SBHS December 2012 Newsletter

Flea Market: A Wild, Profitable, Sunny Day

December, 2012

By Todd Vibert

What a wild day we had on our Fall Flea Market – Oct. 20 – this year!

As Roger has told you, we had record sales and profits for the day.

We also had threats from tenants of the Meadow View Condominiums as well as the fire department not allowing our patrons to enter or leave the firehouse parking lot for two 15-minute intervals, between noon and two in the afternoon.

The general public was slow in coming to the show, starting to arrive at 9:15, whereas for the spring show the public came in at 8:30. Once the general public started to arrive, they never stopped. People were coming in up to the time we were officially closed at 4 p.m. We even sold our last soda at 4:05. We were lucky to have missed the rain storm the day before as Saturday turned out to be a beautiful, sunny and very warm day.

Story continues on page 5 WHAT: Wassail Party WHEN: Sunday, Dec. 2, 3-5 p.m.

WHERE: Rowe & Enders Houses, SBHS WHO: Society members and guests Make room on your calendar for our traditional holiday kickoff event! Delicious snacks, our famous punch, decorations, good cheer – all in the Society’s incomparable early-American setting. Bring friends!

Contributions to cover expenses will be gratefully received.

Again, Wassail! Sunday, Dec.2, 3-5 p.m.

See page 2 , read about a time when mail was first delivered in Granby

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Early Postal Service for the Residents of Granby, Connecticut

By Ken Kuhl The Model T “Snowbird”

For many years the early settlers of Simsbury and the Salmon Brook Parish

had to depend on a visit to Hartford by friends or relatives for their mail.

The United States Postal Service traces its roots to 1775 during the Second Continental Congress, where Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general. The cabinet-level Post Office Department was created in 1792 from Franklin's operation and is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution.

It was not until 1798 that the first post office was established in Simsbury, in a section known then as Suffrage.

Suffrage was located in what we now know as the Canton Village section of Route 44. In 1802, this post office was moved to Weatogue and most historians believe it was set up in a section of Pettibone Tavern. More than likely, the residents of Salmon Brook got their mail there.

In April of 1805, Hezekiah Goodrich was appointed the first postmaster of Granby. His house, located just north of the First Congregational Church at 235 North Granby Road, became the location where mail was handled. No record has ever been found as to how mail got to Granby at that time, but in 1806, Enos Boide of Blandford, Mass., had a contract to carry mail from Hartford to Stockbridge Mass., by way of Simsbury, Granby and Granville on his stagecoach.

How many times a week this route was run is hard to determine, but by 1820, a contract shows only one trip a week. In this old contract his itinerary was something like this: Hartford Ct. by Wintonbury, Simsbury, Granby, Granville, Middle Granville, Blandford, Fallys X Roads, Chester, and Middlefield to Hinsdale once a week and back at the rate of sixty-eight dollars and seventy-five cents for every quarter of a year.

By 1832, there were two trips a week being made.

The receipts at early post offices in Granby were, of course, small. The total for the year 1828 when Hezekiah Goodrich was postmaster was $64.22. Postmasters were paid based on the number of stamps they sold. In the early 1850s, this could be a raw deal for some because, although postage was based on the weight of the letter and the distance it was going to travel, not until 1855 did they have to be prepaid. Until then, senders had the option of making the recipients pay the postage, which kept that money out of the sending postmaster's pocket.

The postmaster had to buy his own "official" canceller because small towns seldom had one. The earliest letter with a Granby postmark so far seen was written by the fourth postmaster, Ardon B. Holcomb, sent “Free” on his signature. This has a manuscript Town and Date mark, Granby, Ct. Dec. 28, 1848.

The earliest postmark seen with a circular inked town mark is June 27, 1858; Jairus Case was postmaster. In 1860, the postmaster general ordered that the town mark was no longer to be used to cancel the stamp, so many postmasters made fancy cancellers or “killers” from cork or boxwood. The earliest of these seen from Granby cannot be dated, but is on a stamp issued in 1861. It is apparently just two cuts at right angles across a cork and is known as a “cross roads” cancel. This is the most common of this type of cancel.

Nothing has been determined as to where all the early post offices were located. However, from 1869, when Chester P. Loomis was first appointed postmaster, until 1914, the post office was in Loomis Brothers Store, until the death of Mr. Loomis.

In the early part of the 20th century the location of the post office was dependent on who was appointed postmaster, which was dependent of who was president of the United States. During the Taft administration, a Republican, the location in Granby was the Loomis Brothers general store. When Woodrow Wilson was elected the new postmaster was Harold Cotton who moved the post office to the Beman block. When Warren Harding was elected, Kenneth Avery was appointed in 1922; he moved the post office back to the Loomis Brothers store. When Avery opened his own general store on Park Place (where Tina’s Ice Cream is located) he moved the post office to his store.

In November of 1936, during the depths of the Great Depression, two men entered the Avery building by forcing a window and by the use of explosives, blew open the door of the safe. Although the home next door had a watch dog, which had a reputation for barking at the slightest sound, all slept right through it. The robbers escaped with $335.36 in money, stamps and money orders of which some was later recovered although no one was ever arrested. The post office stayed at Avery’s General Store until the current building was erected in 1967.

Until 1903, all patrons had to go to the post office for their mail. At that time, Rural Free Delivery, which had been in existence in other towns for some time, was finally started here. On March 2nd, 1903, Edward Griffin was employed as rural carrier, covering a twenty-one mile route on his bicycle!

The next RFD man was Bertram Dewey who covered his route, summer and winter, by horse with either a buggy or a sleigh until 1917. After that time he began using his Model T Ford automobile in the summer. At this time in Granby, because there were very few paved roads and in winter the roads were not plowed, he continued to use his horse and cutter sleigh. Some postal carriers even employed the custom Model T "snowbird".

With our dependence today on immediate access to all known information, it is hard to imagine a time when it might take a week or more to hear from your closest friends and relatives.

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Collection Enriched by Local Family

by Carol Laun,

Archivist and Acting Curator

An estate sale was recently held at the Maltbie house on Salmon Brook Street. Thanks to the generosity of the heirs and the people who were running the sale we have had the opportunity to add many Maltbie items to our archives and collections. Thanks also to Ken Kuhl who was instrumental in arranging this.

Maltbie family photos, documents, newspaper clippings, letters, photo albums, books and much more are now being organized for preservation as the Maltbie Collection. We have the remarkable history of a prominent Granby family for four generations. The first to move to Granby was Theodore Mills Maltbie, a lawyer and state representative. His son was William Mills Maltbie, a lawyer, judge and finally Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court for twenty years. Theodore Mills Maltbie and his two children are the present owners of the house.

More about this collection will appear in future newsletters.

Martin Spring, a descendant of Granby’s Thomas Spring recently found out that Colebrook Historical Society has Thomas Spring’s Revolutionary War coat as part of their collection. As artifacts often do, it left Granby with some member of the Spring family and was donated to Colebrook in 1955. The Colebrook Society has it carefully exhibited in a glass case. Plans are being made to visit Colebrook when they reopen in the Spring. We hope to help each other by sharing information. Some of the genealogical data they have on Thomas is incorrect, so we can give them the correct information. In return, we hope to get photos of the uniform and any other Spring items they may have. Then we can direct Spring researchers to Colebrook to see their exhibit and Colebrook can send any Spring descendants to Granby for further research.

“The Nutmegger” which is published by the Connecticut Society for Genealogists, recently had an article about the Devnew family genealogy. The article was well-documented and very interesting, but he didn’t have all the Granby Devnew information. The family (with many spelling variations of Devnew) was French and came from Quebec. I have been emailing the author and sharing information and he may write a follow-up article in the future, giving credit to the Salmon Brook Historical Society.

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SBHS Building and Grounds Report

by Dave Laun

Work on the Rowe House window frame repair and re-fastening the clapboard siding has been put on hold until spring when the contractor can schedule the job with a better chance of good weather. It was also decided to postpone the painting of the house until the repairs are done.

The Thursday volunteers are putting the finishing touches on the Enders’ sidewalk to try to make it as “user friendly” as possible while still retaining the farm house look.

Give the Holiday Gift of a Membership!

STUDENT $3.00 INDIVIDUAL $15.00 FAMILY/GROUP $20.00 SUSTAINING $30.00 LIFE MEMBERSHIP $300.00

Send your name and address, with a check made payable to: Salmon Brook Historical Society Granby, Connecticut 06035

As you may have noticed, our newsletter is now being printed by Southwoods in Southwick, MA. We have been very pleased with their work.

Cynthia Glenney has been our liaison will also have new Society brochures printed as well as additional accession cards. Our next project with Southwoods is to have them re-print our publication, “The Holcomb Collection,” which is nearly sold out.

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. . . Flea Market continued from page 1 All the volunteers worked very hard and did terrific jobs helping make the Fall Flea Market a tremendous success. I give kudos to the pre-rooster crew of Dave Laun, Jim Allen, Jim Glenney, Rich Zlotnick, Patty Sansone, Mike Flynn, Roger and Diane Hernsdorf, Lisa Vibert, and special thanks to Kevin Harter. Kevin was our modern-day George Custer, as he was surrounded by dealers and getting verbal abuse from tenants in the condos.

Kevin survived, however, and has a book deal in the works describing his ordeal. By 6:30 we had thirty vendors waiting to go to their spaces and by 7:10 we had 44 dealers in their spaces. By the end of the day many dealers were pleased with their revenue outcome and were looking forward to coming back for our Spring Flea Market, scheduled for Saturday, May 18, 2013.

Once again, not only did the pre-rooster crew do a good job, but so too the cooks and concession people, the volunteers who helped park the cars, as well as Ruth Robinson’s crew and Nancy Olsen’s crew. Heather Tomasetti did an outstanding job with publicity and Carol Laun did many things such as keeping the kitchen area neat and checking the rest rooms for soap and paper towels and observing what was going well and watching the flow of traffic.

(More story on page 8)

Images by Peter Dinella

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Antique Gas Engine & Tractor Show The Oct. 6, 2012 show was a success with perfect weather and 23 exhibitors of tractors and engines. Two outstanding exhibits were Bruce Moore with old shingle mill powered by an Abernique hit and miss engine and Rich Hubbard with a wood-fired steam engine in a boat that reminded you of the “African Queen”. Both were operational and attracted crowds for most of the day.

If you didn’t attend, you missed one of our best shows.

Dave Laun

Images by Peter Dinella

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From the Archives

From the Archives by Carol Laun

Carol Laun

The Society has many letters that were written to a young Granby woman, Addie Holcomb, during the years of the Civil War. The following letter came from a friend, Dora Fuller, whose family had moved from Granby to Hartford, Ohio. Her brother Davis Fuller has joined the army and of course, she worried about him.

Following are excerpts from some of Dora’s letters written to Dear Friend Addie.

(Oct. 26th 1861) My brother has been home once since he went into Camp and I have visited him there. Though he is soon to leave his native soil and go into Kentuck to fight, if need be, for his country, I do not despair of ever seeing him again. I hope if he is true to the stars and stripes he may return to us after this warfare is ended. On the stand where I am writing is a very fine picture of McClellan and his horse. I intend having it framed.

My cone frames are much admired here. Wish I had brought many more cones home than I did, cannot get them here. I expect to learn to make hair flowers this winter and I would be much obliged if you will send me a lock of your hair, cut back where it is longest. Can you spare a little for your friend Dora?

(Apr. 13th 1862) A new trouble has come to disturb us, our brother was in the last great battle at Pittsburgh Landing (also known as Shiloh in Tennessee) and we are waiting with almost breathless anxiety to learn the result. We can imagine him dead or wounded, suffering for want of a kind hand to administer relief and yet we hope for the best and pray that he may be numbered among the living and well. While I pray for his safety, I do not forget that others have friends there just as dear as he is to us. Some must die and thousands are left to mourn their loved ones. Oh! How sad this rebellion, would to God it was ended, and those yet living could return to their home and friends.

(May 24th 1862) Thank you for the kind sympathy you have manifested for me in brother Davie’s absence. I am happy to inform you that our Solider brother is again with us, at home. We enjoy his society very much and dread to think of the time when he must again leave us to join his Regt., now in Tenn. I fear it will be much worse parting with him this time, but we will have to give him up, as his furlough has not been lengthened, when the two months time has expired. His wound is doing well and he occasionally moves around without his crutches.

I remember with pleasure the few sun-shiny days we rambled together over those grand old hills and only wish that I could again be with you all. When the wild flowers blossom, please gather a few and press them for your friend, Dora.

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(Fall Flea Market cont.)

Below is a brief comparison of 2011 fall show to 2012 fall show: Fall 2011

Fall 2012

Hot dogs sold

195

224

Coffee

2 ½ pots

2 ½ pots

Soda

25 cans

124 cans

Water

11 bottles

53 bottles

Donuts

14 dozen devoured

14 dozen devoured

Chili

30 cups consumed

18 bowls consumed

Chips

20

29

Vendors

54

60 (approx.)

Vendor revenue

$1,410.00

$1,625.00

SBHS Sales

$1,572.61

$2,436.40

Food revenue

$596.00

$1,134.00

Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped with the Fall Flea Market: Cooking and concession: Vinnie Secord, Whitey Johnson, Bill Pease, Ken Kuhl, Lisa Vibert, Taylorann Vibert, Kate Bernard, Diane Hernsdorf, Roger Hayes, and Jim Oates.

Early bird group: Patty Sansone, Mike Flynn, Roger Hernsdorf, Rich Zlotnick, Paul Siciliano and Kevin Harter.

Dave Laun’s crew: Dave Laun, Jim Rosano, Jim Glenney, Jim Allen, and Dick Potetz.

Ruth Robinson’s crew: Ruth Robinson, Ellen Cunha, Marge Goslee, Cynthia Glenney, Bert Dinella, Pat Collins, Melba Griffin, Shirley Davidson, Corinne Dickerson, Marilyn Nystrom, and Roxanne Rosano.

Nancy Olsen’s crew: Nancy Olsen, Ann St. John, Freda Hayes, Mary Zlotnick, Sue Heminway, Edith Wilhelm, Ruth Rosebrooks, Johanna Van Valkenburgh, Lucy Holcombe, Jane Ann Pease, and Drene Cunningham.

Parking staff: George Bronsord, Paul Dewey, Roger Young, Tom Nystrom, Mike Antonucci, Phil Main, Spencer Vibert, and Bill Vibert.

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Thursday Volunteers The Fall flea market may be over but the work continues, to store the unsold saleable items, to dispose of unwanted items, and return the Preservation Barn to a useable condition until next May 19 when we start all over again. For the flea market volunteers, a one day show requires at least 2 months of work from start to finish.

No Holiday House Tour Planned for 2012

By Ken Kuhl This year the house tour committee tried in vain to arrange the five or six homes necessary to provide the Granby community a tour of our homes decorated for the Christmas Season.

The committee has decided to shift its efforts towards a Summer Home and Garden tour instead. Tentatively set for the first week in July, please stay posted for our plans to tour some homes, farms and gardens in Granby.

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The Salmon Brook Historical Society PO Box 840 Granby, Connecticut

06035

Salmon Brook Historical Society 208 Salmon Brook Street Granby, Connecticut 06035 860-653-9713 Or go to: www.salmonbrookhistorical.org

Calendar of Events Wassail Party: Sunday, Dec. 2nd - 3-5 p.m.

Hours:Tuesday 9:00 to Noon Genealogical & Archival Research Thursday 9:00 to Noon Thursday Morning Group

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December 2012 Issue •SBHS Newsletter Publishing Committee: Leila Hawken, Bob Schrepf •Layout: Ken Kuhl •Photography: Peter Dinella,