Birthday Boy

On Sunday, we spent the day visiting with Dave and Ann in Bethlehem. David really enjoyed talking about our genealogy discoveries for the Amidon, Curtis and Walker families. Although he has lost most of his vision, he also was able to see enough of several photos when I blew them up full size on my laptop screen. Dave seem vastly improved from what we saw shortly after his stroke back in November. His speech and long-term memory seemed good, and as always he was able to talk a lot. He also was eating well. The biggest problems are his inability to walk and the tissue damage in his feet caused by diabetes. The whole process also has been extremely stressful for Ann, who definitely could use some hugs from all of us.

Tom, Laura, Kaleigh and Colton joined us for a buffet brunch at Moravian Village. We enjoyed talking with Kaleigh about her cheerleading, and with Colton about his plans to kick for the Nazarath High football team this fall before going to Penn State next year. Ian could not be there, but he is looking forward to study abroad in Spain during his next academic year at Temple. Later in the afternoon, we also got to have a nice chat with nephew Dan, who claimed he was in his Denver kitchen assisting Rebecca in making Gramidon's gingerbread cookies.

Before heading home on Monday morning, we stopped in to sing Happy Birthday to Dave on his 77th special day. It was an unexpected treat to be joined in chorus by Dave's and Mary's sister Sarah. What a nice conclusion to a great trip.We now are back in hot Winston-Salem. We miss the Adirondacks already.

Stopping in Bethlehem

Mary: Driving through the rain, yesterday, Phil and I recounted our trip back in time and our days in the Adirondacks. My friend Susan was right...I didn't want to leave, rain and all. We took the scenic route down 30 to 81 and into PA for our visit with brother David, whose name, David Curtis Amidon, now carries much more historical meaning. Kept my eye out for signs of fracking in NE PA but didn't see anything, glad to say.

We got to Bethlehem about 4 and soon went to the Moravian Village Care Facility where Dave currently resides. Diabetes is a frightful disease that leaves so little hope. It was good, though, just to hug my brother and his dear wife Annie. Dave has just undergone more surgery and now has less foot than he did before. It is exhausting to just try to keep going in the face of this adversity. The sense of humor is still there, though, and he and Annie both recognize the great fortune of their family to lend support and encouragement. I do believe that things happen for a reason and that when we are feeling at our lowest it is because we don't know just what that reason could be. Still, whatever lesson we are to learn from all this, it is a tough place to be in for David and his family. Our love is all we have to offer them, and so we do.

We're sorry we'll miss seeing Jessie, Jim and the gang, as they are off camping this weekend (HBD to Jess Bess!!) We still hope to see David and Barb and their kids sometime today, though they're off to a Sunday Church picnic and, in true Amidon fashion, seem to be the ones running the show. It will be good to see Tom and Laura and the gang, though, and to share lunch with them. Phil and I are off to visit with Dave, now, to share more about our trip to Corry and environs.

Whiteface Mountain

This morning, the clouds began to break up and patches of blue sky show overhead. It was our last day in the Adirondacks, so we decided to chance it and head for the summit of Whiteface Mountain at about 4800 feet. It was a nice drive over and clear when we got to the bottom of the road, and still clear about 3/4 of the way up. We even got a look at the summit from below. However, by the time we reached the top, the clouds were moving in. We wandered around for more than an hour hoping for an improvement, but finally packed it in. Again, we did get a good look of Lake Placid from a spot below the summit and the sun was out back at the entrance. I also kept hoping to see or hear a Bicknell's Thrush, since they breed on the mountain, but no luck with that either. Another life bird missed. Oh well! It was still fun.

After a picnic lunch and another eagle, we headed back to Saranac Lake. We stopped at a cottage where Robert Louis Stevenson spent the winter of 1887 recuperating from what he thought was tuberculosis. It probably wasn't, but he felt much better and wrote half of "Master of Ballantrae." The cottage had lots of interesting memorabilia and photographs, including Scribners artwork for his books by N.C. Wyeth. I have a couple of those books at home.


Now it was time to hit the water again. This time we tried the one-person kayaks, and that worked out well for both of us. We probably paddled a couple of miles around Lake Flower. Still no loons there or anywhere else, though, even though a nature sign in Saranac Lake says that it is common to hear them on the lake in the morning. I had to settle for 10 Common Mergansers along the river. It was another nice dinner; this time Italian again with Pina Colada and draught Saranac pale ale. What could be better?

Tomorrow we get part way home, stopping in Bethlehem to see Dave and Ann before arriving in Winston on Monday. David is not doing that great, unfortunately. He had more surgery today, removing part of his foot. We certainly hope we can cheer him up a little with his birthday approaching at the end of the month.

Saranac Lake

It was 99 and sunny in Winston-Salem today. In Saranac Lake, it was in the 70s with rain most of the day. The drops did not deter us, although they forced us to abandon our planned trip up Whiteface Mountain. The rain tapered off a bit in late morning, so we headed out to High Falls Gorge near Whiteface. This is a deep gorge on the AuSable River and quite spectacular, as you walk through on steps and walks nailed into the cliffs. There were fascinating lichens and ferns along the cliff walls, too.

Whiteface was still socked in after the gorge, so we headed west along a back road and discovered a nice peaceful lake in the state forest. Alas, no loons as we had hoped (we still haven't seen one), but the lake was beautiful even in the clouds (see below). Then we continued on to a walking trail close to where we walked yesterday. This one had old growth pines and hemlocks, many nonblooming wildflowers on the forest floor, and several small ponds called eskers created by the glaciers 10,000 years ago.








We stopped walking just in time, as the heavens opened up with the heaviest rains of the day. Back at our motel, we drank our wine and tonics on the balcony and watched other guests go out in the kayaks in complete disregard of the rain. Looked like fun. It is supposed to clear tomorrow mornings, so we can't wait to get out and see more.

Arrival in the Adirondacks

Here we are in cool and dry Saranac Lake. It is sort of like the Blue Ridge Mountains with water, and much of it still has that 50s feel, with small motels, kids tourist traps, et al. We are staying at a motel overlooking Lake Flower on the east side of town. We arrived yesterday afternoon, and first thing we had to do was fix a tire that was leaking slowly because, as it turns out, it picked up a piece of welding metal when we drove out of the big city the other day. The rest of the day, we just took it easy, taking a short walk downtown, chilling out on the balcony and enjoying another good meal. It was the first time we have ever been served by someone older than us with a beard, though. No doubt he was the owner.

This morning, I finally dragged Mary off to find birds. We went to nearby Bloomingdale Bog, which  has walking and snowmobile trails. The potential was there for some first-ever (life) birds, but we missed on the likes of Black-backed Woodpecker, Boreal Chickadee and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. However, we did hear and see some other nice species: Alder Flycatcher, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, Cedar Waxwing, Broad-winged Hawk, Black-capped Chickadee, Purple Finch to name a few. We also saw a winter favorite in Winston-Salem, a White-throated Sparrow. We then went a short way up the road to the Paul Smith nature center, but we were too hungry to stay. We may go back another day.

Leaving for lunch had a good birding side benefit though. We made sandwiches and headed over to a picnic area on Lake Colby, just in time to see a mature Bald Eagle come in over the lake. We dipped our feet in the cool water and returned to Lake Flower for a canoe paddle. It was so peaceful and beautiful out there.

So there you are on our day so far. No dead people, but still a great time!

Jacob Amidon's Farm

We came to the Onondaga area in hopes of finding Jacob Amidon's farm, not just tombstones of he and other relatives. No one on the Internet has ever mentioned where the farm was located other than near the Navarino crossroads on U.S. 20. So, this morning, after a delicious breakfast and great conversation about both genealogy and shared experiences with Down's Syndrome children, we headed for the Onondaga County Library in the big city - Syracuse.

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.

In Search of Jacob

Most of Sunday was devoted to travel from the Corry area to the Onondaga Valley about five hours away near Syracuse. On our way out, however, we stopped back in Clymer to see if we could look at the interior of the Methodist Church where Leonard Amidon was a founding member in the early 1820s. Here it is, complete with Daniel in the lion’s den set up for Sunday School.

We took the more scenic route to Onondaga, riding along I-86 through Allegheny State Park and the Seneca Reservation, then along Keuka Lake where we stopped for a picnic lunch, and over to Geneva at the top of Seneca Lake before finding our B & B in Skaneateles. Locals pronounce it skinnyattles.

We are in the Onondaga area to try to connect with Jacob Amidon, who was the father of Leonard.  Jacob and Hannah Pool Amidon moved from Connecticut to Navarino in 1804, shortly after others from their home town of Ashford had negotiated an early salt  treaty with the Onondagas – different than the S.A.L.T. treaty with the Russians 250 years later. What we discovered was that Jacob’sister preceded him to Navarino. An historic marker for Navarino says the community was started by Shubal Hall from Connecticut. Sarah was Mrs. Hall.

So, we did not tarry long at the B & B before heading off to Pine Ridge Cemetery in search of Jacob and the burial plots of more than two dozen other Amidons. The cemetery is located on U.S. 20 between Navarino and South Onondaga.  A grave for Jacob Amidon lies close to the front of the cemetery. However, it was that of Leonard’s brother Jacob and not his father. Systematically, we worked our way back through the tombstones, finding other siblings – William, Lucinda, Ruth.

Finally, in the middle of the old section under a tall pine were the graves of Jacob  “Amadon” and his wife Hannah.  On Hannah’s marker, you can barely make out her name today, but Jacob’s remains clear. At the bottom, is the following inscription:

“He has gone to a mansion of rest
From a region of sorrow and pain
To the glorious land of the blest
Where he can never suffer again.”

It sounds as if his last years may not have been healthy, happy ones.

Mary: So what is it like wandering around graveyards? You get to think about America's history, of course, and the resilience of our ancestors, who faced so much adversity. It is hard not to think of the brevity of life, as well, and to wonder if any of us leave a lasting legacy. Before too long, you are thinking about your own demise, but in a philosophical way. In the David Curtis Cemetery in Columbus, I found the perfect message I'd like on my stone and relayed my request to Phil: Lucretia Curtis, wife of Seymour Curtis was so remembered: "To know her was to love her To name her was to praise" When I suggested Phil thus mark my tombstone he said "tombstone?" Maybe he'll just (wisely and understandably) push me off a cliff somewhere. On his stone, I would put: "Patient, Longsuffering Philip D. Dickinson He didn't kill her!"
After the cemetery, we had a wonderful seafood dinner by the lake in Skinnyattles and then walked along the lakeside and past the 19th century mansions on Genesee St.  Both the food quality and the prosperity differ markedly from the Corry area.