FamilyTracker's Blog

Historic Note:

Hancock - "Settled before the American Revolution, the town was formed from Colchester in 1806. The East Branch of the Delaware River crosses the town and meets the West Branch in the Village of Hancock, which became a major lumbering and rafting center.  In the mid-19th century,  French Settlement was created by selling small lots of land to French and German settlers.  The Erie and Ontario and Western [O&W] Railroads aided the growth of the village, which was incorporated in 1888.  After Delaware Co's first wood acid factory was built at Kerryville in 1878, the wood chemical industry flourished, with more than 10 plants in the town.  This, along with tanneries and bluestone quarries, drove the economy in the late 1800s.  Railroad service declined in the 1950s and the reconstruction of Rte. 17 (I-86) as a four-lane highway in the 1960s reduced the tourist business.  In 2003, lumbering and quarrying supported the economy." -- Dorothy Kubik, in The Encyclopedia Of New York State , Syracuse University Press, 2005.

I thought some of you might enjoy this: 

In the box of stuff sent to me from Georgiana Swartwout was a little 2x3" sepia reproduction of Millet's Potato Planting with "Anna & George" written on the back; meaning Anna Wormuth and George Swartwout. 

I think it's cute. I don't know who wrote it but most likely Georgiana, their daughter. I found this sepia repro online: 

I remember Aunt Anna and, maybe, vaguely, George. Oddly, I don't remember Georgiana. I also remember George's brother, Guy, who used to arrange the baseball games at the reunions. I think I might have a photo of him in a baseball uniform. 

I remember one reunion (I think at Shinhopple) in particular when all the Wormuth women were together: Nancy, Anna, Maggie (Grandma)(our Wormuth branch); the others were probably there as well, it was a big one, over 100 people. Aunt Mary must have been there because I think that's the day that she was giving Grandma such a hard time at her house. 

The reunions were started by Elias and Phoebe and it was the Wormuth-Hulse reunion because those 2 sisters (Fannie and Phoebe Hulse) and those 2 brothers ([Thomas] James & Elias Wormuth) married each other but the other Wormuth brothers' families were always there as well. 

Aunt Anna and her daughter, Georgiana, were very beautiful.

Can you identify these two?

I thought this was 2 of my cousins but it's stamped "Nov. 1939" by the photo developer on the back and they aren't that much older than me and I'm told it's not them, in any case.  Please contact me, if you know them.

"Genealogy: Where you confuse the dead and irritate the living."  - no author given, from Family Tree Quotes