Author: Wlanglois

  • A Personal Retrospective on Collecting Oral History 40 Years Ago

    Published in the Franklin Historical Review Volume 46 2011 A Personal Retrospective on Collecting Oral History 40 Years Ago  – and Making that Material Available to Today’s Researchers William J. Langlois and Robert H. McGowan[1]             In late December, 1968, the authors began recording an oral history of the largely abandoned Franklin County mill and…

  • Malone, N Y

     Brief History of Malone, NY  Malone, Main Street, 1907  In 1807, New England settlers founded the First Congregational Church in what was to become the Village of Malone; this congregation was the first organized religious body in Franklin County. The area around Malone had actually been first surveyed several years earlier, in 1801, by Joseph…

  • Westville, NY

     Westville   Westville was established in 1829, and was known as West Constable unitl it became its own town.  The town is partially on the Canadian border.  Westville was and is primarily a farming community, with flat tillable fields and rich soil.  Westville is in the St. Lawrence Valley. The Salmon River runs through Westville fields, where…

  • Reynolds Bros. Logging Operations

    The Reynolds Bros. Logging Operations   A major division of the Reynolds Bros. Mill operation was the logging camps they ran to house and feed the men who worked in the logging woods.  At its peak during the Brooklyn Cooperate Contract beginning in 1910, the Reynolds Bros operated  four logging camps  and employed more than one…

  • Skerry, N.Y.

        SKERRY, NY                                                               Skerry, named for James Skerry, was an older settlement than Reynoldston, and bordered Reynoldston on the east. Being older than Reynoldston, it appears to have had a higher proportion of New England settlers. While Reynoldston had one large milling and logging operation, that run by the Reynolds family, Skerry had…

  • Mr. Lawrence M. Holden 1911-2000

           Mr. & Mrs Lawrence M Holden of Fort Covington, NY by Ms. Lisa Cousineau – 1998  The interview began at a dinner my mother had planned for her cousin Mr. Lawrence Holden, before he was to return home. He is eighty-seven years old and lives with his son, Carl, in Rochester during the…

  • Reynoldston Life in the late 19th Century from Glass Negatives

  • Joseph Bombard Family of Reynoldston

      The Joseph Bombard Family of Reynoldston         Joseph Bombard and his family lived in Reynoldston in the late 19th and early 20th Centluries. He was a carpenter for the Reynoldst Bros. Mill. In that role he helped to build many of the mill homes rented to mill workers and loggers. He…

  • The William LeHare Family of Reynoldston New York

      LaHare Genealogy William LaHare (LaHaie)  b. 27 Jul 1854 in canada, D. 8 Apr 1919 in Brandon, NY m. Mary Bombard b. 26 july 1856 in Vermont, d. 21 dec 1917 in Brandon, NY. They were married 20 may 1875 in Bangor, Franklin County, NY. children: William W. LaHare b. abt. 1879 d. bef. 1900 Lena LaHare…

  • Robert Schroeder of Debar Pond, NY

    Robert Schroeder of Debar Pond, NY  Slide Show of Debar Pond – Schroeder Mansion and Today Background on Robert Schroeder of Debar Pond Listen to Pearl Learned (1895-1986) talk about Debar Pond Three Suicides – Utica Herald Dispatch July 26, 1912 The Scandalous Husband of Elsa Schroeder From Seaver’s History of Franklin County 1915 SCHROEDER…