Cornish Crier Volume 15, Number 1 Meurth/March 2009 The Cornish Crier and the History Guild The Cornish Crier staff has been working with the History Guild to pursue an internet avenue to bring CHSE and the Cornish Crier to the attention of a larger audience. 1. Phil Reynolds, the webmaster of the History Guild has willingly placed the Cornish Crier-all 14 years of them on him website at historyguild.org. 2. We have also placed our latest meeting notice on the History Guild’s “News and Events” list. 3. We are now pursuing a CC-news mailing list. This list will make it easier to send messages vial email to all those members with current emails who are interested in joining the list. This list works like the numerous Rootsweb mailing lists: i.e. cornish@rootsweb.com list. Subscribing and unsubscribing to the list is as easy as sending an email with “subscribe” or ”unsubscribe” in the subject and in the body of the email. We are interested in reaching out the the members who are not able to attend our meetings. For this will enable them to keep in touch with CHSE. We have sent this information by email to all those members whose email addresses we have on file. If you didn’t receive this email, please let us know. If you are interested in joining us on this CC-news list, please send an email to Anne at: AnneStephens@optonline.net 12th Annual Victorian Christmas at the Ford-Faesch House and the Mt. Hope Miners' Church Grounds Rockaway Township, NJ on Sunday, December 14, 2008 Several of our members made their way to this charming event, which seems to attract more visitors yearly. Your editors enjoyed viewing the progress on the colonial mansion and hearing of plans for further restoration and improvements. We were delighted to see members of the historical society dressed in their best Victorian finery to greet the visitors, and to share their knowledge of the historical significance of Mt. Hope. Nearly across the street is the old miners church from the 1870s, currently being stabilized, and which will hopefully be restored at some date in the future. This structure was so important for the Cornish of the Morris County mining area, as it was primarily used by Cornish Methodists and is a special landmark testifying to our Cornish Heritage. We also savored fresh roasted chestnuts, had chances of photo shoots with two horse-less old farm wagons, and the children were thrilled to have a visit from Santa! Anne brought a CD of carols of the Grass Valley Choir to be played as well. Other CHSE members attending on this very cold day were Bob Carlyon, Russ Reed and Fred Varker. Next year should be even more entertaining. Won't you join us then? -- Ed. CHSE December 2008 Meeting Reported by Margaret Carne The highlight of our December 6, 2008 meeting was a talk by our member Professor Lew Bird about British Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman, 1906 - 1984. Margaret Carne's recording of Sir John reading a selection of his poetry further revealed his wit, warmth and self-deprecating humor. Brought up in Highgate London, and educated at Oxford, he spent his childhood summers with his family in Cornwall in the area of Trebetherick. In his retirement, he settled there, to the delight of the Cornish who adopted him as one of their own. In the BBC series, The A to Z of British Churches, he found in the tiny Quaker Meeting House at Come-to-Good the solution to letter Q. "Summoned By Bells" is a splendid collection of his poetry, and a quick internet search reveals even more. Anne Stephens reported her recently established connection with the Historical Society of the Rockaways and their wish to forge a bond with our small but active group at CHSE. We are discussing plans to participate in the Victorian Christmas Program at Mt. Hope Church, religious home of our ancestral Cornish miners who settled in the Wharton/Rockaway/Dover area. Serious historic restoration is underway. Perhaps we will celebrate the reopening with a proper Teatreat of saffron buns, pasties and a good cup of tea under the flag of St Piran, with 3 legged race sack race, spoon & egg race, & tug-o'-war. The Story Behind The Story By Ronald Reed, CHSE member (CFHS 08077) Part 1 of a 2 part article My great-grandfather, William Henry REED was born in Wendron on 29 April 1866, son of John REED and Mary ROBERTS. He, like his father, learned the trade of a stonemason. At the age of 14 he traveled to the United States to join his brother John REED (born 09 June 1864, Gwennap), who was employed as a stonecutter in Westerly, Rhode Island. After working in Westerly for about 5 years, William moved to Concord, New Hampshire in 1886 to join his father who was working for Perry Brothers Monuments (Yes, they were Cornish born PERRY). After getting settled and saving enough money, William returned to Wendron in 1888 to visit his family and during this trip he married Elizabeth Jane TRELOAR. Elizabeth (born 13 April 1865, Wendron) was the daughter of Henry TRELOAR and Charlotte Jane CURNOW. Immediately following their marriage, he and his new bride returned to Concord. William and Elizabeth raised four children, William Henry Jr., Joseph John, James Garfield, and Raymond Gladstone, in the Concord area. Unfortunately none of their children took up the trade of stone cutting, so the ancestral trade ended with their father’s generation. William was a hard worker and in addition to his trade as a stonecutter at Perry Brothers, he built numerous houses in Concord, and later ran the local taxi service with his sons. William had a love for the automobile, and even modified a 1920’s vintage vehicle as a “camper”, which could sleep two and carry numerous supplies. After having a good life in their newfound homeland, William died on 30 Aug 1937 and Elizabeth on 31 March 1942. Both are buried in a plot at the front entrance of Blossom Hill Cemetery, in graves marked by one of William’s carved headstones. I started my genealogy research in 1978 at about age 18, and was able to glean a few family details from William and Elizabeth REED’s four children and their surviving spouses. These initial recollections provided me a rough outline of the family tree, from which to build upon. Shortly after starting my research, this next generation passed along, thereby ending my direct source for answers to my many questions. Upon the death of my grandfather, William Henry REED, Jr. in 1980, a real genealogical “gold mine” was discovered. Underneath his bed was shoebox of old photographs, with numerous individuals identified. The shoebox find included five generations of photos of my REED, ROBERTS, TRELOAR and CURNOW ancestors. In addition there were a number of unidentified individual photos, and a series of black & white photos of William Sr. and Elizabeth on what appeared to be an extensive journey somewhere in the US. The series showed William Sr. and Elizabeth standing frequently near their custom made “camper” car, and in many cases included different people who were unfamiliar to me. An interesting puzzle! A few years ago, I called on another descendant of William Sr. and Elizabeth, who lived in Atlanta, Georgia. While visiting with my second cousin and his family, I took an opportunity to update them on my family tree research. They in turn pulled out two boxes of old papers and trinkets saved by the family over the years. It was a fascinating collection of items, which helped in many ways, but the best find of all was a copy of a 1928 newspaper article about William Sr. and Elizabeth’s trip across the United States and Canada. This article was the key to understanding the collection of old black & white photos in the shoebox. Here is the full text of the newspaper article, published in the Concord Daily Monitor, Concord, NH, on Wednesday, May 23, 1928. “Mr. and Mrs. William H. Reed, of 138 Warren Street returned last Saturday evening from their very enjoyable auto trip which consumed over 10 months of traveling, covering a distance of 12,827 miles. They left this city on July 11, 1927, since which time they have been in 38 states, British Columbia, many Canadian points and Mexico. They went in a specially constructed vehicle, a sort of house on wheels, with everything needed for comfort, including a spring bed, portable table, stove, electric lights and many other accessories, including plenty of room for trunks, clothing and food. The cut shown with this article is from a photograph taken in front of a barroom in Tia Juana, Mexico. In this building, Mr. Reed says, is located the longest bar in the world, it being 241 feet long. Mrs. Reed is standing by the auto. Since they left Concord Mr. and Mrs. Reed have seen a large portion of the most noted scenic wonders of this country, Canada and Mexico and they are full to the brim with word pictures of their remarkable journey on wheels, throughout all of which they have been well, and able to enjoy themselves to the full. Roads Improved They took a similar trip in 1920, though not quite as extensive as the recent one. One of the most notable changes since their first trip is the remarkable improvement in the roads. Highways on which he could make only six miles an hour on the first trip are now easily negotiable at the rate of 40 to 50 miles an hour. Roads everywhere were passably good with the exception of Montana and Mexico which were very bad. On the first trip gas stations were 300 miles apart, but there is one now every 25 miles, at least. Among the especially impressive things seen by the Reeds which Mr. Reed alluded to were Mt. Larson in California which has the only active volcano in America, Mt. Shasta, Mt. Rainier, also in California; the “Three Sisters” in Oregon; Butte, Montana, which is called “The Richest Hill in the World”; Crater Lake, Oregon, 4000 feet above sea-level; Gray’s Harbor, Washington, which is the largest lumber shipping port in the world; San Gabriel, California, noted among other things as having the largest grape vine in the world and covering 10,000 square feet; Vancouver, which is a comparatively few years old, has grown to a city of 300,000, being now the fourth largest city in Canada. At Arlington, Wash., the Reed car was driven through a red cedar tree which is 30 feet in diameter. They also saw many mammoth trees in passing through the Cascade Mountains in Washington. In one forest the trees average 11 feet in diameter and 300 feet in height. They saw one very ancient tree which had recently been felled and were told that it would yield 15,000 feet of lumber. In this region they also saw many wild animals, including bears, mountain lions, wolves, cougars and other species. Wild Horses In Montana they saw thousands of wild horses which roam the country in all seasons even though the mercury drops to 40 degrees below zero. They also visited the great wheat fields of the west and saw great harvesting machines drawn by as many as 26 horses. At Redondo Beach, California, was seen the world’s largest warm salt water plunge. The glories and attractions of Yellowstone Park, the great canyons, the mid-western mountains, the quaint and ancient Mexican scenes, and the beauties of San Diego and Lower California were all enthusiastically referred to by Mr. Reed. It would be impossible to give any adequate detailed idea of all that Mr. and Mrs. Reed saw while on their unique trip. At innumerable places where they paused for a time, someone would catch the lettering “Concord, N. H.” on their auto body, and would make earnest inquires as to the folks back home. They made no special effort to get the names of all these peoples which would have made a long list had they done so. Little Auto Trouble They had little or no automobile troubles during their entire journey and though they are glad to be back home, they would be keen for another long trip at some future date. Mr. and Mrs. Reed have been residents of Concord for 43 years. They are the parents of Raymon and John Reed, taxi men. At Long Beach, Cal., they came across an artist, who was making mountains and ocean scenes in oil, and the artist volunteered to put a scene on each side of the Reeds’ auto body, and the work is most artistically done. On one side is a painting of Mt. Rainier, Washington, and on the other a painting of the range known as the “Three Sisters” in Oregon. At every stopping point, following the time these decorations were added to their equipment, crowds would gather and interview the travelers, who did all they could to advertise good old New Hampshire, the state of their residence. From the day they rolled out of Concord to the time of their return their complete itinerary was as follows: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Ontario, Detroit and Bay City, Michigan; up Lake Huron to Mackinaw Straits and Iron River by Lake Superior; Wisconsin, Duluth, Minn.; Grand Forks, North Dakota; Miles City, Montana; Wyoming to Yellowstone Park, where they spent five days; Livingston, Butte and Missoula, Montana; Wallace, Idaho; Spokane, Washington; over Columbia river to Cascade mountains in Washington; New Westminster, British Columbia; Vancouver and Victoria; back to Seattle; Portland, Oregon; to California, staying in that state two and a half months near Los Angeles and visiting Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Long Beach, Inglewood, Redondo and Hermosa Beach; also five weeks at Bakersfield, two weeks at Sacramento, and one week at San Diego. From the latter place went down into Mexico and stayed a week at Tia Juana. Going back to San Diego, they crossed the Colorado river at “The Needles” and went to Williams and Flagstaff in New Mexico; Amarillo, Texas; Kansas City, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.; St. Joseph, Mo.; Des Moines, Iowa; Davenport, Iowa; Chicago, Chicago Heights; Lafayette, Indiana; Columbus and Cincinnati, Oh.; Wheeling, West Virginia; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Patterson, N. J.; Schenectady, Albany, Troy, N. Y.; Bennington and Brattleboro, Vt.; Keene and home. They visited the capitals of 15 states enroute.” What a fascinating journey for my great-grandparents to have taken. Although the story in the newspaper article highlights a wonderful vacation across the US, the real story behind the story was the places they visited to connect with REED, ROBERTS, TRELOAR, and CURNOW relatives and various Cornish friends from the “old country”, as evidenced by the many photos. My years of genealogy research was now going to pay great dividends, as through many letters, phone calls, and Internet research, I had been able to trace various branches of my ancestral cousins across the US and Canada. The focus now is to marry that research with my great-grandparents cross-country trip. Author’s note I can be contacted at: reedfamilytree@comcast.net or by post, Ronald Reed, Joel French House, 1 High Street, Boscawen, New Hampshire, USA 03303-2300 Look for part 2 of this series in he June 2009 issue “A Letter From ‘ome” By Ray Wordon of Delabole, Cornwall Another interesting article written especially for the Cornish Crier October 1896 had been an unusually wet month. Most days there had been heavy rain and the ground was saturated and soft. Just before half past five on Thursday 22nd, twenty-six year old Joshua Matthews, was about to leave work. Like most men in the neighbouring villages, Josh was a quarryman. He had worked at the Delabole Slate Quarry ever since he had left school. He was what they called a “Rockman”, working at the cliff face extracting the raw materials to be turned into the roofing slates for which the quarry was famous world-wide. For the past few days the gaffers had told him and several other workers to start dismantling and removing the launders, tram rails and other equipment from the top and bottom of the east face of the quarry. Some of the men were hesitant about working there, as over the years cracks had appeared in the earth at the top of the cliff and sure as eggs is eggs, one day the whole lot was going to give way and topple the 400 feet down to the bottom of the pit. There were concerns that the incessant rain had made the ground unstable, but the managers, Mr Williams and Mr Davies, didn’t seem unduly worried that there was any imminent danger. The men, however, were under no illusions as to why the bosses had asked them to remove several hundred pounds worth of tools and valuable equipment from that particular area in such a hurry! Over the past few days one or two had even refused to work there for fear that the ground may give way beneath their feet at any moment. Most of the men had knocked off for the day at five, but Josh and one other man, a chap called Hamley worked on a while after that. Taking his leave of his fellow worker, Josh decided to take the quick route home by scrambling up to the top of the incline above where he was working. When he was just over halfway to the top he stopped to wipe his slippery muddy boots on a patch of grass. It was then that he noticed that several loose stones and pieces of earth had begun to tumble past him and roll down towards the bottom of the pit. About half an hour earlier Richard Radcliffe and James Kellow, two good friends and fellow slate-splitters had finished work for the day. Radcliffe was a man of fifty-six. He had been married to Emily Ann for thirty-five years and had three sons, Samuel, Thomas and William, all working in the Slate Belt of Pennsylvania. He also had a married daughter called Ellen. Kellow was an older man, a widower in his late sixties, with three boys, all under seventeen years of age. His younger brother, Robert, worked in America with two of Richard Radcliffe’s boys. Like most of the workers, Richard and James were well aware of the problems on the east face, even though as skilled splitters they were never required to work in that part of the quarry. In fact, the likelihood of an imminent fall seemed to hold a certain fascination for the two men, as lately they had both been in the habit of visiting the site several times each day to see if the cracks had widened any. Before making their way home, the two friends decided to take a last look before the light got too bad to see if there was any change since earlier in the day. A few other men had obviously the same idea, for several had gathered at the top of the east face before Richard and James arrived there. Although there were no fences to keep them back or warning signs, these men were obviously nervous and stood well away from the edge. Among their number was twenty-six year old Robert Jacobs, a fellow slate splitter, who knew both Kellow and Radcliffe well. “Evening Richard, Jim,” said Jacobs. “ I shouldn’t venture too close if I was you, I reckon he’s about to go anytime!” . “’Tis OK Bob,” said Kellow, “We’ll stand over here, where it’ll be better to see un fall.” Jacobs called to them again to stand back, but the two men were in no mood to heed such warnings. Suddenly Radcliffe cried out to his companion “Quick, James, ‘tis going away under your feet!” Meanwhile, realising the peril he was in, Josh Matthews was struggling to reach the top as fast as he could. He gained the surface just as with a great roar, the whole side of the cliff started to slide into the pit. The crack was now about two feet and widening by the second. The bystanders were shouting at him to be quick and jump for his life. Matthews needed no second bidding to do just that. Summoning what was left of his strength, he launched himself across the chasm which now seemed to be opening up right beneath his feet. Willing hands grabbed him and dragged him to safety and he lay panting on the wet grass for several minutes, overcome by his exertions and the shock of what had just happened. Of Richard Radcliffe and James Kellow there was no sign. There had been no time for either of them to regain solid ground and they had gone tumbling into the pit along with the tons of earth and rubble. The sound of the collapse had been heard all over the village and people were starting to arrive to find out what had happened. As soon as the subsidence had ceased, a few of the bystanders edged forward to peer over the edge to see if there was any sign of their unfortunate friends. Their bodies could be seen about 40 feet from the top, partly covered by the debris that had slipped away with them. Although it was by no means certain that there would be no further falls, Mr Williams the manager accompanied by two men named Lea and Pearn without hesitation or thought for their own safety, scrambled down over the loose earth and rubble to where their comrades lay. Richard Radcliffe, although grievously injured, was still alive. For James Kellow, though, there was no hope and it was decided to leave his body where it lay until first light the next day. It took almost an hour to free Radcliffe. News of the tragic accident had spread like wildfire through the village and by the time he was brought up from the pit a large crowd had gathered to witness the rescue efforts. Sadly, it was all to be in vain. Such were the extent of his wounds that Richard Radcliffe expired within minutes of reaching the surface, his wife at his side. Gently, his friends and workmates took up the lifeless body and bore it with great dignity to the humble quarryman’s cottage at Rockhead where he and Emily Ann had lived. In those days, danger and sometimes death were accepted as a fact of life in the mining, quarrying and fishing industries, which, along with farming were the mainstays of the Cornish economy. Disaster was borne with a stoicism which these days we can only admire and would perhaps find hard to comprehend. Later that evening, the same evening that she had watched her husband of thirty five years die in the most horrific circumstances, Emily Ann Radcliffe sat down at the rough wooden table in her kitchen and by the light of a flickering oil lamp put pen to paper in order to inform her sons in America of their father’s tragic passing. The funerals of the two men were held on the afternoon of the following Sunday week. Richard Radcliffe was laid to rest at St John’s Church Cemetery and James Kellow in the little graveyard in front of the U.M.F.C. Chapel in Pengelly. The Cornish & Devon Post reported that “hundreds of persons, some coming a very long distance, were at the funerals.” “Dear Samuel, Just a line to convey sad news to you; today we have had a very serious accident in which your Dear Father as (sic) lost his life. There is another beside him, James Kellow, Robert Kellow’s Brother. We have been expecting for some days to have a big slip at the Quarry. This afternoon your Father in company with Kellow got on the top of it examining it a bit whilst there the ground slipped under them. Your Father is taken up and brought home. Kellow is not taken up yet. Please let Thomas know will you. No more for the time, you shall have a full account later on. I beg to close with love to you both from your loving mother. E A Radcliffe. The Family Genealogist Old Local Newspapers What a help in family history! Local newspapers with local news are a great source of information about our families. Old local newspapers have been available in microfilm in libraries and are now many are on-line i.e. Iron Era, Rockaway Record and Sussex Independent in New Jersey. It is great to have these newspapers more assessible and easier to read on-line. Two local Morris County papers: The Iron Era and the Rockaway Record, newspapers of the Dover-Rockaway area in New Jersey are available at the Rockaway Township library at: http://www.rtlibrary.org/ Cathy Di Pietro, list administrator of the NJ Sussex Rootsweb list is now sending articles to that mailing list from the Sussex Independent and the Wantage Recorder. There were several zinc and iron mines in Sussex County, NJ. The zinc mines in Franklin and Ogdensburg continued into mid 1900’s. The Ogdensburg mine is now the Sterling Mine Museum, which is a showplace for the history of mining, and utilized by the local schools and colleges for field trips. The iron mines were smaller but numerous. Thomas Edison, New Jersey’s great inventor dabbled in mining experients at the Edison Mine. Some of the other Sussex County mines were: the Davenport, Ogden, Robert, Pardee, Amos, Sharp, Ricker and the Gooseberry. These mines were active in the mid-late 1800s and brought numerous Cornish mining families to the area. Both Ginny Richmond, one of our past presidents and Sylvia Stephens Hadowanetz, our secretary grew up in Franklin. My Honeychurch ancestors came to the Ogdensburg mine in 1865. The Sussex Independent was a great help to me. Sylvia sent me information that my Honeychurch family was still living in Ogdensburg in 1890, That’s the federal census that is missing. She sent me a copy of the announcement of my great Aunt Rosina’s marriage that gave me her married surname. Then I was able follow her up to 1930 when she died in Deckertown , now Sussex Borough. These old newspapers are really a great source of information for the family genealogist. Sussex Independent Newspaper of Friday, 2 Sep 1881 Cathy DiPietro, List Administrator of the NJSussex Roots Web Mailing list recently sent this article to the njsussex@rootsweb.com. “This era of the newspaper, printed in Deckertown, employed a writer of a particular dry humor whose articles I've enjoyed before. This item speaks to the climate in Sussex county in a period of economic hardship and also demonstrates the wry wit and phrasing of the time.” We thank her for the article. The recent raids of horse thieves and robbers in this town and vicinity have made the great majority of our citizens, especially of the farming class, unusually, and we can truthfully say, ridiculously cautious. The head of many a family now rests his brave head upon a pillow that not infrequently covers a murderous looking seven-shooter, watch and chain, pocket book, silverware, mortgages and deeds. If he has any, his wife's jewelry and other valuables, while the loving wife's pillow covers the family bible, her marriage certificate and a silver thimble. Others sleep with their feet on a double-barrel shotgun and hide their valuables in the straw tick on which they rest. The feeling has caused a corner in the lock and key market. One cautious man in the Clove takes the wheels off his new buggy and places them under his bed every night. Another man down towards Hamburgh ties his biting mare hind end formest in the stall, so if necessary she can have a good square meal on fresh burglar. Nearly everyone carries his harness into the house every night. A chap not far from Pellettown hoists his cutting-box up on pulleys and arranges it in such a manner over his stable door that when the burglar opens it the box will drop and crush his daylights out. We have heard of others that chain ferocious bull-dogs at the door. But the most thoughtful and ingeneous trick for the detection of thieves was that planned by a married man in Deckertown, whom, for various reasons, we will have to designate as Mr. Brown. For some time past Mr. Brown has noticed that his wood pile near his house had diappeared faster than it was possible for his family to make it. A happy idea occurred to him, an idea which if successfully executed would equal in detective scheming anything that was ever conceived in the fertile mind of Bob Pinkerton. That very night he resolved to put his brilliant idea into execution. The night proved just the kind of one for the experiment, dark as the blackest corner of a well-covered coal hole. He began by drawing the bed upon which he and his wife generally passed the night in peaceful sleep, close to the window. To the foot of the bed he temporarily tied a stout fish line, passed it out of the window and carried the end of it towards the wood pile. When within a few feet of the wood pile he attached several small pieces of wire cord to the main line and then tied the ends to several good sized pieces of wood in different parts of the pile. He then went to his room, told his better half of the plan, placed his jack-knife on the window, went to bed and tied the main line to his big toe. Now Brown is very tendered-toed, and expected that the slightest jerk on the line would awaken him when he would cut the cord, jump from the window and discover what neighbor he was keeping in fuel. After retiring he was soon fast asleep and peacefully dreamed until about midnight when he was suddenly awakened and found one foot out of the window and the other struggling hard with his two hands to keep his whole body from falling out. The constant jerking on the cord soon brought it and half the skin of Mr. Brown's toe loose. But this did not discourage Mr. Brown, and clad but in one thin garment, he furiously climbed down the lower shutters and rushed madly for the wood pile. Just before reaching the wood, and by many times quicker than it takes to tell it, Brown was struck in the stomach by something that doubled him up worse than a six-cents-per-dozen dose of cucumbers on an ice-water foundation. After the restoration of his breath, which had taken a few seconds vacation from his system, and getting squarely on his bare feet there stood before him in all imaginable dignity, tangled up in Mr. Brown's wood pile thief trap, Johnny Baughn's gentleman goat, William, who, during the night, had strayed from his place of keeping in search of old boots, tomatoe cans, old hoop skirts, and other favorite goat dishes. To say that Brown, upon his discovery, was indiscreetly and unreasonably blasphemous, does not express it at all. He ---!-----!!---------!!! that goat as it continued to help him walk across that lot to the back porch in a way that would excite the envy of his Satanic majesty. But it was dark and Brown being in undress uniform, the goat did not die that night. His wife gave him dead away the next morning, He is done experimenting now and has nothing to say about thieves. Letters to the Editor We love getting letters! And this quarter we had several. Letters, emails, phone calls--they all count. Email from Joan Wheeler, our President Thursday, November 20, 2008 Thank you so very much for the advance viewing. WOW it is great Thanks to all. When I saw the Mt. Hope Mine cottage it sent me back many, many years one of my uncles worked the mines and lived in a 'cottage'. Email from Margaret Carne, our Vice President Thu, 20 Nov 2008 Proper job! This is a lovely issue with interesting family histories, great fotos, and the saffron cake recipe from Sylvia, which got me remembering.... "taytrate" (teatreat) buns were a major feature of the Wesleyan Chapels' annual teatreats. They were always saffron buns, and the size of a small dinner plate, maybe 8" diameter. After the congregation, adults and children, marched behind the chapel band to a field, there would be games of all sorts (tug o'war, sack race, egg & spoon race, 3 legged race etc), pots of steaming dark tea served in thick cups, and the teatreat bun, with sultanas, currants and best of all, the bits of citron! I was a Quaker, but I loved going to the Illogan Highway Methodist Chapel near our house with my playmates and singing those great old Charles & John Wesley hymns - and then going to teatreat. I seem to remember that when we went to Gwennap Pit on Whitsuntide, they also gave out teatreat buns, but I wonder how since there would be so many people. Email from Russell Reed Sat, 22 Nov 2008 Hi Anne, I got the latest edition of the “Crier” and wanted to let you know that I am very pleased with the way you and Barry did with my REED article and so is my family and friends at the hospital where I volunteer. I have talked to a local girl from the Wharton area that is Cornish too, and she and possibly her husband and her mother will be at our next meeting. Come to find out she is tied in with the Hocking family from the Wharton area. Her mom knows a lot of folks from the Wharton area and hopefully if they come they will run in to some old friends, not that, that many folks are actually from Wharton that come to our meeting. Too, if you would remember to bring at least 7 copies of our current “Crier” I would appreciate it. I have several relatives across the country that I know would enjoy a copy of this REED bunch of mine. Also, do you have any Cornish flag stickers or what know that I can put onto some of my Cornish information? If so and you remember would you bring them. I have made copies of the TREE that I will bring to give to anyone that might like to add to it their family names. Other then that, see you on Saturday, the 6th of December…..Russ And a telephone call from Norman A. Tregenza: On December 3, 2008 I was pleased to received a phone call from our member Norman Tregenza, who has moved to New Hampshire. He extoled the praises of the Cornish Crier and was pleased with our efforts. The editors love to receive your comments, both positive and negative, as this let's us know what you think of our newsletter. Thanks, Norman! Who was William Davey 1814-1874? A puzzle for our family historians We have received information on a Cornish miner, William Davey who worked at the Mt Hope and Allen mines in Rockaway Township in the 1800s. He arrived in Mt Hope about 1848. Through the Davey and Stephens Company he hired miners to work the mines. In 1860 he purchased a home with 12 acres of property. Dick Kehoe, the grandson of the man who purchased the home in 1920 has found these six Davey papers which he has donated to the Historical Society of the Rockaways. They include: 1. A letter of reference from Thomas Richards, Agent for Wheal Prosper dated 1848, stating that William was proficient in tribute and tutwork mining and “was an honest man knowing fully most things connected with copper and tin mining”. 2. Receipts for mining materials from the Mt Hope Mine, 1860. 3. List of miners who worked for the Davey and Stephens Company, 1859 4. Receipts for household goods. Hay, stove coal and groceries. 1876 5. Tax bill for 1866, paid in full. $14.94 Also, a copy of the 1870 Federal census: William Davey 56, wife, Susanna 55, children, Elizabeth 17, Susan A 14, Robert 12 and Victoria 9. To all our family historians, let’s make this puzzle our research project. With all of our knowledge we can make his story come to life. Please send your suggestions and comments to me at: AnneStephens@optonline.net or 23 Weldon Road, Lake Hopatcong, NJ 07849. Looking forward to hearing from you. Russ Reed, one of our charter members, has an unique family tree format. At the left is a copy of his family tree. Russ has also sent a copy of the blank form. We have copies that we can send to members to complete with their family names. We can send them as an email attachment in PDF and/or jpeg form. Or we can send a copy by US Mail. I completed one of these trees for my HONEYCHURCH line. The tree looks great on the cover of my family notebook Cornish Heritage Society East Formed to unite descendants of Cornish immigrants: to promote the study of the ancient culture of Cornwall; to forge and maintain bonds with Cornish around the world. We meet four times a year with an Annual Meeting on the Saturday nearest to St. Piran’s Day (March 5) President –Joan Wheeler jwheeler21@verizon.net 1st VP –Margaret Carne 2nd VP –to be announced Secretary – Sylvia Stephens Hadowanetz Treasurer – Fred Varker Historian – Art Smith Membership : Individual $15. Student: $5. Family, within the same house is $20. Sponsor $30. Patron $50. Make checks payable to CHSE, send to: Cornish Heritage Society East Joan Wheeler 471 South Avenue Fanwood, NJ 07023 908-654-5245 Editor Barry E. Tracy (718) 337-5948 P O Box 1335 New York, NY 10274-1335 Email: cornishdesc@yahoo.com Co-editor/desktop publisher Anne Stephens Editorial Associate Margaret Carne