Ghost Stories

by Susan Zehnder, Education Director

For the past thirteen years, the Chemung County Historical Society  has joined forces with the talented Elmira Little Theatre and Friends of Woodlawn Cemetery to present an historic Ghost Walk along the paths of Woodlawn Cemetery. Unlike the artifacts and documents we have at the museum, at Woodlawn Cemetery, we’re sharing stories of people who lived their lives in the area. The stories range from heartwarming to hilarious and deserve not to be forgotten. 

October is a natural time of year to honor those who have passed on. Summer feels like it's coming to an end. Falling leaves and colder temperatures suggest winter is on its way. Plans however for our annual historic Ghost Walk actually start back in the summer. In July we start to research, write, and revise original scripts based on the lives of potential characters. We visit the cemetery to find the perfect combination of characters and walk various potential routes. Ghosts are selected on variables like a mix of genders, ages and professions. We balance the mood of the stories we share. And, we pay attention to grave site locations. Ghosts must be close enough to get to on a reasonable walking tour, and far enough apart that when each actor tells his or her story, it won’t disturb the others.

Final scripts are passed on to Elmira Little Theatre members who audition, cast and bring the ghost stories to life. As we get closer to the walk date, Friends of Woodlawn Cemetery provide people to carefully guide each visiting group along the paths to meet the ghosts. Other people are involved including those who keep the lanterns lit, drive the buses, welcome visitors, count bus riders, help with gathering tickets, run the trivia contest and jump in to fill in where needed to keep things going. 

Many people who are part of this event have their own stories to tell. Quite a few volunteers have been doing this for years, including those who have participated as long as the event has been going on. Among them are a brother and sister who stepped in and became guides to honor their father when he wasn't able to do it anymore. Another guide drove from Ithaca to participate after falling in love with the event that her sister volunteers for, and this year a guide was surprised to hear a ghost story involving an act of kindness her own grandfather did. All the people who are part of this event are so important to its success and we can't thank them enough.

Lanterns being checked and ready

In thirteen years, the historic Ghost Walk has changed. In the beginning, there were three ghosts and four tours that took place during one evening. Now the event lasts two nights, and involves four or more ghosts with eight tours each evening. It brings 400 visitors to the museum and to the cemetery, and with only five full-time staff, it takes a heroic effort, and many volunteers to pull this off. This year we were rewarded by selling out all 400 tickets in just two weeks. Our event at the graveyard is to share some stories of those who are buried there, and we are thrilled that history can still be so exciting and popular. We also encourage anyone who missed getting tickets this year to watch for notices next September.

Woodlawn Cemetery

The historic Ghost Walk for this year is over, and the 2019 ghosts have been revealed. These scripts are now posted on our CCHS website.

This year, also look for an additional event coming up. Concerned that our ghost walk isn’t accessible to all visitors, especially those unable to walk the ¾ mile trek at night, on October 30th we are hosting another event called Ghostly Readings. At the museum on that Wednesday from 1:30 pm-2:30 pm, staff members will read this year’s ghost scripts and share images of the people we’ve profiled. We will also feature a mystery celebrity reader. Tickets for this event are $5 and include admission to the museum, cider and donuts. We encourage you to call to make reservations, and hope to see you here or in a year when we do this all again!

Call us at 607-734-4167 for reservations or email educator@chemungvalleymuseum.org

Markers

by Susan Zehnder, Education Director

There’s an urban legend that attempts to explain why tombstones for Confederate soldiers come to a point at the top rather than being curved like those used for Union soldiers. The story goes something along the line of ‘not wanting Union soldiers to sit on their gravestones, the top of Confederate headstones come to a center point.’
 

Confederate tombstones, Woodlawn National Cemetery

           

It makes a great story, but after various searches and even asking questions of Woodlawn National Cemetery staff, the most confirmation I could get is a non-committal shrug.
 

Union tombstones, Woodlawn National Cemetery

Taking classes from Fassett Elementary School on recent tours through Woodlawn Cemetery, adjacent to Woodlawn National Cemetery, we looked at gravesites for a few prominent local people. We visited stones for Alexander Diven and his family, for Samuel Clemens and his family, a vault for the Arnot family, and the Firefighters memorial area. While some of the students recognized schools, streets and buildings named after these people, most of their curiosity and questions focused on the physical features of the cemetery. We compared noticeable differences between individual headstones, family markers, and vaults.

Woodlawn Cemetery, May 2019

Chartered by the state and established as a cemetery in 1858, Woodlawn covers 184 acres. In October 2004, it was added to the National Registry of Historic places. While the two cemeteries were once one, Woodlawn National Cemetery was separated off in response to a federal decree in the mid-1800s, that burial places be set aside to recognize Civil War battle dead. This included soldiers that died in battle, prison camps, and hospitals. Today, Woodlawn National Cemetery stands in stark visual contrast to Woodlawn Cemetery. The markers are in tight rows, and almost identical. Here too, only eligible military are laid to rest. The cemetery is part of the National Cemetery system run by the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs, National Cemetery Administration. While Woodlawn National Cemetery doesn’t accept burials anymore, if anyone who qualifies wants to be interred, that’s still possible. There are 136 National Cemeteries in the nation. Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C. was established in 1865 and remains one of the most well-known.

Notable in Woodlawn National Cemetery are the Confederate soldiers’ graves, those headstones that come to a point at the top. There are almost 3,000 of these in military formation. The majority of these soldiers died at the nearby Elmira Prison Camp during 1864-1865, due to disease, poor hygiene, inadequate food, bad care or insufficient clothing. They were buried by John W. Jones, a man who took such good records that after the war, when it came time to identify the buried soldiers, his notes provided accurate names and dates.

John W. Jones, 1817 - 1900

Losing the war and legally defeating slavery, the Nation still chose to respect all fallen soldiers despite their allegiance. 150 years later, the pointed and curved headstones blur together in the cemetery. The rows of mainly white headstones stand at silent attention, and as one young student observed, they’re lined up like soldiers. 

Memorial Day is a day to remember those that died in service to their country. In 1971, Memorial Day was officially sanctioned by Congress as a national holiday observed on the last Monday of every May. It was thought to be connected to Decoration Day. This was a day, established three years after the Civil War, set aside to decorate the graves of war dead with spring flowers. Waterloo, New York, less than two hours from the museum, has been recognized as having one of the first formal Memorial Day ceremonies in 1866, when local businesses closed to observe a day of remembrance.  

It is predicted that over the Memorial Day weekend, more than 135,000 people will visit Arlington National Cemetery near our nation’s capital, and tradition dictates the United States President or Vice President will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The Eccentric and Tragic Life of Inventor and “Weather Prophet” Henry Clum

By Kelli Huggins, Education Coordinator, and Sean Bailey, 18 News Meteorologist

Henry Clum was a genius.  Yet, as is often the case with such gifted people who are ahead of their time, Clum spent most of his life misunderstood, underappreciated, and reclusive.  However, we can now recognize his rightful place in scientific history: Clum was one of the first meteorologists.

Henrich Augustus Clum was born on August 17, 1821 in Columbia County, NY to Jacob and Elisabeth Schultes Clum.  Clum must have been a precocious child and young man because he was allegedly put in an insane asylum near Le Roy, NY during the 1830s for claiming that he could predict the weather (a radical notion at that time).  He was released after one week when the doctors declared him sane.

Clum was an inventor and mechanical scientist who had a wide array of interests.  In addition to his weather inventions, Clum also patented a portable commode that could double as a fashionable ottoman and he gave lectures about and was an expert on early blimp aviation.

Clum's Portable Commode, patented in 1878 in Elmira

Clum's Aerial Locomotive

Poster for one of Clum's lectures

He patented several barometers, including his most famous one, the aellograph.  Clum’s invention likely worked very similar to his other barometers. This machine measures the air pressure, in this case using mercury to determine whether the pressure is rising or falling. According to the National Weather Service, mercury is used since it is 14 times denser than water. This means that mercury does not need as long as of a tube or vessel to measure its reactions to fluctuations in the air pressure.  The first barometer was invented as early as 1643 by Evangelista Torricelli, an invention Clum expanded upon with his own scientific findings.

Clum and other scientists built upon the discovery that the stronger the air pressure, the more force was placed on the bottom of the tube. This then forced the mercury to rise. High pressure, which typically causes clearer skies, indicates sinking motion in the atmosphere and therefore pushes down harder. Anytime the mercury is above the mean sea level pressure (MSLP) of 29.92 inches of mercury, it indicates high pressure. When the mercury is below 29.92, air is pushing down less on the tube. This indicates areas of low pressure, and can show the potential for rising air motion. When the air has the ability to rise, it can condense and form clouds and even storms if the rising motion is strong enough. 

 

Patent for Clum's 1860 barometer

Face of Clum's 1860 barometer (see patent above) from CCHS collection

The aellograph, or “storm writer” was 10 feet tall, weighed nearly a ton, and allegedly had the ability to detect changes in atmospheric pressure as far away as the Rocky Mountains.  In Rochester, Clum was a founding member and trustee of the American Aelloscope Company, which in 1866 released a circular describing the machine and the science of weather prediction. 

Clum’s radical invention was not easy to sell as he struggled to convince people of its practical use.  Although an 1874 newspaper joked that Clum should now “make his everlasting fortune of intending bridal parties and women with new bonnets," he failed to actually strike it rich.  In fact, Clum was destitute for much of his life.  He did sell some of his machines, including one aelloscope to Queen Victoria of England after doing a demonstration in her court.  France’s Napoleon III and the Russian government each purchased one, too.   He was once offered $10,000 for his patent, which he refused, believing that it was worth no less than $100,000.  He made most of his income from the sales of his small barometers and the lectures that he gave across the country and Europe.    

Clum with his aellograph

Henry Clum likely came to Elmira during the 1860s.  He first lived on the northwest corner of Carroll and Lake Streets and then moved to the block of the Lyceum Opera House.  While in Elmira, Clum built a storm finder for the New York Tribune, which used the machine for 6 years.  He was in talks with Senator Charles Sumner to build a storm finding machine to sit atop of the US Capitol building, but the plan was called off after Sumner died.  The US government eventually did purchase one of Clum’s machines.  The machine needed to be taken apart and cleaned every year, and by the second year, the government thought that they could do it themselves without Clum’s assistance.  They succeeded in getting the machine apart, but could not put it back together.  Clum refused to help, claiming he didn’t take “second hand” jobs.

At this time, Clum’s personal life suffered about as much as professional life.  He married Elmiran Annie Snell, who was the war widow of Charles Harris.  The couple was happily married for five years and had a daughter when the presumed dead Harris came back to claim his wife.  Annie and their young daughter went to Buffalo with her first husband (who being the jerk that he was, left Annie again).  Though Clum and his wife never reunited, Clum continued to use his meager income to support Annie until her death in 1881.  He even had to go to Buffalo to bury her.

One of Clum’s only close friends was Matt Lockwood, the costumer for the Lyceum Theater (and another fascinating character who I am writing a future blog post about).  The two friends spent much time together, and Lockwood was allegedly one of the only other people who were able to understand and put together the aellograph. 

Matt Lockwood

On July 6, 1884, Clum was in Binghamton to give a lecture at the Fireman’s Hall.  While he was preparing his equipment, there was an explosion which caused iron shrapnel to strike Clum in the head and fatally wound him.  Although the windows of the hall were blown out and Clum was killed, the aellograph, which was on the stage, was remarkably unharmed.  When Clum’s friend Lockwood came to bring the body back to Elmira, he discovered that the people in Binghamton were planning to keep the machine.  Lockwood disagreed with this and he waited until the Hall’s janitor left and he stole it out of Binghamton.  It remained in his possession until he donated it to the Chemung County Historical Society.  At one point, the inner workings were stolen, and may have never been recovered (they are not part of CCHS’ collection).

Aellograph case in CCHS collection

His funeral was attended by his few friends and his daughter, Ettie.  Clum was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Matt Lockwood’s plot.  Despite his many achievements during his lifetime, Clum is another one of our historical figure who has been largely forgotten.  When he has been remembered, the accounts of his life have focused more on the melodrama of his biography rather than his scientific contributions.  While these personal hardships certainly were important points in his life, I prefer to remember Clum as an eccentric scientific genius rather than a figure like those in a Shakespearean tragedy.

Clum's gravestone in Woodlawn Cemetery

 

De Hollis and Valora: Elmira's Forgotten Contortionists, Jugglers, and World Travelers

by Kelli Huggins, Education Coordinator

While doing research for another blog post (the human ostrich scandal), I came across references in the newspapers to a husband and wife contortionist and "comic juggling" duo: De Hollis and Valora.  Naturally, I was intrigued.  When I started to research them, I was shocked that no one seems to remember them.  In the late 19th and early 20th century they were incredibly famous, not just here in Chemung County, but also internationally. 

De Hollis and Valora were the stage names of William and Josephine Welsh of Elmira (De Hollis and Valora is also a perfect name for an indie folk duo.  I'm claiming it now).  De Hollis was born in 1867 at 706 Benjamin St., thus joining the delightfully eccentric Welsh family.  You would think that the kid who became a famous juggler and showman would be the standout in any family, but De Hollis' brothers were equally as uniquely accomplished.  This family truly warrants their own blog post (which I will work on), but for now, I'll give you the highlights: brother Joe Welsh became a famous Broadway tenor and brother Thomas was a barber and politician who in his youth was a renowned trick roller skater!  

Valora's history has been a little trickier to track down.  I know she was born in 1870, her maiden name is Valiard, and that both of her parents were born in France.  Valora was born in New York, however.  When she died, her obituary said that she was survived by her mother, also named Josephine, three sisters, and a brother, most of whom lived in Portsmouth, Oregon.

The pair married in 1890 and soon after began their traveling act.  De Hollis had been performing solo for years before (In fact, he chose his stage name when he was traveling with Bob Hunting's show which already had two Welshs on staff).   De Hollis and Valora travelled with several vaudeville companies throughout the 1890s and early 1900s.  These shows brought them across the United States, to Europe, Asia, and Australia and New Zealand.  By the end of their careers, they had performed on at least five continents (I haven't found any mention of performances in Africa... or Antarctica)! 
De Hollis and Valora's act brought them worldwide acclaim.  While performing in China, De Hollis was proposed to by a Chinese princess (De Hollis had to explain that he was already married and politely declined). 
When at the peak of their popularity, they were rarely in Elmira.  The papers would print notices when they were due home so that their local friends and fans could see them.  When home, they frequently performed in Elmira, often at Eldridge Park.  See the map below for some of the cities around the world they visited:

A newspaper ad for an Elmira show

Their acts were quite varied.  One act involved them balancing large umbrellas and another had De Hollis juggling canon balls and catching them on the back of his neck.  They also had tamed rabbits they used in their act, however, on one trip back to Elmira, the bunnies were killed by a neighbor's dog.  At a 1905 show in Alton, Illinois, De Hollis performed a trick where he caught an apple thrown from the balcony on a fork that he held between his teeth.  However, during the first couple of shows, the boys who worked at the theater and who were in charge of throwing the apple, thought that it was funny to take a bite out of the apple before throwing it.  De Hollis was not amused.  Before a later performance, he drilled holes in the apple and filled it with hot pepper.  When the boys took a bite from it, they had an unpleasant surprise.

When returning home from Australia in 1913, Valora fell ill.  I'm not sure what ailed her, though there were rumors in the press that she was injured in their act (though I'm not sure that this is true).  After returning home, Valora was not able to go back on the road with De Hollis, so he began performing alone.  In 1915, De Hollis was performing solo in Indianapolis when he received the telegram that his wife and partner had died in Elmira.

After Valora's death, De Hollis continued to perform.  He hired an assistant and went on to tour South America.  It was in Buenos Aires, Argentina that De Hollis died in 1919.  His body was shipped back to his family in Elmira and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.

De Hollis (left) and his assistant after Valora's death

Knowing that both of De Hollis and Valora were buried at Woodlawn and knowing what a remarkable lives they lived, I had to go find their stones.  I called the wonderful folks at the Woodlawn office and they helped me find their plot (which was no easy feat since they are in a plot under Thomas' name).  I drove to the cemetery and found the Welsh family plot.  There I found an amazing surprise.  Both De Hollis and Valora have their stage names engraved on their headstones.

As a historian, there are just some historical stories or figures that resonate with you.  For me, De Hollis and Valora have become one of those.  Their travels would be impressive for someone today, much less someone doing it over 100 years ago by steam ship and train.  Their acts sounds like they would have been great, too.  And truly, the amount of personality that these two must have had is also fun.  To have your stage names put on your headstones? Awesome!  I'm just happy I can help bring the spotlight back to these two.  I think they would appreciate it.

Round the Old Graveyard

By Kerry Lippincott, Education Coordinator

 

There are over 140 cemeteries in Chemung County and each are filled with stories.    Casualties of the Battle of Newtown are buried at Knoll Cemetery in Ashland.  Erin’s Scotchtown Cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Talitha Botsford is buried in the Millport Cemetery and shares a marker with her older brother Hull, who was one of the 1512 victims on the Titanic.    I don’t mean to play favorites but I’m drawn to Woodlawn Cemetery.

Starting in 1802 the area alongside the First Baptist Church on Church Street served as the Baptist Church Cemetery.  By the late 1850s, however, little burial space remained in the cemetery so Woodlawn Cemetery was created in 1858 (by 1877 all remains from the Baptist Church Cemetery were re-buried at Woodlawn). 

Though it solved the space issue, Woodlawn Cemetery was actually part of the rural cemetery movement.  The movement basically had three concepts.  The first concept was that cemeteries should be created on the outskirts of cities and towns rather than alongside churches.  Secondly, burying and commemorating the dead was best done in a tranquil and beautiful natural setting.  Finally, cemeteries were places for the living.  In fact, rural cemeteries were designed and intended for public use. Monuments, statues, fountains, gardens and footpaths were used to create a park-like setting for walks, picnics and other outdoor activities.    The popularity of rural cemeteries eventually led to the establishment of public parks in the United States.  Woodlawn definitely has that park-like feel.

 

Though its true of other local cemeteries, Woodlawn’s residents are interwoven with the stories that make up Chemung County history.  The following are just samples of those stories.

Through the Network to Freedom, the National Park Service is trying to connection historical sites, museums and interpretive programs across the country that are associated with the Underground Railroad.  Since  freedom seekers (like Henry Washington, Lear Green, and Daniel Webster), abolitionists ( like Judge Ariel Thurston, John Robinson, Francis Hall and Simeon Benjamin) and Underground Railroad workers (like Jervis Langdon and John W. Jones) are buried at Woodlawn, the cemetery is part of the Network to Freedom.  In fact, four other sites in Chemung County are part of the Network as well.

Several Civil War veterans are buried at Woodlawn and originally Confederate Prisoners of War were also buried there.  Anticipating a certain number of deaths, the Federal Government paid the City of Elmira $300 to lease a half acre of land at Woodlawn (the area would later be expanded) and agreed to pay the caretaker of the cemetery, John W. Jones, to bury any Confederate dead (originally paid $40 dollars a month for his services, Jones later renegotiated his contract and was paid $2.50 per burial).    At the prison camp the dead were placed into prisoner-made coffins with their name, rank, regiment, and date of death inscribed on the lid.  That same information was written on a slip of paper, put into in a sealed jar and placed inside the coffin with the body.  From the prison camp, the coffins were transported nine at a time to Woodlawn for burial.  Each grave was assigned a number and Jones kept a careful record of where each soldier was buried. At each grave a wooden headboard was placed with the soldier’s information written in lead paint.   In 1877, the section where Confederate soldiers were buried was designated the Woodlawn National Cemetery.

Along with eleven United States Congressmen (John Arnot Jr., Gen. Alexander Diven, J. Sloat Fassett, Thomas Flood Judge Hiram Grey, Lewis Henry, William Irvine, Thomas Maxwell, Hosea Hunt Rockwell, Horace Boardman Smith and Asher Tyler) two governors are buried at Woodlawn.  Lucius Robinson was the governor of New York from 1877-1879. 

The other man was a governor of Wisconsin and not New York.  I know what you thinking how in the heck did we get a Wisconsin governor.  Though born in New York State, Alexander Randall rose to political prominence in Wisconsin.  After serving one term in the state assembly, he served 2 terms as governor from 1859 to 1861.   Perhaps as a reward for raising the most troops during the first few months of the Civil War (18 regiments, 10 artillery batteries and 3 Calvary units) Lincoln appointed Randall the United States Minister to the Vatican.  Randall soon discovered he disliked the post and returned to the United States after just 6 weeks.  Apparently Lincoln didn’t take offense and appointed Randall Assistant Postmaster General. Under President Andrew Johnson, Randall was promoted to Postmaster General. In 1869 Randall and his wife (who was from Elmira) settled in a home on the corner of West Water and Gunnip Avenue (the site of the former Congregation B’ Nai Israel). 

Other local writers joining Mark Twain at Woodlawn include  Anna Campbell Palmer, Ausburn Towner, Harriet Maxwell Converse, Clara Clemens and Joel and Esther Steele.