A New Year, a Renewed Project
During
the 2017 Bicentennial for the Town of Covert I produced 200 “Snippet From the
Past” items to share the history of the Town and Village. When they were done,
I was done with the project, at least for a while.
In
recent weeks several people have commented on the value and enjoyment of
reading the Snippet items either on this blog or in the printed copy produced
by the Interlaken Historical Society in 2018, which, by the way, includes an index.
This
new project will not be as intensive as 2017. There is no goal to have 200
items in one year, more likely 5 or 6 per month. The hope is to continue for a
few years, rather than just one.
So
where does one begin to find new items to share? An interesting question that I
have pondered, and thankfully a number of answers surfaced. There are buildings
that no longer exist, or the businesses that once occupied the space but are
now forgotten or lost in the files, more fires that impacted the community over
the years, and people and their stories that need to be shared. Of course,
there are lots of photographs in the Interlaken Historical Society collection
that can be shared along with their history or story.
To
begin this year though, let’s take a look back 100 years ago at what the
January 4, 1924, Interlaken Review had to share about the
community.
Good
news for the Cemetery, “Over 100 owners of lots in Lake View cemetery took
advantage of the special offer of endowment for $25 during 1923. This fee is
now back to original price of $50. The endowment fund now amounts to $10,000.”
Bad
news for a local distillery. “When deputy sheriff Grover Terry went to serve a
warrant charging assault on Thomas O'Brien, east of Ovid, he discovered a still
in operation. O'Brien now faces a more serious charge.” I suspect his customers
weren’t too happy either.
January
1st means taxes. “Unpaid school taxes in the towns of the county
reported are Covert, $1,168.46; Lodi, $168.43; Ovid, $148.92.” That is the
total amount due, not one person’s bill. And the collector’s notice of hours
and locations, “…will be at the store of M.S. Wiggins, Interlaken; First
National Bank, Trumansburg; Town Hall, Covert; to receive taxes...On all other
days between January 2 and 31, inclusive the tax book will be at the store of
Maynard S. Wiggins.” We should be thankful there is only one location for
payment of our town and county tax bill.
Two
fires in nearby towns were included in that same Interlaken Review. “Last
Monday morning a cow kicked over a lighted lantern in the barn of Patrick Harrington…The
barn and contents and a wagon house were destroyed. Loss about $7,000 partly
covered by insurance. His house caught fire but was saved.” The second was a
house fire in Ithaca. Miss Anna Smith of Lodi received good news about her room
in Ithaca, “she was the only occupant whose possessions were unharmed either
from fire or water. Five people…lost everything and eight others suffered
damage from the water.”
Over
the coming months I will be looking into a lot of the old stories and I hope you
will come along to see what has been found.
Most
of the “Dewitt’s Diary” entries will be taken from 1949 and 1924, being 75 and
100 years ago. Dewitt Bassette was my great-uncle and the Interlaken Historical
Society has his collection of diaries from 1921 to 1982. I used these in 2017
to add to the story of the day, or in some cases, they were the basis for that
day’s blog. They included both weather and other bits of news that were
important to him.
Dewitt’s Diary Tuesday, January 1, 1924: A very
mild winter to date. No snow and a good many warming days. Myron [his brother,
my grandfather] has his Radio set. There is several dozen sets in and around
town. My set works very good. I am wintering 5 horses: Dork, Buster, Morgan and
two greys Nell and Bill. I have 4 head of red Durham steers and 3 cows and
Black Creek Prince our Shorthorn Bull, 1 sow and 70 white Wyondotte [chickens].
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