Warwick Institute,the "High Street School", was originally known as Warwick Academy. The structure itself, before the later red brick structure, was sheathed in wood clapboard and dated to the mid nineteenth century. This building actually survived until the early 1970s more than 20 years after its replacement, the red brick Warwick Institute building, had burned and been dismantled in 1951 ( see the photos in the right column ). The wooden structure had once stood close to the street until the growing number of students necessitated that it be lifted, turned and moved back towards the Wawayanda Creek to make way for a modern structure in 1893. The clapboard building stood about half way between High Street itself and the creek behind some of the old Miller and Stockton Lumber yard buildings.
According to some the building became known as the "White Elephant" after its move, and it was converted to apartments at some time around the time of the 1893 construction of the red brick Institute. When I came to know the building it could only be accessed through dense grass and a Maginot Line of blackcap bushes and other wild growth. It was something I passed countless times on my way to the banks of the creek; it was there, under a canopy of thirty year or more tree growth, where I explored foundations from long gone buildings and debris that one wouldn't think today could have existed right in the middle of the Village.
The foundations I speak of were known to have once been a "Chinese laundry" and a knife factory; I never found anything more exciting than some clay marbles and a sulphide marble with an undetermined figure inside sifting through the dirt of those buildings' one time cellar floors. It is here that my first archaeological work began as a ten year old in 1973 when we moved to 22 High Street across from the Old School Baptist Church.
As one of the oldest of the neighborhood kids, and there were many in those days that infused streets like Church and High and South with screams, bike riding, and just about anything else you can think a 10 year old capable of 40 years ago ( that's a more finite list than what is true for 2012). One of the many activities at that time, a time when TV and videos were not the end all of every waking hour, was to lead expeditions down to the creek and to various points of interest on the way.
There was a lot of debris in this off the grid area from a period supposedly when someone named Pee Wee Jenkins lived in the old wooden building that I now know to have been the Warwick Academy. The building in the summer of 1973 was partially collapsed and missing most of its windows. The idea of climbing into this abandoned house hadn't entered my mind initially, as I remember the vegetation was so dense in front of the building during that first summer I spent on High Street.
Abandoned buildings weren't rare during this period of Warwick's history. I remember the old Holley Mansion before it was razed to make way for the Warwick Savings Bank; a bunch of kids from South Street including Marvin Gove, Tommy Henderson, Billy Roome and I explored the outside perimeter of that "haunted" mansion on Oakland Avenue a few times, but I think we were likely all too chicken to actually try to enter it. There was also a house way out by the Kings Elementary School and another across from Seely Everett's Store in Edenville that my cousin Paul and I once climbed through to find an old kitchen sink with a water pump attached to it that seemed particularly ancient in 1975 or so.
The debris down by the Wawayanda Creek I mentioned included a dump that largely consisted of early black phone receivers from the Warwick Valley Telephone Company that owned some of that netherland. The recievers were made of an early plastic material that had the fragility of ceramic after decades of being exposed to the elements. These lay atop a dump that had been used for many decades, and there was also one or two mortarless fieldstone foundations that had also been used as places for dumping. These may have been residential dwellings at one time.
Upon discoverying this particular site I set to the task of digging and found dozens of identifiable objects including 1920s and 1930s toys made of hard rubber, cast iron, and tin; these were so encrusted with rust or fragile from deterioration that they were worthless to anybody but me (to this day). I would carry them back to my bedroom where they would be on display until I was usually pressured into finding "another place for them." Additionally the old foundations and other old dumping sites along the creek between Forester Avenue and the then derelict Miller and Stockton Lumber yard were the focus of my digs and my collecting of artifacts that became known among a small band of budding archaeologists like myself as "good junk."
The days were not spent solely laboring at sifting through the tons of potash and clinkers from decades of coal fires from Warwick furnaces that characterized the banks of this portion of the creek and finds of the occasional intact blue Ponds cream jar (sometimes with residuals of the cream inside)or intact porcelain doll arms, there was also lots of screaming,, shouting and running.
Another attraction to the site was the remains of a 1941 Buick and a Model T. The Ford was really only the cab of a hardtop sedan with the back window frame still in place, a bumber and a signal light that for the life of me I tried for a whole summer to remove but never managed to loosen the severely rusted screws. The spare tire mount also existed providing enough for a fantasy about living in the 1920s. Next to that car fragment was a large bank safe with its door missing. Across from these was the Buick which made for, in combination with the other relics, many a cops and robbers scenario.
"Gangsters", as we called it, was a daily routine of role playing fueled by an enthusiasm for reruns of the TV show the "Untouchables" with Robert Stack as "Elliot Ness." The Buick was integral to this play with its steering wheel and a crate that served as a seat; the interior of this car had almost been entirely stripped, the doors were missing, the hood, and important parts of the engine had also long ago disappeared; in fact, as time went on I was responsible for the removal of any parts that remained and were removable. A windshield wiper motor from that Buick long sat on my dresser as a prized possession.
The "White Elephant" alluded us until the fall of that year when vines and thorns receded and all of us became a little more daring. I was the first to cross the threshhold to find a first floor room to the right that had a large furnace in it. There was a pile of old Singer sewing machines that had long ago seized with rust. There were jumbles of other things that seemingly were the currency of junkmen like Pee Wee Jenkins. What I recall as a central staircase had collapsed with only a few intact treads near to the second floor. These were unreachable.
From the vantage point of the wrecked stairs I saw a wall telephone, arm rest and the magneto box seemingly intact. I tried several times to climb to the second story but the telephone was always out of my reach. The interior of the building was fragile and really this may have been the height of my risk taking by this point in my life. Eventually, I gave up at the urgings of one of the younger kids, as his mother called and called for him. It was supper.
The father showed up in proximity to the building after ten minutes of this. He came near to the building discovering our whereabouts as we likely were making a lot more noise than we realized. When his six year old finally gave in and emerged the father was livid about the fact that we had risked life and limb in this derelict building; I had no such supervision and the reprimand that partially fell on me really fell on deaf ears.
On my way home from the bus stop at the corner of High and Forester the next day I witnessed the last passes of a backhoe and other heavy equipment that had accomplished the task of digging a hole and burying the entire structure while we all were in school that day. The brown dirt patch that remained remained for quite some time until the wild brambles began to reappear the following summer. I have always suspected that the irate father had called the local police or whomever one calls in these situations, and that Mike Myrow, who supposedly owned the property, was contacted to raze the building "before one of the local kids gets hurt climbing through there."
As if the destruction that day wasn't enough for us, a local "scrap-er" showed up with an oxy-acetylene torch and cut up all the props of our fun-filled summer days. Two prodigious tanks some nine feet in length and 6 or 7 feet tall were the first to be cut up for scrap metal; these had often been rolled uncontrollably by me and others from one place to the other in the woods. It was only the many maple saplings that prohibited these hulks from getting away from us and maybe even rolling down the hill into the creek where they would have been spotted by adults and likely brought us some undesired attention and consequences. The Buick, the safe, and the Model T all went that day. And things were never the same...
There were piles of red bricks remaining which we knew came from the old "High Street School".I had filed them away in my memory for another day. They remained near the creek until a few years later when my father was building a fireplace in an 18th century farmhouse once belonging to Marie Ferguson on Route 94 in the summer of 1976. Wanting to feel a sense of importance I shared the whereabout of the needed bricks for the project. The owner of the house called Mike Myrow who gave permission for their removal, and all of them were gotten and used.
The fireplace is perhaps one of the only remains of that one time school. Until the area where the Warwick Academy first stood and later the Institute was built was paved many years later remains of the latter's sheared off foundation was visible. on what was then a parking area for Warwick Valley Telephone Company trucks. Far in back of what is now Hayes' Barber Shop I recall spotting on one of my childhood roamings a large slab step that I always presumed to be the entrance to the old High Street School. That too has likely disappeared like those summer days on the Wawayanda.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Friday, July 16, 2010
Follow-up Response to Photo of Raymond Benedict
My father died about the time you found his photograph, kinda strange the way things happen old lucky making it through the war with a couple of close calls only to come home and die of an industrial disease.
My father would have been about twenty three or four when the photo was taken making him one of the oldest people in his air crew. If you see a lot of photos from the Pacific war every one looks like they have a great tan, it really is the medicine they are taking to fight topical diseases staining their skin a yellowish brown.
Thank you again for the photo
James Benedict Q.E.
My father would have been about twenty three or four when the photo was taken making him one of the oldest people in his air crew. If you see a lot of photos from the Pacific war every one looks like they have a great tan, it really is the medicine they are taking to fight topical diseases staining their skin a yellowish brown.
Thank you again for the photo
James Benedict Q.E.
Recent Response to the Photo of Raymond Benedict
Yes, that is a photo of my father Raymond Benedict when he was in the Army air core (380th bomber group) in world war II. I am not sure why my brother Joel did not recognize the photo because he and my father looked so much a like. My father's air group was originally was suppose to fly in the European theater where they were expecting to last about six months before being shot down. However just before the group was shipped over seas to Europe the Japanese were threatening to to invade Australia so the Bomber group was sent there instead.
My father told me he thought he was the luckiest man on earth when they handed him a summer uniform instead of a winter one, because he knew he was going to be shipped to Asia and not Europe. He said that when they handed him the summer uniform he thought "well maybe Mrs Benedict's little boy will make it through this war after all". The first uniform my father had after joining the Army air core was a WWI left over uniform with leggings and a mess kit with a picture of a WWI battle craved into it because there were not enough new uniforms to go around. The position on the air crew my father had was the ball turret gunner on B-24, I asked him once why did he take the most dangerous position on the flight crew ( any mechanical problems or battle damage on the plane could cause the turret gunner to become trapped in the ball preventing him from bailing out or be crashed by the plane during a crash landing) he said it had the best view.
The picture shows my father in his flying helmet, goggles and high altitude jacket, since the B-24's were not pressurized the crews flew in subzero temperatures inside the planes during missions even thou they were in the tropics. The crews had a lot of problems with their equipment freezing up from the topical moisture in the planes interior condensing and freeze while they were climbing to altitude. At times fog banks would form inside the planes making it difficult to see inside the plane. The one fear my father had was being wounded during a mission and freezing to death because his blood would reduce the insulation properties of his flight suit.
I think the photo you have was taken by the Army to be sent back home to the papers and was probably given to the VFW by the paper or my family to be posted in their hall to show the Veterans the people who were in the service.
Thank you for saving my father's photo and I hope this e-mail gives you a little more information about it.
Sincerely
James Raymond Benedict
My father told me he thought he was the luckiest man on earth when they handed him a summer uniform instead of a winter one, because he knew he was going to be shipped to Asia and not Europe. He said that when they handed him the summer uniform he thought "well maybe Mrs Benedict's little boy will make it through this war after all". The first uniform my father had after joining the Army air core was a WWI left over uniform with leggings and a mess kit with a picture of a WWI battle craved into it because there were not enough new uniforms to go around. The position on the air crew my father had was the ball turret gunner on B-24, I asked him once why did he take the most dangerous position on the flight crew ( any mechanical problems or battle damage on the plane could cause the turret gunner to become trapped in the ball preventing him from bailing out or be crashed by the plane during a crash landing) he said it had the best view.
The picture shows my father in his flying helmet, goggles and high altitude jacket, since the B-24's were not pressurized the crews flew in subzero temperatures inside the planes during missions even thou they were in the tropics. The crews had a lot of problems with their equipment freezing up from the topical moisture in the planes interior condensing and freeze while they were climbing to altitude. At times fog banks would form inside the planes making it difficult to see inside the plane. The one fear my father had was being wounded during a mission and freezing to death because his blood would reduce the insulation properties of his flight suit.
I think the photo you have was taken by the Army to be sent back home to the papers and was probably given to the VFW by the paper or my family to be posted in their hall to show the Veterans the people who were in the service.
Thank you for saving my father's photo and I hope this e-mail gives you a little more information about it.
Sincerely
James Raymond Benedict
Monday, July 12, 2010
Dave Porvaznik's Recollections
Yes, feel free to post my message. That is my brother, when he was in High School he worked for your grandfather milking cows after school and over the summers, must of been 1960 to 1962 when he graduated. I will send him the photo and ask him if he would like to share some memories of your grandparents and the farm with you. It's great to preserve our history while we can, now that I am older I wish that I had thought to ask more questions of the then old timers and taken more photos.
Dave Porvaznik’s Recollections of the Fair Meade Farm.
Hi Robert,
reading about your Grandfather's farm was interesting to me because though I worked on that farm back in the early '60s, mostly during haying seasons, I didn't know much of its history. I remember that "coop" for farm hands and a farm hand at that time, Ed "Pee Wee" Jenkins who lived in there. Your grandmother called it his "Sugar Shack", that was the name of a popular song on the radio back then. I remember a very old refrigerator in there, the kind with the coils on top.
Dave
reading about your Grandfather's farm was interesting to me because though I worked on that farm back in the early '60s, mostly during haying seasons, I didn't know much of its history. I remember that "coop" for farm hands and a farm hand at that time, Ed "Pee Wee" Jenkins who lived in there. Your grandmother called it his "Sugar Shack", that was the name of a popular song on the radio back then. I remember a very old refrigerator in there, the kind with the coils on top.
Dave
Monday, July 5, 2010
Fair Meade Farm, New Milford Road, Warwick: A History
Within the past year (2009), this well-known farmstead was razed to make way for a supermarket and other businesses on Rt. 94, which links the Township of Warwick, NY with a state border and nearby Vernon, New Jersey. The buildings of this farm once consisted of a large Dutch Colonial style farmhouse, a horse stable and carriage barn, a well house, 2-car garage, 5-car garage, two 2 1/2 story tenant houses, an ice house, a granary, a 4-stall wagon barn, a fieldstone smoke house, a main barn and ell, an attached milk house and two wooden corn silos. The only original structures to the farm that remain are a circa 1880s three story carriage barn and a ground-level roofed well that may have served as a location for milk cooling in a much earlier dairying scenario (a mortarless, hand-laid stone cistern within still holds water).
Less than 50 miles from Manhattan this Orange County dairy farm dates to the early eighteenth century when Thomas Blain purchased the site, cleared it of ash, oak, chestnuts, and other hard and softer woods. The site was in proximity to a local Native American settlement , and what became later hay and corn fields have yielded many flint arrowheads which evidence the site's use as a hunting ground. Legend has it that the site's grave plot of reputedly some 60 graves still extant was once an "Indian burial site." Although there is no record of Thomas Blain's burial on the farm plot, his son John's grave is well-known and there are a number of gravestones of family members from subsequent owners of the farm.
The earliest documented gravestones on the site are those of "John Blain 1816" and "Jain Blain 1817" ; the spelling and inverted "N" s on the crude fieldstone evidence that the family member or workman hired for the purpose of making the grave marker had access to little education a little over a mile outside the Village of Warwick in the early decades of the 19th century. The Village of Warwick, and its outer environs had habitations as early as the late 17th century and by the mid-18th century had a concentration of residences, businesses, and churches along the Waywayanda Creek. A early wagon road which later became New Milford Road (Rt.94 now and as I recall Rt. 40 something earlier) stretched through the 200 hundred plus acre farm of Thomas Blain linking it to the Village of Warwick and points south in New Jersey.
The earliest view of the well-known farmhouse, "the foundation laid in 1730 [ as a penciled in caption states on an early 20th century photo of the front of the house revealing the half-circle driveway that once came to the front porch] ," had it situated on a large plateau that climbed some 12 feet above the surface of the present day road bed. This earlier hill landing was reached by a natural and gradual incline that began about a hundred yards down the one-time dirt road from the direction of the Village of Warwick. The hill came to a flattened height where the front of the farmhouse stood facing it and 50 yards opposite the conveniently situated front doors of the still extant horse and carriage barn.
Given the heights that were necessitated in constructing a fieldstone veranda off the back of farmhouse in the 1950s it is likely that pre-existing natural hill dropped dramatically off the back of the main farmhouse. When the veranda and large barbecue chimney was constructed by Paul Miller a root cellar that could be entered from the interior basement of the house was filled in for the footings of the significant fieldstone and mortar patio structure. The laid stone door lintel from this root cellar remained visible in the basement until the house was razed. This root cellar was cut into the ground ,and one could stand upright in it, according to the late Emma Miller. It was also related that a further justification for filling it in during the patio construction was that the walls were continously crumbling making it necessary to shovel and remove the fallen earth through the series of rooms that made up the spacious cellars of the farmhouse, and the original living spaces of the oldest version of the house.
In the 1930s New Deal road improvements divided the house from the horse stable and carriage barn. The road that came to be in front of the house was excavated and leveled to its current location. The original house had only consisted of a below ground first floor where large, dressed fieldstone blocks evidenced the location of the a large kitchen cooking hearth. A second story was probably first a sleeping loft and later, with the construction of greater pitch to the roof, two rooms divided by a central hall with a fireplace facing south in each. In fact, the sunburst design mantel pieces in these rooms [that are similar to those found in the Pelton Farmhouse on Rt.1], and that are now in the collection of the Warwick Historical Society, were likely from a renovation in the first decade of the 19th century as was the cast iron firebox to the most southerly room which has a relief of a spread winged eagle that was reputedly cast in the Ringwood Ironworks responsible for the great chain once stretched across the Hudson River during the Revolutionary War [links of which can be seen at Museum Village in Monroe, NY].
The Blain family were responsible for these renovations to the farmhouse; it was during Milton Sanford's ownership of the farm, after the Blains had inhabited the property for more than a hundred and fifty years, that the house took on its Dutch Colonial style with a full second story with faux half timber and stucco dormers looking out onto the road, a third story crawlspace attic, a wrap around porch with Doric style columns of mahogany, spindles and balustrade on two sides of the house and a front portico with matching architectural details. The charred remains of the spindles and balustrade removed to the carriage barn where it remained until recently and a charred narrow interior staircase linking the cellar kitchen with the floor above still extant but blocked by a newly constructed faux fireplace in the dining room until the houses razing evidenced a fire sometime after the 1880s Dutch Colonial re-model. The fire was likely during the Raynor's ownership.
The farm eventually passed to F.C. Raynor [?] who opened a grocery in the nearby village. Here he sold and delivered milk produced and bottled at the farm as well as other food staples [ see the doors of one of his early delivery wagons on this blog]. Ironically, Paul Miller's brother-in-law , Aaron Hasbrouck grew up on the farm as a ward of the Raynors. His bedroom was located in what would become the new kitchen of the house in later years. In the 1970s a visiting Raynor family member, who had long since moved away from the area, related that he accidently fired a 30/30rifle shell through the door of the room when he inhabited it; there seemed to be no signs of such a mishap and the doors had all likely been replaced in a remodel after that.
The future owner of the property, Paul Miller, grew up on a farm rented by his father and mother, Peter and Elizabeth Paffenroth Miller, on what was known for many years as the Parks Farm and is now the site of Pennings Orchards. The small farmhouse that remains at the beginning of the climb up Moe Mountain, as it was called, housed the elder Miller's thirteen children [Elizabeth Miller died in childbirth in 1936]. Paul, who was the first child and born in 1913, grew up literally in the shadows of that large dairy farm that he eventually would own after renting the Sanford Farm from 1938-1947, and before that he worked with his father-in-law Phillip Kiel on his farm in Little York from the time of his marriage to Emma Kiel in 1936 raising the first of his own herd of Holstein dairy cows.
In 1943, Fair Meade Farm was bought by Brooklynite Otto Nagel from the Raynors. Nagel, like others from the city found farms to purchase and run in nearby Orange County during the Second World War. Although the rationale for these purchases can never be fully verified some reputedly used farm ownership as a means to avoid the draft as farmers received a dispensation from military service as agriculture was a necessity both in peace and war. Nagel hired the Raynor's foreman to run the dairy for him.
In 1947, Paul Miller, partnering with his father-in-law, Philip Kiel, now a retired dairy farmer, purchased the farm from Nagel for 50,000 dollars. Kiel would eventually set up a produce stand ( constructed from a World War II surplus qounset hut purchased) on some of the farmland that would later become the site of Stan Meduski's Supermarket, Lloyd's, and, finally, Shop-Rite. Quickly, Miller set to work modernizing the farm. His wife Emma started the equivalent of one of today's bed and breakfasts offering home-made meals and lodging in the spacious 9 room house to tourists. According to legend, Tex Ridder and band members once stayed at the house on their way through the state.
Produce, meat, and dairy were all produced on the farm. The fieldstone walls that once divided the farm into small fields from a time of horse drawn implements were buried during Miller's tenure, and the farm fields were opened up for modern tractors and machinery. A cement block milkhouse with stainless steel fixtures and bulk tank were created and a glass pipe milking system installed in the large barn that dated from the mid-19th century. A modern barn cleaner was installed into the brick and concrete floor of the cow barn and an addition was built onto the earliest barn structure ground floor.
This early barn structure became the site for the young stock of Miller's purebred Holstein herd that eventually grew to 76 milking cows,but their were also numerous young stock housed on the farm and on the Ott Farm (located on the site of the present Old Brook Estates), leased for the purpose. The earliest barn structure of the Miller farm, which was attached to the later 19th century main barn and a roofed structure built by Miller off that main barn for the purpose of allowing the barn cleaner to empty manure to an awaiting manure spreader parked below, was likely built in the 18th century. This early date is evidenced by =the beams and large planks visible in the hay mow and exterior. Some of these were 24 inches wide or more. Seemingly, many of the original exterior boards were still in place when the enirety of the barns was recently razed.
In 1964, the year after paying off the entirety of his mortgage on the farm, and being a leading Orange County farmer and member of the New York State Dairymens' League, Paul Miller passed away at age 51. According to family legend, Paul Miller was posthumously awarded "Farmer of the Century" at the Warwick Centennial celebration in 1967. The dairy went to his son who continued the business until 1971. What remains of the farm remains in the ownership of Paul Miller, Jr. and Robert Schmick [ son of the late Cheryl [Miller] Schmick, 1944-2004 ] sometimes leased out to tenant farmers for hay and corn crops. Less than one third of the original farm remains having been sold for commercial development over the past 63 years.
Less than 50 miles from Manhattan this Orange County dairy farm dates to the early eighteenth century when Thomas Blain purchased the site, cleared it of ash, oak, chestnuts, and other hard and softer woods. The site was in proximity to a local Native American settlement , and what became later hay and corn fields have yielded many flint arrowheads which evidence the site's use as a hunting ground. Legend has it that the site's grave plot of reputedly some 60 graves still extant was once an "Indian burial site." Although there is no record of Thomas Blain's burial on the farm plot, his son John's grave is well-known and there are a number of gravestones of family members from subsequent owners of the farm.
The earliest documented gravestones on the site are those of "John Blain 1816" and "Jain Blain 1817" ; the spelling and inverted "N" s on the crude fieldstone evidence that the family member or workman hired for the purpose of making the grave marker had access to little education a little over a mile outside the Village of Warwick in the early decades of the 19th century. The Village of Warwick, and its outer environs had habitations as early as the late 17th century and by the mid-18th century had a concentration of residences, businesses, and churches along the Waywayanda Creek. A early wagon road which later became New Milford Road (Rt.94 now and as I recall Rt. 40 something earlier) stretched through the 200 hundred plus acre farm of Thomas Blain linking it to the Village of Warwick and points south in New Jersey.
The earliest view of the well-known farmhouse, "the foundation laid in 1730 [ as a penciled in caption states on an early 20th century photo of the front of the house revealing the half-circle driveway that once came to the front porch] ," had it situated on a large plateau that climbed some 12 feet above the surface of the present day road bed. This earlier hill landing was reached by a natural and gradual incline that began about a hundred yards down the one-time dirt road from the direction of the Village of Warwick. The hill came to a flattened height where the front of the farmhouse stood facing it and 50 yards opposite the conveniently situated front doors of the still extant horse and carriage barn.
Given the heights that were necessitated in constructing a fieldstone veranda off the back of farmhouse in the 1950s it is likely that pre-existing natural hill dropped dramatically off the back of the main farmhouse. When the veranda and large barbecue chimney was constructed by Paul Miller a root cellar that could be entered from the interior basement of the house was filled in for the footings of the significant fieldstone and mortar patio structure. The laid stone door lintel from this root cellar remained visible in the basement until the house was razed. This root cellar was cut into the ground ,and one could stand upright in it, according to the late Emma Miller. It was also related that a further justification for filling it in during the patio construction was that the walls were continously crumbling making it necessary to shovel and remove the fallen earth through the series of rooms that made up the spacious cellars of the farmhouse, and the original living spaces of the oldest version of the house.
In the 1930s New Deal road improvements divided the house from the horse stable and carriage barn. The road that came to be in front of the house was excavated and leveled to its current location. The original house had only consisted of a below ground first floor where large, dressed fieldstone blocks evidenced the location of the a large kitchen cooking hearth. A second story was probably first a sleeping loft and later, with the construction of greater pitch to the roof, two rooms divided by a central hall with a fireplace facing south in each. In fact, the sunburst design mantel pieces in these rooms [that are similar to those found in the Pelton Farmhouse on Rt.1], and that are now in the collection of the Warwick Historical Society, were likely from a renovation in the first decade of the 19th century as was the cast iron firebox to the most southerly room which has a relief of a spread winged eagle that was reputedly cast in the Ringwood Ironworks responsible for the great chain once stretched across the Hudson River during the Revolutionary War [links of which can be seen at Museum Village in Monroe, NY].
The Blain family were responsible for these renovations to the farmhouse; it was during Milton Sanford's ownership of the farm, after the Blains had inhabited the property for more than a hundred and fifty years, that the house took on its Dutch Colonial style with a full second story with faux half timber and stucco dormers looking out onto the road, a third story crawlspace attic, a wrap around porch with Doric style columns of mahogany, spindles and balustrade on two sides of the house and a front portico with matching architectural details. The charred remains of the spindles and balustrade removed to the carriage barn where it remained until recently and a charred narrow interior staircase linking the cellar kitchen with the floor above still extant but blocked by a newly constructed faux fireplace in the dining room until the houses razing evidenced a fire sometime after the 1880s Dutch Colonial re-model. The fire was likely during the Raynor's ownership.
The farm eventually passed to F.C. Raynor [?] who opened a grocery in the nearby village. Here he sold and delivered milk produced and bottled at the farm as well as other food staples [ see the doors of one of his early delivery wagons on this blog]. Ironically, Paul Miller's brother-in-law , Aaron Hasbrouck grew up on the farm as a ward of the Raynors. His bedroom was located in what would become the new kitchen of the house in later years. In the 1970s a visiting Raynor family member, who had long since moved away from the area, related that he accidently fired a 30/30rifle shell through the door of the room when he inhabited it; there seemed to be no signs of such a mishap and the doors had all likely been replaced in a remodel after that.
The future owner of the property, Paul Miller, grew up on a farm rented by his father and mother, Peter and Elizabeth Paffenroth Miller, on what was known for many years as the Parks Farm and is now the site of Pennings Orchards. The small farmhouse that remains at the beginning of the climb up Moe Mountain, as it was called, housed the elder Miller's thirteen children [Elizabeth Miller died in childbirth in 1936]. Paul, who was the first child and born in 1913, grew up literally in the shadows of that large dairy farm that he eventually would own after renting the Sanford Farm from 1938-1947, and before that he worked with his father-in-law Phillip Kiel on his farm in Little York from the time of his marriage to Emma Kiel in 1936 raising the first of his own herd of Holstein dairy cows.
In 1943, Fair Meade Farm was bought by Brooklynite Otto Nagel from the Raynors. Nagel, like others from the city found farms to purchase and run in nearby Orange County during the Second World War. Although the rationale for these purchases can never be fully verified some reputedly used farm ownership as a means to avoid the draft as farmers received a dispensation from military service as agriculture was a necessity both in peace and war. Nagel hired the Raynor's foreman to run the dairy for him.
In 1947, Paul Miller, partnering with his father-in-law, Philip Kiel, now a retired dairy farmer, purchased the farm from Nagel for 50,000 dollars. Kiel would eventually set up a produce stand ( constructed from a World War II surplus qounset hut purchased) on some of the farmland that would later become the site of Stan Meduski's Supermarket, Lloyd's, and, finally, Shop-Rite. Quickly, Miller set to work modernizing the farm. His wife Emma started the equivalent of one of today's bed and breakfasts offering home-made meals and lodging in the spacious 9 room house to tourists. According to legend, Tex Ridder and band members once stayed at the house on their way through the state.
Produce, meat, and dairy were all produced on the farm. The fieldstone walls that once divided the farm into small fields from a time of horse drawn implements were buried during Miller's tenure, and the farm fields were opened up for modern tractors and machinery. A cement block milkhouse with stainless steel fixtures and bulk tank were created and a glass pipe milking system installed in the large barn that dated from the mid-19th century. A modern barn cleaner was installed into the brick and concrete floor of the cow barn and an addition was built onto the earliest barn structure ground floor.
This early barn structure became the site for the young stock of Miller's purebred Holstein herd that eventually grew to 76 milking cows,but their were also numerous young stock housed on the farm and on the Ott Farm (located on the site of the present Old Brook Estates), leased for the purpose. The earliest barn structure of the Miller farm, which was attached to the later 19th century main barn and a roofed structure built by Miller off that main barn for the purpose of allowing the barn cleaner to empty manure to an awaiting manure spreader parked below, was likely built in the 18th century. This early date is evidenced by =the beams and large planks visible in the hay mow and exterior. Some of these were 24 inches wide or more. Seemingly, many of the original exterior boards were still in place when the enirety of the barns was recently razed.
In 1964, the year after paying off the entirety of his mortgage on the farm, and being a leading Orange County farmer and member of the New York State Dairymens' League, Paul Miller passed away at age 51. According to family legend, Paul Miller was posthumously awarded "Farmer of the Century" at the Warwick Centennial celebration in 1967. The dairy went to his son who continued the business until 1971. What remains of the farm remains in the ownership of Paul Miller, Jr. and Robert Schmick [ son of the late Cheryl [Miller] Schmick, 1944-2004 ] sometimes leased out to tenant farmers for hay and corn crops. Less than one third of the original farm remains having been sold for commercial development over the past 63 years.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Little York, Pine Island
The following came in an April 11, 2010 response to all the previous entries in this story entitled "Little York, Pine Island." My guess is that the author is actually a cousin of mine (my father's first cousin) [the response was sent anonymously], who I have likely never met, but this response identifies many of the people mentioned in the original inquiry regarding past owners of and relationships to a house located in Little York.
Because the "comment" was sent anonymously I have no way of responding, but if the person who sent the following sees this he/she can email me at: rpschmick1@aol.com. This past Tuesday I listened to a presentation about the history of the US Census. The fact is that the census results are only published some 70 years after the information is collected. The Church of the Latter Day Saints has taken on the task of digitilizing US Census information from 1880 on, so this is why this information can now be found on the Internet. I only learned this recently, so I plan on visiting some of the sources that this anonymous respondee has mentioned. I may add that the passage on the SS Bulgaria from Hamburg occurred in 1898. I had also believed, and perhaps wrongly, that "Conrad," brother of Johann had set out for the US many years before making his way to the Warwick area.
Hi,
I was reading your posting concerning the Schmick's of Pine Island. My grandfather was John (Johannes) and my grandmother was Catherine (Catherina).They went from Yagodnaya Polyana for Hamburg Germany. They left Germany on the SS Bulgaria with their four sons Alexander,Phillip, John, and Peter. Also traveling on the same ship was his brother Conrad his wife Maria (Mary) children Heinrich, Martin, Maria, their mother Maria, brothers Peter, Heinrich and sister Anna. On the Ellis Island web site their name is spelled SCHNICK. The written manifest from Hamburg looks like Schnick, but if you look closely it is Schmick.
They are buried in Little Brooklyn Cemetary. John died 1943, Catherine died 1956. Conrad died 1938 and Mary died 1945.
In 2002 my sister and I visited St. Paul's now Pine Island Bible Church, St. Peter's and the cemetery. I was not able to locate the farm my mother was raised on. I am surprised it is still in operation.
A lot information I found was on the Later Day of Saints web site. I went into the library and picked the films I wanted to view. Also Faith of Our Fathers by Susan M. Yungman is also on file. I was able to make a copy of it.
I would like to hear from you and maybe exchange some information.
Anonymous
Hello,
I was browsing the web tonight and came across your Warwick hometown blog after searching keywords "Little York". I own circa 1900 home on the road and have been diving into the local history of the house, Little York, & Pine Island. On your blog you have pictures of snowstorms on Little York and mentioned your grandfather owned a house there in the 1920's. I have old deeds to my home on Little York and were curious if they are also your relatives. Perhaps I have some information you would be interested in and you may have photos or information I would be interested in.
Here's what I have:
Deed from John W. Simpson to Conrod Schmick 1905
Deed from Conrod Schmick & Catherine Schmick to John Sirkable 1905
mentioning of John Schmick & Mary Schmick owning property in 1911
Deed from Peter Schmick & Elizabeth Schmick to Henry Gerlitz 1913
Are these also distant relatives? I have these deeds, then there is a gap and I have records from 1966 - 1980's. Is it possibly your grandfather lived in the house I own? Perhaps there are pictures or documents we could share?
.........................................................................................................................................................................
Dear …[Anonymous], Thanks very much for making the connection. I will have to work on tracking down the names and the connections but the Schmicks of Little York were all related in some way, and often related to the others of the area like the Schlagels, Paffenroths, Lufts,… etc. The fact is that they all immigrated from one of several small villages in the Volga River region of Russia ( around the city of Saratov, specifically) where there was a large settlement of ethnic Germans who actually immigrated to Russia as a group of some 60 families in 1763-4 from Germany near Frankfurt and many came from the town of Budingen, a medieval fortress town. Both sides of my family originated from this group. The pics I have of Little York are of my maternal grandmother's parents' farm---[Johann]Phillip and Katherine Schlagel Kiel. The farm and farmhouse looks the same as in the pics which date from the “Snowstorm of 1947 [ one that probably paled to Warwick’s latest snowstorm]; you probably recognize the farm because it is set back from the road. I recently saw that someone had arranged a quantity of glacial erratics near its roadside.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
I have many pics of that farm that I haven't posted. Among the names you include there is Conrad ( rather than “ Conrod” that appears on your document) Schmick. I believe he was one of the earliest to settle in the black dirt region. Often a family member came to the US, scouted out a region to settle, and eventual bought a small farm. Later, others from the same family, or extended family, followed them to the US and, ultimately, in this case, found their way to Little York in later decades. Conrad may have come as early as the 1870s. My great grandfather John ( or Johann) came to Little York in 1898 from Russia; he was not the Johann or “John” of your document; I know of another “John” in Little York of this time. But unlike Phillip Kiel, Johann Schmick came straight to Little York rather than worked elsewhere before finding his way to it. Schmick was in his 30s and Kiel was in his early teens when they made the journey to the US. Check the online records of St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Little York. I also remember reading that Conrad Schmick and Peter Miller ( there were many Peter Millers---one of my great grandfathers also had this name but not the same one paired with Conrad, were the first to take a loan from the Warwick Savings Bank in the 19th century. My great grandfather John [Johann] Schmick's wife's name was Katherine Schadt Schmick, as I recently learned. John had been a soldier in the Russian army in his youth; he immigrated in his early 30s with a large family which eventually grew to include 14 children, I believe. He had a farm in Edenville eventually, and that farm still is operating and is owned by the schlagels [ that circumstance may have changed?]. I have gotten much feedback from this blog, and the information is still evolving. I will send this on to a second cousin of mine whose father, I believe, was Peter Schmick ( maybe the same?), and the dates would match the time frame of his young adulthood.
Any chance of sending a scan of these documents with the names on them? FYI There is a cemetery next to the Pine Island Elementary School that has many of the Schmicks buried in it, and this, I believe, to have been a second parish of evangelical Lutherans in Little York, St.Paul’s. There is another cemetery, I believe, connected with St. Peter's in Little York village, but I have never visited it.You might find some of these names in your document in these two places. I will get back to you with what info. I can drum up. Sincerely, Bob
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Thanks for the information. I have never been to the cemetery next to Pine Island Elem, but have seen the one right on Little York. I would be very interested to see pictures of the Kiel farm/house... I'm not sure which one it is on the road, perhaps the house we are currently living in. I've checked the 1903 maps of Little York and saw that "C. Schmick" is listed as owned of multiple properties.
I'll see what I can do about scanning those deeds... it might take a week or so but I'll send them over to you. Can you e-mail a photo of the Kiel house? Thanks, hope to hear from you.
---[anonymous]
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Dear [anonymous],
Attached are some pics of the brick house and the barn without the later silo in front [ and i may add that there were many dairy farms at one time in this area, although it is known for produce. On the uplands of Little York, there were dairy farmers including Phillip Kiel, my great grandfather and my great uncle Henry ["Huck"] Miller whose farm burned and was located across from the location of the Kiel farm on County Rt. 1 . These [photos] may be in the late 1930s. The ……….. owned this house in the 70s right up until I left Warwick in the early 80s after graduating. …….was in my class. I have a hand crank door bell to the house some place and more pics, if this is your house. Bob
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Robert,
Thank you for sending those GREAT pictures so quickly!! I believe that house is on the corner of County Rt. 1 and Horseshoe Lane... my house is on Little York near the Lutheran Church. The house certainly is still there though there is quite a bit of foliage in front of it. I'll work on getting the deeds scanned for you and I would be curious if the former Schmick owners of my home are indeed your relatives.
---[anonymous]
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
The C. Shimck that Ryan is refering to might be Clarence Schmick who always lived in the Little York area. Helen Ernhaut might be able to put some insight into this ." Schmickie" as we called him , if still alive , would be 85 years old , or there abouts . Just a tidbit ! [ anonymous two ]
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Dear [anonymous]: I read back through our emails. I have shared these emails with other relations who have connected with me as a result of the blog. The Kiels ( Johann Phillip Kiel and wife Katherine Schlagel Kiel (1896-1965) who lived in that house were my great grandparents not my grandparents as you state in one email. I was only 2 or 3 when both of them passed away. And by the way I got those pics and many others from my great aunt … who still lives in Warwick and is 86 years old. She grew up in that brick house in Little York. Her father, Phillip Kiel lived from 1889-1966. He and his wife came to the US from Saratov, Russia both around the same time---1901--1902. I have copies of their Russian passports. They were ethnic Germans whose first language was German but Phillip spoke and wrote some Russian, I believe. I have his "Die Bibel" that he carried with him to the US, and he wrote his name in Cyrillic in this book. I have recorded all this family history in blank pages I had sewed into it when I had it rebound so getting more info. is my incentive and your inquiry and others often motivates me to learn and find out just a little bit more.
Phillip came to the US by himself in 1901-2; Katherine came with her parents and siblings; Phillip's older brother Heinrich or "Henry" had come to the US a few years before him. They left a sister, and perhaps other siblings?, back in Russia who were never heard from again when the 2nd World War broke out ( before that Phillip would send them care packages and received correspondence from them), so they were likely sent to Siberia and died there or were shot as many ethnic Germans in Russia were at this time. The ethnic Germans weren't very popular with the Russians during the war of course and whole villages with ethnic Germans were wiped out. Initially, when Phillip came to the US he worked delivering ice in Coney Island, Brooklyn, ( there's a pic of the ice wagon he worked on in the blog with him standing next to it, circa 1907) and eventually found his way to Little York with other Volga-Germans like himself.
I would guess the two brothers knew about this "Little York" enclave before they left Russia because most of the people of Little York came from Saratov and its environs.The older brother Henry Kiel bought a farm in Kinderhook, NY eventually, and Phillip eventually bought this farm in the pictures, but he was in his 30s or older by the time he could afford to buy it. He had worked at many jobs including a long stint with the Lehigh and Hudson Railroad / or the Central Railroad of New Jersey that used to run through Warwick. He sold the Little York farm sometime around the end of the 40s and moved to the village of Warwick and later built a new house on West Street Extension near the later middle school.
One of my relatives weighed in that "C. Schmick" might be Clarence Schmick, but I think that's not right. You have written "Conrod," and it was definitely "Conrad" because he was a prominent member of the community. There are records from St. Peter's Church in Little York online. You can find Conrad Schmick, the year he came to the US, how old he was, and his children etc. I believe. If you can't find it let me know.I have the url address recorded but it should come up in a google search. There have been history articles in past years in The Warwick Dispatch that mentioned “Conrad Schmick.” I will find something eventually for you. FYI there is a new historical society formed for your community, and they might have some information to share with you. I have some email addresses to connect with them as they have also found my blog out and contacted me. Sincerely, Bob
Because the "comment" was sent anonymously I have no way of responding, but if the person who sent the following sees this he/she can email me at: rpschmick1@aol.com. This past Tuesday I listened to a presentation about the history of the US Census. The fact is that the census results are only published some 70 years after the information is collected. The Church of the Latter Day Saints has taken on the task of digitilizing US Census information from 1880 on, so this is why this information can now be found on the Internet. I only learned this recently, so I plan on visiting some of the sources that this anonymous respondee has mentioned. I may add that the passage on the SS Bulgaria from Hamburg occurred in 1898. I had also believed, and perhaps wrongly, that "Conrad," brother of Johann had set out for the US many years before making his way to the Warwick area.
Hi,
I was reading your posting concerning the Schmick's of Pine Island. My grandfather was John (Johannes) and my grandmother was Catherine (Catherina).They went from Yagodnaya Polyana for Hamburg Germany. They left Germany on the SS Bulgaria with their four sons Alexander,Phillip, John, and Peter. Also traveling on the same ship was his brother Conrad his wife Maria (Mary) children Heinrich, Martin, Maria, their mother Maria, brothers Peter, Heinrich and sister Anna. On the Ellis Island web site their name is spelled SCHNICK. The written manifest from Hamburg looks like Schnick, but if you look closely it is Schmick.
They are buried in Little Brooklyn Cemetary. John died 1943, Catherine died 1956. Conrad died 1938 and Mary died 1945.
In 2002 my sister and I visited St. Paul's now Pine Island Bible Church, St. Peter's and the cemetery. I was not able to locate the farm my mother was raised on. I am surprised it is still in operation.
A lot information I found was on the Later Day of Saints web site. I went into the library and picked the films I wanted to view. Also Faith of Our Fathers by Susan M. Yungman is also on file. I was able to make a copy of it.
I would like to hear from you and maybe exchange some information.
Anonymous
Hello,
I was browsing the web tonight and came across your Warwick hometown blog after searching keywords "Little York". I own circa 1900 home on the road and have been diving into the local history of the house, Little York, & Pine Island. On your blog you have pictures of snowstorms on Little York and mentioned your grandfather owned a house there in the 1920's. I have old deeds to my home on Little York and were curious if they are also your relatives. Perhaps I have some information you would be interested in and you may have photos or information I would be interested in.
Here's what I have:
Deed from John W. Simpson to Conrod Schmick 1905
Deed from Conrod Schmick & Catherine Schmick to John Sirkable 1905
mentioning of John Schmick & Mary Schmick owning property in 1911
Deed from Peter Schmick & Elizabeth Schmick to Henry Gerlitz 1913
Are these also distant relatives? I have these deeds, then there is a gap and I have records from 1966 - 1980's. Is it possibly your grandfather lived in the house I own? Perhaps there are pictures or documents we could share?
.........................................................................................................................................................................
Dear …[Anonymous], Thanks very much for making the connection. I will have to work on tracking down the names and the connections but the Schmicks of Little York were all related in some way, and often related to the others of the area like the Schlagels, Paffenroths, Lufts,… etc. The fact is that they all immigrated from one of several small villages in the Volga River region of Russia ( around the city of Saratov, specifically) where there was a large settlement of ethnic Germans who actually immigrated to Russia as a group of some 60 families in 1763-4 from Germany near Frankfurt and many came from the town of Budingen, a medieval fortress town. Both sides of my family originated from this group. The pics I have of Little York are of my maternal grandmother's parents' farm---[Johann]Phillip and Katherine Schlagel Kiel. The farm and farmhouse looks the same as in the pics which date from the “Snowstorm of 1947 [ one that probably paled to Warwick’s latest snowstorm]; you probably recognize the farm because it is set back from the road. I recently saw that someone had arranged a quantity of glacial erratics near its roadside.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
I have many pics of that farm that I haven't posted. Among the names you include there is Conrad ( rather than “ Conrod” that appears on your document) Schmick. I believe he was one of the earliest to settle in the black dirt region. Often a family member came to the US, scouted out a region to settle, and eventual bought a small farm. Later, others from the same family, or extended family, followed them to the US and, ultimately, in this case, found their way to Little York in later decades. Conrad may have come as early as the 1870s. My great grandfather John ( or Johann) came to Little York in 1898 from Russia; he was not the Johann or “John” of your document; I know of another “John” in Little York of this time. But unlike Phillip Kiel, Johann Schmick came straight to Little York rather than worked elsewhere before finding his way to it. Schmick was in his 30s and Kiel was in his early teens when they made the journey to the US. Check the online records of St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Little York. I also remember reading that Conrad Schmick and Peter Miller ( there were many Peter Millers---one of my great grandfathers also had this name but not the same one paired with Conrad, were the first to take a loan from the Warwick Savings Bank in the 19th century. My great grandfather John [Johann] Schmick's wife's name was Katherine Schadt Schmick, as I recently learned. John had been a soldier in the Russian army in his youth; he immigrated in his early 30s with a large family which eventually grew to include 14 children, I believe. He had a farm in Edenville eventually, and that farm still is operating and is owned by the schlagels [ that circumstance may have changed?]. I have gotten much feedback from this blog, and the information is still evolving. I will send this on to a second cousin of mine whose father, I believe, was Peter Schmick ( maybe the same?), and the dates would match the time frame of his young adulthood.
Any chance of sending a scan of these documents with the names on them? FYI There is a cemetery next to the Pine Island Elementary School that has many of the Schmicks buried in it, and this, I believe, to have been a second parish of evangelical Lutherans in Little York, St.Paul’s. There is another cemetery, I believe, connected with St. Peter's in Little York village, but I have never visited it.You might find some of these names in your document in these two places. I will get back to you with what info. I can drum up. Sincerely, Bob
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Thanks for the information. I have never been to the cemetery next to Pine Island Elem, but have seen the one right on Little York. I would be very interested to see pictures of the Kiel farm/house... I'm not sure which one it is on the road, perhaps the house we are currently living in. I've checked the 1903 maps of Little York and saw that "C. Schmick" is listed as owned of multiple properties.
I'll see what I can do about scanning those deeds... it might take a week or so but I'll send them over to you. Can you e-mail a photo of the Kiel house? Thanks, hope to hear from you.
---[anonymous]
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Dear [anonymous],
Attached are some pics of the brick house and the barn without the later silo in front [ and i may add that there were many dairy farms at one time in this area, although it is known for produce. On the uplands of Little York, there were dairy farmers including Phillip Kiel, my great grandfather and my great uncle Henry ["Huck"] Miller whose farm burned and was located across from the location of the Kiel farm on County Rt. 1 . These [photos] may be in the late 1930s. The ……….. owned this house in the 70s right up until I left Warwick in the early 80s after graduating. …….was in my class. I have a hand crank door bell to the house some place and more pics, if this is your house. Bob
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Robert,
Thank you for sending those GREAT pictures so quickly!! I believe that house is on the corner of County Rt. 1 and Horseshoe Lane... my house is on Little York near the Lutheran Church. The house certainly is still there though there is quite a bit of foliage in front of it. I'll work on getting the deeds scanned for you and I would be curious if the former Schmick owners of my home are indeed your relatives.
---[anonymous]
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
The C. Shimck that Ryan is refering to might be Clarence Schmick who always lived in the Little York area. Helen Ernhaut might be able to put some insight into this ." Schmickie" as we called him , if still alive , would be 85 years old , or there abouts . Just a tidbit ! [ anonymous two ]
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Dear [anonymous]: I read back through our emails. I have shared these emails with other relations who have connected with me as a result of the blog. The Kiels ( Johann Phillip Kiel and wife Katherine Schlagel Kiel (1896-1965) who lived in that house were my great grandparents not my grandparents as you state in one email. I was only 2 or 3 when both of them passed away. And by the way I got those pics and many others from my great aunt … who still lives in Warwick and is 86 years old. She grew up in that brick house in Little York. Her father, Phillip Kiel lived from 1889-1966. He and his wife came to the US from Saratov, Russia both around the same time---1901--1902. I have copies of their Russian passports. They were ethnic Germans whose first language was German but Phillip spoke and wrote some Russian, I believe. I have his "Die Bibel" that he carried with him to the US, and he wrote his name in Cyrillic in this book. I have recorded all this family history in blank pages I had sewed into it when I had it rebound so getting more info. is my incentive and your inquiry and others often motivates me to learn and find out just a little bit more.
Phillip came to the US by himself in 1901-2; Katherine came with her parents and siblings; Phillip's older brother Heinrich or "Henry" had come to the US a few years before him. They left a sister, and perhaps other siblings?, back in Russia who were never heard from again when the 2nd World War broke out ( before that Phillip would send them care packages and received correspondence from them), so they were likely sent to Siberia and died there or were shot as many ethnic Germans in Russia were at this time. The ethnic Germans weren't very popular with the Russians during the war of course and whole villages with ethnic Germans were wiped out. Initially, when Phillip came to the US he worked delivering ice in Coney Island, Brooklyn, ( there's a pic of the ice wagon he worked on in the blog with him standing next to it, circa 1907) and eventually found his way to Little York with other Volga-Germans like himself.
I would guess the two brothers knew about this "Little York" enclave before they left Russia because most of the people of Little York came from Saratov and its environs.The older brother Henry Kiel bought a farm in Kinderhook, NY eventually, and Phillip eventually bought this farm in the pictures, but he was in his 30s or older by the time he could afford to buy it. He had worked at many jobs including a long stint with the Lehigh and Hudson Railroad / or the Central Railroad of New Jersey that used to run through Warwick. He sold the Little York farm sometime around the end of the 40s and moved to the village of Warwick and later built a new house on West Street Extension near the later middle school.
One of my relatives weighed in that "C. Schmick" might be Clarence Schmick, but I think that's not right. You have written "Conrod," and it was definitely "Conrad" because he was a prominent member of the community. There are records from St. Peter's Church in Little York online. You can find Conrad Schmick, the year he came to the US, how old he was, and his children etc. I believe. If you can't find it let me know.I have the url address recorded but it should come up in a google search. There have been history articles in past years in The Warwick Dispatch that mentioned “Conrad Schmick.” I will find something eventually for you. FYI there is a new historical society formed for your community, and they might have some information to share with you. I have some email addresses to connect with them as they have also found my blog out and contacted me. Sincerely, Bob
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