Winter 2002

About the Winter 2002 Issue

Note from the Editors

This issue opens with Stephen Lewandwski's description of rural winter chores. Steve edits and writes articles for the Friends of Ganondagan newsletter, Si Wong Geh, and for the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Task Force newsletter. He lives, gardens, and writes in Naples.

Another recollection by Roland Bentley of his rural school teacher, Lizzie B. Stewart, is in this issue. Roland is an active volunteer at the Magee House in Bath, program chairman for the fairground schoolhouse and a board member of the Steuben County Historical Society.

Another chapter from Robert Beck's Story appears in this issue. Robert Beck came from Germany to Rochester with his family in 1847 When a teenager he went West to Iowa and later raised a family in Corning and Hammondsport.

Gary Emerson's biography of John Magee concludes in this issue with "The Magee Legacy." John Magee was an achiever who worked hard all his life and let little stand in his way to building a coal and railroad empire that brought local prosperity and great wealth but did not last. Gary has written a book on the Chemung Canal titled A Link in the Chain.

Richard Palmer found and sent a story set in Oswego and written by Mary C. Vaughan. It was published in 1856 in an Oswego newspaper. An Internet search found a Mary C. Vaughan who coauthored the Ladies Union Aid Society (published 1867). She was born Mary Terrell about 1844 and would have been only 12 when this "Tale of Oswego" was published.

Read about Charley Oliver's many occupations and great work to preserve historic places, maps and documents, and personal histories of this area.

We lost a great historian and friend when David Robinson died in November 2002. Dave wrote about American and European prehistoric sites for the New England Antiquities Research Association. A memorial to him is in this issue.

Batavia native David Minor lives in Pittsford, where he creates historical research materials for authors and students, under the name Eagles Byte. The year 1817 from his Timeline chronology of NYC/NYS appears in this issue.

Grace S. Fox concludes her report on the rural schools of Avoca in this issue with stories about the districts which were shared with neighboring towns. Mrs. Fox has been the Town of Avoca Historian since 1985.

The first print illustrating the pioneer's progress in the Pioneer History of the Holland Purchase is reproduced with Orsamus Turner's text and a poem from his book.

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