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Tri-Counties Genealogy &
History by Joyce M. Tice
Historic Businesses of the
Tri-Counties
Local Business History Section
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Bradford County PA
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Chemung County NY
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Tioga County PA
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Joyce's Search Tip - January 2008
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Do You Know that you can search just the
Business
pages of the site by using the Business button in the
Partitioned search engine at the bottom of the Current
What's New Page? You will also find extensive business information
in the Directory section. |
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In the early 1960s, Troy Gazette-Register ran a series of
articles called Mystery Farms. Each week they presented a photo and asked
readers to identify the farm. In the following week's issue, they identified
the farm and wrote a brief article about it. Marjorie JORALEMON Oldroyd,
now of Austinville, saved them all in a scrapbook which we scanned recently.
I will present them here, sorted by township where possible. In some cases
the Post Office is the only identifier and it may or may not be accurate
as to physical location.
Return to table of Contents
for all farms listed.
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File: tgrfarm0003 – Dale Avery
Farm Mystery Picture No. 3 was that of Dale Avery, one mile north of
Sylvania on the road to Austinville. Those giving the correct name
and location of that farm are:
Russell Van Noy, Marion Sweet, Howard Morgridge, Lloyd Bailey, Louis
Batterson, Russell Scott, Duane Kittle, Earl Rolison, Gerald Warner, Robert
Hess and Lee Cleveland of Troy.
Susan Ritz and Donald Besley of Columbia Cross Roads, Mary Smith, Harry
Packard and Harold Warner, Sr. of Sylvania, Evalyn Sullivan, Troy RD 3,
Maude Estep, Don Rockwell and Manley Wilson of Troy RD 2, Melvin Case,
Troy RD 1.
Mary Sweeney of Chemung Co. San., N. Y., Elwood Heaney of Mt. Bethel,
Pa.; Fred Hulslander of Mainsesburg, and Mrs. A. G. Cameron of Sylvania. |
Dale Avery is he proprietor of the farm which he has owned for the past
10 years. About a year ago he sold his Holstein milk herd and now
devotes the 112 acres of land to the cultivation and harvesting of oat,
corn and hay crops.
The farm has been in the Avery family for about 50 years for his grandfather,
James W. Avery, had it before his death. The area was settled and
owned by the Kilgore family who held it for over 100 years. The particular
site has been known in the past as Kilgore’s Corners.
Dale married Dorothy French in September, 1943 and they, together with
their three sons reside on the farm. Gary is 8 and is in the second
grade of the Troy school. His brother, Garth is six and is in the
first grade of the same school. Greg, the third boy in the family,
is four years old.
Dale Avery is a member of the Columbia Grange No. 83. He also
belongs to the Pennsylvania Farmers’ Association and the Pennsylvania State
Poultry Federation. He is presently secretary of the Lions Club of
Sylvania which was organized last year.
Both he and his wife are members of the Sylvania Church of Christ.
Avery sold his dairy herd in January, 1954, but he expects to return
to the dairying business in the near future.
His grandmother, Cora Avery, and his aunt, Nell Avery, are both residents
on the farm.
Avery says that the farm has been pretty much the same for the past
years, excepting the addition of the silo in 1952, as well as other improvement
of minor nature.
| File: tgrfarm0004 – Harry Chamberlain
Harry Chamberlain, Columbia Cross Roads, is the owner of the farm shown
last week. He has had the farm for the past fifteen years, having
purchased it at a public auction in 1940 from the Roy Besley estate.
Mr. Besley was a well known dealer in cattle. The Chamberlains formerly
lived at 190 Center Street, Troy.
There are about 50 head of cattle on this 170-acre farm today and Mr.
Chamberlain carries on dairy farming, cultivating some of the acreage for
hay and cattle feed crops. He has a mixed herd of Holsteins, Jerseys
and Guernseys.
Mrs. Chamberlain is the former Minerva Surdam before her marriage in
1934. They have one daughter, Barbara, who is sixteen years old and
a junior at Troy High school. |
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Mr. Chamberlain is a member of Troy Grange No. 182, a Mason of Trojan Lodge
and of the Williamsport Consistory. Mrs. Chamberlain is a member
of the Eastern Star. The Chamberlains are members of the Methodist
Church of Columbia Cross Roads.
When hurricane “Hazel” visited the Troy area in October, 1954, a shed
that had been built by Mr. Chamberlain to house some equipment, was blown
down. A number of barn doors were damaged by the same storm and they
have been repaired, but he is considering a cement block construction to
replace the destroyed shed.
A diversion ditch is being planned for the current year, as well as
the clearing of some of the farm land of the thorn bushes and blackberry
briars, preparatory to seeding the cleared land.
Mr. Chamberlain operates a bulldozer and a couple of dump trucks, the
services of which he uses in private engagements.
The farm has been identified by Maurice McGee, Russell Van Noy, A. L.
Brown, James Peckham, Lee Cleveland, June Gates, Earl S. Sturdevant and
Susan Ritz of Troy; Harold Warner, Harry Packard and Robert Whitlock of
Sylvania. Lou Judson, Mrs. Rush Gates and Wallace Grace of Columbia Cross
Roads; Lynn Wolfe of Snedekerville; Wayne C. Harkness of Gillett and Fred
Hulslander of Mainesburg.
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File: tgrfarm0006 – Harry Gernert
Last week’s Mystery Picture was a view of the former Harry Gernert farm
of Columbia Cross Roads, now occupied by Uri Williams.
Those identifying the picture are Harold Warner and Harry Packard of
Sylvania. Paul Berry, George McKean, Russell Van Noy, Russell Scott,
Harold Case, Mrs. Leon Ballard and Evelyn Sullivan of Troy. Fred
Seymour, Lou Judson, Kenneth Leonard, Mrs. Nina Seymour, Mark L. Watkins,
Wendell Judson, Wayne Gates and Mrs. Edna Guthrie of Columbia Cross Roads.
Wayne C. Harkness of Gillett and Henry Pierce of Burlington.
Mrs. Helen Johnson, 122 Buttonwood St., Jessup, Pa., Azor Putnam, Troy
RD, Lee Cleveland, Gerald Warner, Bob Hess and Susan Ritz of Troy.
The owner of the farm shown in this newspaper on Feb. 10 was Uri Williams
who has about 235 acres of land, nearly three-quarters of a mile north
of Columbia Cross Roads, on the road to Berrytown |
Mr. Williams purchased the farm from Mrs. Harry Gernert in April, 1954.
The Gernerts had the farm at least 47 years, Mr. Williams believes.
Mr. Gernert died about four years ago. The farm has been in the Gernert
clan for several generations, according to the new owner.
There are 17 head of dairy cattle on the farm, divided between thoroughbreds
of Holstein and Jersey strains. About fifty acres of the land is
under cultivation at present, devoted to corn, oats and wheat. As
far as the present owner knows there has not been any soil conservation
construction recently, and he is planning to have some ditch work done
soon, as well as terracing the terrain. Other improvements include
additions to their home in which he and his wife, Jessie Cleveland Williams
and eight-year old daughter, Arlene live.
The Williams were married on June 15, 1944. He has been a farmer
all of his life, working on farms in Springfield, West Burlington, Troy
Township and Burlington.
| File: tgrfarm0011 – Mark Schucker
The picture shown last week was that of the farm of Mark Schucker of
Sylvania. Those identifying it correctly are:
Charlie Schucker, Ray Decker, Ted York, Earl Rolison, Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Smith, Mrs. Bessie Sinclair, Jerry Chapman, Lee Cleveland, Bessie Secules
of Troy. Harold Warner, Harry Packard, Grace Woodward of Sylvania.
Edward Priest and Roy Sherman of Mansfield, RD 3. Louis Judson of Columbia
Cross Roads, Wayne C. Harkness of Gillett, Mrs. John Kobbe ofTroy RD 3,
Mrs. Eleanor Oldroyd of Snedekerville, Evalyn Sullivan of East Troy, Fred
Hilfiger of Mainesburg and Lee and Edna Cummings of Kissimmee, Fla.
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File: tgrfarm0012 – Donald Rockwell
The picture shown last week was that of Donald O. Rockwell of Columbia
Twp. The 100-acre farm adjoins the property of another farm of Mr.
Rockwell’s on Porter Road. On January 13 in this newspaper the Mystery
Farm Picture of Mr. Rockwell’s other farm was shown.
The 200-acre farm and the 100-acre farm shown last week are used by
Mr. Rockwell for grazing and pasturing dairy herds that both he and his
father, O. W. Rockwell of Troy buy and sell.
The principal activity of the farm is centered around a fine herd of
Holstein cattle.
Mr. Rockwell obtained the farm from his father about five years ago
as part of the dairying venture. O. W. Rockwell obtained it at a
public auction in 1949 from the former owner, Emerson W. Havens of Troy
township.
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The records available show that the ownership of the farm dates back at
least before 1893 when Charles S. McKean of Troy sold it to Chester Campbell
of Rutland, Tioga County, Pa. Emeline Campbell, widow of Mr. Campbell
sold the farm to Guy P. Williams of Columbia township in 1916.
Adele Williams, widow of Mr. Williams then sold it to Charles J. Tomlinson
of Columbia Township in 1919 who held it until 1945 when Mr. Havens purchased
the land.
Those identifying the Mystery Farm Picture last week were Harold Warner,
Harry Packard of Sylvania; Lou Judson, Mrs. Lynn Eiffert of Columbia Cross
Roads. Ray Decker, Earl Ripley, Grant Palmer, Earl Rolison, Lee Cleveland,
Harry Keyes, Dorothy Turner, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Smith, John Campbell
and Lewis Hurlburt of Troy. Fred Hulslander of Mainesburg, Eleanor Oldroyd
of Snedekerville.
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Bradford County PA
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Chemung County NY
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Tioga County PA
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