CNY Tidbits in Time

I’ve previously written about the Morris Axe co. that operated here in Baldwinsville, New York from 1850-1880. Ezekiel Morris moved to B’ville in 1849 from Little Falls, New York where he had been producing axes and other edged tools.

Ezekiel ran the foundry in B’ville under the name Morris Axe and Tool Company, until his passing in 1869. After that his two sons, Henry D Morris and William F Morris, took over using the name Morris Axe and Edge Tool company.

In 1874 William left the company to start his own business, Morris Machine Works. At that point Henry changed the company name once again, this time to the H.D. Morris Axe company. This only lasted until 1880 when Henry moved his business to California.

I am writing about this again due to the fact that I recently purchased another axe that will now complete my quest to acquire a piece from each of the three different foundry names.

My most recent acquisition is the 12 inch, 9 pound broad axe pictured below marked “E. Morris & Co. Baldwinsville, NY.” This would have been manufactured between 1850-1869.

The axe pictured without a handle is a 6 inch hewing axe, this one was made between 1869 and 1874 when the two Morris brothers were working together as the “Morris Axe And Edge Tool Company.”

The final piece pictured is a 10 inch broad axe marked “H.D. Morris Axe Company.”

Other than these three pieces, the only other piece I’ve seen is in the Museum at the Shacksboro Schoolhouse on Canton Street here in Baldwinsville. If you have a piece from the Morris foundry, I’d be interested in seeing it.

Today is
Perhaps some people may wonder what J.R.R. Tolkien has to do with Central New York. Well in 2002 the Syracuse Post Standard’s very own Sean Kirst wrote a letter to the Tolkien Society, it read:
“My grandparents were fishing folk from Buckie in the north of Scotland, carriers of the old stories and legends, and the trilogy has filled a certain hole in my life. I have many friends here in New York who were equally moved by the book, reignited by the film, and we all wondered: is there any day devoted informally to readings from the trilogy, in the way that “Bloomsday” is devoted to Joyce?”

After reading his letter they decided that it was a great idea and now Tolkien Reading Day is held on the 25th of March each year.

“It has been organised by the Tolkien Society since 2003 to encourage fans to celebrate and promote the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien by reading favourite passages. We particularly encourage schools, museums and libraries to host their own Tolkien Reading Day events.
Why 25 March?
The 25th of March is the date of the downfall of the Lord of the Rings (Sauron) and the fall of Barad-dûr. It’s as simple as that!”

"What the butler saw"
A Syracuse invention

Herman Casler was an apprentice at the C.E. Lipe machine shop in Syracuse New York when he had an idea for an improved mechanism for a movie watching device similar to Edison's Kinetoscope. The machine didn't project an image but instead worked as a single viewer flip book. While working at the machine shop Casler would build a prototype of his machine.
November 21, 1894 Herman Casler applied for a patent for what he was calling the Mutoscope. An average of 850 picture cards are placed in a circular core similar to a "Rolodex". After inserting a penny, a light turned on inside and you would manually turn a handle to control the speed in which you view the one minute movie. In 1895 Henry Marvin, William Dickson, Herman Casler, Elias Koopman created what was called The Syndicate, it would become The American Mutoscope and Biograph Co.
In the 1920's William Rabkin purchased the patent and opened The International Mutoscope Reel Co. From 1926-1949 he produced new reels and viewers. The Mutoscope is no longer a registered trademark in the US.
There was much controversy over what was being called "the peep show". Although other movies were shown, the majority of the shows were a mix of "girlie" reels, from risqué to soft core p**n. The Mutoscope was nicknamed "what the butler saw machines", named after a reel of that name. In 1899 the Times printed "Vicious demoralizing picture shows in the penny in the slot machines... It's hardly possible to exaggerate the corruption of the young, that comes from exhibiting under strong light n**e female figures represented as living and moving..."
What would they think of the internet today?!

Today, on , I would like to thank all of those that have served our country. I would like to also recognize those from my own family from my 4x great-grand father Ezekiel Chapman, who was in the Revolutionary War and settled near Baldwinsville, to my great-nephew, Nate, who most recently served our country.
One of those serving in between those was my Uncle John P. Luckette. Uncle John served in WWII and in 1945 this article was printed in the Syracuse Post Standard, it reads:

Luckette Gets Star For Saving 3 Buddies Under Heavy Fire

PFC John P. Luckette, son of Mrs. Fannie Luckette, 811 Burnet Ave. has been awarded the bronze star for action in France September 6, 1944. The citation accompanying the metal read in part:

“PFC Luckette was a member of the ambulance crew which accompanied a task force on a mission near Rezonville. During the Advance he saw three severely wounded soldiers laying in the middle of a mine field. Perceiving that the casualties were dangerously exposed to an intense enemy artillery barrage and desperately needed medical aid, he resolved to affect their rescue.”

“With utter disregard for his personal safety, PFC Luckette and two others advanced into the mine field. Despite continued danger from the falling shells and explosive laden ground, the men reached the stricken soldiers and administered emergency first aid. Then PFC Luckette and his comrades carried the wounded back thru the heavy fire to a sheltered position where they received further medical treatment.”

“PFC Luckette’s daring and tenacious actions are in keeping with the highest standards of medical corps and the army of the United States.“

Luckette served first with the seventh army and then with the third, after going overseas a year ago he has been in the army more than two years and was formally employed as a tool maker.

Happy Columbus Day, here’s a little history on Syracuse’s Columbus Circle from “Syracuse Then And Now.”

“Italian immigrates began coming to America in significant numbers after the unification of Italy in 1870, when the promised land reforms didn't materialize. By then, the Eire Canal had already been built in Syracuse, but Italian day laborers worked on the Bare Canal and were hired to build ralroads, streets, and water-works.

The pattern of Italian settlement in Syracuse at this time reflected the kinds of work they did. They lived near the rail yards, round houses, and track along the north side and soon opened business to serve their needs as well as those of larger community.

Like other immigrant groups before them, Italians were confronted by religious and ethnic bias. At the turn of the century, headlines in the local newspapers reflected concern about the increasing number of Italian immigrants. Despite this, Italian-Americans flourished here and began to feel justifiable prid in their standing in their adopted county.

It was out of pride and gratitude to the Syracuse community that a group of Italian-Americans first decided to erect a monument to Columbus. The monument was the brain-child of Professor Torquato DeFelice, sculptor and painter, and Dr. Seraphino Charulli. In 1910, Professor DeFelice visited Professor Renzo V. Baldi in Florence, and returned with a model by Baldi. But it wasn't until 1928, after the election of John G. Ciciarelli as preside of the Columbus Monument Association (also referred to as Columbus Memorial Association), that the fundraising began. Fifteen "generals" raised $18,000. By then, the Baldi model had been set aside and, when the monument committee chose as its site the knoll in Onondaga Park, it staged a contest for design of the monument by American sculptors.

The knoll site was later rejected in favor of a site downtown, and the contest winner filed a lawsuit when the change of site requred an entirely different design.
Meanwhile, controversy over which specific site the City and Committee agreed upon continued to hod up the project. In 1930, the City Planning Commission recommended several sites:
Columbus Park at E. Genesee and Cherry Streets, a plaza at the end of Forman Avenue on Eire Boulevard, Fayette Park, and Hanover Square. Of these, the monument committee liked only the Fayette Park site, but this required moving the Hamilton S. White firefighter memorial to the east end of the park across from the White mansion. This was abandoned when the honored firefighter's widow and friends objected.

St. Mary's Circle, between the courthouse and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, was considered but initially rejected as not being large enough. Eventually Mayor Rolland B. Marvin stepped in and, on May 16, 1931, both sides agreed to place a slightly smaller version of the Baldi monument design in St. Mary's Circle, now popularly known as Columbus Circle.

There was, however, a further cause for delay. The price Baldi had set for the statue was 322,000 lire, which was very reasonable at the rate of exchange at the time. But before the work was completed, the dollar to lire ratio changed. In January, 1934, a second fundraising campaign let by Joseph J. Pietrafesa, owner of Learbury's, and William T. McCaffrey, President of Lincoln Bank, raised the necessary additional funds.

On Columbus Day, 1932, the Italian-American community celebrated the ground-breaking with an enormous parade. Col. Guido F. Verbeck, head of the Manlius School, was the grand marshal. His father, the late Brig. Gen. William Verbeck, was honored by the King of Italy with a citation as chevalier in the Order of the Crown.

Dwight James Baum, a graduate of Syracuse University and nationally known architect, was hired to supervise the design and construction of the monument, while Baldi sculpted the bronze work. Baum attempted to create the ambience of an Italian piazza. The modified obelisk on which the statue of the explorer stands is an ancient Egyptian symbol of power, widely used in civic monuments in Italy. Made of pink granite, it rises 29 feet above the pavement, and rests on a gray and pink granite base comprised of ancient triremes (ships' prows) representing ancient Roman vessels and symbolizing Italy's navigational prowess.

The fountain spouts are creatures of the deep, which, with the brass turtles and stone shells of the fountain, serve as reminders of Columbus' confrontation of the dangers of the sea. The pool's bottom features a navigator's compass in colored pebbles, traditional in Italian grottos and fountains.

Renzo V. Baldi's Columbus is a cast bronze figure eleven feet tall. It depicts the explorer as a young man, long before he sailed to America, looking toward the west, maps and charts in his hand. Baldi's bronze bas-relief plaques depict scenes from the life of Columbus: at the Court of Queen Isabel; arriving in the tropics and; returning to the Court of Spain.
Masks of Native American faces function as clasps to hold the four sections of the obelisk together, and celebrate the people who were already in America when Columbus arrived.

In 1967, a portion of Montgomery Street in front of the cathedral was appropriated to enlarge the plaza. At this time, the fountain was redesigned to include a planter/seat wall, and jets of water from inside the seat wall sprayed toward the monument base. This larger plaza became a focal point of many special downtown events and a gathering place for office workers at lunch time.

In 1992, in anticipation of the international commemoration of the Quincentennial of Columbus's voyage, the monument and St. Mary's Circle were completely dismantled and restored. The statue was carefully removed from the pedestal and the obelisk from the base. All bronze work, the figures of Columbus, the 4 sea creature spouts, the 4 sculpted plaques, the 8 turtles, and 4 masks were shipped to Statuary Conservations, a Division of Healy Brothers Foundry in Rhode Island, and restored and refinished with a walnut-shell blasting technique.

The obelisk down to the ships' prow was removed, and its broken cp stone replaced. The plumbing and nozzles were refitted, the fountain spray restored to its original direction from the mouths of the creatures into the shells, and the pool filter system was replaced and new electrical service installed.
The original masonry design was restored, from the compass in the pool bottom, to the original planter beds, to the cobble-stone paving extending to the original 85' diameter circle, with cast stone benches at the points of the compass. Outside the circle a new ring of benches was installed for additional seating.

Restoration of the monument cost $505,000, and was paid for by a New York State Environmental Quality Bond Act (EQBA) Grant ($200,000), funds raised by the Columbus Monument Memorial Association ($167,500), and City funds and in-kind services worth $137,500.
Design consultants were Tourbier and Walmsley, Inc. of New York City. The project was supervised and administered by Quinlivan, Pierik & Krause, Architects/Engineers of Syracuse, with stone restoration supervised by Crawford and Stearns, Architects and Preservation Planners, also of Syracuse, Law Brothers Contracting Corporation, CNYU Mechanical Associates, Inc. and A Pompos Electric, Inc., performed the work.”

9-11
We Will Never Forget

I was home that morning watching Good Morning America and as the show was ending they interrupted with "Breaking News." Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer, with a large screen behind them, began to tell of an incident at the World Trade Center in NYC. There was speculation about a possible terrorist attack, you could see the confusion in the newsroom. And then, it happened, as the world watched a second aircraft flew into view of the camera. I remember thinking to myself they must be showing the video of the impact. As I watched, Charlie and Diane looked at each other and asked the same question, "was that a recording?" That's when we all knew, we were under attack. I can't even begin to imagine what the next couple of hours were like for those that were there, let alone what those that escaped the collapse live with these fifteen years later. So today, especially, let's remember and honor those who lost their lives that day and all of the heroes involved since. "Let's Roll"
Syracuse University lost 30 alumni on Sept. 11, 2001, as a result of the terrorist attacks.
This list is from their website:
William H. Bernstein ’77 (Arts and Sciences) of New York, N.Y.
Daniel R. Brandhorst G’87 (Law) of Los Angeles, Calif.
Janice Brown ’89 (Arts and Sciences) of New York, N.Y.
Timothy G. Byrne ’87 (Arts and Sciences) of New York, N.Y.
Eric B. Evans ’91 (Arts and Sciences) of Weehawken, N.J.
Wendy R. Faulkner G’96 (Management) of Mason, Ohio.
Morton H. Frank ’92 (Arts and Sciences) of New York, N.Y.
Lisa Fenn Gordenstein ’81 (Human Development) of Needham, Mass.
Brady Kay Howell G’00 (Maxwell) of Arlington, Va.
Jason K. Jacobs ’90 (Arts and Sciences) of Mendham, N.J.
Shari Kandell (attended SU) of Wyckoff, N.J.
Michael P. Laforte ’84 (Arts and Sciences) of Holmdel, N.J.
Vanessa Lang Langer (attended SU) of Yonkers, N.Y.
Stephen J. Lauria ’83, G’87 (Management) of New York, N.Y.
David W. Laychak G’92 (Management) of Manassas, Va.
Eamon J. McEneaney (attended SU) of New Canaan, Conn.
Diarelia J. Mena ’93 (Arts and Sciences) of New York, N.Y.
Craig D. Montano ’84 (Management) of Glen Ridge, N.J.
Charles A. Murphy ’87 (Arts and Sciences) of Ridgewood, N.J.
Major Clifford Patterson Jr. G’01 (Management) of Alexandria, Va.
Laurence M. Polatsch G’93 (Law) of New York, N.Y.
Rhonda Ridge Rasmussen ’92 (Management) of Woodbridge, Va.
Laura Rockefeller ’81 (Visual and Performing Arts) of New York, N.Y.
Norman S. Rossinow ’84 (Management) of Cedar Grove, N.J.
Paul G. Ruback ’73 (Arts and Sciences) of Newburgh, N.Y.
Michael P. Tucker ’85 (Arts and Sciences) of Rumson, N.J.
Joanne F. Weil G’91 (Law) of New York, N.Y.
Steven J. Weinberg ’81 (Management) of New City, N.Y.
David T. Weiss ’72 (Arts and Sciences), G’80 (Law) of New York, N.Y.
Charles A. Zion ’69 (Arts and Sciences) of Greenwich, Conn.

There are several 9/11 Memorials in the CNY area, these are pictures of a few.

9/11 Memorial Baldwinsville/Lakeside Station #2 7461 State Fair Blvd. Syracuse, NY

Firefighters 9/11 Memorial Syracuse Fire Station #1 Syracuse, NY

9/11 Memorial DeWitt Town Hall, Butternut Drive DeWitt, NY

Geddesburg?
A chain, a link, a Morgan and a rod is how James Geddes would have first described the town which now bears his name. It was 1793 when Mr. Geddes (born July 22, 1763) first laid eyes on his newest venture. He began his time here involved in the salt industry, however just a few years later, in 1797, it was requested of him to survey the Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation. This began a life long career in surveying.

He would lay out the streets of the Village of Salina and in 1807 laid out the streets of what would eventually become the Village of Geddes. James became such a trusted surveyor that in 1816 he was selected as one of the supervisors for the construction of the Erie Canal. Mr. Geddes also participated, for a short period of time, in the political world. He spent one term, from 1813-1815, in the US House of Representatives.

On August 17, 1838 James Geddes passed away in Camillus, New York. He is buried at the Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse, New York. A decade after his passing, in 1848, the people of the town honored Mr Geddes with establishing a new town, the Town of Geddes. For a time shortly thereafter, the area where he lived was called Geddesburg, as seen on one of the maps below.

Central New York is rich in Revolutionary War history, including stories of it's soldiers. One soldier whose family would call this area home after the war was Ezekiel Chapman. Born August 6, 1757 in Sharon, Connecticut, Ezekiel would move to Saratoga, NY prior to the outbreak of the Revolution.

According to Ezekiel's Revolutionary War pension application, on September 3, 1776 he enlisted with the Willett Regiment, Captain Peter Van Ranselare Company at Kinderhook, NY. One battle he fought in he only recalled because the British General Butler was wounded. He also served in 1777 in Captain Roderk's Company, in 1780 with Captain Woodworth's Company and spent time along the Hudson River in southern New York at Fort Constitution, later called Fort Lee.

Ezekiel applied for his war pension on September 25, 1832. In his application are several character witnesses, one of them was a fellow soldier that states "I saw the discharge papers mentioned a great many times and that it was signed by George Washington. I was told by Ezekiel he was a distant relative of General Washington."

After the war, Ezekiel lived in Saratoga and Athens, Vermont, which is where his children were born. One of those children was Moses, who in 1814 found himself in Swifts and Dobbins Regiment fighting in the War of 1812. After the war, around 1816 the Chapmans moved to Belle Isle in Camillus, NY where some of their descendants remain to this day. Ezekiel died while visiting his son in Ohio and Moses died in 1831 in Belle Isle where he is buried. Many generations have passed since the birth of our nation however, just a five minute drive from where Ezekiel and Moses purchased land in 1816, I, Ezekiel's great great great great grandson, am writing this little tidbit in Baldwinsville.

I don't have a photo of Ezekiel's headstone however, I do have copies of his pension papers. Ezekiel's son Moses is my 3x great grandfather. Many of Moses's descendants live in the Baldwinsville, Camillus and the Lakeland areas. Pictures include headstones of other Revolutionary War Veterans buried with Moses at Belle Isle Cemetery in Camillus, NY.