to Millie Reid for
working with us last week over
the phone to tie in some missing
links on
Coopers Campbell family
line. Marie Parsons also worked
with us from
Florida via the internet.
Completion of the 2009
calendar has been a top
priority. It is expected to be
done by
Christmas and can be
delivered by
Shawn Doyle within the
area by placing a call. The
13-month calendar features
bridges of the Half-Shire region
and is available for $7 in
person or $9 by mail. The
Half-Shire newsletter is running
very late, and is nearly ready
to go out with raffle tickets
that are due by February.
Over a week ago we learned
of the sudden passing of
longtime member and friend
Pauline “Polly” Carner from
Boylston. Polly was the mother
of trustee Rita Rombach and
member Patricia Eberle of
Camillus. Born October 2, 1917
in
Clayton , NY the daughter
of George & Laura (Elliot)
Plato, she had lived in
Boylston over 50 years. Polly
was a delightful woman, who
attended most all of our
meetings, and during research
days could be found quietly
crocheting in the sitting
area. Our sincere condolences
go out to her family.
We have just received a new
shipment of Richland Cemetery
volume II books from Julie Litts
Robst. This book is the volume
that details South Richland
Cemetery internments.
Obituaries are included for most
all people, which in itself was
an amazing feat. The nearly 400
page book sells fro $40 or $3 by
mail and is still a bargain for
its content.
Half-Shire can be reached
at P.O. 73, Richland , NY 13144
. Our web site is found at
www.halfshire.com.
Our winter quarters are
located at the
H. Barclay Court House in
Pulaski where we keep hours in
the 2nd floor annex
from 12-4pm on Fridays.
Photos---Kelsey Munz at her harp
and a view of the audience.
