Join us "Walking With Heroes"

A tour of Arcade Rural Cemetery with veterans, Saturday May 26, 2012.

When Memorial Day had its origins as “Decoration Day” after the Civil War, it was a day to decorate the graves of soldiers who had died during the war. With the passage of time, it has become a day to honor all deceased veterans.

             On the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, May 26, members of Hendershott-Manness Post 374, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Hugh Lynch Post 737, American Legion, and the VFW Auxiliary, will take part in a new event we are calling “Walking With Heroes” to honor many of the veterans buried in Arcade Rural Cemetery. The living veterans and Auxiliary members will be standing or seated near the graves of deceased veterans from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. They’ll welcome the opportunity to talk with visitors about the war in which “their” veteran served, and in many cases they’ll be able to discuss the military experiences of the deceased veteran.

In addition to the event in the cemetery, the Arcade Historical Society will have an exhibit at the Gibby House with additional information about all veterans buried in Arcade’s three cemeteries (32 at St. Mary’s in East Arcade, 107 at Sts. Peter and Paul, and 179 at Arcade Rural). The Gibby House at 331 West Main Street, Arcade, NY 14009, will be open 2-4 p.m. on Saturday May 26 as well.

When visiting the cemetery, please park your vehicle at the cemetery entrances on Park Street or Prospect Street. AHS volunteers will be there to assist you with directions. We ask that handicapped and elderly visitors be driven to the top of the hill in the cemetery to discharge their passengers. Remember, this is a picturesque, old, rural cemetery which is hilly and has woodchuck holes, so walk carefully.

The event will go on rain or shine.

50th Anniversary of the Arcade & Attica Railroad this summer

The Arcade Historical Society and Friends of the A&A are working together to put on an exhibit for the A&A's 50th Anniversary. August 4, 1962 was the first public passenger trip for the railroad and within the first 17 days they had 1700 passengers - and that figure doesn't include all the children that rode!

The exhibit will include train photographs, postcards, old newspaper stories, train artifacts, as well as photographs and memorabilia of 1962. It is interesting going through the old photographs and seeing how ""dressed up" everyone is - women and girls in dresses, boys and men in suits. Times have changed a great deal.

We are planning on opening the exhibit July 26 and it will run for the three weekends following that date. The exhibit will be held in the old brick Arcade Fire Hall on Liberty Street. Stay tuned for details to come.

Brazilian Balm Update

Inquiry: an antique bottle circa 1900s with this info: Brazilian Balm - manfactured by B.F. Jackson in Arcade, N.Y.

A quick look in our AHS obit file found one Rev. Benjamin F. Jackson, born in Franklinville, NY in 1834. He attended school in Arcade (his parents had a farm outside of town) and died in Arcade in 1920 - living here the last ten+ years of his life. His last occupation was as a businessman in the proprietary medicine trade.


Previously he spent time in South Carolina after the Civil War working with freed slaves and helping to divide up plantations during the reconstruction. A sermon delivered by Rev. B.F. Jackson was found in the archives at the research library of the Congregational Church in Boston, MA. Rev. Jackson gave the sermon in the Plymouth Congregational Church of Charleston, SC on November 28, 1867; it was a Thanksgiving Sermon, preached to a congregation of freedmen.We also obtained copies of pages from Bleser's "Promised Land", a history of the SC Land Commission, a body set up to purchase lands for subdivision and sale to freedmen and others, and has references to B.F. Jackson as a Surveyor of the Commission.

New information was revealed in an obituary from a 1917 Wyoming County Herald newspaper which led to our discovery of the exact address where B.F. Jackson and his wife lived: it is now numbered 436  West Main Street. He married Myra (Waldo) Hitchcock in 1909; daughter of a well known local pioneer family. Also found in the 1917 newspaper were advertisements for Brazilian Balm, sold at the local (Cottrill's) pharmacy. We are hoping to eventually find out where he produced this "proprietary medicene" in Arcade.

THE MYSTERIES OF HORACE JONES

This blog relates to an earlier one, "Sophronia" (November). I published the Horace Jones inquiry in the AHS newsletter and a member contacted me - being a descendant of Horace! Through this descendant I have learned there were, in fact, two Horace Jones living in the area and both had mothers named Sophronia, but these women were not the same person.

It seems unlikely nowadays, since "Horace" and "Sophronia" are odd names to us, but it is not an uncommon occurance in genealogical research. Families and ethnic groups or nationalities often use certain names over and over again, making it hard to follow the family lines.

Our "insider" was able to tell us that the two Horace's were not directly related. Horace W.B. Jones, son of Milon, served in the Civil War, as did his father. After coming home, Horace married Elizabeth Whitney, widow of Carlton Whitney. All three are buried in Arcade Rural Cemetery, Elizabeth in between Horace and Carlton.

Both Horace and Carlton died under clouded cricumstances. A local newspaper article from January 1900 printed that Horace fell off a bridge and into a freezing Cattaraugus Creek on January 24, 1900. Some say he was drunk and fell in, but those who knew him said he was a teetotaler and never drank a day in his life. Carlton's fate also had a watery end. He had enlisted for the Civil War on December 3, 1861, but died in Buffalo on April 9, 1862. His body was found floating in the canal; his head severed from his body. Carlton's information was found in the NYS Military Museum and Veteran Research Center's roster of Civil War infantry soldiers.

Sophronia Mystery

The latest Mystery came in my e-mail inbox - and was posted as a comment to an earlier blog:
An individual is researching Horace Jones - starting with a photograph circa 1860s. Here are the questions that came up: "When I researched Horace Jones, I found that there were two living in China / Arcade, both born in 1840. I am wondering if you have any information as to whether the two families are linked in some way?
Horace W. Jones, born in 1840 to Levi and Sophoronia Jones, with brothers elisha, Farley, William Henry, Luther and Elliott.
Horace W. D. Jones, born in 1840 to Milon and Sophorna Jones, with sister Mary and family boarder Orissa Casey or Crary
Horace Jones was a surprisingly popular name, but I find it more remarkable that a small town would have two with such unusual names of their mothers."
Here at the Society, I looked into what information I could find and my results are:
I only have 3 obits in my file that relate to this inquiry.


1. Luther Jones, died in 1925 (no birthdate given in obit). He was stated as being the son of Levi and Sophronia Hatfield Jones.

2. Francis Marion Jones (May 23, 1860-April 28,1939), better known as Manie Jones, son of Levi and Sophronie Jones, "one of a large pioneer family of this section." He married Clara Bridenbaker in October 1885, they had two children, Plin and Hazel.

3. Horace Jones, 1840-Jan. 24, 1900. This one was not an official obit, but an article, titled "Horace Jones Killed." He fell from a bridge at night into the icy waters below. He was apparently intoxicated, which was very unusual for him, no one ever recalled seeing him intoxicated before. He was last seen at the post office at 6:30 p.m. and then seen staggering in the street. Ice had to be broken in Cattaraugus Creek in order to drag it to find his body. No mention of parentage and no wife's name given in the article.

What I would surmise is that there was only one marriage of Levi & Sophronia and that "Milon" was perhaps Levi's middle name, or his formal name - similar to how Francis Marion was shortened to "Manie." Sophronia's name ending in an "e" or an "a" in these newspaper accounts I would put down to typo issues.

If any readers have other informaton, please feel free to post it here. Thanks for reading and sending in inquiries!

Brazilian Balm Advertisement Text

The AHS is researching "Brazilian Balm" a proprietary medicine made by one B.F. Jackson and placed in bottles with "Brazilian Balm / B.F. Jackson & Co. / Arcade, N.Y." in raised lettering. Here is the text from a print advertisement circa early 1900s:
"A Rememdy Discovered That Greatly Mitigates Its Severity--Also Prevents All Dangerous After Effects.
     A rememdy has been discovered that makes measles so light that you hardly know the children are sick. This is Brazilian Balm. It keeps the fever down, makes the little ones comfortable and shortens the course by one half. It is the greatest blessing ever discovered. It has been used in thousands of casesand never lost a case in measles, chickenpox or scarlet fever. It is pleasing to take and the children like it. Give 5 drops every hour. If the throat is sore or swollen, warm some Balm and rub on often; also around the ears. It penetrates and kills the micrococci. If the ears are affected fill them with the warm Balm. It always prevents all after bad results as deasfness, chronic coughs, and constitutional weakness, which are the chief dangers in this disease. No other medicine is needed. Brazilian Balm being a complete rememdy in this disease. A 50c or $1.00 bottle will be sufficient in almost any case.
                                                          B.F. JACKSON & CO.
                                                                     Mfg. Chemists,
                                                                     Indianapolis, Ind."

We were confused by the "Indianapolis, Ind." on this advertisement as the bottle has the Arcade, N.Y. imprint. But we are confident this is the samemanufacturer.

Our research continues into B.F. Jackson - see the "History Detective" section of the Historical Society's website for more news - http://www.arcadehistoricalsociety.org/.

Housekeeping Never had "Good Old Days"

       The Arcade Historical Society’s new exhibit, “Spring Cleaning,” displays housekeeping tools used in the early to mid-1900s – early vacuum cleaners, washboards, rug beaters, irons (made of iron), to name a few. These made housework a never ending, back breaking chore repeated on a daily basis.
       One of the vacuum cleaners in the exhibit seems more like a piece of exercise equipment - a plunger vacuum manually operated by pumping the wooden handles, sort of like a bellows. It was only usable on smooth floors and given the poor results for the effort exerted, we are fortunate that inventors kept at it to give us a better vacuum cleaner.
       Other interesting facts were found to display with the objects. Did you know that the first portable vacuum cleaner (1905) weighed in at 100 pounds? That doesn’t sound very portable to me. And the inventor of what ended up being Hoover vacuums never reaped those benefits. James Murray Spangler sold the patent for his vacuum cleaner to his wife’s cousin, William Henry Hoover. And, as we like to say, the rest is history.
       Come to the AHS and see what you missed if you were born after 1950. Those that remember these tools of torture, come by and share your stories with us at 331 West Main Street or enter your comments here on the blog. Hours at the Gibby House are Thursdays and Fridays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by appointment.

- Sue Andrews,
AHS Operations Manager