by Old Mentz | Dec 31, 2020 | Uncategorized
There are many people who are happy to see the coming of the new year, and yet I must say that for the folks at the Lock 52 Historical Society, 2020 was a pretty good year. Sometimes you need to be forced to slow down to be able to get things done, and that is what is...
by Old Mentz | Dec 31, 2020 | Uncategorized
I stumbled across this delightful four-article-remembrance as I was looking for an obit in the old Port Byron Chronicle. It was written by Elizabeth E. Smith Case, who grew up in Port Byron in the 1880′ and 90s. Like all such memories, it recalls the happy...
by Old Mentz | Dec 5, 2020 | Uncategorized
About a month back I was asked to search out the lineage of the Peck family in regards to a legal matter. So instead of the typical genealogical working backwards into the distant past, I had to work forward to find the living relatives of Ira and Marsha Peck. But the...
by Old Mentz | Nov 27, 2020 | Uncategorized
I have been on a bit of a quest this past month. If you have ever been in the Mt. Pleasant cemetery, you may have noticed the large Rhoades – Cool headstone that is located on top of the hill. Certainly everyone has heard about Kittie Rhoades, the Port Byron girl who...
by Old Mentz | Nov 8, 2020 | Uncategorized
Recently my wife and I were on a canal tour in Chemung, NY, and the local historian was explaining how the area was once known as Buckville, named for the local family of Buck’s. If you recall your local history, you might know that members of this family helped to...
by Old Mentz | Oct 24, 2020 | Uncategorized
The core of any historical society or museum is the collection of materials known as the archives. Over the years, the Lock 52 Historical Society has collected a large number of items that help to tell the story of the town and village, the people who once lived,...
by Old Mentz | Oct 22, 2020 | Uncategorized
Updated- Although the village of Port Byron was once called Bucksville, I had not done a lot of genealogy on the Buck family as many in the family they had moved to Illinois around 1831. So I have not paid them too much attention, just because I have other families to...
by Old Mentz | Oct 4, 2020 | Uncategorized
Lock 52 Historical Society has added more papers to it’s digital resources. The Port Byron Herald was printed in the 1844 to 1846 period and like most papers of it’s time, the pages are filled with ads for magical potions touted to cure everything from the cough to...
by Old Mentz | Sep 7, 2020 | Uncategorized
This month I will finish out our tour of little settlements around the town by visiting Haydenville. This very small settlement was two miles upstream of Port Byron on what is today Route 38. It is marked by the intersection with Hayden Road and a small group of...
by Old Mentz | Sep 7, 2020 | Uncategorized
I was working on an article about Haydenville, which was a small milling settlement two miles south of the village. The area is marked by the intersection of Route 38, South Street, and Hayden Road. Anyhow, it would be impossible to write an article about Haydenville...
