Continuing our look back at Elmira graduating classes, please enjoy these photos of 8th grade graduating classes from the original Pennsylvania Avenue School in Elmira.
Pennsylvania Avenue School was built in 1898 and closed in 1961 when the Broadway School was opened. (The Elmira City School District was formed in 1957). According to news reports*, the building’s owners included Chemung County and Olthof Funeral Home. The building was eventually torn down. Its address was 1018 Pennsylvania Avenue, which places it at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Hazel Street, across the Street from Olthof Funeral Home.
1018 Pennsylvania Avenue, Elmira NY.
Pennsylvania Ave. 8th grade Class of 1945.
Pennsylvania Ave. 8th Grade Graduating Class of 1946.
Pennsylvania Ave. 8th Grade Graduating Class of 1949.
Pennsylvania Ave. 8th Grade Graduating Class of 1950
Pennsylvania Ave. 8th Grade Graduating Class of 1951
*1. Elmira Star Gazette 29 Dec 1999 page 2. Elmira Star Gazette 28 Dec 2003 page 24. Elmira Star Gazette 13 Nov 1991 page 7.
Graduation season is upon us! It has long been a time of celebration, new beginnings, and most importantly, class pictures. This week we’ll be sharing class pictures we have found. Below, please enjoy class pictures of Elmira graduates from years past. Pictures are from 1927-1942. Who knows, maybe you’ll find an ancestor or two among those smiling young faces!
The 1929 graduating class of SS Peter and Paul’s Parochial School. Thomas Grady, David Jenkins, (Ann Cochran), William Griffin, Rita O’Leary, Mildred Lewis, William ___, Jeanette Kruger, ___J. Lee, Rita Byrne, Francis Jake____, K_______ K_______, Joseph (Flanagan), Alberta ____, Robert Gerald, J___ Webster. Source: [https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/np00020001/1929-07-19/ed-1/seq-5/]
St. Patrick’s School: June 1942 (8th grade). Top row L-R: Bernard Dailey, George H___, Jerry Hogan, Connie Milliken, Ray Haighes, John McCarthy, Richard Sch___, Louis L___, Eugene Kil___, JOhn Daily, Larry O’Conner, Martin Knuth, Anthony Schwinkler, Richard Le___, Alfred Keough, John Sh___. Center row: Patricia Morgan, Ann Diviney, Mary Woodhull, Mary Teresa Ford, Winifred Reidy, Kathleen Lak__, Alice Callahan, Betty Hughes, Mary Frances McFarland, Rosemary Tierney, Rosemary Ryan, Mary M___, Delores Mc___, Monica Daly, Suzette, M___. Front Row: Joseph Flaherty, Rosemarie O’Hara, Martha Delaney, Sally (Sarah) R___, Geraldine F___, Barbara ___, Rita Cain, Father Francis P___, “Milliken Child,” father William ___, “Another Milliken Child,” Father herbert B___. Eileen Rogan, Helen Casey, Beatrice Nolan, Mary Teresa “Mimi” Hadlock, Mary Ellen P___, Andrew Knuth.
“I know not where, in all of human history, to any given thousand men in arms there has been committed a work at once so proud, so precious, so full of hope and glory.”-John A. Andrew, Governor of Massachusetts 1861-1866.
Did you know in 1863, a group of African American men from Chemung County walked to Boston, Massachusetts in order to enlist in the army and fight for the Union? They fought in the Civil War as part of the Massachusetts 54th Infantry, the first official regiment to allow African American men to enlist in the North. It was the second regiment of African American men, following the successful formation of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment,
The 54th Regiment gained fame when they fought in the battle of Fort Wagner in South Carolina. Half of the Union soldiers who fought that day perished in the battle. IN addition to fighting in the war, they also had to fight against reduced wages paid to them by the Union, and they began refusing their reduced wages as a point of honor. On February 20, 1864 at the Battle of Olustee in Florida, the 54th Regiment, the train full of wounded soldiers carrying them away from the battlefield broke down, and the wounded were in danger of being captured by the Confederates. The 54th Regiment attached ropes to the engine and pulled the train to safety at Fort Finnegan, where they picked up some horses to help, and then on to Jacksonville. It took forty two hours to pull the train about 13 miles.
Sketch, “The 54th Mass. Pulling Train of Wounded,” from artist’s sketchbook featured in documentary “The True Story of ‘Glory’ Continues.” 1991.0279.08.
Of the 24 Chemung County Men who served in the 54th during the Civil War, 10 were killed, 4 were wounded, and 1 was a POW. That leaves only 9 local men of this Regiment who escaped the war physically unscathed. Though they fought for their country and for freedom, it would be another hundred years before it became officially illegal to discriminate against people due to the color of their skin. Today the struggle to eradicate racism continues. For historians and genealogists, part of that struggle lies in finding and lifting up the stories of those who served and struggled. In the first article I wrote on the 54th, I researched four Chemung County men who served in this regiment. To read their stories, please visit PART 1. Today I look for and try to find the stories of more of these men. Read their stories below.
Members of the U.S. Colored Infantry line up at Fort Lincoln, Washington, D.C. (111-BA- 1829). “The Revolutionary Summer of 1862.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2017/winter/summer-of-1862.
George N. Addison: born 1837 in Elmira, NY. He worked as a barber and was married, though I do not as yet know his wife’s name. He enlisted in the 54th MA Infantry, Company E, in Readville, MA on 29 March 1863 as a private. He passed away on August 26, 1863 in the hospital on Morris Island, South Caroline from Pneumonia. His pension file number is 232772.
U.S., Colored Troops Military Service Records, 1863-1865. Accessed via Ancestry Library Edition through the CCLD. Civil War – Union – MA 54th Infantry Regiment Records – Volumes 7 & 8 – Company Morning Reports, Co A-K – Page 356. Accessed 2/1/2022 via FOLD3. Civil War – Union – MA 54th Infantry Regiment Records – Unbound Records – Letters and Telegrams Received – Page 350. Accessed 2/1/2022 via FOLD3.
Henry F. Stewart: Henry was 19 years of age when he mustered into the MA 54th, Company E, at Readville, MA in March 1863. He was single, and worked as a barber in Horseheads, NY. The 1860 Census lists him as being from Pennsylvania originally, and living withAlexander & Maria Thompson. Henry Stewart mustered out of the army on August 20, 1865. He was wounded on November 30, 1864 at Honey Hill, South Carolina.
1860 United States Federal Census for Henry StewartCivil War – Union – MA 54th Infantry Regiment Records – Volume 6 – Company Descriptive Books, Co E-G – Page 14Civil War – Union – MA 54th Infantry Regiment Records – Unbound Records – Annual Returns of Alterations and Casualties
I haven’t been able to find records for Henry Stewart after the Civil War. However, I was able to learn that Alexander Thompson, in whose house Henry lived before the war, also joined the army. In December 1863 he mustered into the 26th Colored Infantry. Alexander is in the New York State 1865 Census, reunited with his family after the war, but Henry is not listed in his household. Alexander was also at the Battle of Honey Hill where Henry was injured.
New York, U.S., State Census, 1865 for Allexand ThompsenNew York, U.S., Town Clerks’ Registers of Men Who Served in the Civil War, ca 1861-1865. Accessed via Ancestry Library Edition through the CCLD.
I found an entry for Alexander Thompson on find-a-grave.com He passed away December 29, 1888 and is buried in Maple Lawn Cemetery in Horseheads, NY.
The Battle of Honey Hill was in Jasper County, South Carolina and took place on November 30, 1864. It was the 3rd battle of Sherman’s March to the Sea and Union troops were predominantly African American fighting against the Confederate Army. The Union sustained heavy losses.
William R. Brown, born 1837 in Seneca County, NY, mustered in to the 54th on April 8, 1863. He died in the Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina on March 25, 1865 of Typhoid Fever. He is buried in Woodlwan Cemetery, Elmira NY. He left behind his wife, Georgeanna Brown. She and William were married in Elmira on August 12, 1862. In 1865, her widow’s pension states that she lives in Horseheads, NY.
William H Brown in the New York, U.S., Registers of Officers and Enlisted Men Mustered into Federal Service, 1861-1865 accessed via Ancestry Library Edition through the CCLD.
I will continue to research the lives of the Chemung County men who served in the Massachusetts 54th. In the meantime, below is a complete list of the local men who served.
– List of Chemung County Men in the MA 54th Infantry –
List of Chemung County men who enlisted in the Massachusetts 54th Infantry. History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Masachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1863-1865 : Emilio, Luis Fenollosa (Link in References)
Fonvielle, Chris E. “‘Welcome Brothers!” The 1865 Union Prisoners of War Exchange in North Carolina.” The North Carolina Historical Review, vol. 92, no. 3, 2015, pp. 278–311. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44113271. Accessed 20 May 2021.
“History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Masachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1863-1865 : Emilio, Luis Fenollosa, b. 1844 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, Boston, The Boston Book Co., 1 Jan. 1891, archive.org/details/historyoffiftyfo00emil?view=theater.
On Saturday, January 5, 1884, a man driving on Bancroft Road passed a lone pine tree. Underneath he found a small figurine of a bright red bird. Near the bird it looked like someone had fallen, and tracks that looked like a woman’s.
On Sunday, January 6, two boys playing northof Woodlawn Cemetery discovered a woman’s body frozen in the middle of a stream.
Sunday Morning Tidings (Elmira NY) 13 Jan 1884, page 5.
“Just north of Woodlawn Cemetery is a short road connecting what is known as Carr’s Corners with DavisStreet, the junction of the two thoroughfares occurring immediately in front of the State reformatory. About halfway between the two points, the road, known as the Bancroft Road, crosses a small stream fed by a spring. This same stream passes through the cemetery, and emerges at a point on Davis Street, near the plot where the Confederate dead lie buried. The stream has worn a considerable gully where it cuts through the Bancroft road and a rude bridge, made of square timbers laid across the stream, resting on stones poled up without mortar, with three inch planks for the floor, has long been a familiar landmark in that locality. The bridge is about 12 feet across and about twenty feet wide. The floor of the bridge is high enough from the water to allow a man to stand up beneath it. The bridge cannot be seen until within about 150 feet on each side of it, owing to the impression in which it rests. It is the most lonely spot in the County of Chemung. Not a house is visible from the bridge,and it is just the dismal spot would would select to hide a dark and bloody deed.“
Sunday Morning Tidings (Elmira, NY): 13 Jan 1884, page 8.
The mysterious girl was identified as Miss Gaskell of Watkins Glen. She had been seen arguing in Elmira with Michael Hatchett a few nights previous. The paper reported that she had not been seen since last Sunday. Her father was in Elmira looking for her. Mr. Hatchett said he had been very intoxicated and couldn’t remember anything about the evening.
Lancaster Intelligencer (Lancaster PA): 09 Jan 1884, page 6.
Other reports, however, showed that Miss Gaskell was alive and well. In fact, she personally emphatically denied that she had been murdered. The young woman’s identity was still a complete mystery.
The Evening Telegraph (Buffalo, NY) 8 Jan 1884, page 1
The frozen body was photographed and put on display in the morgue in hopes that someone could identify her. Hundreds of local residents came to view the body.
“All through the week a cold form has been lying in one of the wards of the city hospital, a woman’s form; not that of a beautiful, fine featured maiden whose face is a challenge for love and admiration, but common-place creature clad in ordinary garb, knowing no one as a friend. Yet, through all these days, a great interest has been attached to the dead stranger. She has been visited by thousands and talked about by ten times as many more. She is the victim of a foul murder…The lonely spot was one little frequented by human beings…“
The New York Times (NY, NY) 9 Jan 1884, page 3
Mrs. Lizzie Kelly, a saloon keeper at 1105 Davis Street, saw the body on display and remembered the girl as one who had visited the saloon on Friday evening, January 4. The girl had been with a young man and they had spoken German most of the time they were there. At one point, however, the man asked Mrs. Kelly in English, if “Norton still lived up the way.” Norton was a local farmer who often employed men who had been recently released from the Elmira Reformatory. Mrs. Kelly was able to describe the young man who had been in her saloon.
The Elmira Police Chief and Reformatory staff read Mrs. Kelly’s description in the paper and from that they were able to identify the man as William Menken, a former Elmira prisoner and worker on the Norton farm during his parole. They quickly called their counterparts in law enforcement in New York City and spoke to the police officer who had arrested Menken for burglary in 1880. Because he was known to police, they were able to quickly apprehend him at his sister’s house in Brooklyn where he had sought refuge while planning to flee to Germany. He had a large amount of money and distinctive jewelry in his possession. The jewelry matched the Elmira saloon-keeper’s description of what the girl was wearing. He was extradited back to the Elmira area for trial. If William Menken hadn’t asked Mrs. Kelly about Mr. Norton, it is likely that he never would have been apprehended.
Sunday Morning Tidings: 13 Jan 1884, page 5
Sunday Morning Tiding: 13 Jan 1884, page 5.
Sunday Morning Tidings: 13 Jan 1884, p. 5
But how did they identify the young woman? By studying her clothes, detectives determined they were of a kind that was only sold in New York City. They tracked the clothing and shoes to shops on 3rd Avenue in Manhattan. That information plus a physical description of the girl was enough to lead them to Mrs. Listman of 89th St. She had employed a German girl who had gone off with a young man to be married in Baltimore during New Years. Mrs. Listman was able to identify the jewelry as belonging to her employee, a German immigrant named Katie Bredehoft. Detectives then found Katie’s sister, Mary, also a domestic servant in New York City, and brought her to Elmira in hopes of identifying the body. Mary came to Elmira and was able to identify her sister, Katie, as the murdered woman.
Katie’s history: The Sun: January 12, 1884, P. 4
Katie’s Funeral: The German Evangelical Church wanted to give her a Christian burial. They formed a special committee, the German Sangerbund, to raise funds for a funeral and a headstone. The funeral was held on January 20, 1884 at the German Evangelical Church and Katie was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, 100 feet from where she passed away from this earth. She was laid to rest accompanied by the singing of German Hymns in a plot picked out by her sister, Mary. Local Liverymen donated carriages to convey the the procession to the cemetery. The Sangerbund committee did not disband after this, but instead stayed in existence for many years to aid people in need.
The place of her service — Elmira Star Gazette: November 12, 1914
On March 20, 1884, Menken was found guilty of Katie’s murder. His lawyer appealed and got a stay of execution and a change of venue for the trial. The new trial would be held in Broome County.
November 14, 1884: Menken was moved to Binghamton for the new trial. He was found guilty again and scheduled to be executed on January 21, 1885. His lawyer appealed again. Menken escaped from jail. He was discovered by Amos Livingston, a farmer in Owego. Menken had been hiding in the hay. Livingston alerted the authorities and was re-captured. He undergoes a third trial and is found guilty a third time and again is given the death penalty.
The barns and residence of Mr. Amos Livingston. Menkin was discovered in the larger of the barns. They can be plainly seen from the windows of the D.L.&W. cars. The Sunday Morning Tidings (Elmira, N.Y.): January 25, 1885 page 4
July 2, 1885: William Menken’s execution date. He was hanged without further incident save a self-serving confession and degrading language towards women also imprisoned in the jail. His body was buried in Binghamton Cemetery.
But that wasn’t the end of the story. There was the unfortunate matter of the bill. After the hanging, Binghamton presented a substantial bill to Chemung County. A year later, the Ithaca Daily Journal published article stating that since Menken was a parolee at the time he committed the murder, the State of New York was responsible for the bill of his imprisonment and execution, as well as the $500 reward for his capture. The NYS Comptroller refused to reimburse Chemung County because the charges listed by Broome County were excessive. But, strangely enough, that’s not the end of the story either…
Menken’s travels were not over when he was executed. His body still had far to go and more things to do. After Menken was executed, his brain was harvested and sent to Cornell University to become part of the Wilder Brain Collection.
His glass eye was saved and was put on display in Binghamton Police Headquarters in 1929.
Elmira Star Gazette: October 4, 1929, page 3.
Binghamton Cemetery, where his body was buried, was closed in the late 1880s. In 1907, his body was exhumed and moved to Glenwood Cemetery in Binghamton, NY.
Finally, while researching this story, I came across some tales of a song widely sung in New York State in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It is a murder ballad and might go by the titles: The Ballad of Bancroft Road, The Tragedy of Bancroft Road, or “The Tale of Katie Bradhoff.” Partial lyrics were published in the Star Gazette over the years, but not the whole song. A man named Professor Joseph Hopper from Corning, NY was known to have sung the song in the area into the twentieth century. But inquiries to the Library of Congress and the Cornell Music Library have turned up nothing more then what I was able to find in local newspapers. Here is what I have found so far:
Way down in New York City a place you all know well, there lived a pretty German girl whose name I soon will tell…He took her to the Bancroft Road, a fit place for his game. He dealt her two most cowardly blows, and cast her into the stream… The final verse is “Kind friends, you’ve heard my story, the rest you all know well. Now, this poor girl lies in her grave, and he — in a prison cell; But now he’ll get his just desserts, As you may all expect: He’ll die upon the gallows, with a rope around his neck.
According to a commenter on a blog post about the murder called Murder by Gaslight, “it included an admonishment from Katie’s landlady on 89th St. that “all that glitters is not gold.”” The author of the blog responded to the commenter asking for the complete lyrics, but a response is not posted. So if anyone knows “TheBigD” on blogger.com, please send them this article and ask them to contact Maggie at the Steele Memorial Library in Elmira, NY.
The Old Second Street Cemetery is in the middle of downtown Elmira, near a bustling grocery store, a landmark diner, and the historic Near Westside Neighborhood. Its graves contain many of the early settlers of Elmira and Revolutionary War veterans. Many Elmirans will remember meandering its paths on the way to Elmira’s shopping district.
Due to years of neglect and vandalism of the stones, a tall wrought-iron fence now protects the cemetery from daily wear and tear of passers-by. This makes it hard for researchers to find the graves of their family members. A recent trip to the Chemung County Historical District uncovered maps of the cemetery, with the plots neatly outlined, listing the names of their inhabitants, and a list of plot owners as well.
Used with permission of the Chemung County Historical Society, the Chemung County Library District is thrilled to offer these up to you, the genealogy researcher and family historian. We hope these images, along with links to useful information about this historic cemetery, can help answer questions in your family history research.
The Steele Memorial Library also has a print list of the Second Street Cemetery. Information regarding this title can be found HERE. Please come by for a visit or contact the Genealogy Department at the Steele Memorial Library for help regarding this title.
Image used with permission of Chemung County Historical Society.
Image used with permission of Chemung County Historical Society.
Images used with permission of Chemung County Historical Society.
17?? – 1802: Legend has it that the first burials here were placed at Water and Sullivan Streets in Elmira. If true, the bodies were never removed and are still there.
1802: Jeffrey Wisner gives the land now known as Wisner Park to the City. It is the only burial ground in the city for over 30 years. It as also known as the Baptist Burying Ground. The first burial is that of Dr. Joseph Hinchman. Born in Jamaica, he came to Chemung County in 1785 and settled in Newtown in 1793.
1838: The Second Street Cemetery is created and is the city’s burial place for 20 years.
An excerpt from the Star Gazette (November 12, 1921: image below) describes how 2nd St. Cemetery used to look, with a circular drive through its middle and wide gates as a carriage entrance. The land was once part of the Michael Black farm. Following are pictures of Second Street Cemetery in the 1950s. The last picture of the Second Street Cemetery Sign is circa 1977. Except where noted, All images provided courtesy of the Chemung County Historical Society.
1850: The Catholic Cemetery is built on Franklin St., making the St. Peter and Paul’s Cemetery. Prior to this, Catholic burials were around St. Peter’s and Paul’s Church.
Aerial Photograph of St. peter and Paul’s Cemetery, used with permission from Chemung County Historical Society.
Sections of St. Peter and Paul’s Cemetery, Franklin St. Elmira NY.
St. Peter and Paul’s expansion. Image used with permission from the Chemung County Historical Society.
1858: Woodlawn Cemetery is created. Col. John Hendy’s body is moved from Wisner Cemetery to Woodlawn, making him the first burial at Woodlawn Cemetery. John Jones did the reburial of Col. Hendy’s body. Col. Hendy stood at 6 and a half feet and had long white hair down to his shoulders. When the body was transferred, the hair was still intact. John Jones held it up to admire it and gently set it down on Hendy’s skull before the casket was closed for the final time.
Elmira Star Gazette. November 12, 1921, page 2.
Entrance to Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira NY.
1875: The newspapers start notifying citizens of Elmira that bodies will be removed from Wisner Park Burying Grounds and moved to Woodlawn.
Have you heard the legends of the Sea Serpent in Seneca Lake? Known as Oniare (own-yar-eh) to the indigenous people of the area, it was described as a dragon-like horned water serpent, lurking in the lakes to capsize canoes and eat people. The Native tribesmen warned the white settlers about the serpent, but the tales were dismissed. However, it wasn’t long before the white settlers had tales of their own.
August 18, 1883, “The Sun”: The story mentions a sighting in the Seneca River of a monster 30 feet long. The newspaper dismisses it as an eel, and not worthy of the description of “monster.” True, the Seneca River isn’t Seneca Lake, but it is in the Finger Lakes region! The rest of the descriptions to follow, however, are from Seneca Lake itself.
The Sun – NYC, NY – August 18 1883 Image 2 [https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1883-08-18/ed-1/seq-2/]
1884: A group of Hibernians “spot the creature” off of Long Point. It took me a very long time to realize that this was not actually a drawing of the real monster, but of a Hibernian dressed up as the sea-serpent. D’Oh!
July 17, 1899 (Elmira Star Gazette page 8): George Sorner captures a large creature in Seneca Lake. It is about 13 feet long, and was later determined to be a large eel.
1899 Jul 17 Wilkes Barre PA Times Leader page 7
July 16, 1900: The steamboat Otetiani was cruising on the lake when it encountered the creature. Described as between 15-25 feet long, the several prominent witnesses on board described it as a reptile with shark’s teeth. The captain rammed the creature with the boat and killed it. They lowered the lifeboats and attempted to retrieve the creature, but at the last minute its body slipped out of the ropes and sank into the lake. For the full tale, the entire news article is included below. 1900 Jul 16 Buffalo Review pages 1&6
August 4, 1903: In 1903, Grover Wehnes’ terrifying tale reached newspapers across the country. He had been sailing on Lake Seneca at Kashong Point and saw a huge serpent in the water who followed him for half a mile. He said he wouldn’t go out there again for $500 ($15,585.00 in today’s dollars).
August 4, 1903 (Boston Globe) page 6.
September 7, 1912: In 1912, the Elmira Star Gazette reported that two Elmira families saw a strange monster off of Long Point on Lake Seneca. The story reports that the creature was black in color and eight to ten feet long. According to this report, Long Point is a wild area on the lake and the waters are at their deepest point here. One of the wives on the excursion believed the story should be made public in order for people to make sure their children are safe while at the lake. The full story follows below.
July 5, 1913: two young boys playing at the foot of Castle St. in Geneva, NY saw a creature swimming that was green in color and about 6 feet long.
Elmira Star Gazette July 5, 1913, page 11.
July 19, 1913: two Elmirans spotted the creature near Glenora. Emil Schaple and her daughter Mrs. Henry Ellett watched it for 10-15 minutes through opera glasses. It was 25 feet long, 18 inches in diameter, and a greenish-black color.
Elmira Star Gazette July 19, 1913, page 3.
August 21, 1914: Edrick McConnell of Watkins Glen was rowing at Corbett’s Point. The animal was 10 feet long, 7 or 8 inches wide, with the head the size of a human head. On the top of its head was hair that stuck straight up. The creature was black in color. Earlier that summer, the news reports, and elderly man had also seen the creature, and where the creature disappeared into the lake the “water was fairly boiling.” The story appears below.
Elmira Star Gazette August 21, 1914, page 11.
April 18, 1921: While a fisherman was busy pulling in a large trout, a huge creature rose in the water near his boat. It was as long as a row-boat and its head was as large as a barrel.
Geneva daily times., April 18, 1921, Page 7, Image 7
August 15, 1927: Summer visitors at Kashong Point noticed a large creature swimming in the water and emitting strange sounds. Despite the children’s pleas to leave the creature alone, Dr. Jay Covert traveled out to the creature, roped it up, and brought it to shore. It turned out to be a black Angus cow that had been separated from her herd. The cow had been swimming back and forth trying to get back to shore.
Ithaca Journal August 15, 1927, page 14.
August 13, 1929: Ludwig Berg, Jr. organizes a group of people after he sees a huge creature in the lake with a large head and protruding horns. They left the bank around Kashong and shot at the creature to no avail. When they got the the creature, they found it was an oil drum with a ferociously painted face and two wooden horns.
Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin, page3.
August 14, 1929 Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, page 1
1929 Aug 15 Elmira Star Gazette page 28
July 21, 1939: Dan Lewis, Bob Maloney, and Charlie Sholz of Elmira construct a diving helmet to dive the depths of Seneca Lake and solve the mystery of the sea-serpent. They made it out of a hot water heater tank, window glass, garden hose, a bicycle pump, and 35 feet of tubing. It weighed a little over 70 lbs. The young men planned to take pictures of the fish they saw underwater with their camera sealed in a rubber bag. There was talk of forming the “Peek-A-Boo” Corporation to make more of these.
Elmira Star Gazette July 21, 1939.
May 10, 2008: The Elmira StarGazette runs a feature on Eldridge Park. Included in the news story was the ancient lore that Eldridge Lake (Lake Minnetonka) had a creature named Gaspara that guarded a secret underground channel to Seneca Lake. There’s much more to this tale, but that’s a story for another day.
May 10, 2008 Elmira Star Gazette
August 15, 2015: It is now illegal to hunt, trap, or hurt the Seneca Lake Monster from the shores of Geneva, NY.
From “Seneca Lake Monster” facebook page: Tonight, August 5 2015, by a 6-1 vote, the Geneva City Council approved a motion amending Chapter 206 of the Geneva Municipal Code – Hunting and Trapping.”Section 206-2. Hunting or Trapping of Seneca Lake Monster Prohibited.The hunting, trapping, or cause of harm to the serpent termed the Seneca Lake Monster or any of its descendants is prohibited. No person shall use any City facility, including access points to Seneca Lake on City shorelines, to launch a hunting or trapping party aimed at killing, trapping, or injuring the Seneca Lake Monster or any of its descendants. Possession of the carcass of said creatures, or of any live creature meeting this description will be considered presumptive evidence of a violation of this Section.”Thank you, City of Geneva, NY!
Thank you for reading about the Seneca Lake Monster! I had a lot of fun with this story, and visited many sites to get the newspaper articles. I used the pay site newspapers.com, but I also found great articles on free sites such as The Library of Congress’s Chronicling America site and on NY Historic newspapers!
Reading the paper from 100 years ago, the daily news covers all sorts of news — serious, heart-rendering, and even lovely light-hearted stuff. But here I am writing an article about a story so bizarre by today’s standards that I had to look into why it was written. With a little light research, I uncovered a history of gendered treatment in America that somehow seems like it should have happened much longer than 100 years ago.
Reading through tales of civil unrest, wars among the nations, local deaths, and happy local nuptials (everything I’d expect from an American newspaper in the 1920s), I nearly spit out my coffee when I read this.
“Young Woman Puffs ‘Cig’ Upon Street: Miss in automobile apparently unconscious of crowd which gathers on Lake Street to watch her manipulate cigarette.“
“Elmirans have read of the lady cigarette smoker in Paris, London, and New York City, who is not adverse to handling a ‘pill’ in public. And Elmirans are also aware, probably, of the fact that milady sometimes, in the quietude of her boudoir, enjoys puffing a dainty Milo, or some other perfume scented cigarette even in Elmira.
But a host of the city’s citizens were treated to a sight on Lake Street near Carroll at 1 o’clock this afternoon, that resulted in the sidewalk being blocked so that it was necessary for a pedestrian to use his elbows in order to hurry to his work. And after the cause of the blockade, about 20 young men still stood and stared.
A stylishly dressed young woman, in her early twenties, was the object of all the attention. She sat in a big Cadillac sport model car, waiting for a gentleman friend, who had driven the machine, while he did some shopping in a nearby store. Between the lips of the young woman was poised a regular man-sized cigarette — not a Mil — and from her nostrils issued a screen of smoke. The unconcern with which the young lady puffed at the cigarette was probably what caused the crowd to gather, until the machine started on its way again, the man back at the wheel.”
Surprised? I was! I looked into the history of women smoking in the United States and found out some interesting facts.
In 1908, an edition of the regular column A Little Corner for the Women posted an answer to a woman’s question of it is was OK for women to smoke in public as well as some recipes for cream toast with cheese and salt codfish in cups which I just have to try. The questions reads, “Will you kindly explain just why you say it is indecent for women to smoke in restaurants? If smoking be a vice, is it not vice equally vicious to both sexes?”
The column author answers with a lengthy explanation which you will find in the attached image. I’ll just share some of the highlights here in the text. The author writes in reply, ” Smoking is a vice, and especially for women…Among habitual women smokers there is not one in ten that does not smoke to excess and hurt her health. Whereas among men that smoke, at least nine in ten are able to control themselves…men today are smoking less and less, as they are drinking less and less…when you want to smoke in public restaurants, branding yourself as an immodest woman regardless of the feelings of others, you are indecent.”
Elmira Star Gazette, March 6, 1908, page 6.
Cynthia Crossen wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal in 2008 entitled “Women and smoking share checkered history.” She wrote of a similar story to the Elmira incident, this time in NYC:
“Mrs. William P. Orr was riding in a car on 5th Avenue in New York City in 1904 when she lit up a cigarette. A policeman on a bicycle ordered her to put it out. “You can’t do that on 5th Avenue while I’m patrolling here,” he told her.” Crossen incluldes this quote in her article as well, “A Washington Post editorial in 1914 declared, “A man may take out a woman who smokes for a good time, but he won’t marry her.”
In 1908 the New York Times reported that Kate Mulchahey, 20, was arrested for smoking. She chose to go to jail rather than pay the $5 fine. She took her cigarettes into jail with her.
The cigarette was introduced in the 1880s and became an everyday habit, helped along by the popularity of cigarettes among the soldiers of World War I. But tobacco was seen as a man’s past-time, not a woman’s. In 1908, it was briefly illegal for a woman to smoke in New York. According to an article by Erin Blackmore:
“a woman with a cigarette was regarded as dangerously sexual, immoral and not to be trusted…For most of the 1900s, women weren’t free to move as they pleased outside of their homes. “Without a male escort,” writes historian Emily Remus, “women were refused service in most restaurants, cafés, and hotels, while saloons and private clubs simply closed their doors to female customers.” Women who appeared in public places without a respectable man were often regarded as prostitutes.”
The law, though notable, didn’t last long…
A smoking flapper. Who knew she was being criminal?
So the next time you see a woman light a cigarette, remember that only 100 years ago, she might have gone to jail for this offense. But, hopefully, everyone has quit smoking for health reasons, right?
Oh, and in case you were also curious about the car, the sport Cadillac may have looked something like this:
Elliott, Rosemary Elizabeth. “Destructive but Sweet: Cigarette Smoking Among Women 1890-1990.” Http://Theses.gla.ac.uk/1091/1/2001eliotvol.1phd.Pdf, University of Glasgow, Oct. 2001, theses.gla.ac.uk/1091/1/2001eliotvol.1phd.pdf.
“Coffin Nails: The Tobacco Controversy in the 19th Century.” Coffin Nails: The Tobacco Controversy in the 19th Century, Harp Week, tobacco.harpweek.com/hubpages/CommentaryPage.asp?Commentary=Women.
Articles, Old Magazine. “A Great Day for SMOKING FLAPPERS.” TOBACCO ABUSE AMONG FLAPPERS,1920S TOBACCO ABUSE, 1920S GIRLS SMOKING,WOMEN SMOKING IN THE 20S,FLAPPERS SMOKING LEADS TO ARREST 1917,SOCIAL HISTORY OF TOBACCO,TOBACCO ABUSE + FLAPPER,TOBACCO TRIVIA 1922,FLAPPER TRIVIA 1922,SMOKING FLAPPERS 1917,WOMEN SMOKING ILLEGALLY 1917,SMOKING FLAPPERS 1917,EDNA STANLEY SMOKING FLAPPER,ELSIE PETERSON SMOKING FLAPPER,MARY DRISCOLL SMOKING FLAPPER – Magazine Article – Old Magazine Articles, http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/flappers_smoking_cigarettes.
Recently we had a question–what years of Elmira newspapers are available online for free? Elmira newspapers are actually quite well represented online, but it can be tricky to find them. I’ve compiled a list below that hopefully makes it easier. When looking for Elmira newspapers online, there are two main sites that provide the papers for free. They are NY Historic Newspapers and Fulton History. Here are their links.
Newspapers.com also offers Elmira newspapers, but at a fee. There are two different fee structures, depending on if you want just the Elmira titles or access to all of their collection. Those links follow here:
Fee-based links to local newspapers online
Newspapers.com (Includes Elmira Star Gazette (1891-2021) and Advertiser (1950-1978) plus 21,400 other newspaper titles): https://www.newspapers.com/
Even if you don’t want to purchase a subscription, the search function still works on the stargazette.newspapers.com link. You can enter your search term and results pop up with citations. You can’t click on the article to read it in full, but if you write down the date and page number of the article, you can come into the Steele Memorial Library to look at the article on microfilm. (I’ll get into detail on the microfilm in just a minute).
Other free newspapers online
If you are looking for free newspapers, not necessarily from Elmira but from all over the United States, be sure to check out the Chronicling America site for free access to many larger papers.
Also, the Chemung County Library District has some further newspaper resources, such as offering African American newspapers through Accessible Archives, and newspapers through our NovelNY databases. Here are those links:
Of course, the Chemung County Library District also carries microfilm for our local papers, We still get microfilm for our most recent issues as well! It is still the most stable format to preserve newspapers. Microfilm is a roll of photographic film with pictures of the newspapers on it. Just for fun, here is a scene in the horror film “Silence of the Lambs” where star Jodie Foster researches on microfilm:
The microfilm can be accessed at the Steele Memorial Library. The Steele Memorial Library has also indexed many years of the local newspapers both in a card catalog located in our genealogy and local history section which covers years up until 1996. Around 1996 is when our card catalog went online, and library workers continued indexing local history articles and obituaries in the online card catalog, the STARCAT. People can come into the Steele Memorial Library to look in our local history index for articles before 1996, and search the STARCAT for articles after 1996. Here is our link on how to search local obituaries in the STARCAT, and this also works for local history articles too:
Finally, here is a table detailing years available online, the newspaper title that covers the year in question, and where that newspaper can be found. Sometimes, a newspaper can be found on both NY Historic Newspapers and Fulton History. This is indicated by a slash mark (/) between the names of the two sites.
Sometimes more than one newspaper covers a single year. These newspaper titles have been provided in a list format in the year they represent, and the list of sites next to them show where the newspapers can be found.
List of Elmira titles and years available online at no cost:
Genealogy and Local History at the Steele Memorial Library in Elmira NY 