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--- book:clinton10 [2011/03/25 08:04] – paulseymour
+++ book:clinton10 [2011/06/10 10:10] – paulseymour
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 | [[westley11|Westley Carleton]] | b. 1911 |
 | Clayton Lynwood | b. 1915; killed in a car accident 1939 |
+History of Cannonsville, Delaware, New York, and Henry Clinton and Carrie
+Cuyle Seymour
+{{clinton001.jpg|}}Here's the town that my GGGG Grandpa William helped found
+around 1800, and where 4 later generations of our line of Seymours; Willet,
+Gilbert, Clinton, and Westley were all born and raised as well.
+Cannonsville, New York was acquired and destroyed by the State of New York
+in the early 1960's in order to construct a dam and create a reservoir which
+provides drinking water for New York City.  Luckily by this time Great
+Grandpa Clinton had already died, and Grandpa Wes had left town anyway for
+more economic opportunity since he was one of the youngest in his family.  I
+don't have any information on how the State compensated those who were
+living there at the time.  I think that my Great Uncle Erford had taken over
+Clinton's store, but I don't know what he did when the town was destroyed.
+He would have been in his 60's at the time.
+Headline read:\\ "Cannonsville, Once a Village:\\ Then Came Bulldozers,
+Water and Silence"
+{{clinton002.jpg|}}
+[[http://www.bearsystems.com/cannonsville/cannonsville99.htm]]
+{{clinton003.jpg|}}After......
+A map of Cannonsville in 1856 showing Willet's property location.
+{{clinton004.jpg|}}
+A later map in 1956 just a few years before its destruction:
+{{clinton005.jpg|}}
+It looks like by this time the Seymours had mostly moved on, although I do
+see one building marked as Seymour on Main Street.  We know that in 1956
+Clinton's store was no longer in the family, so I'm not sure who this is.
+Following are some stories written by Cannonsville residents just prior to
+its destruction.
+[[http://www.dcnyhistory.org/cannonsville17861956hunter.html]]
+"Miss Antoinette Owens remembers the store owned by her father, Milton W.
+Owens and uncle, Edgar B. Owens, which stood on the river bank near the
+bridge, later becoming the Frank Mapes undertaking establishment. Milton W.
+Owens built a new store (now the B & V store) in 1880 and sold general
+merchandise for many years. **In 1902 Tunis C. Judd purchased the store of
+Mr Owens and conducted business there until 1916 when he sold to H. C.
+Seymour. At present the store is owned and operated by Donald Bonker and
+Harry Vanderlip.**  We recall the old Winters store which stood opposite
+Jester's hardware, and the two stores, Teed's and Keeler's up on "back"
+street.
+//Picture of Clinton Seymour's store.  Not sure of date, but the car down
+the street looks like it's from the 1920's which would be about right://
+{{clinton006.jpg|}}
+Picture of Westley Carleton Seymour in front of the store by the gas pumps,
+I guess in the snow.  This was taken about 1928 when he was around 17 years
+old:
+{{clinton007.jpg|}}
+//Back to the stories from the historical website--//"We have fond memories
+of Fred (Bubbie) Cuyle (related to Clinton's wife and my G Grandmother
+Carrie Cuyle), the congenial barber and shoe repair man whose business was
+in Abe Constables store - our present Post Office and Card's store."
+Photo in newspaper of Bubby Cuyle:
+{{clinton008.jpg|}}
+//He looks like a rugged old character, doesn't he?  Below is an article
+explaining the above://
+{{clinton009.jpg|}}
+"CHURCHES OF CANNONSVILLE
+The Baptist Church
+**About the year 1830 there was organized at Cannonsville a branch of the
+Deposit Baptist Church** with fifteen members: Thomas Durfee, Alice Durfee,
+John Randall, Ann Randall, Zebina Hancock, **Dorothy Seymour (William jr.'s
+wife, gggg Grandma),** Jeannette Lowry, Affia Crawford, Electa Darrow,
+Mahala Hathaway, Benjamin Hathaway, Lebbeus Teed, Electa Teed and Betsy Day.
+The membership increased to fifty and on September 28, 1831, they were
+recognized as an independent church, and thus the Cannonsville Baptist
+Church came into existence.
+The first deacons were Thomas Durfee and J. L. Babcock, and the first
+regular pastor was the Reverend Mr Baldwin, commencing his ministry in
+January 1832 and remaining about six months. In August of that year Deacon
+Thomas Durfee was licensed and preached as the main supply for six years.
+Then Stephen Stiles, E. L. Benedict and Elder Richmond were pastors until
+, and again Thomas Durfee in 1851.
+The meetings were held in schoolhouses in Cannonsville, Trout Creek, the
+Huyck neighborhood, Johnny Brook, at the stone schoolhouse four miles up the
+river, and in the "den" ten miles above Cannonsville on the river.
+Miss Antoinette Cannon writes:
+"Although I never lived the whole year around in this village, I think of it
+as my home, and whenever I have been homesick the images that have come to
+my mind have been in large part scenes of Cannonsville. There are several
+reasons, but chiefly two: the gifts of nature which I began for the first
+time to enjoy there, and the story of the early settlement of the valley in
+which my fathers grandfather, Benjamin Cannon Sr., played a part.
+"I was ten years old and we had come to Deposit to live when Chestnut Point
+came into my father, Robert Cannon's possession, and he brought his family
+to his old home. We must have spent five successive summers at Chestnut
+Point and always afterward returned when we could with a sense of belonging
+to Cannonsville.
+"Our grandfather, Benjamin Cannon, Jr., who built the house and set out the
+trees at Chestnut Point had died before we children were born, and he was
+only a legend to us. He must have taken great pains to plan the "Queen
+Anne's Cottage," as it was called, in every detail of architecture and
+ornament. Some of his drawings for it still exist. A large chestnut tree
+stood on the point of ground where Trout Creek comes into the Delaware River
+and this was the origin of the name Chestnut Point. The story of the grounds
+around the house was that when my grandfather was building the house a
+traveling nurseryman came by with a varied stock of trees and my grandfather
+bought the entire stock and set them out. The place when we lived there had
+reverted almost to Natural woods, but with many trees unusual in the region.
+Among them, and surrounded by old but still vigorous chestnut trees one came
+upon an open flat oval which was a croquet ground designed and made by my
+father when he was a boy. A huge swing with ropes perhaps twenty feet long
+was suspended from the limb of one of these big trees to add to the fun of
+the Sunday School picnics that were sometimes held there.
+"Part of the family history went back to my great grandfather and the
+farmhouse he had built on the left bank of the river. It stood, and still
+stands, on the flat directly opposite Chestnut Point, and belongs now to the
+Leland Boyd family. In our time it was the home of the Samuel Hathaways.
+That big family of able farmers soon became an important part of our life,
+as they were of the life of the community. I remember having dinner in the
+old house with Bessie Hathaway and her parents and what seemed to me an army
+of great strong brothers who came in hungry and jolly from the fields.
+"My grandmother Cannon lived to be well over eighty. Many of her later years
+were spent with or nearby my family and she was with us at Chestnut Point,
+happy to be in her old home. As long as I can remember I see her as a white-
+haired old lady dressed in black and wearing a lace cap. I cannot remember
+ever seeing her without the cap. She was sparely built and straight, always
+somewhat formal in speech and manner, and usually had a book in her hand. I
+remember her interest in the "Merry Delvers" of which group she had been a
+member, but I do not know just what they did in those early times.
+"Going to church and Sunday School and to weekday hymn-singing practice was
+a major social activity in our lives. We would walk to the church and back,
+across the creek bridge, often with the minister and his wife, grandmother
+discussing the sermon with them. The Presbyterian parsonage was just across
+the road from our house. My sisters and I went there to be taught the
+"Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Assembly." I still have the small blue
+book, then new, "standard edition 1891" from which I studied. The minister,
+Mr Kirwan, was a strict man, but he said that it was perhaps not required of
+the young to learn the questions in order, as well as the answers. However,
+I decided to try it the hard way and did memorize a good part, but I am sure
+not all of the 107 questions. Today I cannot get beyond the first one but
+the experience made an impression.
+"**Besides the Hathaways I remember other families of the village and farms
+where there were children of our age. Among them were the Durfees, the
+Seymours, the Finches, the MacGibbons, the Owenses, the Spickermans, the
+Hulberts.** The Adams children were little then and as cunning children as
+could be found anywhere. They were usually playing on the broad steps of
+their father's store where we would stop to admire their curly hair.
+"**One exciting day during our childhood in Cannonsville stands out in my
+memory: the day the old covered bridge across the Delaware collapsed and
+went into the river. There had been a downpour of rain the day before and
+the river was in flood. Rain was still coming down and we hurried into
+raincoats and rubbers and ran to the river when news came that the bridge
+was giving way. We were not in time to see the final crash and the tragedy
+which occurred when a fine team of horses, Clinton Seymour, and his loaded
+lumber wagon went down with the bridge. Mr. Seymour was unharmed but the
+horses went down stream and were drowned.**
+//This happened in 1900 when G Grandpa Clinton was about 25.  Good thing he
+was a decent swimmer.  I'm sure that a fine team of horses and a wagon
+(loaded with something) must have been a big financial loss.  I'm no expert
+on insurance practices in rural America in 1900, but I doubt that Clinton
+was able to contact his local insurance agent and make a claim.  It might
+have taken a while for him to recover this loss.//
+"The house at Chestnut Point was modern for its time, with every convenience
+and many odd features which would appeal to children, such as the porch with
+carriage landing, and the other little side porch off my bedroom, the small
+fireplaces, the French windows in the parlour, the delightful woodshed, the
+dwarf stairway and door to the attic, the pantry where we made bread and
+cake, and the big stream of cold water running constantly through the
+kitchen sink. My aunt Elizabeth Archibald and my Uncle Charles Cannon had a
+persistent feeling for the place where their childhood had been spent and
+came there to visit us, so that we children came to share some of their
+sense of its being the old home. Aunt Elizabeth used to tell us of driving
+to Deposit every day with her father to get the mail before Cannonsville had
+a post office. When the roads were good they made the trip in forty-seven
+minutes driving the pair of fast white ponies my grandfather took great
+pride in. My father however remembered with less pleasure his daily task of
+keeping the white ponies curried and washed.
+"In our childhood the mail was brought from Deposit by stage and we were
+often among the passengers on that long, slow, eight-mile drive with Mr.
+Harvey Cogshell as stage driver. My uncle, for some years after his
+retirement from business, lived in Cannonsville in the home of Mrs Owens and
+her sister Miss Ellen Seymour. Ellen lived with us for some years and was a
+valued member of our household.
+"My parents first met in Cannonsville. My mother's home was in Deposit. She
+taught music and had some pupils in Cannonsville and so spent part of a year
+there, boarding in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Ogden when my father's
+family lived at Chestnut Point. A severe winter followed that year and my
+father (to be) would skate down the river to Deposit to see her, a round
+trip of about sixteen miles. They were married in the home of my maternal
+grandfather, George Wheeler, where my sisters and I now live.
+//This is my personal favorite story.  I can only imagine what it would have
+been like skating 8 miles down the river back in those days.  Even today,
+it's a rural area.  Back then I'm guessing that he didn't see another person
+on the way, and certainly wouldn't have had to worry about tripping over an
+empty Bud can, or discarded pieces of plastic.  It must have been really
+peaceful.//
+"I think all who have lived here have a feeling of belonging to the valley
+of the Delaware, and I for one find it hard to accept the change which is
+about to be made. To me personally it can make but little difference, but
+now the whole enterprise is to me as to all the people of our country, a
+question of the best use to be made of natural resources, especially of
+water. We must hope that the plan which our planners have made is in the
+best interest of us all, and when we take leave of Cannonsville we must try
+still to make good use of all which the valley had given to us and will give
+to coming generations. But that is another story."
+Miss Owens relates one of her early experiences riding on a raft from
+Cannonsville to Deposit with a group of negro(sic) singers who had given a
+concert in the village. Going over the dam was the big thrill.
+"And another exciting time," writes Miss Owens, "was when William Henderson
+later a merchant in Walton for many years shot a burglar in my father's
+store. The mark of the bullet may still be on the old counter//." (This is
+now the B & V store, which was also Great Grandpa Clinton Seymour's
+store).// "After that my young brother kept a baseball bat at the head of
+his bed t o be ready for any emergency.
+"**In 1900 when the covered river bridge went down with horses, load and
+driver, one of the boys rushed his row boat from the mill pond to help in
+the rescue."  H. Clinton Seymour was the driver who was rescued, but the
+horses were drowned.  **
+Miss Owens also remembers hearing that in the early 1860s a private school
+was conducted in the Presbyterian parsonage opposite Chestnut Point. The
+ministers wife Mrs Thomas Hempstead was her mother's aunt and her mother and
+Mrs Hempstead's sister came to live with their aunt and attend the school.
+"Miss Ada Hotchkins of Windsor was an able teacher," writes Miss Owens, "but
+what intrigued her pupils was the story that she had Indian blood in her
+veins."
+Albert M. Adams, who was born in 1888 in the old Maples homestead on the
+site of the present schoolhouse, writes about some of the stores and shops
+in the early days:
+His grandfather, Ebenezer Adams, had a shoe shop in part of the Lines
+building near the river bridge (Joe Judd's hardware store) and next to that
+was Sam Benjamin's blacksmith shop. **Near this building (which was Ken's
+barbershop a few years ago) Charles Banks owned a shoe shop which later
+became Wilbur Hulbert's cooper shop and after that Clinton Seymour's meat
+market**. Martha Owens operated a millinery shop near the market. She sold
+her property to Newton Walley who had a meat market there. The old Pomeroy
+drug store stood next and after Mr Pomeroy built his new store, **Arthur
+Cook had a shoe shop in the old building and in later years Sanford Seymour
+(**//Clinton's big brother//**) used the building as a grocery store.**
+//The meat market must have preceded the general store.//
+More websites on the life and death of Cannonsville.
+[[http://www.dcnyhistory.org/map1869hunter.html]] 1869 map showing Willet
+Seymour's farm
+[[http://www.dcnyhistory.org/map1956hunter.html]] 1956 map.  A bit blurry
+but if you look closely you can see a Seymour building on main street,
+probably the Store owned by my G grandfather Clinton, who had already died
+years earlier.  Maybe with Erford at this time.
+[[http://www.bearsystems.com/cannonsville/cannonsville.html]] Story of the
+death of Cannonsville.
+[[http://www.dcnyhistory.org/hunterpics1and2.html]] A couple of pictures
+Now on to Clinton and Carrie.
+{{clinton010.jpg|}}
+Unfortunately this is the only photo I have of the two of them.  I can't
+imagine what possessed them to hide behind a bush for the photo, but that's
+what we have.
+Aside from the stories related above I only know what my Grandparents told
+me about Clinton and Carrie.  First and foremost, Clinton was a successful
+businessman in Cannonsville, as we saw above, running first a meat shop, and
+then it looks like he graduated up to the primary general store in town. The
+latter was the only one that I heard about and was pictured from the outside
+above.  Here's a picture of the inside with Clinton and great Uncle Erford:
+{{clinton011.jpg|}}
+It was pretty extensive, selling clothes, farm supplies, food, etc. and had
+the gas pumps out front.  As I understand, he was the only supplier in the
+small town for many of the goods.  One story which always stuck with me was
+that during the Great Depression, many people were suffering great
+hardships, of course.  Clinton on many occasions was very generous and
+understanding.  On several occasions my Grandfather witnessed people coming
+in to the store, and picking out the necessary items for survival.  They
+would then humbly tell Clinton that they didn't have any money at the
+moment, but would pay as soon as they could.  Clinton would graciously nod,
+knowing full well that that day would never come.  To this day, I try to
+carry on with that same sense of compassion here in Colombia.  Today in
+fact, I gave a little money to a poor lady in the street of Venecia, who was
+trying to do so shopping for the week.
+Grandma had also mentioned something to the effect that ol' Clint was
+something of a lady's man in his day, which also seems to hold true looking
+back at the family line.  Grandpa didn't put forth any denial when she said
+this, so I assume it was true.
+They also made several trips to Sidney to visit my Grandparents late in
+their lives, including when my Dad, Westley Francis, was born.  They both
+proudly said that Clinton was very taken with young "Skipper" as he was
+nicknamed early on.   I guess they made a few visits in his last year, or
+so, and he died before Dad turned two, so he never really knew his
+Grandfather.
+I guess, fortunately for him, Clinton died without ever knowing that soon
+his beloved Cannonsville would be destroyed in order to build a dam for
+drinking water for NYC.  It had been partly founded by William Jr., then
+further grew during Willet's long life while he continued running lumber to
+Philadelphia and was the first Seymour to open up a store in town, and
+further still while Gilbert was farming, and with his older brother Alonzo,
+still running lumber down the river to Philadelphia.  I guess that during
+Clinton's time, the lumber business had already died out, with the railroad,
+etc., so he continued his Grandfather Willet's tradition of running a store
+in town.  I think that Erford continued running the store after Clinton's
+death, at least for a while, so in all five generations made Cannonsville
+their home.
+I know next to nothing about Great Grandma Carrie Cuyle, but have a photo of
+her father, Alvin Cuyle, who I learned was from nearby Masonville, by
+looking up a Civil War record of his participation.  Grandpa used to always
+take us to the old Mason Inn in Masonville for special family dinners, like
+Mother's Day, etc.  That would include ten of us.  Grandma and Grandpa, Mom,
+Dad, me and Tammy, and Uncle Dick, Aunt Dot, David and Andrew Curtis.  As I
+recall, we never really understood the attraction to the little place on top
+of a hill in what seemed like the middle of nowhere to us, but it was
+important to him, and we gladly went along.  It seemed to be nostalgic for
+him, and hey, it was his day, not to mention his nickel.
+//Here's the oldest photo that I have, which is of GG Grandpa Alvin Cuyle in
+his Civil War uniform.  I was told that it was taken at a World's Fair,
+which makes sense based on my research below//  - //This photo was taken in
+the first days of photography and is printed on some sort of metal plate,
+and I cherish it.//
+{{:book:gg_grandfather_alvin_cuyle_1870.jpg?460}}
+"The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's
+Fair in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to
+celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of
+Independence in Philadelphia. It was officially the International Exhibition
+of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine. It was held in
+Fairmount Park, along the Schuylkill River. The fairgrounds were designed by
+Hermann Schwarzmann. About 10 million visitors attended, equivalent to about
+% of the population of the United States at the time (though many were
+repeat visitors)."  [[wp>Centennial_Exposition]].
+//Alvin Cuyle died in 1915 in Trout Creek, NY, near Cannonsville.//
+//If you look closely, you'll see that GG grandpa Cuyle is stoking that
+cigar of his for the photo.  Grandpa (Wes), as you'll see in the next
+chapter, was a major cigar smoker.  He told me that this photo was what had
+inspired him to take up the habit.//
+//If you're a photography buff, here's the history of the photo.//
+[[http://libwww.library.phila.gov/CenCol/ov-collection2.htm]]
+"The Centennial Board of Commissioners awarded the sole license for
+photography at the exposition to Edward L. Wilson, editor of the journal,
+The Philadelphia Photographer, and his good friend William Notman, a
+prominent Scottish-born Canadian photographer. Notman served as president of
+the Centennial Photographic Company (CPC) and Wilson as Superintendent and
+Treasurer. The other officers of the CPC were W. Irving Adams of New York
+City, who served as Vice-President, and Notman's Toronto business partner,
+John A. Fraser, who served as Art Superintendent. A CPC catalog lists 2,820
+photographs for sale to the public, many in more than one size.
+**Stereoviews were sold for $.25** each; 5x8" photographs sold for $.50;
+x10" photographs went for $1.00; 13x16" prints for $2.50; and 17x21"
+photographs for $5.00 each. Exhibitors were charged substantially more for
+the first print but were offered bulk discounts of up to 20% off the rate
+charged the public for 50 copies.
+All of the CPC photographs are silver albumen prints and were made using the
+wet-plate process in which glass plates were first coated with a collodion
+solution of gun-cotton dissolved in alcohol and ether and then sensitized
+with a solution of silver nitrate. The glass plate negatives had to be
+exposed while still wet and developed and fixed soon after exposure. Contact
+prints were then developed in the Company's processing room using albumen
+paper (paper coated with a mixture of egg whites and ammonium chloride). The
+prints were then mounted on card stock for sale. This process was both
+complex and cumbersome. It required lots of supplies, equipment and
+manpower. However, the process captured images in exquisite detail on the
+negative plates. The exposure times for the treated glass plate **negatives
+averaged twenty minutes, according to reports by one of the Company's
+photographers, John L. Gihon, whose "rambling remarks" appeared in every
+issue of The Philadelphia Photographer during 1877. Exposure times as long
+as 2 hours were reported, made necessary by the lack of good** lighting in
+many of the Centennial buildings.
+The Company was apparently quite successful and their photographs were in
+great demand both during and after the Centennial. In the book The World of
+William Notman, Roger Hall, Gordon Dodds and Stanley Triggs estimate that
+the Centennial Photographic Company made a sizeable profit during the
+Centennial."
+//The soldiers from Delaware County, NY fought in the 144th Infantry
+Regiment//
+[[http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/144thInf/144thInfM
+ain.htm]]
+"Mustered in: September 27, 1862, Mustered out: June 25, 1865 (//almost
+three years, which is a long time to stay alive in those circumstances)//
+The following is taken from The Union army: a history of military affairs in
+the loyal states, 1861-65 -- records of the regiments in the Union army --
+cyclopedia of battles -- memoirs of commanders and soldiers. Madison, WI:
+Federal Pub. Co., 1908. volume II.
+**"One Hundred and Forty-fourth Infantry**.-Cols., Robert S Hughston, David
+E. Gregory, William J. Slidell, James Lewis Lieut.-Cols., David Gregory,
+James Lewis, Calvin A. Rice; Majs. Robert T. Johnson, Calvin A. Rice,
+William Plaskett. This regiment, recruited in Delaware county, was organized
+at Delhi, and there mustered into the U. S. service on Sept. 27, 1862. **It
+left the state on Oct. 11, 956 strong**, and was stationed in the defence of
+Washington at Upton's hill, Cloud's mills and Vienna until April 1863. It
+was then assigned to the Department of Virginia, and in Gurney's division
+assisted in the defence of Suffolk, during Long-street's siege of that
+place. In May it was placed in Gordon's division of the 7th corps at West
+Point, and snared in the demonstration against Richmond. In July it joined
+the 2nd brigade, in (Schimmelfennig's) division, nth corps. This division
+was detached from its corps on Aug. 7, and ordered to Charleston harbor,
+when during the fall and winter of 1863 the regiment was engaged at Folly
+and Morris islands, participating with Gillmore's forces in the siege of
+Fort Wagner and the bombardment of Fort Sumter and Charleston. In Feb.,
+, in the 1st brigade, Ames' division 10th corps, it was engaged at
+Seabrook and John's islands, S. C It was then ordered to Florida, where it
+was chiefly engaged in raiding expeditions and was active in the action at
+Camp Finnegan //(Jacksonville).// It returned to Hilton Head in June; was
+active at John's island in July, losing 13 killed, wounded and missing; in
+Potter's brigade the Coast division it participated in the cooperative
+movement: with Sherman, fighting at Honey Hill and Deveaux neck. Its
+casualties at Honey Hill were 108 and at Deveaux neck, 37 killed wounded and
+missing. Lieut. James W. Mack, the only commissioned officer killed in
+action, fell at Honey Hill. Attached to the 3d separate brigade, District of
+Hilton Head, it was severely engaged at James island in Feb., 1865, losing
+killed, wounded and missing. In the fall of 1864 the ranks of the
+regiment were **reduced to between 300 and 400 men through battle and
+disease**, and it was then recruited to normal standard by one year recruits
+from its home county. The regiment was mustered out at Hilton Head S. C.,
+June 25, 1865, under command of Col. Lewis. It lost by death during service
+officers and men, killed and mortally wounded; 4 officers and 174
+enlisted men died of disease and other causes total, 218."
+//This photo was taken 10 years after the end of the war, so Alvin is
+probably into his 30's.  As I study this photo, I try to imagine him on the
+battlefield as a 20 year-old.  Based on what I've read of the Civil War,
+with 50,000 men, or so, dying in a single day (more than in the entire
+Vietnam War), it's difficult for me to get my head around the hell that he
+must have endured during his service.  It also helps to bring some life to
+the older stories, in previous chapters, of our more ancient ancestors
+fighting in metal chain, with battle axes for Christ's sake.  The shear
+brutality of actually going through that, I think, is one of those things
+that only he, and others who also had the misfortune of being in such a
+situation, can speak about.  I somehow can imagine though, that I wouldn't
+want to have seen old Alvin charging at me with that sword drawn and a wild
+look in his eyes.  The mere fact of his survival makes one think of those he
+faced, and their fates.//
+Of course as a kid, and then as a young man, I thought that I actually could
+have done such things with ease.  The older, more mellow Paul, isn't so
+sure.
+Also very interesting to me is the fact that during the civil war, two of
+our distant cousins, who broke off our family branch in the beginning in
+Connecticut, were important players during this era.  Remember that of
+Richard's sons, only first born Thomas (our sire) was of age at Richard's
+death.  John, Zehariah and Richard were raised as step sons of the first
+regional governor of Massachusetts and Connecticut, John Steele, and were
+therefore somewhat more privileged, as presumably were their offspring.
+John's descendants, especially, included many US Congressmen and Senators.
+Same blood line, but with more cash and opportunity, as many went to Yale,
+for example.
+Both Horatio and Thomas Seymour were Governors of their respective states of
+New York and Connecticut at this time.  And both were opposed to the war,
+and to centralizing the US government, as both were hard core Jeffersonians,
+and therefore favoured a decentralized government.  Although, unfortunately
+much less popular these days, as Jefferson himself seems to have been
+largely forgotten by the new, mostly immigrant population, I, myself, am one
+of the last remaining Jeffersonians.  Maybe that helps explain why I live in
+South America. [[wp>Jeffersonian_democracy]]
+I also made contact while doing my research with Judy Cuyle, a very
+accomplished genealogist and wife of Bill Cuyle, who is a descendent of
+Alvin as well.  Bill was in to drag, and stock car racing in a major way.
+Grandpa, Dad, and I were/are big speed freaks as well, which may have come
+down through the Cuyle line (pronounced like Kyle).  Cuyle, isn't a very
+common name, but is also from southern England, almost exclusively found in
+Sussex County, England.  This would indicate another family of Norman
+origin, I think, and it just looks and sounds French as well, which would
+indicate Norman origin.
+Now on to generation 11 in America.