September, 2010
Society Quilt To Participate in Major Civil War Exhibition By Jean Potetz
The Society was honored recently by a request from the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts to borrow our circa 1861 Flag Quilt for an exciting exhibit they are hosting in 2012. This historic exhibit will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War and will travel over a two-year period from Lowell to the Kentucky Historical Society, the Winterthur Museum and the Atlanta History Center. Entitled Homefront & Battlefield: The Fabric of Life in the Civil War, the exhibit will use quilts, textiles, paintings and more to focus on the lives of men and women from both the North and South who were affected by the war and the events surrounding it. A companion book will be published for the exhibit. Our Flag Quilt was made by Estelle Holcomb of West Granby and was donated to the Society in 1962 by her son, Charles H. Wilcox. Estelle lived at 134 Simsbury Road and it was there, when she was about 17 years old, that Estelle made this quilt from a pattern published in the July 1861 edition of Peterson’s Magazine. A similar quilt is in the Smithsonian and there are others that survive, but they are rare. Estelle’s quilt remains in excellent condition for its age and we are honored to be able to share it with so many as part of such an important exhibition. The Quilt Committee has begun planning local events involving Estelle Holcomb’s Flag Quilt. We know you will want to celebrate the honor bestowed upon her quilt and also participate in this notable anniversary of the Civil War. Jean Potetz Quilt Committee Fall Flea Market October 16, 2010 (see page 5)
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Archivist & Curator Report by Carol Laun
Granby’s second graders visited the Society in June and the measure of our success was received in letters and pictures from the children. Cullen wrote, “It was fun rolling the hoop around the wet grass. It was kind of tricky with the quill and pen. We saw the grave stones with mistakes. I hope to come back with my family.” From Olivia, “The parlor was cool too and fancy because it had china, art work and a coffin door. I wish I could do the Voting machine because I didn’t get to.” Madison wrote, “I love when you showed us around the school and girls enter on the right and the boys enter on the left.” Alex wrote, “Thank you very much for teaching us about historical times. I really liked the General Store and my favorite thing in the back of the barn was the Ice Cutter.” From Nina, “My favorite part was writing with the feathers. In the kitchen there was a butter churn used to make butter. In the kids bedroom a blind pig kept their feet warm.” From Megan, “I thought the Abijah Rowe house was my favorite because the blacksmith made cool things. But the coolest thing I have seen is the voting booth in the barn.” Ben wrote, “It was cool to see the kitchen, the oven was in the wall. We saw dancing shoes made with pegs.” From Noah, “I liked the toaster in the kitchen and I liked the rope bed in the kids’ room. I think I could do 25 chin-ups in the school.” Christian liked the Indian tools and the mini lumber mill. Michael liked learning about a yoke to carry buckets. The children wrote about the handleless tea cup and drinking from the saucer. They all loved playing with the reproduction old toys and especially writing with the quill pens. And surprisingly, most of the children were fascinated with the oldest and last mechanical voting booth in Granby. Many thanks to our wonderful school tour guides, they obviously did an excellent job of making history come alive for the children. Our Sunday tours have also been extremely successful thanks to Lorraine Dewey and the very knowledgeable volunteer tour guides. Despite the hottest summer in years, we have had visitors every Sunday since we opened for the season. The Society is extremely fortunate to have photographer Peter Dinella as a volunteer. He had one Memorial Day photo of Seth Holcombe which he enlarged for the library and he also enlarged and framed an older photo of Seth on horseback that we borrowed from Lucy. Lucy worried that Seth wasn’t dressed very well in the picture, but Peter, with the magic of Photoshop, said he “polished his shoes, cleaned his pants and brightened his plaid shirt.” Peter is also documenting the garden restoration, photographing our Civil War flag quilt and meeting any photo request I have. He is an artist with the camera, a “wizard” with old photos and generous with his time and supplies. All earnings from his Society photo work are donated to the Archival Fund. And Peter is just one of our many talented volunteers who share their skills and time.
more 2nd Graders on Page 7
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“Bed Turning” on October 23rd at the Salmon Brook Historical Society In Memoriam Dorothy Lockwood Warren Lockwood Dorothy was a former Society president and both were active Thursday Morning Volunteers William T. Gough Jr. Brenda Huey Martin Huey James Jones All were long-time members
By Ginny Wutka Fifteen quilts from the Polly Hall Quilt Collection will be available to the public for viewing at the Salmon Brook Historical Society on Saturday, Oct. 23. “Polly’s Favorites”--15 quilts from the collection of 60 quilts--will be shown at 10 a.m. and again at 1 p.m. The “Bed Turning” or “Airing of the Quilts”, along with narration, will be in the South Parlor of the Abijah Rowe House on Salmon Brook Street. Included in the admission price of $20 for each session is the Bed Turning, a tour of the historic houses and school, and tea in the Victorian Dining Room. Polly Hall, renowned quilter and quilt collector, esteemed member and past president of the SBHS, gave her collection to the Society several years ago. This is the second showing of “Polly’s Favorites”. Next year, the theme will change. Twenty-three people attended the first “Bed Turning” in April and enjoyed the day, learning a lot about the quilts and, as an added bonus, about our Society. A limited number of tickets are available for both the morning and afternoon sessions. We also need the help of several Society members to assist on the day of the event. Please contact Jean Potetz (860 653 7647) or Ginny Wutka (860 653 6897) ginny@lostacres . com. for reservations. Please contact Ginny Wutka if you are willing to help that day. All the money from the ticket sales is used for ongoing expenses of the SBHS.
Building and Grounds Committee The Thursday volunteer group has painted the front and rear stairways and railings in the Preservation Barn. They have also helped set up the new exhibits in the Preservation Barn and cleaned and done maintenance work on the exhibits in the Tobacco barn. Presently, they are working on clearing the brush and some trees along the tree line at the back of the Preservation Barn to make room for a few more flea market spaces. The Building and Grounds Committee is still working on determining the type of replacement roof for the Rowe house and finding a contractor to do the work. By Dave Laun A list of maintenance items is being updated and prioritized.
Have you renewed your membership in the Salmon Brook Historical STUDENT $3.00 Society for the calendar year 2010? INDIVIDUAL $15.00 We have attempted to keep the dues at a reasonable level. If you FAMILY/GROUP $20.00 haven’t renewed for this year or owe back dues, please send us a SUSTAINING $30.00 check. Your continued support is welcome and appreciated. To those LIFE MEMBERSHIP $300.00 of you who have already paid your dues, many thanks. Send your name and address with a check made payable to: Salmon Brook Historical Society and send to the society at 208 Salmon Brook Street, P.O. Box 840, Granby, CT. 06035
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Recent Donations to the Salmon Brook Historical Society By Carol Laun
You never know how donations will appear.
I met Carol Evonsion in the Post Office and she gave the Society more Merrill Clark items she had been carrying around in her car. Peter Dinella gave a CD documenting the entire 2010 Memorial Day Parade from start to finish. Doris Ahrens donated a lovely family quilt, a 1907 diary kept by 12 year old Ray Case (see the Sept. Drummer for an article on this diary), and Ray’s writing box with contents. Acting for the High School Reunion Committee, Mary Keating gave 48 large photo displays from the first classes to graduate from Granby High School.
Shattuck descendant Jerry Hutt donated Burpee’s “Story of Connecticut” in four volumes, a history of Francestown, NH and an 1870 Francestown Academy reunion booklet. He also sent more family letter transcriptions with illustrations and explanations. Tom Ayre, a Simsbury researcher, emailed copies of all the research he has done on Simsbury and East Granby vital records, church records from Simsbury Congregational Church, Methodist Church, Trinity Episcopal Church and Old St. Andrews, also files on early Simsbury residents, tax assessments and many WWI records. When the Simsbury Historical Society decided not to publish his research, he generously offered to give it to any interested historical society. This well-organized and alphabetized information is extremely valuable to genealogy researchers. Lucy Domin McMahon brought in two scrapbooks of school projects from the Bushy Hill school, done by her father Charles Domin in the 1930s. One includes poems and drawings by a group of 3rd and 4th graders. The other is an impressive study of Art done by Charles when he was in the 8th grade. A reproduction of an 1834 “Girl’s Own Book” was donated by Sally Markey. The Laun family donated a selection of Ruic family items found while digging in an old dump. They are on display in a glass covered display box in the Rowe house toy room. Our biggest and most exciting donation came from the daughters of Merrill Beman, Leila and Janet. These items came from three old Granby families – Beman, Jackson and Griffin. It is pure treasure to have donations to enhance our collections, that are all Granby. The donations include, photograph albums, documents, autograph album (with signatures of the two Chinese students who were in Granby during the Chinese experiment with modern education in the 1870s), calling cards, journals, large framed pictures of Hubert J. Beman as a child and of the Jackson family. In addition, they donated an ice box, child’s crib, painted washstand, yarn winder, blacksmithing and ice cutting tools, many hand forged items, a collection of arrowheads (now on display in a glass covered display box in the Cooley School), a Masonic sword, child’s sled, ox yoke, people yoke, farm tools, antique glass and much more. We also purchased from the family a beautiful whale oil lamp, a large child’s wagon and a selection of toys. All of the Beman donations are currently on display in the Preservation Barn with a sign Recent Donations. Everyone is invited to come and look at our latest acquisitions.
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Fall Flea Market 2010 Oct. 16, 2010 Set-up Time: 7 a.m. Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cost: $25 Early Bird Special After Oct. 9: $35 Checks paid to Salmon Brook Historical Society
Include Phone Number … and send to: William Pease P.O. Box 148, West Granby, CT 06090 860 653 6688 Or call Dave Laun 860 653 3965
Donations for tag sale always welcome! Clean your attic, garage, basement Drop off items Thursdays, 9 to Noon Please, no plastic toys or children’s clothes.
GIFTS FROM SETH AND LUCY HOLCOMBE By Carol Laun
The late Seth P. Holcombe wanted some of his Holcombe
family treasures to go to our Society. The first two items have been donated by Lucy and are now permanently on exhibit in the genealogical library that was named in honor of Seth. The cherry tall case clock dates from 1795 and the cherry slant front desk with bookcase is from the last quarter of the 18th century. Both are Connecticut-made pieces. Only the clock face was made in England in “Osborne’s Manufactory Birmingham” as found on the back of the beautifully decorated face. The clock and desk originally belonged to Phinehas Holcomb of West Granby who moved to New Hartford. His grandson, James Huggins Holcombe brought the pieces to his home in Hartford. There they stayed through several generations until James’ great grandson, Seth Holcombe, eventually brought them back to Granby where it all began. Two portraits and a chest of drawers belonging to the same family line will also come to the Society. After we return the Cossitt Library portraits that we have on temporary exhibit, we will add the two Holcombe family portraits along with two photographs of Seth. It is appropriate to have the Holcombe Collection in the Library because genealogy and history was a passion with Seth. He also initiated the building of the Preservation Barn and was a most generous benefactor. Come and visit the Library any Tuesday or Thursday morning to see these magnificent examples of Granby history. 5
SBHS Antique Engine and Tractor Show Our annual Engine and Tractor Show will be held at the SBHS grounds Saturday, Oct. 2, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., weather permitting. We expect at least 25 exhibitors to be there with their tractors or engines. Parking and admission are free and the food tent will be set up to sell coffee, donuts, soda, and hot dogs. Anyone who has an old tractor or engine or other antique equipment to exhibit, please call Dave Laun at 860-653-3965 to make arrangements. Spectators are welcome and encouraged to come down and enjoy looking at yesteryear’s technology. We also need several volunteers to help with the food booth, parking, and exhibitor setup on the day of the show. Please call Dave Laun.
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The Herb Garden . . . Keeping History Alive By Marge Goslee
The bees and butterflies have been busy this summer enjoying the nectar of the many herbs in full bloom in the garden tucked behind the Weed-Enders and Rowe houses. In keeping with longtime SBHS member Polly Covell’s original plan for the herb garden, Ellen Cunha, Bert Dinella, and Marge Goslee took on the task this year of procuring specific herbs to replace last years winter-kill and showcasing specimens that have survived through the years.
Polly taught us that historically, the most important use of herbs was medicinal, but they were also used for flavoring food, in beverages, scents, dyeing and for ornamentation. Whether it was Hyssop, which was used to treat everything from gout to sciatica, or Lavender’s ability to help the passion of the heart, herbs were a necessity in the kitchen garden during the eighteenth century, the time of Abijah Rowe. Every growing season produces its own challenges and this year was no exception. We had the mystery critter that nibbled all the iris leaves and devoured the hollyhocks coupled with a dry summer, which necessitated almost daily hydrating to keep the plants in top form. It has proven to be a gratifying experience as we breathe in the many fragrances of the mints, lavenders and heliotrope while listening to the humming of the myriad bees. Gardeners are always welcome to join our group and maintaining the herb garden at SBHS qualifies as a project for Master Gardener students.
The Second Graders. . . Making History Interesting
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Salmon Brook Historical Society 208 Salmon Brook Street Granby, Connecticut 06035 860-653-9713 Go to: www.salmonbrookhistorical.org Or follow us on Facebook Hours:Tuesday 9:00 to Noon Genealogical & Archival Research
Thursday 9:00 to Noon Thursday Morning Group
Granby, Connecticut 06035 PO Box 840 The Salmon Brook Historical Society
Calendar of Events
Summer Tours: Sundays 2 to 4 p.m. (except 7/4) Engine Show: Oct. 2 Fall Flea Market: Oct. 16 Wassail Party: Dec. 5
September 2010 Issue SBHS Newsletter Publishing Committee Editors: Leila Hawken and Bob Schrepf Layout: Ken Kuhl Photography: Peter Dinella, Ken Kuhl