My Great Grandfather Edward Wolcott Weeks
That’s me with them around 1954.
The following letter is one that Edward Wolcott Weeks wrote apparently sometime during the 1940’s. He wrote it in pencil on lined tablet paper (the kind used in schools). It was found among some of the papers of his daughter, Fern Dorothy Weeks Sager, after she died in 1981. Some of the words in the letter were not legible and they will appear in this typed document in parenthesis with a question mark and some of the words were deciphered and are included, even though sometimes they don’t make much sense. Punctuation was left as it was in the original, unless it was inadvertently put in when it was typed.
“Glen Allen, VA
May --------
Dear Lucill
Upon my return home I found your letter of May 8th and was glad indeed to hear from you. I believe the last time I met you was in Mansfield, Pa at Dora’s Tea Room at which time your father sold us our first automobile. That must have been at least twenty years ago. Well, a lot of water has gone over the dam since then. I see that you have changed your name and are about to become a historian.
I am delighted that you are considering the task of writing the history of Lakeville. I have always hoped that someone would do just that and wished that I had the time and talent to write it myself for I often wonder in these late years of my life what the town was like in the early days; who the first settlers were and where they came from and why.
Perhaps you will be able to dig thru information from old deed and records in the county courthouse.
I lived in Lakeville proper until I was thirteen years old so the data I can give you will be largely confined to those years. I know that some very unusual characters lived there but I was too young to appreciate their (? irasiusa).
I was born on December 23, 1871 the same year that father purchased the house across the street from the Acker’s house which you write now used as a parsonage. I was always told that the house was bought from Erastus West and took it for granted that the Erastus referred to was a brother of Lovetter and in later years wondered what became of him. I had met three brother of L.P.’s, Frank, Elvira and Burne but I never heard any thing about Erastus and so from you letter I learned that your Great Grand Pa was named Erastus so it may be that he owned the place sold to father. This is of course imaterial to history but I would like to get it straight.
The home was well built and whoever built and lived there had good artistic sense. There was a sunken garden on the east side - well stocked with shrubs. The house was painted white with green shutters and a white picket fence along the front with two small gates on leading to the side and another to the front doors with a large gate at the driveway. There was a row of sweet cherry trees along the porch and a woe of black cherry trees on the west line. The yard and garden were well stocked with small fruits and beyond the garden was a sizable apple orchard. These apple trees were very high and as I look back, they must have been 30 or 40 years old. So old, in fact that father cut two of them down in 1881. This leads me to the conclusion that the house was not built by Erastus the 2nd if there was such.
Included in the purchase of the property was a factory building down the street to the east on the creek bank and the power to operate whatever machinery it was designed for was furnished by the water wheel. It would be interesting to learn just what the building was designed to have manufactured under its roof. Perhaps for wool carding or grinding corn. Will we ever know? Too bad some of the queries did not enter my mind 70 years ago. Father sold the plant to Henry Spencer who fixed up living quarters for himself and six children and put in a lathe, power saws and a boring machine and did a thriving business in the manufacture of wooden well pumps, farms gates and ladders. Hank was a big rough and ready chap, when he laughed you could hear him all over town. A hard worker and a big heart. He always had time to help a boy he liked make kite or fix him a frog spear handle. I understand the old water wheel is gone. I have a very good colored picture post card of it if you ever want it for an illustration.
In those early seventies Lakeville was a sleepy old town entered occasionally by the drivers stopping over night to feed and rest their droves of cattle or horses by bank of ? stopping for a few days and one day a band of friendly Indians stopped and shot with bow and arrow several robins eating cherries in the trees in the front yard. Some excitement was caused one day when a man came along with a tame bear which danced for us children and climbed the Republican flag pole in the school yard. There was very little money and not much was needed. Nearly everyone had a garden, cows, chickens, pigs and if you wanted some groceries they took some eggs or butter to the store and bartered them for the things needed. The lake was teeming with fish. Pickerel, Bull heads, Perch, Rock Bass. Men would come in from their trout lines with a bunch of bull heads. In the spring the pickerel would come into the (? Swamps) at the foot of the lake in great quantities. Large flocks of ducks and geese would light on the lake spring and fall to rest and feed in their migrating flights. Every man and boy owned at least one gun. A large percentage of the population were artisans Two blacksmiths, one cooper, one harness maker, one carriage maker, four carpenters, one shoe maker, a house painter, one mason, also was included two ministers and two Doctors. Following the war the farmers were quite prosperous as wheat was the principal money crop and brought 25c per bushel during the war and other farm products correspondingly high.
So the old town rocked along in the early seventies with very little to disturb its serenity. The first one to jar it loose was Jerry Bowles who built a pavilion on the east side of the lake. He launched a steamer named Tessee and on of my first thrills was to stand with mother and other ladies and watch the boat glide under a full head of steam down to the foot of the lake making a wide circle and steam back south. Brass band playing and flags flying. Mr. Bowles as an added attraction also brought some colored singers from a negro college in Nashville, Tenn. They called themselves the Jublee singers. They could really sing and caused quite a sensation.
Shortly Mr. Bowles opened his summer resort a Capt. Cluney came to Lakeville and launched a sail boat which as I remember would seat 8 to 10 people and was the largest seen on the lake up to this time. The next year Capt. Cluney built a small cottage on the east side of the lake near Hannas woods. The captain was a friendly old chap and often invited the people of Lakeville to take a ride in his boat but the good church folks, including my mother looked askant at him as his nose was a little red and it was rumored that he sometimes served wine to his guests. Cluney cottage was the first on built on the lake. I think about 1878 or ’79.
In the early seventies your grandfather (L.P.) kept the only store in town and he was also Postmaster and the nearest R.R. station was Lavonia and the mail was brought from there once a day by an old man named Mr. Britton who was partially blind and traveled on foot carrying the mail pouch over his shoulder.
L.P. lived in the house connected to the store and had sleeping room above the store. Your great grandmother Mrs. Erastus West lived in the big house on Rochester Road and Giles Ames live in part of the house with her and worked the farm. L.P. leased the store to Frank Acker and moved the family into the big house having decided to take up farming as a livelyhood. L. P. did not build the big house and I am quite sure that it was built by your (Grampa Erastus) who operated a saw mill across the road and a little to the south. This mill had burned before my time but the stone wall was still there and we small boys used the vacant lot for a Ball park. Harry West had in his home in Rochester and old mantel clock about two and one half feet tall with wooden works, which he found in the attic of the big house. He had it repaired so it kept accurate time and once told me his Grandfather who used to make yearly trips to Albany, N.Y., with furs, wheat, in the sleigh in the winter drove on over into Mass and purchased twelve of these clocks which he traded to the farmers for logs. An oil painting of this saw mill used to hand in the livingroom of the house connected with the store together with an oil painting of a man in a velvet suit with the word “Pet” in the lower corner and Harry told me this was a painting of his older brother who had died and that this painting was done by his Aunt.
The next event of interest was the founding of the R.R. branch from the junction to the town. L.P. was the promoter of this and a large percentage of the track was laid on the best farm land. The money was raised by subscription from the residents and farmers and tracks laid and a small engine named Jumbo and a one day coach with red plush seats and kerosene lamps purchased from the Erie RR. It was a great day when the first train came steaming down the track. The small depot had been built so close to the track that the smoke stack collided with the corner of the rood over the platform and demolished it. No great damage was done but it caused a lot of excitement at the time.
Next came the steam boat. Sorry I can not give you the dates. You can probably get them from old records, if you want them. Corner (Colonel) McPherson furnished the financial backing for the steamer which was named for him. I don’t know where he came from or why. Perhaps the Erie R.R. folks got him interested. Anyway the boat which was a three decker and a little over one hundred feet long was built near the outlet back of the carriage shop. She was a beautiful boat and with her launching came a great change to Lakeville for during the summer months crowds came from Rochester to the lake for picnics. The two transportation companies sold a round fare ticket including a R.R. ride Rochester to Lakeville and return and a boat trip around the lake for (fifty) .50 cents. Most of the excursions stopped at Long Point half way up the lake which was owned by the Wadsworth and leased to some one who had built a fountain and dance platform The men of Lakeville had built a stone pier at the foot of the lake starting near the outlet and a wooden deck was built where the water was deep enough for boats to dock.
The R. R. tracks ended at the highway and the passengers had to alight at the depot and parade down the street past the hotel across the street and on down the stone and dirt piers to the dock. Later the R.R. built a wooden pier east of the old one and extended the tracks. Several small steamers were now put on the lake and cottages began to spring up like mushrooms. Everything was funny preacher clean and homes in the good old summer time around Conisis Lake.
The first industry of importance to in Lakeville was the salt plant started about 1881. It having been discovered that there was a deep layer of salt under the earths surface all thru that section of New York State and salt plants had been built in Rock Glen, Siver Springs, Warren, etc., so a company was organized and four well drillers came on the spot which was on the West farm near the R.R. Station. I think L.P. had a lot to do with this venture. The well drillers were big rough husky men like those you read about in the oil fields of Texas and we small boys made heros of them of course had to imitate them and with the aid of some iron poles and stove pipe started drilling a well in Charles Roses garden. Donahue was the head driller or foreman. Funny how one can remember some names and forget other ones would like to remember. Well, when they had drilled down about 700 feet they lost the tools. That is the drill fell off the shaft and they were fishing for it two or three weeks. It looked as if the project was doomed and many anxious days were spent predictions ran high. However, the tools were finally recovered and brought to the surface and operations continued for a few days when the salt bed was reached. Next came the carpenters and the building was soon completed. Fred Weaver was on of the imported carpenters and he remained in Lakeville and married Edith Carnes. The method for making salt was to pour water down to the bed then to pump it up into metal pans installed with steam pipes which boiled the water and left the salt in the bottom of the pan where it was raked out and put in barrels. This plant must have had a daily output of at least 250 barrels per day. Judging from the fact that there were 6 coopers employed who made on an average of 50 barrels per day. Frank Armstrong was the Superintendent and I think L.P. was office mgr or perhaps he was an official. The plant burned down after I had left Lakewille and as salt had been discovered in Mich, La etc. nearer the surface where mining was feasible at much lower cost the plant was never rebuilt.
There were two abandoned church buildings on of cobble stone located across from the store and next to John Mooneys residence and the other next to Gilberts harness shop which he used as a farm. I never could learn of what denomination or when built. The two active churches were the Christian or Lower church and the Presbyterian called the upper church.
Elder Hibbard was pastor of the Christian Church and he was also a physician doctoring the sick during the week and preaching on Sunday. A large percentage of his flock lived in town while the Presbyterian was supported largely by the farmer population. Elder Mitchell was pastor of the Upper Church. A very learned man, who used to read his sermons which I fear were somewhat over our heads. He was typical English with no sense of humor and could not distinguish one (?tune) from another but he was such a good earnest man everyone loved him and his family. He had six children. Four by his first wife Robert, John, Minnie and Nellie. I thin rob was the first to go to college from Lakeville. He studied to be a doctor and when he go his degree decide to locate in the West. (He must have heard of Horace Greely). As he was about to depart for the train he came out of the parsonage carrying a large package together with his suitcase. His father asked him what he had in that bundle and Rob replied, “A lot of your old sermons father, If I can’t make a living as a doctor I will try preaching.” John bought a farm in Aurora, N.Y. Minnie married and moved away. Nellie married Mr.
(?Grupee or Grappe) a former artist. Two children by his second wife Sydney and Bill who, of course, you know about. Mr. Mitchell left Lakeville about 1881 and Rev. Conclin was called from (?Gowinmment) N.Y. The church had got in a rut and he proceeded to pep it up. New carpet, a raised platform up in front by the pulpit and the choir brought down from the back balcony, new hymn books and a bell. What a thrill it was to hear it for the first few times or watch Hankie Dubois pull on the rope that sent it pealing over the country side. Rev. Concklin was a good pastor and a good sport. He liked to fish and hunt and he and Frank Acker used to fish and hunt together. He was a little too progressive for the time and after three years moved to Rochester to manage the publication of a church paper. I imagine the old bell is still calling people to service and the people of Lakeville have him thank for it. A pretty good monument.
After L.P. moved to the farm the partitions were taken out of the second floor of the store, and converted into a hall - used for meetings and dances, school plays, etc. The young people formed a temperance union club and met once a week. The Hanna sisters started a similar movement for us younger generation who would meet Saturday afternoons, We took the pledge to abstain from the use of alcoholic liquor in all forms, tobacco, and wash out our mouths if at any time we used profane language. We used to put on a little entertainment and that is the first time I remember seeing Allen Wettler who sang a song about a brown jug that went like this. Ha Ha Ha You and Me Little Brown Jug can never agree. I wonder if Allen remembers it?
Don’t forget the little red school house that was located in the triangle in the center of town with the carved and ink stained wooden desks. There were at least 45 pupils packed in that room in the winter age ranging from 5 to 18 years. The larger ones in the back and graduating down to the front. You may remember some of the older boys who were in school when I started in 1876. Geo Roe, Bud and Will Rust, John Hoyt, Jake Carpenter, Charlie Bryant, Geo Gilbert, Frank Bates, Will DeLarane, Will Mooney. There was an old iron Box Wood Stove in front which had a crack in its side where some bad boy had put a rifle cartridge in a chunk of wood which had exploded. Some of the boys would stuff up the chimney every fall so the stove would not draw and fill the room with smoke and we would get a recess when the first fire was started. We usually had a man teacher in the winter term who built the fires and that was his initiation.
Well, Lucille I reckon this is the longest letter you ever received. I want to council you to take your time. I recently finished reading “The House Divided” by Ben Ames Williams who claims he was 80 years collecting the material. Hope you won’t take so long for in that case I would not be on hand to read “The History of Lakeville”. There is a wealth of material there if the records are available so you can dig it up.
Good luck and I will be looking for a first seller on these days.
Sincerely”
1894
The following brief biography was apparently sent to someone, after Tinkie retired, but I have no idea who. He referred to some pictures in these notes but I never came across any. I think it is very interesting because it gives us some history of Tinkie’s background when he was a young boy and young man.
“An old friend of mine who lives in the old remodeled house in Lakeville in which he was born, recently sent me a copy of the local newspaper showing the flood damage caused by the breaking up of the ice in Conesus Lake: which pictures I enclose as a start to the memoirs which follow. These pictures brought back many happy memories of the fourteen years I spent in Lakeville and caused me to think that perhaps they would someday be interesting to my grandchildren and great grand children. I am not writing these memories for gain but to fill in the leisure hours of which I have a great many now.
I was born in Lakeville, New York State, on Dec. 23, 1873 in a house that is now used as a parsonage of the community church there. This house was formally owned by Erastus West who had planted a lovely orchard and several beautiful shade trees. I remember that there was a row of sweet cherry trees along the front and grapes and berries in abundance. My father was a carpenter and had built two birdhouses and I can remember sitting on the side porch and watching bluebirds flying in and out there during their nesting season. The place consisted of about two acres of land including the orchard: and the south end bordered on Conesus Lake and a small portion on the creek that drains the lake.
The Weeks family consisted of father, mother, three older sisters and myself. My sister Arrabella I can just remember as she taught school and was only home during vacations. The last year she taught was in the district of Geneseo where she became engaged to a widower by the name of John Borrows, who had one son. I can remember the wedding at our house. The next oldest sister, Elizabeth, worked in a dressmaking establishment in Geneseo until she married a widower, Frank Acker. The third sister, Theodora or Dolly was about 13 years old when mother died and she took over the housekeeping.
Lakeville was a lovely little town situated at the foot of the lake and on the main road to Rochester. The first activity to waken the sleepy old town was the building of a spur track connecting with the main line of the Erie R.R. about a mile and a half from Lakeville. About the same time Mr. McPherson built a large steamer at the foot of the lake. This boat would accommodate about 1,000 passengers and he arranged with the Erie R.R. to operate excursions from Rochester to the lake including a boat ride around the lake for the sum of $.50 a person. Shortly after this drilling was commenced and a salt factory put in operation which afforded a lot of employment for the residents of the town. This factory burned down after about two years of operation. About this time the Conesus Lake Ice Co. erected a large ice house where they stored ice and shipped it to Rochester in the summer. Prior to this time there were no cottages on the lake. The first being built by an old sea Captain McCluney about a mile north of Lakeville in Hanna’s Woods. He could hardly have foreseen that he was the forerunner of the thousands who live and look on the lake as their vacation land.
Before all this activity when I was a boy there, most of the people of the town were trades people: such as John Mooney, who was the blacksmith: John Gray who ran the hotel and Frank Acker who ran the general store and post office, Hank Spencer had the water wheel in the creek furnishing power for his mill where he manufactured gates and ladders and wooden pumps etc… the town tailor was Hanky DuBoise and Sam Bennet was our cobbler. Father was the carpenter and Alonzo Eddy was a mason and Martin Gilbert was the harness maker. A self sustaining community who depended on the surrounding farmers for trade. Few ever went five miles from home and most families were related thru intermarriage.
On the west side of the house lived Mrs. Johnson, a farmer’s widow who had sold the farm and retired. She was married into a remarkable family of Eddies. The boys were names Welcome, Milo and Alonzo and the girls Abigail and Naomi. Mrs. Johnson lived alone and had a small garden which she hired me to tend occasionally. The house was a small cottage perched near the road and she had it moved back by Abe Thayer and she and I rode with it while it was being moved which was quite a thrill.
On the other side of us lived Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Bennett. He was a cobbler and I used to love to sit and watch him while he repaired shoes etc.. His work did not keep Sam busy all of the time and he spent considerable time painting the outside of houses. Next to him lived Hanky DuBois and his wife. They lived in a little tumbles down house. I can remember the floor sagged when I went to deliver milk. It was a mystery to me to see Mr. DuBois perched on the table with his legs under him sewing. Next down the street lived Hank Spencer. The little pond above the mill which supplied water for his mill was picturesque spot and was painted as a picture several times. I recall an artist by the name of Shelly who spent the summer in town painting landscapes and Charlie Groupy, a celebrated artist, I believe, painted the last one and gave it to Frank Acker. My cousin Elizabeth Clark also painted a picture of this mill wheel and encouraged me to make a copy.
Following along on the southern side of the road we came to the residence of Tom Mooney, the blacksmith. His place was originally used as a woolen mill and later as a post office. The old abandon church, made of cobblestones stood between Mooney’s and the carriage factory. The roof was off this church. In this connection a queer character came to town. He bought the abandon church and a strip of land along the lake shore. He erected a large ice house in the form of a round cheese box which he filled with ice and peddled in Livonia and Geneseo. Where this old man came from no one seemed to know. He had plenty of money which he evidently squandered as I believe he ended up in the poor house. He had a crazy idea of straightening the outlet to the lake. He spent hours in hip boots cutting brush and dredging a new channel by hand. Along side of Mooney’s shop was a harness shop, owned by Martin Gilbert. Every bit of harness was made by hand and Mr. Geilbert was kept very busy. The boys in the town were always looking for a chance to play a practical joke on him and when he first purchased a carriage from Frank Acker they changed the back wheels to the front: which made the front higher than the back. As he and his wife rode home thru town and Martin complained about this his wife was heard to remark “It’s the style, Martin, it’s the style”.
The town also boasted of one cooper, Chauncy Sheppard, and Dr. Rowland who bought me into the world. I suppose to a small boy these seemed peculiar characters and looking back I still think they were.
I had few restrictions placed on my activities by my sisters who were busy with other matters and too young to supervise my training and I ran about as wild as an Indian. My closest friend was Harry West who was about my own age and when he was not at my house, I was at his.
We spent considerable time at the old swimming hole, which was a big bend of the creek. We had a rowboat and built several piers and used to play steamboat. It was fun to build a fire at noon and roast potatoes and corn which was supplemented with an occasional pie or cookies swiped from the pantry.
There was little work for me at home except to keep the wood box filled and drive the cows to pasture. The lake teemed with fish for the taking and we enjoyed the usual winter activities of skating and sliding down hill. Thus I spent the golden years of boyhood, until at the age of fourteen I went to work for my brother-in-law on the farm.
I found the farm to be a very different proposition. Ed Diffenbacher a youngest son had inherited the farm and was doing his best to make 250 acres pay. It was practically all under cultivation. The day started for us at four thirty, winter and summer and would take care of his eight horses and milk the cows. I went to district school in the winter and had the chores to do and in the summer was given an old team to drive and was expected to so as much work as the hired man. He was the bright spot of that particular time of my life. His name was Terrance Fitzparrick. He could play almost any instrument and was a grand story teller, It was a hard way of existence but I would not exchange the experience I got there for anything.
Frank, brother to Ed. took his share of the farm money and built a little house down the road. He had a threshing rig which he operated in the fall. He conceived the idea of building a mill and installing machinery for the making of barrel heads. Help was scarce and I was drafted to work in the mill. I became very efficient running the different machines and it was a pleasant change from farm work. I still lived with my brother-in-law and as we left the mill one day to go home to dinner we looked back and saw the mill in flames. How it caught fire was never found out. Frank then moved to Couldersport, Pa. where he found plenty of timber available and built another factory.
I had meanwhile passed from the district school to the normal school in Geneseo. In the spring of 1888 I decided to go to Couldersport as Mr. D. had often told me that if I ever wanted a job I could have it there. I worked there about 2 years. I lived with Mr. D. and saved my money.
While working at the stave mill in Lakeville I had learned to make slake barrels. All the apples raised in that part of the country were packed and sold in barrels. The price paid was five cents per barrel and a cooper could make good money, some could make as many as ninety to one hundred barrels a day. This was big money compared to the money I could make at Coudersport. On my annual visit to the old farm Ed asked me why I didn’t come back and make barrels during the fall season which I considered and did. We started a cooper shop at Moscow and at the salt works in Lakeville. Later I went to Livonia where I worked with Richen Taylor. In the mean time my old schoolmate, Harry West had taken a course in the Richmond Business College where he learned to write shorthand and had secured a position with the N.Y. Central Ticket Office. We had constantly been in correspondence during the years and he finally prevailed upon me to study shorthand in business college. There were about fifteen of us in the advanced grade. We did not think we were getting enough dictation and all walked out. I had not completed the course and did feel competent to fill a job so went back to the farm. That was the summer that I met the girl who was to be my future wife. Her family had recently moved to Lakeville from Geneseo and attended the same church I did. I thought she was the most beautiful girl I had eve seen with her golden hair and blue eyes. I used to sit behind her in church and I am afraid I didn’t get much from the sermons. One Sunday the Lower had a baptismal in the creek and I got up nerve enough to ask Miss Wemett if she would like to go with me to watch it. She readily consented and after that everything was easy for me and I seemed to have the inside track. Ed D. was very generous to me and let me take the horse and carriage and every Sunday afternoon we made good use of it.
In the fall Harry West got me a job with the Silver Lake Ice Co. where I worked till spring. Then I went back to the farm and spent a wonderful summer making barrels and courting Miss Wemett. In the fall I went to Madison where a new glass factory was being erected. We built a new shop and contracted to furnish the barrels to pack the glass in. I anticipated getting married and settling down there but unfortunately the glass factory proved to be a stock swindle and folded up in about six months so Lakeville again became my home.
Frank Acker bought the old school house that spring and moved it across the road and started a second store. I was glad to accept the management and be near my sweetheart. We operated a traveling grocery in a cart where we exchanged groceries for butter and eggs in the spring when these commodities were plentiful. Later we purchased a steamboat and fitted it with all kinds of canned goods, etc. It even had a magazine rack with the morning papers. Dan Wakley was to be the engineer and I was to be the salesman. We were to circle the lake and take their orders: go back to the boat and fill them and deliver the groceries to the doors. We had planned that the customers would come to the dock to shop. Making deliveries took so much time that it was impossible to make it pay. So the boat was put in as a ferry boat.
I worked on the boat as long as the summer season lasted and then went back to work in the store. Frank Acker was a very ingenious man and was always rigging up some counter for some five and ten cent articles. The lake froze over and the Conesus Lake Ice Co. began to fill their large ice house at the foot of the lake and Tom Ryan gave me the job as timekeeper. This only lasted about two weeks and I went back to the store. This was typical country store: from six to a dozen hangers-on would congregate every day. They would come down about eight in the morning and wait for the mail and discuss the great and small affairs of the day.
This was a very enjoyable time as I was within walking distance of my girl and could call on her every Thursday and Sunday nights.
About the middle of the summer I learned that there was a large apple crop in the vicinity of Watkins, N.Y. and decided to investigate it. I found a large cooper shop already installed employing seven coopers and operated by a Mr. Smith, who gave me a job making barrels. I worked for him until at the end of the season he ran out of stock and had to let some of us go. I left with the promise that they would let me know if they could use me next season. There was another clerk at my place in the store so I packed up my coopers tools and a grip and started around the salt factories looking for work. I wound up at the Warsaw salt factory in Warsaw, N.Y. A Mr. Davis who worked in their office was a fellow student to my old business school days and we roomed together. When he had a better offer he tried to persuade me to take his job but I didn’t feel competent and there was more money in making barrels. Ed Diffenbacker had a lot of heading on hand and in the fall he started up a mill at Addison, N.Y.. I had about $700 saved up and Cora and I decided to be married.
Had a lovely wedding tho a big one. Cora came from a big family and all our relatives came from miles around in a pouring rain.”
“And they lived happily ever after as Dad would have ended it.” Aunt Virginia added this last sentence when she found this paper.
Tinkie had eye problems when he was in his seventies and his life history was all done in capital letters on an old typewriter he had in his home. The doctors found his eye problems came from a couple of his teeth and it was recommended he have all of them pulled. This he did but before they were pulled he had them make a mold of his teeth and the false ones he obtained were made so they resembles his original ones. His eye problem progressed no further but he did have a blind spot when he looked directly at anything. This didn’t prevent him from driving or doing anything except reading fine print. My Aunt Virginia used to read stories to him from the Saturday Evening Post and Reader’s Digest and he would sit in a rocker, smoke cigars and make appropriate comments while listening to her read. Never heard him complain that he had any trouble with his eyes, in fact I don’t remember hearing him complain about anything. He always had a very positive attitude.
After reading about him in these two accounts, that he wrote, I realized why he was such a good storyteller. When I was small and he was asked to tell a story about – you name it and he would just start telling you a story and before you knew it he would have you mesmerized with his story. His stories were mainly about animals, say a Mr. Gray Squirrel or Mr. Red Fox and he would make them really come alive. He did have lots of characters he could call up and I think some of them came from the time when he was listening to some of the stories in the general store where he hung out as a youngster and then when he was a young man and a clerk. His story telling even carried over and my oldest son, Ed, had the privilege of listening to him tell stories. He had a most unusual voice and his diction was always great.
Edward Wolcott Weeks with his older daughters, Fern Dorothy (my grandmother) and Mary (later married Ted Adams)
Cora Wemett and Edward Wolcott Weeks on their wedding day Nov. 25,1896 (Tintype)
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