THE BULLETIN

Cortland County His torical Soci ety

Mindy’s Musings

Meet Jennifer Gibson

2012 has been a year of change for CCHS. We have said good bye to our long time em-

ployee and friend, Mrs. Anita Wright. We welcomed Hailley Miller, and just as quickly

were bidding farewells as she left for the next chapter of her life. In October we were

pleased to welcome Jennifer Gibson aboard as our new Director’s Assistant, a task she

has greeted with much excitement and enthusiasm. Despite all of this coming and going,

many things have remained the same. We are still committed to preserving the history of

Cortland County. We still provide our members and the community around us with

programs and presentations.

In our February 2012 issue I set forth several goals for CCHS in 2012. While the year is

not officially over, it is the perfect chance for a checkup to see where we are in relation

to where we hoped to be, and to reflect on changes for 2013.

Goal 1: Increase membership by at least 50%. At the beginning of the year we had a

membership/supporter base of 445 individuals or households. This would make our

goal membership 668. At this time our membership number is 582. This puts us 86

memberships shy of our goal. You can help – suggest memberships to your friends, give

them as Christmas gifts. We had a successful campaign spearheaded by trustee Kaaren

Pierce to bring back many members who had allowed their membership to lapse, and

new members continue to join.

(Continued on page 2)

Greetings! My name is Jennifer Gibson and I am the new Director’s

Assistant at the Cortland County Historical Society. I am new to

Cortland, and I have been enjoying meeting the friendly people here and

exploring the area, as well as the area’s history.

I grew up in Penn Yan, NY on Keuka lake. My background is in library work,

history and fine arts. I am currently completing my master’s degree in library science/ museum

studies on a part-time basis at Syracuse University. I am also finishing an internship at the Dowd

Gallery, now housed on the 3rd floor of the Beard building on Main Street, and researching historic

register buildings in town. All this is helping me get to know Cortland. At the Historical Society, I

look forward to strengthening the volunteer base and assisting people with research, as soon as I

“learn the ropes” a bit. A dream of mine when I finish my degree is to write and illustrate children’s

books in my free time.

Inside this issue:

Mindy’s Musings

Continued

2

Byron Ruel Carpen-

ter and Screen Paint-

3

Death In A Winter

Solstice

4

Thank you CCHS

Volunteers

5

Membership

Renewals

5

We are brainstorming ideas for

programs next year. Do you

have an idea for a program

you would like to do? A special

topic that you are an expert in?

A speaker you would like to

hear?

We will also be working on

updating our main exhibit,

suggestions and help are al-

ways appreciated.

We encourage all members and

friends to become involved, this

is YOUR Historical Society!

Send your suggestions to

info@cortlandhistory.com and

we will be glad to consider

them for 2013.

November 2012

Volume 5, Issue 4

Jennifer Gibson

Goal 2: Increase researchers and visitors by 25 percent of our 2010 numbers. In 2010

we served 510 researchers and 63 visitors for house tours (not including school tours).

This would equal 638 researchers in 2012, and 78 visitors to the museum. As of the end

of September (October numbers not available at the time of printing) we have served a

total of 327 researchers. While there is some margin of error this still puts us over 300

researchers behind on our goal. We have seen a large increase in research by mail, which

may not get people in the door, but does increase income. This increase may speak to

the number of people who may have wanted to visit, but have been unable to due to the

economy. We have had 53 visitors to Suggett House Museum; we still need 25 to reach

our target goal. This number is more attainable then the research number. These

increases reflect on the continued value of the work CCHS staff and volunteers perform.

Goal 3: Increase school involvement. In 2011 three of the twelve elementary schools in

Cortland County visited Cortland County Historical Society. At this time in 2012, we

have had zero elementary schools come in. I have done a tour for one home school

group, as well as two Cub Scout dens. Normally in December we host Parker

Elementary, and while reservations have yet to be made, I see no reason why this would

not continue. This fall we have also been involved with two special class projects with

SUNY Cortland professors, which have brought an increase in the number of college

students using our resources.

Goal 4: Creation of a new brochure. In early 2012 we published our new brochure. The

design was created by myself, and printed at Carbon Copies. This is a great promotional

piece that we have been able to hand out at various events, as well as make available to

the tourist booth. Another success in the same vein, is the creation of a tri-fold board

which presents information about Cortland County Historical Society. The board is

easily set up, torn down and carried to provide instant information at the numerous

events we are involved with.

Goal 5: Increased web presence. In early October I merged our two Facebook fan pages

into one, and was surprised to find that we have 135 fans. Our page is growing, and

continues to grow. It is my hope to expand on this with new ways of engaging our fans

to get them involved. If you haven’t become a fan, you can always do so at: https://

www.facebook.com/CortlandCountyHistoricalSociety. We continue to work on

updating our website, and hope that 2013 will bring even more positive growth on this

front.

2012 has been a year of much change and growth, and I am proud to say we are making

progress. I invite all of our members to take advantage of their membership benefits by

becoming involved in the different programs and events. Your support makes all of our

work possible, and we appreciate it beyond words. I wish each of you a Happy Holidays

and much luck and success in 2013.

(Continued from page 1)

Mindy’s Musings Continued

Page 2 The Bulletin

Checking off guests for a CCHS event.

Cover to the new CCHS Brochure

2012 has been a

year of much change

and growth, and I

am proud to say we

are making progress.

Byron Ruel Carpenter and Screen Painting in Cortland

By: Jennifer Gibson

Byron Ruel Carpenter (1840-1901) was a versatile Cortland artist who worked on a

variety of surfaces. Born in Groton, Carpenter became an apprentice carriage maker

and painter at the age of fourteen. His only time away from artistic pursuits was a

four-year service in the Civil War. When he returned home in 1865, he again took up

his artistic career as a self-employed finisher of carriages at the Samson-Williams

Carriage Works in Groton. In 1881 he moved to Cortland and continued his popular

designs for carriages as a self-employed artist. Carpenter’s specialty during this time was

decorating the carriages with gold leaf scrolls. By 1886, Byron Carpenter had opened a

studio in the Wickwire building, where he painted and gave art lessons as well.

While many artists throughout the ages were versatile in their subject matter, it is rare

to find one like Carpenter who was so versatile in choice of painting surface as well.

He branched out from carriage decorating to work on wood, canvas, velvet, silk, satin

and even fungi. The Historical Society has several Carpenter paintings on canvas and

leather housed in our vault, while local collectors own other pieces. An interesting find

here at the Historical Society are two large screen paintings of landscape scenes, which

we can presume were also done by Carpenter. Chester Wickwire attributed them to

Byron Carpenter when he donated them in 1981. For many years, Wickwire Brothers

produced such hand-painted “landscape wire cloth.” The Cortland Standard’s 1883

paper confirms that Byron Carpenter was employed at Wickwire Bros. to do “fine

screen painting,” and research presented to the Historical Society in 1953 identifies

Byron Carpenter as the sole “landscape wire cloth” painter at Wickwire Brothers.

Not only was Byron involved in the arts, but Mrs. Byron (Jennie) Carpenter had her

own creative career with a millinery (hatmaking) and dressmaking shop on North

Main Street. Like her husband, who took courses of special instruction in portraiture

in New York, Mrs. Carpenter furthered her business through visits there to acquire

new goods for her shop. On one such venture in 1885, the Cortland Standard

reported that her week in New York allowed her to “secure bargains in the millinery

line that will astonish you. . . ” In addition to her shop, and his studio, the Carpenters

were frequent hosts to the community, holding a wedding at their residence as well as

dime socials.

More extensive research about Carpenter’s hand-painted screens for the Wickwire

Bros. would make an interesting contribution to the history of American folk art. For

it is thought that screen painting originated in Baltimore in the early twentieth

century, not Cortland in the nineteenth century. While Baltimore screen paintings

were often for the adornment of private homes, the Cortland “landscape wire cloth”

was primarily used in store fronts. In both cases, painters were careful not to seal off

the holes in the screen in order for air to still pass through, by applying just a thin layer

of paint. When finished, the image painted on the screen aided privacy by allowing

those who were inside to look out, but not permitting those who were outside to look

in.

Page 3 Volume 5, Issue 4

One of two screens from the Hedges (90 S. Main Street, Homer)

Attributed to Byron Carpenter.

For many years,

Wickwire Brothers

produced such hand-

painted “landscape

wire cloth.”

The second of two screens attributed to Byron Carpen-ter, from The Hedges.

Dec. 21, 1894:

“Aye, with Christmas a comin,’ ‘tis a wondrous feelin’.”

Patrick Quinlan stood at the wooden bar at Doyle’s Pub at the Central Hotel at No.4 North Main Street [now Dasher’s Corner Pub] in the village of Homer, New York. He was feeling hale and hearty. Christmas 1894 was only four days away, and he was basking in the admiration poured on him by another patron in response to his boasting of good fortune. He had received a tidy sum for the sale of Christmas turkeys. Earlier in the day, he had come into the village to the Brockway Block on Main Street and sold the fowl for $40.57 to O. B. Andrews & Company [present site of Homer History Center at Key Bank]. Now, he had come back to town for a much needed pre-holiday haircut at Bill Jones’ barbershop at 13 James Street and to savor a drink or two at Doyle’s place on the corner.

After quaffing a glass of dark beer he made his way over to another room, Doyle’s office. John Doyle, pulling slowly at his moustache, was seated at his big wooden desk, with other men standing or seated nearby. Quinlan pulled up a wooden chair and plunked down his six-foot, two hundred pound frame as he heard the saloonkeeper remark something about it being a good time to be selling cabbage. The men in the social gathering were either hard-working laborers or, like Quinlan, dairy farmers from the area. The former found employment making carriages and wagons at either Brockway’s Wagon Company at the south end of Main Street or the Homer Manufacturing Company on James Street (which incorporated in 1895 as the Homer Wagon Company). Their accents meant that the majority could trace their origins back to Ireland, having come to the States around the time of the Great Famine or later. The struggles of life had taught these men to work hard and to play hard and to raise more than praties [potatoes] for a living.

. . .

Dec. 22, 1894:

“I found him this morning lyin’ face down in the road.”

John Doyle could not believe what Thomas Quinlan was telling him. The saloonkeeper had just finished his Saturday mid-day dinner when the distraught son of Patrick Quinlan entered the hotel and began quizzing him.

“Was my father here last night?”

“That he was, Tom.” “Was he drinkin’ anything?”

“He did,” replied Doyle, who sensed something was wrong.

“How much?” probed the young farmer, with worry in his voice.

“Two or three glasses of beer” was the answer, followed by a question from the concerned saloonkeeper: “Has he got home yet?”

“He has. I found him in the road this morning when I was comin’ down with the milk. He was lyin’ face down. I rolled him over, and he had a terribly black eye. I could not get him to come to.”

Excerpts from:

Death In A Winter Solstice:

A Narrative of a True Murder Mystery in Homer

Page 4 The Bulletin

A Christmas Card from the collection of Cortland County

Historical Society

Martin Sweeney, Homer

Town Historian,

approached us about the

possibility of putting out

a book on the Patrick

Quinlan Murder of

1894, and we are

currently putting the final

touches on getting this

ready for publication. It

will make a perfect

Christmas gift for the

History fan in your life.

Contact CCHS for more

details!

Thank You CCHS Volunteers

Membership Renewals July—September

San Jule, Jake Schühle, Cathy

Seager, Judy Swartwout,

Martin Sweeney, Jennifer

White, Anita Wright and

Sharon Zeches.

The following businesses

continue to support our

operations and we encourage

you to patronize them:

Carbon Copies, Cortland

Bookkeeping & Tax Service,

Good News Computing

Services, and Wright Beard

Funeral Home.

Last and by no means least,

the CCHS Board of Trustees

that make all things possible.

Ed Hart—President, Mary

Alice Bellardini—Vice

President (chair Personnel

and Nominating Commit-

tees), F. Michael Stapleton—

Treasurer (chair Finance Com-

mittee), Joseph Compagni —

Secretary, Kathy Beardsley (co-

chair Collections Committee),

Charles Bernheim (co-chair

So far in 2012 our volunteers

have provided over 2600

hours of service.

We have had the pleasure of

hosting two SUNY Cortland

interns—Hailley Miller and

Juan Santana.

Our cutters and pasters, con-

tinue to work on saving the

history of Cortland County—

Betsy Beardsley, Elaine Case,

Elaine Contento, Sandra

Decker, Margaret Fiske, Helen

Hart, Johanne Holcomb,

Gwen McCabe, Pam Poulin,

and Lorraine Sherry.

Betsy Beardsley, Betty

Bonawitz, and Ina Bean make

sure that items are filed

properly.

Betty Bonawitz, Mary Lou

Bordwell, Valerie Brown, Ann

Dexter, Marti Dumas, Lynne

Lash, Krista Natale, and

Kaaren Pierce, have ably

assisted researchers both on

site and through the mail with

their queries.

Several volunteers serve on

committees including—Betsy

Beardsley, Mary Bickford,

Christine Buck, Bob Ferris,

Jaffrey Harris, Mary Ann

Kane, and Joan Siedenburg.

We have a large number of

volunteers that do double and

triple duty in some cases, and

many tasks that are to

numerous to list including

clerical work, creating lists,

transcriptions, helping with

special sales and much more.

These volunteers include:

Mary Ann Gambitta, Sue

Guido, Jaff Harris, Nadyne

Harris, Roger Horak, Sally

Horak, Betty Hudson, Mary

Ann Kane, Karen Kennedy,

Karen McEvoy, Barbara

Nichols, Debbie Ossit, Marsha

Powell, Maria Dillingham-

Purcell, Len Ralston, Ed Raus,

Carol Reed, Bev Ryan, Maria

Pat Meyer

James Monteverde

Thomas and Sandra

Niederhofer

Debbie Ossit

Patricia Perkins

Gigi Peterson

Lee and Sandy Price

Gregory Reed

Robert and Norma Rhodes

James and Ellen Robinson

Thank you to our new and

renewing members.

Barbara Bergeron

Sheila Cohen

K. Ann Dexter

Tom and Susan Dilts

Ed and Nancy Graczyk

Jeffrey Guido

Steven and Sandy Harrington

Edmund and Maryanne Hart

Roger and Sally Horak

Bess Koval

Beatrice Lammers

Stephen and Helen Leet

Betty MacNeill

Erling Maine

Raymond and Patricia

Malbone

John Mandarano

Jim Mazzone

Gwendolyn McCabe

Merlene Meldrim Whisenand

Page 5 Volume 5, Issue 4

Tim Rodabaugh

Walter Samson

Lynn Scott

Brian Shelley

Rita Stith

Sheila Weidlich

Collections Committee),

Marti Dumas (chair

Technology Committee),

Toni Gallagher (chair

Fundraising Committee),

Paul Lorenzo (creates our

monthly financial state-

ments), Mary Kimberly,

Jim Miller (chair Buildings

& Grounds Committee,

snow removal), Kaaren

Pierce (chairs Publication

and Outreach commit-

tees), Kevin Sheets,

Charles Sheridan, Ron

Van Dee.

You can purchase Bob Ellis

Staff Photographer at CCHS

for $23.75

U.S. POSTAGE PAID

Non-Profit Org.

Cortland, N.Y.

Permit No. 50

Membership Form for New Members

Senior (optional 65 years & older) $20.00 □ For “Family” Category please list

Individual $30.00 □ names of family living at this

Family $40.00 □ address.

Supporting $75.00 □ ___________________________

Sustaining (Cody Higgins Club) $150.00 □ ___________________________

Sponsor (Charles Jones Club) $300.00 □ ___________________________

Curator (Mary Ann Kane Club) $500.00 □ ___________________________

Benefactor (Joan Siedenburg Club) $1,200.00 □

Life Member $10,000.00 □

Name: _________________________________________________________________________

Address: _________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Phone: ___________________________ E-mail: _____________________________

Return to: Cortland County Historical Society; 25 Homer Avenue, Cortland, NY 13045

CORTLAND COUNTY

HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Phone: (607)756-6071

E-mail: info@cortlandhistory.com

25 Homer Avenue

Cortland, NY 13045

Your primary source for Cortland

County History

V I SI T

W W W . C ORT LA N D H I ST O RY . C O M

W W W . F A C E B OO K . C O M/C ORT L A N D C OU N T Y HI ST O RI C A L S OC I E T Y

Suggett House, Home of Cortland County Historical

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