A Woman of Means: Sarah Wey Tompkins

by Erin Doane, Senior Curator

At our Woodlawn Cemetery Ghost Walk in 2024, the final story was that of Sarah Wey Tompkins (1866-1929). As I was researching her life to write the script, I was struck by the fact that nearly half of her obituary was about her father, her brother, and her husband. My printout of the obituary has 21 inches of text. 9.5 of those inches are about the men in her life. Her actual name, not “Mrs. Ray Tompkins,” does not appear until after 4 inches of text.

Sarah Wey Tompkins, from her obituary, Star-Gazette, January 22, 1929

It was not at all unusual for a woman in the early 20^th century to be almost exclusively referred to as “Mrs. Husband’s Name” in public and to be known only in the context of her male relatives. Though both are pet peeves of mine, in this case, the conventions make some sense. Sarah Wey Tompkins was a woman of means because of the families she was born and then married into. While she was an active philanthropist, she owed her ability to donate large amounts of time and money to charitable causes to the men in her life. This context is just as important as her accomplishments.

Sarah Ross Wey was born on July 22, 1866. Her father was a prominent doctor and president of the New York State Medical Society in 1871. Her mother was the daughter of a doctor as well (as mentioned in Sarah’s obituary). On September 6, 1893, Sarah married Ray Tompkins, a prominent businessman and one of Elmira’s leading citizens. Their wedding was written up in detail in that day’s edition of the Star-Gazette. They were married at Trinity Church by Rev. Dr. George H. McKnight. A wreath of pink roses encircled the chancel rail and the font and pulpit were adorned with palms and ferns. Sarah, attended by her father, entered the church to the “Bridal Chorus” from Lohengrin played on the organ. She wore a white gown, a bridal veil, and carried a prayer book. The newly-wed couple exited the church to the Mendelssohn Wedding March from “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Mr. and Mrs. Tompkins then enjoyed breakfast with their family and friends at Sarah’s father’s house.

Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, 1904
Ray Tompkins is seated second from the left

The couple never had children, but Sarah filled her time managing the household and presided over many brilliant social events on behalf of her husband. Ray began his career in the wholesale grocery business. He then invested in railroads and became president of the Elmira Water, Light & Railroad Company. He served as president of the Chemung Canal Trust Company as well and was involved in many community organizations. By the time of his death in 1918, he was a very wealthy man.

It was noted in her obituary that Sarah practically gave up her social activities when Ray died, but she continued to contribute to the community, thanks to the large estate he had left to her. In 1923, she anonymously donated 750-acres of property to Yale to be made into a golf course in honor of her husband, who was an 1884 graduate and a star athlete while a student there. She was also a longtime supporter of Elmira College and was elected to its board of trustees in 1927. Tompkins Hall is named after her.

Tompkins Hall at Elmira College, 1930s

Sarah was the largest contributor to the fund to build the new Arnot-Ogden Hospital Annex, donating $200,000 for the project. On November 14, 1926, she laid the cornerstone to the new building. Several hundred people were in attendance. After Elmira Mayor David Heller and Dr. Arthur W. Booth spoke, Sarah Wey Tompkins, with the assistance of young Elizabeth Falck, ceremonially spread the mortar with a silver trowel. Miss Falck, by the way, was the daughter of Mrs. Elizabeth Rathbone Falck who laid the original hospital cornerstone in 1887. After the stone was settled into place, Sarah announced, “I declare this stone to be truly and right laid.”

Elizabeth Falck (center left) and Sarah Wey Tompkins (center right) at the Arnot-Ogden Hospital Annex’s cornerstone laying ceremony, November 4, 1926

Most of her life as a widow was spent out of the limelight. She was an avid traveler, spending months touring the world in the 1920s. It was while on her way to Europe aboard the Vulcania in 1929 that she contracted pneumonia. She died at 11 o’clock in the morning on January 22 in Cannes, France. Her travel companion, Maude M. Howland of New York City, made the arrangements for her to be returned to Elmira. Her funeral was held at her home in Strathmont Park on February 14 and she was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery.

Gravesite of Sarah Wey Tompkins and Ray Tompkins in Woodlawn Cemetery, 2024

Sarah was the last member of that branch of the Tompkins family in Elmira. Her husband’s estate had gone to her upon his passing. Her will distributed their wealth among various organizations including Arnot-Ogden Memorial Hospital, Elmira College, the Southern Tier Children’s Home, and the Home for the Aged. Bequests were also made to a cousin and half a dozen employees.

List of bequest in Sarah Wey Tompkins' will, Star-Gazette, February 16, 1929

Fly the Friendly Skies? The First African American Stewardess

 By Susan Zehnder, Education Director

Do you remember Mohawk Airlines? The “Route of the Air Chiefs” airline carried passengers all around New York State. 

It was one of the first feeder airlines to take advantage of the 1944 Civil Aeronautics Board’s (CAB) push to increase access to regions previously not served. A decade later, Mohawk Airlines increased another kind of access, by hiring the nation’s first woman of color as a stewardess.

Mohawk airlines was the renamed Robinson Airlines operating out of Ithaca, NY. Inventor Cecil S. Robinson started it as a side business to his aerial surveying company, though it wasn’t always profitable. The CAB push meant the government was willing to subsidize new routes, and Robinson sold operations to Robert Peach, one of his pilots and a Cornell University law student. Peach had learned to fly as a pilot during World War II. By 1948, Mohawk Airlines was certified as a regional carrier and flying routes throughout the region, including in and out of Elmira/Corning. In less than a decade, the company outgrew their Ithaca facilities and moved their headquarters to Utica. The growth in aviation encouraged competition among the airlines, and they actively looked for innovative approaches to appeal to passengers. Social norms were changing. In 1956, the carrier publicly expressed an interest in hiring flight attendants of color, and one year later, Mohawk hired twenty-five-year-old Ruth Carol Taylor.

 

Taylor had lived in upstate New York, graduated from college, and was a practicing nurse. She was born in Massachusetts, the eldest of two daughters of Ruth Irene Powell, a registered nurse, and William Edison Taylor, a barber. The family lived in New York City for a short while, then moved to Trumansburg, so that her father could run a farm. She attended Trumansburg Central High School, and then enrolled at Elmira College.

In 1951, her father died and her mother moved back to New York City. Taylor then transferred to Bellevue School of Nursing in NYC. She graduated and practiced nursing for three years before applying to be a flight attendant. At that time, airlines hired nurses to reassure the flying public, so that was a good fit. However, no airline had hired anyone of color. Taylor, interested in flying, applied to Trans World Airlines (TWA) and was interviewed three times, but was not selected. Determined, she filed a complaint with the New York State Commission on Discrimination. About that same time, Peach, perhaps realizing that things needed to change, instructed his company to look for good candidates. Almost 800 women of color applied and were interviewed to be a Mohawk hostess. The company only hired one, Ruth Carol Taylor. Her first flight was February 11, 1958, and generated so much publicity that TWA quickly hired Margaret Grant and declared her as their first African American flight attendant.

Six months after her first flight, Taylor hit another discriminatory wall and was let go for violating the rule that all stewardesses must be single. She had married her fiancé, Rex Legall. The couple moved to the British West Indies and then to London. They divorced and Taylor moved to Barbados. In Barbados she created the country’s first professional nursing journal. In 1977, she returned to NYC bringing her son and daughter with her.

Ruth Carol Taylor was an activist all her life, fighting for racial equality. She participated in the Civil Rights Movement, co-founded the Institute for InterRacial Harmony, and after her son was mugged, wrote The Little Black Book: Black Male Survival in America or Staying Alive and Well in an Institutionally Racist Society.

 

Being the first of anything isn’t always easy, but seeing Taylor in her uniform certainly encouraged other young women to consider the profession. When interviewed for an article in JET magazine, Taylor shared that she “…didn’t take the job because she thought being a flight attendant would be so great...I knew better than to think it was all that glamourous. But it irked me that people were not allowing people of color to apply…Anything like that sets my teeth to grinding.”

 

An activist to the end, Taylor was 92 when she died in May 2023.

 

May Day at Elmira College

by Erin Doane, Senior Curator

May Day is an ancient spring festival that originated in Europe to rejoice in the coming of summer. In 1902, Dean M. Anstice Harris started what would become a 65-year tradition of celebrating May Day at Elmira College. 

The very first May Day at Elmira College took place on May 2, 1902. The freshmen students were in charge of organizing the festivities. The event began at 4:30 in the afternoon with the campus population gathering on the green lawn next to the pond. First, the freshmen voted for a May Queen from among the sophomore students. After the queen’s name was announced, she was whisked away to be dressed in her ceremonial gown and robes. Once appropriately dressed, she returned with her court to be officially crowned. She took her place on the throne and the freshmen performed a May pole dance. This was followed by a general promenade and social hour before a picnic supper. The evening ended with a lecture by special guest Dr. A.F. Schauffler who presented “Ruin and Rescue” about his mission work in New York City.

Elmira College May Day, 1910s

The celebration was so well received that the second annual May Day festival followed the next year. The event grew more elaborate each year as the new freshman class worked to outdo the previous one. In 1907, there was a dragon and the personification of Winter terrorizing Earth and her followers. The May pole dance was performed by ten young women dressed as milk maids carrying bright tin pails. In 1908, the students had a luncheon at Watkins Glen to celebrate May Day. Watkins Glen became the preferred location of the event from the early 1910s through the 1950s.

May Day dancers, photographed by Fred Loomis, 1926

Each year the freshmen organizers chose a theme. Many celebrations focused on ancient Greek and Roman myths including the stories of Persephone, Diana, Orpheus and Eurydice, and Cupid and Psyche. Olde England was also a popular theme with traditional folk dances and music. Later, the themes became more diverse. In 1935, the students built their May Day around the story of Alice in Wonderland. The dancing and dramatic performances became quite elaborate. Faculty in the physical education department coached the dancers while those in the art department supervised the production of costumes and props.

Elmira College May Day, c. 1930, photographed by Fred Loomis

Music and dancing were always major parts of the May Day celebrations. In 1939, the organizers decided to try something new. Rather than using classic springtime songs paired with traditional choreography, they created modern dances based on Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” A newspaper report at the time called the performance “well received if untraditional.” In 1940, modern dance was paired with Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. Before the event, miss Catherine Finter, head of Elmira College’s physical education department, went on WENY radio to explain the meaning of the dances. A reporter with the Star-Gazette who attended the festivities reported the “most colorful of the abstract interpretations was that of the third movement –‘a succession of capricious arabesques which pass through the mind when one has drunk wine and feels the first touch of intoxication.’”

A preview of the dance program for Elmira College May Day, Star-Gazette, May 16, 1940

At the peak of its popularity, May Day was attended by upwards of 800 students, faculty members, friends, family, and community members. The arrival of the second World War, however, put a damper on festivities. Less ostentatious celebrations were held on campus throughout the 1940s. During the war years, more traditional American music and patriotic songs were added to the program. Post-war saw the celebration’s return to Watkins Glen and when Elmira College acquired Strathmont in 1961, May Day moved there.

May pole dance at Strathmont, Star-Gazette, May 13, 1965

By the mid-1960s the tradition was winding down. Rather than a major stand-alone event, May Day became part of Class Day. The last May Queen was crowned at Elmira College on May 10, 1967, thus ending 65 years of tradition.

The college replaced May Day with Spring Weekend, an outdoor festival with live rock music and alcoholic beverages. I myself participated in the very last Spring Weekend celebration in 1997. The following year, a new May Days event was created which had no connection to the earlier May Day traditions. The reinvented May Days is still celebrated today with a carnival on campus complete with food, games, and music. 

Part of the Heller Family Story

By Susan Zehnder, Education Director

For two dark nights, and one late afternoon, Woodlawn Cemetery was visited by hundreds of visitors who strolled the paths and listened to the stories of four of the cemetery’s permanent residents. It was the 17^th annual Ghost Walk, offering a unique glimpse into our area’s past and some of its most interesting inhabitants.

Guided by Friends of Woodlawn volunteers, visitors explored the cemetery, pausing to hear the four ghosts tell their tales. The stories, based on fact and researched by our staff, were brought to life by actors from Elmira Little Theatre. Over the years we’ve been able to share stories of 69 different people buried at Woodlawn.

One story not widely known is that of the Heller family, previous owners of the land that would become Woodlawn Cemetery.

In the early 19^th century, Michael and Nancy Ann Heller arrived in the county to settle and raise a family. They were German immigrants who had first moved to Pennsylvania to pursue farming. Looking further, they were attracted to the Chemung Valley’s rich agricultural opportunities, and they relocated and purchased land on the outskirts of Elmira. Like many farmers of the day, they had a large family. Charles, the youngest of their eight children, followed his father into farming. In 1851, Charles married Mary Neish of Elmira and they raised two girls, named Frances and Harriet, and twin boys, named David and Michael.

L to R: Michael, Frances, David, and Harriet Heller

Not long after Charles had set up his farm, the City of Elmira was looking for land to build a new cemetery. For that purpose, Charles and Mary Heller sold the city a piece of their land for $10,000. The cemetery was chartered in 1858 and designed by architect Howard Daniels, who was active in the rural cemetery and garden cemetery movements, which emphasized natural elements. Today, Woodlawn encompasses 184 acres, and its natural elements include winding pathways and green space to inspire visitors and promote reflection.

Charles and Mary Heller valued education and had the means to pay for it. They sent daughters Frances and Harriet to study at the newly opened Elmira College, while sons David and Michael attended nearby Cornell University.

During his studies at Cornell, David was active in sports and also became editor of the student newspaper, the Cornell Daily Sun. Both boys graduated in 1888, and David stayed an additional year to study law before returning to Elmira. In 1890, he was admitted to the bar. He was elected County Clerk a few years later, serving in this position for four years. In 1898, he was elected to the State Assembly, to represent Chemung County as the youngest Assembly member at the time. Elected City Judge in 1907, he served for close to twenty years, lasting through five four-year terms. In 1911, David married Julie Weyer; the couple had no children.

In 1925, David Heller was elected mayor. He resigned his judgeship, but he remained active in the community. He served as president of the City Club and held memberships in the Elmira Country Club, the Union Lodge, the F. & A.M. (Free and Accepted Masons), Knights of Pythias, the BPO of Elks, and the Park Church. He was president of the Chemung County Bar Association and a member of the NY State and American Bar Associations. The high point of his career came in 1929, when NY Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him to fill the unexpired term of State Supreme Court Justice George McCann, who also happened to be Heller’s cousin. He hoped to remain as Supreme Court Justice after his appointed term expired, but ran an unsuccessful campaign. He then returned to private practice.

In 1932, at the age of 66, Judge David Heller suffered an appendicitis attack, and died a few days later. The Star-Gazette called his death a shock to the community. David Heller had been in public service for over 40 years.

His twin was equally dedicated. In 1888, when Michael graduated from Cornell, he returned straightaway to Elmira. He first found work at Gridley Hardware Store, located at 119 East Water Street. Soon after, he left and formed his own hardware store. The Gridley Company bought him out and Michael left business to become City Court clerk. In 1926, he was appointed assistant superintendent of Woodlawn Cemetery, and six months later, he became superintendent. It was a position that Michael Heller served for 14 years.

Not long after he returned to Elmira, Michael married Charlotte Stone and the couple had four sons. Sadly, Charlotte died in 1915.

Like David, Michael was active in public service. He was a member of the Board of Supervisors, secretary of the Chemung County Agricultural Society, alumni secretary of his Cornell class for more than 50 years, and secretary of the Central New York Fairs Association. He was also a member of F. & A.M., of Park Church and a master of Union Lodge. He outlived his brother David by nine years, dying at the age of 75 after an extended illness.

Four years ago, gardens were constructed at Woodlawn to honor the Heller family. Woodlawn Cemetery now offers the Heller Memorial Gardens as an option for those wanting a cremation garden (also called a columbarium). The gardens are located just inside Woodlawn’s Walnut Street entrance.

Consider this an extra cemetery story, and if you want to hear 2023 ghost scripts again, or for the first time, join us at 12:05 pm on Wednesday October 25, 2023. Staff will read scripts, share images, and answer questions. The event is free and open to the public. 

Our Town, Our Teams: Hockey in Elmira

 by Kevin Earley, Alfred University intern

Hockey in Elmira has a storied history to it that most people wouldn’t really think about. From going to the domes in Pine Valley to watch the Elmira College teams play to weekend nights down at First Arena cheering on the professionals, there have been some memorable times for the sport in our neck of the woods.

Elmira College introduced the sport to its athletic program starting in the 1973-1974 season, and it was a very successful program in those early days. In six of their first 16 seasons, they made NCAA Tournament appearances and reached the finals twice, which is no small feat for any college program. In the entire history of the men’s ice hockey program, however, they have never been crowned National Champions despite having multiple years of success. In the 2001-2002 season, the women’s ice hockey program came into existence, and they started their history by winning back-to-back NCAA Division III National Championships in the first two years of the program. They have only missed the NCAA Tournament in 3 out of their 21 years, and they have been one of the most dominant powerhouses in Division III throughout their entire history.

Professional hockey officially came to Elmira in 2000, when the United Hockey League (UHL) awarded a franchise to the city that would be known as the Elmira Jackals. The brand new First Arena, then known as Coach USA Center, had just been completed with the Jackals beginning play in the 2000-2001 season. After an early exit in that year’s playoffs, the Jackals earned a spot in the Colonial Cup Finals in two of the next four seasons, losing both times. Eddy Lowe was a leading player on most of those playoff teams, and eventually got his number 26 retired by the Jackals in 2007, an honor that has not been given to any other professional player for any Elmira team. For their final few years in the UHL, the Jackals missed the playoffs, and never reached a championship series again.

The UHL began to struggle in the mid-2000s, and in April of 2007 the Jackals joined the ECHL, which is the league two levels down from the National Hockey League and is the NHL’s Double-A affiliate league. The Jackals enjoyed some early success in the ECHL, making the playoffs for their first six years in the league while serving as the primary AA affiliate of teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets, Anaheim Ducks, and Ottawa Senators of the NHL. There was a lot of instability, however, due to ownership changes and financial struggles for the team come 2013. In 2014, things seemed to be looking up when the Jackals became the ECHL affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL, but those good vibes did not last long as most of Elmira’s talent didn’t really stick around long enough to create a solid team that could compete for a championship, let alone a playoff spot at all. Come 2017, they were owned by the Chemung County Industrial Development Agency (IDA), and as a result of low attendance and arena issues the Jackals folded after playing their final game on April 8th, 2017.

First Arena was pretty much closed throughout the 2017-2018 hockey season, with the exception of the youth hockey programs playing on the recreational rink. In the summer of 2018, it was announced that a new team would come in and play in a league called the Federal Prospects Hockey League, which is a level below the ECHL. The team, owned by Elmira Pioneers baseball team owner Robbie Nichols, became known as the Elmira Enforcers out of tribute to law enforcement. The 2018-2019 season was very good for the new team, but they failed to capture the league championship as they lost in the finals that year. 2019-2020 seemed to be going decently for the Enforcers until the COVID-19 Pandemic hit the United States, causing all sports leagues to shut down and ending the Enforcers’ quest for redemption. The following season was shortened because of the pandemic, and the Enforcers once again did not get the job done as they did not win the title. After the 2020-2021 season, it was announced that the Enforcers would not play in the upcoming season due to Nichols and the Chemung County IDA failing to come to an agreement on a new lease for the arena. The Elmira Enforcers effectively ceased to exist.

Once again, the future of hockey in Elmira was in a cloud of uncertainty. With an arena that had not been properly maintained and with a lack of consistent management, it looked as if professional hockey was done here. However, the arena was leased out and taken over by Steve Donner. It re-opened in December of 2021 under his management for public skating and recreational hockey and it was announced in April of this year that a new FPHL team, the Elmira Mammoth, will be beginning play this coming fall.

Elmira’s hockey history has had many great moments as well as moments that were not so great, and it’s very interesting to look at how much hockey has impacted Chemung County as a whole. It has given the community a lot of exciting memories from the thrilling fights and goals to simply being able to take the family out to the hockey game on a Friday or Saturday night. It’ll be very interesting to see what the future holds for the sport in Elmira.

 

The Bug Lady: Ms. Esther Hart

 By Guest Blogger Melissa Rozengota, a volunteer with Elmira HistoryForge, a project sponsored by the Chemung County Historical Society

Esther Hart

You meet some of the most interesting people transcribing historical census records. I first encountered Miss Esther Hart in the 1910 census during my work as a volunteer with Elmira HistoryForge (https://elmira.historyforge.net/), a project which combines historic maps with census records and photographs to create a unique way to visualize community history.  At first glance, Esther Hart seemed a largely unremarkable individual; she was single, white, female, age 40.  She is listed at 302 E Church Street with her widowed older sister Fannie, niece Frances, nephew Pierson and 80-year-old father, Dr. Ira F Hart at 302 E Church Street. The detail that caught our attention was that she was a clerk in Washington D.C., while living in Elmira.

1910 US Census

Esther was born February 22, 1862 in Elmira, New York to Dr. Ira Hart and Marion E. Cook Hart, early settlers in the Elmira area. Esther attended Elmira College and graduated with a Bachelors of Arts in 1883. She also later attended The Cooper Institute in New York City and completed a 4-year course in wood engraving and art. It was here that she met fellow student, Mrs. Anna Botsford Comstock, the first woman Professor at Cornell University and an acclaimed author, illustrator, and educator of natural studies. The Elmira city directories list Esther as a wood engraver and teacher from 1887 through 1905. By 1906, she attained her job in D.C.

Esther began her work in D.C. in the Patent Office as a draftsman, transferring from there in 1907 to the Forest Service Dept. It is within this department where her drawings caught the attention of Dr. A.D. Hopkins. Impressed with her natural aptitude, Dr. Hopkins secured a transfer reassigning Esther to the Bureau of Entomology for the Delineation of Forest Insects in 1911. In 1917, when Dr Hopkins retired, she transferred to the Division of Cereal & Forest Insect Investigation where, for 15 more years, she illustrated many publications. Some of Esther’s illustrations are still in use to this day and can be found in Dr. Craighead’s Monograph of The North American Cerambycid Larvae and The Southwestern Corn Borer.

  

Esther’s ambitions were not relegated to her career. She was involved in many activities and groups that brought her into the influential circles of our nation’s capital. In 1906, Esther was a guest of President & Mrs. Roosevelt’s in honor of the Army & Navy in the Blue Room at the White House.

In 1925, Esther was the hostess of a tea given by the American Association of University Women where she displayed her drawings.

When Esther was a charter member of the Elmira College Club in 1932, she met First Lady Mrs. Herbert Hoover for a ceremonial tree planting. The ceremony was in memory of President George Washington and Esther had her photo taken with the First Lady.

Ironically, we at Elmira HistoryForge should never have “met” her transcribing the 1910 Elmira census because she didn’t truly live here. Esther was listed on two 1910 Census. Not only was she listed in the Elmira census, but the Washington D.C. one as well.  

The D.C. Census listed her, inaccurately, as age 41, born in 1869. She was living with Clara S. Davenport, a government stenographer, age 32, born in 1878). I believe Clara was an acquaintance Esther knew from Elmira or maybe from College. The Elmira Census was taken April 21^st & 22^nd and the D.C. census was taken April 23^rd. It is most likely the Elmira census taker didn’t realize that Esther was just a visitor in Elmira.

Esther was respected and esteemed for her work. According to her obituary from August 3, 1940, she was “a woman of kindly, refined, lovely character.” Despite living away for so long, she had strong ties with her family and Elmira and is buried in her family plot in Elmira's Woodlawn Cemetery.

We hope Miss Esther Hart would think the nickname we gave her is endearing and that she’d be delighted that 82 years after she passed away we found her everyday life in the early part of the 19^th century so interesting.

As a woman in the early part of the 19^th century she had many opportunities in her education and work and left a name for herself.

(To get involved with this cool project, contact our HistoryForge Coordinator at HistoryForge@ChemungValleyMuseum.org for more details!)

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.

 

Land Girls and Farmerettes

By Rachel Dworkin, Archivist

When Mrs. Louise T. Roberts of the New York State Food Commission proposed it in the spring of 1918, people were skeptical. College girls working on local farms? That’s crazy talk. There was no way they could work as well as men. Luckily for area farms, the skeptics were wrong.

Following America’s entry into World War I in April 1917, there were massive labor shortages in all fields. The civilian group, the Woman’s Land Army of America (WLAA) proposed to replace the missing men with college girls, school teachers, and other women with seasonal jobs or ones which allowed for summer vacations. The idea was modeled after the British Woman’s Land Army. The state branches of the WLAA worked closely with local colleges to recruit and train young women who would be assigned to work certain farms. The women were known as farmerettes. 

 

Elmira College Farmerettes at a farm on Canton Avenue

In the spring and summer of 1918, Elmira College sponsored a series of farmerette work camps throughout the Southern Tier. Each camp consisted of between 10 and 30 girls, plus a full-time cook/housekeeper. The first two work units were established in Horseheads and Southport in late May before the end of the semester and the girls who signed up were exempted from having to take exams as long as they agreed to work the land for at least six weeks. Over the course of the summer, Elmira College students established additional work camps in Hector and near Binghamton. Each camp was self-governing and at least one ended up producing their own book of work songs. 

Elmira College students Misses Wallace, Farnham, Reed, & McNamara start their work in Birmingham, June 1918

Elmira College farmerettes learned to plow and drive tractors. They planted and harvested tobacco, oats, potatoes, onions, and other vegetables. Girls stationed near Germantown, New York, harvested cherries while the ones in Hector picked grapes. They were paid $3 a week, a wage comparable to most male farm hands. 

Farm owners were surprised to find themselves pleased with the quality of the girls’ work. Several area farmers wrote to Mrs. Roberts with their thoughts on the program.

“Your letter at hand and would state in reply, asking about our opinion in regard to girl labor, that it worked finely. We have mostly employed man labor before this year and always with some dissatisfaction, drink habit being the worst. The girls all seemed eager to work and they certainly picked the fruit well and cleaned up every tree in good shape, a thing the men never did. It is our first experience with girls and we were well pleased and look to having them another year.

                                                                            --Henry Sheffer, North Germantown, N.Y.

“Your letter of July 19^th at hand. In regard to girl labor, we care convinced that they have been the greatest assistance to us in harvesting the cherry crop. They did a great deal better than we expected as this is our first experience. They picked their fruit in better condition than the average foreigners, that is they did not pull off the stems or fill their baskets with leaves. The girls picked about 2,000 baskets of the crop. We hope to have a larger and better camp next season if you of the Food Commission are able to provide help

                                                                                                                              –Peter Fingar

Despite the end of the war, the Woman’s Land Army of New York did place college girls on farms in the summer of 1919. By April 1919, over 400 girls had already been recruited.