A Curious Story: Lillian Pagett Hobson

 by Susan Zehnder, Education Director

While our country was founded almost 250 years ago by immigrants, attitudes about immigrants and immigration have always been complicated. In Elmira in 1930, the citizenship of Miss Lillian Pagett Hobson was challenged on the grounds that she hadn’t lived in the country long enough to meet the residency requirements. My research seemed to confirm the objection was valid, but it was overruled, and Hobson became a US citizen on January 31, 1930.

Each country determines by law who is eligible to become a citizen. Requirements for becoming an American citizen have certainly changed over the years. The first US immigration and naturalization act was passed less than 15 years after the United States was founded. It excluded women, Blacks, and Native Americans from becoming citizens. Since then, more than 55 laws and 18 policies have been adopted to regulate who can and who cannot become a citizen. (Read this blog on a specific immigration law passed in the 19^th century.)

Today’s applicants for US citizenship must pay a fee, pass a civics test, meet residency requirements, prove they’re proficient in English, and if it applies, register for selective service. In Hobson’s day, the rules were much the same. Applicant names were printed in the local newspapers. If the person met the requirements, they were given the oath of citizenship. If they did not meet the requirements, reasons were given why not. Hobson’s case revolved around whether or not she had lived in the United States continuously for five years.

Lillian Pagett Hobson was born in Ireland. Her connection to Elmira was through her grandfather, William Pagett, called “one of the oldest of Elmira’s residents.”  In 1847 Pagett had left England for the United States. In 1855 he settled in Elmira. He and his wife, Anna, had a son and a daughter, Lillian’s mother.

Pagett owned and operated a successful tannery business. When the Civil War broke out, he was awarded a lucrative contract to feed prisoners at Elmira’s Civil War Prison Camp. With his earnings, he bought multiple oil wells in Pennsylvania and properties in Elmira, New York City, and Brooklyn. When he died in 1918, the properties passed down to his remaining heirs: his wife, a niece, and his granddaughter, Lillian Pagett Hobson. His wife died two years later.

Ten years after this, Lillian Hobson moved to Elmira. Two years later, she filed for US citizenship, claiming she had been living here with friends for five consecutive years. Her application was challenged by the District Director of Naturalization of Western New York, Leroy N. Kilman. Kilman determined that Hobson had gone back and forth between Ireland and the United States during the years she said she was living in Elmira. His objections were overruled by Supreme Court Justice Joseph D. Senn, and Chemung County Clerk John A. Matthews administered the oath of citizenship to Hobson on January 31, 1930. Right away, she applied for a passport to return to Europe to visit her father.  The district director filed another appeal, and that is the last mention of the issue in the papers.

Hobson’s name does show up again connected to another issue, and it may have influenced the judge’s decision to override the challenge. As one of two heirs to valuable property owned by her grandfather, Hobson already had invested in Elmira.

In early January of that same year, the Gorton clothing store and a nearby pharmacy, located at 105-107 East Water Street, were heavily damaged by fire. While they never determined how the fire began, both businesses continued to operate. Then less than 30 days later, just after Hobson had become a naturalized citizen, the company announced they would be constructing a larger, quarter-million-dollar, state-of-the art building and expanding their business. It would be located on property owned by the Pagett family at the corner of Main and Water Street. The building would be designed by distinguished architects Pierce and Bickford. The Gorton Company had agreed to lease the property from Hobson and her cousin Frederica Pagett Gates for 99 years at the cost of $20,000 per year.

The new building would be an economic boost to the city as the country had just entered into the Great Depression. However, not everyone thought it was a good thing. In April and through the beginning of June there was a contentious controversy over the new building’s footprint. The difference was 3 feet 4 inches and both the city and the developers did not want to budge. It affected how far into the sidewalk the building encroached. The developers claimed that construction was already set in motion and they couldn’t change anything. Opponents insisted that they change, which would mean a $140,000 to $200,000 debt to the city. The hearing was full of accusations, threats, and shouting. Only ten days later, things got much worse.

At rush hour on June 13, the construction’s temporary sidewalk collapsed, killing two people and injuring dozens more. After intensive investigations, the coroner declared that it was an accident and Gorton’s was not at fault. Construction continued. Many of the injured filed civil action suits against the Gorton Company and investors Hobson and Gates. Eventually, all cases were settled out of court.

The Gorton-Pagett building operated for 58 years, closing in February 1975.

Miss Hobson ended up staying in the area. Her name appears periodically in the paper, identified as a donor to charitable causes. Then in 1970 and 1972, two letters to the editor appear in the Star-Gazette. In both she complained about having to pay school taxes when she had no children. She is listed in the Elmira City Directory until 1976. In 1978 her name shows up one last time. It is printed in the paper for failure to pay property taxes on the East Water Street property.

 

 

 

 

A Friendly Family

By Rachel Dworkin, Archivist

 

It’s fascinating the influence a single family can have on a town, or even a nation. In the 1850s, four brothers immigrated to America from Bavaria, Germany. They were the sons of Josef M. Freundlich, a Jewish dairy farmer turned livestock dealer. Following a series of failed pro-democratic uprisings across the German states, there was an antiemetic wave which spurred many Jews to flee to the United States throughout the 1850s. The brothers Henry, Theodore, Samson, and Myer were part of this group.

The brothers initially settled in Cuba, New York, where they worked as peddlers. I was unable to find which brother arrived first, Henry or Theodore, but whichever did changed the family name to Friendly, the English translation of their original German surname. The younger brothers, Samson and Myer, came next around 1865 but found Cuba wasn’t to their liking. The boys headed further west to Lawrence, Kansas, which they used as a base of operations while they traded with the Native Americans out on the Great Plains. They soon amassed a small fortune trading in buffalo skins. Around 1875, they headed back east to settle in Elmira.

Theodore Friendly (1839-1933) came to Elmira in 1875 to establish Friendly Brothers dealership in wagons, carriages and agricultural implements with his brothers Samson and Myer. The business fell apart in the mid-1880s as each brother went his own way. Theodore opened a wagon store at 255-257 W. Water Street. He retired and moved to Los Angeles, California in 1908. His children were Abraham Friendly and Caroline Friendly Fybush. He had been a long-time member of Temple B’Nai Israel and he left them $500 in his will to establish a fund for building improvements and maintenance. 

Theodore Friendly

 Samson J. Friendly (1843-1919) left Friendly Brothers to establish a boot and shoe company. He brought his nephews, Myer and Solomon, into the business which they kept running after his eventual retirement. After retiring, he became a silent investor in a number of area industries and bought property here, as well as in Syracuse, Buffalo, and California.  He was an active member in Elmira’s Jewish community serving as president of Congregation B’Nai Israel from 1900 to 1908 as well as on the board of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association. He donated generously to both in his will, as well as the Arnot-Ogden Hospital, where he donated $5,000 to establish a fund for the care of indigent patients. The on-going renovation of his former home at 456 W. Water Street is currently the subject of a popular Instagram page.  

Samson Friendly

 

Myer Friendly (1848-1937) opened a wholesale/retail business in wagons, carriages, and farm implements on State Street after the breakup of Friendly Brothers. He and his wife Sarah built a stately home at 510 W. Church Street which eventually served as the first group home run by Glove House. He and Sarah had three children: Helen, Edwin, and Joseph, none of whom remained in the area. Edwin went on to become the long-time general manager of the New York Sun newspaper.  

 

Myer Friendly

Henry Friendly (1835-1910) was the eldest brother, but the last to settle in Elmira. Despite only being here a short time, he managed to have a pretty significant influence.  He came in 1891 at the urging of his sons, Myer and Solomon, who ran a shoe business with their uncle Samson. Henry served as the Elmira Park Commissioner under two consecutive administrations in the 1890s and early 1900s. At one point, he came under fire for the way he had ordered the willow trees trimmed at Eldridge Park. Apparently, he’d ordered the trees to be pollarded, a rather radical pruning that removes most branches in order to spur new, dense growth. Henry had to bring in a forestry expert from Cornell University to publically justify his decision. Three years later in 1909, the newspaper printed an apology agreeing that he made the right call and the trees looked better now. Henry joined Congregation B’Nai Israel where he served as president 1894 to 1897. He was a thrifty man and the fact that each of the city’s three synagogues had mortgages troubled him. So, he offered to pay off all the mortgages, providing each of the congregations agreed not to take up any new ones during his lifetime and five years after.

Henry Friendly

 Henry’s sons Myer H. Friendly (1862-1938) and Solomon H. Friendly (1865-1943) ran that shoe store I mentioned. After retiring in 1916, they both became real estate agents. Myer’s wife Leah was the founder of the local chapter of National Council of Jewish Women, which helped recent immigrants navigate the naturalization process and provided scholarships to Jewish youth. Stay tuned for the next paragraph about her and Myer’s son, Henry.  Solomon and his wife, Bertha, were unable to have biological children and instead adopted Bertha’s niece, Elsa, who became the modern languages teacher at Southside High School.

Henry J. Friendly (1903-1986), Myer and Leah’s son, is widely regarded as one of the most influential Federal judges of the 20^th century. He was the valedictorian of the EFA Class of 1919 and editor of the school newspaper, despite being two years younger than his peers. He attended Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he served as editor of the Harvard Law Review. After graduation, he practiced law in New York City until he was named to the Federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 1959 where he served until his death in 1986. His name was once floated as an option for the Supreme Court, but it never panned out.

Although there are no longer any members of the Friendly family residing in Elmira, their influence still lingers on both locally, and across the nation.

An Artist’s Artist: Julius Lars Hoftrup

by Erin Doane, Senior Curator

Two different donors recently gave us paintings by Lars Hoftrup. One donated three watercolors and the other a single oil on board. It felt like an odd coincidence that these four paintings came to us in just two months’ time, so I decided I should write something about them for this blog.

The Haunted House, by Lars Hoftrup, 1947, oil on board, new donation

Upon doing some research online, I discovered that while the Swedish-born painter, who lived out most of his life in Pine City, was nationally-known in his time, there is very little about him on the internet outside of local sources. Elmira city historian Diane Janowski has a page about him and his longtime companion Armand Carmen Wargny on her website. There is also an active Lars Hoftrup and Armand Wargny Facebook group administered by Jan Kevin Liberatore. Otherwise, there are only a few very brief biographies on general art websites. Fortunately, the archive here at CCHS has a thick folder of information and a subscription to Newspapers.com.

Lars Hoftrup (standing) and Armond Wargny (seated) at Artstorp
taken by Star-Gazette photographer Wells Crandall in the mid-1940s
and reprinted in the June 1961 Chemung Historical Journal.

Julius Lars Hoftrup was born in Kjevlinge, Sweden in 1874 to parents Anders and Anna. He came to the United States with his family in 1881 when he was just six years old. At first, they lived on the top of Mt. Zoar before purchasing a farmhouse and barns on Curren Road near Pine City. The young Lars always wanted to be an artist. He got his primary education in Elmira schools then studied art in fits and starts when money was available. He attended Cooper Union in New York City briefly, worked to save more money, studied at the Art Student’s League for a time, then took a position as photographer with a small motion picture company. The company sent him to work in the Midwest and it was in Davenport, Iowa that his art career really took off.

Watercolor by Lars Hoftrup, new donation

While in Davenport, Lars became acquainted with the wealthy Mrs. Baker who bought a number of his paintings and became his first patron. With the money he made from the sales, he was able to take his first trip abroad. He traveled and painted throughout the Mediterranean, finding the South of France and Northern Africa particularly inspiring. After his journey, he moved back to New York City where he eventually became one of fifteen artists who established their own gallery called “The Fifteen Gallery.”

Play boat, Auray, France, by Lars Hoftrup, watercolor, new donation

During the summers, Lars spent his time painting at his family home in Pine City. When the Great Depression hit and the Fifteen Gallery closed, he returned to Pine City and settled there permanently. He established a studio there where he hosted artist friends and taught students. Sculptor Ernfred Anderson, another Swedish-born artist who moved to the Elmira in the 1930s, dubbed Lars’s residence “Artstorp,” meaning “art farm” in Swedish. Artstorp became a sort of mecca for established artists, watercolor enthusiasts, and students alike and Lars welcomed them all. The Elmira Art Club’s annual picnic was held there for many years.

Watercolor of Artstorp by Talitha Botsford, 1960

Many artists visited Artstorp but only one, other than Lars himself, lived there long-term. Armand Wargny was born in France in 1870. He came to the United States and studied art at the Chicago Institute. That was where he met Lars Hoftrup. The pair became close companions and in 1932, Armand moved in with Lars at his Pine City farm. According to Lars’s obituary in the Star-Gazette, “The men were such good friends that neither intruded upon the work or the mood of the other. Work over, they prepared their own meals and whiled away their evenings in artists’ talk.” Toward the end of his life, Armand became quite ill. Lars took care of him “with the loving care of a mother for her babe,” according to Rosamond C. Gaydash who spent some time at Artstorp. Armand’s death in 1947 was a severe blow to Lars.

Film of J. Lars Hoftrup and Armand Wargny
at Artstorp Studio, c. 1941

Lars continued to paint and travel. In the 1952, while in France, he underwent emergency surgery at the American Hospital in Paris. He never really regained his health after that. He returned to Pine City and died at home early in the morning on April 11, 1954. He was 80 years old. He was laid to rest in Woodlawn Cemetery. His beloved Artstorp was left mostly empty for years, only visited occasionally by the heirs of the estate. In the 1960s, vandals damaged the buildings and scrap metal scavengers looted the home and barns. In January 1972, the home was destroyed by fire. It was thought that vandals had set it ablaze.

Harbor Concarneau by Lars Hoftrup, watercolor, new donation

Long-time friend Ernfred Anderson described Lars Hoftrup as “an artist’s artist.” He was a modern impressionist working chiefly in watercolors but also in oils. The subject of many of his works was the beauty that he saw all around him on his travels throughout the United States and the world, and at home in the Chemung Valley. He once said, “real art is spiritual, not physical. It is the painter’s method of expressing emotion and is not made to sell.” His works have found permanent homes in major galleries such as the Brooklyn Museum, Cleveland Museum, Duncan Phillips Memorial Gallery, and the Arnot Art Museum, as well as right here at the Chemung County Historical Society and in countless private homes.

 

Ace Photographer

By Rachel Dworkin, archivist

 Over the years, I must have seen the logo of Ace Photo Studio on the back of a hundred photos in our collection, but I didn’t know much about the studio or George “Ace” Horsey, the man who owned it. Then two of his nieces came in looking to see what we had on their family. In the end, they wound up educating me! They kindly shared their family’s story with me so I, in turn, could share it with you.

 

 

George “Ace” Horsey Jr. (1926-1990) was born in Salisbury, Maryland one of the seven children of Danie and George Horsey Sr. He was always interested in photography. While serving in the United States Army Air Corps in World War II, he got an opportunity to take a training course on the subject. In 1950, Horsey, his wife Mary, and their young family moved to Elmira so he could take a job at the General Electric (G.E.) Foundry as the plant photographer. He took pictures for advertising purposes and the G.E. News, the company newspaper. In 1956, he was elected sergeant-at-arms in the plant’s Electrical Workers Union and served on the labor contract negotiation team at one point. 

 

From G.E. News, January 15, 1954

Outside of work, Horsey was a member of the Douglas A.M.E. Zion Church where he frequently took pictures of members and events. Quite a number of his photographs ended up in the local newspaper throughout the 1950s. In 1956, he began volunteering at the Neighborhood House where he served as the instructor for the Camera Club. He took kids on photo shoots to area parks, taught them how to develop film, and served as judge during their annual photography show. He eventually became involved on the Neighborhood House board of trustees, serving as treasurer for a time.

 

Douglas A.M.E. Zion Church choir, ca. 1960s

Horsey and his family prospered in Elmira. He and Mary had four children: Mary, Barbara, Vanessa, and George III. He encouraged his aging parents and siblings to join him here. Most did. Many of their children still live in the area today. 

 

Danie & George Horsey Sr. with children George Jr., Epluribus, Louise, Richard & Geneva, ca. 1950s

 

Horsey children Mary, George III, Barbara & Vanessa, ca. 1950s

Horsey children Mary, George III, Barbara & Vanessa, ca.1980

In 1958, Horsey opened Ace Photo Studio, Elmira's first Black-owned photography studio. It was originally located at 665 Lake Street, although the studio had a number of homes over the years. Horsey specialized in portraits, weddings, and commercial photographs. He was very interested in historic photography and also offered a service where he would make new copies of customers’ old family photos. Horsey retired and closed his studio in 1984. He died on May 29, 1990, leaving behind his family and a wealth of images documenting over 40 years of Elmira’s history.

Ace Photo Studio, ca. 1970s

 

The negatives from Ace Photo Studio are held by his family. One of his nieces generously allowed me to scan some for this blog. The truth is, there are so many fascinating people and stories in Chemung County and we here at the Historical Society barely know a tenth of them. It is only through the efforts and generosity of the community that we are able to learn about and share them. Thank you, Horsey family, for sharing your story. Thank you to the next person who shares theirs too.

The McCann Boulder

by Erin Doane, Curator

On January 17, 1881, an enormous boulder was moved from the towpath on the east side of the former Chemung Canal near Latta Brook, down Lake Street, and over to Woodlawn Cemetery where it was placed on the plot owned by George S. McCann. Nine teams of horses and six yokes of oxen were used to move the immense stone. George wanted the boulder to mark his final resting place because he thought “an object formed by the hand of nature” was far more suitable as a monument for the dead than “a costly and ornate monument made by man.” It would be 19 more years before he joined his marker in the cemetery.

McCann monument in Woodlawn Cemetery, July 10, 2021

George S. McCann was born at the McCann homestead at 2,000 Davis Street on June 24, 1823. He was one of six children. His father John had come to Elmira from Ireland in 1809 and purchased 320 acres of land from Thomas Whitney. After John’s death, the family home went to George and he had a long, successful career as a farmer. In the 1870s, he sold 140 acres to the Commissioners of Prisons that became the site of the Elmira Reformatory.

On October 10, 1864, George married Crete Kingsbury. Together they had three children – Hattie, born September 4, 1865; Crete, born September 17, 1867; and James, born June 16, 1869. Less than three years after their son was born, however, tragedy struck. Crete passed away on March 4, 1872 at the age of 32. A notice in the local newspaper described her as “one of those sweet dispositioned women whom no one knows but to love, and her death will be mourned with genuine and heartfelt sorrow by a large circle of relatives, acquaintances and friends.” Funeral services were held at the McCann home and she was interred in Woodlawn Cemetery.

Bronze plaque on the McCann monument with portraits of George and Crete, photo taken July 10, 2021

As a widower, George turned his attention to the community. Two years after Crete’s passing he got into politics. He was elected to the board of supervisors from the Town of Elmira in 1874, 1875, 1876, 1882, and 1883. He served as chairman of the board in 1882. He was also a member of the Union Lodge No. 95 Free and Accepted Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Independent Order of Good Templars, the Grange, and the Elmira Farmers’ Club. 

George was known as someone who was always doing something to make others happy. On June 17, 1897, he hosted a reunion for those who had attended school with him back in the 1830s. Thirty-two of his former classmates along with their wives and husbands enjoyed a luncheon feast in a large tent in his front yard and shared stories of the good old days of their youth.

George S. McCann, Telegram, March 4, 1900

In 1899, George’s health began to fail and he became confined to his home. He made a trip to St. Clemens, Michigan to be treated for rheumatism but his condition did not improve. At seven o’clock in the morning on March 2, 1900, he passed away in the same house in which he had been born. The funeral was held at the homestead, as had been Crete’s, and he was laid to rest beside her in the plot marked by the enormous rock he had placed there so many years earlier. 

Over time, the story of how the boulder was moved to Woodlawn became somewhat exaggerated, as many tales of great deeds are. It was reported that it took 17 teams of horses and four yokes of oxen to move it (which was a good 8 teams of horses more than stated in a document drafted on the day the stone was actually moved, but two fewer yokes of oxen.) The stone itself has been called the “largest common boulder ever found in the Chemung Valley.”

Stereoscope view of the teams of horses moving the boulder during a rest stop in front of the Half-Way House on Lake Street, January 17, 1881

The monument also became a bit of a tourist attraction. An article in the Star-Gazette on September 13, 1895 encouraging visitors to enjoy the beauty of Woodlawn Cemetery specifically mentions “the immense boulder that bears the name of George McCann and his wife” as one of the sights to see while there. At some point, a large bronze plaque with the portraits of George and Crete and their death dates was added to the stone. Today, you can still visit the monument, which is located just down the hill from the Clemens family’s plot.

 

L. Libbie Adams and her Youthful Enterprise

 by Susan Zehnder, Education Director

Our exhibit Fit to Print, on display until July 31st, showcases printing materials from Chemung County. Although we have nothing (yet!) from a nineteenth century publication written, edited, typeset and printed by teenager L. Libbie Adams from Elmira, her story offers a fascinating glimpse into the area's early printing culture. 

Example of a small press from our collection

Laura Elizabeth or "Libbie" Adams was born in 1859 in Carbondale, PA, the only child of Lucy and Oscar H. Adams. In May of 1864, her father joined the Union army and mustered in Elmira as an assistant surgeon for the 8th NY Calvary out of Rochester, NY. He was scheduled to serve three years. One month later, following a disastrous raid on the Weldon railroad, he was reported among the 117 missing. It turned out that he had been shot in the head and captured. He was discharged in February 1865 and considered a pensioner for the rest of his life. In 1866, the Elmira City Directory lists Oscar H. Adams as a physician living at 400 High Street where he had moved with his wife Lucy and daughter Libbie.

400 High Street

Two years earlier, Libbie printed her first amateur journal, which she called the Youthful Enterprise. The word amateur was initially used to identify the age of the journalist, not whether they earned any money. Libbie was one of many young journalists who made use of the small novelty presses that became popular during the mid-nineteenth century. These tabletop-sized presses were first designed for shopkeepers to print labels but were soon adopted as a way for people to print their own cards, broadsheets and even newspapers, depending on the size of the press. Their small size and relatively inexpensive cost also attracted young people of modest means. In some ways, small presses were the social media of their generation: children and teenagers used presses as a new means to express themselves, sharing ideas and forming communities through print.

The idea of youth or adolescence as a distinct time of life was something new for nineteenth-century Americans. Earlier generations of young people were often expected to go to work after attending grammar school. Through efforts of the newly established US Office of Education, and the National Education Association, however, education changed. Students were now recommended to have twelve years of instruction: eight years of grammar school, followed by four years of high school. This change increased the number of US public high schools. It also influenced the growth of American higher education, which at the beginning of the century counted 23 colleges and universities, and at the end of the century tallied close to 1,000. It was also when the nation's first Black colleges, now known as Historically Black Colleges and Universities, were established. Post-Civil War, education was seen by everyone as a way to improve one's status in life. This change resulted in many students, aged 11 to 19, finding free time to fill. Some youths joined newly formed clubs, sports, and other social associations, while some middle-class youths embraced new technological hobbies like printing.

Most young printers were boys between the ages of 11 and 16. The journals or newspapers they produced followed a familiar template and included news, fiction, poetry, miscellaneous topics, editorials, puzzles, and anything else that they thought other teenagers would want to know. Some papers included advertising sections for products or services marketed for the first time to this age group. Young printers looking for social connection formed the United Amateur Press Association (UAPA). They called their world Amateurdom, or the ‘Dom and  organized regional fairs. In 1876, they held the first national meeting to share their work. 

There were apparently no girls at this first convention, but Libbie Adams and other girls were printing nonetheless. When Libbie first started the Youthful Enterprise in Carbondale, she printed her ten-page, thirty-column papers on an eighth-medium, hand-inking Star press, which cost $38 in 1873. In today's dollars that would be over $1,000. In addition to her editing, printing and editorial work, Libbie was a poet who wrote under the name Nettie Sparkle. When the family moved to Elmira, she continued her work and now used a quarter medium job press to print. A notice in the 1876 Carbondale Daily News reads:

 “Miss Libbie Adams, formerly of this city, is making an interesting paper of her amateur Youthful Enterprise at Elmira. Miss Libbie is improving rapidly as a writer, and we congratulate her thus far.”

Later that year, her work was challenged by a rival printer who questioned whether Libbie, a mere girl, was actually doing the work herself. Apparently, this was a common event among amateur printers who would then respond passionately and refute any claims. Libbie responded and not only printed a testimonial in her paper, but she had it confirmed by the Chemung County notary and signed by such local notables as Edwin Eldridge, John Arnot, Jr., H.W. Rathbone, and both editors of Elmira’s newspapers. 

In 1877, Libbie attended the second national UAPA convention, one of four girls to do so. She was asked to help draft a constitution for the Western New York APA organizing in Buffalo. It was enthusiastically adopted. 

In July of 1878, Libbie’s father, Oscar H. Adams, died. He was forty-four years and was buried in Woodlawn cemetery. No obituary was printed, but his death certificate lists cancer as the cause. The Elmira City Directory for 1879 lists Lucy A. Adams, widow of Oscar H., living at 400 High Street. The next year she is listed at 701 East Church Street. 

Libbie continued to print her paper but changed the name to the Elmira Enterprise. She used the money from printing to pay for college classes at Elmira Female College. There she met, fell in love and married Edwin B. Turner. He had been taking art classes at the college, and was notable for being the first man to enroll there.  After the couple married, he joined her in the printing business. Edwin B. Turner went on to start other businesses, some with more success than others, and the couple had six children. Edwin died in 1940, followed one year later by Libbie Adams Turner died. She was 82. Both are buried in Woodlawn cemetery.

We wish we had a copy of Libbie’s Youthful Enterprise, but in the meantime will have to print her story ourselves.

 

Drew "Lefty" Rader

 by Susan Zehnder, Education Director

Wouldn’t it be great to travel back in time to find out the missing part of a story? A case in point involves "Lefty" Rader, a local baseball star, whose 1921 foray into the major leagues lasted two innings of one game.

"Lefty" was born Drew Leon Rader in 1901 to parents James Benjamin Franklin Rader and Ida May Vanatta Rader of Elmira. His father was a fire fighter then worked as an engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Rader was the couple's only child. They lived on Jefferson Street, later moving to Pennsylvania Avenue to live above the Red Brick Food Mart, a small neighborhood grocery they owned and operated. 

Former Red Brick Food Mart

Young  Rader attended Grammar School Number 9 and finished 8^th grade in 1914. He entered Elmira Free Academy that fall. In the EFA yearbook for 1920, it notes that senior Rader was “slow and steady” in his academic pursuits, which may account for why he shows up as a sophomore in the 1916, 1917, and 1918 yearbooks. He graduated when he was 20 years old in 1920.

Grammar School, No. 9

A 21^st century lens suggests World War I, the 1918 flu pandemic, or lack of academic skills may have slowed his progress, but there’s no evidence for this. There is evidence that he had athletic and management skills. As a sophomore, Rader played on, and was team captain, for the varsity basketball team, something he repeated as a junior when the team had a championship season. As a sophomore, junior, and senior, he competed in the high jump for the track team. As a junior he was manager for the varsity baseball team and served on the school’s Athletic Council. And in his senior year, in addition to athletics, Rader served on the Athletic Council, sang second tenor in the Senior Glee club, and helped organize the Senior Reception, a large formal event. Outside of school he was Captain of Company B 10^th regiment Military training commission. The wide range of his activities looks familiar to any current student applying to college. The description next to his senior portrait says that despite taking his time with academics “(h)e intends, however, to go to college…” which he did.  He enrolled and graduated from Syracuse University. So if Rader was the baseball manager, but didn't play for the school’s baseball team how was it he earned a berth as a pitcher for the 1921 Pittsburgh Pirates?

Apparently Rader showed such athletic promise and pitching prowess, he'd been been recruited and played for the Arctic League, a local semi-pro team. Articles in the Elmira Star Gazette praised his pitching, cool headedness, and overall potential for success in the game. The reporter also wrote of comments his father made that nothing would interfere with his son’s college aspirations.

Rader was 6’ 2” and 185 lbs.  Described as “husky” for his time, it was his left-handed pitching that earned him his nickname. Crowds would gather to watch him pitch. It was also his powerful southpaw style that brought in major league recruiters. Impressed, they offered Rader a spot on the 1921 Pittsburgh Pirates team. The 1921 season was notable for another reason. It was the year professional games were broadcast using the new medium of radio, and the  Pirates' games were among the first to hit the airwaves. 

When the twenty-year old joined the team, he proved in practice he could hit and throw with both hands. Things looked very promising. On July 18^th, 1921, Rader made his debut in the seventh inning of a game against the New York Giants. He gave up two hits but kept the Giants scoreless. The Pirates went on to win the game that night. Later, two of his teammates and two of his opponents from that game were inducted into the Hall of Fame. In October the Giants won the 1921 World Series against the New York Yankees.

In February of 1922, Rader was traded to the Minneapolis Millers, a minor league team for “more schooling.” He never played for Millers, apparently unhappy with how he was treated. The feeling must have been mutual since he was placed on a voluntary retired list that May. He approached the Arctics about playing in Elmira again, but was turned down by the manager when his salary request was deemed “too high.”

In the fall of 1921 Rader entered Syracuse University. His affiliation with a professional team however came with restrictions. He was prohibited to play with the university baseball team. He studied business administration, was active in the Square and Compass club, manager of the Boar’s Head Dramatic Society, and a member of Beta Theta Pi, an honorary accounting fraternity. When he was a junior he was appointed team manager. 

Rader graduated from Syracuse in 1926 and in 1931, he married twenty-six year old Annette J. Cullen from a suburb of New York City. Rader worked for the New York Telephone Company and they lived in Rockville Center, on Long Island, NY. The last reference to him playing ball shows up in a small article that mentions him playing for the 1931 Red Stars, a team sponsored by Macy’s. 

Here the trail ends. Rader died in 1975 with no obituary printed in the newspapers. An online search brings up a picture of him wearing a Pirates ball cap. This picture was added just a few years ago.

What circumstances stopped him from excelling as a ball player? Was he able to pursue his interests in managing and leadership the rest of his life? And what advice would he give to young players today? One can only dream.

Frank Hall’s Window to Japan

 By Rachel Dworkin, archivist

Although few today remember his name, an Elmiran named Frank Hall was instrumental in shaping 19^th century America’s image of Japan. In 1639, Japan’s ruling shogunate closed the country to all foreigners except for a select group of Chinese and Dutch traders. By the mid-1800s, the United States decided that really didn’t work for them and so, in 1853, the president dispatched Commodore Matthew Perry to Tokyo to force the country open with a little gunboat diplomacy. Between 1854 and 1858, the United States and Japan signed a series of treaties opening Japanese ports to American citizens. Under the treaties, Americans could not only dock in 6 Japanese ports, they could live there indefinitely, own and lease property, erect buildings, practice their own religion, and avoid prosecution in Japanese courts. The result was a massive influx in American tourists, missionaries, and businessmen.

Enter Francis “Frank” Hall. Born in Ellington, Connecticut in 1822, Hall had come to Elmira in 1842 at age 19 with a wagon load of books and a dream. It took him a few years to get off the ground but, by 1845, Hall’s bookstore was a staple of the community and the hangout for the village’s intellectual set. Hall quickly became attached to Elmira. He invited several of his brothers to join him in business, married a local girl (who tragically died), and was elected to public office. He was a driving force behind the creation of Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira College, and Elmira Free Academy, and helped to bring the Lyceum lecture circuit to the village. 

Francis "Frank" Hall, 1822-1902

 

In 1859, he sold his store to his brothers Frederic and Charles, and headed for Japan. One of his dear friends, R.S. Brown, was heading to Japan as a missionary and asked Hall to join him on the voyage. In order to support himself in his travels, Hall took a position as Japan correspondent for the New York Tribune. Hall arrived at Yokohama, Japan on November 1, 1859. For the next six years, his 70 plus articles in the New York Tribune, Elmira Weekly Advertiser, and Home Journal would provide American readers with a window to a country few of them would ever get to visit.

Hall’s time in Japan was one of the most tumultuous periods in the country’s history. Uncontrolled foreign trade resulted hyper-inflation and the collapse of Japan’s gold standard system. Conflict between the shogun and the daimyos, or Japan’s noble class, resulted in multiple assassinations and four different armed rebellions. Even though the United States was in the midst of its own civil war, Hall’s monthly articles describing this political and economic turmoil received both a surprising amount of space and prominent placement. His coverage of the naval battle between the USS Wyoming and Choshu ships at Shimonoseki took the front page on October 2, 1863. 

Front page of New-York Tribune, October 2, 1863

 

But Hall wasn’t just reporting about the events of the day. Part travel-writer, part anthropologist, he crafted vivid descriptions of the culture and landscape of Japan as well. His articles contain accounts of festivals, children’s games, earthquakes, firefighters, snow-capped peaks, terrible storms, bustling cityscapes, and government surveillance. Here, Hall describes the port city of Hakodate in an article from December 29, 1860:

It is well built after the Japanese way, with spacious streets of two rods in width, laid out with regularity, well sewered and kept clean by daily and repeated sweepings. The houses differ from those to the southward in few respects. A large number of them are weather-boarded with broad strips of bark placed vertically...Tiled and thatched roofs are mostly supplanted by shingle roofs, and these neither pegged or nailed down, but secured by stones from a child’s to a man’s head in bigness. The aspect of continuous roofs of the streets, when viewed from an eminence, is that of a Vermont sheep pasture for stoniness.

Hall left Japan on July 5, 1866, a much richer man than when he arrived. In addition to his work for the newspaper, he had become an agent for and, later, co-owner of Walsh, Hall & Co., an export company specializing in tea and silks. Even though he sold his shares before returning to Elmira, he continued to remain in contact with his various Japanese friends and business associates. He also kept an extensive collection of Japanese art and artifacts in his home at 213 College Avenue. In fact, until his death in 1902, he was known locally as Japanese Frank Hall.

 

Japanese art in Hall's home at 213 College Ave

While we here at CCHS have a good-sized collection of papers from Hall’s business and estate, we do not have his journals from his time in Japan. Those are held by the Cleveland Library’s John G. White Collection of Orientalia. In 2001, the diaries were annotated and published as Japan Through American Eyes: The Journal of Francis Hall, 1859-1866, edited by F.G. Notehelfer. We have 2 copies if anyone is interested in reading.

How Grocer Girl Caused a Dictionary Shortage

by Erin Doane, Curator

On February 2, 1933, WESG aired the first in a series of weekly musical radio programs sponsored by Standard Food Stores. Just nine weeks later, on April 7, an article in the Star-Gazette reported that dictionaries were suddenly in high demand at the Steele Memorial Library.  “Legitimate” students were being crowded away from the library’s few available dictionaries as a direct result of this new radio show. How did this strange turn of events happen?

Postcard showing the Steele Memorial Library, c. 1940s

The perpetrator of the unexpected dictionary shortage was Standard Food Stores. In 1929, grocers in Elmira, under the guidance of C.M. and R. Thompkins, came together to form a group under the name “Standard Food Stores.” Each member business in the group remained independent but they worked together to give customers “better quality, better service, and better prices.” Initially, it was just grocers within the city of Elmira who were members of this group but it quickly grew to include stores throughout Chemung County and northern Pennsylvania.

Standard Food Stores Advertisement from the Star-Gazette, May 23, 1929

As part of its promotional efforts, Standard Food Stores started sponsoring a musical program on local radio station WESG in February 1933. For 15 minutes every Thursday morning starting at 11:30, listeners were treated to the sounds of the Standard Food Stores Orchestra under the direction of Don Huber. Also featured were Grocer Boy with his flowing tenor and Grocer Girl with her pleasing voice who would sing old time tunes. The duo was credited with much of the show’s popularity. Fans said they made the program one of the best broadcasts of its kind on the local station.

Many listeners wanted to know who Grocer Boy and Grocer Girl actually were. The pairs’ identities remained a secret until early May when their names were finally revealed. Grocer Boy was Paul Huber, brother of the orchestra leader. He was a regular performer on WESG throughout the early 1930s and also involved in local minstrel shows.

Grocer Girl was 31-year-old Florence Rohan. Florence was a musical prodigy who started playing the piano before she was three years old. Around 1925 she started touring with her two young daughters Jacqueline and Marilynn as the vocal group the Lullaby Trio. The group’s heyday was in the late 1930s and early 1940s when they performed on several national radio program including NBC’s Children’s Hour, the Horn and Hardart Children’s Hour on CBS, and Major Bowes’ Amateur Hour. The Trio also performed numerous times in Florida and once on a cruise ship to Bermuda.

Florence had moved with her family to Elmira from Hornell in 1932 and quickly became a regular on WESG. She was particularly active on the Arctic League programs. She ended up being the first woman announcer on Elmira radio, writing and presenting her own programs as “the Rosenbaum Stylist.” At the time of her unexpected death in 1962, she was one of the region’s best known musicians and performers.

But what does all this have to do with the shortage of dictionaries? Well, I’m getting there. On March 30, 1933, a word-building contest was announced on Standard Food Stores’ weekly musical radio program. During the 1930s, word games and contests became quite popular. In one particular type of word-building game, a song title was given and people tried to make as many words from the letters in the title as possible. Those with the most words could win prizes. A large dictionary was a great tool for such a challenge. I don’t know the particular details of the WESG contest, but because of the large audience brought in by the song stylings of Grocer Girl and Grocer Boy, many people heard about the contest and got working on word-building.

Headline from the Star-Gazette, April 7, 1933

Within a week, the three dictionaries at the Steele Memorial Library were in high demand. Librarian Kate Deane Andrew reported seeing people stand in front of their newest dictionary, which was tied to a table, for up to an hour at a time. “It is obvious that many of them are contest workers who hope to make some money by sending in the solutions to the word puzzles,” she told a reporter from the Star-Gazette. She seemed perturbed that the contesters were keeping those with more studious inquiries away from the dictionaries. The library did make efforts to accommodate these new patrons; they got a small booklet containing all of the three-letter words in the English language.

By mid-summer, the run on dictionaries at the Steele Memorial Library slowed down. The series of entertainments on WESG featuring Grocer Girl, Grocer Boy, and the orchestra with the associated word contests came to an end on August 3, and a whole series of novelty broadcasts commenced under the sponsorship of Standard Food Stores.