American Bicentennial Flag

From a piece in the Sept/Oct 1976 Empire State DAR News:

click image to enlarge

Caption:  
PRESENTATION --  Adirondack Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, presented a Bicentennial flag to Troop 20 boy Scouts Fife and Drum Corps of Brushton.  Directed by Bruce Jackson, the boys portray the Spirit of '76.  Because of the historical significance of this troop and the part they are portraying, Adirondack Chapter made the award.

And from a July 7, 1976 Malone Evening Telegram article:

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These and other clippings were preserved in one of several scrapbooks compiled during 1960s-1990s by Adirondack Chapter DAR.

Brushton High School

From the August 12, 1914 Malone Farmer:

Grand Army of the Republic

G.A.R. Members marching in

Decoration Day Parade 1896, Malone

From the Collection of the Franklin County Historical & Museum Society

One of the outcomes of the American Civil War was the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.), founded in 1866 and disbanded in 1949.  Membership in the G.A.R. was limited to those men who served in the Union Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Revenue Cutter Service during the Civil War. 

From the NYS Archives site:

     The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a large multi-faceted organization (fraternal lodge, charitable society, special interest lobby, patriotic group, and political club) founded in 1866 by Union Army Surgeon Benjamin Franklin Stephenson. The organization was originally envisioned as a brotherhood of veterans who were dedicated to helping other veterans.

      The first post was established at Decatur, Illinois in April 1866. Soon after a second post was organized in Springfield, Illinois, and others began to emerge throughout the northeastern states. By September of 1866, following a mass meeting of Civil War veterans in Pittsburgh, the movement began to spread east with the establishment of GAR posts by ex-union soldiers.

     The GAR was, without a doubt, a powerful political organization. It has been described by many as a "bloody shirt Republican club," and while this may be true, it is overshadowed by the organization's patriotic and social work. It was through the GAR, and the pension lobby, that many soldiers and their families received pensions. The Grand Army also promoted patriotism through parades, national encampments, placement of war memorials, and the establishment of Memorial Day as a national holiday.

G.A.R. members pose

From the Collection of the Franklin County Historical & Museum Society

1974.243

Franklin County Posts (adapted from the GAR site maintained by SUNY Morrisville):

• Waverly:  Post 101 - Named for Sgt. Guy Wynkoop, Co. H, 10th NY Cavalry -  Joined at Waverly Oct. 1861 at age 20; captured at Sulphur Springs, VA, Oct. 13, 1863; died Aug. 30, 1864 at Andersonville, GA.
• Malone:   Post 213 Chartered Jan. 28, 1895 - Named for Private John W. Pangborn, Co. I, 35th NYSV.  Joined at Elmira in May 1861 for two years; mustered with Co. H, moved to Co. I in Aug. 1861
• Malone:   Post 284 Chartered Aug. 12, 1882 - Named for Captain William D. Brennan, Co. A, 142d NYSV. Born 1839; joined Aug. 21, 1862 at Malone as 1st Lt., age 22; Capt. May 1864; WIA Sept. 29, 1864 at Fort Gilmer, VA and lost a leg; discharged May 17, 1865; brevet Lt. Col. NYSV; brevet Major USV; taught school upon his return home and eventually became a lawyer; served as county treasurer and three terms in NYS Assembly; suffered a political reversal and took strychnine March 7, 1881.
• Brushton:  Post 363 Chartered April 19, 1883 - Named for Captain Horace L. Aldrich, Co. H, 106th NYSV. Joined at Morris Aug. 14, 1862, as 2d Lt., age 26; Captain July 9, 1864; discharged June 22, 1865.
• Dickinson Center:  Post 462 D. Robbins
• St. Regis Falls:  Post 504 Active Aug. 6, 1884 to 1921- Named for Colonel Charles Durkee, 98th NYSV. Malone businessman and a Democrat; joined at Malone as Lt. Col. Jan. 10, 1862, age 35; discharged Feb. 25, 1863; elected to lead Malone's home guard during the St. Alban's scare of 1864; died 1879.
• Chateaugay:  Post 562 Chartered Oct. 6, 1885 - Named for Rear Admiral Theodorus Bailey, US Navy. Born 1805 in Chateaugay; second in command of Farragut's fleet at the battle for New Orleans; died 1877
• Saranac Lake:  Post 621 Active July 23, 1897 to 1921-  Named for Corporal Francis M. Bull, Co. A, 77th   NYSV. Joined in Oct. 1861, age 22; discharged for fractured thigh, July 19, 1862.

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Additional Resources:

• Grand Army of the Republic records in the NYS Archives (1865-1949)
• G.A.R. in New York State
• Brief History of the Grand Army of the Republic

Wide Awake Clubs of Franklin County

The political campaigns and elections of 1860 between the Democratic and the newly-formed Republican Parties were fraught with many thorny issues, among them slavery in the United States.  Into this hot political contest came the formation of local groups called "Wide Awake Clubs" made up of Republican-affiliated young men.   These groups held rallies and host speakers and police the polling stations, but their most remarkable feature was the torch-lit parades at night in which they engaged, many wearing capes and other military-like uniforms. 

These clubs, which encouraged support of local, regional and national Republican-Party candidates and platforms, while springing up throughout the Northern half of the country, were organized on the local level.  Wide-Awake rallies in large cities such as Boston, New York City and Chicago consisted of hundreds of thousands of particiants.  While not nearly as huge as in more populous areas, Franklin County had several Wide Awake Clubs.

This article from the June 7, 1860 Malone Palladium noted the spread of the Wide Awake campaign to Chateaugay and urged the formation of a Malone group:

By August, it appears that such a club had, indeed, been formed:

From August 16, 1860 Malone Palladium

The Palladium was effusive in its description of huge Wide Awake rallies in Malone in July 1860:

From July 26, 1860 Malone Palladium

... and in Brush's Mills (Brushton) in August 1860.  (The whole article can be found here, but it is difficult to read parts of it.)

From August 23, 1860 Malone Palladium

From November 1, 1860 Malone Palladium

After the election of 1860, the term "wide-awake" continued to be used to describe those that were politically active and usually progressive in outlook.

From September 2, 1880 Malone Palladium

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Additional Resources:

-  "Young Men for War": The Wide Awakes and Lincoln's 1860 Presidential Campaign by Jon Grinspan (Journal of American  History. 96.  Sept. 2009.  357-78)

-  Wikipedia entry "Wide Awakes"

Shell Gasoline Stations

From the June 29, 1962 Malone Evening Telegram:

click image to enlarge

Franklin County and Saskatchewan

A query from a resident of Nokomis, Saskatchewan led us to research the role that two Franklin County, NY companies and numerous local individuals played in the development of that town in Western Canada. 

Following the 1904 opening of the area to homesteading, the first settlers began to arrive in the area that would become Nokomis.  The Franklin Realty and Trading Co. was incorporated April 30, 1907, with brothers-in-law Aaron (A.C.) Allison of Malone and George Brush of Brushton as its principals.  Allison had previously been a railroad superintendent and partner in the Symonds & Allison confectionery business and now turned his attention to the real estate and land development business.  Beginning in 1907, Mr. Allison spent summers in Nokomis and winters in Malone for many years:

November 27, 1907  Malone Farmer

December 10, 1908  Malone Palladium

September 7, 1910  Malone Farmer

And George Brush appears to have moved to Nokomis entirely, although by 1917 he had sold his farm and returned to NY:

January [...] 1913 Malone Farmer

A November 6, 1907 article in the Malone Farmer highlighted the charms of Nokomis:

The article goes on to describe the geographic situation and development possibilities of the area, and refers to Mr. Allison as the "pioneer and king of Nokomis."  The hard-working settlers and entrepreneurs were lauded thus:

"The men who are making Nokomis seem to have confidence in the camp.  They believe that Nokomis is the coming town and her merchants will recognize it at once as a great distributing point, a sort of commercial center for the Last Mountain Valley and Quill Plains country."

and the boom is described:

"More than thirty buildings have been completed in ninety days, all fairly good-sized buildings up-to-date, and really remarkable for so new a town.   ... While the development has been remarkable at Nokomis during the past three months and will continue until winter sets in, the real push will probably not be in full swing until next spring, when both the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Canadian Pacific will have a regular through service from Winnipeg to Edmonton."

In 1909, A.C. Allison was already reporting success in his land development and farming operations:

May 27, 1909 Malone Palladium

From the start, Franklin Realty & Trust Co was hiring other North Country men to help manage its Nokomis interests, thus deepening the ties between NY and Saskatchewan:

July 17, 1907 Malone Farmer

March 23, 1910  Malone Farmer

March 28, 1917  Malone Farmer

A.C. Allison was not the only Franklin County son to try the bounty of Saskatchewan.  Herman Phelps of Brushton conducted a livery business in Nokomis beginning in 1907.  In 1912, the Carter Land Co., another Malone-area business, was incorporated in order to take advantage of the Nokomis boom:

January 17, 1912  Malone Farmer

January 14, 1914  Malone Farmer

More than a decade after its founding, the Franklin Realty & Trust Co. was still reporting success in Nokomis:

January 16, 1918 Malone Farmer

August 6, 1919  Malone Farmer

September 3, 1919  Malone Farmer

September 10, 1919  Malone Farmer

January 17, 1923  Malone Farmer

Henry C. Brush

This Lewis Hepburn over under rifle once belonged to Henry C. Brush.

Its owner, Larry Avery of Toledo, OH, describes it as a "over and under double rifle percussion muzzle loader ... made by L.L. Hepburn of Colton, N.Y."  The silver oval plate inlaid into the left side of the butt stock is stamped in three lines:

     Henry C. Brush
     Float Pat. Aug. 23, 76

     Brush’s Mills, N.Y.

Mr. Avery also describes the rifle as "fully engraved on the right and left lock, butt plate, trigger guard, toe plate, patch box and the upper tang. All the rifle furniture is German silver. Butt stock is figured walnut. The sights are a custom globe front sight with a pin head insert, a flat V notch barrel sight, and a custom made vertically adjustable tang sight."

Henry Corbin Brush was the son of Henry Neilson Brush, from whom the village of Brushton derives its name.  Brushton, NY was originally named "Brush's Mills."

From Frederick Seaver's "Historical Sketches of Franklin County, NY" (1918), page 719:

     "H. Corbin Brush, son of Henry N., was born in Brushton in 1838, and always made his home there. He had large property intersts, and to the care of these applied most of his energies and time. Finely educated, possessing exceptional business abilities, genial, companionable and public spirited, Mr. Brush enjoyed the respect of everybody, and was of great usefulness in the hamlet that was his home. He died April 19, 1898."

Also from Seaver: (p. 519)
      "The industrial enterprises of Moira were never numerous or large. The community is distinctively agricultural, but with two small unincorporated villages -- Brushton and Moira. Each is a station on the Rutland Railroad, and each is on an improved trunk-line highway. Almost with the first settlement in the town, Appleton Foote, as the agent of Gilchrist and Fowler, erected a saw mill at what is now Brushton, and a grist mill there in the year following, which was displaced by the present stone mill in 1823, built by Robert Watts, and later improved and enlarged by Henry N. Brush."

Henry C. Brush also invented a shallow-running submersible fishing lure known as the Brush Trolling Spoon. 

(From the Scientific American Vol XXXVI No. 8 February 24, 1877. NY:  Munn & Co.):
 

Improved Trolling Hook

Mr. Henry C. Brush, of Brush's Mills, N.Y., has patented through the Scientific American Patent Agency an improved troller, the novel feature in which consists in attaching a float to the shank of the implement under the revolving blade, the object being to keep the troller near the surface of the water, where the fish may see it more readily, and whereby the liability of catching in weeds and logs is obviated.

Trolling Hook

A is a float, attached to the shank, a, of the troller. B is the spoon, which is swiveled in the usual manner. The device is very simple, and is claimed to prevent all the annoyance arising from the hook catching in sunken obstructions.

Brushton Literary Association

From the collection of the Franklin County Historical & Museum Society (1971.183):

click on image to enlarge

The Brushton Literary Association was founded in May 1882.   Its members planned programs for each meeting which included music, debate, essay, oratory, dramatic tableau and formal dialogue. 

First Baptist Church Sunday School Records

Recently donated to the Franklin County Historical and Museum Society:

Two Sunday School record books from First Baptist Church of Malone covering the years 1917-1929. 

The First Baptist Church Sunday School was begun in 1833.  (Click here and here for an article on the 100th anniversary celebrations in 1933.)  The Sunday School movement in America was well-organized and by the turn of the 20th century, many local churches - including the Malone First Baptist Church - made use of ledgers and materials in accordance with the inter-denominational International Sunday School Convention guidelines. 

The 1918-19 Sunday School year was rough for First Baptist, in which they had to briefly close Sunday School for both a fire and the great 'flu epidemic:

and, of course, when one of the towers collapsed:

Article from May or June 1918 Malone Farmer. Click on images to enlarge

The Franklin County Sunday School Association met annually during the first half of the 20th century at churches around the county and drew its officers from the county's Methodist, Baptist, Congregational, and Presbyterian churches.  According to articles in the Malone Farmer, the association met in Moira in 1900 and reported 60 Sunday Schools in the county, with a total membership of 5640; in Ft. Covington in 1901; in Malone in 1911 at which Dr. Harwood gave an address "Alcohol of little or no value as a medicinal remedy"; in North Bangor in 1914 and reported 61 Sunday Schools in the county, with a total membership of 5493 and the Methodist churches in the county taking the top three spots for attendance; in Chateaugay in 1920; in Brushton in 1923; and in Bombay in 1927.

Additional Resources:
1918 Report of the International Sunday School Association Convention
1911 Report of the International Sunday School Association Convention  (Includes section on movement history)
The Sunday School movement 1780-1917

First National Bank of Brushton

From Seaver (1918): 
"The First National Bank of Brushton, a well managed and prospering institution, commenced business January 24, 1910, with a capital of $25,000. Its resources in September, 1917, aggregated $286,533.76, and it had accumulated in less than eight years a surplus of $20,659.55. Its deposits amounted at the same date to $216,159.21. Its deposits more than doubled in the two years from 1915, and its resources increased in the same time by $109,000."

1986.104

The cancellations on this First National Bank of Brushton, NY check from 1921 (click to enlarge) are: Farmer's Nat. Bank, Malone, NY; National Commercial Bank & Trust Co., Albany, NY; Farmers National Bank, Malone, NY; National Commercial Bank & Trust Co., Albany, NY; and Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 

All images of objects from the collection of the Franklin County Historical & Museum Society.

1896 Brushton Burial Permit

This October 16, 1896 burial permit for the Village of Brushton, NY from the collection of the Franklin County Historical & Museum Society reports the cause of death of 53 year old Daniel Sullivan in Brandon as "Consumption," the old term for Tuberculosis. Between 1873 and 1945, Franklin County -- most especially Saranac Lake -- was known for the treatment of tuberculosis. Dr. Trudeau's treatment of Tuberculosis at "cure cottages" in Saranac Lake began in 1884 and is perhaps most famously known for the treatment of Robert Louis Stevenson in 1887.