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by Louise Elizabeth Smith (Author), Gary Dean Smith (Designed by)
The Mill on Halfway Brook recounts the life and times of families who settled near Halfway Brook in the heavily forested original Town of Lumberland, Sullivan County, New York. It spans the years from 1800 to 1880, and is the first in the series, Memoirs from Eldred, New York, 1800-1950. The principal families in the book (Eldred, Austin, Leavenworth, and Myers) built their homes in what became the hamlet of Eldred, in the Town of Highland. Some of their friends and kinsfolk (the Clarks, Gardners, Hallocks, Hickoks, Sergeants, Van Tuyls, and others) lived in nearby hamlets (Barryville, Pond Eddy, Glen Spey, Narrowsburg, Tusten, or Bethel). The story includes references to the neighboring Pennsylvania towns of Shohola, Lackawaxen, and Mast Hope. The Mill on Halfway Brook follows the main occupations of the community, including lumbering, tanning, river rafting, working for the D&H Canal Company, and bluestone quarrying. The Civil War chapter mentions many of the men from the Town of Highland who fought in the war, and has major excerpts from 50 letters written by Corporal Sherman S. Leavenworth. The narrative weaves vignettes of townsfolk, preachers, Congregational and Methodist Churches, regional and national events with historical information, censuses, an 1875 biography, Church records, and family land documents. The book has 300 photos and postcards, 17 old and new maps, and 200 letters (1845-1880). The Mill on Halfway Brook is fully indexed, with names of over 900 people, places, and events.
