Wisteria

This is the tombstone of little George H. Bryant, son of Sheldon and Ruth Bryant who died November 11, 1849 at the age of 2 years, 8 months. For several years, the stone rested in an unusual place: in the garage of the town historian. Apparently some kind souls found the stone and brought it to her for safekeeping. The historian thought it had been found in a creek bed and perhaps washed down from the cemetery on Bryant Hill at some point. Bryant Hill, in the town of Ellicottville, was an early settlement area and named for the Bryants who came from Massachusetts. Sheldon himself was born in Norwich, Hampshire County, Massachusetts on March 23, 1812. His obituary stated he moved to Cattaraugus County, New York when he was six years old and married the former Ruth B. Chamberlain at the age of 22. According to his obituary, they removed to the town of Great Valley in 1852. He died January 2, 1886. Ruth survived him and lived until October 4, 1908. She was born to Elizah and Ruth...

     I mentioned photographer L.W. Zuver in a post done over six years ago. I have continued to pick up information on photographers in Cattaraugus County, New York and surrounding areas. Recently I came across a trio of cdv photos with Zuver's imprint from Duke Centre, Pennsylvania, an area previously unknown to me for his work. Apparently he also did scenery stereoscopic photographs there (also called stereographs or stereoviews) as noted on this blog here . At least two stereoviews done by Zuver in Duke Centre were sold through auction via Worthpoint .  The period of time he did work in Duke Centre appears to predate his time in Cattaraugus County as this blog post here notes he took photos of the aftermath of a fire which occurred on 12 May 1880 in Duke Centre. I have now updated his places of business in that original post to reflect this new information. I also want to share copies of the photos as they are quite nice, especially after having been colorized w...

  On a lovely but overcast fall day last mid-October, I drove to Springville in Erie County, New York to visit Maplewood Cemetery and its adjacent counter-part St. Aloysius Cemetery. For the Westfall family line, there are four generations buried in these grounds if you include the Pfeffer family in St. Aloysius. Lawrence and Marie Pfeffer were the parents of Margaret (called Maggie) who married Herman Westfall. See this post here for more about Maggie and Herman's family. The Pfeffer family stones are not often visited as few know or recall the connection. I myself have visited probably only once or twice before and it took me a bit of time to locate the stones again this time. I began thinking of future generations and decided to take photographs in anticipation of creating this blog post. My intent is to have it serve as a guide for others who may wish to visit at a later time.  If you come off Waverly Street in Springville to Ohio Street, you will come to the entrance of S...