Sunset
Gravestone,1796, Flatbrook Cemetery, Town of Canaan,Columbia County, New York
Eliphalet Curtis died on November 2, 1796. He was buried in the Flatbrook Cemetery, Town of Canaan, Columbia County, New York. At the base of the grave marker, hidden in the grass, it says that Eliphalet was aged 7 years so he was born about 1789. According to the headstone, his middle name was Wheel. Per a U.S. Find a Grave site, his middle name was Wheeler. There apparently wasn’t enough room for his full first and middle name on the top line. Though this photo cuts off the right side of the marker, I preferred the lighting and depth of field. We know very little about Eliphalet. His parents (who both died in 1851) and his siblings lived and died in Canaan and are buried in Flatbrook Cemetery, except one.
History is fascinating and the most interesting information can be discovered if you follow the leads on genealogical websites. Eliphalet’s youngest sister, Catherine Curtis (born 1811) married Orson Spencer, a prominent Baptist minister, in 1830. In 1841, Spencer and Catherine joined the Mormon Church and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. Spencer, and his brothers Hyrum and Daniel, rose to prominence in the church in Illinois and later in Utah. Catherine became ill and died in Iowa in 1846 after the Mormons were forced to flee Nauvoo. She was secretly buried in Nauvoo. Her obituary written by Spencer says Catherine was “The youngest daughter of a numerous family, brought up in affluence, and nurtured with fondness and peculiar care as the favourite of her father’s house . . .” When she became ill and her distant friends (family?) offered to take her, she refused, according to Spencer, saying, “no, if they will withhold from me the supplies they readily grant to my other sisters and brothers, because I adhere to the Saints, let them. I would rather abide with the church, in poverty, even in the wilderness, without their aid, than go to my unbelieving father’s house, and have all that he possesses.”
Spencer was sent on a mission to England in 1846, and their children were left in the care of a relative. The children traveled to Utah in 1848 in a Pioneer wagon train, where they settled. In 1849 Spencer led a wagon train of Pioneers to Utah. He became the chancellor of what was to become the University of Utah, a position he held until his death in 1855.
Join Terri’s Sunday Stills: Objects over 100 years Old
Seasonal fruit and vegetable markets are common along American backroads. Staron’s, on County Road 203 in Columbia County, NY, grows much of the produce and many of the plants it sells.
The Hudson River Valley is home to many villages, hamlets, towns, and cities. Valatie is a village of about 1,900 that sits in the middle of the town of Kinderhook. It was settled by the Dutch in 1665 as part of New Netherlands. The original inhabitants of the area were Mohigan, an Algonqin Indian Tribe.
At the height of its prosperity, Valatie had 9 cotton mills and a number of grist mills. The mills were powered by two waterfalls on. Valatie means “little falls” in Dutch. This is the Beaver Mill Overlook; the mill no longer exists.
Valatie was an important regional center of commerce. It was home to the workers though it has a number of large houses. The John Morgan house dates to 1830.
The owners lived in Kinderhook, where large stately home can be found.
It has a lovely cemetery.
In 1946, it was the home of the first Santa Claus Club.
Agriculture is one of the economic drivers in the area. Bio fuel corn has replaced many grain crops. Fruit and vegetables are important and roadside markets are scattered throughout the area.
Locally grown strawberries are in season at the moment.
Sunset over a cornfield, Columbia County, New York.
Lily pads, Ooms Pond, Columbia County, New York
Join Jennifer’s Color Your World 2018: 120 Days of Crayola, a 4 month (January 1, 2018 to April 30, 2018) blogging challenge event. Each day has a new color theme based on a past or current crayon color in Crayola’s box of 120 crayons.
The New 3 Rs: Retire, Recharge, Reconnect 