​Alexander of the Lost Boys
Eight years ago, I ventured into the little Fish House cemetery near my house. I noticed many small gravestones lying in the grass, discarded at the back. Alexander Dunn’s was one of them. This summer, the Fish House Presbyterian Cemetery became a project for me and for many wonderful volunteers. Four of the small discarded gravestones in the back were gravestones of boys ages two and under. I propped them up against a tree and called them my “lost boys”. Over the warm months, when not working on larger gravestones, or mowing, or planting perennials, I would venture to the back of the cemetery and dig, hoping to find foot stones that corresponded to the lost boys. I was successful for three of the four. Alexander Dunn’s was the last foot stone I found this summer. I wasn’t even looking, instead I was digging a rather deep hole looking for the bottom part of a fairly large gravestone in the next row up, instead I uncovered a foot stone. I was delighted! Now I knew where this lost boy belonged.
Alexander was born in the fall of 1837, he died on March 24th, 1840, at the age of two. His father was Ebenezer Dunn and his mother was Mary Lant Dunn. Both of Alexander’s parents were born and died in Greenwich, New York. I have no clue as to why this little grave sits here in Fish House. Ebenezer and Mary had two other sons, Charles, born in 1832 and George, born in 1841. In ancestry.com, there is no record for Alexander in the family trees, but with a father’s name of Ebenezer, it is almost a certainty, that George and Charles were Alexander’s brothers.
Alexander’s father, Ebenezer, was born in 1792 and fought in the War of 1812. He died in 1859 at the age of 67, his wife, Mary lived until the age of 85. They are both buried in the East Greenwich Cemetery.
Why was Alexander buried here? What connection does he have to Fish House? We will probably never know. I am just glad to have found his rightful place in the cemetery.
When fixing gravestones, I attempt to make sure that the whole engraving is visible. Alexander’s gravestone was a challenge as it was broken off right at the edge of the engraving. His gravestone has been sitting in our workshop for quite a while as I devised a plan. It involved epoxy and metal supports, and frames and mortar. Today was the day Alexander was returned to the cemetery. Knowing that my method worked, I have big plans for other gravestones next summer.

It has been a while since I have posted anything here.  This summer has been busy.  Most of my time has been spent in the little Fish House Presbyterian Cemetery, planting perennials, cleaning gravestones, fixing broken stones and trying to figure out the history behind the stones.  Right now I am working on a small gravestone of a five year old, Hayne Z. Jackson.  I discovered that for the last 40 some odd years his gravestone has been in the wrong place.  After digging up a base and a foot stone, it became evident that Hayne's gravestone was originally next to his sister Helen's gravestone.  But who did these children belong to?  My assumption is that their parents were Zardus and Laura Jackson. The time frame and the middle initial of Hayne, led me in that direction and then was substantiated by other documents.  Just yesterday I found the gravestones of Zardus and Laura in the Broadalbin-Mayfield Rural Cemetery.  Here is the assumed progression of events.
   Zardus' father was Stephen Jackson.  He died in 1833 and left a will. (Wills are great ways to learn things). Stephen Jackson had three sons,,Stephen (who died in 1825), Chester and Zardus.  There were also three daughters, Desire, Theresa and Sally.  Stephen made Chester and Zardus the executors.  They were also in charge of making sure that Stephen's wife, Rebecca, was cared for until her death.  It didn't sound like Stephen had much money as Rebecca received a room to live in with a bed and bedding.  Zardus and Chester also were guardians to their deceased brother's (Stephen) son, Stephen B.   Zardus was a tailor and it appears that he taught the trade to his nephew, Stephen B.  In 1838, when Stephen B. was 21, he purchased or inherited the brick tailor shop that Zardus run in Fish House.  There is a strong likelihood that Stephen B.'s father had built the brick shop, he would have been 27 at the time.  When he died in 1825, Zardus might have stepped in to be the tailor until Stephen B. Jackson was of age.
    Zardus Jackson and his wife, Laura M. Jackson had a daughter Helen.  She was born around 1827.  She died in 1833 and since Zardus was living in Fish House, Helen was buried in the Presbyterian cemetery.  Zardus and Laura then had a son, Hayne, born in 1835.  Hayne died in 1840 at the age of 5. He was buried next to his sister, Helen.  In 1836 they had a daughter, Ellen, then in 1839 they had Anna.  In 1840 they had a son, Byron.   In the 1840 census, Zardus and Laura are living in Broadalbin with their two daughters, Ellen and Anna.( Byron was not born yet)  Their house was across from the Baptist Church as seen in an 1856 map of Broadalbin.  Sadly the house no longer is there.
     Zardus died in 1858 at the age of 66.  His wife, Laura, lived into her 80's.  In 1847 their son Byron died, at the age of 24. In 1860 their daughter Ellen died.  I have found no record of Anna' death.
    Usually family trees on ancestry.com help me with my research, but this time it was mostly wills and census records.  If anyone knows anything more about this Jackson family, please share!
 
   

    People say that history repeats itself.  I truly believe that.  I am sitting here waiting to be interviewed by phone for a history podcast with Bob Cudmore.  The topic is the little graveyard next to the old Presbyterian brick church.  I was organizing my notes and came across a packet of information that Priscilla Edwards, the Edinburg historian, had sent me a while back.  In the packet were several pages that were copied from the book..The Sacandaga Valley, by John Boos.  He wrote the book in 1962, almost 60 years ago.  John Boos put together bits and pieces of information about this area.  He liked to go to little cemeteries to learn about the people who used to live here.  On page 30, he wrote about the Presbyterian cemetery and David Marvin.  I was struck by how similar his feeling were to mine.  Below is the excerpt from that book:

"There's a little cemetery beside the once brick Presbyterian Church, the meetinghouse in good condition, but now used as a storehouse, it appeared.  Woodbine and prickly vines almost as bad as World War 11 barbwire trip you and scratch, but I made my way to the back and found the Sons of the Revolution had been there, the marker holding a fresh flag in front of a slab about 6 feet tall, 2 feet wide and 3 inches thick.  David Marvin was in the wrong plot, he having died before the other cemetery was incorporated. He had fought with the Buff and Blue in the Continental line, and was laid to rest at Thea ge of 77 years in December, 1811.
     This man witnessed the beginning of the Republic, did his share to defend it, may have stood in the trenches at Saratoga in Abraham Ten Broeck's brigade and might have had the honor to touch the hand of General Washington.
     Virginia Creeper and a vine full of briars cover the grave where fresh grass should be, flowers, and a path leading to it, so that wayfarers might come and pay tribute.  Honor comes for a moment, fame but a short time and then neglect swallows the glory, the hero, his services forgotten, his record unknown, his sacrifices unappreciated.
     Somebody remembers to place a flag there every Decoration Day, and another on the plot of his descendants, but nobody takes the trouble to clear the vines and the brush to make it sightly, and to place a marker near the road, reading A SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION RESTS HERE."

   As I read the last paragraph, I realize that after almost 60 years, nothing much has changed with this small cemetery.  I sincerely hope that I can be successful in my endeavors so that this little graveyard will finally receive some recognition. I will continue to pressure the town of Northampton to mow and maintain this historical graveyard, but in the meantime, I will try my best to keep the grasses mowed and the vines cut down.  Maybe someday I will even have a marker placed by the road so other people will notice this small graveyard and be awed by the sacrifices that people made.

Tom Tillott. 1880 - 1966


Mr. Tillott was a lawyer who lived in Schenectady.  In 1910, at the age of 29, he married Anne Orton, daughter of Dr. Darius Orton.  Dr. Orton came to Fish House after the Civil War.  His doctor’s office was a small brick building that had been a tailor shop before the war.  This brick house is now part of my home.  It is because of this house, built in 1805, that I became interested in the history of Fish House. 
  In 1888,, Dr. Orton purchased the old Grinnell  house up on Shew Hill.  He built a small cottage close by that served as his office.  He gave the brick house to his daughter, Ann.       Dr. Orton died in 1918 and Ann and Tom Tillott inherited the house up on the hill.  Ann died in 1928, leaving her husband with both the small brick house and the large house.  
     By 1928 the Sacandaga Valley was being transformed in preparation for the closing of the Conklingville Dam in 1930.   Trees were cut down, brush was burned.  Houses were torn down, or burned, or moved to a higher elevation. Families were moving away from the only homes they knew. Tremendous changes were happening in the area, but there are very few articles in the local newspapers that reported on this.  
   How is this related to Tom Tillott?  Tillott loved photography.  He traveled around the Sacandaga Valley from 1928-1930 and took photos. Those photos were saved over the years as the big house changed owners. I was fortunate to see the photos several years ago.  I have brightened them up but left the writing on them.
     So thank you, Tom Tillott, for taking the time to record history.  I am forever grateful.

​

Almost half of the gravestones of the old Presbyterian Church Cemetery are for children who died under the age of six. One such gravestone is Lucius Spalding who was born in 1837 and died in 1839. A bio on a two year old is really not possible, so I like to research the family history. Usually I go further back in time but for this “bio” I also went forward . As always, I am amazed at how connected this little hamlet of Fish House is to history.
So I will start before Lucius Spalding was born in 1837. His grandfather, Edmund Spalding was born in Plainfield CT. He married Mary Chandler in 1809. They had three sons, Alva, Andrew and a Lucius. That Lucius died in 1819 at the age of three. Several days later, Edmund’s wife, Mary died. Two months later, Edmund remarried, packed their bags and moved his new wife and his two sons west to Northampton, NY. where he became a farmer. His son, Andrew, at the age of 20, married Emmeline Hamilton in 1834. In 1837, Emmeline gave birth to a son, whom they named Lucius Spalding, after Andrew’s brother who died at the age of three. If one were to believe in bad luck, then they shouldn’t have named him Lucius. This second Lucius Spalding died at the age of two and is buried in the Presbyterian Church Cemetery. Andrew, like his father Edmund after the death of his young son, also packed up their bags and he and his wife, Emmeline, moved west to Buffalo NY. In 1840 Emmeline gave birth to a daughter,Mary Spalding.
In Buffalo, Andrew found work as a harbor dredger. The Erie Canal had been finished in 1825 and the city of Buffalo was very busy in improving its Black Rock Harbor, which meant a lot of dredging. Sometime in that decade, however, Andrew, Emmeline and Mary moved back to this area, to the town of Glen. According to the 1850 and 1860 census Andrew's occupation was listed as a carpenter.
Now, bear with me as I jump to a totally different family line.
In 1833, in Duanesburg, NY a Lewis Jackson Bennett was born to William and Elma Bennett. He was the oldest of several children. He was not physically able to be a farmer, the word “delicate” was used to describe him, so he began his work career as a clerk in a grocery store in Fultonville, New York. Eventually he became a partner in a grocery firm ,but at the age of 33, his health failed him and he had to retire. He decided to travel across the country for several months. He returned to Fultonville and established his own grocery company in 1856. Less than a year later, he married Mary Spalding (the daughter of Andrew and Emmeline and the sister of Lucius). The wedding was in Johnstown, NY. In the 1860 census, Lewis and Mary were living in the town of Glen and Lewis’ occupation was listed as a grocer. In the 1865 census, they are listed as living with Mary’s parents, Andrew and Emmeline Spalding.  
In 1866 the whole family, Bennett’s and Spalding’s moved to Buffalo where both Andrew and Lewis were listed as harbor dredgers. In 1868 they start a company called Spalding & Bennett. This company contracted harbor work and also built the first iron bridges for small towns in Erie County. In 1877 Lewis started the Buffalo Cement Company, a major industry at that time. The Spaldings and Bennetts were still living under the same roof up through the 1880 census.  
In 1889, Lewis Bennett became interested in real estate. He was responsible for the development of the neighborhood known as Central Park in Buffalo. Big beautiful homes were built there all following the zoning ordinances established by Bennett. His own home was built there at 354 Depew Street (see photo below). It was a 24 room house, not bad for a “delicate” grocery clerk from Duanesburg, NY. Lewis Bennett also donated land for a high school, it still stands today and is called Bennett High School. 
So this small gravestone of Lucius Spalding, in a small, almost forgotten cemetery of Fish House, has a connection to the major development of Buffalo, NY 

Standing near the back of the Presbyterian Church is a headstone that says: 
David H. Smith
only 
son of 
David R. Smith 
died June 24, 
1844, 
aged 1 year &
1 month
According to cemetery records made in the 1930’s , not only was there a headstone for David H. Smith but there was supposed to be a headstone for David R. Smith. I then went to the records made in the 1990’s by Davis Bixby. He did list David R. Smith, but he had no location for him. I love a mystery!
Just to the right of David H. Smith’s headstone, there was an empty space. With my new found knowledge of foot stones, I noticed a small stone back a ways with the initials D.R.S. Bingo! Perhaps David R.’s stone fell over and was covered with sod. So I started digging test holes,,and found nothing. Then I went back to the cemetery and dug deeper, right where I thought the base of the headstone should be located. I met with success! I found a vertical stone, deeply buried in the ground. But where was the rest of the headstone? Which way did it fall? I took a chance and started digging,,,another success! I found the top of the headstone and a triangular piece. And it was inscribed with the name David R. Smith! So I decided to dig out the vertical piece, thinking it was the rest of the headstone,,,it took quite a while,,,but once it was out, there were no inscriptions,,,so this was the base and I have yet to find the rest of the headstone. But I hope to be successful. You can see the pieces in the photos. Now for some background information, if you are not into genealogy, you can stop reading here. 🙂
David R. Smith died in 1842 at the young age of 31. He was married to Sarah Dunnell Pitman and they had one son, called Henry, aka..David H. Smith. After David R. Smith died in 1842, Sarah married Jabez Gibbs. If that name sounds familiar, it is. Mariah Gibbs is also buried in this cemetery, I did a post about her a while back. She was Jabez Gib’s first wife. She died the same year David R. Smith died, 1842. She was also 31 when she died. Sarah and Jabez didn’t waste much time, they got married just a year later. They stayed married until 1857. They had a son, Edward Stanhope Gibbs who died in Louisiana in 1863 during the Civil War. Edward never met David H. Smith, but they were half brothers. Jabez and Edward are buried in Prospect Cemetery in Albany. Sarah married one more time, to William C. Isley. In 1870, they were living in New York City. I have not found out where she is buried or what year she died.
WOW, long post! Photos in this post show the intact and upright headstone of David H. Smith and also the pieces of the headstone that I have dug up so far for David R. Smith.

This beautiful headstone marks the resting place of Helen Jackson, just six years old when she died.  At first glance, I felt certain that she was from the Jackson family who lived in the area.  Stephen and Rhuama Jackson had two boys, Stephen B., born in 1816 and Reuben, born in 1820.  So I assumed that Helen was their third child. But this is impossible.  You see, Stephen Jackson, died December 17, 1825 and this little child, Helen, was born around March of 1827.  So no matter how I stretch the months out, Helen cannot be the daughter of Stephen and Rhuama Jackson.  This Jackson family is the only one I can find in this area.  
   So here is this lone grave.  Someone loved her. Someone had a beautiful stone engraved for her. Someone picked out a poem for her.  I wish I knew who her parents were.
The stone reads:
    In
Memory of
Helen Jackson
Who died
May 15, 1833
Aged 6 years
2 mos. & 18 days.


Below that is a poem.  After cleaning the stone I was able to figure out most of the words.  Then I looked for a similar poem and found one in a German book by Dr. Eduard Young.
The poem on the grave reads as follows:
Early bright transient
Like the morning dew
She sparkled was ex
Haled & went to Heaven


The original reads:
Early, Bright, Transient
Chaste as Morning Dew
She sparkled, was exhaled, and went to Heaven 

I posted this on Facebook in hopes that someone could help.  I also wrote to my friend, Pete Shew, as he knows so much about people from this area.  He came up with some great suggestions.  I haven't been able to prove anything yet,,,so if you read below please know that it is conjecture:
   Zardus and Laura Jackson are old enough to be Helen and Huyne's parents.  Huyne (or maybe Hayne) had Z. for a middle initial...probably for Zardus.  They used to live in Northampton, but then in 1838, they transferred ownership to their nephew Stephen B. Jackson. and moved to nearby Broadalbin.  When their daughter, Helen died, they came back to Northampton to bury her.  They did the same for their son, Huyne. All is conjecture, I have found no family trees to back this up.  But I live in a 200 year old house in Northampton,  that used to be the tailor shop for Stephen B. Jackson.  Zardus was a tailor and trained Stephen B. Jackson after Stephen's father died when he was a child.  The deed records show Zardus transferring this to Stephen. I also found a guardianship document for Stephen B. and his younger brother, Reuben, and it names Zardus and Chester Jackson...maybe another uncle to Stephen.  I know that is a lot of information, but the pieces seem to fit.