Once again the librarians were gracious and let us upstairs into the genealogy room before it was scheduled to open. And, once we were there, they quickly located 1848 and 1854 maps marking properties throughout the county. There it was "J. Amidon" along U.S. 20 just east of the crossroads, although the earlier map had it on the north side and the 1854 map on the south side.
Before leaving Syracuse, we stopped at the Erie Canal Museum. Although much of the canal still exists, nothing remains here. The museum still was interesting, and it seems incredible that they built the entire canal from Albany to Buffalo, plus feeder canals, aqueducts and bridges, in eight years. I know the New York Thruway took much, much longer.
In the afternoon, we drove back out to Navarino. Whichever side of the highway or both, the property now is Burrell Orchards. The oldest remaining structure is the Burrell farmhouse. It does not look old enough to be around in Jacob's time, but perhaps later Amidons lived there. The maps also showed properties owned by other family members, including Jacob's son Jacob, right next to Pine Ridge Cemetery, son-in-law Eli Anderson, and Juball Hall (see previous post). Again, no older homes remain.
We also did some more grave searching. At the South Onondaga Cemetery, we found tombstones for Jacob's sons, Samuel and Henry, plus several other Amidons. And checking once again at Pine Ridge, we found Jacob's brother, Joseph, with a Veteran's plate for "The Lexington Alarm." Joseph died in 1810, making his grave one of the oldest in the cemetery. The cemetery presented a little mystery with Shuball Hall, spouse of Jacob's sister Sarah. We found a marker for their son George but also a marker for a wife of Shuball named Patta or Patti. Sarah lived until 1841, although she died in Orange County, New York. Perhaps they were divorced?
Mary: Traveling through the graveyards in 94 degree weather today was challenging, to say the least. But the beauty of this place, and the acreage that once belonged to Jacob and Hannah Amidon was so peaceful, the serenity made it worth the effort. I am so glad we made this journey and closed the gap in our genealogical saga. In 2003, we traveled west to Connecticut, 1637 to 1764.....now we've gone East from Corry PA, going back from 1910 to 1764, completing the circle. Most satisfying!
This evening we found another great restaurant in "Skinnyattles." This one was an Italian place in a former garage built by the Halls 200 years ago. Would you believe, not even I could finish my dinner!
That concludes the genealogy part of our trip. Now it is off to the Saranac Lake Inn until Saturday.
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