Frances Adair Clark

Several years ago, among a box of my grandfather's things dating from his early adulthood, I found a wallet containing a passel of photos of a young woman identified as "Frances." The photos include pictures of her and her friends at home, at Princeton, and at an unidentified college. The writing on the back of the photos suggests the young woman and my young grandfather had a fun and congenial acquaintance.

Recently, in a water-logged and crumbling box of my great-grandfather's correspondence that I pulled out from under the eaves of my granddad's garage, I found a Christmas card from Presbyterian missionary friends of my great-grandfather's who were stationed in Korea in the 1930s. The card contains a photo of the couple, Mary and Monroe Clark, seated in their living room and on the wall of the room is a photo of the same young woman who is in the photos in my grandfather's wallet: Frances Adair Clark.

 

From the Cincinnati Enquirer, 30 August 1931:

Rev. and Mrs. William Monroe Clark, returned missionaries from Korea, who arrived in the States several weeks ago, accompanied by Misses Frances and Jane Clark, who are passing the summer with their grandmother, Mrs. Theodore Hamilton, and their aunt, Mrs. Charles Doermann, at their cottage at Virginia Beach, Va., are the guests of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Settle (Carter Clark) for a few weeks before going to Princeton, N.J., where Rev. Clark will take a special course of study at Princeton University and Mrs. Clark will also take special training for the coming year. Miss Frances Clark will enter Converse College at Spartanburg, S.C., to continue her education. As yet it has not been definitely decided where Miss Jane, who is too young to enter college, will pursue her studies.

Times Union Brooklyn, 14 July 1935: Equinn Munkelwitz, of Collins Ave., is spending a week at Virginia Beach, Va., as the guest of Mrs. M.H. Doermann, of Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, and Miss Frances A. Clark of Seoul, Korea, Asia.

Cincinnati Enquirer, 24 June 1937: A lovely society function in Covington will be the marriage of Miss Frances Adair Clark, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. W.M. Clark of Korea, and Mr. William Munnell Equinn of New York at 8:30 o’clock Wednesday evening at the home of the bride’s aunt, Mrs. Charles Doermann, Fort Mitchell Heights, Fort Mitchell. Miss Clark, who was graduated last week from Mount Holyoke, is arriving in Fort Mitchell Saturday. Mr. Equinn, who has been attending the Medical School at Cornell University, also will arrive Saturday. They will be the guests of Mrs. Doermann and Miss Clark’s grandmother, Mrs. T. S. Hamilton until after the wedding. Miss Clark will have for her sister, Mrs Robert Settle, formerly Miss Carter Clark, of Hyde Park, Cincinnati, and for her bridesmaid her sister Miss Janie Clark, who has been attending Mount Holyoke this past year.

Cincinnati Enquirer, 01 July 1937: The wedding of Miss Frances Adair Clark and Mr. Equinn William Munnell was beautifully celebrated last night in the home of Mrs. Marguerite Doerrman, Fort Mitchell Heights, Fort Mitchell, aunt of the bride the couple plighted their troth before the alter arranged in front of the large windows in the south end of the living room, formed by a mass of huckleberry branches, smilax and ferns, against which stood tall baskets filled with white gladiolas with soft-glowing tapers at either side, that gave a churchly effect.

    

Harry T. Halsey

Photo of Harry T. Halsey found in an old Bible belonging to his sister Abigail Fithian Halsey, labeled “H. J. Halsey, Southampton, May 6, 189-”

L to R: Charles Henry Halsey (1830-1906), Edna Halsey Ruland (1874-1948, seated in front), Lizbeth Halsey White (1869-1932), Joanna Augusta "Aunt Gus" Terry Halsey (1845-1929), Harry T. Halsey (1864-1903), Jesse Halsey (1882-1954), Thomas Terry (1808-1892), and Abigail Fithian Halsey (1873-1946) likely taken sometime around 1889 following the deaths of Melvina Terry Halsey (1842-1887) and Wilman N. Halsey (1838-1889).

Melvina Dunreath Terry Halsey's entry in Lizbeth's autograph book, 1883.

Harry’s entry in his sister Lizbeth Halsey White’s autograph book, 1884.

Southampton Taxpayers Amazed at the Advance in Property Valuations

Furniture

This table belonged to my grandmother, Eliza Halsey, born in 1803. It was given to my grandfather, Captain Harry Halsey, born also at Watermill in 1803. My grandmother’s maiden name was also Halsey. They were married January 21, 1828. Grandfather and his two brothers, Jesse and Edward (grandfather of Frank Burnett) and his sister Elizabeth (grandmother of Marian O’Connor) were taken to New York by their widowed mother where the two boys learned the mason’s trade. Eventually they built many of the houses in Greenwich Village, in one of which on Grove Street (house still standing) my father, Charles Henry, was born October 10, 1830.

Grandfather built many of the stores on what is now Canal Street, then a development in the northern suburbs. One of these stores, built for “an old Dutchman,” so pleased the owner that he took Grandfather into his new furniture shop and told him to pick out a piece of furniture for his wife. This table was his selection. Then the “Dutchman” told him to pick another piece, and that little stand with the two drawers that “Babbie” left to Abbie (Van Allen) was selected. Then the “Dutchman” said “that is not enough, take something big,” and he pointed to the big mahogany bureau that now belongs to Ibbie (Elizabeth White Adams) and said, “how would you like that?” Then the three pieces were delivered to the house on Grove street while the “Dutchman” took Grandfather into a tobacconist’s shop and told him to pick out some cigars. Grandfather took two of his favorite brand and said “Thank you.” The “Dutchman” said, “Hold your hat,” and he dumped the contents of the box into the hat.

My father, Charles Henry, told me this story years ago.

--Jesse Halsey

Camp at Whalebone

Property owned by Jesse Halsey, Abigail Fithian Halsey, Lizbeth Halsey White at Whalebone Landing in 1903

Dec 1837 Jesse Halsey and wife Mary [Budd] give 2 acres at Whalebone to CH Halsey (b. 1830) 

The acreage is bordered by: N, Stephen Harris; E&S, David H. Rose (2 acres) [wife Mary Halsey is CHH’s sister]; W, Ed. W. Halsey [Jesse and Henry’s brother]. Charles's father, Henry Halsey, purchased 4 acres from his brother Edward W. Halsey's son (Ed. J Halsey) and this portion of approximately 6 acres was split between Lizbeth Halsey White and Abigail Fithian White.

In 1882, Elizabeth [Aunt Libby Halsey] Fowler gave her 6 acres to CHH (her three sons went to sea and never returned, Charles was her favorite nephew), and in 1903, CHH left the remaining 5 of those acres to Jesse Halsey. Nearby property is owned by the descendents of many of Henry Halsey's siblings, among others: E&S Wilmun Halsey (CHH's brother) heirs (Aunt Gus); Wm. S. Halsey; David Rose (wife, Mary was CHH's sister); W.S. Foster; J. Herrick; John J. Morgan; Theo. A. Halsey (related via Eliza Halsey, wife of Henry Halsey and daughter of Barzillai Halsey); Gladys Beckwith, and Elaine Beecham (Harris heirs).

Abigail Fithian Halsey | 1873-1946

Southampton Press

Friday, Sept. 27, 1946

Miss Abigail F. Halsey Dies Following A Short Illness

Miss Abigail Fithian Halsey, teacher and historian, widely-known for her production of historical pageants, and author of Southampton’s Tercentenary Pageant, passed away Tuesday afternoon after a short illness.

Born October 2^nd, 1873, the daughter of Charles Henry Halsey and Melvina Terry Halsey, she was a direct descendant of one of Southampton’s earliest families; her brother is the Rev. Jesse Halsey, D.D., professor of Pastoral Theology at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, for 28 years pastor of the Seventh Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati. She leaves, besides her brother, three nieces and three nephews: Mrs. Gerald Adams, Mrs. Joseph Haroutunian, Mrs. James Van Allen, Harry Halsey White, Commander Edward P. White, Charles H. Halsey.

Funeral services were held yesterday afternoon at 3:30 o’clock at her home, North Main Street.

***

A Distinguished Southamptoner

With the death of “Miss Abbie” as she was affectionately known by everyone, Southampton, where she has been a source of wise counsel in historical fields for over two decades, loses a splendid woman and a true “lady of the old school.” Her poise, kindliness and dignity marked her so. Though more of the old school she had kept abreast with the modern and this, with her sense of humor, endeared her to young and old alike among her host of friends.

She and her sister, the late Mrs. Edward P. White, who wrote under the pen name Lizbeth Halsey White, early recognized the richness of Southampton’s history and preserved its traditions for future generations in their writings.

Miss Halsey was especially well-known for her dramatic accomplishments as author and director of historical pageants. For her ability to in this field she was sought, not only by her home village, but by distant communities wishing to depict their historical background in pageantry. These included extension work through Cornell University where many up-State County Fairs featured pageants of local history done by their own people, rather than commercial entertainment. At the request of Governor Al Smith, Miss Halsey wrote and produced the Pageant at Kingston to mark the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the ratification of the Constitution.

Women's Community House | Ithaca, N.Y. | 1921

Educated at Newburgh (NY) girls school, New Paltz Normal and Columbia, Miss Halsey taught not only at Southampton, but in Westfield, N.J., at The Boy’s School, Haverford, Pa., the Northrup School in Minneapolis, and helped found the University School in Cincinnati. She founded the Community House at Ithaca, N.Y., which next week celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary (wheres he was to have been the guest of honor).

**4 August 1922 |Ogdensburg Republican-Journal

Abigail Fithian Halsey publishes Bulletin on Pageants with NY State College of Agriculture in Ithaca

A Bit of Local History Written by the Late W.S. Pelletreau

Record of the Ownership of the Triangle between Main Street and North Sea Road Southampton Press

The recent burning of the Dawson dwelling and barns recalls an article written by our esteemed historian, the late William S. Pelletreau

--> [1840-1918], and published in the PRESS in May, 1917. The article has much value and interest to all living in that section of the village and is reprinted by request.

In old times, long before the Revolution, the entire triangle between the Main street and the North Sea road was owned by Abner Howell. He was the son of Col. Josiah Howell, and was a man of importance in his day and time. A small, brown tombstone tells us that Mr. Abner Howell died Sept. 16, 1775 in the 76^th year of his age. About 1750 he gave his son, Phineas Howell, the lot where John Cavanagh now lives, and he built a house upon it which was standing in our boyhood days. At the same time there was another house exactly like it and this was owned by Mr. Peter Fournier and was where the Commercial House now stands. They were not only exactly alike in other respects but there was a peculiar style to the chimneys which attracted our attention. Both of these houses were torn down about 1849. Abner Howell seems to have divided the entire triangle between his two sons, Phineas and David, and Phineas had the north part and David Howell had the south portion. In 1788 Phineas Howell sold east part to Annanias Halsey and went to what was the “Western Country” and settled in the town of Tully, in what is now Onondaga County, New York, and he died there at a very advanced age. Annanias Halsey was the father of a family that had been prominent in Southampton. His son, Uriah Halsey, lived on the place now owned by Mrs. Wilmun Halsey and had two daughters. One married John Sherry of Sag Harbor and the other married Capt. Crowell of the same place.

Another son of Annanias was Eli P. Halsey, who was the father Edwin P. Halsey, who lived in the old house, next north of Herrick’s store.

Another daughter married Col. Samuel hunting, whose wealth has been of benefit to many families. Another daughter, Mary (or Polly, as she was generally called) married Mr. Daniel Fordham, whose descendants are numerous and well known. Another daughter, Susan (commonly known in our boyhood days as Aunt Susan Halsey) lived and died unmarried in a little old house that stood just north of Capt. Daniel Jagger’s house, now Mr. Donnelly’s. After her death the house was sold by Capt. Jagger to David Terry, who moved it to Tuckahoe where it still remains.

The part of the lot sold to Annanias Halsey was in later years sold to Capt. Harry Halsey, who is well remembered. The part where the little house stood is now owned by Miss Abigail Halsey, and the homestead by the Rev. Jesse Halsey. The old house and lot of Phineas Howell was sold by him to Ebenezr Jagger in 1772. He had a tan yard on the premises, and was the great-grandfather of Mr. Hubert Jagger. In later years the house and lot belonged to Mr. Aja Halsey, who tore down the old house and built a new one and which, after passing through several hands now belongs to John Cavanagh.

We may add that Abner Howell did not live on that tract. His home lot, which was that of his father’s before him, was where Mr. Livingston Bowden now lives. He was the village blacksmith and the relics of his shop were plainly visible some years ago, when the road was ploughed up on Bowden Square.

The south part of the triangle was given by Abner Howell to his son, David Howell, who built a house upon it about 1750. In 1770, the main street of Southampton was surveyed from the beach to the road at Long Springs and David Howell’s house is there mentioned. Like most houses of that time it was built on the line of the street. The present door yard has been taken in from the highway but no one is any the worse for it. David Howell was a silversmith and learned his trade from Capt. Elias Pelletreau. We have seen spoons made by him and stamped with his name. On May 10^th, 1782, David Howell sold his house and lot to Col. Josiah Smith of Moriches for £400, or $2,00. As the lot included what is now Mr. Donnelly’s property, it is worth as much today. What became of David Howell we do not know but he may have gone West like his brother. Colonel Josiah Smith bought this place for his daughter Hannah, who married Elias Pelletreau, and they lived there many years keeping a store, which did a large business for those days. Flax was a staple article and was raised in large quantities and taken in trade but times have changed and there has not been an ounce of flax raised in Southampton for nearly 100 years. We may as well mention that another article of extensive sales was West India rum. In the latter part of his life Elias Pelletreau purchased a large farm at the south end of the village, with a house still standing and well known as the Hollyhocks.

After the death of Elias Pelletreau, the David Howell, house and lot was sold to Benjamin Howell and after passing through one or two hands it came into possession of Capt. Austin Herrick and is now owned by his descendents who are well known to us all. The house which still remains, was built originally after the standard style of those times, with a long sloping roof on one side, but at some later period it was changed, and by making gambrel roof with dormer windows, it was made practically a two-story house. In old times, when land was cheap, houses were built large on the ground, the upper part was a necessary evil, and it was not necessary to put one house on another. It has stood the storms of more than 160 years and will outlast many of the flashy houses of the present time.

The person who sees Mr. Dawson’s place would hardly believe that it is a hundred years old. So much has been added that it looks like a new house, but the original house has passed its 100^th mark long years ago, and hereby hangs a tale.

In the early part of the last century, the farm at the north end, now owned by Mr. James E. Foster, was the homestead of John Bishop and his wife Jerusha, both models of short-sighted penuriousness. The story goes, and we have heard it repeated by those who evidently believed it, that they were left this farm and much other land, with the condition that they were to support two maiden sisters until their death or marriage. They seem to have been well convinced that the former would happen first and they might have to wait a long time for that, and they worried about certain sharp individuals, and there were sharp people even in those virtuous days, and they were Squire William Herrick, Rufus Sayre, and Joel Jacobs, made them the offer to take the girls off their hands and support them until they were dead or married, in exchange for their farm and some other lands, among which we believe was a lot at Halsey’s neck, now owned by Edward. H. Foster, Esq. They accepted the offer and congratulated themselves on their grand stroke of luck. One of the characters in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” says, “Gals is mighty on certain things. If you think they have gone one way they are sure to be gone the other.” With that perversity, so peculiar to the female sex, these girls, who were expected never to marry, were both married within a year. The Bishops then repented in sackcloth and ashes, that they had parted with their land so easily. The house on the farm was sold to Paul Sayre, the grandfather of our well-known townsman, Mr. Rufus Sayre, and he moved it to its present site where he purchased a small piece of land of the proprietors. This is the 100^th anniversary of its moving and it is certain that it was of some age at the time. Here Paul Sayre lived and died, and his daughter, Miss Nancy Sayre, with a sister lived there within our recollection.

As for the Bishops’ story we hardly know what to say. There are some things which make us doubt it, but as the Italian saying is, “If it is not true, it is well made up.”

The Jesse Halsey Manuscript Collection. Special Collections, Princeton Theological Seminary Library. 

"My father used to sit and read the dictionary by the hour."

My father used to sit and read the dictionary by the hour. As a boy I could never understand it, but I do now. He was one of the original subscribers of the Standard Dictionary, paying five dollars in advance and when it was impossible to publish at that price sending in the second five. As I say, he used to read it by the hour. I never learned the dia-critical marking, new style, and have always stuck to a Webster. In college days my roommate talked me into buying a Standard. This I did, floundered around with the pronunciation and wished I had a Webster. At the same time the president of our college, Woodrow Wilson, had bought a Webster. This he did not like, wanting a Standard. He mentioned the fact one day in a preceptorial division and I offered to exchange. We made an even trade, as I remember. This was in 1908. I have often wondered if his war speeches were abetted by my dictionary. His, I used, up ‘til 1918 when it was stolen out of my study. I hope the appropriator found Mr. Wilson’s name in it, ‘though I doubt if that was the reason it was taken. For a long time I have coveted the Oxford Dictionary, the big one, but the price was prohibitive. When in came down to within my reach I happened to read Billy Phelps who says it’s pedantic for an individual to want it so I have up my ambition and not very long ago became the proud possessor of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, known in England as the S.O.E.D. I am sure that if my father had had this he would have read nothing else, for the history of each word is traced, and dated. So many many words came into the language, I find in the decade following 1600. This, however, is more or less of a teaser. Someday I am going to have the big one. This just starts you off on a hunt, and then you go to the library to look up the full genealogy of your word. Today, I wrote an appreciative review of a friend’s book, saying something like this—“He weighs with a just balance. It is in the main however, Troy rather than avoirdupois,” thinking that I had paid him a fine compliment indicating the scrupulous discerning quality of his observation. I turned up Troy, however, in the Oxford and found to my consternation, having mailed my manuscript, something like this—B. fig. In allusion to the pound Troy being less than the pound avoirdupois 1599, “There was Cresid and Nell was avoirdupois 1599.” My friend wrote back in high dudgeon that I had done despite to his volume. Why the magazine editor didn’t catch it I do not know, apparently he was no wiser than I.

--Jesse Halsey

Dr. John Nugent, Sr. | Obituary

The East Hampton Star | January 20, 1944

"Mother had died, quite young, when boy was five or less; father lived ever under its shadow; older sisters always thought that if father had been less stubborn (loyal) and had the new doctor who had come fresh from Ann Arbor and never lost a case of pneumonia, likely mother would have lived--who knows." --from "Hatchment" by Jesse Halsey

Blue Blood

Melvina Dunreath Terry [of Terrytown] married Charles Halsey [of Southampton], Melvina's sister, Joanna Augusta Terry married Charles's brother Wilmun Halsey [of Southampton], Melvina's brother, Thomas Reuben Terry, married Josephine Adelaide Terry and had Adelaide Terry who married W. G. Corwin [of Southampton], Melvina's sister Susan Alma Terry married George Kinsey, and Melvina's other sister Amanda LaCost Terry married Sylvester Ruland. Joanna Augusta Terry and Wilmun Halsey had one daughter, Edna Halsey. Amanda LaCost Terry and Sylvester Ruland had five children: Augustus, Phebe, Leroy, Melvina [Vinie], and Chester. Their son, Leroy Ruland, married Edna Halsey, his first cousin, [of Southampton].

Radio Audience (biographical play)

by Abigail Fithian Halsey | c1934

 

“Up early this morning, Aunt Marcia,” the young girl spoke.

Aunt Marcia, her shoulder shawl pinned tightly this cold morning turned from the radio. Her face was all alight.

“What is it, Auntie?” said the girl surprised. “You look as tho you’d seen a vision.”

“Seen and heard,” the older woman said, then stopped awhile. “My brother, on the radio, I’ve heard his voice at last.”

“Oh, really, Auntie, when?”

“Just now,” Aunt Marcia paused, the wonder still too great. “He’s out in Colorado, I am here. We’ve never heard him way off here before, never could get him someway, tho I know he speaks. No need to drive the lazy foot this morning, my mind, too, that was wide awake. John set the dial for me when he went to bed, at seven-thirty, I was listening in, and when the time came—why it seemed that I would never get his voice. Jazz there was, and some one singing ould, and then above the rest was ONE-TWO-THREE and ONE-TWO-THREE, that morning exercise, MY BROTHER, his own voice. His well-loved voice, I’d know it ‘cross the sea.”

“How proud his father’d be, his dad who never wanted him to preach, but keep a store or run a farm like all the rest. But no, Dave had ambition—and love, too, love for all.”

“And Mother, then I thought of her—his little mother who had tired too soon and had to leave his childhood to us girls, who didn’t know so well as she the way to care for little boys.”

“But sister Lyd, she was eighteen, she took the baby in her care and brought him up as well as sisters can. If she were here how proud she’d be, how proud she was all through the years when he was growin’ up. And when he preached in the old church first time, his mother couldn’t have been much prouder than dear sister Lyd.”

“And his Aunt Gene, oh dear, how I go on—they’re all gone, all gone, and I alone am left.”

“And then I thought—it came just like a flash—there’s none of them, not one, that NEEDS to hear like this, with mortal ears like me. They always hear, by ways divine, O GOD, the wonder—and the joy.”

“I heard his prayer. I heard him say, ‘Shine on our sorrow, Father, in the light of thy faith, Shine on our broken hopes in the light of thy joy.’ O Brother, Little Brother, we are listening, all, yes, all of us, or here or there—what the matter? Gift divine that man has found, has found at last the way devised by God so long ago.”

“The jazz cut in. I couldn’t hear him now, I thought I’d lost him and I almost snapped the dial off, but no, ‘twas here, the well-loved voice, right in the room, beside me, and I heard, above the jazz, above the strident sounds. Above the interminable ONE-TWO-, ONE-TWO-THREE, I heard his voice, these words, just these, ‘And someway God comes through.’”

from "Among the Deep Sea Fishers" | July 1912

St. Anthony Items

March 1^st, 1912

Dear Mr. Editor,

Our chief is away. We get occasional hurried glimpses of his activities by letter, but we wish he were here. However it can’t be helped so we have to do the best we can without him. This is the first day of spring and I am writing a few of our doings through the winter to try and interest those interested in us. It does not seem much like spring, as the poets describe it. The mail has just arrived and it has taken the mail man with his team of dogs five days to bring it on its last relay of eighteen miles for it has been blowing north-east and “dirty.”

. . .The fuel problem gets more and more difficult as the wood gets cut out so that this winter the people found it impossible to keep their own fires going and provide ten sticks for each child for the school. We had therefore to close the school and divide the children between a big room at the orphanage and the lower ward at the hospital, both of which buildings, thanks to Mr. Halsey, are now steam heated. In this ward at the hospital also is held the night school five evenings a week, where Mr. Halsey, Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Fallon teach. I meant to say that Mr. Fallon also came on the last boat.  . . .Mr. Evans has had complete charge of the reindeer; has not only made trips and proved their speed in travelling under adverse conditions, but has taken charge of and driven our second dog team, doing much hauling and courier service.

Helen I. Halsey with Charles Henry

Mr. Halsey has been our general manager and overseer and besides his night school, holding services and preaching has generally had his coat off to help along some job or do a kindness to whoever comes within his radius. Mrs. Halsey takes care of the music in church and out, giving music lessons in her spare time and at present is mother two infants besides her own Charles Henry, while their mother has a much needed rest in the hospital.  . . . Mrs. Little took on the new job ob teaching me this winter instead of sixty children and I guess wishes she was “back on the old job.” Modesty forbids me to talk about myself. Too bad!

We are a happy busy family and only wish we had more of the friends and workers of the mission along with us to enjoy the winter. . .

This has proved a very vague outline of our winter’s doings. The life is so different from that at home that it is difficult to describe, but I shall have failed utterly if my readers do not understand that the mission is trying to teach Christ’s love through service in many forms and that its members are tasting the happiness that comes in doing it.

John M. Little, Jr.

On Building a House

By Jesse Halsey c1929

Mr. Hoover says that building a house, under modern conditions in America, is as difficult as negotiating a foreign treaty. Having gone into Russia and Poland on diplomatic errands during the way for the State Department, I agree.

I had been having miserable headaches. “No cure;” “Vacuum;”“Inherited;” “Grin and bear it;” said a procession of doctors. But from one,“Exercise and serum.”

The inoculations each morning at the hospital made me more miserable than ever, and work in the study became impossible. I don’t like golf, so I bought some backlots at the topnotch prices of three years ago and, after the morning visit to the hospital, would get into overalls and go to gardening in these lots five miles from where I live.

Summer was coming on. I have two boys in their late teenswith some practical ability. They wanted exercise, but don’t like gardening.

I neglected to say that I am a preacher, in a church in the quarter of our city considered fashionable. But, having been a missionary with some responsibilities for business and building enterprises, I am not altogether ignorant of construction, and the problems connected with building. Having grown up on a farm, the use of a saw, axe, shovel, pipe threading tools, and a soldering iron has for a long time been in my equipment, though seldom useful in the sort of parish that I now serve.

I needed more violent exercise to combat the ‘misery’induced by the serum, and a job for the boys, so we set out to build a house on one of our vacant lots. My more or less crude sketches an architect friend put into drawings that would be intelligible at the City Hall; and then we started.

First, a road had to be built. Just where our lots began the street ended abruptly, in a great gully. At the City Hall I found that a level had never been established and, though a sewer ran down through the property (later I found it wasn’t paid for), no street grade had been set and, in fact, there was question whether the road had ever been dedicated. A village had been annexed by the city and no record remained of the village ever having accepted our part of the road! So I went to a lawyer friend, whose first judgment indicated action by City Council. Having served on the Mayor’s campaign committee (non-partisan ticket), I felt free to take minutes of his official time, I was directed to the councilman who had the major responsibility for roads and sewers. After two appointments, broken by him, I caught him and ‘he would see what could be done.’

Water must be introduced so I started that process. The City Manager, a member of my congregation, said he had no jurisdiction. To the superintendent of the water works I went. He turned me over to a deputy, an old Scotchman, who, when he found I had studied theology in Edinburgh, was my sworn friend and guide.

And I needed one, for we found that there wasn’t a main pipe line within five hundred feet of our property, and that each of the houses on that main portion of our road had a separate small pipe line five or six hundred feet in length.

The ruling is that no new small lines should be put in, but there was no way to make the houses that now had water from their small privately owned lines pay for putting in a main line that would lead to the beginning of our lots. This also entailed village annexation. It meant that the entire cost of an eight inch main from the nearest street, six hundred feet away, must be paid by us and that, when it was in the houses on the upper part of the street, must be connected to this main at my expense. It seemed hopeless; the cost was twice the price of the lots!

The Mayor, the Manager, the Councilman, the lawyer—several calls on each—but at length my Scottish friend found a way for the superintendent to order the line carried to the beginning of our new street (if we had one).

In the City Surveyor’s office, while I studied the maps of the erstwhile village, I found a middle-aged engineer, who told me that his first job as a cub was surveying my road. He would set the grades. This was a real help, for his chief, the City Engineer, had failed to keep an appointment on the site (it wasn’t on the map and he couldn’t find the place).

So, one night after hours the ex-surveyor ran the grades across our gully, set the curb line and got his chief’s approval and O.K. When I offered to pay him, he said he wanted nothing but, if I was willing to trade work, he would ask me to do something for him. I was willing. He wanted me to marry him to another; which I did some weeks later! And, so far as I know, they have lived happily ever since.

But my house was not so easily negotiated. With the water in and the grade set, we began to fill. School was out, my boys spent most of their days at the job, and I gave the mornings to the hospital shot and the garden, the City Hall and the road.

Load after load of filler was required. A friend who wrecks old buildings gave me, for the hauling, many loads of old brickbats and, with these, we started to fill the almost bottomless pit.

The dust was terrible and one of the neighbors threatened to sue. We got a hose and the older boy finally got a barrel of crude oil and sprinkled over the debris before it was shifted and leveled to grade. Even then the dust and lime went up like a cloud of smoke.

49 No. Main | 1891

The Old Halsey House
April 23, 1891

"Grandfather, with his two brothers, had been apprenticed to a mason in New York City, where they built many of the buildings in Greenwich Village and on Canal Street. Some of these are still standing; one on Grove Street has the identical trim and fireplace and mantle as that in our Southampton house which grandfather acquired when business reverses in 1832 drove him back to the country. He bought a farm, with the help of an unpopular brother-in-law, and rebuilt an old house Cape Cod style. I am told (or was told) that my mother used to say that if she ever built a house, even though it was no bigger than a pepper box, it would have two stories. The ceilings were (and are) low, the doorways more so, and upstairs in only half of a room can one stand upright. Dormer windows have corrected this to some extent but added little to the exterior appearance of the house. Forty years ago I raised up the old lean-to kitchen and superimposed another storey with a gambrel roof so that the house is now half Dutch and half English—like historical-geographic Long Island itself." --Jesse Halsey

In 1891, the residents of 49 N. would have been: Charles, son Harry, daughter Abigail, and son Jesse Halsey--as Charles's wife, Melvina, had died about five years earlier. His eldest daughter, Lizbeth Halsey Post, was already married. In addition, Melvina's sister, Augusta Terry Halsey, and her daughter, Edna, became a de facto part of the household in 1889 after Wilman Halsey (Charles's brother and 'Aunt Gussie's' husband) died, although they continued to live across the street in the Halsey/Ruland/Honnet home. In addition, Harry married Ida Pettet at some point during these years. My best guess on this photos is that the child on the fence post is Jesse (age 10), the two men leaning on the fence on either side of him are his father Charles and his brother Harry, the woman in the center is likely Aunt Augusta, and the two younger women in the back, Lizbeth and Abigail (though one or the other might also be Edna or Ida).

Photo courtesy collection of Con Crowley.

"He . . . had his reason only at intervals."

C. H. Halsey to Samuel McCorkle

October 8^th, 1861

Southampton

Dear Sir

I now sit down to write you a few lines to inform you of my health which is good at this time, hoping this may find you enjoing the same great blessing. I received your last letters which was dated July 25^th in due time, and was glad to hear of your good health and that of your crew. I am now looking every day for a letter from you on your arrival at St Helena and hope you may have been successful in taking some of those large sperm Whales which are sometimes taken on that ground. I hope you may have received those letters which was sent by the way of England to St Helena, on your arrival at that port. I think we mailed them in February. It was but a short time after that my dear Brother Jesse was taken sick with Bilious Intermittent Fever, and died after a short illness of 8 days. He had taken a hard cold some too weeks before, but thought he was much better even the day before he was taken down to his bed. He was handled very severly [sic] and had his reason only at intervals. You Dear Sir can better imagine than I can describe our feelings as we stood around his dying bed and saw his eyes close in death, Methinks I see him now as he reaches out his hand and calls Mother Father. You to have lost Brothers and a dear Father and know by experience the feelings of those who mourn the loss of dear departed friends. I feel assured of your ready sympathy and it affords us much consolation to think he was with us and that all was done for him that could be both in Medical attendance and nursing to save life. God has in his Providence seen fit to sumon [sic] him, perhaps from the end to come, and we hope although his body lies moulding in the dust his spirit is now singing the praises above. He was indeed a lovely youth, beloved by all who knew him and I need not tell you how much we miss him, at the family alter, at the table, on the farm there is an empty seat, a vacant place. God has said he does not afflict willingly but that it is for our good that we may profit thereby.

Our hearts were made glad by the safe return again of our dear Brother Willie on the 18^th of August last. He is very well and thinks to go up to N. York with uncle Edward tomorrow. Father’s health is somewhat better than it was last spring, when he was very unwell and I was afraid [sic] he would never be much better.

Your Brother Robert has gone out to Pikes Peak and I have not heard from him since he left. I am very anxious to hear how he stood the journey and of his health. I hope it may have improved but it seems like a great undertaking for one to go so far and that to with a team. Father and Mother wrote to your Mother a few days ago and informed them of this opportunity to send letters. I received one last eve directed to you and shall send it in care Mr. S. P. Reeves. Mr. Phillips still occupies the House—and has been punctual in paying the rent. He was making enquiries a few days ago what you intended to do when you go home. I told him I could not tell until I had heard from you. I have fenced off six acres in the east Lot joining the pasture Lot in Sabboick Lane and hired it out on Town Meeting day for pasture for $21.50, West Lot $16.25, Barn Lot $8.25. The mowing grass which was sold 25^th of June last amounts to the sum of $57.18. I am in hopes to have some money to send to your Mother this Fall if Mr Lincoln does not take it all to carry on the war. The taxes will probably be very high this fall on account of the $150,000,000 loan which you and I have got to dig and delve to pay. There is a certain class who love or whose object it is to free the Blacks South only to make slaves of us, for I consider that slavery enough to be burdened to death with taxation and this question has been the sole cause of the present state of things. I hold to maintaining the Government but I want it done on Constitutional grounds, that is—give the South her rights as they are under the constituion. There is now about 400,000 men drawn up against each other, in nearly equal numbers in and around Washington and it is said that a struggle between these immence [sic] armies cannot long be postponed. James Post has joined a regiment and expects to go on to Washington when called for. He has been home to bid his friends Good bye. Charley Bishop is agoing [sic] in one of the Gun Boats on the Mississippi. I recieved [sic] a letter from Charley Fowler dated St Helena July 25^th I thought to have recieved [sic] one from you but I supose [sic] you have anumber [sic] to write and could not get time. I hope you will write however before you leave port and let me know when you expect to be home and what you wish me to do about hireing [sic] out the pasture land &c. If you should get home by the first of April you could attend to that your self; if you do not I shall not hire out the Barn Lot as you may wan tto use it your self. Good Luck Much Love Good Bye

Yours as Ever

Chas H Halsey

P. S. Your secret is safe as is my slave as yet.

From Incident on the Bark Columbia: Being Letters Received & Sent by Captain McCorkle and the Crew of his Whaler, 1860-1862; ed. Helen Halsey, New Haven, April 27, 1941; The Cummington Press, Cummington, MA. 

List of Southampton Folks Influential to Jesse

from the folder marked "HALSEY AUTOBIOGRAPHY Carbons," this half page of notes reads:

Ed Foster – Natural Prayer

Miss Mallory – Cheating Boy

Frank Corwith – Fold Paper

Pop Johnson – Black Shoes

Madison - Boy like that.

Jen Baird- Ella Bennett

Father and 46 Psalm

Dr. Campbell – Leave it there

Wilson – Any other way

Edgar Hildreth

M Jagger-

Lil Halsey

Chas Foster – Pro Bono Publico

Encouragement – M. Jagger

Chas A. Jagger

Wm H Pierson

M. A Herrick – Thank God; best part of Education

Warren Hildreth – Don’t you think you ought to?

Honesty. Encouragement –

Abigail and Book – Poetry

Last Will and Testament | Charles H. Halsey | 1906

Last Will and Testament | Charles H. Halsey

I, Charles H. Halsey, widower; a resident of the Town of Southampton, in the county of Suffolk and State of New York, being of sound mind and memory, do make, publish and declare this my last Will and Testament in manner following, that is to say:

First. I direct that all my just debts and funeral expenses be paid.

Second. I give, bequeath and devise to my son Jesse Halsey my Homestead, situate on the west side of Main Street, Village of Southampton, N.Y.; north of the property of the late Daniel Jagger, Decd., and the farm utensils, grain, stock and all the appliances of the place. Also various tracts of land, viz;

A lot situated on the west side of the North Sea Road, in this village south of the Railroad, of about twenty-five acres, more or less, two tracts of land on the northerly side of the Railroad, this village; One tract is bounded north by land of Samuel Bishop, east by land of Ira W. Skinner and south by land of Frank H. and Wm. Aldrich, containing about five and five sixth acres. The second tract is bounded north by land owned or occupied by Joseph Wood, east by estate of D. S. Havens, decd., and south by land of U.R. Havens (formerly Elizabeth Fowler’s land).

My Camp Pond Lot, in the North Woods, bounded north by land of Stephen Haynes, decd., east by land of Edward J. Halsey; south by land of A.M. Cook; and west by land formerly of Jesse Halsey, decd.

A wood lot adjoining the Twelve Acres, bounded north and south by land of the heirs of Stephen Sayre; east by land of Henry Post and George F. Edwards, west by land of J.W.F. Howell and heirs or legatees of Franklin Jagger decd.

My Sandy Hollow Lot, bounded north by the estate of E.E. Hubbard, east by the highway, south by the Sebonac Road, and west by land of the estate of Geo. Woldman.

A lot of about ten acres, in the north woods, that I bought of E. Post, bounded north by H. H. Post, east by the Parsonage land, south by Wm. R. Penny and west by F. W. Cook.

A lot near Millstone Brook, in lot #51, bounded north, east, and west by Valentine Schenck, west by the road.

Two tracts of land near the Methodist Camp; one is bounded north by Edward J. Halsey and Everett Halsey, east and west by D. H. Rose. The other tract is bounded north by the heirs of Samuel Halsey, east by Edward J. Halsey, south by D. H. Rose and west by James Pierson.

I also give to my son, Jesse Halsey, the box that was my father’s and the small boxes containing paper, all that is in the bureau in my bedroom and the contents of the boxes therein, the bedstead and bedding and all that is in my room that belongs to me at my death.

I make my son Jesse my sold residuary legatee of any and all remainder of my property or effects of any kind or character, after all the gifts and legacies named in this instrument are paid and disposed of.

Third. I give to my daughter, Elizabeth M. White, the bureau that was my mother’s, the Organ and Stand, one half of my silver and one half of what remains of her mother’s not otherwise disposed of (she dividing equally with her sister Abigail), and the sum of Seven Hundred dollars.

Fourth. I give to my daughter, Abigail F. Halsey, the furniture in the east champer of my present dwelling house, also a home in said house as long as she remains unmarried, and the large looking glass, and equally with her sister Elizabeth, one half of my silver and one half of the undivided property that was her mother’s, and the sum of Seven Hundred Dollars.

Fifth. I give to my sister in law, Mrs. J. Augusta Halsey, the sum of one hundred dollars, to be paid out of my personal estate.

Sixth. I give to my niece, Edna A. Halsey and Mary Cross, the sum of twenty-five dollars each.

North End Graveyard, Southampton, Graves of Henry and Eliza Halsey and their children Amanda, Mary Rose, and Jesse

Seventh. I give the Southampton Cemetery Association of the village of Southampton, the sum of fifty dollars, the income from the same to be used for the care of my lot in said Cemetery, viz: Lot 1, Block 22 at the discretion of and under the direction of the Trustees of said Cemetery Association. I also give a further sum of fifty dollar to said Association, to be used, or as much thereof as may be needed for the removal of the remains of my father, mother, brother, and two sisters from the old ground onto my before mentioned lot in the new cemetery of said association, or the interest thereof to be used for the care of the plot in the old cemetery as my children may deem advisable: i.e., my children at my decease are to say whether the remains named shall be removed or cared for where they are.

Lastly, I hereby appoint my son Jesse Halsey and my friend Edward H. Foster executor of this, my last Will and Testament; hereby revoking all former wills by me made.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name the 19^th day of April, in the year One thousand nine hundred and six (1906).

CHARLES H. HALSEY

Attestation Clause

Albert J. Post

Hubert A. White

Probated Sept. 19, 1906.

The Last Will and Testament of Harry T. Halsey | October 31, 1903

On this 7^th day of October in the year 1903 . . .

The Petition of Ida P. Halsey of the town of Southampton in the County of Suffolk, N.Y., respectfully showeth that Harry T. Halsey of the town of Southampton in said County departed this life at his residence in said town of Southampton on or about the 30ths day of September 1903 leaving a last Will And Testament dated July 25, 1902, and a codicil there dated September 5, 1903, relating to both real and personal property and in which your petition is named as Executrix. That the said deceased left his surviving a widow your petitioner. Your petitioner further states the widow, all the heirs, all the next of kin of said deceased, testator, together with their residence and degree of relationship are as follows, to with:

Your petitioner: Ida P. Halsey, widow

Charles H. Halsey, father

Jesse Halsey, brother

Elizabeth White, sister

Abigail Halsey, sister

We Jesse Halsey, Charles H. Halsey, Elizabeth White, [Abigail F. Halsey in separate document from State of Pennsylvania, County of Montgomery] the undersigned, being full age, and heir and next of kin of Harry T. Halsey deceased, named in the petition herein do hereby appear in person and waive the issuance and service of a citation in the above entitled matter and consent that the last Will and Testament and codicil thereby of said Harry D. Halsey deceased bearing date July 24, 1902 and September 3, 1903 respectively be admitted to probate forthwith.

*

Be it Remembered, That on this 7^th day of November in the year one thousand nine hundred and three before Nathan O. Petty, Clerk of the Surrogate’s Court of said County, personally appeared Edward P. White who being by the said Clerk duly sworn and examined, says: I was well acquainted with Harry T. Halsey, deceased, bearing date the 25^th day of July in the year one thousand nine hundred and two; that such subscription was made by the said Testator in my presence and in the presence of Edward H. Foster and William R. Halsey the other subscribing witnesses that the said Testator at the same time declared the instrument so subscribed by him to be his Last Will and Testament—whereupon at the same time I and said Edward H. Foster and William R. Halsey signed our names at the end thereof, at the request of the said Testator and that the said Testator at the time of executing and publishing the said Last Will and Testament, was of full age, of sound mind and memory, and not under any restraint. ---Edward P. White

*

GENERAL INVENTORY

Money in Southold Savings Bank with int. to Sept. 30, 1903.      751.22

Note                                                                                                    150.00

In. on note                                                                                          12.95

(Possibly int.. will not be paid.)

One third interest in business of Halsey, White & Halsey

Real Estate                                                                                         4,000

Wagon                                                                                                            12

Stock on hand                                                                                    487.25

Money “ “                                                                                           21.00

Bills Receivable                                                                                  39.00

One half interest in business of Halsey & White

Business estimated at $5,000 about

--Ida P. Halsey, Executrix

Note: Included in business estimate of Halsey & White:

Stock on hand belonging to Halsey & White

Contents of business bldgs 745

Scales                                      50.00

½ int. in Water Mill Scales   50.00

Buildings for storing             200

Farming implements                        $135

Live Stock                               90

Appraisers:

S.B. Livingston Bowden

S.W. W. Seymour White

"my heartfelt sympathy"

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October 7, 1903

Elmira, N. Y.

Dear Cousin Charles,

The sad news of your son’s death reached us a day or two ago and I immediately recalled his kindness to me on the only occasion I remember having seen him.

It was on the occasion of my visit to Long Island three years ago and he at once impressed me with his kindness, cordiality, and almost brotherly interest.

Please accept my heartfelt sympathy and especially extend this to his wife. I wish that we lived nearer each other so that we might be with you at this time.

Our love to all of you.

Affectionately,

S. Edward Roer

Fathers & Brothers

"In the fullness of time the old gentleman slept with his fathers and the little boy grew up, as little boys will."  --Reverend Jesse Halsey

from The Quick and the Dead c 1931

Then through the hills of the T.B. country, many couples, who are taking the cure, are out walking at the close of the day (I know something about the process, a brother and a sister having gone through it, one successfully).

from One Extra Curriculum or Adventures in Overalls c 1934

I am now, and have been for twenty years, the minister of a God fearing congregation that quite often wears dinner jackets. Needless to say, I don’t wear overalls in the pulpit. But they are, I rather think, thanks to my father, a symbol of my philosophy of life. My ancestors were sea-faring men, chasing whales from Kamchatka to Palmer Land. They sailed the seven seas. I have had to make my adventure nearer home, and these are a sample of some of the interesting things that have happened.

*** 

All but ready for college; hard work on the farm, day after day, through a long, hot summer. Father was often sick and my older brother an almost chronic invalid. I was working nights to get off a college entrance exam in German. Then came the uncertainty as to the possibility of going—one day going, the next, staying. Finally, a week before school was to open, everyone was better and college seemed assured. [1899?] Saturday, September 16, “going.” Sunday, the 17^th, “going tomorrow at 7:15 A. M.” “Monday, the 18^th.” Up at four in the morning and into overalls to milk for the last time and drive the cows to pasture. Then, a bath, a new suit, breakfast, the train, two ferries, another train, Princeton! All set to go! But came 6 A.M., there were no family prayers. “Father’s sick.” My older brother called me to his bed. “I don’t see how we can spare you. Go, if you think you ought (hard word to a New England conscience). We’ll find the money and get on somehow.

“If you ought?”= “If you can?” A long moment of terrific struggle, then up the stairs, back into overalls, down the lane behind the white horses (or their successors) and as the long, brown furrow turned ‘ere the train goes by, and I waved to the fellow who was supposed to be my roommate.

Then, for four years it was overalls all day and books at night; work, hard work, that made a boy into a man. Sickness at home, long painful days, tedious, painful nights, watching and crude nursing; learning, learning things not found in books, learning, so that, automatically, as one says 6 x 6, duty stands before pleasure and the days of work and nights of broken sleep, reading, study snatched here and there, with correspondence courses and a few weeks now and then in the winter, at the college, result in a body hard as nails, needing little sleep, splendid health and happy heart withal—work had become joy. The inoculation had become successful.

My brother died. I assumed the farm responsibility. Some crops failed, others succeeded (more of the former), and gradually I worked out my own schemes, sometimes with my father’s approbation and sometimes without. (But he always paid the bills.) I was handy with tools, so plumbing found its way into the old farmhouse, also steam heat and electric lights. Winter days laying hardwood floors. (Now I wish the old wide pine and oak floorboards worn by the feet of many grandmothers, were back.) New roofs, better stables, sheds, etc., were made possible by an overall ability inherited from my grandfather. My father, until the last years of his life, never had five hundred dollars in cash in any one year, but we lived well on what we raised, and traded produce for groceries and dry goods—of actual cash there was very little.

from Memoir: Section One, p. 14 c 1952

After mother died (when I was five) father took on the heavy responsibility of doing all that he could to take her place. He spent his evenings reading to me and telling me stories. I was with him constantly as he drove to the farm about half a mile removed from our barn and farm house. I followed him about his work and I imagined furnished him some small measure of companionship that he missed in mother's going. He was devoted to her memory and twenty years afterward I have come upon him at night kneeling at his bedside looking at her picture and pouring out his heart.