January 2014 Newsletter - Otego Historical Association

Website: www.otegohistoricalsociety.com 6 River St., P.O. Box 127 Otego, N.Y.
OTEGO HISTORICAL
ASSOCIATION
Issue 1, 2014
the Hoyt’s employee, Mary Short, she
had a partial recovery.
Mary Hoyt Stannard showing picture of her
great grandfather and great grandmother
Ransom and Mary (Fleming) Hoyt
Meet the Hoyt Family
Mary Hoyt Stannard, daughter of
Albert Ford Hoyt and Wilhelmina Bard
Hoyt enjoyed talking about her family.
The home that Mary and her parents
lived in was shared with her
grandfather and grandmother, Burton
and Blanche Ford Hoyt. The house is
still located on the south side of
Otego on what is now County Route
48 .
Mary’s father graduated from Otego
High School in 1923. He lived on the
family’s dairy farm until he was 80. .
Her grandfather thought women
should not be around the barn. Their
place was in the home. So Mary did
not work on the farm.
I asked if she worked around the
house and helped with the
cooking. Mary said that when she
was a freshman in High School, her
mother had a stroke. After that their
father hired a housekeeper. Mary is
certain that her Dad wanted Mary to
have the opportunity to go to college
so he made sure they had someone
helping in the home.
Mary’s father did not want her to have
to stay home. He felt he had been on
the farm forever. He had gone to
Cobleskill Ag and Tech College for
one year but his father did not want
him
As Mary said, “My
April 2014
to go back again. As Mary said, “My
grandfather would not allow my
uncles Brayton or Harvey to go off to
school or anything. They were told
that if they left the farm that would be
the end of being part of the family.’
Mary’s uncle Brayton, his wife Bessie
(Dyckman) and Mary’s two cousins,
Joan and Lola, lived a half mile down
the road. Mary’s aunt Bessie was
from Jefferson. Mary always had the
impression that her aunt was not too
excited about being married to a
farmer. Her uncle Harvey had just a
bedroom and lived with his parents
on the other side of the house Mary
lived in.
Mary’s dad and uncles were very
involved in Otego organizations.
Of the three Hoyt brothers, Mary
believed that her dad was the most
outgoing. Mary is not sure why there
was the difference in the three
brothers. Mary’s dad was the oldest
and was active in many
organizations.
Mary said that farming and church
were the two things that her dad
really liked. He belonged to the
Otego United Methodist Church for
81 years. He was very involved with
the Farm Bureau, the Cooperative
Extension and he was an 80-plus
year’s member of Otego
Susquehanna Valley Grange.
My uncle Brayton was a member of
the Town Board. Uncle Harvey was
always involved with Grange – I think
for over 50 years. He was treasurer
for over 40 years. That was the
social thing to do years ago.
Mary’s mom and dad were
schoolmates. They went to High
School together in Otego. They
graduated in 1923 and 1924. They
got married in 1929 but Mary did not
arrive until 1940.
Mary’s mother was a school
teacher. After graduating from
Otego, Mary’s mother, Wilhelmina,
attended teacher’s training at Unadilla
after graduating in 1924. She then
taught in a one room school on Flax
Island (#10) before taking more
courses at the Normal School in
Oneonta. After she married
Albert ,she was a substitute teacher
at Otego for many years.
Mary’s mother was Head of Fresh
Air Committee in Otego
Mary said their family had the same
Fresh Air girl from New York City for 8
. A quote from The Daily Star in
years.
1952 “If prizes were awarded for
outstanding ‘Fresh-Air mothers, it’d
be a sure wager that Mrs. Albert Hoyt
of Otego would be on the top of the
list!”
Mary talked about her mother’s
stroke. Mary told me: “My mother
always had high blood pressure. The
day it happened, we had gone to the
old Otego swimming pool. It was a
very hot afternoon. We had been
picking blueberries the day before.
We came home and she did not feel
well. She got very sick. Our doctor
from Franklin came and diagnosed it
as a stroke. She was in the hospital
for a week. She was allowed to come
home if someone could take care of
her. This was difficult for my dad
since it was in the middle of haying
season and he said “What can I do in
a week’s time? But we managed.
Aunt Florence Bard was a nurse and
she came and helped us out for a
little while .
Through the help of their Franklin
doctor, The County Health nurse and
Page 2
.Mary’s mother was the family
driver before her stroke.
Interestingly, Mary’s dad did not drive.
He didn’t even drive a tractor around
the farm. He left that to his brothers
and used the horses. Coincidentally,
Albert had just started an Adult Driver
Training course. He finished that up
and got his license, as Mary said,
“Not much before I was about 16.”
Mary said she asked her mother,
“How did you learn to drive? Her
mother told Mary, “You know that
when I moved over here on
Southside, I couldn’t go anywhere
because I didn’t know how to drive.”
So they fixed up a place in the field so
she could learn to park along side it.
She said basically she taught herself
how to drive.
Mary had her own garden: My dad
loved gardening and he had me right
out there gardening with him. I pulled
weeds and he had set aside a section
of the garden that was mine. Mary
won many prizes at the High School
FFA Fair. All of the vegetables I
displayed at the FFA Fair were from
my section of the garden.
Mary loved music: I was in the band
and the chorus. I also took piano
lessons from Mr. Clayton , the Otego
School’s music teacher, and later
from Mrs. Ash in Oneonta. Then I
went on to Hartwick College and
majored in Music Ed.
Mary told me about a typical family
dinner. My father would be in the
barn before I ate breakfast and since
he would be working until 7:30 to
8:00, often my mother and I ate
alone. Sometimes he would have to
go to church or farm meetings and
would not eat until he got home at
10:00. Actually, my mother might not
make a big dinner. He really liked
oatmeal. It was very filling.
She would cook a big batch of
oatmeal in the morning. He would
have some then and then at night he
would eat the rest.
OTEGO HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
The holidays celebrated by the
Hoyt extended family? At
Christmas time, we would go to my
mother’s side of the family (The
Bards). Grandma Bard lived on River
Street where Pearl Livingston lived for
so many years. The Bard families
would gather there: Frank, Herman
and Ida. (Ida Perkins had a beauty
shop on Follett Street years and
years ago.)
Mary’s oldest relative was Ida
Benson My great-grandmother on
my mother’s side was Ida Benson.
She lived to be almost 90. She lived
with my grandmother Minnie Bard.
She could not hear well and she sing
out “La,la,la,la” at the top of her lungs.
For the first few times, I said, “What is
the matter with her?” and my mother
would say, “Just get used to it
because that is what she does.” My
mother went on, “Just think of
grandma who has to live with it all of
the time.”
I asked about Hoyt family stories.
Every year my folks would celebrate
their anniversary with Harold and
Ethel Hamilton. They were married
on the same day and year. Harold
had grown up in Otego Ethel (who
was my first grade teacher) came
from Bainbridge. When I was
younger, they would go camping in
Canada or some place similar.
Harold and my father both loved to
fish. When I asked my folks, “How
come
you didn’t always do this?” My mom
replied, Well we wanted to wait until
you got older because Harold
and Ethel never had any children .
We went to a little camp in Ontario for
four to five years.
Do you have recipes that were
handed down over the years? Yes,
both from my mother and
grandmother. My grandmother’s
recipes would say a “lump” of this or
“an egg size” of that. I have some of
her recipes on cards and in a
notebook
Tell me about your teaching
experiences? I graduated from
Hartwick College as music major.
My first job was in Moravia, NY and I
lived with a family for several years
and became like a member of the
family. I moved to Cobleskill
because my mother was going
downhill and I wanted to be closer to
home.
How did you meet your husband,
Warren? I taught elementary music
in Cobleskill. There was a 5th grade
teacher who brought single teachers
home because he was proud of his
wife’s cooking. Warren came to one
dinner when I was a guest .
Was Warren’s proposal to you a
surprise? No, not really, we were
both older and had been going
together for 6 months when he
proposed. For our honeymoon, we
went to Canada and Prince Edward
Island we were warned that we had
better have our honeymoon then,
because we’d get to busy to ever
have it later. They knew Warren. He
not only had horses and beef cattle,
but decided to return to college, too
in 1966.
What would you say is the key to a
successful marriage? “Give and
take." You can’t lord it over your
partner.
Mary is involved in her church I’m
on the Administrative Board and I
pinch hit for the organist if she
cannot play. `
And in the Otsego County Fair.
Warren always showed cattle when
he was in 4-H. Our Otsego County
Maple Producers has the sugar
house over there. It serves
pancakes and French Toast. My
daughter is usually over there 4 out
of the 7 days.
I also volunteer at Bassett. I was tax
collector for the Town of Roseboom
for 30 years. I retired two years ago.
I still get calls from tax payers even
though I have not done it for 2 years.
ISSUE 1
APRIL 2014
Page 3
.What were the most important
things you learned from your
parents? To be friendly, to listen to
what others have to say and not
judge them as being “wrong”. When
I collected taxes, I dealt with people
who were not happy so I tried to
“keep an even keel”.
Mary’s proudest accomplishment?
That I have an MS Degree. I got it in
Ithaca during summer sessions.
During these classes, I went to
Puerto Rico for 4 to 6 weeks. I also
participated in a Music Class which
took me to Europe for 6 weeks. It
was a wonderful, unforgettable
experience.
Brayton, Albert and Harvey Hoyt on their farm.
Historical
Association
Members
Sharing
Family Heirlooms
October
2013
Jan Lloyd shows an antique
stand which held a shoe while it
was being repaired
Emily Longtin displays her
family’s antique corn planter
Helen Groves displays a blue
plate commemorating the 200th
Anniversary of a sea battle of the
War of 1812
OTEGO HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
PAGE 4
JANUARY 2014.
MORE SHOW AND TELL
Joyce Shultis
displayed the violin
that her parents
gave her when she
was a teenager
Mary Carson showed a wooden
plate hand painted by her
grandmother
Glen Seroka shared an artifact he found
while renovating the old Cook house at the
corner of County Route 7 and Taylor Road
Ron Embling displayed his
scrapbook of every car he has
owned throughout the years.
Allen Case showed an antique flail and
a soap stone—used as a bed warmer