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Households Residing on the Swalein 1860edited byGeorge DickeyMany of the people listed below are mentioned in the Diary of Abigail Hackett. The diary has been published in the Crooked Lake Review in ten sections starting in the Fall 1997 issue. The diary concludes in this issue. Mrs. Hackett's diary is a record of the hard life of the people trying to make a living on sub marginal farms of the plateau country of southwestern New York. The area where she lives is called "The Swale." This is an old English word referring to an area characterized by small swampy depressions. The Swale is in the town of Canisteo in Steuben County. The Swale road runs east and west along the ridge above the Canisteo River. To the west of the Hackett farm, along this road are the farms of the Turners and Whites, Mrs. T. and Mrs. W. Across the road is the home of widow Elisa Downs, her son Sanford Jr. is in the army. Also living with Elisa is her mother Granny Creasy. Farther along the road to the west at the top of a steep hill sits the school house and the farms of the Frisbees, the Kents, Warren Downs, the Saxtons and along a road to the north the Converses and Diamonds. To the east of the Hackett farm, along the Swale road, are the farms of Miles Powell and my great-great grandparents Samuel and Rebecca Dickey, Mrs. P. and Mrs. D. Next comes the cemetery and across the road from it another of Miles Powell's farms currently the home of his son-in-law Newton Howe. Next on either side of the road to Adrian are the farms of Andrew and Levi Creasy, the brothers of Elisa Downs, and across the road from them the Asa Downs farm, which is occupied by a family named Hall, as Asa is living with his son Warren. Further along the road on the flat at the foot of a steep pitch in the road are the farms of Isaac Jones Jr. , Mark Jones and across the road his brother-in-law, Samuel Drake, then the farm of Isaac Jones Sr. , and across the road his brother Israel Jones. Population of the area is at a maximum at the time Mrs. Hackett writes. In a few years many of her neighbors will start to abandon their farms to go in search of better land in the west, or move to jobs in the new factories in towns. In many cases the children will move away and the farms will be abandoned when the parents die or go to spend their declining years with their children. Map of the Swale to be posted shortly.Households Residing on the Swale in 1860Abigail and Charles Hackett and their five children are not in this
listing
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| ANGEL BROWN BUTLER CONVERSE CONVERSE CONVERSE CREASY CREASY DIAMOND DICKEY DOWNS DOWNS |
DRAKE FAIRBANKS FAIRBANKS FRISBY (FRISBEE) HALL HATCH JONES JONES JONES JONES KENT |
KENT LOUGHRY POWELL ROSA ROSA SAXTON SMITH VAN HOTTEN WHITE WOLBERT |
