book:clinton10
Differences
This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.
Both sides previous revisionPrevious revisionNext revision | Previous revisionLast revisionBoth sides next revision | ||
book:clinton10 [2010/05/02 21:00] – jims | book:clinton10 [2011/06/10 10:10] – paulseymour | ||
---|---|---|---|
Line 3: | Line 3: | ||
//Note: This information was supplied by Paul Carleton Seymour.// | //Note: This information was supplied by Paul Carleton Seymour.// | ||
- | CLINTON | + | HENRY Clinton (Clinton)< |
// | // | ||
// | // | ||
Line 20: | Line 20: | ||
| [[westley11|Westley Carleton]] | b. 1911 | | | [[westley11|Westley Carleton]] | b. 1911 | | ||
| Clayton Lynwood | b. 1915; killed in a car accident 1939 | | | Clayton Lynwood | b. 1915; killed in a car accident 1939 | | ||
+ | |||
+ | History of Cannonsville, | ||
+ | Cuyle Seymour | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{clinton001.jpg|}}Here' | ||
+ | around 1800, and where 4 later generations of our line of Seymours; Willet, | ||
+ | Gilbert, Clinton, and Westley were all born and raised as well. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cannonsville, | ||
+ | in the early 1960's in order to construct a dam and create a reservoir which | ||
+ | provides drinking water for New York City. Luckily by this time Great | ||
+ | Grandpa Clinton had already died, and Grandpa Wes had left town anyway for | ||
+ | more economic opportunity since he was one of the youngest in his family. | ||
+ | don't have any information on how the State compensated those who were | ||
+ | living there at the time. I think that my Great Uncle Erford had taken over | ||
+ | Clinton' | ||
+ | He would have been in his 60's at the time. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Headline read:\\ " | ||
+ | Water and Silence" | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{clinton002.jpg|}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{clinton003.jpg|}}After...... | ||
+ | |||
+ | A map of Cannonsville in 1856 showing Willet' | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{clinton004.jpg|}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | A later map in 1956 just a few years before its destruction: | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{clinton005.jpg|}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | It looks like by this time the Seymours had mostly moved on, although I do | ||
+ | see one building marked as Seymour on Main Street. | ||
+ | Clinton' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Following are some stories written by Cannonsville residents just prior to | ||
+ | its destruction. | ||
+ | [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Miss Antoinette Owens remembers the store owned by her father, Milton W. | ||
+ | Owens and uncle, Edgar B. Owens, which stood on the river bank near the | ||
+ | bridge, later becoming the Frank Mapes undertaking establishment. Milton W. | ||
+ | Owens built a new store (now the B & V store) in 1880 and sold general | ||
+ | merchandise for many years. **In 1902 Tunis C. Judd purchased the store of | ||
+ | Mr Owens and conducted business there until 1916 when he sold to H. C. | ||
+ | Seymour. At present the store is owned and operated by Donald Bonker and | ||
+ | Harry Vanderlip.** | ||
+ | Jester' | ||
+ | street. | ||
+ | |||
+ | //Picture of Clinton Seymour' | ||
+ | the street looks like it's from the 1920's which would be about right:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{clinton006.jpg|}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | Picture of Westley Carleton Seymour in front of the store by the gas pumps, | ||
+ | I guess in the snow. This was taken about 1928 when he was around 17 years | ||
+ | old: | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{clinton007.jpg|}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | //Back to the stories from the historical website--//" | ||
+ | of Fred (Bubbie) Cuyle (related to Clinton' | ||
+ | Carrie Cuyle), the congenial barber and shoe repair man whose business was | ||
+ | in Abe Constables store - our present Post Office and Card's store." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Photo in newspaper of Bubby Cuyle: | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{clinton008.jpg|}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | //He looks like a rugged old character, doesn' | ||
+ | explaining the above:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{clinton009.jpg|}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Baptist Church | ||
+ | |||
+ | **About the year 1830 there was organized at Cannonsville a branch of the | ||
+ | Deposit Baptist Church** with fifteen members: Thomas Durfee, Alice Durfee, | ||
+ | John Randall, Ann Randall, Zebina Hancock, **Dorothy Seymour (William jr.'s | ||
+ | wife, gggg Grandma),** Jeannette Lowry, Affia Crawford, Electa Darrow, | ||
+ | Mahala Hathaway, Benjamin Hathaway, Lebbeus Teed, Electa Teed and Betsy Day. | ||
+ | The membership increased to fifty and on September 28, 1831, they were | ||
+ | recognized as an independent church, and thus the Cannonsville Baptist | ||
+ | Church came into existence. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first deacons were Thomas Durfee and J. L. Babcock, and the first | ||
+ | regular pastor was the Reverend Mr Baldwin, commencing his ministry in | ||
+ | January 1832 and remaining about six months. In August of that year Deacon | ||
+ | Thomas Durfee was licensed and preached as the main supply for six years. | ||
+ | Then Stephen Stiles, E. L. Benedict and Elder Richmond were pastors until | ||
+ | 1850, and again Thomas Durfee in 1851. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The meetings were held in schoolhouses in Cannonsville, | ||
+ | Huyck neighborhood, | ||
+ | river, and in the " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Miss Antoinette Cannon writes: | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | as my home, and whenever I have been homesick the images that have come to | ||
+ | my mind have been in large part scenes of Cannonsville. There are several | ||
+ | reasons, but chiefly two: the gifts of nature which I began for the first | ||
+ | time to enjoy there, and the story of the early settlement of the valley in | ||
+ | which my fathers grandfather, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I was ten years old and we had come to Deposit to live when Chestnut Point | ||
+ | came into my father, Robert Cannon' | ||
+ | to his old home. We must have spent five successive summers at Chestnut | ||
+ | Point and always afterward returned when we could with a sense of belonging | ||
+ | to Cannonsville. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Our grandfather, | ||
+ | trees at Chestnut Point had died before we children were born, and he was | ||
+ | only a legend to us. He must have taken great pains to plan the "Queen | ||
+ | Anne's Cottage," | ||
+ | ornament. Some of his drawings for it still exist. A large chestnut tree | ||
+ | stood on the point of ground where Trout Creek comes into the Delaware River | ||
+ | and this was the origin of the name Chestnut Point. The story of the grounds | ||
+ | around the house was that when my grandfather was building the house a | ||
+ | traveling nurseryman came by with a varied stock of trees and my grandfather | ||
+ | bought the entire stock and set them out. The place when we lived there had | ||
+ | reverted almost to Natural woods, but with many trees unusual in the region. | ||
+ | Among them, and surrounded by old but still vigorous chestnut trees one came | ||
+ | upon an open flat oval which was a croquet ground designed and made by my | ||
+ | father when he was a boy. A huge swing with ropes perhaps twenty feet long | ||
+ | was suspended from the limb of one of these big trees to add to the fun of | ||
+ | the Sunday School picnics that were sometimes held there. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Part of the family history went back to my great grandfather and the | ||
+ | farmhouse he had built on the left bank of the river. It stood, and still | ||
+ | stands, on the flat directly opposite Chestnut Point, and belongs now to the | ||
+ | Leland Boyd family. In our time it was the home of the Samuel Hathaways. | ||
+ | That big family of able farmers soon became an important part of our life, | ||
+ | as they were of the life of the community. I remember having dinner in the | ||
+ | old house with Bessie Hathaway and her parents and what seemed to me an army | ||
+ | of great strong brothers who came in hungry and jolly from the fields. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "My grandmother Cannon lived to be well over eighty. Many of her later years | ||
+ | were spent with or nearby my family and she was with us at Chestnut Point, | ||
+ | happy to be in her old home. As long as I can remember I see her as a white- | ||
+ | haired old lady dressed in black and wearing a lace cap. I cannot remember | ||
+ | ever seeing her without the cap. She was sparely built and straight, always | ||
+ | somewhat formal in speech and manner, and usually had a book in her hand. I | ||
+ | remember her interest in the "Merry Delvers" | ||
+ | member, but I do not know just what they did in those early times. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Going to church and Sunday School and to weekday hymn-singing practice was | ||
+ | a major social activity in our lives. We would walk to the church and back, | ||
+ | across the creek bridge, often with the minister and his wife, grandmother | ||
+ | discussing the sermon with them. The Presbyterian parsonage was just across | ||
+ | the road from our house. My sisters and I went there to be taught the | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | book, then new, " | ||
+ | Mr Kirwan, was a strict man, but he said that it was perhaps not required of | ||
+ | the young to learn the questions in order, as well as the answers. However, | ||
+ | I decided to try it the hard way and did memorize a good part, but I am sure | ||
+ | not all of the 107 questions. Today I cannot get beyond the first one but | ||
+ | the experience made an impression. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | where there were children of our age. Among them were the Durfees, the | ||
+ | Seymours, the Finches, the MacGibbons, the Owenses, the Spickermans, | ||
+ | Hulberts.** The Adams children were little then and as cunning children as | ||
+ | could be found anywhere. They were usually playing on the broad steps of | ||
+ | their father' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "**One exciting day during our childhood in Cannonsville stands out in my | ||
+ | memory: the day the old covered bridge across the Delaware collapsed and | ||
+ | went into the river. There had been a downpour of rain the day before and | ||
+ | the river was in flood. Rain was still coming down and we hurried into | ||
+ | raincoats and rubbers and ran to the river when news came that the bridge | ||
+ | was giving way. We were not in time to see the final crash and the tragedy | ||
+ | which occurred when a fine team of horses, Clinton Seymour, and his loaded | ||
+ | lumber wagon went down with the bridge. Mr. Seymour was unharmed but the | ||
+ | horses went down stream and were drowned.** | ||
+ | |||
+ | //This happened in 1900 when G Grandpa Clinton was about 25. Good thing he | ||
+ | was a decent swimmer. | ||
+ | (loaded with something) must have been a big financial loss. I'm no expert | ||
+ | on insurance practices in rural America in 1900, but I doubt that Clinton | ||
+ | was able to contact his local insurance agent and make a claim. | ||
+ | have taken a while for him to recover this loss.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | "The house at Chestnut Point was modern for its time, with every convenience | ||
+ | and many odd features which would appeal to children, such as the porch with | ||
+ | carriage landing, and the other little side porch off my bedroom, the small | ||
+ | fireplaces, the French windows in the parlour, the delightful woodshed, the | ||
+ | dwarf stairway and door to the attic, the pantry where we made bread and | ||
+ | cake, and the big stream of cold water running constantly through the | ||
+ | kitchen sink. My aunt Elizabeth Archibald and my Uncle Charles Cannon had a | ||
+ | persistent feeling for the place where their childhood had been spent and | ||
+ | came there to visit us, so that we children came to share some of their | ||
+ | sense of its being the old home. Aunt Elizabeth used to tell us of driving | ||
+ | to Deposit every day with her father to get the mail before Cannonsville had | ||
+ | a post office. When the roads were good they made the trip in forty-seven | ||
+ | minutes driving the pair of fast white ponies my grandfather took great | ||
+ | pride in. My father however remembered with less pleasure his daily task of | ||
+ | keeping the white ponies curried and washed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In our childhood the mail was brought from Deposit by stage and we were | ||
+ | often among the passengers on that long, slow, eight-mile drive with Mr. | ||
+ | Harvey Cogshell as stage driver. My uncle, for some years after his | ||
+ | retirement from business, lived in Cannonsville in the home of Mrs Owens and | ||
+ | her sister Miss Ellen Seymour. Ellen lived with us for some years and was a | ||
+ | valued member of our household. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "My parents first met in Cannonsville. My mother' | ||
+ | taught music and had some pupils in Cannonsville and so spent part of a year | ||
+ | there, boarding in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Ogden when my father' | ||
+ | family lived at Chestnut Point. A severe winter followed that year and my | ||
+ | father (to be) would skate down the river to Deposit to see her, a round | ||
+ | trip of about sixteen miles. They were married in the home of my maternal | ||
+ | grandfather, | ||
+ | |||
+ | //This is my personal favorite story. | ||
+ | been like skating 8 miles down the river back in those days. Even today, | ||
+ | it's a rural area. Back then I'm guessing that he didn't see another person | ||
+ | on the way, and certainly wouldn' | ||
+ | empty Bud can, or discarded pieces of plastic. | ||
+ | peaceful.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I think all who have lived here have a feeling of belonging to the valley | ||
+ | of the Delaware, and I for one find it hard to accept the change which is | ||
+ | about to be made. To me personally it can make but little difference, but | ||
+ | now the whole enterprise is to me as to all the people of our country, a | ||
+ | question of the best use to be made of natural resources, especially of | ||
+ | water. We must hope that the plan which our planners have made is in the | ||
+ | best interest of us all, and when we take leave of Cannonsville we must try | ||
+ | still to make good use of all which the valley had given to us and will give | ||
+ | to coming generations. But that is another story." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Miss Owens relates one of her early experiences riding on a raft from | ||
+ | Cannonsville to Deposit with a group of negro(sic) singers who had given a | ||
+ | concert in the village. Going over the dam was the big thrill. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And another exciting time," writes Miss Owens, "was when William Henderson | ||
+ | later a merchant in Walton for many years shot a burglar in my father' | ||
+ | store. The mark of the bullet may still be on the old counter// | ||
+ | now the B & V store, which was also Great Grandpa Clinton Seymour' | ||
+ | store).// "After that my young brother kept a baseball bat at the head of | ||
+ | his bed t o be ready for any emergency. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "**In 1900 when the covered river bridge went down with horses, load and | ||
+ | driver, one of the boys rushed his row boat from the mill pond to help in | ||
+ | the rescue." | ||
+ | horses were drowned. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Miss Owens also remembers hearing that in the early 1860s a private school | ||
+ | was conducted in the Presbyterian parsonage opposite Chestnut Point. The | ||
+ | ministers wife Mrs Thomas Hempstead was her mother' | ||
+ | Mrs Hempstead' | ||
+ | "Miss Ada Hotchkins of Windsor was an able teacher," | ||
+ | what intrigued her pupils was the story that she had Indian blood in her | ||
+ | veins." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Albert M. Adams, who was born in 1888 in the old Maples homestead on the | ||
+ | site of the present schoolhouse, | ||
+ | in the early days: | ||
+ | |||
+ | His grandfather, | ||
+ | building near the river bridge (Joe Judd's hardware store) and next to that | ||
+ | was Sam Benjamin' | ||
+ | barbershop a few years ago) Charles Banks owned a shoe shop which later | ||
+ | became Wilbur Hulbert' | ||
+ | market**. Martha Owens operated a millinery shop near the market. She sold | ||
+ | her property to Newton Walley who had a meat market there. The old Pomeroy | ||
+ | drug store stood next and after Mr Pomeroy built his new store, **Arthur | ||
+ | Cook had a shoe shop in the old building and in later years Sanford Seymour | ||
+ | (**// | ||
+ | |||
+ | //The meat market must have preceded the general store.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | More websites on the life and death of Cannonsville. | ||
+ | [[http:// | ||
+ | Seymour' | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[http:// | ||
+ | but if you look closely you can see a Seymour building on main street, | ||
+ | probably the Store owned by my G grandfather Clinton, who had already died | ||
+ | 10 years earlier. | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[http:// | ||
+ | death of Cannonsville. | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now on to Clinton and Carrie. | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{clinton010.jpg|}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | Unfortunately this is the only photo I have of the two of them. I can't | ||
+ | imagine what possessed them to hide behind a bush for the photo, but that's | ||
+ | what we have. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Aside from the stories related above I only know what my Grandparents told | ||
+ | me about Clinton and Carrie. | ||
+ | businessman in Cannonsville, | ||
+ | then it looks like he graduated up to the primary general store in town. The | ||
+ | latter was the only one that I heard about and was pictured from the outside | ||
+ | above. | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{clinton011.jpg|}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was pretty extensive, selling clothes, farm supplies, food, etc. and had | ||
+ | the gas pumps out front. | ||
+ | small town for many of the goods. | ||
+ | that during the Great Depression, many people were suffering great | ||
+ | hardships, of course. | ||
+ | understanding. | ||
+ | in to the store, and picking out the necessary items for survival. | ||
+ | would then humbly tell Clinton that they didn't have any money at the | ||
+ | moment, but would pay as soon as they could. | ||
+ | knowing full well that that day would never come. To this day, I try to | ||
+ | carry on with that same sense of compassion here in Colombia. | ||
+ | fact, I gave a little money to a poor lady in the street of Venecia, who was | ||
+ | trying to do so shopping for the week. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Grandma had also mentioned something to the effect that ol' Clint was | ||
+ | something of a lady's man in his day, which also seems to hold true looking | ||
+ | back at the family line. Grandpa didn't put forth any denial when she said | ||
+ | this, so I assume it was true. | ||
+ | |||
+ | They also made several trips to Sidney to visit my Grandparents late in | ||
+ | their lives, including when my Dad, Westley Francis, was born. They both | ||
+ | proudly said that Clinton was very taken with young " | ||
+ | nicknamed early on. I guess they made a few visits in his last year, or | ||
+ | so, and he died before Dad turned two, so he never really knew his | ||
+ | Grandfather. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I guess, fortunately for him, Clinton died without ever knowing that soon | ||
+ | his beloved Cannonsville would be destroyed in order to build a dam for | ||
+ | drinking water for NYC. It had been partly founded by William Jr., then | ||
+ | further grew during Willet' | ||
+ | Philadelphia and was the first Seymour to open up a store in town, and | ||
+ | further still while Gilbert was farming, and with his older brother Alonzo, | ||
+ | still running lumber down the river to Philadelphia. | ||
+ | Clinton' | ||
+ | etc., so he continued his Grandfather Willet' | ||
+ | in town. I think that Erford continued running the store after Clinton' | ||
+ | death, at least for a while, so in all five generations made Cannonsville | ||
+ | their home. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I know next to nothing about Great Grandma Carrie Cuyle, but have a photo of | ||
+ | her father, Alvin Cuyle, who I learned was from nearby Masonville, by | ||
+ | looking up a Civil War record of his participation. | ||
+ | take us to the old Mason Inn in Masonville for special family dinners, like | ||
+ | Mother' | ||
+ | Dad, me and Tammy, and Uncle Dick, Aunt Dot, David and Andrew Curtis. | ||
+ | recall, we never really understood the attraction to the little place on top | ||
+ | of a hill in what seemed like the middle of nowhere to us, but it was | ||
+ | important to him, and we gladly went along. | ||
+ | him, and hey, it was his day, not to mention his nickel. | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | his Civil War uniform. | ||
+ | which makes sense based on my research below// | ||
+ | the first days of photography and is printed on some sort of metal plate, | ||
+ | and I cherish it.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{: | ||
+ | |||
+ | "The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World' | ||
+ | Fair in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, | ||
+ | celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of | ||
+ | Independence in Philadelphia. It was officially the International Exhibition | ||
+ | of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine. It was held in | ||
+ | Fairmount Park, along the Schuylkill River. The fairgrounds were designed by | ||
+ | Hermann Schwarzmann. About 10 million visitors attended, equivalent to about | ||
+ | 20% of the population of the United States at the time (though many were | ||
+ | repeat visitors)." | ||
+ | |||
+ | //Alvin Cuyle died in 1915 in Trout Creek, NY, near Cannonsville.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | //If you look closely, you'll see that GG grandpa Cuyle is stoking that | ||
+ | cigar of his for the photo. | ||
+ | chapter, was a major cigar smoker. | ||
+ | inspired him to take up the habit.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | //If you're a photography buff, here's the history of the photo.// | ||
+ | [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | "The Centennial Board of Commissioners awarded the sole license for | ||
+ | photography at the exposition to Edward L. Wilson, editor of the journal, | ||
+ | The Philadelphia Photographer, | ||
+ | prominent Scottish-born Canadian photographer. Notman served as president of | ||
+ | the Centennial Photographic Company (CPC) and Wilson as Superintendent and | ||
+ | Treasurer. The other officers of the CPC were W. Irving Adams of New York | ||
+ | City, who served as Vice-President, | ||
+ | John A. Fraser, who served as Art Superintendent. A CPC catalog lists 2,820 | ||
+ | photographs for sale to the public, many in more than one size. | ||
+ | **Stereoviews were sold for $.25** each; 5x8" photographs sold for $.50; | ||
+ | 8x10" photographs went for $1.00; 13x16" prints for $2.50; and 17x21" | ||
+ | photographs for $5.00 each. Exhibitors were charged substantially more for | ||
+ | the first print but were offered bulk discounts of up to 20% off the rate | ||
+ | charged the public for 50 copies. | ||
+ | |||
+ | All of the CPC photographs are silver albumen prints and were made using the | ||
+ | wet-plate process in which glass plates were first coated with a collodion | ||
+ | solution of gun-cotton dissolved in alcohol and ether and then sensitized | ||
+ | with a solution of silver nitrate. The glass plate negatives had to be | ||
+ | exposed while still wet and developed and fixed soon after exposure. Contact | ||
+ | prints were then developed in the Company' | ||
+ | paper (paper coated with a mixture of egg whites and ammonium chloride). The | ||
+ | prints were then mounted on card stock for sale. This process was both | ||
+ | complex and cumbersome. It required lots of supplies, equipment and | ||
+ | manpower. However, the process captured images in exquisite detail on the | ||
+ | negative plates. The exposure times for the treated glass plate **negatives | ||
+ | averaged twenty minutes, according to reports by one of the Company' | ||
+ | photographers, | ||
+ | issue of The Philadelphia Photographer during 1877. Exposure times as long | ||
+ | as 2 hours were reported, made necessary by the lack of good** lighting in | ||
+ | many of the Centennial buildings. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Company was apparently quite successful and their photographs were in | ||
+ | great demand both during and after the Centennial. In the book The World of | ||
+ | William Notman, Roger Hall, Gordon Dodds and Stanley Triggs estimate that | ||
+ | the Centennial Photographic Company made a sizeable profit during the | ||
+ | Centennial." | ||
+ | |||
+ | //The soldiers from Delaware County, NY fought in the 144th Infantry | ||
+ | Regiment// | ||
+ | [[http:// | ||
+ | ain.htm]] | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | three years, which is a long time to stay alive in those circumstances)// | ||
+ | |||
+ | The following is taken from The Union army: a history of military affairs in | ||
+ | the loyal states, 1861-65 -- records of the regiments in the Union army -- | ||
+ | cyclopedia of battles -- memoirs of commanders and soldiers. Madison, WI: | ||
+ | Federal Pub. Co., 1908. volume II. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **"One Hundred and Forty-fourth Infantry**.-Cols., | ||
+ | E. Gregory, William J. Slidell, James Lewis Lieut.-Cols., | ||
+ | James Lewis, Calvin A. Rice; Majs. Robert T. Johnson, Calvin A. Rice, | ||
+ | William Plaskett. This regiment, recruited in Delaware county, was organized | ||
+ | at Delhi, and there mustered into the U. S. service on Sept. 27, 1862. **It | ||
+ | left the state on Oct. 11, 956 strong**, and was stationed in the defence of | ||
+ | Washington at Upton' | ||
+ | was then assigned to the Department of Virginia, and in Gurney' | ||
+ | assisted in the defence of Suffolk, during Long-street' | ||
+ | place. In May it was placed in Gordon' | ||
+ | Point, and snared in the demonstration against Richmond. In July it joined | ||
+ | the 2nd brigade, in (Schimmelfennig' | ||
+ | was detached from its corps on Aug. 7, and ordered to Charleston harbor, | ||
+ | when during the fall and winter of 1863 the regiment was engaged at Folly | ||
+ | and Morris islands, participating with Gillmore' | ||
+ | Fort Wagner and the bombardment of Fort Sumter and Charleston. In Feb., | ||
+ | 1864, in the 1st brigade, Ames' division 10th corps, it was engaged at | ||
+ | Seabrook and John's islands, S. C It was then ordered to Florida, where it | ||
+ | was chiefly engaged in raiding expeditions and was active in the action at | ||
+ | Camp Finnegan // | ||
+ | active at John's island in July, losing 13 killed, wounded and missing; in | ||
+ | Potter' | ||
+ | movement: with Sherman, fighting at Honey Hill and Deveaux neck. Its | ||
+ | casualties at Honey Hill were 108 and at Deveaux neck, 37 killed wounded and | ||
+ | missing. Lieut. James W. Mack, the only commissioned officer killed in | ||
+ | action, fell at Honey Hill. Attached to the 3d separate brigade, District of | ||
+ | Hilton Head, it was severely engaged at James island in Feb., 1865, losing | ||
+ | 44 killed, wounded and missing. In the fall of 1864 the ranks of the | ||
+ | regiment were **reduced to between 300 and 400 men through battle and | ||
+ | disease**, and it was then recruited to normal standard by one year recruits | ||
+ | from its home county. The regiment was mustered out at Hilton Head S. C., | ||
+ | June 25, 1865, under command of Col. Lewis. It lost by death during service | ||
+ | 40 officers and men, killed and mortally wounded; 4 officers and 174 | ||
+ | enlisted men died of disease and other causes total, 218." | ||
+ | |||
+ | //This photo was taken 10 years after the end of the war, so Alvin is | ||
+ | probably into his 30' | ||
+ | battlefield as a 20 year-old. | ||
+ | with 50,000 men, or so, dying in a single day (more than in the entire | ||
+ | Vietnam War), it's difficult for me to get my head around the hell that he | ||
+ | must have endured during his service. | ||
+ | the older stories, in previous chapters, of our more ancient ancestors | ||
+ | fighting in metal chain, with battle axes for Christ' | ||
+ | brutality of actually going through that, I think, is one of those things | ||
+ | that only he, and others who also had the misfortune of being in such a | ||
+ | situation, can speak about. | ||
+ | want to have seen old Alvin charging at me with that sword drawn and a wild | ||
+ | look in his eyes. The mere fact of his survival makes one think of those he | ||
+ | faced, and their fates.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | Of course as a kid, and then as a young man, I thought that I actually could | ||
+ | have done such things with ease. The older, more mellow Paul, isn't so | ||
+ | sure. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Also very interesting to me is the fact that during the civil war, two of | ||
+ | our distant cousins, who broke off our family branch in the beginning in | ||
+ | Connecticut, | ||
+ | Richard' | ||
+ | death. | ||
+ | regional governor of Massachusetts and Connecticut, | ||
+ | therefore somewhat more privileged, as presumably were their offspring. | ||
+ | John's descendants, | ||
+ | Same blood line, but with more cash and opportunity, | ||
+ | for example. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Both Horatio and Thomas Seymour were Governors of their respective states of | ||
+ | New York and Connecticut at this time. And both were opposed to the war, | ||
+ | and to centralizing the US government, as both were hard core Jeffersonians, | ||
+ | and therefore favoured a decentralized government. | ||
+ | much less popular these days, as Jefferson himself seems to have been | ||
+ | largely forgotten by the new, mostly immigrant population, I, myself, am one | ||
+ | of the last remaining Jeffersonians. | ||
+ | South America. [[wp> | ||
+ | |||
+ | I also made contact while doing my research with Judy Cuyle, a very | ||
+ | accomplished genealogist and wife of Bill Cuyle, who is a descendent of | ||
+ | Alvin as well. Bill was in to drag, and stock car racing in a major way. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Grandpa, Dad, and I were/are big speed freaks as well, which may have come | ||
+ | down through the Cuyle line (pronounced like Kyle). | ||
+ | common name, but is also from southern England, almost exclusively found in | ||
+ | Sussex County, England. | ||
+ | origin, I think, and it just looks and sounds French as well, which would | ||
+ | indicate Norman origin. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now on to generation 11 in America. | ||
book/clinton10.txt · Last modified: 2014/11/01 15:00 by 127.0.0.1