by Ellen Williams, Guest Blogger
Thomas Schmeck Flood (1844-1908) was a member of the prominent family of Floods whose homes occupied the East Water Street block between DeWitt and Madison Avenues in Elmira. His father and brothers were doctors, and Flood augmented the medical tradition in the family with his drug store on East Water Street. Flood went to medical school like his father and brothers but instead of practicing medicine he chose pharmacy as his career.
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| Hon. Thomas S. Flood |
He had a strong affinity for horses, and he soon had a barn full in the city. In 1870 he married Frances Miller, for whose family Miller Street on the south side of the city was named. Shortly after, her uncle John E. DuBois recruited Flood into his plans for the lumber trade. DuBois, the younger, (son of the Williamsport lumber baron by the same name for whom the Duboistown neighborhood of that city was named) had purchased more than thirty thousand acres of timber, mostly white pine, in western Pennsylvania. It was then a veritable wilderness.
DuBois engaged Flood to move out to Clearfield County,
PA, and help manage the lumber takings: mills, railroad lines, labor force,
housing, post office and the like. There were few constraints on industry in
that era, and the settlement was part of the ever-moving western line of
America’s woodlands which at the time appeared to have no end. The town became
known as DuBois. White pine was cash, and Flood’s wealth was secured during
that decade, by 1880.-(Elmira Advertiser, Oct. 29, 1908) With his wife Frances,
young son Chester, and his contingent of horses, Flood returned to the family
seat in Elmira.
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| Letter to John DuBois, 1884 |
Flood resumed his drugstore business and ran for city alderman in 1882, and surprised everyone when he won as a Republican in a Democratic ward. He also got involved with showing and racing his horses in the Chemung County Agricultural Society, the predecessor to the Chemung County Fair. Holding office with the Society, Flood applied his business acumen to his political and horse racing pursuits. A popular guy, he was known to be fair in the show ring and fast on the track.
Flood sent his favorite mare, Mary Ann, to Joseph Wood’s
farm in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1883. Wood owned an
expensive Hambletonian trotting stallion whose reputation as a sire of
record-breaking race horses was well established. Drawn by the Grand Circuit
horse racing success of that stallion’s other colts during the previous years, Flood
was seeking a race horse of his own.
The next year, Flood’s mare Mary Ann gave birth to a
fine filly. Flood named the young filly “Mamie Wood” in tribute to her sire’s
pedigree. Her parentage and her older siblings were well known, and Flood had
big expectations for Mamie. It was an exciting year for the Floods, as they had
a new baby girl born as well. They named their new daughter Frances Mabel,
after her mother, but called her Mabel. Their son, Chester, was now about seven
years old.
Mamie started her training in harness during the year
of 1885-1886, under the hand of Flood’s trainer, John Ryan. Flood was very
pleased with her prospects. According to his plans, she was to make her debut
as a two-year-old in the New York State Breeders’ Association meet in September
of 1886. Just to get some experience, Mamie trotted an exhibition at the Maple
Avenue Driving Park in Elmira on June 3rd, going one mile alone
against the stopwatch in 2:44½.
Mamie Wood became a star on the race track when she
was two years old, making a record of trotting a mile hitched to a two-wheeled
sulky in the time of two minutes, twenty-seven and a quarter seconds at
Rochester, NY:
…The
event of the day was Mamie Woods’ endeavor to break the best two-year-old
record of 2:29. She was first sent a slow mile, finishing in 2:43¼. When she came on the track again she was
accompanied by a pacer. Both came under
the wire together, but Mamie began to go ahead, the pacer not seeming to follow
her pace. The first quarter was made in
37¾. On she sped, without a skip or
break….Then she began to go faster, and reached the three-quarter pole in
1:50½. Everybody who had a watch had it
out and was anxiously watching the filly.
On she came, as steady as clockwork.
The pacer began to draw up on her and she trotted faster every moment. When she passed under the wire the watches
said 2:27¼, and the track was instantly filled with a shouting crowd of
enthusiasts who wanted to hug the little roan.
This is the fastest mile ever trotted by a two-year-old outside of
California. Truly a wonderful performance for a two-year-old. This closed the sport… Every member is
enthusiastic over the meet and particularly so over Mamie Wood’s performance.”-(Rochester
Democrat and Chronicle, Friday, Sep. 10, 1886, fultonhistory.com.)
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| Spirit of the Times, Dec. 18, 1886, p. 632, fultonhistory.com |
Thomas S. Flood’s life, career, and adventures with harness racing horses illuminate the city of Elmira during the Gilded Age, when Mark Twain spent summers drafting “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” at Quarry Farm and the Langdons’ wealth set the tone for gracious living. For more of the story of Flood’s life, legacy, and the adventures of Mamie Wood who traveled by rail and raced in Grand Circuit venues all across the nation, read the complete version in Out of the Woods: From Deerfield to the Grand Circuit by Ellen Williams, published by Palmetto in 2019.
[This blog is an excerpt from Chapter
5, Mamie Wood: Pride and Politics, Out
of the Woods, (Williams, 2019)]
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